The Conversion Bureau: Dogs of Winter

by Cloudhammer

05 - The Beast Within

Year 6, Week 9, Thursday

“Mind repeating that?” Spade said as the other Cards started trotting over.

“You deaf or somethin’?” The griffon asked curiously. “Saw how ya drove the wyvern off, was hopin’ to ask you all if you could lend us a claw... er, hoof or paw or whatever. There’s a whole nest of those things, and they don’t stay full for long. Our town’s the biggest source of food in the area, and we’ve just about run out of weapons to fight them off with. Will you help us?” The griffon was trying to keep his voice calm, but his desperation was clear.

“Give us a moment,” Spade said as he turned to face the other Cards, Rangel joining him. “Alright everyone, huddle up. You heard him same as I did. What do you think?”

“We got our orders, sir,” Diamond said firmly. “Don’t think the brass would appreciate us going on a side job like this.”

“But we can’t just leave them!” Heart protested.

“Could save them, ask for information as payment,” Club said quietly.

“I dunno Sarge, Desmond has a point,” Rangel’s ear flicked. “I hate the idea of letting those things get a free meal too, but we just barely fought off one. We don’t know what condition the town is in, or even if it’s a trap.”

Spade narrowed his eyes as he stared at the snow. After a few long seconds, he looked up and turned to the griffon. “Alright, we’ll do it. But we’re going to have some questions to ask when it’s all over.”

The griffon nodded. “Fair enough. Though to be brutally honest, I’m still worried about how likely it is that we’re all going to die horribly.”

Spade chuckled. “Oh, that makes this even easier then.”

“Now this is just plain weird,” Diamond exclaimed, looking down at the griffon town. They’d traveled along the frozen road for nearly an hour, speaking little so they could keep their face wraps up against the biting wind. Finally, the dark spots of the buildings had become visible, until they had stopped at the top of the last hill.

The griffon leading them, whose name he’d told them was Bloodeye, craned his neck back, his expression confused. “What do you mean?”

Diamond didn’t answer, too busy staring at the buildings. They were long, low-slung affairs built from stacked logs, with what looked like patches of dirt showing through the snow on the roofs. “Those are Viking buildings, boss,” he whispered to Spade. “Right out of the fuckin’ history books.”

“I see them too, Corporal. Now I recommend you keep your mouth shut. We need to maintain our cover.”

“Well, come on,” Bloodeye called as he turned back to the town, “You need to be introduced to the rest of the town...” He tilted his head, peering intently to the west. As the Cards looked at each other confusedly, a faint, yet familiar screech made itself known. “And we don’t have a whole lot of time.”

They hurried down the slope, seeing a multitude of other griffons starting to come out of their homes, all of them looking nervously at the Cards, though none of them were willing to hold their gaze for long.

“What do we do Emmet?” Heart asked worriedly, as a large griffon stormed up to Bloodeye and proceeded to screech at him. The two argued vehemently for a few minutes before the larger one hissed in anger, looking up at the sky anxiously.

“Start planning a defense, I guess. If their behavior is any indication, I don’t think those wyverns are too far off.” Emmet replied quietly as Bloodeye turned back to them.

“Alright, the town elder has agreed to allow you to assist in our defense. I explained you would have questions, which he did not like, but has grudgingly agreed to answer them. Now, what is your plan?” Bloodeye asked eagerly.

“The plan is for you to follow our instructions to the letter. I assume we don’t have a lot of time, and that means doing exactly what we say, when we say it. Do any of them not know Equestrian?” Spade asked, gesturing with a hoof at the griffons huddling in the entryway of the closest building. “If any of them don’t, we’ll need a translator.”

“Um, right.” The griffon fidgeted. “I’m the only griffon in this town that knows Equestrian. I traveled there in my youth for a time, returning home before-” he cut himself off with a clack of his beak.

Spade narrowed his eyes, very interested in what Bloodeye had been about to say, but tossed his head with a snort. “Alright. Then we’ll just have to make do. Heart, is Diamond ready to fly?”

“Yeah yeah, I’m on it. Gonna pay those beasties back for thinkin’ to pick a fight with me.” Diamond said with a snap of his wings as he took off.”

“Okay, I’ll take care of getting the defenses laid out, Club, you’ll help me with that. I want you,” he pointed at Rangel, “to take Bloodeye and get an inventory on weapons, anything you can find. We’ll need as many griffons armed as possible for this.”

Rangel nodded. “Right, no problem.” Turning to Bloodeye, he gestured with an arm. “If you’d be so kind?” He followed the griffon toward one of the larger buildings in the town, a plume of black smoke rising from it.

Pushing open the door, Bloodeye sighed. “It’s not much, but this is our arsenal.”

Along the far wall, a series of racks held spears, swords, axes and even three polearms. It was the final rack that caught Rangel’s eye though. Padding across the room, he stared down at the three weapons with a mix of confusion and eagerness. “Are these what I think they are?”

Bloodeye walked over and picked up one of the ungainly looking weapons.”I don’t know. I do know that these are the last of our firesticks. Though they’re not in the best shape. We don’t have anyone trained in their construction or repair.”

Rangel picked up another one, sniffing at it closely. It looked vaguely similar to some muskets he remembered seeing in history books, though this one was at least half again as big. He winced at the sight and smell of the rust on the barrel. “Does anyone really take care of these things?”

“We try, but without our smith we can’t make new parts.” Bloodeye remarked sadly.

“Well, we’ll just use what we got,” Rangel said with a shrug. “Let’s see what else is usable.”

“Alright! Set those logs down where I marked!” Spade shouted at Club, gesturing with his hooves for the benefit of the griffons helping. Barely even sweating from the effort, Club dragged the three logs into their positions, the other griffons stacking theirs atop his. They’d moved the griffons not capable of fighting into one of the larger houses, and were in the process of building a barricade. “Heart! Make sure they’re wedged together nice and tight. Diamond!” he shouted up at the red pegasus, “Any sign of the wyverns?”

“Not that I can see, boss, but given their colors, they might be hiding up in the clouds for now. I’ll let ya know!” Diamond shouted back down.

Spade nodded. “Alright, that’s going well for now. Club, keep things going here. I’m going to go check on Rangel.” He started to trot toward the building he’d seen Rangel going into, only to stop as he saw him walking toward him, a bundle of what looked like swords and spears under one arm, and an oversized rifle over his shoulder. “Tell me you got more of those coming.”

Rangel shook his head. “Sorry, we only got two of these things. Third one’s too rusted up to be any use.” He set down the bundle and pointed to where Bloodeye could be seen dragging a sled with a few boxes stacked on it. “We got a couple polearms, plenty of powder and ammo. But to be honest, a lot of these weapons have seen better days. He mentioned the town smith is gone, but won’t say why.”

“I see. Well, we’ll have to ask him about that,” Spade muttered in English before turning to face Bloodeye. “Who in the village is a decent shot with these things?” He indicated the rifle in Rangel’s paw.

“Well, I used one a while ago...” Bloodeye trailed off uncomfortably.

“That’s what I thought. Heart! Get over here!” Spade bellowed. Once the unicorn was in earshot, he indicated the other rifle. “I want you and Rangel to use the guns.”

Heart shifted uncomfortably, but nodded, taking the other gun in his telekinetic grip.

Spade’s expression softened. “I know how you feel Heart, but we need the best, and right now that’s you and Rangel.”

“R-right,” Heart said with a nod. “I won’t let you down, sir.”

Spade nodded and turned to Rangel and Bloodeye. “I want you and the rest of the griffons to fight the wyverns outside of the barricade. This is going to be our fallback position. Do you know how many of the wyverns are going to be attacking?”

“I don’t know. Certainly their males. Wyverns usually have one female and several males, anywhere from one to six,” Bloodeye explained, flinching as the echo of a screech was heard, “and she won’t leave the nest. If we can kill the males, we can locate the nest while the female tries to hunt, destroy the eggs and offspring, and the female will leave for good.”

“Well, let’s just focus on surviving the males first,” Spade muttered. Looking up at the sky, he waved to catch Diamond’s attention. “See anything?”

“Not yet...” Diamond had a thought and glanced up, seeing nothing but the sky... except the sky didn’t slice through clouds. “Crap. Boss, I got em right overtop of us coming straight down. Hope you got the welcome mat laid out.”

“Understood. Get down here, I want you behind the barricade to react as we need it.” Spade turned to Club. “You got your orders?”

Club nodded, the earth pony already focused on the job at hand. Or hoof, Spade supposed. “Okay, let’s get ready to rock. Bloodeye, make sure everyone knows their positions and roles.”

The griffon nodded, shouting out instructions to the others, who started to disperse.

“Alright. It’s showtime,” Spade said as he started galloping toward his position.

The silence of the village was shattered as four massive shapes landed in the central square, snow billowing up from their downdraft. The wyverns peered around, confused. Every other time they’d come to this place, the prey had always tried to meet it in the open. But now there was nothing. They’d seen the small red thing that had been flying over the town, but now it too was gone.

With a sharp hiss, the biggest of the males started herding the other three to begin spreading out, while it approached one of the dwellings. Bumping its nose against the door, it blinked as it swung open, the interior empty. In a sudden rush of anger, it screeched, rearing to its full height as it kicked the entire door frame in. It looked around and saw the others were having similar luck with their initial searches, and warbled quietly to itself as it tried to think.

With a whisper of displaced air, the spear tore a ragged hole in the big male’s wing. A small spray of blood arced as the wyvern screeched in pain and rage, swinging its ponderous body around to try and find the source of the attack. An empty street greeted it, and it howled it’s frustration. With a rip, another spear flew in from the opposite direction and punched through it’s other wing, eliciting another cry of anger. The other wyverns gave voice to their own howls as they continued to find empty buildings and streets.

One of the younger males, its head crest still stunted, cocked its head as it heard a scrape and a muffled curse. Hopping forward eagerly, it sprang around the corner of the building to see a griffon glaring at it from not five feet away, holding something in it’s talons.

“Hello, ugly.” Bloodeye lunged forward with the polearm, the metal blade biting deep into the wyvern’s chest and lodging on something. Staggering back as a gout of blood stained the snow a dark red, the wyvern screeched even louder as it fell over backward. Bloodeye turned loose of the polearm as its rear-facing hook caught in the beast’s ribcage, more screeches filling the air as the other wyverns began to move through the town toward them.

Grimacing as the sound did it’s best to deafen him, Heart hurried forward, the firestick held in his magic. Looking down at the writhing wyvern for a second, Heart sighed as he could see the wounds from the previous encounter with them. Angling the firestick downward, he shook his head sadly. “I’m sorry.” Pulling the trigger, the heavy ball tore through the wyvern’s neck, the screeching replaced by a thick gurgle as its lifeblood spilled out, staining the snow and pooling around Heart’s hooves.

“Come on!” Bloodeye shouted as he grabbed Heart by the mane with one paw and the firestick with the other. “They’re going to be here any second!” The griffon hauled Heart back down one of the side alleys, where a few other griffons waited anxiously. The group quickly dispersed back, to the areas now abandoned by the wyverns.

It was as one of the smaller wyverns was stomping past some of the residences that things started to go wrong. Stopping for a moment to wonder why it’s fellow male had stopped making noise, it froze completely as a single muffled noise was heard.

A sneeze. From inside the building to its right. A curious arrangement of logs were in its way, which after a second’s consideration it kicked over, burbling it’s disappointment at not finding anything. Looking back up at the building, it curiously took a few hopping steps forward until it could see the huddling griffons within. It squawked excitedly as it rose upright, warbling at its fellows. The other two immediately changed course, the dead wyvern already forgotten.

“Damnit,” Spade swore as he peeked around the corner. “Should have known that things wouldn’t work out. Club! Roll out the welcome mat!”

The hulking earth pony nodded, trotting out into the street. One of the wyverns spotted him and cried out, turning to charge at him. The other smaller one decided to join it, the two wyverns falling into a matched stride.

Club, for his part, simply stood his ground, not even blinking as the two monsters bore down on him. The wyverns lowered their heads into the sprint, both sets of jaws hanging open in anticipation of the meal ahead of them.

“Three... two... one... NOW!” Diamond shouted from his hiding place on a nearby roof. With a series of whispers the hiding griffons threw their spears. Arcing over the buildings and out of alleys, the majority clattered off their hides, but some tore holes in wings or struck tender spots like their joints.

The wyverns howled in agony as they came to a skidding stop, one falling onto it’s side as it lost its footing in the snow. They flailed and snapped at each other as they tried to figure out which way they wanted to go.

“Right, let’s get them while they’re down!” Spade shouted. “I want some of you to go help Rangel at the bunker!” He gestured with a hoof toward the reinforced building, where the larger wyvern was still nosing at the building, looking for a good way in. The griffons nodded and leapt into the air, drawing their swords and axes. Several of them peeled off to join the others starting to harry the big one, while the majority swooped in on the two entangled wyverns, their swords slashing out to lay open their hides, though only a few swords were sharp enough to inflict any deep tissue damage.

The wyvern on the ground flailed in an attempt to get to it’s feet, but felt something heavy press down on its neck. Struggling, it rolled its eye around to see the massive pony it had tried to eat pinning it. A griffon came up next to it, a long spear held in one paw. The griffon hefted the spear as the wyvern renewed it’s struggles to escape, the last thing it saw being the speartip driving straight for it’s eye.

The griffon huntress worked the spear around for a moment to make sure the wyvern was well and truly dead, then yanked it out in a spray of blood. Looking over at Club, she nodded before taking off to deal with the other one, which was proving to be much more nimble than the prone one.

“Keep driving it back! Don’t let it get away!” Spade shouted as the griffons jabbed at it with their spears, one of them carrying the few polearms. Every time the wyvern tried to spread its wings, the griffons would lunge in and stab at them. And every time the wyvern tried to bite at one of them, Spade would be waiting with a buck to the head. Finally, they had driven it against one of the buildings, where they formed a cage of spears to keep it from trying to escape.

As it’s tail lashed out and struck another griffon with the stinger, Spade glanced up. “Come on Diamond, time’s a wastin’” Letting out a sigh of relief as he spotted the red pegasus, he shouted to the griffons, “Alright! Just a little bit longer! Keep it still!”

Overhead, Diamond was in a vertical dive, the griffons following him with hard sweeps of their wings. “Alright, just like I showed you! Give ‘em hell!” Flaring his wings, he rolled to the side and out of the way.

The griffons hefted their spears and flung them at the last possible second, the speed of their dive adding extra force to the throw. Each in turn tumbled out of the way of the griffon after them, a hail of spears soon rocketing downward, all aimed at the wyvern. Slamming into the wyvern’s head and neck, the spears punched clean through it’s armored hide, some even fully exiting the other side to embed themselves in the snow. With a gurgling warble, the wyvern collapsed, a crown of spears sticking out of its skull.

“Good! Just one more left!” Spade shouted, the griffons echoing him with a cheer as they turned toward the last wyvern.

Rangel pressed up against the edge of the building, risking a quick glance around the corner. He could see the bulk of the wyvern as it spun about, snapping at the darting forms of the griffons with its jaws and tail. As Rangel watched, a griffon tumbled from the sky, having failed to dodge the stinger. Most of it never made it to the ground, as the wyvern almost gracefully spun on its feet and lunged with its jaws. Not even stopping as the front paws, front part of the face, hindlegs and tail thudded to the ground, the wyvern swung a wing in a sweeping arc to strike two more from the sky. Tossing its head back, it swallowed the meal in it’s mouth and screeched its rage at the other griffons, who fell back in disarray.

“Alright, time to turn this thing around,” Rangel muttered as he started to spin around the corner... only to remain where he was, legs shaking slightly and his tail tucking itself against him. Something about watching the effortless, predatory grace of the wyvern had terrified him on a fundamental level, and all of sudden he just wanted to bolt, to run and keep running until it was safe. He started to loosen his grip on the rifle, but a sharp cry snapped him out of it and he gripped the rifle tighter. He was a soldier, for Christ’s sake. He wasn’t some animal to run with its tail between his legs. Well, maybe he was now, but he was still human on the inside, and he’d be damned before he let a case of the shakes make him run away.

Whirling around the corner, he froze for a second at the sight in front of him. The wyvern had knocked another griffon from the sky, and pinned it to the ground with its foot. Its green eyes flicked up to see Rangel staring at it, then with in an almost nonchalant motion bit down on the griffon’s upper body and tore it in half. The griffon’s eyes widened in disbelief and pain, meeting Rangel’s for a second before they went cold, the wyvern tossing the carcass into the air and biting down on it again, swallowing it too with contemptuous ease.

The fur on Rangel’s neck bristled, his lips pulling back from his teeth in a snarl as he strode forward, nearly forgetting he had the firestick until he realized his claws were digging into it. Bringing it to his shoulder, he took aim as the wyvern hissed at him. “How’s this taste, you freak?” he crude rifle spat fire as he pulled the trigger, the lead ball riding it like a meteor directly into the wyvern’s face, right below the left eye. Breaking into a run as the wyvern howled in pain, Rangel wasn’t even aware of dropping the firestick as he leapt onto it’s leg, claws biting deep for purchase.

He felt his anger growing, almost fueling itself, and welcomed it, his body knowing instinctively how to grip the wyvern so he wouldn’t fall off. As he scaled its back and finally reached the wyvern’s neck, he was snarling like an animal himself, several of the griffons banking away as he snapped his teeth at them. Turning his gaze back to his prey, he flexed his claws before plunging them into the wyvern’s neck, the scales parting easily.

The wyvern screamed in agony as it flailed, trying to dislodge the stubborn dog, who only dug his claws in and held on. Burrowing deeper into the muscle, he could feel it, the lifeblood of his prey flowing frantic and hot. Howling his triumph, he plunged his head down, fangs closing around a column of bone and tissue. The bone resisted briefly before his jaw flexed, the teeth grinding through like saw blades until they met with a wet clack.

The wyvern collapsed, it’s eyes rolling wildly as its brain tried desperately to make its body move. But nothing was responding from below the terrible injury to it’s neck, and that brought a fear the wyvern hadn’t known in its entire life. It felt the monster on it’s neck still, fangs biting deep, but the pain was rapidly fading and soon all it knew was blackness.

Spade, Club and Heart trotted up hesitantly, even the griffons reluctant to approach the carcass of the wyvern. Diamond floated overhead, the pegasus feeling sick despite himself at the sight of the blood-soaked Rangel. “Hey, Rangel, ease up man, it’s dead-”

Rangel snapped his head up, locking eyes with Diamond. For a second, he swore that he couldn’t see Rangel looking back at him, only a predator. His heart pounded a mile a minute, and he very nearly took off for the safety of the sky. A chunk of flesh hung from Rangel’s jaws, and he chewed it for a second before he seemed to shudder, his eyes losing that feral glint. Looking down at himself, he started to shake, dropping the hunk of meat. He looked like he wanted to be sick, but couldn’t bring himself to more than a hacking spit of blood.

Spade shook his head and took a step forward, ears tilted back in a combination of nervousness and determination. “Soldier, stand down. Now.”

With a low whine, Rangel heaved himself out of the ruin of the wyvern’s neck, stumbling a little as he hit the blood soaked ground. The griffons instinctively took a step back, as did the rest of the Cards. Only Spade held his ground, glaring at Rangel steadily.

“What’s wrong with me, sir?” Rangel asked haltingly.

“I don’t know,” Spade replied honestly. “Now, come on. You need to clean yourself off, and we need our questions answered.”

Comments

[Krass McWriter]

Ha. Missed a perfect "And I thought they smelled bad on the OUTSIDE." Moment.

[KMCA]

Nothing is wrong with him, he's a predator.

[Skeeter The Lurker]

Goddamn. That was impressive.

Rangal's IS a badass.

~Skeeter The Lurker