CHAPTER SEVEN
Simon was nervous as he watched the sun slowly climb up through the sky; once it was in the middle, he and Kira walked down to the field which Liru had mentioned. It was a wide field and its long grasses aided Simon as he would be able to stay relatively unseen. On three sides of the field were trees; the other side it was guarded by faraway mountains.
Simon took a deep breath and surveyed his surroundings once more, as it was all he could do to keep calm. Then, in three flashes, one of black, one of gold and one of deep blue, out appeared Liru, Daien, and in the middle, the vulture Silra, with the beast, Cerberus, bound in a whir of black magic to keep it from wreaking havoc.
“This will either be very exciting or very disappointing,” Daien sneered as Silra started to lift the binding spell on Cerberus.
“My hope is a slow death, a fast one would just be too boring,” Daien continued, purposefully poking and prodding at Liru.
Silra bowed, nodding her white beak and quickly flying off as the rest of her spell faded away from Cerberus. Simon quivered with fear as the huge, black beast stood before him. Its skin was glossy and shining, it looked wet and covered in some sort of black sludge. It had three, huge misshapen heads, with huge, jagged black teeth. And down either side of its massive body, fourteen glowing red eyes ran from throat to tail. It had four, strong legs, feet misshapen with long, razor-sharp claws, and blood dripped from it’s maws.
Simon was stricken by fear, but Kira’s shout snapped him away, and he leapt at the unsuspecting beast. He saw it lean to one side and aimed at the other, but to his surprise it wasn’t feigning.
It mustn’t be very bright, he thought as he tumbled over and over in the dust behind Cerberus. The big, black beast turned, but Simon had already dashed into the long, yellow grasses, keeping hidden. He crept around Cerberus’s back, and leapt at it from out of the blue. It turned and swiped at him, but Simon was already on its back, metal claws slicing through its thin, glistening black skin.
Simon kicked at the creatures eyes, Kira cheering him on. But Cerberus writhed, and it managed to buck him off, Simon’s metal claws carving deep grooves in its soft skin as he clung on for dear life. But despite his attempts to hang on, and the creature’s wounds, he was thrown off, thudding down onto the dusty ground, groaning.
“Watch out!” Kira alerted him, as Cerberus lunged in towards him. Simon jumped away, still winded from his landing, he desperately scrambled away into the grasses, where Cerberus could not find him.
“Get him, Cerberus!” Daien cheered.
Simon gasped, coughing as he tried to regain his breath, giving away his hiding spot. Cerberus’s huge paw crashed down just where Simon had been as he dodged away, slicing Cerberus’s huge, mangled forepaw with it’s long, curved black claws.
Ruby-red blood welled from Cerberus’s wound, as the huge demon roared with rage, its pupils turning to slits and its eyes glowing brighter with anger. Simon still panted, but he managed to swipe once more at the creature’s paw before he had to dodge away.
He prepared to leap at Cerberus, the creature’s stupidity giving away his next move. Simon hit him full on even as the beast tried to dodge. Simon’s claws dug into the creature’s face as he clung onto Cerberus’s middle head, the two others snapping and writhing. Simon clawed his way up until he was on top of the beast’s middle head, and he leapt off onto it’s back just as Cerberus’s other heads snapped at him, missing by barely an inch.
“What?!” Daien roared as he became more and more agitated. “You’re supposed to win!” He yelled at the huge black beast, as if anyone could hear over Cerberus’s roars and screeches of rage and pain.
Simon was panting heavily, and had only a moment to rest before he had to leap away as Cerberus’s heads twisted around to snap at the air where he had just been.
Simon tried to claw at the creature’s eyes, taking out three as the creature snapped and roared in pain. Simon slashed again at its many eyes as the creature writhed, bucking him off onto the ground.
Simon managed to catch himself this time, slightly winded but still fast enough to avoid the creature’s blind slashes as Cerberus’ claws dug deep grooves into the soil. Simon slashed out every time, little orange sparks coming off every time he hit one of Cerberus’s claws rather than his paw. Simon jumped at Cerberus once more, not needing to worry about the half-blind creature dodging. He slashed at its black skin, taking out five more of it’s fourteen eyes. Cerberus roared in pain and rage, and with a final wild, writhing, twisting movement, it disappeared into curls of black smoke, back to where it came from.
Simon panted, dazed from what had happened, Daien’s roars of rage echoing through his mind.
Suddenly the two spirits, the hare and the wolf, descended from the skies, as Simon was engulfed in smoke as time twisted backwards, and the sun set in the east and rose in the west, and as birds flew backwards and stars twinkled against time, he found himself back in his bed, in his uncles cabin.
He looked down at his paws, but they weren’t paws -- they were hands. He glanced in the mirror at the foot of his bed. He was a human again. He looked at the farmer’s almanac on the wall, and not a day had passed since he was last human.
A thought struck him then, and in the dim, pre-dawn light, he slipped out of bed and quietly walked over to the wall, taking the red and orange fur of Ragen from the wall. He quietly opened the door, and buried the pelt in the soft earth. Where did that pelt go? That would be something none would ever know.
