Dog Eats Dog
Aris Merquoni

--=_=--

o/~ It's a world / Where the dog eats dog / And they 
kill / For the bones in the street / I raise my eyes to 
see the heavens / And only the moon shines down / The 
harvest moon shines down! o/~

--=_=--

	The air outside was crisp and cold. The snow crunched 
quietly under my boots, loud enough to be heard. I could hear the 
Thing out there, as well, crunching through the snow. Its psychic 
radiance was stinging at my mind, making a nasty taste in the 
back of my throat, but I couldn't home in on the source of the 
sting-pzzt. I ground my teeth in frustration and loosened up my 
sword arm.
	Every time I have gone into a combat situation, I had 
always tried to get a thorough briefing on the lay of the land 
and the inhabitants, or I had dug the information up myself. 
Here, the information we had was sketchy at best, horribly and 
wildly inaccurate at worst. I clenched my jaw, took a deep 
breath, and began some breathing exercises to prepare myself for 
the unknown assailant.
	Selvane and I were going through a flush and kill, more 
effective than stalk-and-pounce or scream-and-leap. I was dodging 
around trees while Selvane took the attacker's other flank. I 
hoped that he was having more success than I was. My sixth sense 
was infringing on my other senses, just about driving me batty.
	A branch snapped, someone cursed, and sounds of gunfire 
sprayed out ahead of me. I sprinted toward the sounds, stopping 
just short of running headlong into the clearing.
	A huge... thing, that's all I could see of it, charged 
into the clearing. It charged at Selvane like a Kzin, but the 
Ranger managed to dive out of the way in time. As the thing 
crashed to the ground, I managed to make out some of its form.
	Bipedal humanoid, looked like a big ape, with long arms 
and hunched back. As it struggled to its feet, I sprinted out of 
the bushes, as silently and swiftly as I could manage over snow. 
I pulled my dagger and leaped, locking my arms around the beast's 
waist. Before it could turn or throw me off, I buried the dagger 
in its spinal cord.
	The thing shuddered beneath me, and I kicked off, 
dragging my dagger with me. It fell to the ground, right next to 
Selvane. He had gotten to his feet and was still training his gun 
on it.
	We warily circled it, looking for any sign of movement. 
I finally tipped it over with my foot, then knelt to clean my 
dagger off on the thing's clothes while Selv fired two well-
placed shots into the thing's skull.
	"That was a good fight you had," he said. I looked up to 
see him smiling faintly. I shrugged.
	"Anything you can walk away from... or is that car 
crashes? Anyway," I said, grabbing at the cord I had spotted 
around the thing's neck, "I think I found something."
	"What?" he asked. I pulled, hard, and the cord snapped. I 
brought it up to eye level, surveying the small gold amulet.
	"Warded," I spat. The thing buzzed with the equivalent of 
jamming waves on three levels. I used my dagger to chisel away at 
the marks, and the buzzing slowly faded. "That's what was playing 
hell with my head. O'rrall rah'krevn! Irr'tae!"
	"Uh, right..." Selvane said. I glanced at him.
	"I'll deal with the p'hat"darm. You should get some 
sleep-I'll take watch the rest of the night." The last Selvane 
complied with, going back into our little hut for some rest. I 
dragged the body of the ape thing away, up into the hills to 
dispose of.