Chapter 14

“What’s the matter Cordenth? Gryphon catch your tongue? You were ever so talkative to my servant but a few moments ago, bright future this, bright future that. Blah, blah, blah. Oh, how you take after dearest father in that regard.”

His blood turned to ice under the gaze of this towering dragoness. Her stride and tail flicks spoke of confidence and nobility, betraying the predatory look within her pale blue eyes. What words he would have had were caught within his throat, unable to drag themselves out to wield against this most dangerous adversary. He recoiled as she approached with little regard for her safety, even now he could lash out and cause her serious injury with his claws. Did she not consider him a threat?

“I’m nothing like your grandfather.” He spat with a stuttering voice, only just warping it with a snarl. As she searched him with amusement, he lashed his tail for added emphasis, she only warbled coldly into the air, gazing upon him as a parent might a tantrum throwing whelp.

“And how exactly have you come to this conclusion?” She padded around him, letting her paws sink softly into the dirt. “Have you met him? Traded words? Oh, do tell me you’ve connected with him and had a full conversation. Or is this just a jab to the dark that surrounds you, a meager attempt to gather some resistance?” She planted herself down upon her hinds, one eye fixated on him, the other upon the temples raising up from the city. “I’d imagine it’s the later.”

“What is it you want? You’ve shown you’re ready to follow me, speak plainly and waste not my time with talk. If you’ve come to kill me, I’d rather you say so.”

She laughed upon the wind, throwing back her sinuous throat. “Kill you? Kill you? You think that’s why I’ve flown for days upon your tail? Just to pluck that precious life from you?” When she snapped to him there was a predatory smirk, “Please dearest Cordenth, you think so little of me? That I lack a creative bone in my elegant body?”

“Then why have you come?”

“Would you believe to have words?”

“No.” He snapped as her wing extended, making a motion to drag him closer. “You have schemes.”

“Well of course I do. All proper dragons have schemes, I have schemes, your mother has schemes, even that little ape you share a nest with. One wonders what your scheme might be.”

“Scheme? I have not of one.” He swatted away her accusing paw.

She pushed her paws together, her voice sliding into a mocking impression of his. “I have a plan to make a kingdom of our very own, one that will stand for all time. A fantastical dreamland where little mortals and dragons prance around without a care.” Her brow narrowed, voice lowered, “Doesn’t it just make you sick thinking about it?”

“It’s better than filling this world with undead to feast upon the living.”

“Again, you think I’m so simple? The undead have always been a tool to an end, another resource in which I might harvest and cultivate. It allows those fragile and pathetic mortals dearest grandmother used to gush about serve some purpose in death. Honestly, I don’t know what you’re so hurt haunches about it. You’re doing the same with your powers.”

He stopped dead as her chuckle drove a cold sliver through his heart, “I’ve used my powers for the greater good, aiding us in our noble quest.”

“Ah, so bending the minds of those that disagree with you is fine by you? Using force to achieve your ends is swell if only you, do it? Cordenth you might think you’re different than my father, but you’re the spitting image of him. He to wanted to build a kingdom where dragons and humans lived in harmony as well.”

“With them in chains.” He hissed, “I know the stories mother told us when we were small.”

“Not in chains, but their proper station.” Mused the Queen of Eternal flame, rising tall to intimidate the smaller green with her size. She proceeded to follow him as he retreated, never letting him escape more than a few yards away. “You see how little lives they live, fade before achieving anything in their life. They only think of themselves, the short-term gain, never planning. Why should they be in charge? Selfish little beasties that would destroy their own just to get a meager increase in power?” She stopped him dead with a heavy snort, “Father did them a favor by getting control of their lives, little mortals couldn’t be trusted otherwise. Look around you these kingdoms of Sethera, have they done so much better ruling over themselves?”

He bit his tongue, snaking his head away from the looming dragoness. He wished to contradict her, but he couldn’t find the strength, deep down he knew it to be so. “You lie, just like my mother. You only care about what I can do for you.”

“Untrue. I want absolutely nothing from you dear nephew. I merely wished to have a talk with my relative that went out of his way to interrupt my plans. You’re aware you broke the rules?”

“The…rules?”

“Yes, in this little game our family does play.” She slunk closer, leaping to cut off his escape as he tried to retreat. “One that you proceeded to inject yourself into. Were you working for your mother? It would be so classic her to bend the rules in such a manner.” The Queen looked to her wings, flapping them about as though they were speaking, doing an impression of Ossai.

“Technically it doesn’t count, as I had not interfered in your plans.” Wing Ossai said. “Won’t father be pleased.”

She snapped to Cordenth, nearly making him leap, “But I am not amused little whelp. I grow tired of her meddling and special favors, so again, back to our meeting, they find themselves in a dangerous predicament.”

“They?”

There was silence as the dragoness pulled back, striding towards the pool, gazing out to the stars above. “I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s bring it back to your presence within my temple.”

“The one with the druids?” He growled, images of Revaramek flashing before his eyes, “Where you had those siigonis butcher that dragon?”

Dismissal came in a wave of a wing and a heavy huff, “Was he really a dragon? Tending to those litters of siigonis like they were his own children? He was sick in the mind Cordenth, choosing to live his days with them over dragon kind. I gave him a choice to stand with us in our ascension, but no, he lacked vision and passion for what needed to be done.” She shrugged her wings, “Instead of striding on the road, he became the road in which we walk on.”

“And yet you say mortal kind is worse than us? When you disregard draconic life so freely?”

“They could have refused my request, taken a stand with the dragon against me.” She rounded on Cordenth with an evil smile, revealing all her sharpened fangs. “But no, they chose to side with the greater dragon, tossing all their loyalty away in the blink of an eye. Such is the way with mortals, why you should not put your trust in them. The moment a better deal comes along, they do what’s best for them.”

Again, what she said rung true as he recalled his anger within that place. How those ungrateful siigonis should have tossed their lives to save the more valuable one. The one that had seen centuries pass, guided whole territories to prosperity. So what were they fragile, brief lives in the exchange of that? They should have gladly given theirs to preserve one so precious and ancient. As the green dragon sat down in silence, his aunt swooped in to draw close.

“See? You are like my father. Where do you think your powers even come from? They don’t come from you child, but your connection with him. All your good fortune is thanks to him. Who knows, perhaps that’s even why the half-elven queen is called to you, like a siren’s call, wishing to taste a bit of divinity her. I bet that’s what you like in her though, that subservience waiting on your every paw, like a good little dog.”

Like that, what fear had gripped him was yanked back into the ether. Cold that had bound his scales to inaction was lost, burned away by the intensity of his soul. Heat radiated off him with every breath, twisting and winding its way through his veins. With a savage snarl he lashed at a grey snout that drew too close, slicing deep canyons of crimson through her flesh. When she recoiled, he leaped to the air, pounding his wings, this was his chance to escape. If the queen was here, they were not safe, all of them needed to leave. But it was not to be.

Faster than Cordenth could react, a blur of grey and feathers was upon him. There was no semblance of the playful aunt he’d just traded words with, only the crazed look of a beast of legend. When she swatted him, it was with the strength of a giant, even without using her claws. He careened back to the earth with a grunt of pain, slamming to the dirt, his whole world spinning in agony. As he blinked, he saw her land, his vision filled to the brim with stars.

“That was not very nice nephew. After our pleasant chat, you had to ruin it with that.” She lowered her snout, the severed flesh already attaching itself before his eyes. “Pity.”

He tried to stand but she clawed him across the face, painting the ground with a spray of his blood. His response was clumsy and sluggish, dazed from his encounter with the earth. She was faster than him, stronger, as was to be expected of one of her size. He tried to use magic, but she batted his snout before he could utter the words. She swatted and beat him into submission, until he was sprawled beneath her.

“I do believe that means you’ve lost.” She planted a paw firmly on his chest, letting her weight press the air out of his lungs. “Perhaps we could return to our conversation.”

“Conversation?” He spat, tasting his blood on his tongue. “Why does it matter?”

“You’re not the one in control here Cordenth!” She snarled, inches from his face. “You lost any right of your own destiny the moment you interfered in our game. Where we act through pawns and schemes, never taking direct action against one another. So-” She pressed harder against his chest, pain building in his ribs, “Do I need to start popping some ribs before you tell me why you ruined my plans?”

He gasped in pain as she stood resolute, seeming to relish in how he squirmed beneath her. When he tried to lash at her she only increased her weight, his breaths were now ragged things.

“I think you’re done.”

“We didn’t mean to stop you.” He gasped, taking a breath when she yields for just a moment.

“Oh? Now isn’t that interesting. You never here of the heroes stopping you by accident.”

He told her everything about their venture. How they planned to get reinforcements to stop her at Struport, and they’d only gone against her to get the evidence required to bring the siigonis against the undead.

“And that was it? That was your master plan?” She let him go, laughing mockingly to herself as Cordenth coughed and struggled for air. “Where did you think I got the eggs? Did you think I stole them? Whisked myself around like a seasonal critter and hid them? No.” She rounded on Cordenth, snapping her teeth so close that he flinched. She chuckled at that. “They were gifted to me Cordenth, by those very lizards you pleaded to for help. Your plan was doomed from the start.”

“You’re lying.”

“Am I? Am I really?” She gestured with a wing to the perimeter of the garden, where there were scores of siigonis standing dutifully at attention. “There they are, dutiful little servants. Sent word the moment you and your little pets landed within the city.”

Frills pinned as cold slithered into his gut, swirling there to make the dragon sick. “They’re not pets.”

“That’s your rebuttal? Not of my schemes, but my referral to your beloved little pets? I can’t believe what I’m hearing from your maw.”

“She isn’t my pet.” He stated harshly, rolling to his side, and getting back to all fours. “And I won’t let you slander my love for her.”

“Oh…oh my…You’re serious.” Queen of Eternal flame tilted her head, tail swishing in genuine interest. “You actually love her, of all the crazy things I’ve seen in this world. Cordenth, you’re aware that you waste such a thing on her? That you’ll watch her wither and die to the demands of time, while you persist? You’ll experience the pain that dragons should never.”

“I don’t care, nor can I help how I feel. So if you’re just going to stand there insulting her, just kill me now. I won’t ever say otherwise.”

There was silence about Queen of Eternal flame’s maw as she searched the defiant green dragon from paw to wing. She turned away to gaze upon the moon, her voice growing soft. “It’s almost touching, how you speak of her. A flicker of emotion deprived of me. You’re lucky to know such a thing if that’s how strongly you feel. Even to spit that in my snout, no matter what I’d do to you. You know such a thing burns brighter in us, that selfish feeling called love. I believe the world can be destroyed or bent anew under such things.” She sighed wistfully to the twin moons, “Father wasn’t that different. Fancied a human pet once in his life, but it was robbed from him by humans who never understood. They did it to hurt him, drive a wedge into his noble heart.”

“You think you can sway me with a sob story such as this?” He fluffed his wings, “You nearly killed me.”

“But I didn’t, nor do I wish to. Just to let you know. But seeing that look in your eye?” Queen of Eternal flame chuckled softly, her eyes closed. “Its going to make what comes next rather meaningless. But alas, the plan has already been forged, what else can I do?”

“What plan? What is meaningless?” Her silence was far more unnerving than how easily she’d bested him. “Answer me!”

“You destroyed my pawns Cordenth, ripped scores of them apart, painted the stone with their blood. You think such a thing can go unanswered?” She tilted a snout back, voice cold as the wind. “Tonight, out there are three temples, you can see them. Each a sect of siigonis under my order, dragged your companions to their center. There they lay bound, hearts ever aflutter, wondering what ill fate awaited them. Ready to be ended by my command.”

His heart sunk to a new low as dread slithered through his breaths. Lyndis was among them, ready to be sacrificed. “Where is she?” His voice was weak, close to cracking. “Please. I beg of you, don’t kill her.”

“See? You’re not dumb as I thought.” The dragoness flicked a paw to the center most temple, “There she is bound, waiting for her beloved to come rescue her, like one of her fancify stories. Lucky you, you get to be the heroic knight. For the others? I suppose they wished you adored them just as much.”

“It doesn’t have to be this way, give them onto me and we shall not trouble you anymore.”

She padded around him, letting his plea linger upon the wind. Drawing close she shook her head, clicking her tongue. “And how will you learn a lesson like that? No. It’s been done.” She twisted a paw, loosing a bright, brilliant green light to explode across the sky. “There.” She took a deep breath, composing herself. “The order has been given; your beloved’s life can now be counted in minutes.”

“YOU BITCH” He snarled.

“I suggest you hurry.” She strode away with a confident smirk, “I did mean what I say. Take care Cordenth, I wish you luck. Let this be a lesson to stay out of the plans of your elders. Tata.”

There was no deception in her cruel, cold voice. Cordenth unfurled his wings and hurled himself into the sky. What choice did he have? Flowing upwards along the currents, the beating of his membranes against the cool air almost hid the racing of his heart. Her laughter was like a cutting knife against his scales as he shot towards the temple she’d instructed.

“That’s right Cordenth!” The dragoness screeched to the winds, “Save her, fly! Whisk her away and never return to darken my cave! Remember and cherish the mercy I have bestowed upon you this day!”

*

Swifter than his wings had ever carried him, Cordenth pounded against the sky, nothing but a blackened blur to any who might catch sight of him.  Scales that had been known to turn blades ever felt thin, as his heart pounded like a drum in his chest.  He couldn’t stop, couldn’t think, the pain that had plagued him was a forgotten thing. Vigilant eyes scanned over the dreary temple he sought, spying darkened slabs of gold that once marveled his eye, now were sinister promises of what might come.

The guards never saw him coming, how could they? Who would ever suspect of a dragon attack? The only warning he might have given them was the sound of his wings beating on the air, moments before his sharpened claws dug through their scales. With his strength and momentum he hurled them up and over, sending the stunned mortals plunging to their deaths. The lone guard who’d witnessed his cruelty met the kiss of his poisoned breath, collapsing to his knees, choking his last breaths upon this earth.

He swooped through the entryway, shifting his size to allow himself to fit, keeping close to the shadows that gripped the dimly lit passageways. Siigonis were not ones that could see in the dark, their eyes were inferior. He used this to his advantage as he slunk, becoming a demon in the darkness to all he came across. Hardly a shriek was uttered as he set himself upon him, ending their meaningless lives with brutal applications of his breath, fangs and claws. There was no mercy for them as he tossed aside their lifeless corpses time and time again. They’d done this to themselves, placing themselves between a dragon and his prize. How he knew where the sacrificial chambers eluded his weary mind, only that there was a gentle force tugging him through the empty, silent halls, drawing him ever closer to his captured beloved. When he caught her scent, his pace did quicken, so did the ferocity of his brutality.

With magic he ever increased his strength, slamming his shoulder into the final door. It buckled and bent at his powerful might, ceasing the chanting of their gathered cleric’s mid sentence. There was Lyndis in the middle of a swath of red tattooed siigonis, chained to a stone slab, cuts and bruises marring her fair skin. He growled his spell with grim delight, soaking in the fear that gripped each of his soon to be prey. Only now could they see their mistake, moments before he snuffed out the lights, plunging them into a realm of helplessness.

Screams rang through the hall as they tried to gather a semblance of resistance, but the dragon was to have none of it. They were sent scattering to the floor, scales ripped through, some choking on their last breaths. Those that had weapons found themselves stabbing at the dark, only for their weapons to be swatted aside, their lives ended by the dragon’s cruel jaws. Time and again this grim dance was repeated, the stone being painted with their blood. With every passing moment sounds their resistance dwindled, till only a soul survivor backed himself against Lyndis’ slab, hurling down his weapon and backing for mercy in the draconic tongue. He didn’t get it, his life ended as brutally as the rest of his kin, hurled aside, nothing more than a tattered rag of flesh and bone.

Just as swiftly as it had been, the excitement was gone. Cordenth stood triumphant, bringing light to the darkness with a twirl of his paw. There he soaked in the fruits of his labor, blood painted across every surface, sticking to his scales, the remains of his enemy littering the room like trash. They had gotten what they’d deserved, pity or remorse should be reserved for those that earned it. This was nothing more than pest control of the lowest order. His nostrils flared as he padded his way towards his unconscious beloved, thankfully spared the brutal carnage he’d been forced to enact. Hesitation flickered across his pinned frills as he neared her form, searching for any sign of injury that might endanger her health. More worry than should be in a dragon’s heart did lurk there, stilling his tail and making each second feel like years.

“You’re ok.” He breathed softly, a weight falling off his wings. Somehow he’d managed the impossible, been the hero in which she needed. But what of the others? The grim thought came to him as he padded around the altar, eyes peered for any survivor that might have escaped his fury. Was he the hero in which they needed? The dragon shook his head with a growl, no he musn’t think like that. All of this was not his failing, but that of the dragoness bitch that’d inflicted this ill upon him. But first, there was Lyndis to attend to. “Lyndis.” He said softly, his voice tired and weak. When she didn’t respond he nudged at her with a whine, dread starting to build within. Had he been too late?

“Oh, don’t go whining now, you were the one to leave.” Groaned Lyndis, her eyes still closed. As she tugged at her metal bindings her eyes shot open, “Why am I in bloody chains?” Just as he anger swelled, it died as she took note of where she was, the carnage that lay just beyond the welcoming sight of her dragon. Color drained from her, a fear swirling within her amber pools, but not to the siigonis, for Cordenth himself. “Cordenth…What have you done?”

There was a chill down his spine he wished to never see, her trust of him wavering with her gentle breaths. He looked away to the bloody carnage, eyes darting to every mutilated siigonis, he had to make her understand.  “I did what I had to do.” He muttered, “These miscreants meant to sacrifice you to the Queen of Eternal Flame, rip out your still beating heart. She found us Lyndis, meant to punish me for my actions back at the temple.” He wheeled to her with a soft whine, “You were not the only ones they’d captured.”

His meaning swelled her eyes, bringing a rapid tugging of her bindings, if she still feared him, she didn’t show it. “Well come on then, we can’t just sit around here chin wagging, Broxl and Vishta need us!”

“Its already too late.” He drooped, “This was a choice, the Queen demanded that I save one…There was no choice.”

“No. That can’t be…Cordenth, she must have been lying.”

“She wasn’t.”

This time it was Lyndis to slump, weakly tugging at her chains. “So, the siigonis here?”

“Her servants.” Growled Cordenth, “Moments from sacrificing you when I arrived. What choice did I have? If even I hesitated for a moment, they’d have surely ended your life. How did they even capture you anyway?” He tapped her bindings, whispering a spell, they collapsed into a pile of rusted steel.

“Don’t go blaming me like it’s my fault, the ruddy bastards had some sort of sleeping drug.” Lyndis slid from the slab, rubbing her wrists, eyes scowling at all the dead that lay at her feet. “Guess all things considered…Fuck em, now did they have the decency to collect my-“ She scanned the room, finding her pack, her clothes neatly placed beside them, conveniently devoid of any blood. “Small miracles.” She sighed, “Guess that’s the only thing I can thank these bastards for.”

“And of me?” He tilted his head.

“Of course…But you’re a bit…” She gestured to his snout, “Still slathered in blood.”

“Some dragonesses would find this attractive.”

“But we non dragons do not.”

With a pat of his snout, she adorned her things, reattaching her leather armor and sheathing her blades. Deathly silent she was as Cordenth told her everything about his encounter with the Queen of Eternal flame, how she claimed to rule the other siigonis clans, and how this was a warning that they should heed. That the deaths of Broxl and Vishta had only been to rob the dragon of his pawns, just as he’d done to hers.

“I did fight her Lyndis, she was massive, the size of my mother. Her speed was something I’ve not seen before, simply marvelous to behold.” He stilled when Lyndis turned to him, eyes afire. “Not like I’m complimenting her or anything. She beat me into a pulp before letting me go.” He rolled his wings, wincing as the dull pain returned.

“Then we shall need to get the others.” Her voice was cold, without emotion. “Without the siigonis and this plan, we’ll need everyone to do anything against her.”

“Lyndis…That won’t work.”

“Then what do you expect us to do?” She snapped to him, eyes aflame. “So many souls are counting on us, even now, in this bleak hour. We can’t just roll over and die in their name Cordenth! Only thing I’ve ever done in these times is stick close to your friends, trust in one another and grit your teeth.” She slumped, “Otherwise, I got nothing.”

He caught her chin with a gentle wing, pulling it so that her nose was gracing his snout. Her eyes pleaded to him for answers, latching onto any semblance of hope. “Their faith in us will be given fruit, we shall not return to them empty handed.”

“How?” Her voice cracked as she rose a hand to caress his scaled cheek, “Look around you…You said it yourself-“

“But I speak of the pull within me.” He replied, “Of the siren’s call within the swamp of shadows. We’ve trusted my powers to save us this far, I believe what we need awaits for us beyond it’s mists.”

“Cordenth…I don’t’-“

“What else do we have? Vishta and Broxl are gone, the siigonis have made their choice. You said we can’t just lay over and die, we know the uniter rests within that place. We could take it for our very own, use it against whatever force that bitch sends against us. We just have to take a leap of faith.”

She shook her head, eyes brimming with tears, “We don’t know what it might do to you…You’re willing to place yous fate into some…Invisible force we don’t know what it is?”

“It might be crazy, but sometimes you have to be crazy.” He weakly laughed, “Was grabbing a dragon from being pulled into a magical orb smart? Was leaping in front a spear for you crazy? All those months ago? Sure, but I’d never trade it for a single moment spent with you.”

“But this-“

“Its exactly the same.” He nuzzled softly at her cheek, “I know it might be frightful, that everything looks to be bleak and unknown, but this could be our one chance…A chance to get back at her and save your people, make Vishta and Broxl’s deaths not be in vain.”

“But trusting in your powers?”

“We’ve trusted them this far! Finding the temple? Me, questioning the shaman? Me! Saving us from the bugs? Me again, every time we’ve found ourselves in peril, my powers have been there to guide us safely! I’m asking you to trust me Lyndis, for just a bit longer…I promise, with all my heart, your fear won’t come true…I will never hurt you.”

“This is supposed to be my speech you know.” She said softly, chuckling through her tears as she rested her head against his snout, “Something about a daft plan, terrible chance of success, no one in their ruddy mind would think we’d go.”

“So, I take it it’s a good one?” He gently perked up, wiping the tears away from her cheek with a gentle claw, “I might have picked up a thing or two from you. So what do you say?”

“What do I say?” She searched the room to the distance exit, staring off through the walls to the countryside beyond, she composed herself with a deep breath, “I think we can’t let Broxl and Vishta’s deaths mean nothing. I say we grasp at threads and make that bitch pay for messin with us.”

With courage welling in their breasts, the exited the temple. With no guards left to catch them, it was swift and without incident. Together they launched themselves into the cold sky, spiraling upwards into the headwinds, becoming just another blot of darkness in the vast sky. With a flick of his wings, Cordenth set their journey towards the distance swamp of shadows, letting the pull inside his chest be their guide. Anything would be better than what they’d just witnessed and hope still remained that whatever rested within the swamp, would be far better than the despair and death they left behind.

*

Within the destroyed halls of the monkey’s bane, Vishta still held her vigilant watch over the shattered remains of the bar. Her nerves were pressed to their very limits, even for one that engaged in dangerous situations as she. Blood had already started to slither from her wounds, making every gentle breath she took sting. She pushed such things from her mind, for if she strayed in her diligence for even a moment their enemy outside the door would capitalize on it. She popped a few more shots from her energy crossbow as the bead door wavered in the wind.

She scowled at her shaking claws and that of the corpses of the siigonis that had tried to push her minutes ago. They lay scattered amongst the broken tables, stone cold, dispatched with grim efficiency. Some had only gotten out a hurl of a spear, maybe a yell, the smarter ones had tried to shield their kin from her retribution. She ground her teeth, for in days past, such a stupid act as this would have never crossed her mind. Her survival was paramount to anything else, her fellow agents were of little consequence. But now? She peered back to Broxl, the siigonis was slumped over, blood dribbling down his snout. It had been too long since he’d taken a breath.

“Broxl.” Her hiss was a fractured thing as she nudged him with her foot. “Don’t you go nodding off on me. What am I going to do for company?”

“How rude of me.” The ranger replied weakly, only able to offer her one open eye. “But I suppose you’re right, I best see my death coming.”

“Don’t be stupid, neither of us will know death this eve. All we got to do is take a breather, wait for the dragon and the queen to come looking.” Her nervous laugh hid the fact she knew not what awaited outside that beaded door, how many siigonis lay waiting to see them killed. Was it the whole city? Or just this tiny group? “Last group mentioned something about a crazed green dragon, I think Radiant Star made it out alright.”

“But would he come here?” Broxl shifted with herculean effort to a sitting position, grimly eyeing the door. “Would he risk his scales to pull our hides out of the fire? Or would he rescue his precious queen and fly away?” He offered his blood slick hand, “Give me the crossbow, we both know the decision he’s going to make. Scamper off through the kitchens, keep your snout down. There’s no need for us both to die tonight.”

How could she? She looked to her claw clenched ever tight around the grip. “Broxl…You’re asking me to-“

“I know what I’m asking.” He hissed, “To die with a weapon in my hand like a warrior, not go weakly like a sick old man.” His head frill flared as he offered his hand more insistently than before, “Now get out of here and tell them what’s happened.”

“There was a day I’d call you stupid you know.” She placed the weapon softly into his grip, “But you’re the bravest siigonis I’ve ever met, you give them hell.”

“Brave? More like stubborn.” He replied coldly, spitting out some blood and raising the weapon to the door. “Run when I say, any who poke their snouts dies.”

Kissing his cheek, she sprinted to the bar at his say so, the sounds of the energy cross bow’s cough filling the air. Brilliant light flowed with every frantic step she took, bringing day to the weary confines of this establishment. Up and over stools she hurtled, her adrenaline coursing through her veins. She paid no attention to her pain, the weariness of her bones, or swelling of her eyes. Part of her would remain back with him, but that’s not what mattered now. She’d just made it to the kitchen doors as she ducked her head, too terrified to even look towards the entrance, should the guards make this their time to press forward. That’s when she slammed into a wall of scale and muscle.

Collapsing back onto her rear, Vishta’s spine went cold. Dread curled in her gut as she glanced upwards, certain this is where she’d meet her end. Before her was the towering form of a female siigonis, her dark green scales covered in leathers. Black tattoos of skulls wrapped around her arms and neck, highlighting the bright amber of her eyes. Though this siigonis was armed from head to tail, she didn’t even reach for her weapons. She ducked below the bar as Broxl snapped a few shots in her direction, extending a claw to Vishta.

“Kobold, come with us if you want to live.”

Her head was spinning, this one wanted to help? Even now the guards outside were shouting to one another in the siigonis tongue, mustering their next attack on the bar. Vishta reached for her dagger, thrusting it outwards. “Yea, just what you’d want. To kill us.”

“I could do that now.” Replied the siigonis woman calmly, eyes not even regarding the blade. “Out there are servants of the clan of fire. They move to entertain the Queen of Eternal Flame’s favor. Others join them, we do not. Staying here will mean your death, come and you might yet live.”

“Vishta!” Broxl bellowed with what strength he could.

“I’m alright!” Said Vishta, eyes never leaving the reserved look of their new acquaintance. “So, if you really mean us well, happen to have any potions on you?”

The siigonis sighed, procuring two vials, one dark red, the other a blackened liquid with the viscosity of honey. “Healing and antivenom. We never leave the temples without either.”

“Awfully convenient you have what we want…Miss.” Vishta snatched the vials, eyes narrowed.

“Eris…And if your suspicions hold sway over you, don’t take them. See how far your friend lasts with the venom pumping through his veins.” Her eyes darted to Broxl, “I’m amazed he’s survived this long.”

It had seemed that fate had robbed her of any choices that were to be made. Staying here was a death sentence, if the poison did not kill Broxl outright, she’d be taken down eventually. Yet would they be safer with this stranger from the shadow clan? The league of political assassins that Broxl described them as? The kobold gripped tight the potions, pocketing her suspicions for now, it would seem she would have to take a leap of faith. “Alright, we accept.”

“Excellent.” She gestured to the shadows, where siigonis had begun to emerge. Each clad in the same attire as she, complete with the same markings. They watched the door with a steeled gaze, weapons held tight. “I’d have hated to have wasted all the effort.”

*