A random encounter

They were about a day away from Grumen'Kal, at pace they would arrive sometime the following afternoon or evening the following day.

(Trouble ahead master)

Alex responded, (I smell blood on the air, what can you sense?)

(Panic and fear, both are very strong)

On instinct Alex shouted at the two mounted boys behind himself, interrupting their conversation, "Someone is in trouble ahead, I smell blood and hear crying. Hurry!"

Although startled both lads sprung into action obediently and without question.

(Liar. Even I can't hear crying)

Alex crouched low and began focusing his energies into his legs, (If they can save anyone then they won't think to question my hearing. Hold on.)

Alex exploded forward, propelled by a release of raw energy behind himself and carried forward with a spell to make his legs and mind sharper. The problem that most people found with a simple haste spell was that while it makes the body move faster, it didn't make the person any more precise in their movements, matter of fact under a powerful version of the spell even a trained fighter looked sloppy. Alex had learned some mind magic from Demon and now preferred to use a minor celerity spell in tandem, because when you accelerate the speed of your thought the world appears to slow down, giving Alex the ability to move, think and react at close to his normal levels in relativity to himself. The combined practice created the illusion that the rest of the world simply got slower.

Such an advantage was invaluable in combat, and it kept him from tripping while running at a full sprint like he was at the moment. He was still slower than two galloping horses, but he wasn't far behind them.

As they rounded a bend they saw a caravan was being attacked by a large beast. Most of the guards were already strewn around the monstrous animal, but the ones on their feet were still attempting to drive the beast away.

Bleeding from the wounds already inflicted it didn't look like it was going to run and instead seemed only to be angry.

"What is that?" The young Alexander and Edward pulled their horses to a halt in disbelief. Even mounted on horseback the shoulders of the beast was noticeably higher than his own. For the most part it resembled a boar, but the back half was reptilian and the tail turned into a snake head by the end of it.

"That's a Daaqda Chimera, hurry and help the guard with the face I'm going to deal with the tail." Alex called out as he caught up to them but didn't stop running. Spurring their horses they charged at the face as directed, the commotion of hooves caught the attention of the caravan and the chimera. Some guards seized the opportunity to inflict more damage on the creature.

The caravan was trying to coax their their animals back and away from the fighting. The front two wagons were in shambles and those animals were probably swallowed by the serpent head/tail. Daaqda chimera were mostly scavengers and tended to chase away smaller predators from their kills, but they would eat with their tail while their front was busy with fighting. Normally it would have eaten it's fill and left, but the boar face must have become enraged and now it wouldn't leave until it dies or until it runs out of things to kill.

The tail wasn't eating anymore, so the chimera was probably full. Which meant that it was very dangerous right now, as the number of dead guards indicated. It is difficult to follow the movements of two heads on a creature this size, especially when the tail-head was so unpredictable.

Approaching the remains of the front carts Alex dropped his pack, and headed toward the chimera tail with spear and shield in hand. Demon stayed with the pack, but wiggled her head out of the collar all the same.

Alex was still under the affects of his haste and celerity spells as he closed on the serpent end of the chimera, the snake eyes fixed on him as it coiled back. But Alex was ready for the strike when it came.

The serpent mouth snapped shut, but it was lacking the satisfactory taste of flesh as it did, instead it closed on Alex's shield. The lower jaw split open to accommodate the round shield, and it was just enough that Alex's arm was unharmed snugly in the gap of the lower jaw. Alex lifted himself up and braced his weight off the snake trying to swallow his shield as he shoved his spear through an eye and deeply into the brain. The head began to thrash throwing Alex to the ground with everything except his spear. The wood of his shield was mostly trashed, but the metal frame that held the wood planks together was undamaged.

After a few seconds the serpent head fell to the ground along with half the tail. It would regenerate in a week or so, normally at this point the daaqda chimera would fall into confusion and normally run away to hide. As solitary creatures the daaqda chimera rely heavily on their two brains to stay at or near the top of the food chain, aggressive and territorial to the **** males needed to first dispatch the tail before it was safe enough to mount and mate. So only the strongest and most tenacious of the species passed on their genes to the next generation.

This chimera however, while disoriented showed no signs of leaving.

Alex cursed, tossing his currently useless shield to the side. He was going to have to kill the whole beast.