Terror Eighteen - Snack

Terror Eighteen - Snack

The lead wyvern, the largest in the pack, lands with the grace of a bird of prey, wings sweeping around and kicking up a gust that has me stumbling back a step.

I, uh, I swallow. I have to admit Im not super fond of flying. At all. But wyverns are very fast, and they can fly high enough that we wont have a hard time spotting something like a caravan, even if its a days travel ahead of us.

Felixs jaw is hanging open. Is that a dragon?

I push my glasses up the bridge of my nose, happy that I can turn this into a teaching moment. No, its a wyvern. Taxonomically, theyre in the same family as dragons, but youll note that their wings are actually arms. At least, thats how theyre attached to their skeletons. A dragon has four limbs, and their wings are actually on their upper backs, like shoulder blades.

It feels like a dragon to me, Felix says.

They do share some ancestry, I think. Well, not these, theyre monsters, so they didnt exactly evolve into their shape. Which is interesting. Why do monsters look the way they do? And why do they so often look like creatures seen in nature? Its an intriguing question, but no one seems to have explored it. At least, no one who Ive found.

Im not sure about all of this, Felix says.

Well be fine.Updated from novelbIn.(c)om

And then the kidnappers, who I had totally forgotten about, burst through the underbrush. Six guys armed with knives and clubs.

Got you, you little... oh, the biggest of them says.

I blink at him, then follow his gaze to where he was staring at the wyvern next to me. It must have been somewhat intimidating to expect to come across two girls and instead find yourself up against a four-metre-long monster with scaled skin and teeth longer than a handspan.

A-a dragon! one of them squeaks.

Actually, its a wyvern, I correct.

They start screaming.

I sigh, and then point at them while glancing back to the wyvern. Another pair of the big flying monsters land in the clearing, and a few more circle overhead. I give the monsters a simple order.

Snack.

Felix ducks down as the wyverns shoot off after the would-be kidnappers; only the biggest of them stays back. I press a hand to its chest, keeping it in place. Well, not literally. Its a lot heavier and stronger than me, but it listens to what I say because Mom would be really miffed if it didnt.

Lets pack our things away, I say as I shrug off my backpack and the bag full of food I got at the inn.

Okay, Felix says.

Im glad that Felix isnt too bothered by the sounds of people screaming and the wyverns having an impromptu snack. The kidnappers even have a chance to get away, what with the woods providing good cover. As long as they zigzag, they might be fine.

If I can look past the fact that everything is very far away, its not hard to make out the road cutting across the landscape. Much of the area is entirely untouched. There are too many monsters this far from the city, so there arent any homes or anything.

The area around the road is cleared; no trees for a ways and the brush looks like its frequently burned down to keep the grass low.

Its a precaution to stop monsters from sneaking up on any passing caravans.

I cant see any caravans though, not for as far as I can make out, which isnt that great with goggles on instead of my glasses.

Still, I figure it wont be hard to spot them when we get close enough. The road is dry, and there hasnt been rain in the last couple of days. Theyll be kicking up dust.

Whelp, we have a bunch of time and not much to do, I say.

Do you know any stories? Youre smart, right?

I cough. Obviously I wouldnt blush at such faint praise, but its nice to hear. Well, I guess I know a thing or two. Honestly, I dont read that many fiction books, but I know plenty of stories that are at least a little true.

A little true?

Who wrote a story will tell you a lot about what was and wasnt exaggerated. If youre on the same side as the hero, youll speak well of them, but if youre on the other side, theyre your enemy, and youre not likely to consider them worth a lot of praise.

I think that makes sense, Felix says. We have heroes in the Roughs, but the guards are always talking about them like terrible people. Brie Who Stole Bread was my favourite hero.

I never heard of that one.

Its about a girl that was real clever and who stole an entire bakerys worth of bread, Felix says. And then she gave it out to everyone that needed something to eat, which is everyone in the Roughs.

Thats something, I say. Most of the stories I know are a bit... bigger in scope. My favourite story is about Roderic the Renegade. I like the ending.

His name and title have the same sounds at the start?

A lot of heroes are named that way. Its easier to remember, I guess, I say.

How does it end? Felix asks.

Well, the official ending in the books is that after a big final battle in the land of monsters, he strikes a blow against the God of Darkness, and shes so impressed she lets him return to his home where he lives happily ever after. But I asked Mom, and she said that he was a bit of an idiot, and by the time she noticed him invading, her monsters had already eaten him.

Oh, Felix says.

But the stories are really entertaining! He was the hero of his age!

***