SFFS 27/2/2016 Sorrel Swordless - part 4

This is my snippet this week for SFFSat. SFFSat is a place where a number of authors post snippets from their written works, and give the opportunity for comments, support and encouragement. Please also explore the other blogs that are part of this group - you can find the information here.

This is part 4 of a complete short story (in snippets) set in Sorrel's world. For those who have already read the Sorrel novels (and if you haven't, you should - they're good books!) this is set after the end of Sorrel in Silver - but you don't need to have read the novels for it to make sense, and it doesn't contain too many spoilers for the main trilogy. Part 3 is here, in case you missed it last week. A giant horror has crept up on our hapless heroine, and she suspects it is going to eat her...

I was wondering what had become of my co-pilot. Kelhene was smart, capable, and could wield a sword if need be. She wasn't as good as me, but she ought to be able to distract the horror for long enough for me to get to the aeroplane and barbecue it.

I wished a certain dragon of my acquaintance was around, but he was busy on the surface with his fellow dragons. 

 

The brute suddenly shrieked, a high-pitched wail that I was pretty sure meant it was angry. If this had been a true ruzdrool I would have said “angrier” - an ordinary ruzdrool is only calm and peaceful when it is either dead or very dead. This definitely didn't fit that category. It lunged, and I flung myself sideways desperately. I began to wonder if it had paused simply out of surprise. Perhaps it had never seen a human before, and needed time to decide if I was good to eat. I was disappointed, though not totally surprised, that it had reached a positive decision on this tricky question.

Three spikes slammed into the ground where I had been standing a moment before. I was already tumbling through the red grass towards the water. I didn't know if super ruzdrools liked water, or if they could swim. I wasn't a great swimmer, but I had no chance of out-running it, so a swimming contest suddenly seemed like a smart option.

As always, comments welcomed!