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"I'm not your pet! I'm not your project!" Anar seethed, his cheeks colouring darkly, his fists still clenching.

"No! I'm not trying to make you either of those things. Many, many years ago, I made some serious errors of judgement and I'm trying to make things right, I'm trying to help you!"

A boot crunched closer to The Dragon, "I don't need help!"

"Anarchy, you've spent all of your life knowing that your family once did amazing things, had magical power beyond imagining, are you really going to turn down a future where all of that can happen again?"

"And your errors of judgement? Are they going to happen again? We were stripped of our powers! Nightmares were murdered!"

The Dragon looked subdued, "I can make no promises. But in this dimension, there is no Council Of Sorcerers to answer to, at least. I don't want to tell you too much, too soon. I made that mistake before and I had to... correct it."

"I knew it! You have messed with my head. How can I believe a word of anything you say? The minute I find my way back home, I'm staying there. I'm gone, mate."

"I understand," The Dragon soothed quickly, "I can stand here until the heat death of the universe trying to placate you, but I know in time you will come to understand why you are here, and what you are capable of. Just listen when I tell you that it's in my best interests to help you." He wrung his scaly hands together and nodded his long head slightly.

With a gruff and a snort, Anar turned his back on his scaly boss and stomped over to Rap who immediately picked up on his friend's bad mood and stopped to make time for him.

"Maaaate, what's up?"

"Bloody dragon! It was him who sent us here, you know, going on about making Warlocks great again or some such rubbish!"

"That's nice," said Rap with a smile.

"Is it?"

"Your trouble is, you don't know how to handle people being nice to you."

He exploded this time, "NICE?!"

"Yeah. How many dragons you know of trying to help people? I'll wait."

Anar's hands became very animated, "help? Rap, he does mind control shit with his sunglasses! It's like Men in Black but with more scales!"

Rap looked at the aardvark as though he were a simpleton, "yes, dear, he's a dragon, they do have magical abilities. If you'd have paid more attention in class instead of seeing how many pencils you could fit up a nostril you wouldn't be acting so surprised."

Anar paused a moment, "what...?"

"It was five, by the way. Sixth pencil snapped and you had to go to First Aid."

Distant painful memories flashed before his eyes, "bloody Hell, yeah, I'd forgotten all about that."

"Anyway, what I'm saying, mate, is that dragons can do some seriously wacky shit, can't be trusted as far as you can throw 'em, AND you don't want to get on the wrong side of one," he emphasised. "He seems nice enough, wants to be pals with you and you're just being all sulky and bad-tempered like back Downstairs. It's time to put all that behind you, yeah? Lighten up a bit. You're not a minion anymore, you're General Warlock now with a fancy jacket." He watched his mammalian friend begin to drop his shoulders, and pressed further, "sometimes I envy you, mate, you've got a wicked exciting family history and all these mysteries and I don't have any of that. I don't even remember anything that happened before I wandered through that rogue portal."

Anar's ears shot upright, "what if it wasn't a rogue portal, Rap?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, this character"- he jabbed a thumb at The Dragon, "seems to like playing with portals, doesn't he? What if it was on purpose? What if he led you right to me?'

Rap rubbed his sloping nose, "well then I'd thank him," he said, finally. "I'd thank him for bringing my best mate to me. I'd have nothing without you. I'd have had none of our silly adventures. All those years at Holy College ganging up on Alexis, driving the teachers up the wall, reading up on rules so's we could go and break them all..."

Anar's gaze was far away. "It makes so much sense, though, doesn't it? You turned up out the blue, when I was at my lowest... dinosaurs that could talk. Telling me one moment you were in your world, and the next you were in mine. I just accepted it. If I really questioned it, I'd have chalked it up to my natural magic, but this explains everything. He's used his powers so I understand everyone here regardless of race. Just how I understand you. I mean, dinosaurs don't just wander into twentieth century Britain speaking perfect English."

"See? Nice dragon. So give him a break and let him help you."

"Yeah..."

"Now if you're quite finished having a moment, I'm a bit busy."

Anar snapped back to the present, "yes! Of course! I just - just want two orcs, from both tribes if you will, to come with me to the swamp. We're taking a tank."

Rap's head snapped up, "oooh! Sounds fun! I know just who to give you. Gritz and Kallo. Give me a sec"- he trotted off on his slim, long dinosaur legs that didn't quite fit army fatigues and boots but he'd done his best, and returned with two very nervous looking young orc privates.

They spied their General and promptly straightened their backs and saluted, throwing sideways glances in case they were in trouble and just didn't know it yet.

Giving orders was not something that came naturally to Anar. He'd never had a leader role in his life. He couldn't even count Rap and Rave as underlings as they'd have laughed in his face if he tried to boss them about. It made having them as his registered familiars at Infernal Holy College a right pain in the arse; having to say 'please' and 'thank you' in front of his Hell-bound classmates who were sniggering with glee, because if he didn't he was more than likely going to get things thrown at him. Rave's aim was rubbish, true, but Rap was a crack shot when riled.

"We're taking a tank to the swamp, boys," he said. "Follow me." And they did.

He was actually a little nervous now, but wasn't that always the way? Counting up the things that could go wrong would take him all day, so he didn't try to start. He had a small detour as he picked up The Knapsack (he liked that word), because he had to be prepared for anything, after all, and the orcs were now ready to follow any orders imaginable in return for some Haribo Starmix. Including co-operating with each other, hopefully.

His two Privates were different in subtle ways - skin tone, hair colour and style. Even with The Dragon's translating sorcery there were accents and grunts in their speech patterns that set them apart. As with most of the recruits, Gritz and Kallo had much longer names but were content for them to be shortened which was a blessing, really, as it made for smaller patches on their shirts and readable print on dogtags. In the brainstorming meetings everyone had agreed it was a smart move to have locating chips in the tags, in case anyone ever got lost, taken prisoner, or left behind. Anar hoped he never did lose a man, not least because Rave would never let him hear the end of it if he did. In the very back of his mind, he was a tiny bit disappointed that there was now a zero percent chance that he could accidentally 'lose' the Corporal. Rap had gushed about how he loved being his best friend, but the same could not be said for the grumpy velociraptor who wished death upon him regularly.

The tank was big and green and tank-y. Goodness knew what make and model it was, the decals were faded and peeling. Either way it was old and dirty, and more than likely radioactive. The fresh orcs were putting a brave face on for their senior officer but there was certainly a little reluctance to climb inside.

Once a few things had been demonstrated, some common-sense guidance had been given, and they were rolling merrily towards the portal, however, a sense of eagerness took over and it was like children playing with new toys. They were under strict instructions not to use any of the weapons while inside the compound, not even just to see what they could do, or whether they actually worked, and Anar watched them like a hawk which was really tricky when he had to watch where he was going as well. They squeaked and rumbled along, waved through the main portal gate by The Dragon.

The flash of blue strobed by, and the tank splashed down into the muddy swamp at the other side, tilting and rolling as mud gave way beneath and they powered on, ripping vines and crunching branches as they went. The noise was immense. The tribe of Immanok orcs would hear them coming from miles away.

The kaos Army had arrived!