Chapter-15: Beneath The Full Moon
The pain of his injuries burned all over, causing Diego to yell and to roll forward with honest force. He launched the moon beast away and gasped for air, wiping blood away from his eyes.
The jaguar slid in a large semicircle path and glared at the warrior. The beast reacted with lightning reflexes, pouncing up high into a smooth parabolic arch back at Diego.
Amazed at the jaguar’s agility, Diego stepped back with a gaping mouth. Another step and he slipped and caught himself with his staff. He braced with both arms and struggled to keep his balance as the beast approached for a landing.
With ferocious strength, the moon jaguar landed and skewered itself onto the osmium staff. The beast recoiled in a loud roar and stumbled and crashed onto its back, clawing up at the sky. The staff penetrated deep, through the jaguar’s left chest muscle, through the ribcage and passed through the left shoulder blade.
In an attempt to stand, the staff pushed the jaguar back down, only enraging the beast greater. At a loss for patience, the jaguar jumped up and plunged the staff deeper. It filled the beast with miserable agony, causing it to let loose loud savage cries. Tears and blood and saliva dripped from the jaguar, thumping onto the stone blocks below.
Waves of heat flickered around the jaguar, rising into the night sky. The beast moved toward Diego, limping in pain. While high above its back, the staff teetered and tottered with each step it took. Still, undeterred, the jaguar launched into the air for another attack.
In quick response, Diego unsheathe his machete and circled to the left flank of the jaguar. The full moon beast landed and missed, creating an opening. He jumped forward with both hands on his machete and landed on the jaguar’s left side. He buried the machete into the base of the jaguar’s throat and gripped on tight. Blood and heat steamed out in fountains, making horizontal arcs as the beast flayed about on its side. Unable to remove the machete, the jaguar flipped back and sent Diego skidding and rolling for forty meters.
Blanketed with pain, Diego crunched and cored himself to a fast-standing position, breaking multiple ribs in the process.
Still on the attack, the jaguar persisted and continued its approach, limping and grunting with each step. Blood pumped out from both wounds of the beast; but that didn’t matter. The eyes of the full moon jaguar glowed with unshakeable determination.
Diego pulled his daggers out and readied for another attack. His heart pounded in his throat as he wiped hot sweat from his eyes. Blood pooled in his mouth as he tongued over a long cut on his inner cheek. He gathered the blood and spat multiple times to his side. All the while, the beast remained in his sight.
A weak skip and the jaguar lunged for his prey again. Diego slid under the animal and caught himself on the jaguar’s upper stomach with his two daggers.
The beast tried to shake Diego off; but the daggers only cut deeper and longer into the jaguar’s stomach, slicing soft under belly. Guts and blood and heat flowed out and tangled around Diego’s forearms.
The moon jaguar yelped and back flipped once more. He tossed Diego forward several meters as it crashed landed on its side, howling and twitching in torment.
Diego stumbled back up and gripped only one dagger in his hand. The other dagger remained jammed in the lower abdomen of the jaguar. Hobbling to the beast, Diego’s right leg crunched with each step, broken in two places. Several more ribs were cracked and his back burned with clawed wetness.
Thank you
I appreciate your time in reading this blog post. Next Monday I will upload the next part of Chapter fifteen, Beneath The Full Moon, from my first novel: Guerrero of Passions.
Total Consciousness 