9.2 ᴘᴀᴛʀᴇᴏɴ.ᴄᴏᴍ/sᴛʀᴀᴛᴏᴛʜʀᴀx

"I don't know, old age maybe? It looks ancient, there's even small plants and mosses growing on it."

Rain looked up to see that Opal had abandoned her rucksack and had climbed on top of the alligator and was walking its length with arms outstretched for balance. The thing was so long that half of its tail remained below the surface of the lake.

"So it just dropped dead now? After living for decades or centuries? After I…"

"What? Why does that matter?"

"You're right it doesn't. I'm more surprised that you didn't know this thing was living in the lake. You didn't, right?"

"I had no idea this big monster was here. Although it's possible it came from an underwater tunnel connected to somewhere else." She shrugged. "I guess if stuff like this lives in the lake it explains why the witch didn't like us going in the water."

Rain had the gut feeling that the alligator had indeed been living in the lake, a mindless guardian for the bones he had died upon. The fact that the alligator had something as obviously unnatural as a gold circlet made him all the more suspicious.

He walked around to its head and with difficulty climbed on top of its snout. On closer examination the circlet was definitely artificial although tarnished and worn. It had strange angular runes marked around its side. The lines of the runes looked like claw marks to his eyes, in fact he held up his own claws to the marks and could actually recognise the similarity. He gnawed on his lip and wondered what it could mean. What the witch Goblin had said worried him. Her spelled artefact hadn't worked on him but who was to say him merging with the remains on the lake bed hadn't been enough to simply confuse it and he really was the thing that the witch suspected.

"Hey! Are you going to take that or what?"

"I, I don't trust it. It may be magical, maybe magically trapped. Besides, it's fused pretty tight with the crystal, I'd have to break it to remove it."

Opal gestured at the scales below her feet. "No need to if you're going to eat the thing. Just eat all around that part."

"Uh, right."

He pulled himself around the crown of crystal growing from the alligator's head and stepped onto its back.

"C'mon, c'mon! Start eating!" said Opal looking at him with starry eyes.

Rain rolled his eyes but dropped down and placed his teeth on the white scale.

He began to apply pressure. And then more pressure. Perturbed that nothing was happening he bit down as hard as he could. The scale remained intact.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Eat! eat! eat!"

"Ihm twryinhg."

He applied so much pressure that he felt like his teeth were going to break. He growled and stopped and then sat back rubbing his jaw.

"I can't pierce it. It's like trying to bite a stone."

"What."

"It's true. This monster's natural defence apparently hasn't left it in death."

He slapped a paw down on the completely immovable scales.

"Shit. Well, let's try a different bit, maybe the side."

She grabbed his paw and they slid over its flank and landed on the ground.

Rain placed his jaws on its side and bit but to no avail, the scale wasn't even scratched. Opal, growing more frustrated dragged him to a foot and then when that failed dragged him around to its mouth.

"It's simple, you open its mouth and then eat the soft fleshy bit inside."

"Hrmm."

Rain placed both his paws on the top lip of the creature and heaved. The head remained immobile. He crouched down and examined it. It looked like it might open, but the gap between its teeth and lips was a perfect seal. He scowled and tried lifting it at different angles. Nothing worked, the head didn't even rock, It remained eerily motionless as though locked in place.

"What are you doing! Just open it already!"

"I can't you dumb Goblin. I think… I think the alligator might be a lot heavier than it looks, it's like how gold weighs more than it looks, like those coins we looted. It doesn't help that I'm trying to lift its entire skull too, it's not like I can get at its lower jaw."

He sighed and sat on the gator's snout.

"I'm not actually sure this is even flesh anymore. It's almost like it petrified or crystalised when it died." He scratched at the scales with his claws. It didn't leave a mark.

"But it's right here! So much meat!"

"It's just too stone like, it probably is stone or as good as."

Opal huffed and crossed her arms.

"I don't think it's likely to be scavenged by a monster any time soon if it makes you feel better."

Opal looked a bit happier hearing this, although still grumpy.

"I-"

She stopped speaking abruptly and tilted her head, her knife like ears directed down the shore. Then with her brow raised she put a finger to her lips and spoke to Rain in a whisper.

"I hear voices, come on."

She gestured for him to follow and she rushed to pick up her rucksack before the both of them scuttled behind a large boulder.