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The creature made a soft chittering sound, but Randall couldn’t decipher the tone.
Happy? Angry?
Whatever it was, Randall tried to prepare himself for anything. He grabbed a soft blanket from his bed, one of the buckets, and he refilled the bowl full of berries. He set everything so it was close at hand, and after snapping the chains, he went about removing the top of the crate. It was only nailed in, and it didn’t take long for Randall to pry up each side with his bare hands.
The creature seemed a bit alarmed, chirping and squeaking at him in varying tones. It got quieter as the lid steadily came away, and then it went eerily silent when Randall pushed up the last nail.
Randall took a breath.
And then another.
He was ready for anything. Anything at all.
He pulled the lid off, and…
Inside was the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen.
The eyes got Randall’s attention first—bright, yellow, golden, the color of freshly spun straw or drizzling honey when it caught the light.
Hiseyes, Randall soon saw, because the creature had a trim male figure with short green fur.
The creature’s torso was longer than his legs, and his arms—no,wings—were absolutely magnificent. It was hard to judge their exact size as they were tucked behind the creature’s back, but they were lusciously thick folds of gorgeous leather, and Randall had the ridiculous urge to pet them. Each wing had long articulated boning like fingers, making them into giant hands in a sense, and they both had a large clawed thumb.
The creature’s head was humanoid with long pointed ears, a small button nose, and round cheeks. The golden eyes that had captivated Randall’s attention were a bit too big for the creature’s face, giving him an almost owlish quality. Each eye was framed by dark lashes, and a quick huff of breath revealed the creature’s mouth was full of sharp, gleaming teeth.
There was a scrap of filthy cloth tied around the creature’s waist, and that’s when Randall spotted the tail. It was long, muscular, and curled up like an angry snake about to strike. Really, that should have been Randall’s first clue that this initial encounter wasn’t going to end well.
As he offered his hand to the creature, the creature launched himself right at Randall’s face.
“Hey!” Randall protested. “I’m trying to help! Do you understand! I want to help you!”
The creature’s reply was a nasty screech and a swipe at Randall’s eyes.
A normal man would have succumbed to such an attack—and potentially lost fingers if the rumor was to be believed—but Randall was no normal man. He was the world’s strongest man, a man with physical powers beyond any mortal comprehension, a being who defied the law of physics.
Plus, he had a really big blanket.
Randall grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around the creature to trap his wings against his sides, leaving him kicking his big taloned feet and whipping his long tail around. “Hey, I just wanna help! Please!”
The creature became more frantic, and his cries were getting louder.
Randall had no idea what else to do.
The creature had been nearly starving, left in its own filth for days, and he didn’t seem to understand a word Randall was saying.
So, he dropped it—gently—in the bath.
Randall had a hold of the creature’s shoulders, and he cringed as he waited for the inevitable counter attack.
Except it didn’t happen.
The creature was now sitting in a hot bath, blinking stupidly up at Randall in an exaggerated expression of surprise.
“There,” Randall soothed. “See? Just a bath, all right?”
The creature looked around as if expecting a trap, and he frowned at Randall.
“It’s just water, I promise.” Randall pulled the now sopping wet blanket away. He dropped it in a bucket to deal with later, and he then turned back to see what the creature was doing.
