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The change rippled through me as I shifted into my lynx form, my clothes and crossbow disappearing into the magic of the change. The sudden shift heightened my senses, and I sneezed as the manticore’s sharp scent hit the back of my throat.
I leapt at the creature, landing partway up one of its huge hind legs. I clawed my way to its back. It yowled at the pain and whirled round to shake me off.
I sank my teeth into its rump, the taste of bad eggs and fresh blood filling my mouth along with its thick fur. It howled with pain and reared up. I jumped and clawed through the thin membrane of its wings. At least now it couldn’t fly out of here.
My ears twitched at a change in air pressure, and I released my grip, dodging to the side as its tail stabbed down, venom dripping from its scorpion stinger. This close, I could see the dark-red bristles that dotted its pulsing poison sac.
I jumped down, landing lightly on the mossy ground.
The elves had formed a circle around the creature, aiming to contain it.
Dot was back in the action, joining the elves, her sword up, looking for a place to strike.
The two men had their net ready, approaching it from behind, speaking softly as if the manticore was a stray dog they needed to calm.
It reacted to their voices.
But not how they wanted.
Instead of calming the manticore, their soft tones enraged it. Its slitted yellow eyes narrowed, and it spun round, lashing out with its tail and knocking them to the ground. The net flew from their hands, landing in grass damp with yellow tarfangtula blood.
The men’s bodies sprawled across the ground. I hoped they were unconscious and not dead.
No time to check.
Enraged, the manticore leapt over the elves, spun round, and swiped two away. I ran in while it was distracted and launched myself at its softer underbelly, raking my claws into its furred skin before darting away.
The captain stabbed at its flank, using her elven agility to jump gracefully over its dangerous tail as it jabbed at her. A drop of acid green venom dripped onto her arm, and she yelped as her armour started smoking.
Don’t let the poison touch you. Good to know.
I darted over to her and pulled her out of reach of its tail with my teeth. She panted hard and muttered her thanks as she got back to her feet and transferred her sword to her other hand.
Gritting her perfect teeth, she ran back in, rallying the rest of her team with a cry. “To me!”
I joined her, and Dot appeared at my side in a blur of speed. One full frontal assault. We could do this.
The manticore faced our small team, planting its feet as it stared us down. With a roar, it breathed out searing hot flames at the elven captain. I knocked her aside, sending her sprawling on the ground.
The stench of singed fur caught my nostrils as someone shoved into me.
I skidded across the clearing, roaring my grief as Dot’s pale skin blistered under its fiery assault. She fell to the ground.
Now it’s personal. No one lays into my team except me.
Roaring my defiance, I darted in again and again, using the adrenaline spiking through me to avoid its attacks.
The elf captain was back on her feet, stabbing at its furred head to distract it while I carried out my assault. It swiped with one massive paw.
A scream cut through the air. The captain flew across the glade, thudding into a tree. She didn’t get up.
Dzrak this. We hadn’t slowed the manticore at all despite the flesh wounds we’d given it. And even in my lynx form, I was no match for an oversized lion with a dzraking poison tail.
A flash of silver caught my eye. The net. That was how I could end this.
I shifted back to my human form, rolled to avoid its spiked tail, and picked up the net. My hands burned on contact with the flimsy material. Dzrak it. Why does it have to be silver?
I gripped it more tightly, the knotted squares scorching my skin with cold as every instinct told me to drop it and get as far away from the evil metal as I could.
