Stronghold City Draft

Chapter 4

The next morning, there was a knock on the door. "Yes?" asked Aviary politely as he opened the door. Standing in the doorway was a large bipedal green lizard wearing a top hat and a trenchcoat. "Ezekiel?" asked Aviary. "I have some important news. It's not good at all, I'm afraid," said the saurian gentleman. "Your young daughter could be in danger." Ariala, who was playing a board game with Maya, called out from the other room? "What's going on?" she asked. "Last night, when I was about to go to sleep, I saw a worrying sight on top of the wall. There were two chupacabras up atop the wall. I'm certain if they can get up, they can get down, which means they can come into the city," explained Ezekiel. Aviary paused, one of his muscular legs lifted up in the air. "A-are you sure it wasn't just an owl's eyes you saw?" Ezekiel shook his head. "It wasn't just the eyes I saw." Aviary found it hard to believe this. He had helped construct the wall; it was specifically designed to keep any dangerous wild animals out of the city. It didn't have a lot of footholds, so it was near impossible to climb, and the spikes would keep any creatures from even getting close. "But how? The wall isn't supposed to be climbable," said Aviary. "I'm not sure how they did it, but something tells me you're underestimating them. I used to hunt chupacabras. I know just how crafty and cunning they can be. They're slyer than a fox, sneaker than a coyote, and more adaptable than a stray dog. They aren't your average pest," Ezekiel said. "If I were you, I wouldn't let your daughter out by herself." The saurian turned and left. "Ariala, we have an issue," said Aviary.

"You know, I'm honestly not surprised ole Zeke saw chupacabras on top of the wall. They've gotten over before," said a gray wyvern with red spines lining her back. "One tried to jump me when I was minding my own business, walking in an alley. You could tell he wasn't using his brain. I gave him a licking he'll never forget. The idiot ran away yelping with his ear torn to shreds and only three legs remaining. He deserved it, 101 percent." She stood proudly with her wings to her sides. "Maruu, I'm pretty sure you're making this up," said one of the three dragons in front of her. Maruu frowned. "I'm not a liar. Listen, I'm pretty sure you all are assuming chupacabras are far dumber than they actually are. They aren't geniuses, per say, but they've got enough brains to figure their way around the wall." Maruu reached behind her and took out a grotesque object covered in mangy tan fur. It looked like the bony lower leg of a dog, only instead of soft, padded paws, it had birdlike toes with sharp talons. "Besides, I still have the idiot's leg to prove it. I didn't mean to take off his leg, but when I threw him against the side of a building it must have been messed up pretty bad, so I found this by the side of the wall a day later. I assume he must have had to chew it off because it was messing with his balance. It works pretty well as a backscratcher." Two of the dragons took three steps back. "I cured it so it won't rot. It actually smells better than it did when it was on him, seeing as I cleaned it. You know, that chupacabra should thank me. I taught him a valuable life lesson when I whooped his sorry ass. If he hasn't been picked apart by the vultures already, he's probably miles away and won't bother a single dragon ever again."

Anarchy was about three miles away from the borders of Solis, that much was true, but Maruu was wrong about one thing. Anarchy's army had grown to about 50 overnight. As soon as the wild chupacabras heard about him knowing how to scale the wall, they were on board with him. The burrow was now starting to get a little bit full, and to any onlookers would have been extremely smelly due to the large amount of mangy animals inside. To Anarchy's delight, some of his subjects had taken to bringing him freshly killed prey and interesting objects, such as large bones and shiny, dragon-made things. He was happy, sitting on a small pile of trinkets, ruling over his 50 subjects in a sandy cave slightly larger than a school gymnasium. It wasn't the grandest kingdom, but Anarchy knew it would grow bigger. Some of his subjects had built small dens in the burrow, either by digging into the side of the burrow's walls or constructed out of whatever they could build it out of. Anarchy had his own little cubbyhole built into the wall about ten feet behind him, in the very back of the cave. It wasn't a den fit for a lord, but it would do for now. After all, this was just the beginning. Anarchy surveyed his small kingdom from his pile of riches with happiness. "Lord Anarchy?" asked a smaller, reddish-brown chupacabra standing in front of Anarchy's pile. "Yes?" The small chupacabra fiddled with its forepaws. "So, while I was out hunting prey, I found a saurian camping out somewhere nearby. He said he had heard of the three-legged chupacabra lord, and he offered to build a new leg for you if you could trade something for return." Anarchy looked down at the bloody stump of his left leg. It certainly was a hindrance to only have three legs. He couldn't walk upright anymore and it was much more difficult to pick objects up. Anarchy certainly had objects of value to trade. "Did the saurian give any specific examples of what he wanted in return?" he asked. "Uh, yes. He said he would accept any valuable dragon-made objects." The small chupacabra nervously twitched its ears. "Take me to him."