Just Another Day

The sun rose over the still forest. A man and a kurach cub approached the den of a great minocentaur bull. And he was aware of it. He emerged from his cave, the light falling onto the curves and bulges of his muscular body. He had the head of a bull with long horns, a human-like torso in the place where a bull's usual neck would be, and the long, four-legged body you would expect of his kind. A thousand pounds of anger and malice against two creatures who together barely weighed a quarter of his weight.

"Who dares near my lair?" the bull demanded in a deep, booming voice. "What is your business here?"

"Are you the one who sent those monsters to Port Tephras?" Rhett demanded without showing a single ounce of fear.

"Hmm..." the bull rumbled pensively. His eyes narrowed and he laid back his ears. "The town deserved its fate."

Oh no, this won't end well, Shanku shuddered.

"What!?" Rhett shouted, and his hand whipped to his dagger.

"For their sins," the bull gathered himself up and outstretched his arms. "All will die!"

A swarm of the reptilian Port's Plague flew out from the cave and around their master. Shanku and Rhett dodged and parried the swarm. Sunlight glinted and flashed from Rhett's dagger as he slit throats and impaled the monsters. Shanku battled her own in a flurry of feathered and leathery wings.

"Is this really necessary? What's wrong with you?" She demanded at length when the monsters were regrouping for a second assault.

"I could ask the same of you, cub," the old bull growled as he circled the pair. Another reptile dove and quickly met its end on Rhett's blade. "Helping humans? For shame..."

"What? They're no different than us," Shanku stared at him defiantly.

"So na&iauml;ve. Would you still feel inclined to help them after they've taken everything you hold dear away from you?" The bull's lips curled back in a snarl. "But, how could a cub your age possibly understand loss?" He gestured to his remaining pet.