Dragon Sleuth: A Fantasy Action Adventure (The ForeSender Chronicles) by Adrian Murphy

Author:Adrian Murphy [Murphy, Adrian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2023-05-08T16:00:00+00:00

The first indication that the creature was almost upon them was a guttural huffing that echoed around the pit, like a set of bellows being used to help start a bonfire. Then a pair of fierce, almond-shaped red eyes glowed in the midnight-black opening.

Barok cursed, heaving at the chain, his fingers and palms bruised and bloodied.

Druleth pushed to her knees, sliding across the gritty sand-covered floor until her back was against the wall. She stared, wide eyed, and gave a gasp of horror as an apparition emerged from the tunnel.

A nightmarish creature shambled into view and halted, a rumbling growl starting in its muscular chest. Its spine bore a ridge of porcupine like bristles, each looking sharp enough to stab out a person’s eye. With a gray-brown matted hide, and an elongated snout atop powerful, squat legs, the terrifying animal resembled a cross between a wolf and a full-grown boar.

Barok’s breath caught in his throat. “A mountain terra wolf,” he grated. “And hungry for human flesh by the look of it.”

“That’s not very comforting, if I’m being honest,” Druleth whispered.

Not for the first time, Barok marveled at the girl’s composed demeanor. Though he could tell she was frightened, she had refused to yield to panic. “Courage,” he murmured. “We’re not dead yet.”

“What’s it doing?”

The terra wolf cocked its massive head, peering at the helpless pair as if trying to decide which to begin with. A huge pink tongue lashed its lipless mouth, and it gave another deep growl.

“It’s assessing us to see if we represent a threat,” Barok said.

“What happens when it realizes we don’t?”

Almost in reply to Druleth’s tremulous question, the terra wolf pawed the dirt with a heavy black hoof, and gathered itself to charge, its gaze fixed on the hapless maid.

“It looks like I’m top of the menu,” she declared with an audible gulp, her voice rising an octave as her breath quickened, her eyes nearly bulging from their sockets.

The beast uttered a grunt, lowered its head, and sprang for Druleth. She screamed, trying to lift her arms to protect her face, the chains impeding her movements.

With a piercing yell, Barok wrenched the iron hoop from the wall in a shower of mortar dust and stone fragments. The heavy spike that had held it in place came with it.

He gripped the barb in both hands and flung himself at the animal, driving the sharp point into the softer flesh at the side of its throat with all the strength he could muster.

The terra wolf screeched, high pitched and almost childlike, and smashed into the wall, missing Druleth by a fraction. She ducked low, bringing her arms above her head.

Blood staining its neck and chest, the creature snarled and pulled itself up, turning to face its tormentor. Its actions were unsteady, the wound evidently causing serious harm.

Barok didn’t give it a chance to recover. He dived forward and rolled, evading a snap of its jaws, then got to one knee and thrust the spike into the beast’s left eye.

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