Marco and Reina were standing back-to-back as the clicking echoed all around them.
Click. Click. Click.
First it came from Marco's right. Then, Reina's right. Suddenly, somewhere directly behind Marco and then behind Reina just as quickly. All the while, the two of them saw no trace of a beast.
Reina whispered to Marco. "What do we do now?"
"Just wait," he whispered back.
"Wait for it to come get us? That's a terrible plan!" as she said this, the clicking got faster.
"I've got your back, and you have mine. Keep watching."
They found themselves whispering without really knowing why. After all, the beast had clearly found them. But as the clicking sound seemed to surround and close in on them, they couldn't help but stand perfectly still.
Then, all of a sudden, silence. Marco could have swore he heard his own sweat roll off his face, drip from his cheek, and hit the ground. But, just as that dramatic sweat drop made a splash...
Woosh!
Marco saw a blur shoot at him from the trees to his left. Before he knew it, there was a green...thing in front of him. It opened its mouth to reveal two rows of saw-like teeth. Marco barely raised his sword in time to block the beast's bite. When it chomped down, it got a mouthful of sword instead of a mouthful of Marco.
Reina heard the clang of teeth on metal and turned her head. "What is it?"
"It's a...Gramtese Dragon?"
Now that the beast was clamped down on his sword, Marco was face-to-scaly face with it. But he was so shocked when he saw its yellow eyes swivel around to look at him that it took him a moment to find his memory. It was a five-foot-tall lizard known as a Gramtese Dragon!
"A dragon!? What's a dragon doing in a forest?" said Reina.
"Not an actual dragon…" Marco struggled to say as the lizard wiggled its head and tugged at his sword. He kicked it until it sprung backwards and disappeared into the trees.
"Where did it–Ah!"
Marco turned to see the creature lunging at Reina. He hastily grabbed her and tackled her to the ground. The creature sailed over them and landed mere steps away. Its long, green body seemed to undulate with excitement as its yellow eyes hungrily looked at its next meal.
"We need to get back in formation!" Marco said as he helped Reina up.
"It's right in front of us, we should attack!" Reina yelled.
"Reina, no!"
Marco's warning fell on deaf ears as Reina ran straight at the lizard and brandished her knife. It wasn't kind enough to wait for her as it bounded forward and snapped its jaws.
Marco winced, but soon saw that he had nothing to worry about. Reina gracefully flipped over the lizard and landed on its back, plunging her knife in between its scales. It let out a high pitch screech that sent all the nearby birds zooming out of the trees.
"Nice!" Marco said as he charged into battle as well. He wasn't going to let Reina's attack go to waste. He gripped his sword tightly and readied a swing.
He didn't grip it tightly enough.
The lizard began jumping around erratically after being stabbed in an attempt to buck Reina off of its back. It also swung its tail wildly. Marco was able to dodge it at first, but with the lizard being as tall as a person, its tail was basically the size of a club and moved with the speed of a whip. It struck him clean in the chest and sent him crashing to the dirt. He lost hold of his sword as it went sailing off in another direction.
"Ugh," Marco groaned but still rolled and immediately got to his feet. When he did, he saw the lizard finally manage to throw Reina off its back. Before she even hit the ground, it jumped into the trees and disappeared.
"Are you alright?" he asked as he stumbled over to her.
She looked up at him with a dirty face as she spit out a clump of grass. "Fantastic. Where's your sword?"
Marco looked at his empty hands and then remembered. "Why do I keep losing my swords?"
That question went unanswered, or rather it was answered by an aggressive and constant series of clicks.
"It sounds angry! What do we do?" Reina said as she looked around.
"Get in–"
"Don't you dare tell me to get in the bloody formation!"
She was right. The creature was too fast to be stopped by a crude defensive formation. It was also now injured, angry, and probably ready to go all out in its desperation to kill before it was killed. At the rate things were going, Marco and Reina would make a fatal mistake before the lizard did.
"Something isn't right," Marco said, more to himself than to Reina. "Are Gramt Dragons supposed to be green? What did it say in that book…?"
"Marco!" Reina tugged at his arm and dragged him over to a tree. The lizard landed right where they were just standing, and then turned into a blur and melded into the trees.
How is it doing that?" Reina growled. "I know it's fast but it can't just disappear!"
"Disappear?" Suddenly, images flooded Marco's mind. There was a bestiary he once had to transcribe that detailed animals from exoitc lands. He remembered being particularly fascinated by the Gramtese Dragon, with its ability to seemingly vanish. In truth it could only alter its color to blend in with its surroundings. But as someone who was ridiculed every time he stepped out of his home, Marco admired the ability to just blend in.
"That's it! Gramtese Dragons are naturally brown because they live in the deserts and flatlands of Gramt. They avoid this forest because...Yes! Give me your knife!"
Reina was just staring at him, her eyebrows scrunched. "What?"
"Just trust me."
Reina hesitantly gave him the knife, saying "Be careful, this is worth more than any price you could conceive."
Marco wondered at that. It was a very plain knife, even the handle was basic wood with no engravings. But Marco didn't care about the price of Reina's knife. What did concern him was that the blade was still red with the blood of the lizard. She had plunged it deep enough that it was even still somewhat wet. "Perfect!"
Without missing a beat, Marco grabbed the closest branch he could find and climbed the tree with all the speed he could muster.
"Where are you going?" screamed Reina.
"Just keep your back to the tree and don't let it kill you!" he yelled in reply.
She responded with something indignant but he couldn't make it out as increasing layers of branches and leaves separated them. Marco was a little more than halfway up the tree when he couldn't see the ground any longer. At that point, the branches that were sturdy enough to grab were becoming less common. It was also getting harder to climb while he held the knife in one hand, trying his best not to let it brush up against anything and wipe off the blood.
His pace was slowing when he heard the clicking. It seemed to be coming from right below him, but he didn't dare stop to look and see. He climbed faster, almost jumping from branch to branch until he could see the tops of some of the smaller trees. In just moments, he would break through the top of the forest!
Click. Click.
Now it came from right above him. Marco burst through the canopy of the forest, and saw the sea of trees all around him. But more importantly, on the very tip of his own tree, Marco saw the lizard standing poised right in front of him!
As soon as Marco poked out from under the tree canopy, the lizard took a bite. Marco ducked back under the sea of leaves and branches and scrambled around the tree, popping out again behind the lizard. The beast clearly saw this coming and whirled around to meet him. With nothing else to do, Marco swung the knife frantically at his foe. The bits of wet blood still on the knife flicked off as lizard recoiled.
"Good," Marco thought. "Now where is it?"
He kept swinging and stabbing as he looked around. It didn't take but a few seconds for him to find what he was looking for. A huge tree nearby, one that towered above the rest. This was the Elder Tree, a behemoth tree that was probably even taller than Monument Tower back in Sunheight. And it was the home of a certain creature…
Marco's thoughts were so focused on the tree that he didn't even notice his arm had stopped moving. It wasn't until he felt a strong force tug at his forearm that he looked back.
"Ah!"
The lizard had grabbed his arm!
He tried immediately and with all his strength to break free, but the long, scaly fingers were firmly wrapped around his arm. The lizard almost seemed to be smiling as it showed its teeth and dragged Marco closer.
"No!" With a jerk of his arm so forceful it nearly dislocated his shoulder, Marco drove the knife into the lizard's wrist. It screeched and flung its hand upwards, letting go of Marco and splashing blood all around them.
The beast shrieked at him, baring its teeth. The yell pierced Marco's ears and drilled straight into his brain. He wobbled and almost fell off the tree as the teeth came for him.
Then came the shadow.
For a moment, the afternoon sun was blotted out by a large form. It wasn't a cloud, the day was completely clear. Marco and the lizard both froze and looked up at the newcomer.
Shaw!
Faster than Marco could even process, a black bolt blew passed him and crashed into the lizard. Then, the lizard was gone. He looked to the sky, hoping to see it before it got away.
"Wow." was all he could say when he saw it. It was an Elder Hawk, a great black bird named for the giant tree it called home. These birds grew to be up to twenty feet tall and ruled over the Gramt Forest. Gramtese Dragons were their prey, as evidenced by the struggling lizard that was clutched firmly in the Elder Hawk's talons.
Marco had never seen an Elder Hawk before, so the sight of the majestic bird soaring through the sky with prey in claw awed him. For perhaps the first time since this trial began, the spirit of adventure filled him. This what why he wanted to be a Hero, to see things he would never see in Sunheight. As the Elder Hawk turned and soared towards the huge tree, Marco silently thanked it.
Then, he sighed out every emotion from the past three days. It was over. The beast of Gramt Forest had been defeated.
When he climbed down from the tree, he saw a dirtied Reina standing anxiously and looking up at him. He dropped down and approached her with a huge grin on his face.
"It's done!"
"Really? Great! Where's my knife?" she exclaimed as she handed him his sword. He took out her knife and she eagerly took it back. Then, she cast her eyes upward again as if looking for something. "Also, where's the head?"
"The what?" Marco asked as his eyes went wide.
Reina's, meanwhile, narrowed as if targeting him. "The head of the beast. The one we need to bring back to complete the trial. Where is it?"