2 The Beast

Darkness surrounded him, and that familiar voice from past dreams entered his mind. "Rothox, your destiny approaches. Do not stray from the path."

He spun around to the source of the voice, but found only blackness. He awoke.

The smell of breakfast wafted from the kitchen. Tendrils of flavor teased his nostrils, and his stomach gurgled. Pushing himself to his feet, he slung the strap of his bag over his right shoulder and made for downstairs, keeping his hood up.

A middle-aged woman greeted him at the bar. "Morning, love. Can I get you some breakfast?"

"Please."

She disappeared into the kitchen and returned a few minutes later with a plate of eggs, bacon, warm bread, and jam. "Are you here to help?" She set the plate down.

"Sorry?"

"The beast that's been attacking villagers. I assume you are here to hunt it?"

He stuffed a slice of bacon into his mouth and nodded.

"I'm guessing that large fella is too," she said over her shoulder while continuing about her business.

"This 'large fella'. Did he have pointy ears and a missing tusk?" Rothox bite into the bread.

"Yeah, that was him. Didn't even have breakfast, just headed straight out."

"When?"

"Bout an hour ago."

"Shit." He grabbed the bread and another piece of bacon and got up quickly from the stool. He turned to leave.

"Ahem."

Placing a slice in his mouth, he fiddled through his purse and tossed a silver piece to the lady. She caught it just like the younger maiden had the previous night.

"Good luck," she called to him.

Roth forced his way out the door into the deep, fresh layer of snow.

He trudged through the snow, following a set of footprints. They went alongside the inn toward the forest at its back. It was a calm morning. The sun shone, glittering off the white powder. Rothox didn't have to track the footprints for long. Eventually they stopped at a tree a few minutes into the forest.

"Took you long enough." Leaning against the tree was the half-orc Garrok, sharpening his battleax.

Rothox stopped, surprised. "I thought for sure you'd gone off on your own. Not that you owe me anything."

Garrok pushed himself off the tree, blocking his path. "I'm true to my word." That hint of annoyance and slight anger returned to his voice. "However, before we go, I need to know who I'm working with." He had glimpsed Rothox's visage the night before, but he wanted to see if his new companion would reveal it willingly.

Rothox put his hands up in a defensive apology. Then, with reluctance, he slowly removed his hood, revealing his face. His skin was dark reddish-purple, with sharp charcoal cat-like eyes. His hair was black and short, tousled from the countless hours spent under the hood. On either side of his head, what would have been his most prominent features, if he hadn't shaved them down, were two nubs of his horns.

"Satisfied?" Rothox threw the hood back over his head.

Garrok nodded and let Rothox pass by.

"Although I heard your kind had a tail."

Rothox sighed, reached back in his cloak and unclasped his tail from where he kept it pinned up, hidden. It was uncomfortable, but he had grown accustomed to it. His tail, the same color as his skin, released, falling into the snow. It was cold, but he swished it around, excited to let it free. He let it drag through the snow for a moment while they walked, creating a trail, before finally lifting it out of the cold powder.

They kept walking, Rothox now in the lead.

From behind him, Garrok watched the tail sway with each step, finally asking, "What can it do?"

"What do you mean? It's a tail. It doesn't 'do' anything."

"Seems pointless," Garrok grunted.

Rothox stopped, waited for Garrok to come beside him, swung his tail around and whacked Garrok on the leg.

"Ouch," Garrok said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

Rothox returned his tail to its hiding place. It was getting cold.

They walked in silence through the forest for a few hours, heading toward the base of the Broken Teeth Peaks, a natural barrier between the harsh ice desert of the Kingdom of Dubahar and the north-western part of the central Kingdom of Sa'vour.

Rothox continually scanned for any sign of the suspected beast. With each step, taking them further into the mountains.

A clearing appeared up ahead and Rothox spotted a tree with large claw marks across it, then another set a couple of paces beyond. Tracing his hand over the gouges in the bark, two things came to mind. The first was they were too high on the tree for any beast he knew unless a massive bear had stood on its hind legs; the second was the depth of the slashes. Whatever this creature is, the power behind it gave Rothox worry.

His worries were justified. Not a hundred feet from those initial markings lay a bloodbath of hunters torn asunder.

The bodies had become frozen, ice forming from the pools of blood and viscera. own had dared to venture back into the forest and the storm after the young lad had arrived at death's door.

Rothox knelt and checked the wounds on the first man. He was middle-aged, with short brown hair. His winter coat had torn to shreds, leaving his chest and stomach exposed. He still clutched a longbow. A solitary arrow lay beside him, a half full quiver lay underneath his body.

"What are you seeing?" Garrok looked over his shoulder.

"These must be the missing hunters from the bounty." Rothox pulled the piece of paper from his pocket. "Says here: six missing hunters." He did a quick count. There were only five bodies.

"I heard about the lad who came back. They said he had claw marks across his back, barely made it back — got lucky. Garrok knelt beside Rothox. "What could have done this?"

"Something huge. Did you see the height of these scratches on the tree?"

Searching his pockets, he came across a few pieces of gold, some dried meat and berries. Similar findings followed in each of the other two bodies, as well as a few hunting knives. Having no need for the ranged weapons, he left them, but took the gold and the knives.

Garrok gave him a look.

"What? Not like they need it."

A loud roar shook them from their investigation. Simultaneously, they faced the direction of the noise. They took off at a sprint. After a few hundred meters, a cave entrance formed on the mountain's side with smeared blood on the snow out front.

Rothox reached down and felt it, still warm. He quietly signaled to Garrok, who unsheathed his shield and battleax from his back, the sharp edges shimmering in the midday light. Labored breathing was coming from just inside the cave. Garrok entered first, finding a man seated just inside the entrance.

"Where is it?" Garrok bent down, closer to the man.

His intestines spilled out of his open chest wound. Blood spurted out of his mouth when he tried to speak. All that came out was a gurgle of air, blood, and bile.

Garrok adjusted him against the rock, trying to make him comfortable, but there was nothing he could do for the hunter. "I'm sorry, friend." He left the man to die.

Rothox silently crept in after Garrok, daggers akimbo, toward the dying man. He slowly slid the edge of his sharp blade over his exposed throat, easing his passing.

"Your struggle is over," he whispered. Pressing on, he caught up to Garrok, who nearly jumped at his approach.

"Shit! Where did you come from?"

"I prefer the shadows."

"It looks like the cave winds deeper into the mountain."

Another roar and the sound of someone shouting echoed throughout the cavern. Garrok was about to rush in, but Rothox held him back. "Let's do this quietly. Who knows what type of beast we are going to meet down there? You saw what it did to the hunters."

Garrok reluctantly obliged, and Rothox took the lead. The cave system went on for a hundred meters before they came across a large opening and a battle scene. A massive blue and white Yeti held a small human girl in the air. Her elven companion wielding a fine longsword and a kite shield slashed at the monstrosity. The girl struggled in the monstrous paw but using the elf's attack to distract it she unleashed a blast of fire from her hand into the chest of the Yeti. It let out a loud roar of pain and dropped her.

She fell awkwardly to avoid a stalagmite, landing on her back forcing the air from her lungs. Before she could gather herself, the foot of the angry Yeti slammed into the ground, rolling to avoid it. It swung wildly, hitting the chest plate of the elf, sending him flying into the cave wall. He was slow to get up.

This was their opening. Rothox sulked in but Garrok had a fire in his eyes and with a roar that matched the ferocity of the Yeti he rushed past the amazed Rothox.

So much for stealth

The Yeti spun on Garrok with a terrifying presence of bloodied sharp fangs, curled horns and an aura of cold that would have frozen a normal being in its tracks, but Garrok, a seasoned fighter, was unphased. He swung his battleax, cutting a few inches into the left arm of the Yeti.

Rothox attacked, leaping off the sedimentary rock, stabbing down with his daggers. Both blades penetrated the outer layer of fur. One landed a painful stab, down to the hilt, and the other found bone and stopped halfway. He hung onto the beast, swaying with its sporadic movement.

Adrenaline and anger snapped the creature out of its pain. Grabbing Rothox, it tossed him clear across the cavern. He bounced against the hard stone. Garrok dodged the first grapple, but the second attack hammered down onto him. He brought the shield up in time, but the force caused it to splinter. He backed away defensively, tossing the broken shield away and gripping his axe with both hands.

The girl, quiet since her release, was murmuring something under her breath. When she finished, a wave of magically created fire spread out from her hands, engulfing the already heavily injured Yeti in flames.

Garrok knew this was the moment to finish the beast. He ran at the Yeti. Rothox, seeing his new friend charge, dashed with great speed, beating Garrok to the beast. He ran his daggers along the large legs of the creature. His weapons cut something inside the resistance, giving way and the Yeti stumbled, its legs struggling to hold its own weight.

Garrok brought his weapon up, took two steps, bounding off a boulder beside the Yeti, using it to propel himself up to its head. He swung with everything he had; the blade slicing clean through his target. The Yeti slumped to its knees and fell forward at the same time Garrok landed. Its gigantic head slid from its shoulders, rolling to the feet of the girl, coming up to her waist. The two men, panting, looked at each other, then faced the girl.

She was beaming with excitement. "Hi, I'm Alissa!"