The jungle shade made a welcome change from the blinding heat of the sun beating down on them. Axel had no idea what sort of game they might find, but judging from the constant stream of squawks and hoots coming from the canopy, there was no shortage of life. He slapped the back of his neck and came away with a splattered bug and some of his own blood.
Yeah, there was plenty of life and little of it friendly.
He sliced a vine in half and pressed on. Colten had gone ahead of the main group to look for tracks. The youthful scout vanished into the jungle with the same skill he showed back home. The techniques were the same even if the plants were different.
“What are we hunting for exactly?” Cobb asked.
“Meat. I don’t care what it looks like as long as we can eat it. There must be something around here.”
“Yeah, I just hope whatever we find doesn’t consider us a meal instead.”
Axel seconded that idea. He hacked a frond out of the way. Beyond it he found Colten crouched on a game trail examining the ground. A thick carpet of fallen leaves covered the dirt, but he trusted Colten to make sense of the seemingly random patterns in the litter.
“What did you find?” Axel asked.
“I’m not sure, sir,” Colten said. “Something passed through here not that long ago, something big, with four legs and a long tail. I’ve never seen tracks like it. Truth is I’m not sure if it’s a predator or prey.”
“It’s prey now,” Axel said. “Archers, ready your bows. I assume everyone swapped their mithril arrows for regular steel.”
Everyone had which was good since he doubted Otto would be very pleased if they wasted the nearly priceless weapons hunting for dinner.
They set out behind Colten, everyone now on full alert, their movements nearly silent. A moment of pride washed over him at how quickly his men switched from relaxed to alert. There was a reason they were the best and this just reminded him why.
A quarter mile down the trail, a deep roar followed by a heavy thud filled the air.
Everyone froze and Colten looked back for instruction. Using hand gestures Axel told him to move up and take a look. Colten gave him a thumbs-up, snuck off the trail, and vanished into the jungle.
More bellows filled the air along with the heavy thuds. What in heaven’s name was going on? Axel had never heard anything like those noises.
“I don’t like this,” Cobb muttered.
Axel shot him a glare and he fell silent.
Long minutes later, Colten emerged from the jungle and waved them up. Axel hurried over and said, “Report.”
“Damnedest thing I ever seen, sir. There’re two lizards fighting in a clearing about a hundred yards ahead. They’ve got to be at least forty feet long. If you want to take a look, I doubt they’ll even notice us.”
Axel wasn’t sure he wanted a closer look, but he’d read that reptile meat was high quality and tasted similar to chicken. If they killed the two lizards, that might yield enough meat to last the rest of the trip.
“Show me.”
“Are you kidding?” Cobb asked. “How are we supposed to kill two forty-foot-long lizards?”
“We have mithril swords. We’ll cut their heads off. Now come on.”
They followed Colten through the jungle to the edge of a large dirt clearing. Just as he said, a pair of huge lizards were brawling in the dirt. As he watched, they hissed at each other from about fifteen feet away, rose up on their back legs, and slammed into each other chest first. They grappled back and forth for a few seconds before breaking apart again and roaring.
“They just keep doing the same thing over and over again,” Colten said. “No idea why.”
Axel didn’t know why either and he didn’t care. All that mattered was they were exhausting themselves which would make them easier to kill. The trick would be to attack while the lizards were in the clinch. They should have enough time to close before they separated.
“Okay, here’s the plan.” He laid it out and Cobb wasn’t the only one that looked less than thrilled. “It’s called the Island of Giant Beasts for a reason. What did you think we were going to find?”
“Slightly less giant beasts,” Cobb said. “But we’re here now. If we’re going to do this, let’s do it.”
Axel grinned. Cobb might like to bitch, but when the time came there was no one Axel would rather have at his back.
The scouts drew their swords or nocked arrows.
Out in the clearing, the lizards bellowed and flicked their tongues.
They reared up and charged each other.
“Now!” Axel led their own charge.
Arrows arced over his head and clattered uselessly against the lizards’ thick hide.
Damn it! Maybe they should have brought the mithril arrows.
One of the lizards spotted them and opened its mouth.
Axel hurled his sword with all his might.
The tip pierced the roof of the lizard’s mouth and came out the top of its skull.
It collapsed, killed instantly.
Axel slowed and let his men charge past. With no sword, he’d be a liability.
They hit the second lizard from the side, their weapons slicing through its hide like butter.
The beast roared and thrashed. Its tail caught a scout and sent him flying fifteen feet across the clearing.
It was a final act of defiance. Cobb slashed its head half off and took a blood shower in the process. He staggered away, a crimson mess. The lizard collapsed to the dirt, unmoving.
Axel hurried over to the injured scout and sighed with relief when he saw the man still moving. “Stay still. Where are you hurt?”
“My ribs and back. Don’t think anything’s broken though. Remind me to thank Lord Shenk for this armor.”
Axel grinned and offered his hand. Once he was on his feet, Axel walked over to the dead lizards. Even dead they were an impressive sight.
Cobb glared at them, hands on hips. “I need a bath.”
“Yes, you do, but first why don’t you crawl in that other one’s mouth and retrieve my sword.”
Cobb shot him a rude gesture which broadened Axel’s grin into a full-fledged smile. “Let’s cut them up. I want to be back on the ship before dark.”
The scouts needed their mithril blades to slice the thick hide, but the meat underneath seemed tender enough. The light, tight-grained flesh did indeed remind Axel of chicken, or maybe pork. Either way it looked very tasty. The trick would be getting it smoked before it spoiled
They had the first lizard processed and were working on the second when the ground shook.
“What was that?” Cobb asked.
Axel had no answer. An earthquake maybe? “I don’t know, but it’s another reason to hurry up the hell out of here.”
There was another tremor moments later, then another and another. Axel left the men to their work and walked a few yards away from them. Those felt less like earthquakes than the footsteps of something really big.
He turned his gaze from the ground to the treetops. Sure enough they were shaking and the shaking was getting closer all the time.
“Wrap it up,” Axel said. “Gather what we have and let’s go.”
“Sir?” Colten asked.
“Something’s coming, something big. Whether scavenger or something worse I don’t know and I don’t want to be here when it arrives.”
“No argument here.” Cobb started wrapping the meat nearest him in the canvas they’d brought for exactly that purpose.
The others followed suit, spurred on by the increasing power of the tremors.
Seconds later trees crashed into the clearing, toppled by a lizard easily ten times as big as the ones they’d killed. Its tongue flicked out and its head swung toward the partially butchered corpses.
Axel didn’t wait for it to think. “Move!”
The scouts ran for the trail pursued by a roar that shook the air and made Axel’s ears hurt.
As they sprinted down the trail Cobb asked, “Think that’s their mother?”
“Less talking, more running.”
Axel gasped for breath, ducked vines, and leapt roots. Instinct as much as vision kept him on his feet. His men staggered beside him, stumbling over rocks and generally struggling to make time on a trail that had been hard without a giant lizard chasing them.
Speaking of the lizard…
He risked a glance back. The beast was only ten yards behind them and gaining. It didn’t have to worry about tripping. Instead it simply stomped flat anything that got in the way. Trees shattered as its tail whipped from side to side.
“How much further?” Axel demanded of anyone that might answer. From his position at the rear of the column, only the heads of his men and the mass of trees behind them were visible.
“I can see the beach!” Colten shouted back.
Thank heaven. Now they just needed to reach the boat and make it out to sea before the lizard caught up to them. He shook his head. How, exactly, they were going to do that was another matter altogether.
They raced out of the jungle but didn’t slow. Otto and his group were loading the casks into their dinghy.
“Get out of here!” Axel shouted and waved his hands.
Otto looked his way just as the lizard smashed through the tree line and onto the beach.
No way were they going to make it to the boat. That thing was going to eat them before they got off the beach.
Otto ignored Axel’s frantic gesture and strode toward them, raising his hands as he went.
A moment later lightning arced out over the scouts’ heads.
The lizard roared again, this time in pain.
Another burst of lightning was followed by a huge crash.
Axel skidded to a stop beside his brother.
“It’s dead,” Otto said. “You can relax now.”
“Dead. How?” Axel forced the words out between gulps of air.
“It’s just a beast. A big one to be sure, but still an animal. My lightning exploded its heart as easily as it would a human’s. Besides, no way was I losing another man.”
Axel straightened, his heartrate back to a normal, and studied Otto’s team, now one short. “What happened?”
“Even I can’t kill something if I don’t see it coming. We were taken by surprise. Another lizard, smaller than yours, but still big, came out of the water and snatched Cord. I was focused on the jungle and missed it. Not a mistake I’ll make again.”
“Well, it looks like you found the water and we’ve got the meat. Shall we head back?”
Otto nodded. “The sooner we’re off this wretched island, the happier I’ll be.”
“Lord Shenk!” Cobb said. “The ship.”
Axel and Otto both whipped around. Five winged creatures circled the Sea Star. Axel guessed their wingspan measured fifty feet minimum.
A bolt of lightning shot out, singeing one of the giant birds and sending it flying off.
“Corina can’t hold that many off by herself for long,” Otto said. “We need to hurry.”