The Sky Demons Part Two: Quest

Chapter Twelve- Captive canines

Ketsuo- Captive canines  

The cerberus lunged, the snake heads forming its mane all striking towards me in unison and I forced a little extra strength into my legs to jump backwards. The beast tried to follow me but Kayira was already there, jabbing at its faces with her staff, withdrawing quickly as the middle head made to bite at it. She moved out of the way just in time to avoid her weapon catching alight as Brutus threw fire at the cerberus’ faces with a yell as he finished a ‘Firahah’ incantation.

As the guard dog backstepped, shaking its heads and yelping, I shifted into wolf form and ran around it so that I could leap at it from the side. I sank my claws and teeth into the beast’s flank and back as deeply as I could, swiping at the cerberus’ snake-tail as the creature bucked around erratically.

A growl rippled through the air and paws thumped against the ground; another huge dog with blood-stained grey fur materialised out of the mist and leapt at both of us. We all fell to the floor, the dazed snakes of the cerberus’ mane trying to bite at any piece of flesh near them and the cerberus itself crying out under the weight of the other two creatures piled on top of it.

There was shouting. I heard a ‘swish’ of movement above me and the larger dog was knocked away with a yelp. I shifted into my usual anian form and immediately felt hands gripping me under my arms. Brutus lifted me up, muttering under his breath. Under my feet the ground shifted, thick roots bursting out of it and wrapping around the cerberus as it struggled to raise itself.

There was another yelp; Kayira was keeping the other dog- a garm, I think- at bay with her staff. I turned once more into a wolf, leaping over the cerberus and running to help her. Kayira gripped her staff horizontally in two hands and thrust it at the garm, which clamped its mouth over it. She pushed further, muttering an incantation and forcing the garm to step backwards with her.

The ground opened up behind it, ready to swallow the beast whole and the garm panicked and began trying to side step around her and swipe with its paws. I pushed past Kayira and tackled its chest, driving the beast back further, striking with my own claws and bashing it with my wings. Kayira carried on her chant and the hole in the ground gaped wider to take the garm’s feet out from under it, with a cry it fell in and my friend closed the hole over it.

The cerberus was whining softly as we walked back towards it. Brutus crouched close by, a frown on his face and the cactus cat curled near him, having stayed out of the way for the entire fight. The cerberus’ fur was matted and missing completely in places, replaced with weeping and scabby wounds. Foam dripped in bubbles from its mouth.

“These guard dogs have been brutalised into acquiescence,” said Brutus, “animals such as these do not commonly display aggression without motive.”

“If we release it now it’ll attack us; but if we let the spell run out of time while we go into the base it’ll hopefully escape on its own. I don’t want to kill it like we did the garm, neither of them deserve this.”

“It didn’t escape of its own accord before now,” said Kayira, “they’ve put too much fear into it. I’m sorry Ketsuo, but this cerberus is beyond help; we can’t risk it attacking us when we’re trying to get out.”

“Then we are agreed that the unfortunate beast is to be put out of its misery,” muttered Brutus, drawing a stone dagger from beneath his cloak. I looked away as he stabbed it into the cereberus’ heart, but it didn’t stop me from hearing the scream it released from all three of its throats. Brutus stood and dusted off his cloak, “it is time we continued into the base proper.”

“I hate to say that I agree with you,” replied Kayira, looking expectantly towards me.

“The two dogs were the only guards that I could smell outside,” I told her, glancing at the body of the cerberus. Its mane of snakes was still writhing weakly. “I think if anyone was going to come to investigate the barking they’d have done it by now.”