The Heart of Alchemy by James Wisher (i like reading books txt) 📗

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