Madadh

The creature before you is the size of a young human child, but it moves with grace and strength. It has nut-brown skin marked by a wood grain pattern. It is almost entirely naked and quite hairy, and it carries a small bow and curved blade.

Gristle kicked the mastiff in the ribs and jumped back. The dog lunged for him, jaws snapping, but the short, thick chain attached to the heavy spike in the floor jerked the animal short. Gristle waded back in, this time with his club.

“You’ll learn some proper manners, mutt! Snap at me, and you get the club!”

The mastiff growled and yelped, trying to get away from the pain and fear, but it could barely move thanks to the chain.

“Ow!” Gristle said, slapping his neck. A spot of blood came away on his hand, and he saw the half-sized arrow that had grazed him. “What in the Nine Hells?”

He stepped back from the mastiff, which lay quivering on the floor. Something tittered. The child-like laugh came from somewhere up in the rafters.

“You’re going to get a beating next!” Gristle yelled at the shadows. “I’m gonna — Uh, damn. I think I’m going to –“

Gristle bent over in pain, vomiting up his lunch as spasms wracked his body. He dropped to his knees. From a dark space between two stacks of wooden boxes, a child appeared, brandishing a wickedly curved knife. No, not a child. Children don’t look like that.

After a while, the tittering was louder than Gristle’s screams for mercy.

ECOLOGY