The First Fight

The lizard-man pulled back on the chain causing it to twirl in the air and settle around his shoulder again. He stood with his arms to his side making sure that Marybeth and Sophie stayed behind him.

"A perception Law. Intriguing." The lizard-man said. "Let me take a guess. As long as you can see your dagger it will come back to you?"

The hobgoblin stared and snarled at the question. His companions growled in anger as well. The wolves moved back and forth keeping their eyes on the lizard-man, drool dripping from their lips.

"What? Are you angry I figured out your Laws conditions? It was so obvious. The way you focus your sight on the dagger in the grass and then show it off to all of us. This should be an easy fight. First I'll take out your line of sight and then send you running." The lizard-man lifted his hand to his shoulder to grab at the chain to which it came alive, whipped around, and continued to hover like a snake in the air before the lizard-man.

"You worm!" Krik yelled. "You think you can fight me? Can fight all of us? Don't think yourself so smart. I could tell your Law as soon as I saw you. I'll take that chain and gut you like a fish. Get them!"

There were three other hobgoblins with Krik each with their wolves, though they were much smaller than Silverstride. Only two had bows and one a long spear with a bone carved tipped. The bow hobgoblins nocked arrows and fired them. The arrows came straight at the lizard-man who didn't budge. Marybeth gasped in anticipation of watching her rescuer get killed by arrows.

The chains flashed forward in an instance and knocked the arrows out of the air. The lizard-man smiled as they did. Just as quickly as the chains the lizard-man ran forward, chain out in front of him knocking away arrows and eventually a spear. He turned and twisted letting the chains swirl around him like a metallic tornado. The lizard-man laughed the entire time like it was a children's game to him. The hobgoblins yelled in both fear and anger as they tried to kill the lizard-man. The two with bows let them drop to the ground and retrieved short swords. They kicked their heels into the wolves and had them bound in a circle around the lizard-man.

He was surrounded now by the three smaller hobgoblins while their leader, Krik, sat back on Silverstride and watched in glee. The lizard-man kept his ground though he was hunched forward like a bobcat ready to bounce, the chains floating around him in an x-pattern.

"What are you waiting for?" The lizard-man taunted. "I'm surrounded. Come and get me."

The three hobgoblins looked at each other waiting for one of the others to make a move. Eventually, Krik yelled at them in some kind of language Marybeth couldn't understand. It sounded like a series of gurgles and burps to her but whatever he said had finally convinced the goblins to attack. All three of them bounded forward on their wolves right at the lizard-man. Again Marybeth found herself gasping in horror wanting to close her eyes or the eyes of her little sister who was standing next to her eyes wide open in awe.

"Marybeth, are you seeing this? He's like a superhero." Sophie said watching as the lizard-man dashed back and forth whipping his chain around him. "It's amazing."

"Sophie now is our chance we have to get out of here. Follow Franklin to the village." Marybeth stood and grabbed at her sister's wrist. Sophie didn't move her focus caught up in the excitement of the battle. "Come on Sophie."

A broken blade came spinning into the air and impaled itself into the ground not five feet from the sisters. The sound of whelping and whimpering wolves followed. Marybeth looked back at the fight. It was over. At least between the lizard-man and the three hobgoblins. The hobgoblins kicked hard on the sides of their wolves and commanded that they retreat. They were all missing their weapons or they had been broken and useless. The wolves that they rode on were limping away and letting out little sounds like a beaten dog.

"You bastards!" Krik yelled out at the three as they ran away. "The master will surely devour you now! Unless I kill you myself first."

"It's just me and you now long-face." The lizard-man had a wide smile on his face. Long rows of razor-sharp teeth shined out of that smile. The lizard-man had no sign of injury and the blood that he had splattered across his face and chest was a sickly yellow color. Marybeth knew that it wasn't his. The chain no longer hung in the air like the head of the snake, instead, it laid on the ground like a predator ready to strike.

Krik's face started to turn red with anger as he stared down at his opponent. He gargled a mess of sounds as he kicked at Silverstride who, like his master, also burned with rage. The wolf and rider shot forward, dagger in Krik's hand. As the hobgoblin got close he flung his dagger forward. Like a living snake, the chains pulled up and caught the blade in mid-air. Within less than a second, the dagger faded away and reappeared back in Krik's hand as he swung it down striking at the lizard-man. The blade got close and almost cut across the lizard-man's neck but was rebounded by a lower part of the chain that was waiting behind the lizard-man's back.

Krik reigned in Silverstride at the same time as swinging his blade to come forward and bite at the lizard-man's leg. Luckily the chain-wielder caught sight of the attack and was able to move his leg out in time. A piece of fabric from his pant legs was caught in the wolf's teeth and was torn away and stuck in its jaws.

"Now you've made me mad." The lizard-man smirked. "These are my favorite pants."

The chain shot out from under the ground hitting the wolf in the stomach and knocking it a few feet into the air and onto its back. Silverstride landed on top of the hobgoblin and passed out. Krik was screaming and hollering trying to shove the huge beast off of him.

The lizard-man stepped up just outside of the hobgoblin's reach and bent down.

"Now. I'm going to let you live. Never been a big fan of killing people even long-faces like you. But when I let you go you go back to your master and tell him he can never feast on the people of Freebrook again. Is that understood?" The lizard-man asked as his chains slowly folded itself around his chest and shoulders.

"I'll kill you! I swear it. You let me go and I'll come back here with a whole army and kill you!" Krik spat in the lizard-man's face. The lizard-man casually wiped away the spit from his chin and in the blink of an eye ripped the blade from the hobgoblin's hands and held it behind his back.

"See I know your requisites. Sight. It was easy enough to figure out. If you can't see it, you can't use it. So I'm going to say this again. Don't ever come back here," The lizard-man said.

Krik without his dagger crumpled into fear. The hobgoblin shook as he nodded his head in agreement.

"Good." The lizard-man's chains slowly wrapped around the unconscious wolf's body and lifted it enough for the short yellow creature could crawl its way out from underneath. Without a thought, Krik ran away towards the direction that his comrades had gone.