142 - "Flame, Tooth, and Claw” - Korr - A Tale of Heroes

Here's how you can read the story a week (two scenes) ahead of everyone else!

<<<>>>

As Korr rushed toward Parith, he saw his friend draw back the bowstring with a strain and loose another arrow. The beast attacked, shrieking, with its maw gaping wide. Its long teeth dripped burning and smoking drool. The arrow sunk deep into its upper palate, immediately catching the fletching on fire.

The drake shrieked in pain, twisting and writhing in the air before slamming into the balcony and clawing at the banister to desperately get a hold. The impact knocked through one of the support pillars, and shook Korr and Parith to the floor. The long tail flipped and wrapped tight around another pillar. The drake chomped and snarled, trying to get the painful arrow out of its mouth.

Parith clambered to his feet and began readying another arrow. Korr turned around and tried to crawl away from the monster, unable to get a grip on the stone beneath his knees. Finally, he reached a rug running down the hallway and was able to get secure enough to climb to his feet. His heartbeat pounded in his temple and his breathing was fast and shallow. As he looked down the hallway, he froze in fear. The far end of the hall was filled with flames. Bishops and brothers in white, now bloodied and burning robes, were struggling to escape the clawing, screaming fury of the drakes. These beasts were much smaller, but also much quicker and more vicious in their attacks. Guard soldiers tried to defend the others, only to be slashed and overwhelmed as well.

Terror gripped Parith and planted his feet. One of the Bishops held up his staff and shot bright light from its tip, slicing a drake’s head in half. It fell, flopping and twisting, to the floor. No sooner had he done that than another beast ran out of the flames and smoke, jumped off the wall, and landed on the Bishop. The man barely had time to scream before the drake’s teeth tore out his throat and they both tumbled to the floor.

The men still standing fled the flames, running toward Korr and the stairwell. A few of the Bishops turned to throw blasts of light back down the hallway at the pursuing animals. Korr couldn’t tell which screams were from humans and which were from drakes. Flames, crashing blocks of stone, shouts of terror and attack overwhelmed his head with a rush of fearsome noise.

“Run! Flee!” they all shouted as they passed him. He watched them go by, unable to move, unable to even imagine what to do.

Focus yourself! Be the stone! Be the wall!

He stomped his feet into the stone floor, turned to his side, and set his arms in the stance, readying himself. He tried to relax his breathing. In deep, out slow. In deep, out slow...

He turned his eyes away from the blur of motion, looking straight down the hallway, slowing the chaos in his mind. Now I can see! There are one, two drakes coming close. They’re not as big. He could see them snaking their way down the corridor, one clawing on the floor, the other above, in the air. These were a little longer than a man was tall, and moved in a side-to-side slither.

The airborne one reached him first, swooping toward his head. Before it could bite, however, Korr swept his forward arm up, connecting his wrist and fist just under its head and deflecting it away. He smoothly dipped underneath its undulating body as momentum carried it past him.

The slightly smaller one on the floor leapt at Korr's forward leg, and bit into his calf. Hot pain shot up his leg and he clenched his teeth. He spun and slammed his unhurt leg down onto the drake’s neck just below the head. It shrieked and gagged in surprise. Standing above it, he drove fist strikes down onto its head. It was hard to make strong hits, as it swung back and forth, but he managed to daze it. The drake wrapped its tail and body around Korr’s leg and clawed up at his thigh and torso, leaving deep, painful scrapes. That, and the writhing under his feet, threw him off balance and he fell backward.

How do you fight these? Korr shifted his arms up to try and block the flailing claws as the first drake jumped at him, teeth bared. He called out, “Parith! Help me!”

I’m going to die! I don't know how to fight them!

<<<>>>

This continues the story of the heroes in Wynne, in Twynne Rivers, in the world of The Hero's Tale, Family Friendly RPGs. Here's more info on The Hero's Tale, and family friendly RPGing. If you like this story, support us at our Patreon!
Thank you: Chet Cox, Genevieve Springer!

Previous Scene, Next Scene
Start the whole story from the beginning. Start from where this current story arc begins. Start from where the current story part begins