Strange Tales of the Deadslayer Ch. 03

"ReeaaAAAAHHHHH!" the colossal ape-thing wails, stampeding forth again with a full-body charge, flinging itself at me head-first in an attempt to flatten me totally. My eyes widen and I leap for life, sprawling to the left and tucking into a roll, clambering back to my hands and feet and immediately counter-pouncing, holding that splintered length of curling horn like a knight's sword. Springing up high and fast, I land onto the creature's back, wrenching up the armor plate protecting its spine before driving that sharp black horn downward with one single, tremendous blow. There's a spluttering sound, a gout of viscous, reddish-black fluid, and another scream as bone crunches and bursts and gives way - and the beast spasms, then falls still.

It takes a moment for my vision to clear. I blink, then straighten out, spitting out another stream of blood onto the white mat beneath. Yanking the length of horn free once more, I take it in one hand and slowly lift it into the air - to the sound of a roaring alien crowd.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The winner's suite is much, much more impressive than the cell where I had previously been kept. For as... rustic, as those insectoid structures appeared from the outside, this one is actually very pleasant, my blood-soaked feet sinking into a plush, deep green carpet. Guards remain beside me as I'm led to the back of what I can only assume is my new room, place with a tall ceiling and spacious floor, decorated with bizarre furs and a massive, oblong bed. My eyes wander around a bit more, seeing a low table laden with exotic plates covered with what I can only assume is food, and then a deep-set pool of clear, clean water - and I've never seen anything more beautiful. Well, not since I saw Ciphia's boobies the other night because those were so cool, but still. It's just seriously inviting and really what I need right now.

"Krruya'ta, sha-at," one of the guards says, a lean male who's shaved his black stripe of hair down to the scalp. "Noo'l." He's the only one of these aliens I can easily recognize right now, part of my escort earlier and the one who wasn't beating me with his spear.

"Whatever you say, Dave." I'm gonna call him Dave. "You mind if I get in here?" I grunt, pointing to the pool of water. The alien looks at me in confusion for a moment, then repeats my gesture to the pool. Guess that's the go-sign.

"Tha'a-at, Krruya," he continues, heading back to the suite's entrance along with his fellow soldiers and gesturing to a newcomer as he makes his way out. The newcomer is a girl, the same kind of alien I've been seeing here (I assume these are the Xai). She's tall, like the rest, but doesn't look like a warrior - neither in her figure, which is rather slender, nor her ensemble, which is a narrow tabard-like dress of flimsy white gauze. Her skin, as well, is a few shades bluer and a few shades lighter than the others here, giving her a more lavender tone than the deeper violet of her fellows. Dave slips behind her, outside the victor's chambers and re-activating the net of metal beams that will serve to lock me in. "Gift," he grunts, then slips from sight, leaving me alone in this place with this girl.

"Uhhh," I pause, holding up one blood-caked hand. "Hi."