Stronghold City Draft

Chapter 14

The chupacabra attacks continued.

Another month passed. Lucien and Maya were back home, healthy as could be. Seven more dragons had disappeared. A rule was passed that if a dragon was to leave the city, they couldn't go alone. One day, one of the chupacabras in the prison had decided to play dead. When she was taken out of her cage, she snapped to life and bit the paw of the dragon that was carrying her. When he dropped her from surprise, the chupacabra ran over to the cages and used her dexterous paws to open all of the cages, freeing the captive prisoners. There was a bit of panic caused by the crowd of chupacabras all running away to the wall to go to their home.

Ezekiel began to sadly pack his things. Walking cane- yes, this was coming. Adventure novels- yes, he doubted there were any books to read at his destination. His finest chupacabra fur coat he had made himself- no, he had a feeling that would be violently inappropriate to bring. The old saurian looked through the window of his lovely home one last time. In two months, this lovely city had become stained with bad memories. Among the twenty dragons that had been murdered by Anarchy's servants in the desert were his five closest friends. He had known them for hundreds of years. The news of their deaths had made the saurian feel hollow inside. He looked at the chupacabra heads hanging on his wall and waved them goodbye, making sure to stand in the range of their sightless glass eyes. There was some sort of strange irony in this situation; Ezekiel was once a chupacabra hunter, now he was going to live among the chupacabras. That afternoon, he sold his shop and any items made from chupacabra fur, but could not part with his old hunting rifle. Carrying his belongings in a satchel, he looked up at the wall. Ezekiel had heard the story of the wild saurian that climbed over it, but that saurian was most likely a young one. Ezekiel was old. However, he had a plan.

During the night, Ezekiel roamed along the edges of the wall, searching for eyes glowing in the darkness. He held a piece of meat as bait, hoping it would attract a chupacabra. Eventually, one came. It was sleek and brown with orange eyes and torn ears, and rather large. Ezekiel held out the piece of meat for it to take. It cocked its head. "What are you doing? Trying to poison me?" The saurian took a step back. "Of course not. I want to leave this city, but I can't climb over this wall. I want you to help me get over, and take me to wherever you live." The chupacabra growled. "No saurians from the dragon city. You'll tell them and they'll kill us." Ezekiel shook his head. In order to tell the dragons, I would have to get over the wall again. I can't do that. I'm leaving, and I will not come back to this city. If you help me carry my stuff over the wall and lead me to your kingdom, I'll reward you." The chupacabra thought for a moment. "Okay."

The chupacabra carried Ezekiel's bag over first. Before it would budge, Ezekiel had to open it up to show the chupacabra there were no chupacabra pelts he was trying to smuggle into the chupacabra kingdom inside. Once the chupacabra confirmed this, it carried the bag over and came back for Ezekiel. "Hold on to my back spikes tight. Wrap your legs around my waist, but not around my legs." Ezekiel climbed onto the chupacabra's back. Its back spines were poking his belly and was rather uncomfortable, and with his nostrils this close to the animal's pelt, he could really smell the nasty stench of its body. The chupacabra placed its forepaws in a space between the huge blocks of stone forming the wall, and then its back paws followed suit too. Step by step, the chupacabra was climbing the wall. And Ezekiel was riding it. Was he the first saurian to ever ride a chupacabra? He assumed that he was the first saurian to ever ride a chupacabra climbing up a forty-foot wall of stone, for sure. Eventually, Ezekiel's ride got to the top. Ezekiel got an amazing view of the stars shining in the sky. He had to take a moment to admire the view before hopping back on the chupacabra. The ride up was a bit frightening, knowing if you or your ride fell, it would be the end, but the ride down was terrifying. The chupacabra turned to climb forwards or backwards ever once in a while, and both were scary. When the chupacabra climbed forwards, Ezekiel was facing the ground. He could see it loom before him, and he could feel the blood rush to his head, making him light-headed. Logic said gravity would pull him down. And then, climbing backwards. The chupacabra moved slowly and carefully, and since it couldn't see where it was stepping while going down backwards, Ezekiel was worried they'd fall quite often. Finally, they got to the ground. Ezekiel picked his bag up. "Stronghold City is about five miles away. Do you want to walk, or ride me?" Ezekiel thought for a moment. "Ride. I can't move very fast. Are you sure you can carry me and the bag?" The chupacabra nodded. Even though Ezekiel had packed light, only bringing his hat, trenchcoat, three books, his gun, some bullets, a wooden sculpture of a kekkoriik that one of his friends had carved for him long ago, and an old photograph of him and his friends, he was still worried that the chupacabra couldn't handle the weight. However, his chupacabra was very large, standing about two feet tall, and he could see the muscles under its mangy coat. He mounted the animal and slung his bag over his shoulder. As he climbed atop it, the chupacabra got down on all fours like a dog. Gripping the back spines of the animal, he waited, and then with a burst of speed, the chupacabra rushed forwards. The wind blew Ezekiel's frills and howled like a living thing. The chupacabra was running at about twenty-five miles per hour. He listened to the steady patter of the chupacabra's paws as it ran, and the quiet hiss of the sand its paws kicked up falling to the ground. The cold night air felt good. He couldn't believe this was real. Eventually, the chupacabra leapt down into the opening of a large burrow in the ground. The inside of the burrow was very large and smelt strongly of chupacabras, and sure enough, there were shed hairs on the ground that couldn't have belonged to any other animal. In the sand, there were plenty of four-toed paw-prints that looked very similar to those of a dog, only bigger, and with the long, sharp claws instead of padded toes. And yet, the only chupacabra in sight was the one that had brought Ezekiel here. "This isn't it. Come here." The chupacabra padded over to a deep pit in the floor of the burrow that revealed bedrock. He could see a hole in the stone layer, leading to a cave. The chupacabra leapt down. Ezekiel carefully followed. The cave was filled with chupacabras and even the occasional saurian. Although the place strongly smelled of chupacabras and their scent-markers, it was very beautiful, the way the stalactites dripped water from their tips, the way pools of water glittered, the way glowworms lit up the ceiling like the stars in the night sky. "Come with me." Ezekiel followed the chupacabra to a lean-to it had constructed from scrap from Solis, leaning against a pillar of stone. The den smelt strongly of scent markings. The chupacabra curled up inside its den, its orange eyes glowing in the dim light of the cave. "My name is Bastion," said the chupacabra. "Ezekiel." And so, Ezekiel's new life as a denizen of Stronghold City had begun.