It had been far too long. I should have stopped hours earlier when I had the chance but now it was too late. The sun had set nearly three hours earlier and the last village I had passed was at least four hours back the way I came or some direction at least. In the post twilight hours I had managed to get myself totally lost. I should have arrived at the city of Meridia, my destination, hours ago and at this point both it and the last village could be anywhere.
Exhausted and confused after a long days travel down the Imperial roads I did the first sensible thing I had since sunset: I found a large tree to lean against and plopped my tired body onto the ground. All of my muscles were sore from hauling my merchandise up and down the roads all day. To top it off, my back felt like it was on fire due to dagger wounds I had suffered a few days earlier. Thatâll teach me to turn my back on an angry customer. I didnât know how long I was going to sit against that that tree, cradling my side and nibbling on what little food I had left but I did know that wandering aimlessly wouldnât do me any good.
And so I sat for nearly an hour, starring blankly out at endless forest of trees, before I heard it. It started softly at first, obviously a great distance away but still the sound was easily identifiable. I couldnât image that someone had sent out legionaries for me, but Roman Soldier rarely ventured this far away from their posts at this time of night. Something serious had to be going on, but it obviously did not involve me and I was too tired to be concerned. Once I rested a little longer I would head in the direction of soldiers and that would surely lead me back to the main road.
It would have been a wonderful plan if not for one thing; the soldiers were obviously out here for something, and that something found me.
I could hear it long before I saw it. Whatever it was, it was making no effort to be quite. I could hear large quantities of forest debris being pushed aside as it came rushing in my direction. In mere seconds I had gone from unconcerned to terrified. Whatever it was, it was not small and it was getting unbearably to close to me. Then, maybe twenty yards at most from me I saw a large dark mass fall to the ground. And the noise stopped.
I was wary at first. I waited without moving for what felt like an hour before I started inching myself closer to it. Whoever it was, they were naked as I couldnât see any clothes on the body. It was also clear that they were not dead as I could still see the slight motions associated with unconsciousness. As I approached, the pure size of the person became clear. I was no midget standing at just over six feet tall and this person was nearly as big as me. Their size concerned me and I almost backed off until I noticed the many slow streams of blood running off of the unknown manâs body. I did not know why the soldiers were chasing him or why they had caused him such massive wounds but I felt a tinge of guilt over nearly leaving the man lying there to bleed to death. I darted back to my supplies in search of material to bandage his wounds and nearly made it before I remembered that I had used the last of it to bandage own wounds. I was unsure what I should do but I knew I had little time if I was going to be any good to this man.
My wounds still hurt but I knew I wasnât going to bleed to death from them. Using pure will power I pulled at my bandages, removing with it plenty of dry blood and dead skin. They were not the nicest bandages but I was sure he wouldnât mind. I dashed back to the unconscious body and began to bandage his wounds. With the first touch I knew things were not going well. The body was cold and the skin was rough and slick. I quickly wrapped up the wounds on his arms and torso. As I applied pressure to the bandages my new unconscious friend began to pant, moan and growl. I wasnât sure if this was good or bad but at least it proved he was alive.
I had just enough bandage left over to cover up the large gash on his leg but as I applied pressure to the bandage I nearly lost my balance from what I saw. The large person was not a man at all but actually a woman! I couldnât help but stare. Unlike the tavern worker I had given a handful of copper coins to a few nights ago to convenience her to come back to my room with me, the injured womanâs pussy was tight and completely free of pubic hair. I slowly moved one of my hands slowly up the womanâs leg until my index finger gently brushed up against her lips and gently started to part them. A low moan caused my hand to dart back to the bandage.
I placed my only blanket over her and returned to my tree. Whoever she was and what ever happened to her, I could do nothing more until morning. I only wish it hadnât been such a cold night.
I awoke to the sun glaring in my eyes. It took a few moments to remember why I was there and all that had happened the night before. Still squinting to see, my heart sunk down into my boots. I slowly walked over to where she had been but it wasnât any different when I got closer. She was gone and all that was left was a dried puddle of blood and tracks of a large beasts. The scent from all the blood must have drawn it to her.
It didnât take me long to gather my things and head out towards where I believed the road to be. After her disappearance I had no desire to stay anywhere near there, in part due to my mourning for the woman and in part due to the fact that the beast may still be near by. Once I reached the road I had hoped I could put the previous night out of my mind but I couldnât. I traveled for at least an hour before nearing Meridia and my mind hadnât wandered away from thoughts of her for a minute of that time. UntilâŠ
I was only ten minutes outside of Meridia the first time I heard it. It sounded like a mixture between a roar and a moaning hiss but whatever it was it was nothing Iâd ever heard before. After a moments hesitation and waiting for the beast to sound off again and hearing only the sound of song birds I began to walk. I made it less then ten feet before it sounded again. Once more I looked around and waited for the beast to sound again but to no avail. It was almost as though it was mocking me. I started to walk again and again it sounded. It went on like this for nearly twenty minutes before it would make its last hideous roar. This time it sounded as though it was right behind me. Slowly I turned around, my hand on the bulge in my cloak where I hid my dagger. I was totally unprepared for what I saw.
The beast stood as tall as me and was staring straight into my eyes, as if knowing I would turn. Its eyes were bloodshot and filled with an evil passion, as if it was imaging ripping me to pieces, panting its foul breath in sick excitement. The smell nearly overcame me as its long slender snout extended to within an inch of my face and blew the fumes of decomposing meals straight into my nostrils. I shifted my eyes away from its face and scanned up and down its body looking for a weak point to stab before the creature could get around to attacking, but to no avail. From head to claw covered toe was nothing but thick off green scales.
I jumped backwards as I saw its tail flicker with movement. This would be my fatal mistake as I tripped over my own feet and fell onto my ass. From this position the creature would have an easy shot at me. I prepared for the worst as the beast leaned down and drew out its arm. I closed my eyes and prepared for the sting of boney claws digging into my face.
But nothing happened.
I opened one of my eyes and then, in confusion, opened the other. The lizard beast had sat down in front of me and continued to stare and pant, just as before. I was deeply perplexed now, wondering why the beast had not attack when it had such an easy chance at a fatal blow.
We sat silently staring at each other as the minutes passed by. With each second more questions arose. What manor of creature was it? Why was it in these woods? Had this creature been the one to kill the woman from last night? Why was it following me? My original question still occupied most of my thoughts. Why hadnât it attacked me?
Then, as I stared into those reptilian eyes, I noticed something out of place. Anger filled me as thoughts of killing this beast flowed through my mind. It had killed the mysterious woman from last night, and pieces of my soaked bandages still stuck to her scales. I got to my knees, reached for my dagger and prepared to drive it her heart, just as I had done over and over again in my mind the last few seconds.
Just before my dagger was about to puncture her scales, I stopped.
