Revenge is Sweet

[Lykaios]

Lykaios was feeling the pain, a pain he could not describe, or explain.

He felt it right through his head, down his spine to his shoulder blades, and then further down his spine to his tail bone. His head felt like someone had hacked into it with a sword, his shoulder blades felt like something was trying to burst out of them. Same went for his tail bone. Sometimes Lykaios blacked out from the pain, and sometimes he still dreamed in his unconsciousness, the pain was gone, but he still felt...different in his dreams.


One night the pain hit Lykaios like a club in the back of his head, he blacked out almost instantly. And he began to dream:

Lykaios could feel the wind beneath his wings, lifting him up and up, letting him soar through the sky majestically, which gave him the ability to terrorize at his whim. Lykaios felt the fire burning in his belly, a great weapon but a terrible curse.

Lykaios dropped down to the lake below and went to take a long drink of water, but his reflection caught his eye. He was a dragon, black and red, slim and evil looking. His teeth were massive fangs that curled down his chin, his scales were jagged and pointed out and stuck out like needles rather than laying flat on their side. His wings were gigantic and leathery, like a massive parachute with crude holes throughout.

Lykaios gasped as he saw a limb hanging from his teeth.

And that was when he woke up, the pain was gone. Completely, his shoulder blades and tail bone felt completely fine. He reached back to rub his shoulder blade to make sure it was actually alright. He felt wings, small leathery wings. Lykaios's hand jerked back in shock, he reached down towards his tail bone and felt a slick, slim, scaly tail. It was thin and muscular.

Lykaios could actually feel the muscle without touching it, he could move the tail, and flutter his wings. He was shocked but then, happy. With this he could become a better Warrior, maybe a cheaper warrior, but a better Warrior.

[Lykaios]

Lykaios could feel the movements in the ground, thundering footsteps, drawing ever closer. He realized it as the hunting group that frequently hunted in these woods for deer. Lykaios had talked to them before, they seemed friendly enough, but never stayed long enough for him to get to know anything about them.

This time they were hunting something different, Lykaios heard the howl of the wolf, soon followed by a high pitched yelp. Lykaios sprinted towards the yelp, despairing what he might have to do. Not many people knew it, but his name actually meant that he was similar to a wolf.

Lykaios heard more yelping as he drew closer and closer, he fluttered his wings, propelling himself forward at an even higher speed. He smacked his tail on the ground, bending his legs and jumping. High over a set of bush and shrubs into a small clearing. Int the middle of the clearing was a Wolf, two arrows stuck out from its stomach and three men from the hunting group surrounded it with pikes. Lykaios pushed his way between them and the Wolf.

"Do not hurt this Wolf!" Lykaios ordered them, despite his non existent authority over them.

What Lykaios recognized as the leader walked forward, his hands in his pockets, nowhere near the large broadsword that was slung across his back. There were five men in total, the three with the pikes, the archer lurking in the bushes, and of course, the Leader.

"Why should we listen to you, peasant?" The Leader said with spite forming on the saliva spitting from his mouth.

"Because I said so." Lykaios retorted, flicking his tail angrily.

All eyes drilled into him as they noticed the two new appendages added to his body: His tail and wings. Lykaios knew what they were thinking, one word, echoing throughout their brains, over and over, "freak".

"You're right, Lykaios, we shouldn't be hunting this Wolf, we should be hunting something else, something that is a bigger danger to our society, you." the Leader told Lykaios, at the same time signaling to his hunters to move in.

Lykaios saw the poison on the man's lips. He was different, so now he must die. Lykaios realized the position he had put himself in, he was now in the middle of three razor sharp pikes, and their expertly trained wielders. Lykaios noticed that the men holding the pikes also had long swords strapped to their backs and a pair of knives on their belts.

Lykaios needed to take in everything before he made his move, he started with the Leader:

The Leader was tall, very tall. He towered over Lykaios by at least a foot. His hair was black and matted and his beard was unkempt and crudely shaved. Stubble was clearly seen on his face from any distance, his clothes were what Lykaios would call "fancy rags". The Leader had two Weapons: His Broad Sword and a slightly smaller, one handed sword attached to his belt. Lykaios moved his gaze to the Pike men:

They were in hooded, black cloaks. Little of their faces could be seen except for their mouthes. Their mouthes were cruel, lines, set into their faces with little emotion. Two of them had beards around their mouthes, the other one had a cleanly shaved face, almost as if he was plastic. Lykaios finally looked towards the archer, possibly the biggest threat right now:

The Archer had fair hair that was nicely kept and brushed. It hung just above his eyes, the perfect cut, kept his head warm but had but way of affecting his visibility when making a shot. The Archer wore all camouflage, a two piece outfit made for the sole purpose of hiding in the bush. He had a very long bow in his arms and a quiver full of arrows on his back, a large, curved knife and a smaller throwing knife were attached to his belt. Then Lykaios noticed the final detail to fit into the puzzle, the Archer had an arrow notched into his bow, the bowstring was drawn back to full length, and the arrow point was aimed at Lykaios's head.

Lykaios moved a second too slow, he leaped, pushing off the ground with his tail to aid him and flapping as hard as he could with his still small, wings. He soared over the Pike men, but with the arrow notched so far back, Lykaios didn't have a chance of completely avoiding the arrow. The arrow scraped across the side of his scalp, tearing away hair and skin as if it was little more than butter.

Lykaios was in the air above the Pike men, if his wings were fully grown he may of been able to soar over the forest and away from the danger, but his wings were little and could only give him a small amount of lift. The pain in Lykaios's face distracted him and he collapsed when his feet hit the ground, unable to support himself from the height he jumped.

[Lykaios]

Lykaios scrambled to his feet, he turned to face the Hunters before him. he saw the Archer drawing back his ow once more, Lykaios slipped his wooden buckler off his back and swept it down across his body, catching the speeding arrow in mid flight. Lykaios was in a very close proximity to the Pike Wielding hunters, he quickly drew his long Katana and disappeared back into the undergrowth.

Lykaios heard the pounding feet behind him, crashing and slashing their way through the undergrowth. Lykaios was in their area, they had the advantage here. Lykaios sidestepped right and broke into a swift run. Once he had made some distance he turned right again and doubled back.

Lykaios found himself on the path of destruction that the Hunters had made in pursuit of him. Lykaios now had the element of surprise. He flicked his tail happily and purred through his lips. He set off down the trail, following the broken branches and cleaved patches of grass.

Lykaios found the Pike Wielding brutes infront of him, plodding along after the path of vandalism.

The Archer and the Leader must be ahead, scouting for me.

Lykaios slowly began to creep up towards the three men, taking care not to trod on any small sticks or branches in the process. Lykaios formatted his body into his ideal battle stance, Shield forward and Katana behind him, set horizontally and pointed towards the enemy.

Lykaios was a little over a metre away now, he decided that this was the time to make his attack. He sprinted forward, putting all his force into his shield he smashed into the rear man, sending him to crash into his fellow accomplices and create a domino effect. Lykaios's momentum carried him further, he was about to trip on the bodies when he smacked his tail on the ground. He went into the air and landed on the other side of the men.

[Lykaios]

Lykaios looked down at the now, defeated men. He spat upon them and then kicked the closest one in the ribs. Feeling it give way to his foot, Lykaios wrenched his foot back out disgust. Then Lykaios heard the familiar voice of the Leader of the posse and quickly dove into the bushes on the side of the crude trail.

The Leader walked casually down the path, the Archer nowhere in sight. His footsteps were calm and regular. The pattern stopped abruptly as he saw the three, beaten bodies of hi loyal hunters. He crouched down low, one knee in the soft mud and tried to desperately shake the men awake. He failed miserably, he touched his index and middle finger to closest man's neck and was relieved to feel a steady heart beat.

The Leader just realized the trouble he had put himself in. The attack on his men couldn't of happened long ago, the assailant could still be nearby. Possibly staring down the shaft of his arrow at his unprotected head.

The Leader grew afraid, he had two kids and a wife, he loved all of them with his heart. His name was Johnathan, and he was widely popular in the village he called home. Many would miss him, if he died he would be hurting each and every one of them. He could not let this happen.

Lykaios was watching the Leader. He had no way of attacking him without jumping into close-combat. Lykaios was proud of his swordsmanship, but doubted his skill up against someone with the prowess and confidence of this man.

Lykaios opted to take the diplomatic approach to this problem. He stepped forth from his, somewhat rushed hiding place, bringing himself into full view of the man.

"What is your name?" Lykaios asked, giving nothing away on his child-like face,

"Johnathan," he replied, "Did you do this to my men?" he asked, anger soaking into his voice,

"That is not why I revealed myself," Lykaios explained, "I showed myself to you, to ask one thing: Why did you try to kill me?"

Johnathan didn't answer, aggravating Lykaios's already, furious anger. Johnathan smiled at Lykaios, Lykaios saw it in his smile. Then he literally saw it in his eyes. His eyes reflected the archer, bow drawn. Lykaios threw himself sideways, the arrows skimming his back.

Lykaios looked up at a groan and saw Johnathan clutching an arrow in his shoulder. Lykaios didn't waste one moment, the Archer had a severe guilty look upon his face and was too busy worrying about his superior to notice Lykaios, slipping away into the thick undergrowth.