She Who Sings to Monsters

Chapter Three

Two, no three monsters were in the room with her and the boar beast. She'd pumped as much energy into its leg she could but now she was exhausted, without enough magic to make a spark, let alone defend herself against the monsters. She was dead and she was fairly certain they wouldn't eat her nearly as fast as she'd hoped the boar beast would. These had smaller jaws, still nasty looking, still wicked sharp teeth, but they wouldn't be able to swallow her in two bites.

She thought they might take their time, enjoy her screams even.

The boar beast roared, a terrible sound that hurt her ears. She scrambled back as it charged—not at her but the new monsters, snapping up one in its large jaws, cracking it in half with a single chomp. The others didn't look surprised or scared as they charged the bigger beast, darting in, taking vicious bites at the thing's flesh. No wonder its hide was so thick, it had to be to survive its enemies.

One of the beasts tried to dash around the thing, coming at her, but the boar beast turned faster than she thought possible and whipped it with its tail, sending the smaller monster into the wall with a crash. Dust sifted down from the ceiling and an ominous moan from the building made Ara worry the whole thing would come down on her head.

She dashed to the far side of the room across what she'd decided must have once been a stage. She'd almost gotten across when the wood under her feet cracked and her leg fell through the floor. Her shriek of surprise and pain stirred the fighting monsters behind her into a frenzy and she ripped a jagged hole in her skin when she yanked her leg free and rolled. Blood spattered and one of them howled.

The boar beast thundered toward her, floor crumbling under its feet as it ran.

Now she would die, but better this thing than those smaller monsters. Ara shut her eyes, then gasped as something knocked her over. Claws ripped into her back, surely teeth would be next but then the weight was lifted away and she opened her eyes to see the boar beast gulping down her attacker.

It had saved her ... unless it was going to eat her now.

A sickening crunch, a gulp, and then it turned its head to look at her with its beady eye. It grunted.

"Thank you." She tried to straighten, but the scratched burned, the wounds pulling as she shifted. She may have squeaked, she didn't know, but the boar beast groaned as if sympathizing with her.

No one would believe her if she told them what had happened. If she made it home, that was.

"Aunt Ara!"

"Kor?" She tried to stand and hissed. "Kor!" Would the boar beast hurt her nephew? Perhaps she shouldn't call him to her, but how else could she find him? "Stay where you are!"

"No! Stop, you can't take me!"

"Kor! What's going on? Kor? Kor!"

The beast leaned down farther and nudged her with its nose, gently, gently. She stared at it for a moment, then wrapped her hand around its horn. Once she gripped it, the beast raised its head, thereby lifting her to her feet. It still hurt—hurt a lot—but it got her to her feet. "Thank you," she said. "Thank you for saving me."

It moaned again, somehow more expressive than she ever would have guessed.

She limped back the way she'd come, dodging the great holes in the floor where the beast had smashed through. She made it to the hall and realized from the noise behind her that the beast was following her. She paused, then continued on, glad for its company, weird as it was.

With the boar beast at her back, Ara didn't fear calling her nephew's name. Noise drew her back to the entrance and when she got to the door, she saw him being dragged onto the back of a large, cat-like mount by a tall, dark man whose aura was all flames and searing color. "Kor!"