Stronghold City Draft

Chapter 7

A week later, even though the body of the manticore and all of the dead chupacabras had been hauled out of the burrow, the faint smell of blood and death still lingered. Anarchy had decided to keep the skull and the tail-blade of the manticore as a trophy, and he had attracted a great number of new chupacabras after the news of him triumphing over the manticore spread. To his surprise, even a few saurians had decided to join his small kingdom. The saurians weren't interested in conquest, but in return for Anarchy giving him shelter, the intelligent lizards would offer him and his citizens their services. Meanwhile, Anarchy continued to train the chupacabras and every night, they would scale the walls and make several rounds around the city. Sometimes, they would find something interesting, like a bakery full of fresh, delicious dragon food, a small animal inside a cage in a dragon home, or a shiny object dropped on the street. Anarchy also had begun teaching them how to fight. He hoped they would be ready to conquer the city soon.

More and more chupacabras were spotted in the city every night. There was no doubt that the wall was now useless. Many parents refused to let their children walk alone through the city in fear that they would be attacked. Aviary looked over at Maya, who was playing with the puppy. He hoped that his daughter would have the sense to run if she was faced by a real, full-grown chupacabra. Several days ago, Aviary had decided to let Maya keep the puppy for good in hopes that it would keep her busy at home and prevent her from wandering out into the city alone. "Daddy?" asked Maya. "Hm?" said Aviary. "The doggie doesn't have a name. He needs a name. Can you help me name him?" Aviary looked at the small hybrid puppy. It seemed to have grown a little bit since Maya had first taken it home. "Joseph?" Maya shook her head. "Damien?" Maya shook her head again. "Lucien?" Maya thought about it for a second. "Yes! That's perfect!"

The snake hissed, its long, tan, scaly body curled up around it. Its triangular head was raised two feet off the ground, its emotionless yellow eyes staring into Anarchy's own. Spiky brows above each eye made the snake look mean and violent. Its crimson tongue flickered in and out of its mouth. Anarchy knew its mouth held deadly fangs. A single bite had the potential to kill a chupacabra. However, he had hunted these snakes before, and he was not afraid. Anarchy jumped forwards and took the snake at the base of its neck and shook it violently in his jaws until it hung limp, its neck broken. It was a rather large snake, seven feet from head to tail. Anarchy ripped its belly open and began to eat. Just as he had buried his snout in the dead snake's belly, he heard pawsteps behind him. He whirled around and growled at the chupacabra standing there. "It's my snake," he hissed. "My lord, I wasn't intending to steal your kill. I just came to say that the expansions of the burrow are going as planned." Anarchy buried his muzzle in the snake again. "Good," he said with a full mouth. "So, how has recruiting saurians to keep the city running gone?" The chupacabra nervously played with its front paws. "Err, well, sir, the saurians don't seem very cooperative. So far, we've almost lost two chupacabras. Are you absolutely sure you want to meddle with saurians? They're very dangerous and unpredictable. " Anarchy whipped around, a snarl etched on his scarred face. The spikes lining his back rose up. "Do not question me or my motives. The saurians are vital for my plan. They're far more crafty than us. They have fire. They have tools. They can build. Get back out there and continue recruiting." He whipped around back to his snake, hitting the other chupacabra in the snout with his tail as he turned.

When Anarchy returned back to the under-renovation cavern, he realized that the chupacabra may have stretched the truth a bit when it said everything had gone good. There were mounds of sand in several corners, more than likely results of small cave-ins caused by chupacabras carelessly digging through the walls while expanding the burrow. Two chupacabras were hauling a third, presumably dead one away. Its fur was coated in sand. More than likely, it had experienced a cave-in while digging and asphyxiated before anyone could dig it out. Anarchy had a feeling this wasn't the only chupacabra to suffer the same unfortunate fate. "I am going to kill that liar," hissed Anarchy under his breath. Fuming, he stalked over to his den and curled up inside. He shot out with a yelp after the ceiling of his tiny cubbyhole collapsed on him, covering him with sand. He shook himself off and growled. At that moment, a small party of chupacabras entered the cavern with three saurians that looked very tense and on edge. Their hands had been clumsily tied together with rope and the chupacabras held the end of the ropes in their forepaws like leashes. The large reptiles nervously stepped inside, their frills spread wide. The chupacabras around them growled every time one slowed down or took a step in the wrong direction. Anarchy let out a loud sigh. When he had asked for saurians, he had asked for saurians who would actually willingly help him, not captured slaves. "You weren't supposed to take them captive, you idiots," snarled Anarchy. The chupacabra that had come up to him while he was eating the snake spoke. "Sir, you asked for saurians. None of the saurians we came across would willingly come with us, so we had to improvise." Anarchy raked his claws across the other chupacabra's face, and it let out a loud whimper. "Idiots! They're going to escape and tell the other saurians about how they were kidnapped by the most idiotic bags of mange in the entirety of Solaria! Chances are, any time soon they'll bite through those ropes and run off before you can even blink." The chupacabra in charge stood there in shock, breathing heavily as blood pooled from the wounds on the base of its snout and its eye. "Get digging in those tunnels right now before I claw out your other eye." Anarchy shoved it in the direction of the back of the cave and took a look at the saurians. Two of them were pale green and one was tan. One of the green ones was noticeably taller than the other saurians and seemed to be the most mean-looking of the bunch. The tan one was the most panicked. Its purple eyes darted around nervously. The other green one still looked uneasy, but it was definitely looking around the scene with curiosity. Maybe he could still get them to work for him somehow. "Hey, talking rug, how about you let us out of this stupid smelly hole this instant?" said the big green one. Anarchy shook his head. "You work for me now. Now, I do apologize for the way those dumbasses dragged you here. I'll punish them later." The tall saurian's frill spread wide open, and Anarchy could see the veins within the thin membranous skin of the frill. "I am not taking orders from a rug." The other green saurian spoke. "We may be prisoners, but we still have dignity." Anarchy dug the sharp tips of his claws into the sandy ground. The tan saurian stood up a little straighter. "Ooh, imagine what the dragons would do to you if they found out you had killed their queen. I can see it ending in a number of ways. None of them would be good for you." The spines on Anarchy's back shot up. "Is that a threat?" The biggest saurian laughed. "Your idiotic mange-bags dragged us here, but that doesn't mean you can control us." Anarchy hissed. "Alright then, let's play a game. You listen to all of my orders- every single one- and every time you purposely disobey me I bite you. I'm not afraid of you. I've killed reptiles bigger than you for my supper. Eventually, if you continue to disobey me you will die from my venom. It would be a pity if it got to that point, just because of your stubbornness." The large saurian spoke. "I'm pretty sure I made it clear before that I'm not going to be taking orders from you. Are there vinegaroons in your ears, or are you genuinely as stupid as you are ugly?" Anarchy lost his temper. He sprung up onto the saurian, knocking him off-balance. The saurian was now lying flat on the ground on his back, with Anarchy standing atop him. In Anarchy's forepaw, he held a long, thin, bright crimson strip of flesh with a forked tip. The saurian's tongue. He showed the disembodied tongue to the other two saurians and they went still and silent. Anarchy let the now-tongueless saurian go and he weakly sauntered over to the other two, blood trickling from the corners of his mouth. "Do not disobey me," commanded Anarchy.

"Is this where you want the saurians?" A small chupacabra gestured to the three saurians who had been tightly bound. Each one of them had rope tightly tied around their snouts, arms, and legs. Anarchy was sure that they were unable to escape. "Yes," said Anarchy. "Honestly, it doesn't matter where we leave them. They can't do anything anyways."