I plummeted from the tree and brought my club down in an overhead strike, adding all my momentum to it. The ball joint at the end of my femur club struck solidly against the the beast’s skull, with a resounding thud.

This was concerning, as I had been expecting the typical wet crunch of a shattered skull.

The beast reeled back, stunned by my sudden assault. I pressed forward and swung the club up, striking it squarely on the underside of its jaw, causing its partly open mouth to snap shut with an audible clack. That seemed to snap my opponent out of its temporary stupor, as it hopped back, flaring its wings to increase the distance and buffet me with the wind pressure. In that moment, it stood upright, and stared at me, studying me with a wary intelligence.

I could see that although not fatal, my strikes were not without effect. Slight trickles of blood dripped from one nostril and from its slightly open mouth. Its head swayed slightly, still unsteady from the effects of my assault. I felt emboldened by these signs of damage and charged forward, only to find myself stumbling in a great gust of wind as it flapped its powerful wings and took to the air.

I roared in irritation as my prey fled. I would not be denied. My prey might be stronger than I had anticipated, stronger than me in all likelihood, but I had taken the initiative, and I would not give it up easily.

I chased after the rapidly retreating form, watching its ascent as it spiraled higher. Since it did not seem to be leaving the area entirely, I slowed my gait and concealed myself once more, watching to see where it would go to recuperate. If it had a nest nearby, I would follow it there and strike it where it felt safe.

After several minutes, the wheeling figure descended from the sky, landing on a large outcropping that was about two thirds of the way up a massive cliff face. Dropping to all fours, I ran in that direction, keeping my presence as subdued as possible.

Upon reaching the stone wall, I inspected it critically. It was almost entirely vertical, and riddled with cracks and rough outcroppings. I’d never climbed a rock face before, but my hands, feet and claws were all suitable for climbing. I’d eaten many creatures that would be more than capable of the ascent, so I was certain I would be able to do so without much trouble. However, I would not be able to easily carry my club with me as I climbed. I would have to finish this with tooth and claw. I laid my trusty club aside, and began climbing.

The climb itself was both easier and harder than I’d imagined. I could not sink my claws into the stone, which made it different to climbing trees, but the handholds and footholds were more plentiful, and I could leverage even the smallest cracks. My progress was slow at first, but I sped up as I gained confidence and experience.

My meal was waiting for me, and I did not want to disappoint.

The winds were not favorable for me to be able to smell out my quarry and sniff out its state, as I was constantly buffeted by updrafts. My kind do not give off much scent unless we are wounded, as we do not sweat or emit pheromones or excrete waste, so I was not particularly worried about being detected that way.

As I scurried upward, I surveyed my destination and tried to decide where I should approach from. Coming up straight over the edge would be dangerous, as it could possibly knock me off the ledge with the wind pressure from its wings. I could veer around and drop on it from above, but I would risk being spotted before I got into a good position, and I would be at an even greater disadvantage.

I decided to aim for the sides of the outcropping, and try to continue my stealth-based approach. I climbed until I was in position, just below the lip of where the ledge rejoined the cliff face. I could smell my target now, I was close enough that the updrafts didn’t matter. I braced myself to be ready to quickly spring up and over the ledge if necessary, and peeked up above it. My target was nowhere in sight. I clambered up and onto the steady ground and surveyed the area. It was roughly wedge shaped, and with plenty of room to move around on without nearing the edge, even for a creature the size of my target. The prevailing winds seemed to push toward the cliff face, so there was little worry about a stray gust resulting in a long fall.

In the cliff face itself there was a massive crack that extended up to several times my height, and was just wide enough at the base for the winged lizard beast to stride through with wings mostly extended. As I crept closer to the cave, I could smell the target clearly, and the rich scent of its dried blood, along with the stench of decay, amongst other lesser smells.

Making myself as small as possible, I crept forward silently on all fours. As I entered the lair, my eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness. Bone fragments were scattered across the floor of the cave haphazardly. Many of them smelled of those detestable goblin filth, but others smelled familiar, while others were intriguingly new to me. Continuing further, I was able to pick up the sounds of my target’s breathing, deep and even, and I could make out its bulky form. However, I could also hear rustling and what sounded a lot like other creatures breathing.

Did this beast have younglings? The thought pleased me. Maybe it was better that I had failed to finish it off in the clearing. They sounded to be further into the cavern than their guardian, which was for the best. Once I had finished with it, I could consume them at my leisure.

I studied my target as it rested. It was curled up in such a way that it would be difficult for me to attack its underside, which led me to believe that the lighter colored scales on its belly would be weaker than the ones on its back. This fit what I knew of reptilian creatures in general. However, that did not mean it would be easy for me to pierce them. The membranes of its wings were thick and leathery, but they should be easier to damage than its scales. Doing so should prevent it from knocking me off balance with wind pressure, as well as prevent it from escaping. I continued to study its sleeping form as I worked out a plan of attack.

Once I was ready, I pounced.

I landed on its scaly back and immediately set to ripping and tearing at its wing membranes. It woke with a start and began to thrash around wildly, but my legs maintained a strong grip on it as it whipped its body about trying to dislodge me. It flared its wings out as much as it could in this cramped space and roared as it violently tried to buck me off, but I held fast. Stretching its wings out actually made it easier for me to slice the almost taut membranes with my claws, and they now had several large rents in them. It tried to snap at me with its jaws, but its neck was not flexible enough to reach where I was lodged on its back. It tried to flap its wings in an attempt to dislodge me, but as the membranes billowed with the air they caught, the pressure against the holes I’d made caused them to tear open even wider.

With the wings badly damaged, I crawled further up its back and wrapped my arms around its neck, with the intent of tearing at its throat. My claws skittered off the hard scales as I felt around for a gap.

In desperation, the beast began to throw itself against the cavern wall, hoping to squish me. In truth, it did a fairly good job of it, as my spine and ribs took the brunt of the damage. However, the accelerated healing rate I had gotten from eating the troll kicked in and the pain of the bruised and cracked bones faded almost as fast as they could be inflicted. I maintained a death grip on the monster, and took the beating while I struggled to damage it.

Finally, after a seeming eternity of being smashed over and over into the cavern wall, my right hand found purchase along the edge of one of the scales, and I pried it away. The beast thrashed and bucked even harder, and now I could smell its fear. Excited, I plunged my claws into the gap to tear and dig deeper into its neck. A small trickle of blood quickly became a spurting stream as my hand wormed its way through the creature’s neck, causing worse and worse damage.

Slowly, its wild flailing weakened, and then it no longer had the strength to throw itself against the wall. I reveled in the rich scent of its lifeblood as it spilled out onto the cavern floor. With a final shudder, it slumped to the floor and lay still. As my blood cooled and my focus on the battle gradually faded, I could hear squawks and chirps of distress coming from deeper in the cave. I left the corpse of the great beast behind me, and headed toward the source of the sound.

Two hatchlings, barely the size of a wolf, were in a nest at the end of the cave. Their sounds of distress quickly changed to fear as I loomed over them. I grabbed one by the neck with both hands and snapped its soft, young spine, then repeated with the other. I dragged the two morsels with me over to the main course, and set to eating.