Curious Creatures
Enok fought to break free, but the dragon’s force held him still. The dragons laughed and spoke in a strange language. Enok could only watch as the dragon warriors stared at him, looking for weapons or items to beat him with. Enok’s heart sank. One of the dark-winged dragons walked to the edge of the balcony, stood up on its hind legs pointing its arms towards the cluster of boulders wedged above Rune, and started shouting out strange words.
Enok knew. The dragons were going to use their magical powers to unleash the massive rocks above in an attempt to crush Rune. Enok fought all the harder to break free. Anger and hatred surged through his soul. Despite the pain, he moved his arms against the force holding him. Enok’s efforts caught the attention of the dragon casting the spell. The dragon held out another arm and focused the spell. Enok felt the force push him back. Enok would not give up.
As he pushed against the force, he could feel a slight leverage over the strange power. It almost felt like the magic had a tangible form. If he could somehow get the right leverage, he could pull himself out of its range of effect. If Rune broke free from the same spell before, then Enok knew it was possible. Unlikely for a small human, but he refused to give up. He pushed even harder, feeling a section of his wrist slip out of the power. Enok made progress.
Then the dragon shouted to another dragon using its magic on the timbers above Rune. The dark-winged dragon turned away from the timbers towards Enok and cast a spell on him. Enok felt the force strike him with a sudden grasp. He struggled to breathe. It felt like a snake constricting the life out of him. He could no longer fight against the force. He focused all his energy on his breathing. His vision began to fade.
*CHIRP*
A strange noise echoed deep from one of the tunnels.
Every dragon and battle dragon looked toward the sound. Enok noticed the immediate change in demeanor in the dragons.
*CHIRP*
The noise rang out again. The winged dragons began shouting at the various mutant dragon warriors. Every single one of them stopped attacking the Ruundyr and ran towards the location of the noise.
*CHIRP*
The intensity of the winged dragons escalated to screaming shouts at the warriors, funneling them towards the tunnel of the strange noise. One dragon of Myrr held the spell on Enok while the others ran over to the edge of the tunnel, forcing all the battle dragons in front of them.
Although still held in place by the singular spell, Enok’s vision began to return. He saw the panic on the dragons’ faces. Something deadly must be coming. Enok could see a large form moving in the shadows of the tunnel. Possibly a gigantic spider. Then, stepping out of the shadows, walked a large turtle like beast.
*CHIRP*
It lacked wings with heavy spike growth on its shell and had smaller yet varied horn growths on its head. Even though it had longer muscular legs than most turtles, it walked in a similar fashion. The beast walked closer to the row of battle dragons, sniffing the air, although the turtle beast didn’t seem to care about the wall of dragon warriors shaking clubs and spears, growling and screeching threats towards him. The beast continued to sniff the air. Then one dragon of Myrr yelled more instructions to the battle dragons. The spiked turtle’s eyes locked on its target.
Enok barely had a moment to comprehend what happened. The beast of a turtle charged for the dragon of Myrr. It acted like the battle dragons didn’t exist, barreling through the cluster of dragon warriors, sending them flying. The dragon of Myrr shouted words, wildly throwing his hands towards the animal, but it didn’t slow the beast down. The turtle pounced on top of the dragon with a deadly bite, violently shaking the dragon. Another dragon of Myrr cast spells on the turtle beast, shouting strange words and hand gestures towards the curious creature. The turtle seemed to ignore the dragon, unphased by the dragon’s attempts.
Enok dropped to the ground as the other dragon of Myrr join his companion screaming and casting spells on the turtle beast. Once the first dragon lay limp, it looked up at the other two. They ran in retreat, constantly shouting words and flailing their arms, trying to use their magic. Enok could feel the effects of the magic, like a bystander feeling the force as it passed by. Nothing stopped the turtle. It took two casual steps, then pounced on the two fleeing dragons with a similar violent attack.
Enok pushed himself out of the way, nestling up to a rocky wall for protection. He watched as several dragon warriors brave enough to fight charged the turtle beast. Most of the other battle dragons fled through various tunnels. The dragon warriors threw rocks, spears and attacked the turtle beast in any way possible, yet it didn’t seem to care. It would occasionally snap at them, then return its focus to the winged dragons.
Then Enok froze in shock as the turtle creature grasped the dragon’s head in its mouth, then began swallowing it whole like a snake. In a matter of a few moments, the dragon disappeared.
“What in the name of…?” Enok sat in shock.
The turtle beast still ignored the other battle dragons hitting him while he turned to the second winged dragon, tearing large sections of the dragon into parts and swallowing them whole. After eating the two dragons. It whipped its spikey tail at the battle dragons, throwing them across the room. After several clawed swipes, stomps and bites, the turtle beast took down the other battled dragons. It didn’t seem interested in eating them. Then the curious creature looked directly at Enok.
Enok stood up. Unsure if he should flee or try to remain hidden. He stood, unable to decide. The turtle walked several steps towards him. It stared at Enok for a second, blinking its eyes as it sized him up.
*CHIRP*
The massive turtle beast returned to the remaining dead dragon of Myrr and began consuming his third course.
Enok looked around the room. He couldn’t see any remaining dragon warriors. Finally feeling safe, Enok climbed down the balcony to get to Rune. Rune gave a purring growl as he struggled to free himself. Enok pulled at the now tangled nets on Rune. Through the fights and attempts to protect himself, Rune wound the nets around his body in a snarled mess. He at least found a foothold and stood slightly more stable against the slopping ground. Enok cut as fast as he could to free Rune in case the dragon warriors came back.
“I don’t know how I’m going to get you free, my friend. I can’t lift you out. But we’ll figure something out. I won’t leave you.”
*CRASH*
The turtle creature landed on the lower level. Rune growled in surprise.
The abrupt noise and presence of the beast caused Enok to jump. He stared at the monstrous turtle to assess if the new beast was a friend or foe. Enok leaned toward Rune, “Oh yeah, and we have a visitor. I sure hope he is a friend.”
Rune let out a strange, mournful bellow.
*CHRIP*
The turtle beast only seemed to have one thing to say. Rune fluctuated a dull bellow in different tonal inflections. The turtle creature chirped back.
Enok looked up from cutting the nets. “Seriously, are you communicating?”
The two creatures grunted and growled back and forth. Rune shifted and leveraged his weight, pulling his feet and hands to a more stable location. The massive turtle creature walked around the edges of the pit, looking for a vantage point. As Enok understood the motives of the monsters, he climbed up and out of the pit, pulling with him several of the loose cords of the nets. Chirp, as Enok began calling the turtle beast, locked his legs, clasped a portion of the nets in his mouth and pulled with his front legs.
In a massive heave, Chirp lifted Rune up just enough for Rune to get a stronger foothold. Enok pulled at the nets with Chirp even though his efforts offered minimal support. Although Enok refused to sit idle, he would help regardless of how helpless his efforts were.
Rune lifted himself a step farther and looped his tail around a nearby rock structure.
HEAVE!
Chirp pulled the nets, Enok pulled alongside to take part, and Rune pulled with his tail, lifting himself a step farther.
HEAVE!
With one more hefty pull, Chirp pulled at the nets, finally getting traction with all four feet, dragging the entangled Ruundyr up and lifting him out of the pit. Chirp began biting through the nets. Enok returned to cutting the nets. Once again, Enok’s efforts felt minimal. After cutting through several sections of net, Enok looked up to see the sharp and powerful jaws of Chirp demolished the nets.
Shaking his head and body, Rune stretched, finally free. Rune let out a lower growling bellow. He turned to Chirp, grunting several low growling intonations. Chirp responded in a few more chirps. It seemed to be his only language.
Rune turned and continued his journey down the selected tunnel. Chirp turned, following another tunnel.
“Uhh, guys? Maybe we should talk about this!”
Rune and Chirp ignored Enok and continued walking away on different paths.
“Rune! Hey Rune boy, just hear me out!”
Rune kept walking.
Enok ran after Rune to keep up.
“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but I’m thinking about an alliance. I mean, we could use the help of that, that, well, whatever that beast is.”
Rune continued sniffing the air as Enok continued to convince Rune to recruit the new curious creature they met as they once again descended deeper into the underground city.