Post by Mr Gar on Dec 15, 2017 14:28:46 GMT -8
Rigel and Deneb.
Each a massive animal, both nearly thirty inches at the shoulder and a hundred and thirty pounds of solid muscle. Golden fur with dark brown muzzles and pale white underbellies that marked them as pure bred specimens. Both wearing a heavy leather collar around their throats and the barrel of their chests. The collars were not choke collars, which inferior trainers used to control their dogs. These were harnesses worn by working dogs. The animals were damn near five feet long, which made them taller when they stood on their hind legs than the short man who was walking them.
The small figure holding their thick leads was a mere 4'10 and dressed in a pair of combat boots, loose jeans and a thick black woolen sweater that hung to his mid thighs and covered his arms down to the lower side of his wrists. His beard was combed into a point below his chin and his hair was at least shoulder length, pulled back into a tail at the base of his skull. The man smelled of earth and stone, as though he were a gardener or someone else who worked in the damp ground frequently. The animals seemed torn between nervous energy that pushed them away from their owner and adoration that drove them to crowd close to his small frame and lick at his hands.
The man and his dogs walked along the road at the edge of the desert. Scrub brush from water from the city lined the roads and further away there was hard packed compacted earth. The ground was as hard as stone, the desert sand condensed from frequent surface rains and hot desert sun.
The man's eyes glowed a dark crimson in the night air. A bright light that seemed to gleam like twin coals on either side of his nose. He clicked with his tongue and the well trained dogs stopped walking. Each sitting in eerie silence. Their hackles raised and their nostrils flaring as they scented the air.
"Sit"
He ordered redundantly, but it was a command for them to hold in place. They wouldn't move until he gave another command. The small figure threw back his head and released a yipping yowling sound. Screaming into the night air. Answering calls echoed from the hills over the road and in a short time four figures on four legs made their way across the hills. Coyotes, feral looking and angry, their hackles up and their muzzles rippled back to reveal sharp fangs. The man growled and yipped at the animals, drawing them in closer, but they were obviously loathe to come to close to his disturbing aura. Then the small figure's fingers twisted and grew long talons and he snarled. "Attack"
The dogs burst into motion. The huge animals lunging across the hard pack and each tackling a coyote. Bowling the smaller canids over and biting them in the throats. Squeezing hard to crack the spine as they shook the animals.
The small man lunged forward as well, moving with a burst of speed that brought him within range of the leader of the pack. His claws lashed out and he slashed the animal across the stomach, disemboweling it. The animal bit him as it died, but its fangs did little more than punch holes in the loose sweater he was wearing. Scraping across his copper skin without putting in so much as a scratch on his flesh. He snapped his head down and sunk his jaws into the coyote's throat. Sucking hard on the dying animal.
The fourth coyote ran with a loud yelping as it saw it's pack destroyed. Fleeing into the night with the stench of terror radiating off its fur. The small man dropped the corpse in a puddle of it's entrails and ordered his dogs to release their corpses. Each animal had a small wound on their furred shoulders from the coyotes dying bites but their size made the wounds minor. The small man walked to each of the bodies and drained them of the last of their blood. Drinking heavily from the corpses.
Then he walked to his dogs and his claws sunk back into his fingers. He picked up their leashes again and started walking them through the night once more. His hunger was sated. It was time to find a place to stay when the sun rose.
Each a massive animal, both nearly thirty inches at the shoulder and a hundred and thirty pounds of solid muscle. Golden fur with dark brown muzzles and pale white underbellies that marked them as pure bred specimens. Both wearing a heavy leather collar around their throats and the barrel of their chests. The collars were not choke collars, which inferior trainers used to control their dogs. These were harnesses worn by working dogs. The animals were damn near five feet long, which made them taller when they stood on their hind legs than the short man who was walking them.
The small figure holding their thick leads was a mere 4'10 and dressed in a pair of combat boots, loose jeans and a thick black woolen sweater that hung to his mid thighs and covered his arms down to the lower side of his wrists. His beard was combed into a point below his chin and his hair was at least shoulder length, pulled back into a tail at the base of his skull. The man smelled of earth and stone, as though he were a gardener or someone else who worked in the damp ground frequently. The animals seemed torn between nervous energy that pushed them away from their owner and adoration that drove them to crowd close to his small frame and lick at his hands.
The man and his dogs walked along the road at the edge of the desert. Scrub brush from water from the city lined the roads and further away there was hard packed compacted earth. The ground was as hard as stone, the desert sand condensed from frequent surface rains and hot desert sun.
The man's eyes glowed a dark crimson in the night air. A bright light that seemed to gleam like twin coals on either side of his nose. He clicked with his tongue and the well trained dogs stopped walking. Each sitting in eerie silence. Their hackles raised and their nostrils flaring as they scented the air.
"Sit"
He ordered redundantly, but it was a command for them to hold in place. They wouldn't move until he gave another command. The small figure threw back his head and released a yipping yowling sound. Screaming into the night air. Answering calls echoed from the hills over the road and in a short time four figures on four legs made their way across the hills. Coyotes, feral looking and angry, their hackles up and their muzzles rippled back to reveal sharp fangs. The man growled and yipped at the animals, drawing them in closer, but they were obviously loathe to come to close to his disturbing aura. Then the small figure's fingers twisted and grew long talons and he snarled. "Attack"
The dogs burst into motion. The huge animals lunging across the hard pack and each tackling a coyote. Bowling the smaller canids over and biting them in the throats. Squeezing hard to crack the spine as they shook the animals.
The small man lunged forward as well, moving with a burst of speed that brought him within range of the leader of the pack. His claws lashed out and he slashed the animal across the stomach, disemboweling it. The animal bit him as it died, but its fangs did little more than punch holes in the loose sweater he was wearing. Scraping across his copper skin without putting in so much as a scratch on his flesh. He snapped his head down and sunk his jaws into the coyote's throat. Sucking hard on the dying animal.
The fourth coyote ran with a loud yelping as it saw it's pack destroyed. Fleeing into the night with the stench of terror radiating off its fur. The small man dropped the corpse in a puddle of it's entrails and ordered his dogs to release their corpses. Each animal had a small wound on their furred shoulders from the coyotes dying bites but their size made the wounds minor. The small man walked to each of the bodies and drained them of the last of their blood. Drinking heavily from the corpses.
Then he walked to his dogs and his claws sunk back into his fingers. He picked up their leashes again and started walking them through the night once more. His hunger was sated. It was time to find a place to stay when the sun rose.