6 Chapter Six - Kitty and Friends (1/2)

The rope supporting the lion up there snapped audibly, tawny lines painted on its flat mane and everything, and it fell down into the crib. With clearly artificial motions that somehow retained a bit of feline grace, it bounded towards the hole already made, clearly intent on leaping down to join me.

Above it, stiff eagle calls from the hippogriff and the griffons screeched out encouragement. Right...

The Lion roared, something like the rattles of logs tumbling down, and leapt out of the crib.

I heaved up the six-inch thick broken crib pillar to meet it, spinning sideways.

It slammed down right on top of me, AI not caring about the threat, crashing down on the pillar, and severely compounding the damage from the jump as its innards of wood gears tore out.

The shock stopped it for a moment, and I heaved myself from out under it, Soak bleeding away instead of bruising and claw damage from the golden claws affixed in its wooden legs. It snapped at my legs viciously, and the dark pants I waswearing ripped through.

It leapt after me, rear legs not working very well, lifting itself and the impaling timber off the ground, and overtaking my backwards scramble quickly.

I snapped the club up and jammed it into its gaping jaws, the insides carved up like jagged saws instead of teeth, save for the four gleaming golden fangs at the tips.

I wedged the horse-leg between those fangs, and was promptly smashed backwards by its weight. It clawed at me, but didn't have a lot of flexibility in its legs, and I rolled over its shoulder, ending up sitting on its back, with the impaling column right in front of me.

I lifted my legs up to avoid the rear claws promptly raking for me, tucking them over its swinging rear legs and the wooden tail that could only impotently swing to and fro, as the lion started to circle and try to reach me, even as it tried to shake out the club wedged in its jaws.

That was the join I wanted. I grabbed the stump of the pillar, and began to pound down on the join next to it, exploiting the weakness.