Be warned, this chapter is light on the eroticism.
*****
So, as one might expect, Nagi are vicious creatures. They're the Gods damned centaurs of the reptilian world, and I hate centaurs. Now, before you ask, yes I found the one I was looking for. The slippery son of a bitch came at me before I could lay eyes on it. Now how, in the hells did this happen? Well, a squall had blown in from the coast and with all the noise and rain, he got the drop on me.
Right, so there I was, flat on my back. My sword a good pace away by this point, and this beast's tail was wrapped 'round my legs. He was dragging me back to his den, which I had no intention of seeing, but I wasn't in the position to protest. All I could make out was the muscled back and four arms of the creature as he slithered with me attached to him.
His scales were hard as iron and his tail was wrapped tighter than a virgin's cunt. The gravel and oysters were doing havoc upon my back as he pulled me along the shore. We headed into an outcropping of rocks that lay along the cliffs. I shouldn't have to mention how tired of caves I was by this point, but as it were, it looked like ole Gaius was about to go into another one.
Gods know why, but I picked up a rock and heaved it, best as I could, at the monster's head. The stone bounced with a clack off his shoulder and ended up bouncing back onto my chest. It took the breath from me and I nearly passed out again. Well, not that he knocked me out...
I realize that at this point my monster hunting must seem to boil down to nothing more than being knocked about, flung into caves, and fucking my way out of trouble, but there's more to it, and I am a seasoned fighter, I promise. Anyways,the Nagi saw fit to fling my carcass across his den and onto a mound of bodies. Taking a quick look, I grabbed a gruesome looking thigh bone from one of my predecessors and cracked off the tip of one end. See, I made a shank, that's resourcefulness, so stop your doubting.
The Nagi, seeing my ingenuity, made to strike at me. When he did I jammed the bone in his neck. The soft skin of his throat was unarmored and took the sharpened bone with ease. His four arms still snatched me up, in his gasping, sputtering struggle. He grabbed a limb in each arm and pulled hard.
Now, have you ever seen someone drawn and quartered? Execution at its finest, they tie a man to four horses, each horse roped to an arm or leg, then they spook the horses into running. Each go a different way, and bam! You can anticipate the results. Now, imagine a creature able to do this on his lonesome and you have my current predicament.
My only salvation was the femur lodged in his gullet and the thrashing that caused him to loosen his grip on my legs. A swift kick and I was able to press the bone into his neck further. Another kick to the creatures chest and I expelled the little air left inside of his lungs. You could say I was helping him along, into the great beyond.
At long last he died and released me from his vile grasp. So, as you can see, I'm fully capable of killing a monster. Now, that said, things went downhill from there. That Nagi was only a gate keeper. Behind me in the outcropping was a door. A big, bloody door. That damnable barkeep never mentioned it when he said to kill the snake.
With the Nagi departed, there came a noise. Stone scraping on stone. The door was unsealing itself and with the crumbling avalanche of rock it dissolved into a maw of inky black. In for a penny, I withdrew my new toy from the Nagi's throat and ventured inward. Yes, it was a terrible idea.
Then why do it? Reputation. I was down a kill, yes I was still sore about the fang. I had added Igred to my team, instead of killing her. Add to that a botched Nagi extermination and well, there goes job security.
The tunnel was understandably dark, and the smell of rot had me guessing that I had journeyed into a crypt. That or the pile of death I had been thrown into had left its scent on me, hope lead me to believe I was in a crypt though. With that in mind I stole my way through the murk, my hand to the wall.
There is a certain moss in the south that glows in the blackness underground. As my eyes accepted the pitch around me, I began to notice the gentle, green glow. As I descended it grew more concentrated, brighter and brighter until I was able to make my surroundings.
I was correct, it was a crypt. The inlaid stone work of the floor and walls was engraved with wards, protecting whatever was outside from what lay inside. Bully for me. The path before me ended abruptly, and it took me several seconds to surmise that the wall before me was actually a door. A gust of fetid air blew through the stone with a whistle. I pressed my foot to the brick and pushed. With a strain they gave way and collapsed, but I was fortunate enough to withdraw my leg before it was crushed.
After stumbling over the mess I had just created, I proceded into the tomb. The chamber beyond was lit by braziers of green flame. Magic, obviously, and warning enough not to tread any deeper, but I did anyway. There was a slab before me, a sarcophagus. Having failed to heed common sense so far, I continued to ignore it. I slipped the sharpened bone into the space between lid and box and levered down on it. The bone snapped, but not before shifting the coffin lid enough for me to remove the heavy stone by hand.
