Chp.23: Surprise attack

The beastmen chiefs delivered one hundred men to Haku the next day. The dragon was very happy to receive them and to optimize the time he divided them into three teams, one commanded by him, one by Corgorin and one by Serengal. Oddly, he entrusted the sisters with forty men each, while he took only twenty. However, no one seemed to find that behavior suspicious and they only took it as a sort of brotherly protectiveness. After all, it was common for brothers to worry about their sisters' safety, right?

Each of the three took a communication device Isaac had made for them. The mage still hadn't been able to make smaller versions, but that wasn't a problem since that size was fine for dragons. Thanks to them, they could keep in touch and know exactly what was going to happen to the others at any moment, and therefore also learn about any dangers or even new discoveries from the other teams.

Before they left, Rhaegal came to say goodbye. According to him their other siblings would have come willingly too, but they were all busy performing their duties in the beastmen caravan. "Good hunting, boys. Don't forget, bring home succulent prey!" he said with a smile.

"Oh, you can swear to it. I don't intend to go back empty-handed" Haku replied smiling back. The two brothers came closer and gave each other a friendly shoulder, letting out a laugh in between. Yet as they did so Rhaegal's lips moved imperceptibly in the eyes of the newcomers, and they whispered something to Haku that no one was able to hear. After that very brief interaction, both of them acted as if nothing had happened and continued to shoulder each other in a friendly way, like two good brothers.

After that Rhaegal also went to say goodbye to his two sisters. While he was next to them he whispered to them: "Please, take care of him"

The two dragonesses nodded. "Don't worry. It's not the first time we have to make sure that you males don't do stupid things" Corgorin replied.

"Coming from you, sister, it's quite surreal" Serengal grumbled, then her tone softened a bit. "Don't worry, we'll bring him back safely. You think about your work"

Rhaegal nodded. "I trust you. Good luck, with the hunt and with him" he said.

The hunting parties left shortly after. Haku, Serengal and Corgorin led their soldiers to the top of a dune, then Haku shouted: "Okay, now let's split up. Corgorin, you go east. Serengal, you go west. I will continue north. If you find danger, do not hesitate to run away and call for help using the communication device. Focus solely on finding the sand worms, nothing else. All clear?"

"Okay. Good luck guys" Corgorin said heading in the direction indicated to him. Serengal did the same. The soldiers entrusted to them followed suit. Haku at that point left in turn, heading straight to the north.

Tracking down a sand worm wasn't that difficult. Sure, since they moved in the sand they weren't easily perceivable with the nose, but Haku thanks to his extraordinary sight could notice the movements of the sand, or alternatively he could feel the vibrations of the ground that signaled the presence of those creatures. Now that he knew what he was actually looking for, it was easy to track him down. The soldiers behind him couldn't run too fast due to the intense heat of the sun, but they were still able to move faster than the beastmen caravan, and with the armor and large water supplies they were given they didn't run. the risk of dying from heat stroke or dehydration.

It didn't take long to find a sand worm. The huge creature was crawling in the sand not far from them, generating a cloud of motes of dust that rose with every movement. Luckily those animals were quite slow, so surrounding him was easy. Getting it out was just as simple: they clattered their feet on the ground, and so the sand worm perceived the vibrations, and since it was surrounded it felt them from every direction; this caused it to panic completely, as it was probably convinced that it was surrounded by sand sharks, and so it emerged from the sand making a shrill sound and opening its mouth wide, showing the two large pincers it had inside it, and then it moved violently in every direction in an attempt to scare its attackers.

Haku looked closely at the sand worm. This specimen was smaller than the one he had previously fought: it didn't appear to exceed eighty meters. Perhaps it was some sexual dimorphism, but it was more likely that it was just a younger specimen: its pincers were in fact much longer and sharper than those of the sand worm that Haku had faced, a sign that it must have taken part in few fights in its life. Its skin was also less scarred and looked more muscular. Some might have thought that this would be problematic, since a younger specimen also had to have more strength and energy, but Haku knew that it also meant that it lacked the most important trait of all, the experience. Without it, having so much strength was useless. And the sand worm in fact didn't seem to know what to do, moving almost at random in a desperate attempt to escape from the situation in which it had run into and for which it wasn't prepared.

Killing it in those conditions would have been incredibly easy, but their goal this time was to capture it alive. However, even this intention wasn't so difficult to achieve. "Team one, move towards it and lure it to the other side!" Haku ordered.

A group of five individuals stepped forward and ran towards the sand worm. Even though the animal was huge, none of them flinched; there was no point in being afraid of something that was actually more afraid of them. The sand worm reacted exactly as Haku had expected: as soon as it felt the vibrations of their footsteps coming from a certain direction, it turned to the opposite side and tried to crawl away. However, since the rest of the hunting corps had stopped stamping their feet on the ground, the sand worm could not know that there were other individuals in front of it ready to catch it.

Haku waited patiently for the sand worm to be in the right spot, then he charged; with a quick dash, he leapt and closed the distance between himself and the worm, and struck it square on the head. The impact was such that the sand worm gave a strangled sound and turned over onto its belly; after all, a ten-ton dragon had just come upon it! Haku then grabbed it by the base of the head and held it still, preventing it from turning again; that way, it couldn't have submerged itself in the sand. "Teams two and three, tie it up! Teams four, shut its mouth!"

The hunters ran towards the sand worm; those on either side of it threw ropes to the other side of its body, where they were caught by their companions and planted on the ground. These were extremely strong ropes, specially created to hold up against great forces. The hunters placed a rope every five meters and drove it as far into the ground as possible, so that the sand worm could not turn around in any way; and since it couldn't put its belly on the sand, it couldn't even escape into it anymore. The men against the ones the sand worm was previously fleeing to instead took hooks and threw them at the sand worm's jaws and pincers, tying them tightly and pinning them in turn to the ground, so that it couldn't use them to free itself. Within minutes, the huge eighty-meter-long worm was completely tied up on its stomach, with no more ability to move or even thrash about. The sand worm fought ferociously all the time, but the ropes were very tight and also Haku was still holding it still for greater safety. Finally, the dragon felt the tension leave the worm's body: it had exhausted all energy and had given up. At that point, he finally let it go satisfied. "We got it!" he declared proudly.

The hunters cheered. They had succeeded: they had just captured an animal at least forty times their size, and they had also obtained an excellent source of food for their people! Sure, now they would have to carry it back… but they weren't too concerned about that: once the sand worm had fully submitted to them, it would be easy to convince it to follow them. It would have been enough to use the ropes to force it to keep its head constantly upwards, so that it couldn't try to escape into the sand, and then drag it towards the caravan.

But before they could even think about starting to celebrate, a thunderous roar was heard. The ground began to shake and a cloud of sand rose upwards. Haku clearly felt movement coming from underneath him. "Everyone, run away from the worm!"

The terrified hunters obeyed and ran in all directions. Haku in turn tried to escape, but then the earth collapsed under him with extreme violence. The dragon found himself falling several meters underground, and furthermore the sand above him moved as if it were water and started falling into the hole as if it were a waterfall. The sand worm, frightened by the situation, broke free and ran away; Haku used the cover provided by his large body to partially shield himself from the sandflow. But suddenly he sensed something different: something that was coming from above. He felt it for just a second and moved instinctively, and then a golden spear that seemed to pulsate with pure energy appeared in front of his eyes; since it had moved, it did not strike him on the head, but penetrated his shoulder. The numerous runes of fortification he had engraved on his scales partially blocked the blow, but still the impact was extremely violent and the spear went from side to side into his shoulder, continuing for several meters into the ground below him. Haku let out a roar of pain and grabbed the affected spot, which burned with the intensity of an inexhaustible fire.

The dragon lowered his gaze and looked at the spear, determined to use it to defend himself, but it had already lost the energy that seemed to pervade it and had returned to being a common spear. Haku grunted in frustration and immediately activated the communication device, screaming for help at the top of his lungs. But while he did that he heard a familiar voice. "Tsk. Your reflexes are really impressive. I expected that killing you outright wouldn't be so simple"

Haku jerked around and saw clearly that a lizardman had appeared at the edge of the hole and was looking at him. No, he wasn't just a lizardman: he was a hybrid between a lizardman and a snakeman. And he had a face he recognized all too well. "Carrion" Haku growled, almost chewing the word as if it were an insult. "Are you behind this? I let you live last time, and this is how you repay my gratitude? With a trap? I knew you were a bastard, but I didn't expect you to be so senseless of honor!"

"A dragon that talks about an honor is like a fish that talks about flying. I'm not going to waste time with beating about the bush this time!" Carrion exclaimed, and the spear he had just hurled suddenly flew back into his hands, where it was charged with fresh energy. "Now I'm going to do what I should have done when I found you laying next to that hydra!"

And having said that, he threw the spear again, but Haku had already taken shelter under the sand, moving like a snake, imitating sand worms. The spear struck the ground in a cloud of dust, but struck nothing alive. Carrion narrowed his eyes. "Do you think you can get away from me like this? Don't believe..."

The sand exploded again, but this time it wasn't by him or even by a sand worm: something much bigger emerged from under it. Carrion instinctively moved out of his reach, but as the sand began to clear he saw a huge reptilian head watching him. "You were right, Carrion. Killing me won't be that easy!"