The Changing (16 page)

When the shaking ground and ceaseless booming grew to a nearly unbearable level, Borrik and his men watched as the creature extracted itself from the gorge between the mountains. None dared move without an order from their alpha, and even then some doubted they could bring this monster down. Stepping from the great crevice came a beast unlike anything any of the wolf men had seen before. All had heard tales and descriptions of a giant, but what they saw before them dwarfed any depiction they could have imagined. Easily as tall as five large men, the enormous monster of a beast stomped out of the pass crushing stones beneath its great weight, causing plumes of dust to explode under its feet. It was a formidable creature by any account. Its size was daunting to even the most experienced warrior, but that was only a small portion of what made the giant fearsome. The creature’s limbs were all massively large with bulging muscles and sinew, a requirement for growing to such an immense size. Its four arms, two sprouting from each shoulder, were abnormally long which gave it an ape-like gait and an amazing reach.

Atop the massive body rested a head and face that appeared to have been created for the sole purpose of inspiring fear. The giant lacked any sign of hair over his entire body, and on his head, where hair was expected to grow, lines of thick spikes sprouted from the very bones beneath the flesh trailing down the back of his neck and onto his shoulders. The beast's eyes were more widely set than any other race of man Borrik could recall, and even in the complete absence of light, they seemed to glow with a menacing green luminescence of their own. Beneath the monster's wicked eyes sprouted a nose more like a beak than anything akin to other races of men, and upon the great boney beak was a single nostril where steamy hot air exploded forth each time the beast exhaled. It was this that created the rasping sound the men had used to track the creature’s progress through the mountain pass. Beneath the beak-like nose lay a mouth more foul than anything Borrik had witnessed upon another being, either man or animal. It appeared a great hole in the giant's face, circular in shape and large enough to encompass a man. Within the great hole of a mouth were rows upon rows of razor sharp teeth to which pieces of rotting flesh clung pervading the air with a thick stench of death and decay.

Borrik initially thought to draw the giant off down the mountainside and then race back up and through the pass with his men, but with more of his troops on their way he dared not leave them to face this foe alone. Borrik had two dozen battle-ready men currently with more en route. To him it was not a matter if they could bring the giant down, but more a matter of what the cost of such a battle might be. Whatever the cost, however, the decision was made for Borrik without his consent as the giant, stepping free from the confines of the pass, raised its wicked beak and began to sniff the air vigorously. Swiveling its massive head this way and that, tasting the air for an unfamiliar scent, the giant peered into the shadows with its glowing green eyes and spotted one of Borrik’s men. Rearing backwards, the giant hefted his massive body to its full height, and clenching his four massive hands into fists, he charged the lone wolf man whom his gaze had fallen upon.

With little time to react, Borrik ordered his men to meet the challenge. Fortunately for the single wolf soldier whom the giant charged, his comrades sprang from the shadows barking and growling, giving the giant pause to reassess the situation. Unfortunately for Borrik and his men, however, the giant changed tactics and spun to meet them showing both its unbelievable agility for a being so large, and proof of intelligence. With fists as large as a man the giant began to rain blows down upon the wolf men in its path with all four of its massive arms, sending Borrik’s soldiers scattering in all directions to evade the blows. Each time the giant missed a foe, it drove one of its massive fists into the rocky ground causing the earth to shake beneath the wolf men’s feet, making them struggle to stay standing. Seeing the effect this had upon them, the intelligent giant began steadily beating the ground with two of his fists causing many of the wolf men to stumble or trip and fall. With its two remaining fists the giant continued to bat at the fallen wolf men in an attempt to crush them with his bare hands. The giant managed a few glancing blows with this tactic and sent more than one of Borrik’s troops flying through the air to land with broken limbs or ribs far from their comrades who still struggled to put up a fight. No matter how successful the giant's new tactic was, Borrik saw a flaw in the creature's plan.

Ordering some of his troops to remain behind to keep the giant's attention, Borrik and a dozen of his men began to scale the near vertical rocky sides of the mouth of the mountain pass. Climbing to a height greater than that of even the giant, and clinging on for dear life as the mountain shook from the giant's incessant pummeling, Borrik gave the order to attack. With absolute faith in their alpha, all the wolf men clinging to the side of the mountain sprang into the air to rain down upon the giant from above. Borrik watched as they made their attack, each of them landing to dig their clawed fingers and toes into the flesh of the giant where they began ripping and tearing at its flesh with their teeth and claws. With a howl of pain the giant stood again to its full height and began to spin its massive body to dislodge those clinging to its back. Borrik had hoped for such a reaction, and digging his clawed toes into the stone of the mountain, he crouched as he released his hold with his hands to gain more thrust as he lunged away from the safety of the mountainside.

Borrik shot through the air, both outward and downward from the mountainside, his eyes unblinking, unwilling to lose sight of his target for even a moment. Hoping he had timed his launch appropriately, Borrik soared through the air for what felt like an eternity as time seemed to slow as it does in the last moments of life. This apparent slowing of time gave Borrik the ability to react to the ever changing angle of attack as his outward momentum began to fail and his leap became more of a plummet. Borrik had hoped, after watching his men spring from the mountain, that if he had timed it right he could land upon the giant’s neck or shoulder where he could slash and claw at the giant's throat and hopefully locate a major blood vessel. With the added weight of his armor, and his larger size in comparison to his men, it appeared he had miscalculated.

As Borrik plummeted through the air driven by gravity and momentum, he watched the struggle playing out beneath him in perfect clarity. Just as he was sure he would miss his target, the giant, in an attempt to relieve some pain one of the wolf men was inflicting, twisted his body and bent in such a way as to try to reach a portion of his back normally unobtainable. Seeing his opening Borrik growled as loudly as he was able and  smashed his two armored wrists together with a loud clang in an attempt to get the giant's attention. His ploy worked perfectly. As Borrik careened the last few feet towards the giant, the great beast of a man heard his growl and the sound of metal on metal and turned his face up towards the mountainside. Borrik, reacting by instinct born of survival, reached to dig his claws in wherever they made purchase. Upon impact, with the added weight of his armor at terminal velocity, Borrik felt his muscles and tendons strain as they worked to ease the blow to his entire body. As Borrik dug his fingers and claws into the fleshy portion between the giant’s beak and ear, he realized time was a luxury he had little of. Wanting to inflict as much damage as was possible before the giant could swat him away, Borrik looked to the only piece of anatomy that afforded him the opportunity he needed. With a great lunge Borrik sprang up the giant's face as the creature kicked and spun, flailing his four massive arms. Just as the giant prepared to extract the wolf man from his face, Borrik turned the tide of the battle in a single blow.

Grabbing the giant's lower eyelid with one clawed hand, Borrik dug in his toes once again and leaned out from the immense creature’s face to lend his blow more strength. As all things with eyelids do, the giant closed his immense eye in an attempt to shield it from impending danger. The thin membrane of flesh was little in the way of an obstacle to a man with more than human strength and clawed fingers to boot. Driving the blow with all the leverage and might he could muster, Borrik, keeping all of his clawed fingers straight to imitate the blade of a sword, drove his entire arm up to the shoulder through the giant's eyelid and into one of its massive eyes with a gush of a thick jelly-like substance that reeked of putrid decay. Not daring even a single moment of celebration, Borrik extracted his arm, and using all of his claws to slow his descent, slid down from the giant's face in time to watch the blow that would have ended his life.

Panicking as any man would, the giant sought to save his eyesight by any means possible. The only two options the giant had were to either carefully extract the hairy beast from his face, or pummel the life out of it in a single blow. Much to Borrik’s amusement, the giant had apparently chosen option two. As Borrik slithered from the giant's face, scratching and clawing to slow his fall, the giant bashed himself in his now ruined eye with all of his might sending the foul smelling eye jelly exploding out in all directions to rain down upon the stone below. Such was the force of the blow, the giant caused itself to lose it's balance, and twisting as he fell, the giant creature landed upon his belly with a thud that shook the earth for miles. Those of Borrik’s troops upon the giant's back howled in victory, riding the beast to the ground. Those wolf men already on the ground scurried out from under the falling giant, and Borrik simply waited until the last possible moment then sprang from the creature to land hard, but safely, a couple paces away. Though celebrate as they did with howls, barks and cheers, the pack of wolf men’s rejoicing would be short lived.

With a moan, followed by a monstrous roar, the giant rolled in an attempt to right himself and regain his feet. Borrik watched as one of his men vanished beneath the great bulk of the giant with a crunch accompanied by a spurting of blood and other foul liquids across the stone. He ordered his men to attack in hopes of keeping the beast upon the ground. His order was accompanied by a great crescendo of howls from a few hundred yards further down the mountain. Reinforcements had arrived. Biting and clawing, scratching and slashing, Borrik’s men fought on in a flurry of attacks as viciously as they were able, but with nothing but their claws and teeth, their attacks availed little more than scratches to the giant, who in his anger began to kick his legs and thrash his massive arms, rolling this way and that in an attempt to crush all of his would-be attackers. Another of Borrik’s men was squashed beneath of the giant's massive legs and another was caught up in one of the beast's giant fists only to be crushed before being bitten in half in the gruesome maw of the giant. If they did not end this fight soon, Borrik knew the losses would be tremendous. Deciding upon a course of action, Borrik sent an image to all of his men, even those that approached from down the mountainside, that held a thousand meanings and emotions. Most importantly, it was an order to keep the giant upon the ground at all costs. With his order given, Borrik began to rush this way and that in the darkness, his keen eyes searching for an implement with which to deal death to the giant, and many moments later, after his reinforcements had arrived and added themselves to his cause, Borrik found that which he was seeking.

Borrik’s tool of death it seemed would be a crude one. A weapon formed of despair and necessity, but if fate were with him Borrik knew it would serve his purpose. Pulling the scraggly tree from its roots where it clung precariously to the rocky soil, Borrik then used his clawed hands to rip from the small tree every branch leaving naught but the stunted twisted trunk, no bigger around than a child's arm, and no longer than he himself was tall. Tearing off the gangly roots Borrik shaped the base of the trunk into a crude point using nothing but his clawed fingers. Inspecting his work, and assuring himself it was his only option, Borrik took up the makeshift spear and raced back into the fray as the ground beneath him shook and trembled with the giant's struggle.

Borrik’s men had performed their sole duty perfectly. When Borrik had fled to search for a weapon he had left behind fewer than twenty men to subdue the giant. Now that more of his troops had arrived there were more than four times that number, and with their increased numbers it appeared the men were finally having some success. The giant now appeared to be a great mass of roiling fur and blood. Nearly every inch of the giant lay beneath the slashing and biting mass of Seth’s created race of wolf men and women. If their weight alone was not enough to keep the giant aground, Borrik felt relieved by the fact that they had found another way to keep the giant from regaining his feet. As Borrik raced to carry out his plan he could not help but grin at a gruesome image that flashed through his mind of the giant's major tendon above his ankle being ripped through. However, as the ground continued to shake, and an occasional wolf man was either crushed or sent flying through the air, the alpha wolf knew the battle was not yet won.

Borrik raced to the giant’s head which thrashed this way and that in an attempt to keep the wolf men from his face, exactly where Borrik intended to go. Holding his crude spear in his teeth, Borrik closed the distance at a sprint and lunged as high as he was able, digging his claws into the flesh between the great rows of spikes upon the giant's head. Using both his claws and the head spikes to gain purchase, Borrik climbed carefully, timing his movements between jolts as the giant shook his head. Slowly and precariously Borrik clawed his way up to the edge of the giant's great forehead, managing against all odds to keep his footing. Now however was the moment of truth. Borrik knew he needed to time his strike perfectly, but with the giant thrashing around, heaving his head and body this way and that, Borrik could barely manage to hold on, let alone strike a killing blow upon the beast. Borrik shifted his weight time and again trying to gain a better vantage point on his target as well as a more secure base to attack from, however with the constantly changing angle to gravity it was a feeble attempt at best. Borrik could wait no longer. The longer it took him to strike, the longer his men were in danger. Timing his attack as best as he was able, Borrik released his makeshift spear from his maw and grasping it firmly in his dominant hand he lunged towards the eye he had destroyed earlier in the battle.