‘This too easy Lord. Isno challenge. We fight Thunder Lizard?’
‘Yes,’ said Aquitain.‘It’s time, Orc, follow me. You’ve earned a crack at the lizard!’and he changed shape to his bear form and sprinted off through thetemple grounds toward the ruckus in the west, advising all theothers to hold their positions.
Miranda flew off to getan aerial view and saw Gaston and the Yith wizard spinning inmid-air, hanging onto each other while trying to stab one anotherwith daggers which didn’t seem to be able to penetrate their flesh.Each had enough magical protection on to neutralize the offence ofthe other, resulting in a stalemate; so the fight had virtuallydeteriorated to a mid-air wrestling match. Miranda was tempted tohelp Gaston but not quite sure what she could do, so continued onto check out the fight with the Thunder Lizard.
Aquitain raced quicklyoff in the direction of the fight against the Thunder Lizard withthe Orc trailing behind. He arrived to find the lizard surroundedand being harried by less than a dozen Crin fighters, the resthaving been killed or injured. The olive green coloured monsterstood as tall as three newmans on massive hind legs. It had twosmall arms, a huge head and a mouth filled with long dagger-liketeeth. Despite its size it was surprisingly nimble, and its bitewas lethal to anything it caught.
Zephira was dodgingaround protecting its back and flanks and attacking the Crin, andat least half the dead and injured bore sword marks from herweapon. Her arcane shields protected her from any missile attacks.Rori, Loma and the Barra people were all on one side, shooting theoccasional arrow at the beast but unable to do any damage since itshide was too thick. The Crin had had no luck either, as it hardlyseemed to have sustained a scratch.
‘Where is red wizard?’yelled Aquitain through the mindlink to Rori.
‘I don’t know, GreatLord. He went to help you when you called and I haven’t seen himsince,’ said Rori.
‘Mandy can you find awizard! We need to dispel this one as soon as possible. It’s doingtoo much damage,’ he yelled through their mindlink.
Aquitain hardened hisskin and tore straight into the fray toward the lizard but at thelast moment changed his direction to hit Zephira. She leapt out ofthe way slicing at him with her sword but doing no damage owing tohis hardened skin. He had managed to do what he had set out to,which was move her away from the lizard so that she didn’t gettrampled by it.
He spun around, hisback to the lizard facing her, and used his mental blast on her.She and two Crin in line with his blast froze stunned and fell overbackwards. He shouted to Xentos to have his fighters remove thembut not hurt her as she was dominated. Owing to his recentfirsthand experience of domination, Xentos had no problem with thatrequest from the bear. He directed some of his fighters away fromthe fight, and they dragged Zephira and the other stunned fightersaway to safety.
The lizard responded tohis presence by swinging its huge tail around, hitting him in therear and knocking his two back legs out from under him, causing himto collapse on his stomach. It then spun round flinging the Crin onits back off and charged at him with a huge mouth full ofdagger-like teeth. Aquitain regained his footing just in time andcharged off towards a tree, quickly wheeling around it to face thehuge beast. It crashed, and as its huge body mass smashed the treeover the collision stunned it a little, allowing Aquitain to attackits left flank.
His claws scraped downits rock hard side, leaving little but scratch marks. ‘Damn,’ hethought. ‘It has magical protection as well. No wonder it’s hardlydamaged.’ Moments later it gave a tremendous roar of pain. The Orchad struck it a mighty blow across one of its back legs with Goth’sgreat sword, leaving an open rent out of which blood streamed. Itswung around seeking its new attacker, totally ignoring Aquitain.While the Orc was brave, he also knew when to run, and he took offrunning a dozen paces away before spinning to face it again.
It painfully lumberedtowards him slowed noticeably, allowing Aquitain free access to itsback. He literally climbed up its body and bit into the back of itsneck. While his jaws couldn’t penetrate its flesh, he did manage toget a good grip; and as it tried to dislodge him and he slippedover the right side, he hung on and with his great body weightdragged it over with him. There was a huge thump that rocked theground as the lizard came crashing down on its side.
The Orc and the Crindidn’t waste any time they all came charging in to attack itsunderside. The Orc managed a sweeping blow opening a chasm in itsstomach, while two Crin fighters attacked the open wound to widenit. It bellowed in pain and used its hind legs to fend off theCrin, flinging them several paces away, and tried to right itself;but Aquitain hung on to its neck, holding it down. The Orc came inpurposely to hamstring the beast and managed the open the back ofits already damaged leg. The creature realised that it was beatenthis time. Without being able to stand and move it would only be ashort matter of time before they would overcome it.
Something reallystrange happened at this point. The huge lizard turned into a cloudof mist and evaporated. One moment it was there, the next it wasgone. Everyone standing around was lost for words. It had killedover a dozen Crin and little people, and injured another dozen, andwhen Aquitain had dragged it down and they were on the verge of amighty victory, they were robbed. No one felt like cheering untilAquitain stood up and listened, but could
