It could not shake the thing that clung to its back. Slowly, surely its ribs were forced inward until they cracked. Then jagged ends dug at its lungs, its heart. There was a gush of blood from its nostrils. It lay still.
Karn spat out the salt sweat that ran into his mouth and wiped it from his eyes. Slowly he rose and shook the tension from his leg muscles. Blood dripped from a shallow gash in his thigh but that concerned him little. He had suffered worse in the past.
For the duration of the fight he had forgotten completely the two men and the woman. Now, turning, he saw them watching him. Fear clouded the eyes of the men, but in the woman’s gaze he read awed admiration.
Karn gestured, a motion meant to show peaceful intentions. His move was misinterpreted, and as he came toward the three the men reached for the little sticks that hung at their waists. Frantically they waved them at him.
Were they trying to frighten him with those things? Anger flushed Karn’s face and a low growl issued from his throat. One blow from each of his hands and these puny men would be dead. The woman he liked.
But the sticks had stopped waving. They were pointing directly at him. He was caught suddenly in the grip of a force that held him helpless. Muscles stood out on his neck like tree roots but he could not move.
Inside his head Karn heard the woman arguing again with her two companions.
“A fine way to treat someone who’s just saved our lives!”
“But he might be dangerous. You saw what he did to that beast. Look at the size of him. One twist of those hands and he’d tear our heads off our shoulders.”
“He is a powerful brute, isn’t he?” But there was no fear in her voice. Only admiration.