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room between us to permit a hasty retreat back into
the brush before he caught up with me. Deciding I d
be a White Knight sandwich before I could make my
escape, I faced my fate, sword in hand. At least I
could go down fighting.
The Jabberwocky circled me cautiously, making
me hopeful that perhaps the sword I held was a
potent weapon. In fact he was only trying to take me
off guard. He sprang forward, the ground shaking
underfoot as he crashed nearly on top of me, racking
my side with his claws as I dodged to the side,
slashing with my sword.
I backed away as the creature lumbered around
for another attack. Glancing down, I saw that his
claws had penetrated my armor, ripping my clothing
underneath and grazing my skin with jagged
scratches that already throbbed despite their
superficiality. All was not lost, however. With a
smidgen of hope welling up inside me, I noted that my
sword had also left a mark. Now there was a deep
gash in the creature s arm and an even uglier look on
its face.
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Well, done, Huntington s voice said, booming
from the dragon. He circled around and I realized he
was trying to back me toward the edge of the cliff,
thereby limiting my ability to maneuver.
To counter this, I ran forward, yelling and swinging
my sword as if to initiate an attack, then swerved to
the side at the last moment as his huge paw smashed
downward, rattling the earth where I would have
been.
Almost to him now, I dived under his spread hind
legs, raced beneath him, and slashed and thrust at
his belly with my sword as I went, releasing a torrent
of green blood.
He roared in pain. You ll pay for that!
I cringed at the thought that I most likely would
pay, and pay dearly.
As he turned around to face me, the Jabberwocky
swept his long tail toward me. I jumped aside in time
to avoid being bowled over by scaled tail which
flashed past, almost taking me by surprise. But I
miscalculated my landing managing to clear the tail
but stumbling and falling in a jumble of man and
armor.
I struggled to rise, then saw him striking like a
giant snake; thinking better of standing, I rolled out of
the way as his jaws snapped shut just inches from my
head. I continued rolling, sounding like a barrel of tin
cans, finally stopping on my knees and hands. I
quickly rose and retreated a few feet from the
creature.
It was then that I realized I d left my sword lying
where I d fallen. I stood empty handed.
Huntington produced a 10-foot wide, toothy grin.
How about a little hand-to-hand combat? he asked.
Humankind is so poorly matched to anything without
the proper tools, wouldn t you say? No teeth, no
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claws. Brains don t do a lot of good in a situation like
this, do they?
I backed toward the brush, thinking perhaps a
quick dash was my only chance of avoiding a certain
death. Then I saw a flicker of movement behind
Huntington as he stepped over my sword.
Alice!
At first I thought she was escaping and didn t think
any less of her for it. Better one of escape than both
perish. Then I saw she was not rushing away but
rather dashed toward the creature, trying to reach the
sword I d dropped.
Huntington, I said, trying to keep him distracted
so he wouldn t notice Alice approaching behind him.
Couldn t we just call it quits without any more
trouble? I backed away at an angle now, forcing him
to keep his good eye toward me and making it less
likely he d observe Alice.
He turned cautiously, apparently suspecting a
trick.
Did you ever feel like playing MUDs is a terrible
waste of time? I asked, half turning as if to run.
The monster laughed with a rumble that made the
hair at the back of my neck stand on end. Where
else can you smash people freely with a stomp of
your foot?
Oh, what fun, I agreed.
And where else can you enjoy the taste of human
flesh?
Great, now I was the main course. You can quit
now. I understand all the ramifications of your list of
fun things to do here.
He took another step toward me. Quickly or
slowly?
I didn t need to ask what he meant by that. Had I
known I really had a choice, I would have opted for a
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quick death. But I also knew my answer would make
no difference since he was just playing with me. On
the other hand, my answer might enable me to stall
for time.
Perhaps long enough for Alice to mount an attack
or for the jet to wear off. What are my choices
maybe you could elaborate?
But Huntington didn t answer.
Instead, he struck quickly, his jaws snapping off
my left arm just above the elbow at the same moment
Alice raced forward.
I staggered back, pain clouding my vision as I saw
Alice hit the creature s under-belly with a two-handed
swing, leaving a jagged cut that gushed green blood,
coating her head to foot in the sticky, foul-smelling
liquid.
Huntington roared in pain, spitting out my arm as I
tumbled to the ground. He whirled around and chased
after Alice who sprinted toward the edge of the cliff.
I fought to remain conscious, watching in horror as
Alice stopped at the edge, turned to face the monster,
and then tossed the sword toward me. It twirled in a
rainbow arch through the air, landing on its point in
the hard soil next to me.
Good luck, my sweet knight, Alice called. Then
with a determined smile she turned and leaped over
the edge.
With a sick feeling in my stomach, I pulled the
sword from the earth and stood to face Huntington as
he wheeled back toward me.
My, my, he snarled, such feats of bravery,
today. You two have been a notch above my standard
fair, I must admit.
The sword seemed very heavy in my hand and I
fought to keep from passing out as my blood
continued to spurt from the stump of my arm. All that
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kept me going was the fact that Huntington was
bleeding badly, too. I hoped perhaps he d been
weakened enough that we were once again matched.
I lifted the sword as he cautiously circled, waiting me
intently, looking for an opening that would permit him
to attack without being wounded again.
He jumped forward just as I stumbled to the side.
He crashed into the earth with a mighty belly flop and
for an instant his head was lying on the ground right
beside me. In that moment I brought down the sword
with all the strength I could muster. The shining,
razor-sharp blade struck with a loud, wet chunk.
He shook his head, emerald blood gushing from
his jugular vein. Lowering his head to paw at the
wound, he left himself exposed to another slash. I
threw my body behind the blade, ripping through the
other side of his neck, the magical blade almost
pulling me along behind it as it slashed through a
massive expanse of reptilian flesh.
Abruptly his head and body were two entities
rather than one.
The head rolled away from me as I staggered back
and the monster s jaws opened and shut a few times
in his death throes. The body thrashed about, tail
whipping through the air with a loud cracking sound.
This went on for nearly a minute then the creature lay
still.
And then the carcass did the impossible.
It stood upright on its own and staggered forward,
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