Sunjata is a shadow, darting into the woods.
Koa is a battering ram, crashing after him.
But Pipsqueak is a rocket, and it is she who gets there first - she, the little dragonling who hasn't quite mastered her wings, who looks more like a moldy noodle than a fantastic beast of legend. Maybe it's something motherly, maybe the indelible tie that binds neglected runts, but instinct takes the lizard over, turns her into something new. Fire streams from between her jaws, a plume of heat and rage and power, as she flies - flies! toward the tiger, fearless and unfazed.
A snarl answers her attack, the attention of the beast shifting from the mewling kitten to this new, bothersome pest. Dwarfing Pip in size, the large cat pins his ears in annoyance and fury as fire singes its whiskers. With a deafening roar it rises to hind legs, claws outstretched to bat the dragon right out of the air. In fact, so focused is it that it doesn't catch Sunjata's scent. Neck exposed and attention focused, it is an easy mark for the demigod. The roar twists into a yowl as teeth meet molten flesh, and the tiger curls, Pip forgotten as Sunjata takes it down.
But oh, it isn't done.
Large, old, a warrior in its own right, the tiger will be harder to defeat than that. With a snarl that shakes the canopy it slashes hind claws at Sunjata's belly, twisting to try and pin the panther, to douse him with the molten fire that oozes from its stripes.
Koa is a battering ram, crashing after him.
But Pipsqueak is a rocket, and it is she who gets there first - she, the little dragonling who hasn't quite mastered her wings, who looks more like a moldy noodle than a fantastic beast of legend. Maybe it's something motherly, maybe the indelible tie that binds neglected runts, but instinct takes the lizard over, turns her into something new. Fire streams from between her jaws, a plume of heat and rage and power, as she flies - flies! toward the tiger, fearless and unfazed.
A snarl answers her attack, the attention of the beast shifting from the mewling kitten to this new, bothersome pest. Dwarfing Pip in size, the large cat pins his ears in annoyance and fury as fire singes its whiskers. With a deafening roar it rises to hind legs, claws outstretched to bat the dragon right out of the air. In fact, so focused is it that it doesn't catch Sunjata's scent. Neck exposed and attention focused, it is an easy mark for the demigod. The roar twists into a yowl as teeth meet molten flesh, and the tiger curls, Pip forgotten as Sunjata takes it down.
But oh, it isn't done.
Large, old, a warrior in its own right, the tiger will be harder to defeat than that. With a snarl that shakes the canopy it slashes hind claws at Sunjata's belly, twisting to try and pin the panther, to douse him with the molten fire that oozes from its stripes.
be love in its disrepute,
scorches the hillside and salts every root
