Tales from the Triverse

The creature: part 3

Near Bruglia. Pelinor.
3201. Frostfield.

The city state of Bruglia was perched on top of a burnt orange mesa, one of many jutting out of the desert in the region. It was a rocky landscape of two heights: the mesas, and the canyons in-between, carved by hundreds of thousands of years of river erosion. Magic-enhanced irrigation projects brought the water from the rivers up to the tops of the mesas, turning them into oases in the surrounding barren terrain. Bruglia was one of the largest cities on Palinor, covering the entire surface of one of the mesas and bridging to several others. It was the home of Fountain University and the site of the portal to Mid-Earth, which had turned the city and its leaders into the richest families on the planet.

There were routes through the canyons for traders, some safe and some less so. The twisting, shadowed passages were prime for ambush and were home to a myriad of creatures which had spent most of their evolution adapting to become perfect hunters in their environment. The main road was protected once a caravan entered Bruglia territory. Those who could not afford the main road were forced to find alternatives, which led inevitably through danger.

Ellenbrin crouched and touched two fingers to the sand. "See the patterning? The sloughing of the dirt, like a snake's underbelly, but you can also see traces of claw prints." She sighed. "Well, I'd say that confirms it. We're dealing with a durgon."

"Son of a bitch," Halbad said. He stretched, cracking the bones in his spine. He took the shrivelled cigar from his mouth and ground it underfoot. "Looks like we're gonna have to earn our pay on this one, fellas."

The deep laughter from Ngarkh sounded like chains dragged on stone. "Don't we always? When was the last time we took an easy job?" They flexed their wings, the membranes between the frames rippling in the slight wind that blew through the canyon. Their nostrils flared and they ran a hand over the twin horns atop their head. "Wouldn't want things to get boring."

"A durgon, huh?" Seline moved her arms around the shoulder socket, limbering up. Her dual pikes were fixed to her back, sharp and nasty. "Remind me again what they do."

Ellenbrin grinned at her as she got to her feet. "Don't you ever pay attention? Durgon. An south-eastern dragon, big and long and nasty. Feathered, limbed with short legs. No arms. No real wings for flight but it can glide, and tunnel. But none of that's important. It's a dual symbiote - a single mind, with two bodies. Don't think of it as two animals: it's one creature, but separated into two halves."

"I'll separate it into more than two halves," Ngarkh cackled, clicking their claws against each other.

"Yes, very good," Erik said, pulling a set of vials from his satchel. He withdrew a measuring device from within his cloak and began distributing a bottle of green liquid among the vials. "A durgon is also horribly toxic. Get scratched or bitten and you'll be in trouble. That's why I brought this." He set the vials down on a rock, each resting on a makeshift stand like might be found in a laboratory. "This will stop the necrotic infection from setting in, though it's not going to stop it from hurting." He closed his eyes, muttered a few words under his breath and waved a hand across the vials. The liquid turned brown.

"This looks unpleasant," Seline said, taking one of the offered vials. "Any side effects?"

"Possible nausea," Erik said with a shrug, "but that's better than the alternative."

Ngarkh held their vial up and Halbad clinked his together with it, as if they were about to down beers in a tavern. "I'm sure I've had worse hangovers," Ngarkh said, swallowing the liquid.

"I'll pass, thanks," Ellenbrin said, gently pushing Erik's hand away. "I'm better off having my wits about me and avoiding getting hit in the first place."