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The Elemental Portals

Book II – Medioterrae

Chapter XII – In the Dragon’s Lair

The group continued north, following the directions Junafir received through the star sapphire on her mother’s cleaver, but it felt more like several small groups that just happened to be heading in the same direction.

The groups were split roughly along species lines, and those were most evident when they stopped for the noonday meal.

Annie and James sat together, with Nahal sitting on the other side of him whenever that space was free, which it generally was. The Terrans, Paul, Junafir, Gael Chris and Coyotka always sat on the opposite side of the fire from the Humans. Yup and Magnus tended to sit together between the two groups but with Yup closer to the other humanoids while the deer-man Magnus stayed closer to the Terrans. Darryl, who did not feel welcome in either group, usually sat awkwardly alone across from Yup and Magnus.

Coyotka felt fortunate to be able to sit close to the fox assassin Chris, even though they were not comfortable making any public displays of their affection for one another just yet. She was content with the occasional brush of a thigh or a touch of a hand when passing food to him. She could not help but feel that the former couples were not happy with their new arrangements.

Trained in observation, she quickly noted the way that Gael threw hopeful glances Annie’s way and how James peered at Junafir from under his bushy red eyebrows. And although the females pretended to ignore their former lovers Coyotka knew that doing so was painful by the lines around their eyes. She pointed it out to Chris, who had also been trained to detect threats in facial expressions. He agreed with her that there was still a lot of emotional baggage there.

“Different from that between James and Nahal.” He commented.

“How so?”

“It is always her coming to him, never him seeking her out. Always her leading him off for another noisy encounter in the woods. She’s possessive, and I don’t think he feels for her the way he feels, or felt, for Junafir.”

Chris’s assessment was correct. When James thought about Nahal it was mostly guilt that he felt. Their initial encounter had come as a surprise to him, and while it had relieved his pent-up anger and frustration he had felt bad for what felt like cheating on Junafir. He had not sought Nahal out the next day, but she had managed to get him alone nonetheless.

“Don’t feel bad about what we did.” She said as she pressed up against him. “After all, she broke up with you.”

He did not want Nahal, not then and not since, but she seemed to think he did. Moreover, she seemed to want and need him. Did I lead her on, he wondered? He wanted to ask her, wanted to tell her how he really felt, but every time they were alone she started rubbing him and kissing him and before he could get his thoughts straight they were making love again. For someone who recently said that they were swearing off sex she seemed to want a lot of it, the rougher and louder the better. James was embarrassed each time they came back to camp to Junafir’s glares and the others’ stares.

For her part, Junafir longed for things to go back they way they were between her and James. Days spent in emotional isolation had left her feeling lonely and longing for his touch, but the cries of ecstasy coming from the woods each night convinced her that he had already moved on, just as Nahal said he would. The little human girl had not mentioned that it would be her that James would be moving on with and claimed that it had all happened quite suddenly.

“That first night he came onto me so quickly, so forcefully … why, we were doing it before I realized what was going on. But he needed me so much, I could not resist. I think that being with me … like that … is all that is holding him together now, so I will keep seeing him, but I understand if you never want to speak to me again.”

Junafir had not ever wanted to speak with Nahal again, not then, but she had not come to realize how much she had come to depend on the little human’s companionship since the spider eggs were purged from her. But now she could not bring herself to approach the girl, or James, or Annie for that matter, and she felt too embarrassed to speak to her fellow villagers about it. She ended up hanging out with Magnus, when the stag was not with the strange little dwarf, as he was the least threatening of the remaining choices.

Magnus had been clear on his desires for life. He just wanted to entertain people and, one day, settle down with nice doe and raise a family. Even though he was half-human he had no desire for a furless mate and even non-deer did not interest him. He was definitely the nicest fellow Junafir had ever met, and the first that she had met who seemed to really mean it when he said that was happy to remain a virgin until he met the right girl.

Paul had forbidden Magnus from playing his magic lute this far north as the sound and the glow from the magic might attract undue attention, so Magnus amused her by showing her some of his trinkets, which he kept wrapped in one of his mother’s old scarves. He had a small flag with the emblem of Lyonesse from a trip down south and a carved cup holder from the village they found him in. He had twelve-sided dice from another village he had played in, a carved beetle from a third, and baby shoes form a fourth.

“Each of these things reminds me of the towns and villages I’ve visited and what happened there.” He told Junafir. He remembered where and when he got each and recounted the stories behind them to her as they walked north.

“Where is this one from?” Junafir asked, picking something that looked like a gold nugget with porcelain legs from the scarf.

Magnus took it back carefully. “That is a tooth of my father’s. He had the gold crown put on when he was young, but the tooth fell out while he was getting ready for his expedition to the north. The Tooth Surgeon made a bridge between the remaining teeth and my father gave this to my mother as a keepsake. The gold was in his mouth long enough to be imprinted with his spirit and I’ve enchanted it to vibrate should it get close to that spirit again. I carry it in hope of finding a clue to his whereabouts one day.”

Magnus put the tooth back in the scarf, folded it and placed it inside his tunic close to his heart.

Junafir took his hand. “I hope you find him, Magnus.”

The stag lowered his horns and muttered, “Thank you.”

Nahal caught the exchange and nudged James in time for him to see the deer-man with his head bowed while Junafir held his hand.

“Looks like she has found a new friend.” Nahal said suggestively.

James frowned and looked away.

Chris had been closer and overheard the conversation between Junafir and Magnus and knew that it was innocent. He also heard what Nahal said about them behind him and he turned to look at her with a slight frown. Coyotka noticed the look and asked him why he did not like the girl Darryl had brought into their group.

“I don’t know. It’s partially because of the way she dumped Darryl, and partially because of the way she threw herself at James.” He shook his head. “I know that I shouldn’t be so quick to judge people, and maybe its that I just have a suspicious nature, most assassins do, but there is just something about her, something ... familiar. I wish there was a way to verify her story, but none of the Medioterraens among us have ever been to the Southern Hemisphere.”

Coyotka pinched his arm and smiled. “You underestimate the value of a classical education. Give me a couple of days.”

Chris continued to keep a close eye on the girl. Two days later they reached the base of a lone, snow-capped mountain that Junafir identified as the home of Aldreda. As they set up their final camp before the assault on her lair Coyotka took him aside.

“It seems that the sand worms have been more active of late, which is why Nahal left the south. But the good news is that the spice beer industry is still strong.”

“What the hell does that all mean?”

“It means that Nahal is lying to us. Not only does she have no knowledge of the traditions and languages of Southern Medioterrae, she pretended to know about things which were entirely fictional, like sand worms and spice beer.”

“You made those up?”

“I ‘borrowed’ them from a series of fictional novels from Earth. Remind me to get you a copy of the first book, it’s the best.”

“So why is she here?”

“I don’t know. Her meeting with Darryl seems to be wholly by chance, but who knows?”

“We don’t have much worth stealing but if she was a thief she would have grabbed what she could and run off before we entered dragon territory.”

Coyotka fiddled with her glasses. “Maybe Morholt sent her to spy on us? He has a thing for female warriors.”

Chris wasn’t convinced. “Whatever Paul has in mind, I plan to stay close behind her.”

“And I’ll cover you with the crossbow.”

“Deal.” They bumped fists the way they had seen James and Annie do it before turning back to the camp.

Magnus was passing around some cold food left over from lunch; there would be no more fires until their mission was over, one way or another. Chris and Coyotka took a portion of salt pork each and scarfed it down as Paul was about to begin laying out his plan.

“Thanks to her gem’s powers Junafir has given us the rough location of the entrance to Aldreda’s lair. It is straight up rom here, above the tree line but below the snow cap. Darryl tells me that a dragon as large as her doesn’t need much in the way of security; their reputations are enough to keep smaller dragons from raiding their hordes.”

“But wasn’t she spending a lot of time away in Lyonesse?” James asked. “She was kind of living a double life as Ladread. She fooled a lot of people.”

Paul’s lip curled dangerously. “What do you mean?”

“Just sayin’, is all.”

“As I was ABOUT to say, my plan covers the possibility that she may have allies in the area. James and Gael, your gems have the best chance of damaging her while negating her most formidable weapon, fire. James, if you can use your fire shield to absorb her flame until she’s exhausted while Gael strikes her with lightening bolts we can drive her back and put her on the defensive. I’ll provide protection from any stray flames by drawing any moisture from the air and streaming it over you two. Yup and Magnus will be with me to deal the killing blow when it’s safe to close in.”

“It’s going to be very dry at that altitude.” Gael pointed out.

“Not if you draw a mist down from the snow cap. It can aide our approach at the same time.”

“As well as freeze our fingers and the mechanism on my blunderbuss.” Yup injected. “I didn’t dress or design my weapon for an arctic expedition.”

Paul’s nostrils flared. “I would have thought that the conditions would have been obvious given our destination.”

Yup stood for a rebuttal, but Magnus held him back. “I think what he means to say is that you could have gone over these points earlier, given us more time to prepare.”

Paul’s eyes darted around the group landing most often on Darryl and Nahal. The meaning did not escape the young dragon.

“Oh, I see. You didn’t trust us enough to include us in your planning.” He crossed his arms and turned halfway away from Paul. “Typical mammalian behaviour.”

“Now just a second ...”

“Will you all just SHUT UP!”

A silence fell over the group as they stared in astonishment at Annie, who had shouted loudly enough to knock a couple of them back on their heels.

“Listen, for a second, and give Paul a break. He’s an experienced soldier, but he was, what do you call it? A non-commissioned officer, not a commander. He’s doing the best he can.”

“I was a Sergeant-Major, actually.” Paul injected.

Annie tuned on him. “And you need to acknowledge your limitations. You’ve never experienced anything like this, have you?”

“Uh, no.”

“So, lets talk. Gael, do you see any problem with Paul’s plan?”

“No, not really. James and I are probably the best fighters, and we have the most powerful weapons, but nothing guaranteed to take out a dragon.”

Annie swung to face Magnus. “But you think the blunderbuss can?”

“Sure.” He shrugged. “With the proper restraints it will give you exactly what you need, and if that means blasting a hole the size of a tavern door through dragon scales that is what you will get.”

“So the problem rests on getting both Yup and Magnus up close to the dragon without them killed in the process.” Annie concluded. “How do you accomplish that, Paul?”

“With the rest of you on the flanks to drive her back if she tries to get around us.” Paul said.

“What’s your contingency plan?” Coyotka asked.

Paul looked a little exasperated. “What do you mean?”

“A famous general once said that you have to plan for every contingency.”

“We don’t have time for that.”

“Well, there was another general that said that a good plan executed today with speed and violence was better than a perfect plan executed next week, so maybe we’ll be okay.”

“Which was more successful general?”

Coyotka blinked. “I don’t know. One was fired for wanting to drop a big bomb on the enemy to stop them and the other died in a freak car accident. It’s subjective, I suppose.”

“The point is,” Annie interrupted, “Paul has a plan and unless anyone has any better ideas I say we go with it.”

Chris raised a hand, and when everyone stopped talking and looked his way he spoke. “Actually, some of us are not trained or suited to be in the front lines of a fight like this. I was trained to strike from the dark, not for classical combat, and Coyotka ... well she would be more of a danger than a help in a close battle.”

Paul frowned. He had never liked assassins, and while he had been willing to accept Chris what the fox was saying now bordered on cowardice. “What are you suggesting?”

“I think that it might be better if some of us hung back as a kind of reserve, a last resort, so to speak.”

“Close to the entrance where you can make a run for it?” Darryl mumbled almost under his breath.

Chris did not change expression, although he had obviously heard.

“Alright.” Paul waved his hand in frustration. You and Coyotka can hang back, as can Junafir and Nahal as their weapons have no powers we can use there.” he looked around. “Anything else?”

Silence prevailed.

“Alright then. Keep a keen eye out while on watch tonight but otherwise get a good rest. We’ll all need to be at our best tomorrow.”

It was colder up on the side of the mountain and the wind coming down off the snow cap made it worse. Everybody woke up grumpy and a quick cold breakfast did nothing to cheer them up.

Before they moved off Paul gathered them together one last time.

“Look guys, I know that things have not worked out as we all hoped, but we are very close and almost done. We promised Darryl to help free his, what was it called? A Parasprite? Anyway, it’s a promise I intend to keep, just like I intend to keep my promise to see Annie on the road home. Doing either requires facing Aldreda and recovering that spear Morholt wants. Anyone that doesn’t want to join me should speak up now.”

The collie looked to Yup and Magnus. They met his eyes but did not vocalize any objection to moving forward with the plan. Paul shifted his gaze to Darryl and Nahal.

“I cannot abandon you when you’re on a quest to aid me.” Darryl said. “That would be dishonourable.”

“I’ll come, although I will not be much use in this fight.” Nahal assured the canine. “I do have some medical knowledge though, so maybe I can help anyone who gets wounded.”

Junafir looked concerned, and glanced at James, who with Gael would be in the forefront of the attack. “What are the chances of being badly hurt ... or killed?”

Darryl shrugged. “Against a fully grown dragon? Better than coming out unscathed. What? Don’t look at me like that; it’s true.”

“I’m afraid that he is correct.” Coyotka injected in the young dragon’s defence. “From our short stay at Morholt’s castle I learned of at least six expeditions after this holy spearhead that never came back.”

“Like my father’s?” magnus asked.

“Make that seven.”

“Alright.” Paul said loudly. “If we are all agreed to go then let’s go. Junafir and Darryl in front with me until we reach the opening to the lair. After that we’ll take up the attack formation we discussed last night.”

They shuffled into position. Annie slid up beside Gael. “Don’t go being a hero big fellah.” She said, punching his arm.

“Does that mean I’m forgiven?”

“Do you know what you need to be forgiven for?”

“Not exactly.”

“We’ll talk about it tonight.”

“If we both make it through this.”

“Don’t start that kind of talk now or I’ll have you up in front of the boss for anti-morale building or something.”

“Aye-aye Chief.”

They climbed the side of the mountain quickly, using the game trails and the overgrown moraines. Once clear of the tree line they were able to head straight to the platform of rock where Junafir’s gem said the entrance would be.

It was a broad slab with a view of the surrounding countryside, suitable for someone Aldreda’s size to sun themselves while keeping an eye out for challengers.

“Looks like she liked to snack here too.” Annie commented as she kicked at a pile of gnawed bones.

Coyotka bent to examine them. “Consume by a carnivore for sure, but one with smaller teeth than a dragon.”

“Left behind by her last brood of little dragons, maybe?” Yup suggested.

Coyotka frowned in thought. “Possibly.”

“Keep the arguing down.” Paul advised in a rash whisper. “Do I need to remind you that there is a forty-foot dragon at the other end of that tunnel?” He pointed to the cave entrance, which was tall and wide, a necessity for a full-grown dragon, Darryl had assured them back in the camp.

“Adult dragons don’t like to squeeze through narrow passages. If a path is too tight they will just make it bigger. We’ll be able to go three-abreast and still have room to swing a spear between us, and the ceiling will be just as high.”

“What will the main chamber be like?” Paul had asked.

“Spacious, with room for a sizeable bed of gold and gems and room to spread one’s wings.”

Yup licked his moustache. “How much gold?”

Paul had overridden the question with another one of his own. “Will she have room to fly? To maneuver around us?”

“Unlikely.” Darryl had replied. “Dragons fight outside in the open air. If she gets past us though we’ll be trapped inside with no food or water. All she will have to do is send the occasional fireball down the tunnel to keep us back.”

Paul faced the rest then. “You heard him. No matter what, she can’t get out. Those of you that want to hang back can set up a last-stand at the end of the tunnel.”

Here at the entrance a sudden sense of serious urgency fell over them. Without further words they fell into the formation they had agreed on and moved into the dark shaft.

After fifty paces Paul stopped them with a gesture so that their eyes could adjust to the dark, but it was not as dark as he had expected. There was aglow coming from the middle of the formation. He moved toward it.

“What is that light” He whispered.

Junafir lifted her hand to expose the star sapphire on the handle. “It just started doing this when it got dark, and the farther we go the brighter it gets. It never did it before.”

Magnus moved in beside them. “Of course! Starlight power! When I enchanted her cleaver it must have become activated, but there was no need for it until now. Junafir, if you concentrate, it will light up a cathedral.”

“Don’t!” Paul warned. “Not now. We want to surprise her. Once we get inside the main chamber you can light it up, alright?”

“I’ll stay by Magnus so he can guide me.”

“Good. Meanwhile stick one of your thick leather gloves over it.”

Junafir did as she was told and they started moving forward again. It was not long before Paul stopped them again, sniffing the air with his long nose. He had detected the strong odour of charred rock and sulphur, as expected, and even that of fresh meat and dried blood. But there was something else underneath all those.

Coyotka could smell it too. “What do you think it is?” She whispered as she slid up behind him.

“Something canine.”

She knew that his nose was sharper than hers. “Canine like you or canine like me?”

“Canine like both of us, but not like us at all either. It smells ... wild.”

“Do you think they can smell us?”

She was answered with a deep-throated growl from further down the shaft. It was joined by several others.

“Oh shit. Junafir! Light!”

Junafir pulled the glove off the handle and held the cleaver blade down above their heads. The glow did not reach very far but with a few words and a touch from Magnus’ ring she willed it to flare up. Now they could see everything in the tunnel for a hundred paces in either direction, anything not hidden by the long shadows of the occasional rock outcropping.

The six wolves standing about fifty paces away were not trying to hide. They were trying to see the prey they had sensed before they were blinded by the unexpected light.

“Wolves! What are wolves doing in a dragon cave.”

Darryl clicked his claws together nervously. “There might be one detail about dragons that I have neglected to mention.”

Paul and the rest whirled on him. His iridescent scales were positively glowing in the light from Junafir’s gem and his embarrassed expression was easy to read.

“Well, you see, wolves and dragons are not exactly competitors. There are always a few of the furry beasts hanging about after a kill, hoping for some leftovers. Young adults spend a lot of time away from their caves hunting and collecting treasure and it’s easy enough to get a pack to move in by leaving an extra carcass out for them. They help to protect the horde from common thieves while the owner is away.”

“Nice of you to mention it.” James scowled.

“I’m sorry! Dragons her size don’t need the smelly beasts around. I expected her to have chased them off or eaten them by now, although I suppose with her living most of the time as Ladread in Lyonesse she might have wanted to keep hers.”

“They eat wolves?” Coyotka was obviously shocked. “Coyotes and foxes too, I suppose?”

“The- these are feral wolves.” Darryl stammered. “They’re not intelligent like you and Chris.”

“They are intelligent enough to have figured out how to use the shadows to sneak up on us while we argued.” Gael informed the rest as he raised his sword. “Look out!”

The lead wolf, which was almost as tall as Paul but much heavier, leapt out from the shadows, only to be cut in two by a blow from Gael’s heavy blade. Alerted, the group moved instinctively into a semi-circle as the next wolves attacked, bringing all their weapons to bear on the wolves in the killing zone. Three more wolves died without anyone getting as much as a scratch, but their luck was running out.

“Mwaa-ha-ha-ha-ha!” A deep booming laughter that sounded somewhat familiar came down the shaft. “Some thieves come to steal old Aldreda’s gold, eh? Come on then, if you can get past my pets.”

More wolves were coming down the tunnel. Sensing danger they were keeping to the edges where the shadows were thickest.

Paul turned to the rest. “She thinks we’re dead and that it just another gang of thieves after her treasure. We need to get in there and attack before she realizes what she’s up against. James and Gael, straight up the middle with me. Junafir stay behind with the light to guide the others; I suspect it will be lefty bright enough in the main chamber soon enough. The rest gather around Junafir and deal with these wolves. Join us as soon as you can.”

With that he turned and ran off with James and Gael close behind, all with their swords at the ready.

Wolves snapped at them from both sides but the spirit of battle had already descended on them, slowing time and making them react automatically to the most imminent threats first. Blades flashed, wolves howled and, in what seemed like an instant and an eternity at the same time, they were past the cave’s guardians and into the main chamber.

Hearing the wolves engaged with the rest of their band behind them they skidded to a halt, partially to assess the situation, and partially from amazement.

The cave was vast, with the sides lost in darkness as the light of the star sapphire was just a narrow beam still, but it was bright enough to illuminate an immense pile of gold and silver articles in the middle of the chamber. Their shadows danced across it as the light picked out a goblet her, a shield there, a pile of coins and a string of pearls the size of quail eggs. There were gilt mirrors, gold embroidery, silver candlesticks and ebony walking sticks with onyx caps. There were diamond necklaces, emerald broaches, ruby pendants and scores of loose sapphires.

And on top of it all, curled up with her back to them, was the great black dragon Aldreda.

The light caught her scales, each the size of a shovel, as she began to move. The sinuous movement hypnotized them, freezing them in place as she stretched out her long, fluted tail and extended her equally long neck, exposing a set of slightly curved dorsal spikes in the process. With her back to them in an insulting display of her distain for the intruders she raised her tail and crouched to crack her spine, exposing her cloacal slit, the vagina-like split across what would otherwise have been several broad belly scales.

“Maker!” Paul sputtered at the sight. “You could fit all of me inside that.”

At the sound of his familiar voice Aldreda’s head came around as fast as a striking snake. Her slotted eyes went wide when she saw that it was indeed him, along with two others she had left for dead. The diminishing sounds of dying wolves told her that at least some of the others had survived as well.

“You mammals are more durable than I thought.” She snarled. “I thought that you were all dead for sure back in the forest.”

Paul recognized the voice of Ladread, albeit delivered in a much deeper tone. Hs anger flared at the reminder of her betrayal. He gripped the hilt of the katana Gael had forged for him firmly and slid his pinkie over the blue sapphire on the hilt.

“Now it’s your time to die, Ladread.”

He began to summon water down from the mist Gael had conjured outside but before he could she opened her mouth wide and belched a ball of fire large enough to consume all three of them. Fortunately, James anticipated the move and had already stepped forward with his father’s sword held in front of him. When the fireball was still three paces away it spread, outlining an invisible dome that shielded the three.

Aldreda responded with a long blast of fire hot enough to melt rock, but the shield only grew stronger the more she poured it on. As soon as she stopped James hunched his shoulders and shouted a word that Magnus had taught him, sending the accumulated fire back at the dragon in one incredible bolt.

Aldreda flinched and turned her head away to protect her vulnerable eyes and nostrils. Gael took the opportunity to leap to one side and send a bolt of lightning from his sword toward her. It struck her shoulder where it sizzled and marred one of her scales, but she was unhurt. She lashed out with her tail against him, knocking him back but suffering a small cut in the process.

Fire and lightning illuminated the chamber as each fought to get the upper hand on the other. James took up most of the defence with Paul supplying streams of water to cool him when he could. The water had no effect on Aldreda, although it did serve to blind her when she tried to strike though the shield of fire. It was the lightning and Gael’s heavy sword that were doing the most damage, but she was shying away from the big horse now and trying to outflank them on Paul’s side.

He showed her how sharp Japanese steel could be and how quick a collie could move to avoid her claws, but he knew that all three of them were tiring while Aldreda showed no sign of slowing down.

Behind them the battle with the wolves had moved to the end of the tunnel, where here was more space to fight freely. The need for light kept Junafir from doing more than slashing defensively and Yup could not use his blunderbuss in such close quarters, but while Coyotka and Magnus fended them off with small crossbows Chris and Nahal were able to wound a number of the wolves with their daggers. A flourish of strikes from the pair finally drove the wolves far enough back for Yup to bring the Blunderbuss to bear.

“Stand Back!” The diminutive humanoid commanded as Magnus placed a fresh rod in the touchhole and began muttering the spells necessary to control the magic. Chis stepped back, but his eyes were on the knives that Nahal was holding. He recognized those knives, and the technique she had used them with.

Before he could finish is thought here was a ‘boom’ and a great cloud of purple smoke. When it cleared half the remaining wolves lay dead and bleeding on the floor of the chamber. Their hides had been blown clean off them and across the room, passing over the heads of James, Gael and Paul to splatter against Aldreda and the wall behind her.

Everyone had stopped fighting in shock at the result of the blunderbuss’ blast. Aldreda peeled the bloody pelt of a wolf off her face, as shocked as the rest. This, she realized, was a weapon that could take even her down, and in the confines of the cave she was an easy target.

She knew that she needed to get out, but the horse with the lightning sword was blocking her on the right, the boy with the fire sword held the middle ground, and now the big human girl had joined the dog on her left. She did not relish the bite of Annie’s spear, even if it wasn’t holy like the one she had stashed on the edge of her trove, and as large as she was there was no way she could eat past without being wounded at least.

Not as large as she was currently, she thought, as she tried to sweep them off their feet with a swipe of her tail. They had come quipped to fight a large dragon and had weapons to counter a dragon’s tools, but she still had a trick or two up her scales.

She saw that the dwarf and stag were set up and ready to fire again. As soon as they called for a clear path she leapt up and twisted away. Still, a forty-foot dragon was too big to miss with an area weapon like the blunderbuss, except when the purple bolt of light issued from it there was no dragon to hit. It struck the back wall of the cave and exploded harmlessly into a shower of violet sparks.

The curtain of sparks illuminated the form of Ladread in her elf-warrior form climbing back up the far side of the pile of treasure. She was armed with a spear of ancient design. The wooden shaft looked old but sturdy. The head had a blade that was shaped like a leaf with a mid-rib on each side for strength. It was made of black iron but nevertheless had an edge that glinted with deadly efficiency. Those closest had no doubt that this was the miraculous spear they had been charged with bringing back to Morholt.

Thinking that they had an opportunity to strike while she was in a weaker form, both James and Gael leapt forward, swords at the ready. They struck from two sides almost simultaneously, swinging in opposite directions so as not to catch the other on the backswing, but the big elf maiden swung the old spear so fast neither could track it. She recovered and took a defensive pose as the larger portions of their blades clattered to the ground.

Gael looked at his sword in astonishment. The portion with the diamond lay on the stone at his feet. The steel had been cut clean through a handspan from the hilt. What he had left was useless for magic or fighting.

James had lost half of his father’s katana, and he lunged at the elf with what was left, willing it burst into white-hot flames as he swung it at her. She curled one corner of her lip in contempt as she flicked the spear in a small circle. Not only was the fire extinguished but the hilt was ripped from James’ grip and the remainder of his sword was flung away.

While the others dealt with the last of the wolves Yup and Magnus moved forward again. Seeing Gael and James unarmed Paul rushed forward to engage the elf while they got ready for a second shot, as did Annie and Junafir.

The three faced off with Ladread in a semicircle. James and Gael retreated behind them to draw their knives as a last line of defence. Having seen what the spear she wielded could do to the best steel they did not engage her directly, but rather danced around her looking for an opening while keeping out of the way of that deadly blade. Ladread on the other hand, tried to force them to give ground so she could get close enough to the dwarf with the magic gun to take it out.

Paul had an idea. He pointed his sword and commanded the moisture from the air in the damp cave into a stream aimed at Ladread’s face. She slashed at it, but the stream continued as soon as the blade passed through it, blinding her and forcing her to duck her head. Both Annie and Junafir leapt in from the sides, then back again as the spear whirled with demonic speed at head-height. Paul saw an opportunity and, keeping low, charged in to strike at her legs.

It was a mistake. What the elf warrior had said about her skill as a fighter earlier in the trip had been true. She anticipated the strike and leapt into the air above Paul’s swinging blade while tilting the angle her spear so that the blade dipped low in front of her. Paul felt an excruciating pain as the tip sliced through the back of his leg below the hock – he had been ham-strung.

The pain was so bad that he could not even crawl away. He just lay on the stone floor of the cave with his arms spread and his face pressed to the stone, waiting for the killing blow.

“Ha!” Ladread exclaimed as she swept the others back before bringing the spear up and around behind her for a downward slash that would likely split Paul in two. But before the spear began to descend there was another loud ‘boom’ and another cloud of purple smoke.

This time, instead of a bolt of energy, something pink and round about the size of a watermelon came out of the cloud. It flew with the speed of a diving falcon directly to the head of the spear held up above Ladread, where it struck, and stuck.

Whatever it was it was heavy, heavy enough to throw her off balance and give Paul a chance to roll out of reach. Angry now, Ladread swung the spear around again at him but the pink blob weighed it down and it struck the edge of the treasure pile behind her. When she recovered and held it up in front of her the blob was encrusted with coins, gems and small items of jewelry, making it even heavier and more unwieldly.

“What evil magic it this?” She screamed as she grabbed at the pick material and tried to pry it off the spear. Now her hand was stuck to it and she had to release the shaft of the spear to help pull it loose. As soon as the butt of the spear touched the ground Annie leveled her own spear, but instead of rushing in she shouted a command. Immediately, Small green shoots shot out of the old wood and dug themselves into the cracks in the floor. In an instant Ladread’s spear was as firmly rooted as a century old oak.

Ladread was beyond angry now. The more she tried to get the sticky pink material off the more it stuck to her. Worse, when she gripped the shaft and tried to pull it free both her hands became stuck. For good measure Annie made more shoots spring out around them, trapping her pink goo covered hands firmly.

Ladread had a string of the pink substance hanging from her nose and she shook her head to free it, but it just swung around and stuck to her cheek. “What is this stuff?” Ladread screamed in frustration.

“It’s, uh, called bubble-gum.” Yup said with some embarrassment.

Magnus’ jaw dropped. “Bubble-gum? Why bubble-gum?”

“I remember wishing that we had something that could neutralize that weapon and I thought of bubble-gum. It is a highly illegal substance in Dwarf villages because it is impossible to get out of your beard, but one that is often smuggled in by beardless youth seeking a quick thrill. I must have still been thinking of it when I pulled the trigger.”

The stag shrugged. “Well, that explains it then.”

While the rest were standing there watching the elf’s comic struggles Paul managed to overcome the pain in his hock long enough to get up on his good leg. Grabbing the haft of Annie’s spear for support he hopped forward and placed the tip of his blade in the soft triangle under Ladread’s chin.

“No time to transform now, Ladread.” He said. “My sword will be coming out the top of your head before the first scale erupts.”

The elf slumped, but straightened up as Paul’s blade cut into her skin.

“So, kill me and be done with it then.”

She closed her eyes and clenched her jaw in anticipation of the collie’s strike, but the blade retreated, slightly, then withdrew.

“What are you doing?” Junafir cried. “Kill her before she transforms and kills us all.”

“Yes.” James agreed, coming up beside the tigress and putting a protective arm around her waist. Junafir leaned back against him, but he did not notice. “She tried to kill us, and what she did to Junafir was worse.”

Paul shook his head and sheathed his sword. “I did not come here to kill a dragon, just to get a spear. If you insist that she die then one of you do it.”

Junafir looked at James. He shrugged. “Killing in battle is one thing, but I’ve never … it just isn’t the same.”

Junafir looked back at the elf as she tested the edge on her cleaver with her thumb. She took a half step forward but stopped, then returned to James.

Annie bit her lip. She looked to Gael.

“I’m with James on this one.” The horse said. “How about Chris? He’s used to this sort of thing.”

Chris’ voice came from near the tunnel entrance, where they had been dispatching wounded wolves. “A bit busy back here.”

Junafir’s face fell. “But we can’t just let her go! As soon as she’s free of that spear she’ll change back into Aldreda and kill us all, just so she can keep her little treasure.”

The elf shook her head. “No. that is not why I tried to kill you.”

Annie looked puzzled. “Then why did you?”

“Because I was charged with protecting the spear, with keeping out of the hands of tyrants, like Morholt.”

“Morholt! You work for Morholt.”

Paul had been studying her face. “No, I don’t think she does.”

Ladread nodded in agreement. “Morholt is from Earth. Dragons fled from there centuries ago because Humans were hunting them down. There was too many of them to resist, and some were armed with magical weapons like this spear; weapons too powerful to overcome. But knowledge of the dragons faded from Earth, and people forgot about some of our powers. Morholt had no idea that I was Aldreda, and by staying close to him I could intercept those he sent to find the spear.”

Magnus stepped forward, his fists clenched. “My father came north on such an expedition. Did you kill him too?”

Ladread’s face was lit by a weary grin. “Actually, no. That was before Morholt’s time. You father and a band of heroes from Earth went in search of the spear and they found it. But knowing of the danger should it fall into the wrong hands they decided to bring it here and hide it. Magnus, I did not take the spear from your father, he gave it to me for safekeeping until he could find someone worthy of wielding it.”

“But … but he never came back.”

“Morholt arrived and took over Lyonesse shortly after your father gave me the spear. The tyrant was searching for it too and had followed the same clues. With him in control of the portal your father was forced to seek out another way to get to earth, where rumours of a worthy king had sprung up.”

“Arthur.” Annie mumbled.

“Yes. Magnus’ father was one of several expeditions in search of holy relics to bolster Arthur’s kingdom.”

The legends sounded familiar to Annie. “Magnus, was your father called Merlin?”

“No, his name was Dewin.”

“Maybe that was only his Medioterrae name. Merlin was also known by his welsh name, Myrddin Wyltt and his Roman name was Emrys. He was King Arthur’s mentor and court magician.”

Ladread barked out a laugh. “That charlatan? He couldn’t conjure an omelet with two eggs and a frying pan. He came here looking for the spear after Morholt took over. Morholt offered him a deal if he found it – hand over the spear and keep your life – and sent him north with a bunch of mercenaries. I rushed ahead to wait for them here. The cut-throats showed up here woefully unprepared, and I made them talk before I … well, never mind, they were bad people and deserved what they got. They told me that Myrddin made them go ahead while he tried to get the dwarves to make him some sort of magic gun … wait a second, is that … ?”

Yup quickly recounted the story of the blunderbuss.

“Ah-ha. The man is a coward and a lecher as well as a charlatan. I suspected as much.”

Darryl stepped forward and touched his forehead in deference to the elf/dragon before. Tapping Paul on the shoulder. “We’re done back there, but there is something you need to see.”

“Can they bring it here? I’m having some mobility issues at the moment.”

“Not it, who.” Darryl turned and motioned those that hung back to keep the wolves off the main party to come forward. The others parted to let them trough.

Chris and Coyotka came up to Paul, with the trussed and gagged Nahal between them.

“What is the meaning of this?” The collie asked, somewhat confused. Then he turned to Ladread. “Is she working for you?”

Ladread shrugged and shook her head. Paul turned to Chris and Coyotka for an explanation.

“Chris was suspicious of her.” Coyotka began.

“Something seemed familiar about her style.” Chris continued.

“So I questioned her about Southern Medioterrae, of which I’m somewhat of a scholar ...”

Paul snarled. “Get on with it.”

“Oh! Well, she knows nothing of the region or it’s customs, so we deduced that she was lying. But we did not know why, so we kept an eye on her.”

“And when we were fighting the wolves she used a technique that I have only seen once before, that of my former colleague, the assassin Sevade. Moreover, she had his knives. I would recognize those anywhere.”

Normally it would be time to question the accused, to get her side of the story, but the look of hate the small human was giving the companions was better than a confession. He motioned for them to remove her gag. A string of foreign words that were probably not complementary followed.

“So.” Paul said when she sputtered to a halt. “You work for Rory Douglas.”

“I work for no one.”

James stepped forward. “But you are here to kill me like he wanted right? Isn’t that why you worked you way between Junafir and me? So you could gain my trust and strike when the time was right?”

“Yes, but not for the reasons you think.”

Chris dug the tip of his dagger into her side. “These fine creatures may not be able to kill in cold blood, but I have no qualms about it. I’d suggest that if you want to live even a little bit longer that you start telling the truth ... the whole truth.”

Nahal slumped between the Terrans. “It matters not now I suppose.” She gave them a brief history of how she come into Rory Douglas’ employ and her plan to use James’ head to exact her revenge.

“Wow.” James exclaimed, wide eyed, when she was done.

Junafir was almost in tears. Even though the little human had stolen her man she had formed a connection with Nahal based on their common experiences. “Is everything you told us a lie?” She asked.

The look of anger faded from Nahal’s face. “Everything I told you is true. All those things I told you about did happen to me.”

“And they made you bitter, angry and uncaring.” Annie guessed.

“I suppose. My people have been mistreated for centuries by every strongman and invader imaginable. Maybe that is why so many become extremists.”

“Maybe if you had hung out with us a little longer you would have seen that there are good, decent people in the connected worlds. Look at James and Junafir ...” She pointed and all heads turned their way. Most smiled when they saw the two lovers holding hands as if nothing had come between them. James blushed when he realized what they were looking at, but he gripped her hand even harder. She squeezed back.

“Junafir has been through some terrible things, but she is going to get through it with our help ... and James’ love. James has lost his father and the family he just found but he has Junafir now, and his new friends.” Annie gestured around them. Then she reached out and took Gael by the hand and pulled him close. “We all do, and no matter what happens to any of us or where we end up, we’ll always be friends, and lovers, and we’ll never forget each other.”

Gael raised their clenched hands and kissed them.

“Oh, by the First Dragon.” Ladread’s voice came from behind them. “You’re going to make me throw up.” The big elf shook her head. “Mammals, far too many hormones, right Darryl?”

The smaller blue dragon shrugged. “No worse than a young male dragon when the scent of maiden strikes his nose.”

“True. We female reptiles are the only sensible ones.”

“You never feel anything for your ... sexual partners?” Paul asked.

“Actually, I did find you kind of cute, and very eager to please. Sorry about the leg, by the way.”

Chris turned Nahal over to Gael then bent down to take a look at Paul’s leg. “What did she do to you?”

“Sliced the hamstring.”

“Damn, that’s a hard one to fix. I can sew it back together but ...”

Paul shrugged. He had seen his share of this kind of injury during his military service. “But I’ll walk with a limp for the rest of my life, and swordplay will be out of the question.”

“Probably.”

“I’ve heard that it’s better if this kind of injury is dealt with promptly. Do you have everything you need to fix it?”

“Yes.” Then Chris stole a quick glance at Nahal. “I could use a second set of hands, and the only other person with any knowledge of Assassin medicine is the girl.”

“Then we had better decide her fate first. Nahal, you have come among us with bad intent, but you have not actually done any lasting harm ... yet. Still, we cannot just free you and be watching over our shoulders constantly. How can we be sure that you won’t try to kill James and take his head if we let you live?”

The grey-eyed girl shook her head. “I do not know. I still want to take my revenge on Rory Douglas, but I see now that my hate for the boy was only to sage my shame in the means I had chosen to do it. But my people have no life pledge like Chris has sworn, so I do not see any way I can convince you to trust me.”

Coyotka cleared her throat. “Uhm, excuse me?”

Paul thought he might regret it, but he nodded for the coyote to go ahead.

“You really come from Afghanistan, on Earth?”

Nahal nodded.

“So you adhere to the principals of Obligations?”

“Yes. That is why I must have revenge on Rory Douglas and his minion, Mister Ross.”

Coyotka turned to the others. “Afghan custom and law are based on concepts that go back thousands of years and which were reinforced by the influx of Muslim beliefs. One of those is the concept of Obligations. Obligations are created when contracts are formed, or when wrongs have been committed by one person against another person. When Rory Douglas injured her and kept her imprisoned as a sex toy he created a debt he owes her, one she is obliged to collect.”

“So, if she owed us a debt would she be obliged to fulfill it?”

Nahal answered. “Yes. And I would be obliged to protect you until my debt was fulfilled. But what could I possibly owe you?”

Heads turned as the companions cast questioning looks backs and forth until James tilted his head to one side.

“Contracts form an obligation?”

“Yes.”

“My father felt the same way. He said that contracts were sacred bonds, whether they were put down in writing or not. It was the kind of thing that the Douglass ... most of the Douglas’s ... built their reputation on.”

“Nahal looked puzzled. “So, you would contract me?”

“No. You would contract us.” James turned to face the others. “We’ve been going about this the wrong way; hiding from Rory Douglas, hiding the spear from Morholt, trying to sneak around them. What I’m thinking is that instead of hiding from them, why not remove the source of our anguish?”

There were nods of agreement and grunts of consent all around. James turned back to Nahal. “I, for one, am willing to enter into a contract with you to kill Rory Douglas, and any others that have mutually wronged us, including any of their agents that stand between us.” He held out his broad hand. “Deal?”

Nahal locked eyes with the red-haired man. “I need my hands freed.”

James nodded to Chris. The grey fox used one of the knives he had taken from the girl to cut her bonds. Before he could pull the knife back she whirled, twisted his wrist and snatched the blade as it fell from his grip. Before anyone could react she grabbed James by the wrist and used the curved blade to make a shallow diagonal cut cross his palm. Then she did the same to her right hand and clamped the two together, allowing the blood to mingle.

“I find your contract acceptable, but I warn you, if you fail to fulfill your end of the bargain I will be obliged to kill you.”

“Jesus Chris!” James said with a hint of amusement and a lot of respect in his voice. “How did you get her restrained in the first place?”

“She had a huge wolf on top of her.”

“Sixty kilos, at least.” Nahal confirmed. Then she looked to the elf warrior who was still stuck to the shaft of the spear they had come to fetch. “What do we do about this one?”

Everyone looked to Paul. Paul looked at the elf.

“I just want the spear, Ladread. I vow that none will ever use it against a dragon ever again.”

“How can you do that?”

“By using it to defeat Morholt and by sending the spear back to Earth, to this Arthur if possible, but to a safe hiding place if not.”

The elf/dragon looked hard at the collie. “Your compassion has earned my respect, Paul Collieman. I will not only surrender the spear to you, I will also help you defeat Morholt.”

“How do we know we can trust her?” Junafir said,

“I don’t have any oaths or pledges or contracts to offer.” Ladread said. “I don’t believe in life pledges, not to creatures that live such a short span as yours, but I swear that I only tried to kill you because I believed that you were going to kill me, and because I was afraid that you lot were capable of it.” She looked down where her hands were trapped below the bubble-gum encased spearhead. “Looks like I was right in that at least. But maybe what James said is right, maybe it is time for us to set aside out past and focus on the real enemy.”

Junafir turned to Darryl.

“How do you hold a dragon to their word?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. No dragon has ever broken their word. But Paul is right, it is time for the killing to stop.”

“With the exception of those you are contracted to help me kill.” Nahal injected.

“And Morholt.” Ladread assured her.

“And any spiders we see.” Junafir added.

“For you, little tiger, I’ll hunt them all down.”

“I haven’t forgiven you.” Junafir told her.

“And I don’t expect you to, but hopefully I can earn your respect.”

Paul looked to Annie. The girl tossed the black hair that covered half her head and raised her spear. The emerald glowed. The greenery around Ladread’s hands retreated, pulling the last of the gum away as they went. Then the roots that had locked the shaft into the rock dropped away. Ladread lifted the spear, held it horizontally across her chest and offered it to Paul.

“I have no idea how you are going to get the ‘bubble-gum’ off of it.”

“Smooth peanut butter.” Annie offered.

“What? Butter made form peanuts?”

“Peanut butter.” Annie repeated. “It’s a North American snack food. The oil in the peanut butter hardens the gum and makes it less sticky. Then you can work it off whatever it is stuck to.”

“How did you know that?” James asked.

“From the time you put gum in my hair in grade three.” She replied, punching him hard on the arm. “It took my mother hours to get it all out.”

“I don’t think we have any Peanut butter.”

“Anything oily will do. Yup, do you still have any of that olive oil you brought for cooking?”

“I have half a skin left.”

“Hand it over.”

Chris and Nahal took Paul aside to look at his wound while Annie rubbed the gum on the elf’s hands with oil until the pink goo was a brittle shell. Then she stood back and studied the gum.

“I guess we’ll have to peel it off a bit at a time.” She said.

Ladread winked. “I have a quicker way.”

Without warning her skin turned black and scaly and her hands began to expand. James jumped forward with Paul’s sword, but by the time he raised it Ladread had reversed he transformation and was back in her elf skin. She smiled down at her hands, where the dried gum, its grip broken, just fell away.

James cursed. “I could have killed you!”

“No.” Ladread laughed. “Paul could have killed me, but you are just a little too slow. You’ll have to work on that.”

James laid the edge of Paul’s sword against her neck and looked past her to where Paul was laying on his stomach with his teeth clenched as Chris poked around the slash across his hock.

“What guarantee do we have that she won’t turn back into a dragon and kill us all the first chance she gets?”

Ladread jerked her head, carefully considering where the blade was, toward where Annie had just freed the Roman spear from the stone.

“Guarantees? You have the holy spear, the one weapon guaranteed to take out a dragon. And if that doesn’t make you feel safe enough,” she winked, “you could have your coyote friend tie me up. I hear that she’s pretty good at it.”

Coyotka hid her face. Nahal looked at Chris.

“I did not know that a fox could blush.”

“Just keep the wound open while I try to hook the other end of this tendon.”

“Ha!”

Annie was still studying the spear. “How are we supposed to get this huge wad of gum off? There’s not enough oil to dry it all out.”

Ladread shrugged. “I could turn into Aldreda and burn it off, but apparently that might upset people. I guess fire-boy here will have to burn it off with his magic sword.”

James passed Paul’s sword to Gael, bent and picked up the two halves of his from the floor.

“Sorry about that.” Ladread said with only a hint of a smile. “The holy spear cuts through anything, you see. But your ruby should still work.”

James had Annie wedge the spear upright in a crack in the rock and then he pointed his foreshortened sword at it. He put all his pent-up anger at the elf/dragon into his command and unleashed a bolt of fire to hot to look at. It engulfed the big ball of gum and went on to burn a hole deep enough to lay down in in the rock wall beyond it. When it dissipated there was not a trace of gum left on the spear or it’s wooden shaft. There was not even a trace of ash.

Ladread blinked. “Okay, as a fellow fire shooter I’m officially impressed.”

Gael picked up the old spear. “How come the wood didn’t burn?”

“Holy rubs off. The shaft has been attached to the spearhead for a thousand years. Maybe it even got a dose of whatever it was that came out of that guy they stabbed with it. I suspect anything it touched would take on special properties.”

Gael looked to where his heavy sword was laying in two pieces. “How do you destroy a holy weapon?”

“With A holier one.”

“Great.”

Annie stood beside Gael and followed his eyes to the broken sword.

“Maybe you can find a forge somewhere on the trip back and fix it.”

Gael shook his head. “The places we passed were only suitable for repairing plows and forging horseshoes.”

“What do you need?” Ladread, who had been listening in, asked.

“A hammer, tongs, anvil and a fire hot enough to melt steel.”

“I probably have the tools in my pile, I recall raiding a blacksmith in Lyonesse back when I was young and wild.”

“I thought dragons only horded precious metals and gems?”

“Good steal is pretty rare around here. It was near the end of my adolescence, and I hadn’t acquired much in the way of a hoard yet.”

“And you still have them?”

“They don’t call it a hoard for nothing.”

“Dragons never throw anything out.” Darryl injected. “Never ever.”

“What about the fire?”

Ladread turned and cast a glance at James, but James shook his head. “I can’t control it that well I’d be afraid of turning Gael into ashes.”

“I can turn back into a dragon; my fire is hot enough, but I can’t focus it small enough either.”

“No sense trying then.” Gael muttered.

“Good,” Junafir said from where she was using the light from her gem to illuminate the operation Chris was performing, “because I’m not really comfortable with her turning back into a dragon just yet.”

Magnus stepped forward. “May I make a suggestion?” Hearing no objection he continued. “You could use the diamond to heat up the metal. The point on the bottom where the facets join will focus the energy in the lightning to a fine beam. I can help you control it.”

Gael was sceptical. “Welding with lightning? That’s the stuff of legends.”

“We do it on earth all the time.” James offered. “It’s called arc welding. Works like a charm.”

Chris continued to operate on Paul’s leg while Magus coached Gael and Ladread searched her pile of treasure. She came back with tongs, clamps, a small anvil and several old pieces of expensive armour for Gael to practice on. After the horse had cut and reattached several pieces James brought him the two halves of his sword.

“Will it work?”

Gael shrugged. “Good enough for now. It will leave a line, but it will be as strong as before. I can work on the cosmetic aspect later.”

The short white arc of magic lightning was bright enough to light up the main room of the cave. While Gael worked and Chris sewed up the wound the rest busied themselves by cleaning up what remained of the wolves and preparing a camp in the cave. By the time both swords were repaired and Paul had been put into a drugged sleep a stew was bubbling inside a golden helmet over a fire made from rare wooden carvings that Ladread had donated to the cause.

Weary from the fight and the welding Gael joined the rest around the fire. Annie passed him a plate of chopped vegetables served on a silver plater with gold cutlery. He tried them and nodded in appreciation.

“I’m normally a vegetarian, but that stew smells delicious enough to tempt even me. You must have found a new way to cook that little bit of salt pork we had left; you’re certainly all wolfing it down for a change.”

The rest, even Nahal, erupted into laughter.

“Seriously, you guys are not leaving anything for Paul. He is going to wish that he was awake to have some.”

“Maybe.” Chris said, elbowing Coyotka. “It is a ‘dog-eat-dog’ world, after all.”

Coyotka shushed the fox. “I was starving, and you ate sone too.”

Gael was even more confused. “What?”

Junafir wiped a dribble of blood gravy away with the fur on the back of her hand. “Gael, if you knew, you’d be ‘howling’ with laughter too.”

Gael sat straight up, turned to look where the corpses of the wolves had been and saw a large red puddle where the bodies had been.

“Oh .... Oh!” He looked back to Ladread, who was just serving herself a second portion. “But I thought … you said they were ... like ... your pets?”

Ladread put the gold ladle back in the helmet and stabbed a goodly sized piece of meat with a silver fork before raising it to her face.

“What they were,” she said with a grin, “was delicious.”

Paul Collieman © Collifan

Gael Tholkes © MarcusXLight

Junafir Pawstone © Frostlupus

Chris Cinereo © Kyroo Echos

Yup Thatchwatyahurd © Kyroo Echos

Sevade © Frostlupus

Constance “Coyotka” Jotkowska © Coyotek

Darryl D. Dragon © Major Matt Mason

Ladread © White Tiger Hunting

Aldreda © White Tiger Hunting

Magnus © Thwaitesy