A Yet To Be Named Fantasy Novel (draft)

A Blazing Beast

The knocking on the tavern door continued. Runa yelled out "The tavern is closed, come back in the morning!"

Willow, frustrated about the delayed response returned "Pheliara is wandering around the forest after some sort of walking wood... thing! Some sort of beast showed up, chained down in the forest this morning!" they stopped to catch their breath, before continuing "I heard something loud coming from that direction! I'm certain she's in danger!" gasp "Help me, I can't save her alone."

"A beast?" Runa questioned.

"Yes, I don't think I could recall any natural creature could give off the heat of a roaring flame, can you?"

Runa glared at Claus and Willbur. Claus tried to explain, but Runa cut him off.

Willow asked "May I come in? I'd like to, you know..."

Claus replied "Yes, Willow, you may come in."

Willow opened the locked door to enter the tavern. They quickly noticed the old unfamiliar man in the purple, seated by Runa and Claus, they asked "Who's your visitor?"

Willbur observed the young, androgynous one who wore crooked glasses and a dark green, hooded cloak. He turned to Claus "Is that..."

Claus nodded.

As Claus began to speak, Willow Talked over him "Oh, yeah, and KONDRACKI PUT TOGETHER A MOB TRYING TO BURN THE FOREST DOWN TO KILL THAT THING PHELIARA IS AFTER!"

"May I explain myself now?" Claus asked, with frustration in his tone.

"Fine, tell us of your great plan." Runa angrily replied.

Without the words prepared, Claus tried to confess "All I wanted was for nobody to die this season. You all know what happens when anybody can't pay up at the end of the season..."

"They disappear to never be seen again" Runa finished.

"I placed the beast in the forest so that nobody falls behind this sudden cold season, I thought the creature's flame could grant us all an abundant harvest." Claus broke out in tears "I just wanted everyone to live."

Runa moved over to comfort him as he told her "I Thought this would make a good present for you, the extra money from the increased crowd at the bar, I mean."

"Ahem." Willow interupted "What about Pheliara? Am I really the only one who cares about her how she is? Preferably not burnt alive."

"Okay Willow, I'm going to have a word with Jacek, I can go stop him."

"Finally, someone listens to me!" Willow spoke "I'll go find Pheliara."

Kadlin began to follow the large, ambiguous footprints and damaged forestry, Pheliara slowly followed, looking around with many questions for Kadlin, who demanded she stopped, so that she could focus on her hunt. This creature seemed to somehow know that it was being tracked down. Kadlin felt a sudden misty breeze, the scent weakened, but the tracks continued into an open area. Kadlin and Pheliara carefully searched around the surrounding area, cautiously treading through. Kadlin tactically scanned the clearing.

Suddenly she heard Pheliara shout "LOOK OUT! IT'S BEHIND YOU!"

Kadlin tried to block, she almost succeeded, the creature violently slammed into her, knocking her forward. She signaled to Pheliara to "TAKE COVER!"

Gazing upon the beast, she perceived many unevenly sized, twisted, muscular limbs with wide feet, holding up a large bulky insectoid body. It's eyes shined orange from all over its mangled, plant-like body... well, at least what seemed to be its eyes.

Kadlin stood up, unsheathing two of her swords, shifting into a wide, battle ready stance, two blades more at the ready. Kadlin thought to herself, this was to be a great battle, worthy of a great ballad.

The creature retreated into the forest, Kadlin lunged at it, just missing it with her dual long swords. the creature disappeared back into the trees. In response, Kadlin decided to take the high ground.

from behind a bush, Pheliara gasped at the sight of Kadlin's cowl lifting up, unfurling like two large arms into a giant pair of fluffy wings, only then did Pheliara notice that Kadlin seemed to have a fiery red tail. Kadlin slowly crouched down, then powerfully leaped into the air surpassing the tallest trees in the forest in a single mighty bound.

From the sky, Kadlin look down into the trees for any signs of the beast. She noticed something shifting around below her. She dropped down to grasp it, ripping the creature out of the treetops. The monster unleashed a ray of flame, just missing Kadlin's face, its heat forced her skin to erupt with sweat. She very quickly felt dehydrated, the creature squirmed around kicking her several times. She saw several bright lights in the distance, what was happening over there... wasn't that the direction of the town? The wide-open fields in the town would make a great battleground, the creature could not hide in there.