Knights of the Platinum Dragon: A D&D Story

Chapter 13: Tooth and Claw

As the fallen knight writhed beneath the fallen wooden beam like a hare caught in a trap, the earth he lay upon suddenly shook as four legs crashed down upon the grassy ground – two bearing long, wickedly curved claws and the other two ending in cloven hooves. All of the chimera's heads then turned their gaze upon him, saliva dribbling from three hungry maws as they each licked their lips...

But then, their growls of hunger suddenly changed into yowls and snarls of pain as a black-feathered bolt whizzed through the air and buried itself in the monster's shoulder!

Stalk lowered his crossbow from his eye as he knelt in the grasses nearby, gaze still fixed on his quarry. He was hoping that his shot might have done some actual damage, but all he seemed to have done was piss the monster off.

Seeming to forget about the knight entirely, the chimera leapt forward and spread its wings as it lunged through the air fast as a lightning bolt. Dropping his crossbow, Stalk dove to one side, shredded chunks of earth spraying everywhere just behind him as he got out of the way at the absolute last second. Rolling across the floor, he then whirled around to face his attacker again, taloned hands pulling his shortswords from their scabbards.

As he brandished his blades, the lion and dragon head roared at him. The goat seemed about to do much the same, but then Stalk saw its ears perk up and its horned head twist to look into the distance. Coming over the top of the hill came two shapes wreathed in shimmering armour, followed by a third in a flowing, brightly-coloured dress.

Logan, Technus and Arabella.

'Hard to hide from three sets of eyes, I guess...' Stalk remarked to himself. 'Not that they were doing much to hide anyways...'

But then, the kenku's eyes snapped back to his companions as he realized that someone was missing.

Ren's absence he could excuse but... where was Finnan?

A roar to match that of the chimera's shook the ground, and then bounding past the others came an enormous bear, wreathed in brown fur and snarling ferociously. Before even their monstrous foe could react, Finnan fell upon him like an avalanche, locking his jaws around the goat's neck and grappling the rest of the chimera's body with his claws. Howling, the chimera lurched sideways from the impact, and its long tail lashed to one side, swiping through the foundations of the windmill and tearing another chunk from the building and sending cracks slicing through the remaining stonework.

Stalk couldn't help but clack his beak. 'Question answered' he told himself before yelling "No reason to wait, people! Let's take this fucker down!"

~~~

Finnan's explosive attack wasn't something Logan had expected, but it was more than welcomed. Amidst the sound of smashing and roaring, the battlefield was now a mess of scattered rocks and wood – all the remained of the windmill as the structure completely collapsed behind the two beastly forms, toppling like a toy building being kicked by a child.

Sadly, it didn't come down on the chimera. But gladly, it also didn't come down on Finnan as a result.

Golden eyes flashing across the area, Logan quickly located the trapped knight and immediately felt a plan surge through his mind.

"Arabella! You get to the knight and try to free him! Heal him if he needs it!" he yelled. "The rest of us will help Finnan!"

Immediately Arabella nodded and began to rush towards where the arms of the mill had fallen. Meanwhile, beside Logan, Technus was already taking aim with his firearm... only to shift his aim around without pulling the trigger.

"Target keeps moving," he intoned aloud. "The druid is causing the beast to keep shifting position – clear shot unattainable."

Logan could plainly see Technus meant – whenever the chimera pounced on Finnan with fang and claws tears shreds from his bear-form's fur, or Finnan outright bitch-slapped one of his opponent's heads with a paw as hefty as a club, both of them lurched about so unpredictably that it made accurate targeting impossible.