Koradonda: Chapter 11, The First Challenge Part 2

The creature called Jones reveals one of the secrets he has been keeping.

Gasps came from those who got to the top ahead of her, and Ann put in more effort and picked up her pace. Cresting the top, she saw the monster. It was as bad and as unbelievable as any science fiction movie monster, its head towering over the trees, still well beyond the valley entrance. From those plates now extended spines at least ten meters long, giving it some resemblance to a massive porcupine. It marched on, its progress in slow and ponderous steps, not the blinding speed she had been warned of. Step by step it came, filling every person there with dread, no matter the species.

Finally, it stepped into the valley, and at that moment, a massive pulse of power came from the tent, which split apart from the inside.

The creature pulled up, its gaze, and the gaze of every other creature in the valley focused on where that tent had been. In its place, a massive cloud of insects expanded, obscuring the King. An insect cloud over the snow, she thought. Ann couldn’t help herself, and started laughing hysterically. “That damn bastard has been lying to everyone.”

“What are you talking about?” Carter demanded.

“Only Nature Lords control insects.” Ann pointed to the other ridge, still unable to contain the laughter. “Look at them. He had everyone fooled. They’re prostrating themselves because he is, in fact, a Nature Lord, one older and more powerful than all of them.” She grinned. “And they just now found out.”

The insect cloud parted and rushed toward the creature.

They exposed a very changed King, one that had a remarkable resemblance to the H.H. Giger movie monster, except this version had large bat-like wings that he extended.

The gas that the creature was emitting fell half the insect before they reached it, but only half. If the remaining ones did any good, Ann didn’t see it, and their numbers were falling fast.

The King moved in a blur. One moment he stood where the tent had been, then he was just there on the monster’s back, tearing out those spikes with yellow glowing clawed talons. Moments later, a boom of the sound barrier being broken reached the onlookers.

That was followed by a second, different boom of the creature swatting at the King and hitting itself.

Those bat-like wings weren’t for flying, everyone saw, but for the cutting of the spikes as their edge now glowed yellow too. They shaved them as fast and close as a straight razor, leaving the plates exposed with every dodge the King made of the massive leg trying to squash him.

Ann saw that long sharp tail of the King strike through the plates on the monster’s back, time and time again.

“It is poison,” Ann told them. “The tail on the King. Every time it strikes, it injects poison deep inside the creature.”

A voice from behind said, “Venomous is the right term, but we get your meaning. I think the lady is correct. Where the tail has struck, the spikes are not growing back. In other places, they grow back as fast as he removes them. It won’t be long now. The King is about to make his move.”

Not sure what the man meant, Ann watched the King dodge yet another blow. That dodge put him right at the base of the creature’s skull. He ripped that plate out and the spike sunk deep into its skull. He didn’t dodge the next blow, but caught it in his powerful arms as his tail sliced into the brain over and over.

The creature fell.

The first challenge ended.

**

Standing on the carcass of the dead creature, the King spoke, magnifying his voice to the same level of a good stadium sound system to fill the entire valley. “Every one of you is to make the best time they can to my estate. You will avoid contact with humans whenever possible. I will return there in time and inform you of the next challenge.”

One of the Beast Lords called out, “Your Majesty, why have we been without a King for so long?”

He bellowed, inflicting pain on the humans even at that distance. “Because the Lore Master should never be the King!”

Was that rage Ann could hear in his voice?

Whatever a Lore Master was, the Koradonda reacted to that title in shock.

He took flight, showing that the wings were fully functional for flying too, and landed near the human party. For the first time, they had the scale of him now at over four meters tall. He switched to English. “My people will not require your helicopters for transportation. My pets and Ann will. I will fly myself to Washington to meet with whatever delegates you get assembled by the time I arrive.”

Carter said, “It might be best if you accompanied us.”

The King’s right wing snapped to within a breath of Carter’s throat. “It is not. I am the monarch of my race, and I will not be dictated to. Already those countries that place a bounty on my kind have found themselves at war with nature. The attacks are light compared to what will happen should they continue to hunt and kill my people.”

His wings snapped open, and he took flight before anyone could utter a word. Ann noticed all of his people had left too, leaving only humans and the body of a massive creature.

Her voice ached when she said, “I cannot die yet.”

Carter, like all of them, was still in his hazmat gear. “What do you mean?”

“According to the King, there is some part I have to play in the future of our people and his that I have not done yet. If I don’t, there may be no future for either, according to him.” In animal form, Sarah and Lisa approached her. “I guess we may as well head for the camp.”

An army General said, “Only us pilots. There is plenty of room for us to sit down here. No need for more to make the trek than needed.”

“Ann here doesn’t need to wait, either,” Carter said. “There is room in the surveillance copter for her and the two others. It can have them at the Canadian airfield and the jet waiting there for them in twenty minutes. We need them in Washington ASAP.”

“I concur,” the general said.

**

The aerodynamics texts he read months ago allowed him to make adjustment to his body that made exceeding the speed of the fighter trying to escort him require far less power than otherwise. Soon they were far behind. In far less time than any but he expected, he was sitting down on the White House Lawn between two tanks that had been brought in as part of a task force. Landing close enough to one, his tail sliced off one corner, making his point that their best armor was nothing to him.