Duel 4

The waters ran red.

From every direction they rushed, through churning mud and slick rock. Stabbing spears and cutting knives, fangs dribbling with poison. Screams of excitement and bravado, all drowned by the raging storm. In the name of the great Enkedu they would fight and conquer his marked prey. They would not be stopped

Their quarry brought back every bit of the fight. They swarmed all over, he flung them away. They pierced his hide with the cold metal, and he would rip it out and stab them with it. He brought down his fist, and teeth would shatter. He swung his great tail, and they’d slam against the bog. He shot forward his hands, and necks snapped and heads cracked. He stroke with his claw, and steaming innards spilled out. Jaws closed on neck and arm and gut and face. Blood would spew. Venom would rot. One point they swore he had grabbed an agonizing body and clubbed them with it. It was a total brawl.

From the high ground Enkedu watched, unnoticed by the chaos before him. And what he saw, he liked.

He really, really liked.

The thugs were regrouping now. All of them bleeding, all of them bruised in some way. How could it be, they asked themselves. How tough this guy was, how terrifying! A new strategy was to follow. They couldn’t lose in front of the boss! They were with him because they were the best! The best!

Whatever it was, they couldn’t decide on it. Several precious seconds of nothing, and then another bellow and Grendel arrowed down on the desperate horde, trampling a submerged body along the way

Did they know who they were dealing with?




The zebrataurs were fleeing, dropping everything they had in their panicked haste, and Grendel watched them go with blood dribbling down his chin. At his front legs lied the body of another one, his throat torn. It had been a success. They hadn’t eaten anything decent for at least a whole day. This little raid was what they just needed, perhaps more! He was exhausted…but it had been worth it

He heard the clopping of hooves behind him, but this one was more familiar. She galloped forward, waving a great tree branch in the air, yelling in joy about their victory and the cowardice of their victims as they ran down the plains. She turned towards Grendel and patted his shoulder happily enough, congratulating him for another job well done

Her eyes were so bright

Almost as quickly her attention went to one of the bags the zebrataurs had leaved behind, and he heard her make a little sound of delight. There were some trinkets she found very useful

Let her deal with those, Grendel thought; it was the more edible things he was interested about. Many other bags of interwoven leaves lied on the green-blue grass, and all of them were full of food. Chunks of meat, fish, some plants, bloated grubs, unconscious humanoids….yes, this would do just fine. And adding to that the entire zebrataur corpse, they would have enough chow for at least several days. It was a good thing she wasn’t too picky about what she ate either

All this got him to think, however. These amounts clearly showed that herd had gone through a lot of work. And even as they hoisted the day’s catch to their backs and began their search for a comfy place to eat, that question once again crept in his mind. A question that often came to him in quiet moments, or when he was concentrating on something else, and which bothered him so. Were their targets the same as they were, in the end? Struggling, hard-working pariahs just trying to make it big and survive in this world?

And she probably noticed he was thinking about it, because she gave a few pats to his cheek, and reassured him with that amused smirk she always gave so well

Of course they weren’t like them.

They weren’t afraid.


“Haaaaaaaaaaahahahahahaaaaaaaaah!!!!!”


Grendel stood in the middle of the current, hunched over and exhausted. Fresh wounds covered most of his body, lacerations and punctures and bite marks and rough bruises that threw up his blood to mingle with that of his attackers and was washed away by the thick curtain of rain. Humid vapour emanating from his gaping, gasping, bloody maw with every heave of his chest. Pained, beaten, but alive

And all around him, what remained of Enkedu’s gang. Nothing but lifeless hunks of brutalized meat, strewn around, left to the swamp to engulf. Some were more or less whole, others were trampled and broken, others had been disembowelled, and yet more had been simply torn apart, a collection of bones and gore and unmentionable fluids staining the muck. Just like with Grendel, the monsoon was doing a job of washing it all away, and everything mixed together into a gurgling, foetid soup.

But no part of this nightmarish image was any more unnerving than Enkedu himself. For when Grendel turned his sight at the iguana-taur, he saw no anger, or contempt, not even anguish for the lost goons. No, he was….so thrilled at it

“Aaaaaawesome!! Hah hah haaah!!! Simply increeeeeediblee!! It’s just like they saaaaid!! Yer a reeeeeal aaaartist, ha ha haahahaaaaaah, hot daaaamn!! I’m soooo oooooiled up!!!” He said again and again, pacing back and forth on top of that rock, biting his fingers, elongated tail making curls in the air, his wet red hair swinging with every movement. He was enjoying himself immensely, like it was a great show he just watched. “I liiiiike you Outlaw!!! I soooooo looooove your caaaaarnage!!”

Grendel, yet again, said nothing, only giving Enkedu the most hateful of stares. Even after such a gruelling fight, after all the blood and agony and the blinding rain, there was no forgetting who the real offender was

“Yesssssss, yesssss, yeeeeeeesssss!!!!” Enkedu continued ranting, increasingly exhilarated “So fun!! Sooooooooo fun!! I like you! I like you!! I liiiike you!!! And ‘cause of that….caaaaause of that….I want to fight ya!” In a heartbeat he had picked his massive spear, then began spinning it with a single arm above his head, faster and faster “I want to fiiiiiight ya!! You’re good, soooooo gooooood!!! So you’ll be reeeeeal fun to BREAK!!! I’ll make ya screeeeeam!!! I’ll maaaaake ya bleeeeeed!!! And I’ll be the very beeeeeesst!!! Hahahahahahahahaaaaahhh!!!! I’m getting them shiiiiivers y’know what ‘m sayin!!! Here and now, Outlaw!!! COME ON!!!!

As if on cue, the skies suddenly lit up with the flash of lightning, and the scarred titan could clearly see his rival’s face. He was grinning, as he had expected by now. Only this time, it was so much different. His factions so twisted, his eyes so open and bulging, deranged…inhuman.

With a screeching howl the madman leaped high in the sky, weapon aimed straight at Grendel as he fell

A strain of aching muscles and the great squamataur made his move, waves of mud and water and blood in his path

It was time for the real fight.