An Unexpected Feast
Imported from SF2 with no description.
“Damn it all, where’d that deer go?!” I cursed to myself. My glinting golden eyes scanned the forest below, but it was far too late, my potential meal had suddenly run off. There shouldn’t have been any reason for that tasty six pointer buck to dash off so soon, and I hadn’t detected any other creatures nearby large enough to do so, unless… I quickly tossed my large wedge shaped head the opposite direction and pricked my ears. There it was, a measly human armed with a simple bow trampling through the forest like a herd of elephants. He had a small tuft of shaggy brown hair wetly clung to his head and he wore a simple brown tunic with matching pants and boots, normal hunting gear. He looked quite young as well, perhaps in his teenage years; this may be his first hunt. Good, I’ll teach him a lesson for scaring off my prey with his loud gangly legs trampling the undergrowth and alerting the whole forest.
The wind ruffled my silky silver mane that ran down the length of my neck to the tip of my spined tail. I was a large and magnificent dragon I liked to think. My head was adorned with two black horns that curled forward to give me an almost ram-like appearance, quite tough. My scales are a striking color of ebony, perfect for hunting in the dark pine forest at night. My eyes were a striking color of gold capable of seeing miles away in complete darkness and if that didn’t spot prey, I’d smell it first. “Prey”, my mouth salivated and my red forked tongue hung out at the thought of something warm and bleeding sliding down my long throat. It had been a week since I last ate; I needed to catch that bastard hunter boy now. My muscles rippled as I lifted my huge bat-like wings to prepare for the short flight below. I leapt off with a powerful grunt and gust of air, sailing above the ridge I was residing on for most of the night. With a few flicks from the tips of my wings, I was sent into a spiraling descent to a clearing close by for my ambush.
As I landed, my back legs touched down first and I trotted a few steps to slow down, making sure to be as quiet as possible. I flicked my head to the direction I last saw the boy and started lightly walking forward across the pine needles littering the forest floor. Though this flooring may prick the paws of other low creatures, my hide was thick and resilient to the small rocks, needles and pinecones. My large silver claws tapped quietly as I crept ever closer to the boy, “Gosh this is just too easy.” The boy had his back turned and eyes focused upon one of the biggest deer I’ve ever seen. I almost felt sorry for the boy, a kill that large would’ve fed his family and tribe for at least a week. I wasn’t here for sympathy though; I was here to devour this human no matter what. He’d pay for getting in the way of such a regal dragon like me.
Ever so quietly, I stalked forward being careful not to alert him. As a matter of fact, why was this boy alone? No matter, easy pickings for me. “Shit” I cursed as a branch snapped under my forepaw. The boy craned his head around instantly, his jaw hung wide as can be in pure terror. I stood at least three times his height, no wonder he looked so utterly…terrified. Oh how I loved the look on his face, almost made me want to relish in it forever. Except I didn’t have forever, that became painfully clear as he began to scream. It was so loud, a blood curdling scream. My oversensitive ears, flattened themselves to my skull, they couldn’t take it. My head was pounding, I couldn’t tell what he was screaming…sounded like help? It’s too much. I reared up on my powerful hind legs and let out an earsplitting roar of pain. With that, I leapt onto the boy who believe it or not, was still screaming. I crushed him underneath my forepaw causing him to cough wetly then, with a flash of my fangs, I tore out his throat. His blood tasted sweet and salty, a wonderful mix of flavors. “Thank goodness, that sound was driving me mad.”I said to myself. I removed my forepaw to inspect my damage, the boy lay in a bloody heap with his bow still in hand, must’ve been too frightened to even try loading it.
“DRAGON!”I instantly turned my wedge shaped head around to see not one, but 5 heavily armed men encircling me. Shit, that cursed boy wasn’t alone; I shouldn’t have been so careless! I bared my teeth and growled at the group hoping that would scare them off along with the blood dripping from my scaly maw and bloodstained paws, but these weren’t ordinary creatures that would scurry away from anything larger than them. They’re smart and they know how to kill, cheap tricks wouldn’t work. The largest one, a man with a gruff looking face covered with scars and long black hair, started shouting orders at the group. Almost instantly, 2 men ran back and began loading their crossbows. Soon after, the two other men drew their long silver swords, fit for killing monsters, and began rushing at me. The closest one had ashen colored hair, maybe 40 or so years old, and had a scar running down his right eye. I reared up and spun my massive spined tail at him, landing it right in the side of his head. My spines punched through his skull, killing him instantly. One man managed to plunge his sword right into my back leg as I was distracted with the first man hanging dead from my tail. I yowled in pain and spun around to face him. The second man had short brown hair, no visible scars and looked much younger, perhaps in his twenties? No matter, I lunged forward to grab him with my forearms and threw him hard against a nearby pine tree. He landed with a wet cough and fell hard to the floor, must’ve broken a few bones for sure. A sharp pain rang out through my body as I realized I had been peppered with crossbow bolts, thanks to my tough hide, most had been deflected but not the few that stuck out of my ribs. Riddled with fresh pain, adrenaline started rushing through my blood, filling me with fresh energy and seething anger. I turned to face the archers, who hid behind a large boulder a few paces away, and dashed to reach them. Lucky for me, they were still reloading. I gave a loud roar and gaped my mouth wide open, squeezing my fire glands and releasing a large torrent of flame upon their crouched forms. The first seemed to die instantly, the second tried running a few paces, but soon feel victim to the flame destroying his body and collapsed in a flaming heap.
I was reminded that there was one more man, the commander, as I felt a sharp pain in my gut. Damned guy punched through my belly plates like it was nothing. I nearly felt like collapsing due to the pain riddling my leg, but I wasn’t going out like this, not when I had this much fight left. I tried grasping onto him with an extended foreleg, but he predicted that as he wheeled around, plunging his sword into my paw. I roared in pain and anger, never had anything felt so horrid. I was done with this man. I wheeled around and began to initiate a head on charge to catch him off guard, he seemed ready for that though and prepared to scurry around to get me in the neck. What he wasn’t expecting me to do was twist my body around at the last moment and swing my tail straight for him. Just as easily as the first, my spines punched through his breastplate, puncturing his lungs. I held my tail up, looking him in the eyes as his life poured out in ragged breaths and fresh blood trickling down my tail.
When all seemed silent, I fell onto the forest floor as a bloody mess. Thank goodness we dragons heal quickly. I began to inspect my wounds; the flow of blood had stopped trickling out of my gut. I’m lucky he hadn’t hit anything serious, just added another scar to the collection. I ran my nose over my leg and licked at the wound there, fresh pain exploded and I whimpered. None hurt as bad as my paw, the damned man had cut to the bone. “May have to keep weight off that one for a while.” I angrily picked out the bolts in my side with my teeth and spat them onto the ground.
I managed to stand up and observe the scene around me, bloodied forms lay everywhere. Two fried to a crisp, tasty. I needed to get out of here, who knows who else might’ve heard that squabble. With my luck an army could pop out from between the trees at any moment. Without any hesitation, I walked around and scooped up my kills. I hardly managed to hold all six of them, shame that deer got away, but this was much better-minus the wounds. With a powerful wing thrust, I burst into the sky leaving the battlefield behind. I was going to have a wonderful time devouring such a nice meal at my cave.