Commander Braghaman Larethian

Flash

Banagan walked around the yard of his new home and swung his wooden mace around. The almost-twelve year old listened to the weapon whistle as it sliced through the air. While he paced back and forth in the yard, Valiant lay on the ground with his chin resting on his crossed paws. The winged lion watched as the young man fought back against imaginary enemies.

“Take that,” Banagan grunted as he viscously attacked his adversary. “And that!”

Banny ducked and turned to attack something else behind him. He spun his mace around, adding flourishes to his imagined strikes. Suddenly, the young man dropped to his knee and lowered his head, as if dodging a dangerous swing. Spinning around, he counter-attacked with what he envisioned as a particularly impressive strike. Valiant lifted his head slightly and stared at the young warrior for a moment. Deciding that things were still okay, the lion put his head back on his paws and let out a quiet huff.

“Did you see that? I got ‘em real good, didn’t I Valiant?”

Valiant grunted in response, obviously impressed.

“Pretty soon,” Banny began, walking over to the lion. “Pretty soon I’ll be training full time. And then I’ll get to go on patrols. I’ll be the one protecting the village.” Banny started patting Valiant on his head, the lion dutifully accepting the affection.

Banny grinned and gripped his mace again. Moving away from the winged lion, he began fighting with more imaginary enemies, swinging his weapon and twirling around in what was undoubtedly an impressive show of defense. Valiant watched quietly for a few more moments. Then after one particularly impressive attack, the lion lifted his head.

Valiant looked at Banagan first. Then he turned and started scanning the empty yard. The first twig snapping in the forest surrounding the house brought the lion to his feet. His head turned, looking for the source of the sound as he walked over to the boy.

“What is it?” Banny asked. He stopped swinging his mace and watched as the lion padded over to him. When Valiant stopped beside him, Banny started looking around the yard as well.

Across the yard, two forms moved out of the forest. Feral worgens stepped out into the clearing and looked around, sniffing in the air. They were thin and scrawny, their fur was patchy and matted in areas. Their heads dropped to the ground and they sniffed some more. Then, finally the two ferals looked at the lion and the boy.

Valiant let out a growl which was returned by the two ferals. The lion quickly moved in front of his young charge. The worgen bared their fangs and stalked towards the lion. They separated and slowly drew close to the larger animal, coming at Valiant from either side.

The worgen leapt at the same time, attacking Valiant from two directions. Valiant let out a deep growl and swatted down the feral attacking his right. That feral fell to the ground on its side and slid a little across the grass. Doing so opened the lion up to attack by the other feral; it slashed its claws against the lion’s left shoulder. The lion growled again and turned to face the other threat. The other feral hopped back out of reach as Valiant swiped his big paw through the air.

With the lion’s attention turned, he didn’t see the first feral get back to its feet and leap at him. The worgen landed against the lion’s side and bit down on Valiant’s wing. The lion roared and flared his wings out, sending the feral flying through the air again.

The second worgen, sensing an opportunity, moved in to attack the lion, but wasn’t quick enough. Valiant turned again and brought his big paw down on top of the second feral’s head, pinning it to the ground. The lion leaned in with his jaws wide, but the feral scratched with its claws and squirmed violently and managed to free itself from the lion’s grasp before he could close his jaws around the back of the feral’s neck.

The winged lion and the second feral worgen danced around each other, swiping claws back and forth. Neither noticed the first feral get up off the ground and settle on all fours. The feral shook its head a couple of times before it started scanning the yard. The fight in the center first caught its attention, but then it sniffed the air. Turning its head slowly, the feral locked its eyes on Banagan. 

The young man heard a growl and pulled his attention away from the fight in front of him. Off to the right was the first worgen, growling and baring its fangs.

“Oh no,” Banny whispered. He looked back to Valiant fighting against the other feral and then to the one that was now stalking towards him. Banny took a couple of steps closer to Valiant and then stopped. Gripping his small mace with both hands, Banny spread his feet and stood ready, facing the first feral.

The worgen lowered its head momentarily before launching at the boy. It snarled and raced forward, snapping its jaws. Banny raised his mace up, holding it in the air with both hands.

“No!” Banny yelled out, lifting his mace closer to his right shoulder and stepping forward with his left foot. As he stomped down, a flash exploded from the ground and a wave of light flared out in a circle around him. The worgen ran into the wave and stumbled, falling head first into the ground and rolling towards the boy. Banny’s eyes grew wide and he stared for a moment at the fallen feral near his feet. Then, shaking off his surprise, Banny took two big steps towards the worgen and slammed his wooden mace down on the back of its head. The feral let out a grunt and closed its eyes. 

“What’s going on?” Braghaman called out as he appeared at the back door of the house. Seeing the prone worgen on the ground and the other fighting against Valiant, the paladin reached beside the door and picked up a large, silver mace. “Banny! Over here!”

Banagan looked back at the house and saw his father walking towards him. Immediately, he took a step back from the fallen feral before turning and running to his father’s side.

Braghaman put his free hand on Banny’s shoulder and quickly looked him over.  “Are you hurt?”

“No, sir.”

“Get back to the house.”

Braghaman looked over to the prone beast. He waited to hear the sound of Banny’s steps moving away from him before the paladin went to the feral. Bragh risked a glance at Valiant and saw the lion had once again pinned the other feral to the ground. This time, it couldn’t pull away from the lion. Bragh looked away as Valiant brought his jaws down on the back of the feral’s neck and bit. A howl briefly echoed across the yard and then was silent.

Braghaman looked down at the feral at his feet and saw that it was still breathing. There were bald patches in its fur and he could see its ribs along its side. The beast was very malnourished. Bragh let out a sigh and shook his head slightly before raising up his own mace and bringing it down on the back of the feral’s skull. There was a sickening crunch and then the beast stopped moving.

The paladin shook his mace off and looked back to the house. Banny was standing in the doorway watching. Turning back to the yard, he watched as Valiant leaned down and grabbed the feral in his jaws. Lifting up, the lion drug the beast’s body over to the paladin and dropped it on top of the other.

“Guess word hasn’t gotten around that there’s a new owner here, huh?” Bragh reached his free hand over and scratched Valiant behind an ear.  “You okay, buddy?”

Valiant huffed and opened his jaws wide, as if yawning. The lion tilted his head at the paladin before turning and padding back to the house. Braghaman watched as Valiant walked away, taking note of the open claw marks on the lion’s shoulder and side. Valiant stopped a few feet from the door before turning around and dropping to the ground. The winged lion rested his head on his paws and looked around lazily, as if nothing had just happened.

Braghaman chuckled as he watched Valiant settle down on the ground. Resting his mace on his shoulder, he walked back to the house. Banagan’s eyes were on him the entire time.

“You okay, son?”

“Yes, sir. It never touched me.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yeah.”

“What happened?”

“We were playing in the yard and they came out of the trees.”

“They were probably sick. Looked like they hadn’t eaten in a while.”

“They wanted to eat me?”

“Maybe. Why didn’t you run inside or call out for help?”

“Everything happened too quick.”

Braghaman looked at his son for a moment. Then, blinking slowly, he nodded.

“Valiant did a good job. Taking both of them down can be tricky.”

“But he didn’t,” Banagan started to speak before pausing.

“Didn’t what?”

“Well, Valiant knocked that one to the ground before he started fighting with the other one.”

“Okay,” Bragh said, waiting patiently for Banny to continue.

“Then the first one got back up and started running at me. I held my mace up like you showed me. But then there was a bright light and it fell down.”

“Bright light?”

“Yeah, and it fell down. And then I whacked it in the back of the head. And that’s when you came out.”

“You whacked it.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Okay,” Braghaman said, trying to stop a grin that was tugging on the corners of his mouth. “Well then, paladin. What did you do wrong?”

“Wrong, sir?”

“Yes. What did you do wrong?”

Banagan though quietly for a moment before looking back to his father. “I should have called for help.”

“That’s right. Even if you thought you could handle it, how did you know that there weren’t more in the trees?”

“I didn’t, sir,” Banny answered, his head lowered.

“That’s right,” Braghaman said, nodding again. Then he reached over and patted Banagan on his shoulder. “But you stood your ground, did ya’?”

Banagan looked up at his father, expecting to see disapproval. Seeing his father smiling, Banny started to relax again. “Yeah, I did.”

“Okay. Go inside and clean up. I’ll take care of the mess out here. When I’m done, you can tell me what happened.”

“Yes, sir.” Banagan straightened up and then ran inside the house.

Braghaman chuckled quietly before looking at the lion laying calmly on the ground. “Good boy.” The lion huffed as Bragh turned and walked back over to the two broken ferals.

“Kid’s already got his first war story.”