Creatures Of Sonaria: Sands Of Time

Part 10: Assassin

       "But then what saved me?" Armolten asked. "I feel like that aeries would have killed me."

       "I'm not sure, but I think we should go to that cave first before redwoods," Dune said, standing up and cat-stretching, raising her barbed tail in the air. "But first, we should eat. I don't remember the last time I ate!"

       Armolten stood up and shook the sand off her legs. "I'll go kill something," she said, walking off into the plains. Dune shouted an 'Okay' before laying down in the sand, letting the small grains cover her. She rolled onto her back, her glowing back spines folding against her back. Dune looked up at the clear, cloudless sky. Above her, something was circling around her. It was either a small creature or a large one that was really high up. Dune didn't see it as a threat until it started getting closer... and closer... and then it started to dive down.

       Right toward Dune.

       Dune only had seconds to react, quickly flipping over and jumping to her feet. She leaped out of the way before the mysterious flying creature landed roughly, sending clouds of sand and grass in the air, blinding Dune. She tried to wipe the sand away from her brow, but she was suddenly attacked, claws sinking into her scales, large teeth latching onto the back of her neck, and trying to be thrown to the side. Dune let out a loud hiss, trying to shake her attacker off. 

       Fighting back, Dune swung her tail above her, trying to prick whoever was on her. It wasn't working. The creature's wings flung out next to her face, and Dune took this advantage by snapping and latching her jaws into the creature's wings. An echoing roar and the creature jumped forward off of her back. Dune used as much strength as she could to heave the flier into the lake. She managed, and the flier was thrown into the water with a splash. Dune focused on the ripples while she flung some sand onto her bleeding wounds. 

       A brown, furred creature surfaced, swimming to shore and coughing up water. Its wings out to its sides, one of them being the one she had managed to bite on. Now Dune could see what species had attacked. An aeries, but... not quite. The aeries was brown with pale, sandy-colored wings and mane. Its entire body was much like an aeries, which would have fooled her from afar.

       But up close, this aeries had pure black eyes with white pupils, three eyes, like normal aeries. Her horn wasn't glowing though, and it was broken. But the thing that scared Dune the most, the thing that would scare any creature deep down...

       She had a mouth.

       Her mouth, when closed, looked like a large scar that had stretched through her horn to each side of her face. But when opened, like now as she spat water, it was a mouth filled with teeth as large and as sharp as a gyro's toe claw. Everyone knew that aeries didn't have mouths, so it was very disturbing to see.

       The brown aeries looked up at Dune with blood trickling down her snout. She parted her jaws and licked the blood off her soft fur. Gross, Dune thought.

       "You know how to fight," the aeries said, her tail brushing the wet grass under her. "But I'm afraid I know more about killing worms like you."

       "Who are you?" Dune demanded, sinking her claws into the dirt. Her tail lashed angrily. She wasn't going to die halfway through her journey before the end of Sonaria. "Why are you attacking me?"

       The aeries tilted her head. "Sane," she replied. "I was hired to kill an interfering knalriki and a valkurse, but I saw the valkurse leave. Which is good for me, because with her out of the way, it'll be much easier to kill you."

       Dune hissed, "You're working for Gher, aren't you?" 

       Sane smiled and lifted her maned neck. "Yes, very clever of you to put the pieces together. I assume you know his plans as well?" She looked over at the half-ruined map drawing in the sand and back at Dune. "And where we're possibly... hiding?"