Legend of Fire: Book 1 of the Alrymnian Chronicles

Chapter 1: The beginning [Raynen]

Seeing the absolute wreckage before me, I let out a deep sigh, surveying the damage. Something had broken through the wooden fence, slaying half the livestock and mutilating them in ways I won't describe here. Finding the trail of the animal wouldn't be any trouble, as there was a path of destruction stretching into the trees that a child could follow. The problem was that if the beast was what I suspected, actually killing it would be quite the trick. Noticing a distinctive claw mark on one of the corpses, I shook my head, angrily approaching the farmer waiting back by the road. As a resident hunter, I'd commonly hunt wolves or other problematic animals to help out other villagers (for a small fee). This was in an entirely different league, and judging by the smug look on his face the farmer knew it too. 

"Blast it Tyler, you told me an animal had slipped past your fence, killed a couple sheep... you never mentioned it was a climenth!"

"Tough luck, Raynen. You agreed to help me out for the usual fee back at the inn, so take care of it."

"THIS is not a normal job! You can't expect me to-"

"It doesn't matter. Either kill the climenth, or I'll go back to the inn, tell them you couldn't handle the job, and find someone else."

That reply brought me up short as I gritted my teeth, silently fuming at him. He had me and he knew it. Once you agreed to do a job, you were expected to see it through to the end, regardless of what unpleasant surprises might arise. Even if you were severely misinformed as to the nature of the job, breaking the contract would result in public disgrace. That was something I could hardly afford when my young age made people hesitant to accept me as a hunter in the first place.  

"Fine, I'll handle it.", I spat out, " But you can bet I'll make sure people know about this, Tyler. I should have known you were up to something when you came to me with this job, you've always hated me."

His smug grin only served to infuriate me more. "Who are people going to belive, an upstart orphan hunter or a respected member of this community? Besides, the way I remember it, I never specified what it was attacking my livestock, just that you agreed to hunt it down regardless. Even if people somehow believe you you'd never be able to press charges."

Fists clenched, I stormed away without saying another word, as I didn't trust myself to continue that conversation without introducing Tyler's face to my fists. He'd set me up to either fail or die horribly, and I suspected he didn't particularly care which. I'm not sure why he goes out of his way to be such a pain, he'd taken an instant dislike to me from when we first met. Granted, the way I outshone his own son at the huntsmeet last year probably didn't help, but it was hardly my fault the kid couldn't shoot straight. Besides, whatever the root of this was, it seemed to go back further than that. I'd asked around once or twice, but I never got anything more substantial than some sort of trouble between him and my father many years ago.

The thought caused me to sigh in annoyance; I had no memories of my parents, they had left my sister and I alone, and I had no idea why. Fortunately our uncle had been there to raise us, but when he passed away five years ago, we had to fend for ourselves. However, despite how tough the first few months of that were, the worst of it was not knowing why my parents had left. Whenever I'd asked my uncle about it, he would dodge the question, claiming he'd tell me about it once I was older. Now that he was gone, the only person who seemed to have any idea was Tyler, who'd sooner chew his own leg off than tell me anything. Unclenching my fists, I forced myself to take a couple of deep breaths. I could worry about evening those scales at a later date, but first I had to survive the climenth.  

Climenths are just a nasty breed. Very few people have seen one and made it out alive, some even think the creature to be nothing but a myth. If you've been fortunate enough to avoid dealing with one, imagine an uncommonly large and strong wolf. Then replace the fur with a set of scales, hard enough to deflect anything short of a heavy axe stroke. Add in acid-spitting breath, claws and teeth sharp enough to go through plate metal armor, and you can see why many people prefer to think of it as legend. Where these things came from, I don't know. There aren't any records of them further than a few hundred years back, so the prevailing opinion seems to be that they were somehow created in those dark days preceding the Unification War. As for how to kill one... well, fighting it in close wasn't an option, but figuring out how to trap one at a distance would be no easy feat. Additionally, they were immune to most poisons, and neither my bow or rielth pole were likely strong enough to kill the thing before it could close the range. So with those options eliminated, what else was left?