Phillip, still hugging himself to Caroline’s hand, felt himself pushed to the floor as Caroline smashed her massive palm to the ground, standing her arm like a pillar, blocking her two siblings who stood behind it. She blinked several times, trying to grasp what she was staring at as the dazed guards yelped for back-up.
It was a creature of some kind, a beast, but it wasn’t anything Caroline had ever set eyes on before, and she had thumbed through over half the archived books in the palace library containing illustrations of as many creatures as were known to man. Yet this one was a mystery.
It looked larger than an elephant, standing on four legs with a hairy tale. It’s entire body, thick and rounded, was layered with matted dark brown hair, twisted together by dirt and grease. Its head, though, was its most striking feature, looking rather squat and wide compared to the rest of its body. The beast’s eyes stretched long across its face at an odd angle, gleaming a terrible sharp yellow around its slit-like pupils, accentuated by the thin, serpentine nostrils just beneath its eyes. It opened its mouth, its gargantuan jowls widening into what almost looked like a smile as it bared glistening fangs, drooling like a dog all over the floor as it perked its short, pointed ears up. To Caroline, it almost looked like a huge, bloated, reptilian wolf covered in a layer of muscle and grime, and yet just enough of it was different so that it didn’t quite look like it belonged anywhere on Earth. She shuddered, scooting back a few feet and gently pushing her siblings back as well, pressing them against the wall with her palm and fingers just enough to ensure they didn’t try to move out. The beast inched forward, still across the hall from the terrified royal family and other guards, cutting down the distance with each placement of its padded paws and fingerlike claws.
“Get ready, men, regroup and fire!” bellowed the head of the guards, drawing his bow and adding an arrow. A dozen other soldiers beside him placed arrows into their bows as well and fired, most of the arrows hitting the beast directly in the face. It cringed for a moment, but shook its long hair around on its face and padded forward with renewed resolve, beginning to bend at the shoulder blades against the ground like a cat preparing to pounce. The soldiers thrown aside by the smashed door crawled desperately to the sidelines, grasping for their weapons.
Caroline looked over at it, and felt a chill go down her spine as she realized it had locked eyes with her as it continued moving forward, probably simply because she was the largest and most attention-drawing being in the room besides itself. It almost seemed to squint at her, and as it did a long, gray, forked tongue lapped out almost like a frog’s, poking at its own jaw. The beast came nearer and nearer, less than fifty feet away, as the line of troops continuing firing arrows uselessly into the beast’s face. One arrow actually hit the beast squarely in the eye, and it stuck for a moment before the monster batted its leathery eyelashes, breaking the thing like a twig. With a grumble from its throat, it began to screech, sounding like a distressed eagle about to dive bomb on something attacking its nest. The sound was startling, and Caroline could feel tears dampening the palm of her hand as she continued pressing her siblings against the wall, probably mostly from Phillip who was still trembling fearfully against her fingers. She felt herself beginning to tremble as well, but somehow she wasn’t even afraid of what the beast might do to her once it reached them.
The beast’s gaze shifted away as its head cocked down towards Caroline’s side, near her father. It stopped in its tracks at a distance of only ten or so feet away. Caroline felt her skin going cold as this thing the size of a very large dog (to Caroline, no less) pressed its chest against the ground, wiggling its back feet against the ground with a few scrapes, as if getting into position.
“That’s it, then! Move forward!” roared the head of the guards, and with that every troop in the room rushed forth, their swords drawn. Quickly coming out of its focused state, the beast swiped its massive paws around, sending a few soldiers flying onto their backs, their weapons dropped. The soldiers that came from behind were kicked back down in the face as the beast used its back legs like those of a horse, smacking directly backward at the oncoming attackers. One man actually managed to reach the beast, and he plunged his sword into its side. With another blood-curdling, bird-like screech, the beast swiveled around and slashed the man straight down his front, incapacitating him violently. Caroline blinked, feeling a shot of pain for the man who had just taken a blow for the safety of herself and her family. Then, moving its long, hairy toes down to the spot in its side where the hip sword was still lodged, the creature actually wrapped its claws around the blade as if using its paw like a human hand and yanked it out with a small groan, dropping it to the ground with a metallic clatter, a small pool of dark green blood settling in around it from the relatively small wound. The head of the guards charged last, actually managing to dodge a paw slash, but as he went in for the kill the beast opened its jaws, clenching its teeth around him and tossing him aside like a ragdoll against the stairs. With the troops all taken down in what felt like a matter of seconds, the beast pressed itself back against the cool marble, grumbling a little as if ready to pounce again.
Caroline’s world seemed to slow down, and she felt her heart pounding against the bars of her ribcage, almost wanting to rip out of her body as her breathing became faster. She watched the beast’s paws press down against the marble, its “fingers” splaying out with pressure before pushing off, the angle of its lift-off pointed directly to her side, at her mother, father, and a few of the wounded troops who had managed to crawl back. Caroline felt her hand releasing its hold against her two siblings against the wall, and swatting out into the air with such speed she could hardly blink before she saw her hand smacking against the surprised face of the beast, which was already in midair in its pounce. In a wide arc, she slapped it, following through with her shoulder as if swinging a hammer and sent the thing rolling backward, squealing slightly as she had hit it directly on the nose. Grasping its snout between its claws, it wiggled its ears and turned around, its teeth baring through its closed mouth, a hot puff of steam fired from its nose. Caroline gasped, looking down at her hands and realizing the amount of power she had just dealt in a single strike, quickly moving to her knees to get into a better point of leverage. As she looked back up, though, the thing was already leaping for her, and she wasn’t prepared this time.
Caroline’s back hit the stone wall with such force the hall actually shook, sending down a few stray blocks and some stone dust from the ceiling as the beast pressed its front claws against her chest, moving its face in and opening its jaws wide to take a bite out of her face. Grunting uncomfortably from the feeling of its claws on her chest, Caroline clenched her fists and brought her arms back up, taking ahold of one half of its jaw in each hand, straining her muscles as she tried to push it back. Its teeth gnashed, trying to outlast the strength of Caroline’s fingers and hands, as well as trying to bite off her digits which gripped the greasy beast’s face just out of reach of its chompers. It lapped its tongue out, sending another chill down Caroline’s spine as the leathery muscle snapped like a whip against her fingers, but she held firm, beginning to push outward. She felt sweat forming on her brow again, and she gritted her teeth, finally pushing the thing back against the stairs with a loud smack, sending more stone dust from the ceiling as the thing’s sheer mass took down half of the railing on the staircase. Releasing her arms from the strain, she flopped back against the wall, breathing heavily and trying to regain her stamina, already smashing both of her hands powerfully against the ground to gain leverage and stand up. She pressed upward against the ground, going into a full standing position just as the beast turned back around, rearing its back, its hair standing on end like a monstrous house cat. Caroline took a quick side step, planting her massive feet in front of her entire family and the wounded soldiers, tightening the muscles in her arms and legs as if in preparation for the brunt of another seemingly unstoppable force.
“Caroline, NO!” screamed Elizabeth, rushing forward and grabbing at Caroline’s calf, but Richard leapt forward, pulling her back and placing her hands on Phillip and Anne, who were both frozen in fear and shock before whispering something quickly to her and rushing forth to his daughter.
“CAROLINE!” he yelled out, tugging at the hem of her robe helplessly, but she didn’t even look down to acknowledge him, already knowing exactly what he was going to say. “Please, Caroline, don’t… we must retreat, it is too LATE!” he yelled out, tugging madly at the fabric but receiving no response, unable to shift even a fraction of his daughter’s mass in this action. Caroline knew he wasn’t going to move from that spot no matter what she said or did, and as he continued standing behind her and the beast reared itself for another attack, Caroline arched her foot and lifted her large heel into the air, pressing it against her father’s chest as gently as she could, knocking him to the ground on the side just as the beast lunged at her again, smashing her down to the floor right where Richard had been standing with a deafening crash. Richard crawled backward, shocked out of his daze of trying desperately to get his daughter’s attention. He moved back next to a wounded soldier, who instantly saw the king and lifted up his sword, placing it in the king’s lap, his arm flopping weakly to the side immediately afterward. The king grasped the man’s hand, holding his arm up for him.
“You are a brave soldier. You are remembered for this, sir,” said the king, shaking the man’s hand vigorously. The man nodded and smiled, passing away from his severe wound across his chest where the claws of the beast had ravaged. Richard gripped the blade, tossing it between his hands as he stood up again, looking over at his family and pointing toward the door.
“Get out, now! Take them!” he yelled out to his wife, tilting his head toward the door. Elizabeth gave him a look of hesitation while shifting her ankles as if to take a step. “NOW!” he roared, and she hurried them out of the room and back down the small hallway they had come down. Richard gulped, shifting the sword in his grip as he looked at the sight before him.
Caroline’s fingers were pressed back against the jowls of the beast as it gnashed hungrily at her features, spraying its spittle all over her face. She closed her eyes, turning her head to the side and pressing her cheek against the cool ground to put as much distance between her face and those fangs as possible. The appendage-like claws of the beast dug into the now-much thicker skin of her chest, and she could feel scratches developing painfully along her upper torso. Richard saw this and dashed forward, standing by his daughter’s hip, leaping to the side as the beast’s back right paw slipped off of its position on Caroline’s quad, grasping for balance as it tried harder and harder to break past Caroline’s powerful forearms and hands to reach her face. With the long, hairy leg sitting right before him, Richard seized the opportunity and plunged the sword into the beast’s leg, hoping to give his daughter a moment of reprieve. The beast screeched painfully as Richard yanked the blade out, driving it back into the same spot and twisting hard in a full circle as Caroline continued hanging onto its jaw. Finally, it snapped its head and focus away from the massive young woman it was sitting on, turning its gaze onto Richard by its back foot and hissing.
“Father, STOP!” grunted Caroline painfully, lifting her head back up with the few second break she was given. The beast kicked its now-bleeding leg out, knocking Richard to the floor again. However, this was all Caroline needed. Taking her hands off the beast’s jaws in a terrifying, dangerous moment, Caroline grasped her fingers around the front legs of the beast and squeezed, pushing it back off of her. It quickly noticed this and tried to reach for her face again, but she had already pushed it back down her long torso. As it saw a direct strike at her face wouldn’t be possible, the creature realized its mouth was now free and it went for Caroline’s hands. She felt its fangs pierce her skin lightly on her pinky and ring fingers just as she gained enough leverage to push off on it. Caroline pushed her pinned elbows against the marble and tossed the beast outward, sending it skidding back across the hall, where it smashed into and splintered a dining table.
“Father!” cried out Caroline, quickly moving back into a kneeling position and shifting to a position directly over her father. “Are you hurt?” she asked, laying her fingers gently on his chest and tapping at him. Richard groggily shook his head around, having had the wind knocked from him, and stood back up as Caroline removed her fingers. His eyes widened as he took a defensive position, his arm trembling at his pointed back across the room at the beast.
“Please, Caroline, I’ll be FINE, don’t turn your back on it!” he yelled out, afraid it would pounce on her while she was worried about his wellbeing. Caroline looked over her shoulder and saw the beast already creeping back over, limping slightly from where Richard had wounded its back leg. She could see a thin trail of its green blood leading across the slick floor. Backing up so she didn’t accidentally harm her father, Caroline scrambled to her feet, holding her hands out, her fingers bent inward like claws themselves in preparation for keeping the beast at bay. She sighed deeply, realizing that the cold sweat was now trickling down her forehead and back from a combination of the exertion and realization that she had no honest idea of how to take this thing down.
Caroline crossed her right foot over her left, bending at the knees a little to take a stronger position on the ground as she walked to her side, ensuring she didn’t turn at all. The beast realized what was happening and locked itself into a similar circling motion, the two of them stalking one another, their eyes locked. Caroline frowned, determinedly, using two fingers to swipe the sweat off her brow quickly before holding her hand back out in front of her face for protection. She tilted her head at the beast, as if willing it to try something else, and it returned the gesture, turning its head with what must have been an extremely versatile neck like an owl. Caroline wasn’t really sure what she was gaining by attempting so uselessly to intimidate it, but she figured it was either this or lose her cool in the heat of the moment, dooming her father and anyone else in the palace. She had realized this several minutes ago. If she wasn’t able to do anything to stop the creature in its murderous aims, it seemed unlikely the beast would be stopped before quite a few many more lives were lost or harmed. And Caroline had no intention of letting that happen. She clenched her massive fists together tightly.
The beast didn’t even bother settling itself against the ground for a well-aimed strike, instead choosing to push off from the ground with whatever leverage it had there and leaping at Caroline. Its clumsiness, though, was paid for as Caroline grabbed it around the stomach like a dog. She wasn’t able to hold it up because of its heaviness, but she was able to use its own momentum to send it flying much further than it had anticipated, right into a stone carved wall with a powerful smack. Before it could even get up, Caroline was already striding over to it. Stepping over it, she planted her right foot in a loud stomp onto the marble ground, straddling the beast and sitting on it to keep it down. It grunted under the sheer weight of the young woman, flailing its sharp limbs around to try and get at Caroline, but she was ready, grabbing on to each of its front limbs at the elbow and pinning them down. She leaned forward ever so slightly, applying enough pressure to ensure that only the beast’s back legs could struggle now against the marble. She clenched her muscles, concentrating. As long as she was still awake and conscious, she didn’t intend to let the monster get back up and endanger her family or loved ones again. Having a solid submission hold on the beast from up front, Caroline raised her legs ever so slightly by pressing against the ground with her toes, allowing her to slide her legs back, resting now in a sort of kneeling position so her legs could have more room to spread out and make contact with the ground. The beast continuing struggling for several minutes, growling louder and louder, spraying an enraged mist of its drool into the air, even trying to bite the marble, but it finally gave up. Just as it ceased struggling, a cavalry of guards appeared in the doorway. Richard stepped over to them, limping slightly from when he had been kicked aside by the beast’s back foot.
“Your punctuality is appreciated. Now, if you would be so kind as to acquire for me some…” he said, looking back over his shoulder in thought at his daughter. The jaws of the guards dropped as they watched the young and beautiful princess, known throughout the land for her gentleness and peacefulness, single-handedly keeping the 5-ton beast down for the count using only her arms and body weight. “…errr, some chains, perhaps. THICK chains!” said Richard, holding up a finger to make sure they heard the emphasized word.
“Y-Y-Yes, your Royal Highness, of course…” said the guard at the head of the pack. Most of them turned and left to acquire the proper tools to restrain the monstrous creature, the rest staying to help the wounded soldiers and attend to the king himself. Shooing them away, Richard cautiously approached his daughter, who was trying to slow her breathing, still sitting on the now-docile beast, its limbs still pinned firmly down by the titanic young lady.
“My daughter…” said Richard, shaking his head in disbelief, but somehow managing to smile with pride and gratitude for what he had just witnessed his beloved Caroline doing. “How… I never…”
Caroline grunted, settling into a more comfortable position. “Father, I don’t mean to trouble you, but… I do believe my garments may be somewhat soiled from this… animal’s coat,” she said, whipping her blond hair back over her shoulder and gripping the beast’s front legs even more tightly in her powerful fists.