Chapter (The Rock Dragon)
The high pitched shrill of a women had stirred the most primal emotions of the three Vicari and sent them sprinting up the onyx slope in the direction of her cry. The scream had smothered the final words of their conversation, but the look the brothers shared was a clear indication that they knew precisely what they were getting themselves into.
The current surged with excitement, and the cool mountain air burned in their lungs. It was purer high up on the mountain, if such a thing could be said about such a vile sink. In their short time there the three Vicari had grown at least mildly accustom to it.
All three of them sucked in deep breaths as they surged forward up the mountain. As their doctrine commanded of them the Vicari's first responsibility was to preserve life, even if that life did belong to an enemy.
The three raced into the unknown drawing their weapons as they went.
Megan screamed at the top of her lungs and the Rock dragon screamed back. The thick scaled monstrosity let loose a deep and guttural roar, easily overpowering that of the frightened girl. The pungent odor of rotten meat filled the air, riding on the dragon's breath. Closing its salivating mouth with a wet clomp, the beast focused its eyes on the panicked girl.
Only half the size of the Prehiss, that lay dead back near the base of the mountain, the Rock Dragon was equally terrifying. More humanoid than its name would have suggested, its sentient eyes and contemplative posture made it all the more disturbing.
The Rock Dragon was a formidable foe for anything that dared to oppose it. Indeed named not only for its home in the mountains but for the fact that the heavy reptilian scales that covered it's entire body were thick as armor and gray as the smoke pouring from its nostrils.
Though only half the height of the Prehiss it was more than twice as heavy, built for power and stealth rather than speed. At just over three meters tall its torso, not terribly dissimilar to that of a man, rose from a set of legs that would horrify and nauseate those unprepared.
Below its hulking broad chest and sloping shoulders, the creature's abdominals curved into a horrifying set of legs. Thick, clawed, and numerous the Rock Dragon's legs were like those of a huge scaly spider.
At first glance the legs appeared twisted and ungainly, as though they were struggling to maintain the weight of such a massive torso. It was a sight that made the grace with which the Dragon moved seem even more amazing.
Four of the eight legs, the ones carrying the weight, bent inward, functioning like the knees of a bird rather than those of a mammal. The four remaining legs were smaller, roughly the size of the average man's arm. Hanging from the front of the creature's hips they ripped and clasped at the air with dexterous claws.
The arms of the Dragon continued to give the beast an insecticidal appearance. They were as thick as small trees and hung nearly all the way to the ground. The massive heavily muscled hands acted as a third set of feet, used for grip while scaling the steep cliffs of its territory.
Despite its humanoid torso and sentient eyes, the Rock Dragon’s head was entirely reptilian. Like that of many lizards, its long snout was filled with razor sharp teeth before cresting with a set OF UP raised nostrils. Flaring they exhaled dark heavy breaths, obvious in the cool mountain air.
The Dragon was a terrifying creature from snout to tail. Fully armored and completely alien it was unlike anything Megan had ever seen. She stood motionless, frozen in terror, watching the hunter's eyes. The Dragon dipped its snout, as if to bow to her, and revealed the full advantage of its evolutionary armor.
Two rows of small spines that began at the ridge of its brow and traced along the sides of its cranium, revealed themselves from behind its massive frame. The two rows of thick, short spines traced along its neck before converging just below its shoulder blades where they increased in size.
The stout spikes ran down the length of the dragon's heavily armored body all the way to the end of its tail. The tail itself projected from the ridge of the thick abdomen for over a full meter, before ending in a clover shaped club. Each end of the clover had been meticulously sharpened until its point was like that at the tip of a spear.
