18

That was just a one sided slaughter, but hey. I couldn't argue with the free XP I got from it, but that didn't mean I had to like how easy it had been. I was so close to a level up that I could practically taste it as the group came into view. I was still a few minute flight away from them, but I could clearly see their lookouts. Four lookouts.

Three had lights they were using to keep track of their surroundings, but the fourth seemed to have some sort of visual ability. I circled their encampment twice so wide that I doubt they noticed me before dropping down into the trees to observe them from a distance. It wasn't a huge distance, but it was enough that they were unlikely to notice me even if I did make a little noise of my own. I tracked the movements of most the living things in the area with my infrared, but there were a few snake like creatures that appeared to have arms that didn't show up clearly when using infrared. I kept alternating to track them all using regular vision to track the snake things, and infrared to track everything else.

The snake things blended in well with the tall grass that surrounded the area. They only seemed to move when they were sure they weren't being watched. They didn't appear to know I was watching them though. They had higher intelligence than most of the surrounding creatures in the forest. True predators in their natural hunting ground.

They'd already surrounded the ground before they even started moving. Their deep purple coloration made them near invisible to the humans in the dark. The larger ones were pushing fifty feet long. The smallest one I saw was about twenty feet long. They moved as a group slowly closing the circle around the men in the encampment.

It made me curious how they knew where the others were, and when to move. They had to be communicating with each other some way. Maybe I would understand how they talked if I ate one or two, and transformed into one. My wings twitched as I put my stealth skill to use. I hadn't used it in a good long while so I had to stop often due to my many mistakes.

*****

Joshua Lynn - The one Wyatt had recognized as having enough balls to approach him.

I stared into the dark of the night. Using a mobile spotlight to give myself a clear line of sight as I scanned the surrounding grassland. The nearly transparent grass was surprisingly difficult to see through even with the spotlight. I wondered again what that creature was. The black winged lizard.

It showed a great deal of intelligence, and it didn't seem to have anything against humans. Made me think that it was probably some sort of tamed beast, but I'd never heard of a tamed beast taking to other humans so easily. I would know for sure when we got back to the settlement. A beast that size would have made an impression. The rest of the party was split between killing it if it kept showing up, and just leaving the beast be since it was clearly strong enough to cause us harm, and chose not to.

I was leaning toward leaving it be. If my thoughts were correct, and this beast was in fact a tamed one we'd get in trouble for attacking it when we headed back. I was more than a little curious about the creature that seemed to be using us as baggage carriers for his collection of crystals. Twenty-seven of them last time I counted. I wondered if it was given free reign often.

I froze when I saw something move in the grass. Bringing to spotlight back to it, and holding the light where I saw it. Where I could've sworn I'd seen it. Risk waking the others for what was potentially nothing or leave them until it was too late to warn them on the off chance I was right about seeing something. Easy decision out here.

"MOVEMENT," I shouted alerting the other lookouts, and startling the lighter sleepers awake at the same time.

The eerily still night suddenly became alive with the movements of the men within the camp. The other lookouts were on high alert. Watching to see if they saw the same thing I did.

"God dammit Lynn," Kyle shouted at me from the middle of the camp, "Please tell me you didn't wake us for another false alarm."

"I saw something move sir," I didn't even turn around to face him, and continued scanning for whatever it was that moved, "I'd rather be wrong, and alive then stay quiet, and die."

Kyle grumbled under his breath as I was yanked out of my chair on the spot light, and forced to look at the expedition leader.

"You're a pain in my ass every single time we put you on watch," Kyle yelled into my face, "You wake us up for every little noise, and movement in the dark. What the fuck is wrong with you?"

The sound of hissing behind me made me tense up, and look back over my shoulder. Kyle completely forgot reprimanding me, and dropped me so that he could draw his weapon. The large snake like beast was lashing its claw like hands out at us but it had been stopped in its tracks by something thin, and scaly. Wrapped tightly around its body at least twice. One loop above its arms, and the other below its arms.

The growl that followed seemed to shake the very air around us as two big eyes opened well above the creatures head. The left was a cold glacial blue with just a single thick line of black going through it to mark the creatures pupil. The other was a light golden brown with the same black lined pupil. A flash of gums, and teeth, and the creatures body was suddenly writhing around without a head. Blood pouring out of the open stump as it clawed at whatever was in front of it.