The Komodo House Guest

[Nad]

Even if Haley's alarm clock sounded many times, she ignored it completely. Anyway, there was something much more effective to wake her up, and that was her dog. Every time that she ignored her alarm, he jumped into her bed and licked the hell out of her face.

"Ok, stop it! I'm awake!" said with a grumpy voice. She sat up, still sleepy and irritable. Anyway, her bad temper disappeared when she saw the happy young dog sticking her tongue out of his mouth. He was a two years old border collie that always seemed jubilant. How could she even get mad with such a cheerful creature? Haley petted him and he gladly jumped off her bed. The woman followed him a moment after.

She got ready to work in just a few minutes. When she headed out of her room to have breakfast, she realized that she wasn't the only one that woke up late: her roommate was still on her room. She knocked her door and, a moment later, a man covered with a sheet opened it. Haley frowned; last night, Charlotte went to bed alone, she was sure about that. So where did she take a man from in the middle of the night? "She's taking a shower." explained the stranger with a big awkward smile. Haley rolled her eyes and kept with her morning routine.

She decided to go to work walking, not caring if she was already late. As usual, she wanted to do something different. She hated picking up phones and help people to get their internet back to work. Working at a call centre was really monotonous and boring thing. But, again, there was nothing she could do about it for the moment, with the exception of arriving as late as she could.

 

[poisonbite01]

Sheng's tail flicked in excitement, the heavy and muscular limb moving from side-to-side over the tree stump he had been sitting on. The time was now. The final piece of his project was done, now that the rabbit had finally defecated in the circle. He straightened up, drawing himself up to his full, seven foot height, and stretched out his scaled arms...and he got to work.

~~~

He'd done everything perfectly, of that he was certain. The runes had been properly inscribed, the plants properly cultivated, the animals fed just right. But still, something had gone wrong. Maybe it was the Orc band that stumbled over his grove, or the thunder storm, or maybe the planets just weren't in a proper alignment for such an undertaking. And yet...it had still worked, after a fashion. The portal had opened, but when four of the smelly brutes rushed into the circle and knocked over his torch, it had changed from a portal to a sinkhole. As the brigands surrounded him, he was tugged from his place in the second circle, and pulled through.

~~~

When he awoke, the air smelled odd, and his flicking tongue tasted many odd scents that he did not recognize, save one.

Orc.

His reptilian, orange eyes snapped open and he was on his feet immediately. He couldn't see the sun, but it was bright yet not hot, so Sheng figured that it was still early in the day wherever he was. The ground felt hard, like stone but smooth, as if it were worked and not natural. Buildings stretched high in the sky on either side of him, small metal barrels littered the place and strange, reflective sacks with odd smells coming from them were stacked among the barrels. Metal ladders and platforms traced up the sides of the buildings, though the nearest ladder was positioned almost twenty feet above the ground. Behind him was a wall of bricks, and ahead of him he saw the Orcs and his belongings, scattered about the ground. The powerful creatures were getting to their feet now as well, waking up from their ordeal. He needed to get his bearings, and he couldn't do that with these creatures hefting their weapons and glaring at him in something equal parts confusion and rage. He'd have to fight first.

Sheng shifted into a slightly lower stance, ready to lunge, but didn't expect what came next. The Orcs and he heard a faint sound and looked at the entrance to this alley and saw a human woman. Her clothes were strange and she smelled odd, but the five creatures froze for a moment. She probably wouldn't notice them...until one of the Orcs lashed out and grabbed the human by the arm and pulled her into the alley, holding a wickedly-curved dagger up to her throat.

Clearly the Orc was a Shaman, and could read Sheng's aura, and thus knew he was a warrior for good. A hostage made the powerfully-built lizard creature freeze, and his eyes narrowed slightly. There was a moment of silence where the Orcs and the lizardman waited for someone, anyone, to do something...

 

[Nad]

Haley was taking her usual path to go to work. Even if she didn't use to find many people on her way, it was supposed to be a safe area. And it had been until that day.

She was oblivious about the situation that took place not far from her, until she felt something grabbing her arm. Haley instinctively turned around, fearing that it might be some kind of thief. Anyway, what she saw was a lot worse than anything she could imagine. It was some kind of... She couldn't tell, but it was one of those discussing creature that weren't suppose to exist. It reminded her to those hideous things from The Lord of the Rings. Orc, that was it, it definitely looked as an Orc. She was clearly in a state of shock, unable to move, while her mind kept analyzing the horrible creature that was now threatening her with some sharp element. The situation made her froze and she couldn't even scream for help.

A second later, she was still being held by that thing, but now inside an alley. She had no idea how or when he moved her, but she was certainly starting to feel pain in the arm that was still being grabbed. For a moment, she just relaxed. She felt as a hunted animal, those that, when they have no way out of the situation, when the lion is already sinking his fangs into their necks, they just stay quiet and wait for their death. She had definitely no escape from that strong and terrifying creature that didn't seem that would let her go anytime soon.

Anyway, there was a second when the creature stayed quiet. And, of course, as any zebra would do, she tried to escape. She felt the adrenaline running through his body and it gave her enough courage to do something. Haley used his free hand to take a pepper spray from her bag and use it on her attacker. Even though it had almost no effect on the Orc, it surprised him enough to let her go and rub his eyes. She took that small opportunity to run away from him. Anyway, half way through the alley, she realized he was not alone. There were at least four more of those things, blocking her way out. She held the pepper spray in the air pointing at them, as if it was some kind of weapon they should fear, and just stayed like that.

 

[poisonbite01]

The Orcs had done nothing, and neither did Sheng. They were at a stand-still until the Orcs decided to move. However, when they actually moved i was in a manner none had expected.

The Orc that had grabbed the human was a particularly ugly specimen. He had a heavily protruding jaw with several jagged teeth jutting up from his bottom lip. His forehead was a mess of scars and sloppy tattoos, and his jaundiced eyes were lined with grit. His rancid breath washed over her face when she turned to face him, and his un-clipped fingernails dug into her upper-arm.

Then she turned he pepper-spray on him, and the creature let out a howl and let her go to clap a hand against his face. He stumbled back a step and Sheng took that as a sign to act. He rushed over to the nearest Orc, who had turned his attention to the Orc scrabbling at his burning eyes. Sheng grabbed the creature's wrist in one hand, shoving it and the sword clenched in its fist out to the side, and lunged in, biting it hard in the throat. His sharp teeth tore its throat out and when the creature fell to its knees, a clawed thumb was promptly buried into its eyeball.

Tugging his appendage from the dead beast's brain, he ducked under the swing from a second Orc's club, and curled his hand into a fist and ramming it into the creature's mid-section.

While that brawl started, the remaining uninjured/unengaged Orc turned to chase after the girl, his powerful limbs bringing him up next to her. He swung out with one arm and tried to backhand her in the face as he ran, a forearm the thickness of her head swinging powerfully for her chest.

 

[Nad]

She was still standing there with the pepper spray in front of her body, frozen. Now, a giant reptile was fighting the Orcs. The whole situation was surreal, but the pain on her left arm was constantly keeping away the thought that it might be just a nightmare. This strange creature that was some kind of giant lizard looked stronger than the other ones, and Haley could perfectly see how he ended with the other ones in horrible ways. She could feel how her blood pressure was descending and her vision was turning blurry. She was about to faint.

Anyway, as she saw another hideous bad smelling creature approaching her, she did her best to reincorporate and run away. At first, none of her limbs reacted. Thankfully, a moment later, when the Orc was trying to reach for her chest and face, she was finally able to move. Still, the only direction she could escape was towards the alley, and so, she quickly found herself trapped in it. Haley reached the wall at the bottom of it and turned around. She saw the Orc running towards her direction. She had no way out.

At that moment, the young woman closed her eyes for a second. Her father once taught her some stuff about self defense and, even thought he didn't told her anything about Orcs, she did her best to remember those times and looked for anything useful. There was a movement that was for situations similar to that one, but with a much more smaller and less terrifying target. Anyway, if she did it right, she should be able to deviate his attack and run to the exit of the alley. A few minutes earlier, she was prepared to die in the hands of those things, but at that moment she was decided to fight until the end. Haley sighed and got ready.

 

[poisonbite01]

When she ducked under his swipe and ran back towards the alley, the Orc growled and muttered something in a harsh, heavy language that sounded like someone had replaced all the vowels in Russian with growls and snarls. The venom in his words was understandable, however. He was clearly annoyed, but he didn't immediately give chase. He instead swatted the shaman, the one wiping pepper-spray from his eyes, over the head with an open hand, and spoke again.

The lizard-man, who was still ducking and dodging the Orc's club swings, tilted his head slightly. He spoke Orc, so he knew what had been said, and he also knew he had to finish this fight quickly. He went on the offensive, trumpeting like a cross between an Elephant and a Didgeridoo. He blocked a strike from the club with both his forearms, wincing in pain as it made contact. However, he didn't stop, quickly back-handing the Orc across the face. The stinging blow whipped its head to the side, and Sheng came in with a swipe of his other hand, aiming with his claws. The Orc recovered and grabbed the wrist of that hand and smashed his club against Sheng's side. Their was a loud crunch as one of Sheng's ribs snapped, and the lizard-like creature howled in pain. He fell to one knee, trying to uncross his eyes, and the Orc raised his club up high, letting go of Sheng's wrist to grip his weapon in both hands.

He swung down, but Sheng forced back the pain and lunged, intercepting the swipe before it could get any power with his mouth, clamping down his powerful jaws on one of the Orc's forearms. At the same time, he tapped into the primal power he had within, and he seemed to swell. His fangs grew longer, sharper, and more jagged, further injuring the Orc, and the claws on his hands and feet sharpened and lengthened. In the amoutn of time it took the Orc to let go of his club with one hand and try and punch the angry reptile clinging to him, Sheng had brought up both his feet and kicked out, effectively disemboweling the bare-chested Orc.

Now it was his turn to fall to his knees, except there was no gritting his teeth to prevent this pain from effecting him. He clutched at his spilling entrails, and Sheng landed straddling his form.

While all that was going on, the no-longer-blinded Orc sheathed his dagger an started muttering in his native tongue, and reached into a pouch on his belt. The air began to spark around him as he prepared his spell, and the smell of ozone filled the air. It seemed as if lightning was about to strike in the alley...

While his friend prepared his spells and his other friend was eviscerated by the lizard, the Orc that had given chase to the human moved towards her, a battle-ax gripped in both hands and above his head. A terrible smile creased his face as he stalked in more carefully than his spell-casting brother. As he moved forward, he closed his eyes and turned up his head, sniffing loudly, and he spoke in common, the tongue most humans spoke. However, it was not the same as any human language, so it sounded just as equally alien as his previous speech.

 

[Nad]

She took a step back, forgetting there was a wall avoiding her to escape. As she heard the back noises of a heavy fighting, she watched one of the Orcs coming closer to her. Her pulse was accelerating every second and, even if it seemed her heart couldn't beat faster, it did with every step the creature take. The young woman wanted to cry in desperation hearing the horrible sounds that came out of the Orc's mouth. It seemed it wanted to talk, and that idea scared her even more. She needed to relax. She had a plan, but wouldn't work as nervous as she was, so she took a big breath and waited for the Orc.

At first, the Orc was trotting, but now, he was just walking. He had her cornered, so there was no rush. This change in speed would make him even more difficult to dodge with a simple move, because the creature had time to answer back. Anyway, she stuck to her plan, and waited, with every one of her muscles tensed. The fear still invaded her mind and body, but at least she could concentrate on what she wanted to do. When that big hideous thing was just a meter from her, and tried to reach her with one hand while holding his ax with the other one, she moved. Haley bowed down, sending all her strength to her right arm, which she used to deviate the Orc's hand. It seemed to work, because she found herself at the right side of the monster, with a free path to run away in front of her.

When she was reincorporating to escape, something that she did not expected happened. The Orc grabbed the upper half of her arm, sinking her infected nails on it. She hadn't been fast enough, not even with all the adrenaline she had on her body, and he caught her. This time, the creature grabbed her way worst than the first time. She had no idea why was it, even though the Orc was probably angry for her attempt to escape, but the nails went a lot deeper than what they did before on her other arm. Haley would be surprised if they didn't break any of her blood vessels and reached to the bone. A deep scream of pain escaped from her mouth. The Orc had a sharpened ax resting on one of his shoulders, and she could see how he raised it, preparing what seemed to be a deathly attack.

 

[poisonbite01]

(i'm sorry about my late reply, I've had a lot going on these last few days.)

Everything happened in slow motion. The shaman Orc pushed a hand into the sky, the human screamed, the ax-wielding Orc began to swing. Sheng could practically feel the air splitting above him as a path was made between him and the single storm-cloud that formed high above his head. He had no time to counter-spell, so he reacted as fast as he could.

He reached out and grabbed the Orc holding the woman. He grabbed it by its weapon-wrist and the back of its neck, stepping in close with one foot and tugging the beast towards him. The movement was fast and sharp, and pulled the nails out of Haley's skin with the sickening sound of tearing flesh, leaving painful, deep, and bloody wounds. Sheng didn't know that of course, only that he could see the light blossoming far above him.

He let go almost immediately and dropped, just in time for the incredibly loud sound of thunder directly above him. The bolt of lightning that fell from the sky slammed into the Orc's ax and traveled along his body, blasting out of its feet so hard that the Orc was thrown five feet into the air. It hit the ground with a sickening THUMP, charred and smoking, and Sheng straightened up from his crouch and stared at the remaining Orc, panting heavily and eyes narrowing...

Then the creature turned and ran, rushing out of the alley and away from the stench of its smelly kin, all bleeding and dead.

Sheng turned to look at the human, quirking his head slightly, and saw the terribly-bleeding wound. His eyes widened, and Sheng took a step forward. In the common tongue, he spoke. It would sound like gibberish to her, but perhaps she'd understand the intent.

"I'm sorry you came to harm. Please, allow me to help."

 

[Nad]

(Don't worry ! I understand, take all the time you need!)

Haley was already forgetting about the pain and concentrating in some other way to escape. She managed to be pretty sneaky with them, so she wasn't giving up anytime soon. This time, with the nails of the Orc deep inside her arm, it would probably be more difficult, but there had to be a way. Anyway, the pain hit her right back when the reptile managed to bring the Orc towards himself. She felt as her fleash tore apart and couldn't concentrate in anything else. Haley groaned in pain once again and not even the loud noise of the struck of a lighting was enough to distract her.

She completely ignored the flying Orc and the thunder, because she tried instead to cover her wound with something. Anyway, she found nothing, so she just applied pressure on it to try to reduce the bleeding. It hurt her pretty much, but it seemed necessary. After doing it, she let herself fall on her knees. The wound was bleeding a lot more than what you would expect for an arm. Maybe the Orc did cut some blood vessel after all.

A moment later, she looked up to find the enormous lizard talking to her. Even if that creature didn't hurt her at all, and actually didn't look as a threat, she paralyzed in fear. She was about to tell him to go away and leave her alone, but she found herself too dizzy to even talk. Maybe it was because of the fear, or maybe because of the blood she was losing, but everything turned black for her and she fainted.

 

[poisonbite01]

Moments after he spoke, she passed out. Sheng lunged forwards and grabbed her by the scalp, his large, scaled hand gripping firmly but not painfully. He held her still and leaned in, eyeing the wound. It was a bad one. Most Orc's don't grow out their nails, since they can make fists difficult, but some fancied themselves more savage than others and wanted to claw their opponents to death. This must have been one of those.

The terrible wound was not beyond his abilities, though. He lay her down and covered the wounds with one hand, while gripping the amulet of animal hides, feathers, and teeth that hung around his neck with the other. He chanted in an odd tongue, and his amulet began to glow a pale purple color. He continued chanting, until his hand began to glow as well, and that glow then sunk into her terrible, bleeding wound.

The wound closed and began to heal, and the heavy amount of blood that she had lost, blood that had soaked her clothes and begun to drip to the ground, began to return. Color would fill her again, and strength flow back into her. She was not fully healed, as the wound was still oozing and would probably scar, but at least she was no longer in danger of death, unless infection set in. Unfortunately, he couldn't combat that. She also probably wouldn't awaken right away, depending on how resilient and well-tended her body was.

He removed his hand and dropped his amulet back to his bare chest, and took a moment to catch his breath, panting heavily once again. He managed to reign in his breathing after a few breaths, then he straightened up. He gathered up his belongings as quickly as he could, scattered as they were, and brought them back. His pack had managed to survive, though its enchantment was broken. That explained the mess. He had almost two hundred pounds of bedding, food, magical components for his spell-casting and magical item creating, customized clothing for cold-weather and other terrains, a dozen books that were now ruined due to the damage of traveling through the portal improperly prepared, and a few weapons. His stack of belongings was far too large to carry in its present state, so he'd have to get creative somehow.

All this took about twenty minutes for him to get together. He wondered if this place's militia, if it had one, would come to investigate the disturbance. However, the buildings on either side of him seemed dingy and un-tended, possibly abandoned, so he had no idea whether anyone heard or saw the encounter.

 

[Nad]

She woke up, without understanding anything, and sat up. For a moment, she couldn't remember what happened. Still, it didn't take her long to spot the giant reptile doing something, just a few feet from her. Her instant reaction was to get away from him, maybe run. Anyway, looking at him, her memories of the whole encounter with the Orcs came back. She remembered being caught, and then released, and then caught once again. The young woman could feel all over again the dirty nails of the creature sinking into her flesh, leaving a horrible wound. A wound that was now almost completely gone... but how was that possible? Now that she remembered, she was losing a lot of blood before fainting, and she could hardly spot any blood around her at that moment. Well, maybe it shouldn't surprise her after what she had recently lived that day...

The fear for the creature that was still there started to fade away. He didn't hurt her at any moment during the fight, not even when she was unconscious, so why would he hurt her at that moment? Actually, he even saved her from the Orcs. Of course, he might just be some weird lizard that didn't think logical, but he just didn't seem like it.

"Did you heal me?" simply asked him, being curious about her arm. She prepared herself to escape under any danger, but still she wouldn't go far in her condition. So maybe the best thing to do was to stay with him, just in case there were anymore Orcs around.

 

[poisonbite01]

She sat up and spoke, and Sheng looked up from his project and smiled slightly. Even o his stiff, reptilian features, the smile was recognizable as a gentle one, and he spoke again, in a calm, quiet tone.

"Ah, human. You are doing well. I'm sorry I cannot communicate with you properly." He then held up a hand to her and closed his eyes. He thought for a moment, then rummaged about in one of the satchels he'd managed to find intact, and pulled out a small vial of ink and a quill pen. He stuck the pen in his mouth to moisten the tip and winced slightly when he pricked himself on it, drawing just a drop of blood. Good, that was necessary. He then dabbed the quill into the ink, after unstoppering it, and drew a small rune on his forehead.

He then looked back at her, gestured to his rune, then pointed at her forehead.

 

[Nad]

The giant lizard seemed to smile at her. The young woman couldn't avoid to smile back. The whole situation was extremely weird and even a little scary, but he still looked as a gentle creature. Haley heard him and watched what he was doing. Without having the minimum clue about what was all that about, but still curious about it. When he finished, he had something that she recognized as some kind of rune on his forehead, and was pointing at hers.

"I don't understand any of that..." she simply said. It seemed that the creature didn't know much English, but she hoped he would understand that at least. Was he asking for some kind of permission to make a rune on her? Why was he doing all that?

 

[poisonbite01]

Sheng was going to have to get...odd. He put his ink and quill down, and then his face seemed to scrunch up in frustration as he thought. He then nodded to himself; this should work...hopefully.

He looked directly at her and covered his rune with one hand. With the other he opened and closed his maw, as if speaking, and gestured as if talking. Then he took two steps to the side and faced where he'd been standing before and screwed up his face so that he looked a little like something different. He shook his head and cupped an ear-hole with his free hand. He then stepped back to where he'd been before and uncovered his rune. He did the same flapping-his-jaws-and-gesturing thing as if he'd been talking, then stepped back to the other side and made the same silly face, and then nodded rapidly and started flapping his maw and gesturing a third time. He then stepped back to his original position, pointed at his rune, then pointed at her, then pointed at his quill and ink.

 

[Nad]

Looking at the giant reptile, she changed her mind about him being a gentle creature. He didn't exactly looked threatening either, but... he was definitely odd. Maybe all those movements and faces had a good reason, but she didn't know if it was a reason she would like. She stood up, fixing her gaze on him, and did her best to keep her balance. Haley was feeling a little dizzy, but she shouldn't have any problem walking.

"Thank you for saving me, but, um... I should leave." told him and waited for a second. She wanted to make sure he wouldn't freak out and kill her while she left. Anyway, he seemed really focused on whatever was that he was doing.

 

[poisonbite01]

She wasn't understanding, and Sheng had no way of getting her to understand him without that rune. Curses, what to do?! When she motioned to leave he stepped in front of her, and, for a moment, she could see the panic in his eyes. He held up his hands, open and with his palms facing her, trying to make it appear that he wasn't a threat, and chewed on a scaled lip. It was an odd thing to see on the snout of a lizard creature such as he, but a recognizable facial gesture.

He didn't know where he was or how this world worked. He'd heard stories of people in other realms being hunted down and terrorized until they were able to flee, and he didn't want that to happen. He needed a guide, someone to help him. He looked around at his scattered belongings, then back at her, then fell to his knees and clasped his hands in front of her. He didn't bother trying to speak, just stayed like that and hoped she'd understand.

 

[Nad]

Raising her eyebrows, she looked at the creature blocking her way. He certainly didn't look as a thread, but she still had no idea what he wanted. Anyway, he definitely didn't want her to leave. For a second, she could see panic in his eyes, and he was definitely asking for her help with that sign. It would be difficult to understand his gestures, the gestures of a giant lizard, but she should try at least. She owed him that much.

"Okay, okay, I'm not leaving." she said and sighed afterwards. "It looks as you don't speak much English, but can you understand me at least?" asked him. "You need some kind of help, right? With the rune?" Said, before focusing her whole attention on him. She then knew he was trying to tell her something earlier, something she didn't get. And, remembering his odd behavior, she figured out a little of it. He wanted to speak, but needed her help to do so.

 

[poisonbite01]

She wasn't leaving. That was good! She still didn't understand what he wanted. That was bad. He scooped up his quill and ink again and stood, dabbed the quill into the ink, and pointed the quill at her forehead. He tried to make his best "just trust me" face, and he hoped it didn't come off as a "I'm going to eat your face" expression, an expression he'd been told he made sometimes. He really didn't want to do that here. She was already prepared to bolt as it is, and a towering lizard beast that looked hungry probably wasn't going to convince her to stay.

(So sorry for the lateness, I've had a HUGELY terrible week lately.)

 

[Nad]

(Don't worry at all! Take all the time you need, and sorry to hear you had a bad week :/)

She looked at him raising an eyebrow. Well, it seemed he was only asking permission to draw something on her forehead. As much as weird the situation and the face he was making were, she decided to trust him. He did save her before, and according to his abilities, he probably wouldn't choose to kill someone drawing a rune on them. "Go ahead." she simply said, wondering if he could some kind of damage with a quill and ink. She nodded as she pronounced her words, still not sure if he understood her language.

 

[poisonbite01]

The nod he understood, and he again gave her that smile. The smile that, if she couldn't see the appreciation and sincerity in his eyes, would be a terrifying scowl full of serrated teeth. The body language seemed to be the same, it was just the spoken words that were different. That made it easier. He leaned in and inscribed an identical rune on her forehead, then stepped back, casting one more spell.

He then launched himself into his casting, moving his arms in an odd fashion. With his right hand (the one holding the ink) he drew a circle in purple light. With his other, he drew a sideways S, then positioned both of his hands on opposing sides of the circle and moved them outwards, drawing a line that seemed to pass behind the circle and S shape. The shape then shrank into one the size of the rune, and then duplicated itself. Then each glowing symbol moved towards one of the two. The glowing mark touched the rune, and she could see that this shape made a circle with an X behind it and a double-helix inside it. Then the rune faded, and Sheng stumbled back, falling to one knee.

After a few moments, he spoke, and this time it was in perfect English.

"Has the spell worked, soft-skin? Can you understand me?"