The Dance of Kings [discontinued under this title]

Chapter 1

Winter’s Watch, Rundil

            The first thing Rodrik noticed was the cold.  It was not like the cold he was used to that radiated from the wall.  This was something entirely different.  It felt evil.  He was being watched.  Shaking, he unsheathed his Iceglass sword and readied it for an attack.  During his entire five year stay at Winter’s Watch, he never once saw a Behemoth.  No one has seen a Behemoth in decades, so he did not know what the mere presence of one could do to a human.

            The entire land around his was covered in a thick sheet of snow.  Everything looked the same and it all blurred together.  Never leave the group he thought to himself.  “Sam! Gungee!” he called out.  He could hear his fear in his voice as it echoed through the forest.  Crunch!  He heard the sound of a boot stomping through the snow behind him.  He jumped around, ready to swing, but saw nothing but white.  He took a slow step forward, straining his ears for any unusual sounds.  But all he heard were the sounds of snowflakes hitting the ground.  Then he heard it again behind him.  He whipped around and once again, saw nothing.  His heart was pounding so hard, he thought it might cause an avalanche.  A few minutes passed and he heard nothing.  He began to doubt himself.  Perhaps it was just snow falling off a branch?  He was hesitant at first, but ultimately he decided to sheath his sword.  Just as he turned around he saw a huge Behemoth not fifteen feet away, and closing the distance fast.  He screamed and tried to run away, but he slipped on the ice as he turned and fell.  On his back, he tried to back away, but the Behemoth was on top of him, shrieking a bloodcurdling scream.  Then all of a sudden it went silent.  Then it started laughing.  The Behemoth reached up and removed its head revealing Sam inside, laughing hysterically.

“We got you good, Rodrick!” Sam hooted between the hysterical laughter.  “We got him good, Gungee!”  Sam shouted out.  Rodrik heard more laughter coming from behind a tree several feet away.  Gungee stepped out and doubled over in laughter.

Rodrik pushed Sam out of the way and stood up.  “You boys are real assholes”, he said as he wiped snow off his pelted clothes.  “Where in hell did you find that monstrosity, anyhow?” he asked nodding to the head.

Sam picked the head up by the crown of its hair.  “Oh, this old thing?  I just had it lying around.  No dumbass, I found it in the forest after you wandered off”, he said, still chuckling.  “Ol’ Gungee and me that we’d have some fun with ya, didn’t we, Gungee?” he called to Gungee.  Silence.  “’Oy, Gungee!  Where’d you run off to?”  Sam and Rodrik walked over to where Gungee was standing.  Rodrik looked on the ground and saw where Gungee had been hiding and where he was standing after he revealed himself, then nothing.  Sam was walking around, calling Gungee’s name, but to no avail.  Suddenly, Rodrik was hit with that cold feeling again.  He looked at the tree Gungee had been standing next to and saw claw marks going up it.

“Oh, gods”, he whimpered.  He slowly backed away looking up into the trees for any hint of movement, but seeing nothing beyond the heavy snowfall.

Sam came up behind him.  “I can’t find him”, he said.  “It’s like he disappeared into thin air.  But I ain’t ever heard of him doing magic like that.”

Rodrik’s eyes shot back down to Sam.  “Run!” he shouted as he took off.  Sam looked up and saw a huge Behemoth hanging from a branch, feasting on Gungee’s corpse.  He let out a scream and started to run after Rodrik.  “Hurry up, Sam!” Rodrik called behind him.

A deafening roar stopped them in their tracks.  The Behemoth threw Gungee’s mangled corpse into the trees and began jumping from tree to tree at an incredible pace, directly towards them.  Rodrik, seeing that there is no way they can outrun it, pulled out his sword and readied himself for a fight.  Sam saw this too and follows Rodrick’s suit.  As the monster got closer, they could see its shape.  The beast was huge, approximately the height of two full grown men and arms as thick as a tree trunk.  It had the head of a wolf, with a mouth full of razor sharp teeth.  Its hide was white, matching with its snowy home, but the area around its mouth was bright red with Gungee’s blood.

“If we don’t make it”, Sam murmured to Rodrik, “I just wanted to say sorry for scaring you earlier.  I think I know how it feels now.”  Suddenly, the Behemoth disappeared, much to the bewilderment of Rodrik and Sam.  They looked around with extreme caution but found nothing.  Sam inspected his Iceglass sword.  “Maybe the beast didn’t know what he was getting into until we pulled our swords, eh?” Sam asked Rodrik.  Rodrik shrugged and glanced over at Sam.  He did a double-take and he got wide eyed.  Sam saw that he wasn’t looking at him, but rather behind him.  “It’s behind me, ain’t it?”

Before Rodrik could answer him, the Behemoth sank its teeth into Sam’s head and tore it clean off.  Sam’s headless body sank into the snow and his still warm blood began melting into it.  The Behemoth let out another roar and began tearing Sam’s body to pieces.  Rodrik let out a battle cry and ran at the Behemoth to attack it.  It hit Rodrik with its powerful arms and sent him flying into a tree.  Dazed from the hit, he pushed himself back up with his sword and charged towards the monster again.  Once again, the Behemoth simply hit him back and continued devouring Sam’s corpse.  It did not seem interested in Rodrik at all, but rather Rodrik was irritating it while it was trying to eat.  When Rodrik realized what it was doing, he became furious.  “I’m trying to kill you and you’re just pushing me away?” he shouted at the creature.  The Behemoth didn’t even look up from its meal.  “I’m not going to let you enjoy your meal in peace, so you might as well kill me now!”  He picked up a snowball and threw it at the Behemoth.  The beast looked up at him, more surprised than anything and roared at him.  Rodrik just roared back and threw another snowball.  This surprised the Behemoth even further.  It stood up and crouched over its meal and let out another huge roar at Rodrik.  He returned the roar with a roar of his own, all whilst throwing snowballs at it.

The beast slowly approached Rodrik all while Rodrik was screaming curses at it and throwing snowballs at it.  “You stupid animal, can’t you see a meal right here in front of you?  No, you can’t because you’re just a dumb beast!”  He took a swing at the Behemoth with his Iceglass sword, but it dodged the swing and swiped Rodrik’s arm off his its powerful arms and sharp claws.  Rodrik screamed in pain and fell onto his knees.  Blood was gushing out of his stump and he began to see a darkness creeping in his vision.  The monster crept forward until it was standing over Rodrik.  “Kill me, kill me”, Rodrik began repeating.  “Kill me, you stupid bea—!”  The Behemoth sank its teeth into his throat and tore his head off his shoulders.