On the periphery, there were few rocks larger than knee-height, and none large enough to hide behind. Until we drew near to the lair we were in the open. If He had seen us then, we would have been in very serious trouble. He did not.
Finally, as we crept among the larger boulders, the great cracks in the cliff-side that formed the mouth of His cavern came into view. It was to dark inside to see anything, but a faint clattering was audible, echoing from within the cave. There were muffled voices shouting, and ringing swords. We crouched behind a boulder. "I told you someone would get here first! What do we do?" Edwyn said.
"Wait. Let them have their turn." I said.
"But what if they-"a knight in shining armor flew out of the cave like a toy being thrown aside by an angry child. His body hit the rocks and bounced, and the pieces of his armor � breastplate, leggings, arms, gauntlets, gorget and helmet � all went flying in different directions, with their respective body parts still inside them. They turned to gray stone midair, and cracked when they landed again.
"Never mind," said Edwyn.
Five more warriors came running and screaming out of the cave. All to close at their heels, the Cockatrice burst out of the darkness behind them. He stood as high as I'd said, almost three times the height of a man, and moved more quickly than one would thing possible of a creature His size on a set of massive, bird-like legs and feet. His feet were four-toed, with terrible scythe-like talons. The ground quivered beneath his bulk. He carried two scaly wings on his back that, though great in size, could not possibly have carried His weight. Behind Him stretched a long, serpentine tail. There were ragged feathers of white and red scattered about him, but His hide was mostly naked, gray scales, except for His head and neck, which were covered in feathers. Aside from the odd pair of antlers atop His crest, His head resembled that of a rooster, a huge rooster. His beak was deadly sharp and powerful, and His eyes I dared not glance at.
"He looks like some sort of a cross between a dragon and a chicken!" Edwyn said with a look of astonishment.
"His looks might be more comical if He were much smaller, and His features did not all hold the promise of swift death," I said. "Stay sharp."
He screeched at the routed invaders, a sound so loud, piercing and terrible that even I shuddered and held my ears. The slowest runner � the man bringing up the rear of the fleeing warriors � stumbled and fell the screech. Before he could get up he was trapped under a talon. The Cockatrice reached down, picked up the man in his beak, and, with a quick arch of his neck, flung him up into the air. When the man came down the Cockatrice caught him in His beak and snapped him in two. The stone halves of the man fell and shattered on the ground. One of his companions looked back to see what had become of his friend. He froze, mid-stride, and when his gray body tipped over a moment later his arm broke off. I was surprised to see that Edwyn was nearly laughing at this. "I was just thinking," he said, "I'll bet roosters who spend their whole lives cooped up by farmers dream about this sort of thing."
"Maybe. Get Chuk out here."
The three remaining warriors found themselves cornered against a wall of boulders, and the Cockatrice was upon them. There they made a stand.
"C'mon, Chuk," Edwyn hastily opened up the weasels bag "It's time."
Chuck hopped out onto the rock and immediately fixated on the Cockatrice. "That is Him? Er, I mean, of course it is. I-I did not know He was that big."
One of the warriors was caught by the creatures talons, and gutted. His entrails spilled out and he became a gruesome statue. There was nothing I could have done for these men, but they chose their fate.
"Al and I will distract Him, you try and get behind him."
The forth armor clad warrior made a mighty slash at the beasts leg with his sword, which bounced off of the scales with a notch taken out of it. The Cockatrice wheeled around to face his opponent and as he did so his sinewy tail found the fifth warrior and slapped him, throwing him backward into a boulder.
Edwyn strapped the small pouch of rue around the weasels back. "There, are you ready?"
The weasels beady eyes took on the glint of a heroes as he crouched there on the rock, a look of courage. That is, fear treated with determination. "Yes. Lets go," he said.
The last warrior that remained standing raised his sword for a final blow. He never made it. The fierce desperation in his face, his flesh, his armor and even his sword all hardened into stone under His gaze.
"Do not look in His eyes, what ever you do. And do not let Him touch you," I said to Edwyn. He nodded and dashed out into the open, heading toward the Cockatrices' front side. Chuk jumped off the rock and ran for His tail. Edwyn waved his arms and yelled at the beast, who noticed him and turned to await this new and feeble assault. I suppose He was at first mildly annoyed, thinking He had squashed all the invading bugs. Then He saw Chuk, scurrying around behind Him, and immediately His mood changed. His feathers fluffed out and He screamed with the supreme annoyance and fear of one who has for the first time perceived a real threat to His power. It was the reaction one might expect to see from an elephant encountering a mouse, if one believed in such silly myths.
He ignored Edwyn and turned His attention to the weasel, who was drawing dangerously close. He slashed at Chuk with his talons, but the weasel grabbed onto His claw, and before He knew it Chuk was winding his way up the monsters leg. The Cockatrice clawed furiously at the ground and stamped His feet. Chuk grabbed a hold of a feather, but it came loose and he fell to the ground. Edwyn hacked uselessly at His tail; He either didn't feel it or didn't care. He lunged, snapping at the weasel, but Chuk dodged the attack and grabbed onto His beak, and was soon on the Cockatrice's head. The Cockatrice threw His head back, catapulting Chuk into the air. Chuk landed on His back and the Cockatrice went mad. He screamed and flailed and stomped around, trying to shake him off as a dog shakes off water. Edwyn ran for cover, and was fortunate to have made it. Chuk held on tenaciously, but slipped down to His tail and was flung off. He hit the rocks and tumbled for a few feet. He looked hurt, or dead. The pouch of rue landed several feet away from him.
I slipped a cumbersome shield out of my pack. The Cockatrice was going for Edwyn, but I stood up and as he turned he saw me. Perhaps I looked to confident. He stopped, and began to walk towards me. I stood my ground and watched Him, carefully avoiding His eyes. Edwyn was sneaking around behind, edging toward the fallen weasel. He screeched at me, to see if I would run. I did not. He stopped for a moment, wondering if I had some hidden weapon, some a reason not to be afraid of Him. When he decided to go ahead and charge, Chuk was up again and running. With a few more long strides, the Cockatrice closed the distance between us. I dove out of His way, and dodged Him, narrowly. He stopped and loomed over me, waiting for me to get up and look him in the eye and stop breathing. Naturally I took my time. Chuk ran lightly up His tail, this time unnoticed, or ignored, as he neared a certain location on His neck. I rose up and as I did he lowered his head to meet my gaze. I held up the mirror shield. Chuk bit down.
I must have failed for an instant to properly shield my eyes, for a corner of my eye met a corner of his. Then, in that instant, the rest of my gaze was drawn into his and I looked straight into his gaping, stone-gray eye. I saw myself in his eye, and not just a reflection, as one would see in a mirror, but as one might see on the surface of an unfathomably deep pool of water. And it was not a reflection, but the whole of my being; as others see me as well as how only I can; my thoughts, memories and soul � my whole self. I felt myself taken up the eye, drawn into it, as though I were being stolen away from my self, and I could not stop it, nor could I look away. The great black pupil of his eye became an abyss, the center of a whirlpool, and I was drawn over the precipice, falling into it, or being pulled. But in that same instant the eye changed. It went from stone-gray to gray stone. The waters were shut off.
