Marley should have known an animal with that many teeth would have a taste for meat. And that, in most circumstances, proved fine in the wide scheme of things. But the gapping grin that revealing those teeth was anything but friendly and Marley felt quite partial to the meat attached to his old bones. From the creature's back a pair of tattered membranous wings unfurled, and Marley dodged to his left as it feinted forward testing his reflexes. The master runesmith swung his staff with the accuracy of one more use to wielding a hammer than a long stick. The tip of the wood whistle harmlessly passed its head and the creature snarled, saliva dripping from its many-fanged maw. Emboldened by his clumsy strike, it sprang. Heavily hooked talons
