Girack’s Game

Girack’s ears twitched back at the sound of footsteps behind him, the sound so familiar to him of soft soled shoes on cold hard rock. He brought his four fingered hand up to his chin as his eyes slid open and their soft glow illuminated the cave. ‘Hmm’ he thought, ‘so another famed dragon hunter has become foolish enough to try and slay Girack. Silly little human, I will enjoy devouring your flesh.’ The stupid bags of flesh actually thought Girack was dumb enough to be killed by a single lance wielding knight. All decked out in their tin can suits with their flimsy swords they actually thought would pierce his diamond scales. They had sent countless of their kind to destroy him over the years and he had become quite apt at dispatching him. It had even become sort of a game to him and he had begun experimenting with different methods of killing them. ‘Which game shall I use this time?’ he wondered, ‘Sleeping Dragon perhaps, or maybe Rampage? I haven’t used Pathetic in a long time either…’ his eyes slid closed has he listened to the footsteps which had stopped. ‘Ah, the crossroads,’ he thought, ‘ take the left path oh human, and you will plunge eighty feet to your doom, take the right and you will face my wrath.’ Girack wasn’t like all the other dragons; they were mindless killing machines who couldn’t figure two plus two. Girack was smart; he had even designed countless traps throughout his cave. If the stupid humans could make it past them all, he would reword them with a game and then devour them. For thousands of years Girack had played his games, at first it had been about survival, lure the animals in and eat them, now the humans had come along and the games had become much more interesting. Girack would sleep until he heard them approaching his cave then he would wake and consume them, and then he would sleep again. The humans where much more fun than the common animals he had used to eat, he could play with their minds and emotions before devouring them.

Girack’s earrings jingled as he cocked his head to the right, ‘good choice,’ he thought, ‘you might have a chance after all.’ He lifted himself from the floor and stretched and sat back down, facing the cave entrance awaiting his prey. He had been sleeping for a long time; his internal clock said it had been fifty years since he had last awakened. His stomach growled as he decided on which game to play, ‘I think I’ll just devour him this time,’ as another tremor tightened his stomach. The sound of voices drifted through tunnel, ‘more then one?’ he thought. Listening closer now, he counted, one, two, and three. Three humans? He snorted, this was strange, maybe the humans had gotten smarter. He was pretty sure he could take on three humans at once, it was just, just that this was different and it made his skin crawl, something was very different this time. The sound of their movement was different, the hunters always wore plated metal that clinked loudly and smelled of horses. The scent drifting through his tunnels now was chemical, like an alchemist. Where there alchemists coming for him?

There was a flicker of torch light now and he could make out distinct words, unlike the other dragons, Girack could speak human. “Wow, look at this cave, it’s huge,” An older male’s voice.

“Yah, Look at the walls it looks like claw marks,” a young male’s voice.

“Claw marks?” Came the shrill woman’s response.

“Don’t worry,” the first male, “There old, at least fifty years or more, whatever lived here is long since dead and gone.”

‘Or sleeping,’ Girack would have added.

“Dad this place is awesome, I can’t wait till we move in to the house, then I can really explore!”

‘Dad?’ Girack thought, ‘this is no hunting party, it’s a family. Ah, this is ever most interesting.’ A grin spread across his scaly muzzle, long needlike teethe gleamed in the glow of his eyes.

“Dani!” The woman again, “I will not have you out in these caves alone! I don’t know why I even came in here in the first place!”

“Mom! You know I wouldn’t come in here alone! I’m not twelve anymore!”

“Come on hun, you know Dani’s old enough, he’s got to be at least thirteen now.”

“Dave!”

“You know I’m kidding dear.”

“Sure you are.”

Suddenly the plan changed just as the family came around the last bend, Girack muttered an ancient chant that filled the room with the smell of rotting flesh and his body melded with the darkness. The family approached the main cavern, “Oh wow, what is that smell?” the woman exclaimed.

“It smells like something died in here dad.”

“Something probably did die in here Dani.” They came into Girack’s lair one bye one, ‘just a little further,’ he thought. He had flattened himself against the wall on their right. They walked halfway down his body length and then stopped. ‘Damn!’

“Oh my God! This place is huge!” the boy shouted and Girack winced at the loud noise.

“Dani!” the mother admonished, “how many times have I told you!”

“310 times mom,” the boy grinned in the torchlight, ‘no,’ Girack thought, ‘not a torch.’ Girack craned his neck above the humans trying to see what it was the father held. His toes crunched the gravel. The humans jumped.

“Dave, what was that?”

“I don’t know honey, maybe there’s something in here.”

“That’s not funny Dave.”

“It wasn’t supposed to be.” Girack would examine the device later, right now he had to lure the skittish creatures just a little further. He snaked his tail around the father and tripped him with it.

“Ouch!” He cried. The light thingy went flying across the room and hit the floor with a clang that echoed throughout his home. ‘Metal’ thought Girack, and then turned to study his prey.

“Dave! Are you alright?”

“Ya hon, I’m fine, just tripped over something, probably a rock. Where’d the lamp go?” ‘Lamp?’ Girack thought, ‘never heard that term before, must be a new kind of torch.’

“I’ll get it Dad!” the little one shouted and Girack flinched, ‘loud for such a little human.’ The boy sprinted to the lamp and began making an odd noise. The woman helped the father up and they walked over to where the boy had stopped. ‘Finally,’ he thought as he stealthily crept over to the cave entrance and slipped out of the spell, waiting for the light.

The boy lit the lamp and held it up triumphantly, and then he screamed.

“Dammit Dani, what are you screaming about?” the father asked. The boy pointed at Girack who had begun grinning again, ah how he loved these games. The father whirled around to face Girack and he too began screaming, soon the woman joined their lovely chorus.

Girack toward above them, his bone white scales gleaming in the lamplight. His body resembled a lizard crossed with a horse except for his humanlike hands that ended in claws. His head was wide and long and there was a point where his nose ended. But it was his eyes that drew the most screams they where long and white, the pupil was like a pinpoint floating in the center of a bowl of milk. His eyes glowed a pale white in the dark. The rims were red and so where the five bone spikes that jutted from the edges. There where two underneath as well. His long horse like ears also ended in a red spike, and he had pierced the left one five times adding a red circlet earring to it. His whole body was covered in the small red bone spikes. Personally he thought it added a bit of ascent to his look.

“Well, well, looks like a have dinner guests tonight,” he said in a low scratchy voice. He leaned down as the man began pulling something from his pants. He was just about to grab the woman when he heard a loud exploding sound and smelled something acrid. He jerked his head back at the sound of it and growled low down in his throat. “Now that wasn’t very nice.” Suddenly the noise came again, and this time he felt something bounce off of his right cheek. ‘What was this?’ he thought. He looked at the man and saw him aiming something at him. “What is that odd device you hold human?” but he merely fired again and again at Girack. Each time he fired Girack felt something bounce off his scales. Finally Girack got tired of it and back handed him into the wall, where he fell limp and lifeless. He would examine the strange device as well as the lamp later, when he wasn’t busy. The woman had run off somewhere in the dark, but that was fine with Girack, he could see very well in the dark. Besides there was no where for her to go, he was now covering the only exit. He scanned the room and found her cowering next to the man. It only took one snap of his jaws and she was gone, now to find the boy. Girack didn’t really want to eat the child, children were so small and boney it wasn’t even worth the effort.

The child was still standing with the lamp held above his head; he had stopped screaming and was simply staring silently at Girack. “Well boy, any last words?” Girack asked him.

The boy stared him straight in the eye and said, “You’re a dragon.”

Girack laughed, the sound echoing off the cave walls and bouncing down the passageway. “Why yes I am, how thoughtful of you to point that out to me.”

The boy kept staring at him, “You ate my mother.”

Girack was surprised at that one, “I was hungry boy, what do you expect me do when a meal comes walking into my home and sits down in front of me? Pat it on its back and send it on its way?”

The boy swallowed and Girack could smell the fear on him, “Are you going to eat me?” he asked.

Girack thought about that, it wasn’t really worth it to eat the child, but he didn’t know that now did he? Perhaps he could make a deal with it. After all, the world outside had changed a great deal and that meant Girack’s Games had to change too.

“Look child, I’m very hungry and you look very tasty right now, but if you help me, I might be able to restrain myself from eating you.”

“How could I help you? You’re a giant dragon and I’m just a little boy.”

“Ah, but you know about the changes outside, I’ve been sleeping for fifty years in here and I’m very hungry. My prey doesn’t know I’m here and that means I’ll have to go out to get it, but out there your kind have the advantage. That’s where you can help me.”

“I don’t understand, what do you want me to do?”

“I want you to lure others into my cave.”

“How do I do that?”

“Simple, we just play a little game…”