House of Scales

Chapter 21: At enemy's blaze

The flames were all around them. This time, however, their warmth made them feel protected behind the masked figure that battled the beasts that swirled under the hill, toward the path they had abandoned to reach the mansion.

"Don't just stand there!" shouted the masked man as he used his machete and fire to cut down the figure that had been approaching him from the right flank. "Go back to the house!"

Charles and Sasha obeyed until they reached the porch. Aodhan approached the beasts, making them retreat after the burning embrace of his weapon. The fire seemed to be the most effective way to fight those beasts until a lament broke out loudly over the reptilian hisses and whistles of their enemies.

A hoarse grunt echoed across the hill. The masked man changed tactics: he sprayed the area with the remaining fuel in his gun tank and set it on fire to create a circle around the shattered fence. He then left the hose attached to the tank holder and took another machete hanging from his back. He threw it at the girl. He thought it would help.

"If I die, take it and go back to the city," he said as he took off his mask and left it hanging from his bag.

They both thought he meant the knife until he dropped a strap from his backpack and left the flamethrower in range. Now he had eyes only for the gargantuan creature that approached from the darkness in which it was easily camouflaged. It must have been over seven meters long, and almost as wide as a car. It moved more freely than its figure would allow. Its legs lifted it off the ground with force as it approached the flames. They couldn't believe that he would face this aberration alone with a knife. What had made him give up the fire?

He just smiled and went to the fire. The reptile, more immense and fiercer than a crocodile, approached him with more speed. Soon they would face each other in a collision from which it seemed impossible for Aodhan to emerge victoriously.

"Daaar!" The creature's grunt sounded guttural as if a person had emitted it.

The monster's battle cry didn't frighten the warrior, who threw himself, steel in hand, at the beast. It stood on his hind legs and used its powerful tail to propel itself upward with all its might. The front legs, with the claws pointing towards its rival, collided with the boy, but the force of the jump and the inertia it carried seemed to defeat the reptile. It was such a strange phenomenon to see how nearly a ton of scales was beaten before the strength of the young man. After a quick movement of his feet, such a beast fell to the side rolling down the slope. It was something incredible. But the eyes of the youngsters didn't lie. The force with which Aodhan pushed the monster and threw it down the hill was abnormal. He let out a battle cry from his throat at the defeated reptile. The great beast rolled over and pointed its open mouth at the young man. It began to glow and soon produced the same flashes as the mysterious fireman's weapon. It opened its jaws and shot a jet of fire into the boy's chest, which rolled aside to avoid the blaze that the beast had just spewed.

"What the hell was that?"

How could Aodhan bring down such an abomination with brute force alone? How could that beast, which resembled a varanus or a giant crocodile, cast fire from its mouth? Were they facing a dragon, as in the legends? Was anything their eyes saw real?

"You cannot hurt me with your flames, sis," snarled the young man, again wielding his knife now slightly stained with the blackish blood of that aberration of nature. "The strong dragon does not burn with its own fire."