I motioned for Skrew to stay where he was as I approached him.
“You aren’t very good at staying quiet,” I whispered. “So, stay here and wait for me. I’m going to go see what’s happening. I’ll be back soon, and then we can continue toward Brazud.”
He frowned and patted his stomach.
“I’ll see if there’s anything to eat, too,” I reassured him. “If there is, you’ll get the bigger portion. Deal?”
Skrew smiled, mimed eating, and rubbed his stomach. Then he found a thick bush to hide in and made himself comfortable. When he was settled, I turned, stayed low, and stalked toward the sounds of battle.
There were five creatures with features that made me think they were male. Muscular limbs gripped dagger-like blades. Short horns grew from their chins and cheeks like a beard. Some of them appeared to have painted their spikes, but most were black.
Probably makes better camouflage, I thought. The ones with painted spikes could be elders or leaders of some kind. Maybe they indicate rank or status?
One of them wore a strange necklace with a large crescent-shaped pendant as black as Ebon. I was curious, but turned my attention back to the battle
The creature they were fighting was a horror from a drunken sailor’s worst nightmare. It appeared that the aliens had surrounded a giant octopus that had been half-swallowed by an even larger brown bear. Five tentacles, each at least three yards long, grew along the circumference of a mouth that could open almost as wide as the monster’s whole body. The inside of its huge red maw was lined with rows of teeth as long and as thick as my thumb.
The aliens danced around the amorphous tentacle-bear, ducked, and jumped as it struck out at them with its tendrils. Almost every one of the monster’s strikes resulted in another small wound.
“Two!” one of the aliens shouted.
In response, a slightly smaller male dashed forward and climbed on the monster’s back. He grabbed a fistful of fur and held on as the beast worried itself with the three aliens standing in front of it. A moment later, the order of “one” was issued, and a second alien joined the first. Together, they began hacking away at the monster’s back and were almost immediately covered in blood.
It was a primal set of tactics but effective.
The huge predator thrashed, threw one of the aliens to the ground and turned, obviously intending to chew its tormentor to death. The three others on the ground sprang into action.
One shouted at the monster, attempting to distract it from his fallen comrade. The second charged at the beast, who was now facing broadside, and climbed onto its back, helping the third who was still carving at its body with its dagger. The fourth charged, inspected the monster’s rear-end for a moment, then stabbed hard with his blade.
If the pain on the hybrid-bear’s back had been bad, it was apparently nothing compared to the pain the stab to its nether-region had delivered. The monster’s trumpeting sound of anguish reverberated through my whole body and made my bones hum a warning.
The tentacle-bear spun quickly, causing the two clinging to its back to stop stabbing and hold on, which couldn’t have been easy, judging how much of the thing’s blood they were covered in.
The object of its rage had already bounded away and had joined the other two on its back. The monster roared its trumpeting sound again and tried to throw the aliens from its back but was too weak to do so. They continued hacking, and it continued slowing, until finally, there was no movement at all.
I knew a fighting team when I saw one, and the aliens I was watching had obviously fought together many times before. Besides a few commands to draw their attention to an immediate need, all their leader had to do was his own part. They’d fought and killed before. Probably many times before. I was impressed.
I turned to leave and sighed when I heard Skrew open up with a shouted, vile string of curse words. He’d been found.
I sprinted toward his hiding spot and discovered two more green-clad aliens pulling him from under the bush. Each had a pointy dagger leveled at him, and each wore a grim expression. Not on my watch, lizard-man.
“Dirty-booger, foot-foul, water-mouth, dung-muncher!” Skrew hissed. The aliens were not impressed.
They were impressed, however, when a human erupted from the undergrowth, carrying a black sword and bellowing a war cry. They were so impressed, they froze in place and obliged me by standing completely still so that I could crash into them properly.
I heard one of their bones snap when I ploughed into—and through—them. The alien cried out in pain. I slid to a halt, smashed over a large tree to slow my momentum, and rushed back to the two aliens sprawled on the ground. I had to make it quick,. Otherwise, one of them might get a lucky shot and take out my guide.
I glanced at both, attempting to quickly determine which one was the bigger threat but found it difficult to decide. One was unconscious, and the other had a broken arm. Neither were trying to get up.
“Let’s go,” I said to Skrew, who shivered to himself at my words.
“The nasty green were going to kill Skrew,” he whispered.
“I know. Let’s—” I stopped when I noticed the first alien emerging from the woods. I only saw one, but I knew the others were nearby. I guessed I was surrounded. I respected them, though. I didn’t want to kill any unnecessarily, but I wouldn’t allow them to hurt Skrew either.
The one who’d emerged
