Runaway Pet Part 1

Runaway Pet

A Short Side-Story with Bonegrinder

Chapter One: Define ‘Monster’

The monsters were on his tail. No matter how fast he ran they still were right behind him. For days, he had been trying to evade them. He ran up hills, through briars, jumped over logs, and stopped for nothing. His body was exhausted from lack of sleep and every muscle ached. Stumbling over his own feet, he nearly lost his balance but he quickly regained it. The huge forest he had been dashing through for nearly two days seemed almost endless. There was no possible escape. Would this chase ever end?

“Get back here, you lowly slave!” The guard on the appaloosa yelled angrily, urging his horse to go faster. He had a thick, red beard and carried a large sword at his side. There was a patch covering his right eye making his appearance look even more horrible. Wrinkles covered his forehead, and a smoke hanged from the corner of his mouth.

“You have caused our master enough trouble already!” The soldier on the black stallion shouted at the boy, shaking his fist. He looked like a man barely out of his twenties, with flowing blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. However, his evil grin was what warned others to be weary of him.

“Do not make me shoot at you!” The troop riding the gray steed warned him drawing an arrow from his sac. Strawberry-blonde hair flowed behind him as he readied his bow. His teeth were yellow from chewing tobacco and his skin covered with a thin layer of dirt. He looked like a bum.

Terror overwhelmed the poor slave boy. He tried to run faster through the thick trees. Adrenaline was surging through his body now more than ever. Whenever his feet struck the ground, loose dirt flew up into the air. Panting, he saw a tree which had fallen up ahead. Dashing toward it, he leapt over the log… only to tumble down a very steep bank covered in leaves. Rolling down to the bottom of the hill, the boy shook the leaves out of his wild, black hair and then continued running.

Back up on top of the hill, the soldier cursed loudly, “Damn it! Now how are we going to catch up to him?!”

The guard smirked, showing his rotten teeth, “Master Odji said we could hurt him… but not kill him.”

“Leave that to me, my friends.” The troop laughed, as he drew his bow, aiming with his arrow. Taking a moment to concentrate on the slave’s movements, he watched his every step. Squinting his eyes, he aimed for the boy’s leg and released his arrow!

“AHHH!!!” The slave boy fell flat on his stomach on the ground with the arrow protruding out of his lower right leg. Tears welded up in his eyes and he sniffled as he tried to remove the arrow. Grimacing, it proved to be too painful. Using a boulder for support, he struggled to get to his feet. He tried to walk forward with little avail.

Taking a glance backwards, he saw the men on horses getting closer and closer to him. Fear took over his mind and his mind overtook his body. He started to run again but he tripped over an unearthed tree root and fell down into an ankle deep puddle of slimy mud. His leg shot pain throughout his body and he winced. He held his bleeding leg tightly, whimpering.

The men circled their horses around the slave boy to make sure he would not try to escape again. Laughing, the guard hopped off his mare and landed on the ground with a ‘thud’. The other two did the same. Grinning, the solider cracked his neck and the troop crossed his arms. They all moved toward the poor boy looking quite lecherous.

Defiant to the end, the slave boy tried to crawl away but the guard jerked him up by his hair. Shrieking, the boy clawed at the guard’s hands with his small nails. Tears were threatening to pour from his eyes. Mud was on his face and all over his arms and lower body. His ragged loincloth was filthy with grass stains, dirt, and mud. The skin on his body was scratched and bruised from brushing up against thorns and sharp rocks. Leaves were stuff in his hair. There were even bruises on his tan skin from weeks before that still had not disappeared. He looked like he had been through hell.

“Let me go! Let me go!” He cried, struggling against the guard’s hold, “Please! I don’t want to go back! Don’t make me go back!”

“I really don’t get while Master Odji wants a clumsy and useless piece of shit like you.” The troop spat, kicking the boy in the stomach. The young boy coughed violently and held his gut, shaking in pain. The troop continued, “The master only keeps this worthless dirt bag around because of his so-called ‘precious’ heritage.”

“He’s just something that the master uses whenever it is convenient for him and then simply tosses him aside.” The soldier said, back-handing the boy. Yelping, the slave boy fell backwards into the mud and winced. He screeched highly when the guard put his foot on his back and then pulled his left arm into an almost unbearable position.

“You made me get mud on my new boots.” The guard said, pointing to his shoes, “Perhaps you should lick that mud off of them. Dirt is part of your family, isn’t it?”

The troop snickered and remarked, “That’s not all that mouth of his is good for… or his body.”

“The master never did say we couldn’t have our fun with him.” The solider pointed out, smiling wickedly from ear to ear, “It would be a well-deserved reward for us and a well-needed punishment for him”

His eyes widening in pure horror, the slave boy thrashed around violently, trying to get loose. “NO!” He begged, “Please, no! Please don’t do this to me! I don’t want to go back! No! Please, please let me go!” He tried to fight back against the guard’s tight hold but it was hopeless.

He prayed in his mind frantically, ‘Please! Please God! Please help me! Send someone, anyone, anything to help me!’.

Suddenly, a loud, unearthly-like roar was heard from behind them. The men turned around to look at the stream. A clawed hand shot out from nowhere and grasped the end of the grassy bank. A large and terrifying head appeared with curved, black horns and a hideously scarred face. The beast did not look too pleased. Growling lowly, the creature pulled itself up onto the bank, soaking wet. From the waist up, it appeared to look human; however, from the waist down… it looked like a huge snake.

“What the devil…?!” The troop exclaimed in utter surprise.

Flicking its black serpent-like tongue, the creature spoke in an icy tone, “Who is disrupting Bonegrinder’s bath?! Who dares to trespass into Bonegrinder’s part of the forest, the Naga Nation?! Name yourselves, you cretins!”

The men and the boy looked at the massive animal in absolute shock. It was a naga! It was a mythical and legendary monster who supposedly was half man and half snake! Nagas were believed to be extinct by many! There were hardly any left in this area supposed! Gawking, the guard unsheathed his sword and pointed it at the advancing and fearsome creature.

“We don’t want any trouble.” The guard said, narrowing his eyes, “We just came to collect the boy and go back to our home.”

The naga, who called himself ‘Bonegrinder’, glanced at the boy and then at the men holding him captive, “Hmm… something tells Bonegrinder he does not wish to return with you, does he not? Perhaps you should let the boy go.”

The slave boy was literally quaking in fear now. He did not know what was worse; the guards catching him or this terrifying monster before him. When the beast opened his mouth to speak, the boy caught a glimpse of its sharp fangs. He could not stop from trembling in fear and awe of the creature. When the beast glanced at him, the boy’s breath hitched, too afraid to even breathe. What was the naga going to do?!

“That is none of your business, you lowly snake!” The soldier snapped holding out his axe, “You best be gone and slither back into your filthy, little burrow before we hack you into pieces!”

“This useless slave is going back home with us to his master.” The troop said firmly, “Go away, you monster!”

The naga’s gaze darkened and his orange eyes developed cat-like, black silts. His fangs slipped out from his mouth and he released a deep and loud chuckle. Grinning in wicked glee, Bonegrinder raised his clawed hand ready to attack. He whispered in a deeper and much more frightening voice, “Not if Bonegrinder hacks you first…”

Before the men could react, Bonegrinder was on them like an owl on a mouse. Roaring loudly, the huge naga thwacked the troop with his large tail. Sailing through the air, the troop collided with a tree at an odd angle, and a loud snap was heard. The troop’s back was broken and he died immediately on impact.

The guard’s and soldier’s expressions displayed terror when they looked upon their companion’s dead body. Such brute strength! How in the world did a creature become so powerful?! Cautiously, the men took several steps backward to distance themselves from the beast. The slave boy sat in the mud, frozen in horror. His mind was screaming at him to run, but his body wouldn’t move!

Bonegrinder laughed, and danced in a circle, his coils slithering every which way, “Dance of blood, dance of blood… who will dare to do the dance of blood? At night, demons shall meet you at your grave. At light, pray for the sun of day to be saved. Ah, blood, blood, blood, blood… who will do the dance of blood?”

“By the gods, he’s insane!!!” The guard exclaimed in complete terror, “Let’s kill him before he kills us!”

“Damn devil!” The soldier cursed as he unsheathed his sword.

Yelling, he and the guard quickly dashed over to the huge snake-like creature. The guard swung his axe at Bonegrinder’s throat while the soldier took a jab at his chest. The naga dodged the attacks with ease, slithering around back behind the guard. In a death grip, Bonegrinder grabbed the guard’s head and lifted him up off the ground. The guard could not even release a scream before the naga ripped him in half; his blood splattering everywhere. Bonegrinder then used his large tail to
whack away the soldier’s sword out of his hand.

The solider quickly scuttled away from Bonegrinder. He was not paying attention to where he was stepping and fell backwards over an uprooted root. The soldier trembled in fear looking upon his dead comrades. He pointed at the slave boy and shouted, “Fine! Take him if you want! Just leave me alone!”

“You are a coward, that you are, Bonegrinder says.” The huge naga hissed, lifting the solider up by his arm, “Go back to this ‘master’ of yours and tell him that if Bonegrinder ever sees anymore of you scum on his land, he will personally rip every single trespasser from limb to limb with great pleasure.” With a single twist of his hand, Bonegrinder broke the soldier’s arm bone into pieces. The man screamed in agony and Bonegrinder simply tossed him aside in the clearing.

“Y-Y-You’ll pay for t-this you f-f-freak of n-nature!” The solider warned Bonegrinder as he began running back through the forest to get away from the naga.

“Bonegrinder highly doubts that.” Bonegrinder said shaking his head. Turning his attention to the boy, the naga slithered over to him. He watched the small boy shake in fear and scramble backwards against the tree. Leaning closer to get a better look at him, Bonegrinder stopped mere inches away from his face. He watched as the boy slumped over in a dead faint and the naga tilted his head to the side.

Such an odd human… why did the lad not scream at the sight of old Bonegrinder?

Picking the boy up out of the mud, Bonegrinder took him into his home, a burrow, underneath a large oak tree. Lying the small boy down on a bed of soft furs on the floor, Bonegrinder looked over him from head to toe. The arrow in the boy’s leg would get infected if he did not do something. Jerking the arrow out of the lad’s leg, Bonegrinder tended to it with care. He applied healing herbs to the wound and wrapped it around the leg. The naga did his best to wipe the mud off of the boy with a wet cloth but it proved to be a little difficult since some of the mud had already dried.

Picking up a large fur pelt with his tail, Bonegrinder laid it over the sleeping boy. It had been a long time since Bonegrinder had seen a human. The boy looked so small and so fragile. The naga noticed bruises and scratches all over his boy. He wondered what the lad had been through. Curling up on his pillows, Bonegrinder smoked his pipe while he waited patiently for the boy to awake from his slumber.