"I'm concerned, Ushan. I mean, we haven't heard anything. Aren't Aerothi's forces still out there?" Sudvana asked.

"Yes. They are just outside the portal to this city, in fact," Ushan replied.

"So what happens if they attack?"

Ushan laughed. "My dear, 'if' is not the word you should be using."

"Annelique isn't ready for another fight, and I'm not that strong...most of the Ironbellies are gone..."

"You worry that Aerothi is going to assault the portal and take Kikagonroth," Ushan said, her face utterly unconcerned.

"Yes! And I'm worried that we'll all be killed or enslaved just like Ralier was!"

Ushan's expression turned serious. "That is not what you should be worried about..." she turned her back and took a few steps across the front room, as if contemplating.

"...What is it?"

"I'm not worried about what will happen if Aerothi attacks the Blood Fane. I'm more worried about what happens if the Blood Fane strikes a deal with her."

Sudvana turned white. "Oh Goddess..." For the first time it suddenly seemed to hit her that she was among demonesses, renowned as the most treacherous race in creation. As far as she knew, the Blood Fane was the only force opposing Aerothi--if they struck a deal, the entire world was doomed. "They...would they?" she asked, barely able to keep her voice clear.

"The Blood Fane has no explicit interest in this conflict," Ushan said. "They don't care for this world one way or the other. They have invested considerable resources in their underground cities, but when compared to the costs of an all-out war with Aerothi, those investments seem pale. And it is a trivial matter for demons to evacuate a city in the Prime realm. Most demons can travel to Faneglut at will."

Sudvana gulped. "So they might not fight her at all."

"Their only interest in doing so would be to honor their pacts with the Ironbelly clan. Unfortunately...there are reasons the Blood Fane could use to declare those pacts invalid now. The Ironbelly Queen is dead."

"So they'd break their word just because of that?"

"It is impossible to break your word to a dead woman, my poor little darling. It is now entirely in their discretion whether they want to consider the pact to have been with the queen or with the clan as a whole...and whether the clan can even be considered to exist when it's leader has been killed. Demon politics are complicated, and are as much a matter of expedience as pact. The wise are very specific about the deals they make, or are very careful about making sure the other side values their friendship enough to interpret their contracts generously...for whatever reason, the Ironbellies chose the latter."

"So what are we going to do?"

Ushan smiled sadly. "Do you consider yourself a hero, my dear?"

"Of course I'm not," Sudvana said. "I can't fight through hordes of monsters. I couldn't even beat one. I'm no hero."

"What about your companions?"

"I don't know. The only one of us who fought with any frequency was Ishiar."

"Yes, an interesting case, that one...seems she's been eaten quite a few times, yet she's never died."

Sudvana looked at her crosswise. "What are you getting at? You got eaten and didn't die too."

Ushan chuckled. "Sudvana, would you do me a favor?"

"Is it sexual?" Sudvana asked.

Ushan raised an eyebrow and grinned. "Not just now, unless, of course, you want a quickie before we leave..."

"Leave? Where are we going?"

"To see a friend of mine. It will only be a few minutes, I assure you."

*****

The building that Ushan led Sudvana to was very strange. It was in an out of the way alley, almost as if it was crouching beneath the other buildings to conceal itself. Small luminous crystals of yellow and cyan stuck out of it's sides--Sudvana wasn't sure if they had been placed there or if they had simply grown out of the black stone. The crystals cast just enough light that she could see spiral patterns and runes carved into the building's walls.

The "door" was simply a pair of curtains embroidered with the image of an eye. Ushan slowly pulled them apart and ushered Sudvana inside.

The interior was even stranger than the exterior. Blue wax candles lined the walls in long rows, but this was not what was strange. The strange thing was that each was placed on a stone shelf that spiraled both upward and inward, giving the room a coned shape. The atmosphere in the room seemed simultaneously oppressive and ethereal, as though it wanted to push you out of this world and into another. The stone pattern carved into the floor almost seemed to vibrate as she trod upon it.

There was only one other thing in the room--a demonette, sitting cross-legged in it's center with her eyes closed. A supernatural light was barely visible beneath her eyelids. Long, jet-black hair hung straight down from her head and a large pair of curled horns framed her head. Her skin was a dark crimson in color and she wore little, save a set of black robes. A long tail sat on the floor behind her.

"Ushan," the demonette said, her eyes still closed. Her voice was strange--it seemed to have a rapid, reverberating quality to it, like five people were saying the same word a split second off from each other.

"Good evening, Charlotte," Ushan said. "I have questions."

"Questions are what make you welcome," Charlotte said strangely. "Please, sit."

Ushan stepped to one side and sat down facing Charlotte. Sudvana decided to follow suit and soon the three were forming a triangle.

"Is there anything strange about this one?" Ushan asked.

"Oh yes," Charlotte said, her eyes suddenly opening. They had a strange, dark glitter to them. "Her spirit is marked," she said.

"How so?" Ushan asked.

Charlotte smiled. "Seeing the mark is easy. Reading the mark is not. The language of the goddesses is not as easy as those of letters and words."

"What does she mean?" Sudvana whispered to Ushan.

"There is no need to whisper," Charlotte said. "I will not be offended unless I am shown disrespect."

"Charlotte is a spirit reader, among other things," Ushan said. "She can tell if there is something unusual in someone's soul."

"Something unusual? Like what?" Sudvana asked, looking at Charlotte.

"Many things. Your case is a most difficult one to interpret, let alone explain in words," Charlotte replied. "But there are things I can tell you. Your marks bear the signatures of several of the great powers."

"What do you mean? You mean the Goddesses have given me a destiny?"

"There are more great powers than the Goddesses," Charlotte replied, "but perhaps. I also know that you are not the only one who bears this mark."

"You mean you've seen it before?" Sudvana asked.

"No. But I see threads, moving to it's sisters. Tell me, did you have true sisters?"

True sisters typically came one of two ways--either multiple live births from the same mother, or two or more girls hatching from the same egg. Sudvana was neither.

"No," she said.

"Interesting...how many people lived in your home village?"

"About forty people. There was a bigger village not far away, but we didn't live there."

"Interesting...and were any of them born on the same day that you were?"

"Yes, actually..." Sudvana said, "Ishiar and Latella were."

"But you are certain there were no others?"

"Not in our village. It was just the three of us."

"Three...interesting. For I count that there should be four."

"Four? Four what?"

"Four spirits that share the mark you have. Typically they are born together, in the same place, and on the same day."

"Do you mean to say that Ishiar and Latella have the same mark?"

"Well, we can quickly find out," Ushan said. "I will bring them here." She stood and quietly left the room, leaving Sudvana alone with Charlotte. For her part, the enigmatic demoness simply looked at her, her gaze never leaving Sudvana's eyes.

Sudvana gulped and squirmed uncomfortably under the unswerving gaze. Looking away, she asked "these marks...what do they usually mean?"

"A mark most often gives an ability, or many," Charlotte said, "and those abilities are often woven into the bearer's fate."

"Fate? You mean our futures?"

Charlotte smiled. "Your wonder and curiousity are quite refreshing. Fate is a very real thing, but it is not writing. It is more like a muse. It is a guiding star, but that is all. It is, perhaps, most akin to cheating in a game of chance. There is always a chance of fate being thwarted."

"Is that a good thing or a bad one?"

"Thwarting a horrific fate; what would this be to you?"

Sudvana nodded. "I see your point. But you can't tell what my fate is from this mark?"

"I am incredulous of my initial impressions of it."

"What do you mean?"

"To read someone's spirit, one must venture into realms of the mind which speak largely in metaphor...but just as a name is a metaphor for a person, so too are the impressions of someone's spirit a metaphor for a very real and complex truth. Your mark has recognizable symbols, which I am starting to discern."

"Can you tell me what any of them are?"

"The most prominent symbolizes a great change or the weight of a great decision. The second most prominent is the symbol of our world."

"You're saying I am going to affect the whole world?"

"That is the one my instincts say is correct, cynical though my demonic nature may be."

Suddenly the curtains to the alley opened again and Ushan stepped into the small chamber. Ishiar and Annelique were right behind her.

"Yes, these are the ones." Charlotte said.

"What is she talking about?" Ishiar asked.

"She says our souls are marked," Sudvana said.

"You all possess the same mark," Charlotte said. "You are linked. Four people possess this mark; of these, you compose three."

"So what do these marks do?" Ishiar asked.

"They bind our destinies together, and allow us to draw upon one another's powers in certain ways," Annelique answered. "Klayer didn't have time to tell me much, but she told me that the only way we could stop Aerothi would be to find a fourth person who has the same mark."

"You knew about this?" Sudvana asked. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"You already knew the three of us shared a bond," Annelique said. "I just didn't use the same words to describe it."

"So, you can see these threads that connect us, right?" Ishiar asked Charlotte. "So can you use them to find out which direction this fourth person is in?"

Charlotte shook her head. "They do not exist in space as you would understand it. They are lines only in metaphor. In fact, only those of considerable skill can even count them; to my vision it is as if each of you bears four slightly different marks, each overlapping the others. Finding the fourth would be akin to tracking someone by their handwriting. Such a thing cannot be--" Suddenly the skin on her face twitched, as if something had surprised her. "...Such a thing cannot be done unless that writing contains hints as to where they have gone." She suddenly turned her head, as if she were looking at some invisible feature on the wall. "Yes...the fourth is nearby. In the city."

"In the city?"

"Eronmar." Charlotte said, closing her eyes again. "You have been in her presence--very close to her, and very recently. This much is written within your spirits."

"But if the fourth is in Eronmar, then it can't be anybody we know--they're all here in Kikagonroth, or...dead." Ishiar said.

"We don't necessarily know them. We may have just been close to them during the battle," Annelique said.

"The story the marks tell is that you spoke and that you touched...that is all I can discern," Charlotte said. "Whether in battle as enemies or allies, or sometime before, I cannot say."

"But they're in Eronmar now," Ishiar said.

"That is certain," Charlotte replied.

"So it can't be Gairanda or Ralier..." Ishiar said. "Or Blast, unless she snuck through the portal in the last five minutes."

"That would be very difficult, considering it is sealed," Ushan said.

"Can you give us any other information that might help us?" Ishiar asked.

"Perhaps...two of you have strayed from your birth classes. One used to be a sorceress, the other a priestess."

"I guess I--" Annelique stumbled across her words for a moment, "--I was the sorceress."

"Then we're looking for someone who used to be a priestess but isn't anymore. That's helpful," Ishiar said sarcastically. "When you say 'strayed,' does that mean both of them have been killed and come back to life?"

"Certainty is difficult," Charlotte said, "but it is possible. All that is certain is that both souls have powers they did not have when the marks were made, and great powers at that. However, both souls show signs of great suffering as well, as though something was torn away from them."

"Ishiar, Sudvana..." Ushan said, "Do you remember anyone else from your home village being born on the same day as you?"

"Well, a few people were born in the general area on the same day...we were all born pretty spread out," Ishiar replied.

"Did any of them die?"

"Maybe. The only ones I lived near were Sudvana and Latella. We didn't even know we had the same birthday at first. If the others had died, I wouldn't have known." Ishiar tapped her fingers on her sword. "I think the only way we're going to know is to go to Eronmar."

"But darling, why go all that way? I have all you need to commit glorious suicide right here," Ushan said, placing her hands on her curvaceous belly.

"How many times do you need to eat me, woman!? Geez!" Ishiar said.

"She means that if we go to Eronmar, we're probably going to get eaten and die," Sudvana said.

"I know what she means, Sudie."

"I just wanted to make sure. Because she might be right." Sudvana said.

Ishiar found her heart beating unusually fast. The thought of going out there scared the pants off of her, but secretly, a part of her burned with desire to be eaten again. She wanted to sit in a soft, slimy belly, it's muscles gently kneading her...

"Ishie? You okay? You're turning red," Sudvana said.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Ishiar said a bit too quickly. She did her best to get her thoroughly unhealthy fantasies under control. Had it happened already? Was she a...voraphile? She realized her skin was tingling from the images that had swam through her head a moment before...in fact, she had felt a thrill run through her when Ushan had placed her hands on her stomach and implied that she should get inside it, even though she was joking.

Something touched her hand. It was Annelique, and she was gently pulling it away from--

Oh no I was not, she thought to herself.

I was NOT touching myself just then.

Annelique was discretely looking straight ahead, doubtless trying to save Ishiar from even more embarassment. Thankfully, Sudvana didn't seem to have noticed.

Ushan's smile, on the other hand, implied that she had.

Dammit.

Did Annelique know? Nah, she couldn't. It's not like she had told anybody, and as far as Ishiar knew, Annelique had never been eaten...she'd had the hell beaten out of her by monsters to the point of near death, yes, but she had never been eaten. So she couldn't know. Unless, of course, someone had told her...

Ishiar decided she just wasn't going to think about it anymore.

"Does Aerothi's army have any non-monsters in it?" Annelique asked.

"Oh yes," Charlotte said. "She has drawn her power from the four corners of Ishara. Wicked Fae, Firebelly Mercenaries, even Traitor Angels march under her banner...monsters are merely her shock troops."

"Perhaps we could disguise ourselves and sneak in, like Ishiar and Ralier did. Ralier knows enough about their army that she should know how we need to act."

"Are you sure Ralier is going to want to do that again?" Sudvana asked.

"I don't know..." Annelique said sadly. "It's a lot to ask to risk your life, even if it's to help save the world."

"But if we go in ourselves, someone might figure out that we don't belong there." Ishiar said.

"And there's the chance that someone will recognize us even if Ralier is with us," Annelique said.

"Eh, we can just make up some story about agreeing to join her army in exchange for our lives. It's not like she hasn't done that with everyone else," Ishiar said. "My question is, how do we get through the portal? It's probably sealed on both sides."

"And how will we survive if we are attacked?" Sudvana added.

There was a long silence. It was Annelique who finally spoke:

"I can teach you how to fight."

Ushan raised an eyebrow. "So it's true. You butchered all those monsters in the fortress. The Kyosar must have taught you swordplay as well, eh?"

"Yes," Annelique said, but the look on her face wasn't a proud one--it almost seemed sad.

"Kyosar?" Ishiar said quizzically.

"A race of angel. The race Klayer comes from." Annelique replied.

"I keep hearing this Klayer person mentioned. Who is she?" Ushan asked.

"We don't really know...all I know I learned from Annelique." Ishiar said, looking expectantly at the angel.

"I'm not really sure who she is either," Annelique said, her face a little flustered. "She just came to me in Brightwind, and she seemed to know who I was...she apparently knew about how I--how Latella died. She knew I was connected with someone here, and seems to know something about what's going on, but she hasn't told me much. Honestly, I think she knows a lot, but I never get to ask any questions--she always seems to be in a hurry to be somewhere else."

"If she's been trying to save the world herself, I can imagine she's got a lot on her schedule," Ishiar said. "So she trained you? How much?"

"For weeks, it's almost all we did...she didn't even let me sleep. It was very strange at first, the things she said, the things she had me do..."

"How do you mean?"

"The first thing she made me do was roll a marble back and forth along the length of my sword."

"What?" Sudvana asked.

"You have a sword?" Ishiar said right after.

"Not anymore...she said it was to teach me to control how I moved it. Then she told me to hold the point of the blade at a certain point on her chest and make sure it never moved...it was really hard. She jumped around, kicked me, and swatted at it with her own sword, sometimes all at once. But she kept giving me pointers...ways I could move my blade, my feet..."

"Still, it seems odd that she wasn't teaching you how to block or attack, especially since you were a beginner," Ishiar said.

"I thought the same thing. I got really frustrated...I wasn't even sure what the point of it was. She kept attacking with her sword, and it seemed like the only way to keep the point in the right place was by avoiding it entirely. It turns out that that was the whole point. She said that every move you make should cut the enemy. If possible, you don't want your sword to touch the enemy's...ever."

"Wow. That's a lot different than the way I was trained," Ishiar said. "How do you defend yourself?"

"Footwork...if you're going forward, you get inside their range so they can't bring their sword down on you. If you're going back, you stay just out of their reach. The only time you should make blade to blade contact is with certain attacks that are meant to take advantage of the enemy's position."

"Sounds pretty hard," Ishiar said.

"It sounds that way..." Annelique said, "but all those weird exercises had given me the instinct to avoid her sword, so now all I had to do was attack--avoiding her blade came naturally. Then all she had to do was teach me a few particular approaches and ways to get out of difficult situations."

"Sounds like she's one hell of a trainer. So she taught you resurrection magic too? How did that work?"

"She taught me about chakras...and about how to use them on themselves. You can use the power of one chakra to amplify another and vice-versa, creating a feedback loop of constantly increasing power..."

"Whoa. Why doesn't everybody do that?"

Annelique stopped for a moment, as though she wasn't sure of the answer herself.

"The first reason is simply the lack of knowledge," Charlotte answered for her. "The second is a price. One that the angel among you knows all too well. When you tamper with your own chakras, you can take them beyond their natural limits. Just as pushing your body too far can damage it, overextending your magical abilities can tax your spirit. This much any mage knows. Artificially increasing your power to go many times beyond your natural limit will increase that damage accordingly. It is possible to destroy one's own spirit using this technique, causing a to lapse into death--a death which resists all attempts to heal."

"Is that why our healing magics weren't working on Annelique?" Sudvana asked.

"That is a symptom of spiritual damage, yes," Charlotte replied. "A damaged spirit cannot make proper use of healing energies."

"And she expected Annelique to do this!?" Sudvana said.

"I had to," Annelique said. "It was the only way I could save you."

"But I don't want you saving me if it means you have to die!" Sudvana replied.

"And...I can't really find a way to put this diplomatically...you may have doomed the whole world in the process," Ushan said.

Just then, the flap to Charlotte's chamber opened up, revealing the face of a gigantic Thaegon who was stooping down in the alleyway.

"I apologize for the intrusion, miss Charlotte, but Queen Kikagon has requested your presence at her palace."

"Give her my apologies--there are pressing matters I must attend to. I will answer her request as soon as I am able."

The Thaegon simply nodded and left. Ushan's eyebrows stitched together. It was not generally considered decorus--or wise--to deny a request from the queen of a demon city. Whatever business Charlotte was referring to must have been extremely important. In the back of her mind, she already knew the "business" she was referring to consisted of the people in front of her.

"Your fates lie on the other side of that gate," Charlotte said. "But the gate itself is not the only path. Leave this place; return when you have all you need for a journey of the most perilous sort."

Ushan nodded and began reaching into a purse at her belt.

"No payment will be needed this time, my friend," Charlotte said. "You will need those stones to prepare for your journey."

"Thank you," Ushan said, rising and giving a bow to the other demoness. With that, the group filed out of the small chamber and into the alley.

"Journey?" Sudvana asked. "We're going to take another route to Eronmar?"

"So it would seem," Ushan said. "Fetch the others. It is time for us to go shopping."

The "Shopping" Ushan was referring to seemed to be for weapons. Most of the group had lost theirs at one point or another--the only one who was still armed was Ishiar, who was carrying a steel sword which was--thanks to Ralier's belly--slightly corroded.

"So, what weapons do you know how to use?" Ishiar asked the group as they stood in front of one of the city's weapons dealers. The dealer was one of many open-air shops lining the street, but had a surprisingly large array of weapons crammed into the modest amount of space she had. Most were made of some sort of black material or steel, or both.

"I...um...I don't really know how to fight," Sudvana said. "But I can cast a few attack spells."

"We'll go staff for you, then," Ishiar said. "What about you, Ralier?"

Ralier shrugged. "I just use my legs, but I could probably use whatever. They gave me a spear but I didn't really know what to do with it."

Ishiar turned to the weaponsmith. "Do you have any forearm spikes?"

The demoness shopkeeper pulled a pair of long, gauntletted bracers from underneath the counter. They each had a long blade coming straight out of them. The right one had a small wooden buckler on top of it as well.

"Good," Ishiar said. "You think you could use those?"

"Sure," Ralier said.

"You seem to know your weapons, my dear," Ushan said.

"Amazon. Comes with the territory. Annelique, you're sword, right?"

Annelique nodded. "She also taught me a bit about bows."

"I don't sell to angels," the shopkeeper said gravely.

"Look, you'll fucking sell to ME, got it? We have got exactly no time for bullshit," Ishiar said.

The shopkeeper glared, but said nothing.

"What she's trying to say," Ushan said, "is that we are fighting a common enemy, and that it would be in both of our interests to put aside our normal inclinations for now."

The shopkeeper's expression softened slightly. "Very well."

"What's that longsword made of?" Ishiar said, pointing to one of the swords in the back.

The demoness pulled it off the rack and pulled it from it's black lacquered sheathe. The blade appeared to be made of dark, translucent obsidian. Veins of grey were visible underneath and along it's surface. The hilt was a jagged black, typical of the twisted artistic sensibilities of demons. There was a single large ruby embedded in the crosspiece on one side, and an identically shaped emerald on the other side.

"This weapon is enchanted obsidian," the shopkeeper said. "It carries the blood poison enchantment."

"What do the emerald and ruby do?"

"That *is* what they do," Ushan answered. "Blood poison is an enchantment that uses both a ruby and an emerald. It drains the vitality of the enemy's blood while simultaneously polluting it with magical curses. Far more dangerous than the usual fire and regeneration one would get with an emerald and a ruby...but also more difficult to make. Which reminds me," Ushan turned to Sudvana, "how skilled are you in gemwork?"

"I...know enough to put them in and strengthen them. I don't know any weird combos like that, though." she answered.

"That will have to be good enough. I'm guessing this one can't hold much more, but we might be able to enhance some of the other weapons if we come upon any gems. How much is this one?"

"Four stones."

Ushan took the weapon and held it for a moment. Letting the blade cut her finger slightly, she grimaced ever so slightly as she tested it's power. "Alright, we'll take it."

"Do you have any broadswords?" Ishiar asked.

The shopkeeper shook her head. "No. But I do have shorter swords and shields which may interest you."

"Like what?"

She indicated a shield on a rack--it appeared to be made of glass, bordered by some sort of marbled white material. In it's center was a small crest, embedded with six gems. Ishiar noticed that, just behind the shield, there was a sword made of the same glassey material, with a golden crosspiece and an ivory handle. "This one may interest your angel friend...since it was one of their kind we took it from." She smiled cruelly. "It absorbs elemental magic and allows the weilder to fire it back at their enemies. It is made of enchanted Towerglass."

"How powerful is it?" Ushan asked.

"Obviously not powerful enough to save it's owner from death in a demon's belly," the shopkeeper smiled, "but nonetheless, I will confess it is an impressive item. I am not particularly fond of it's appearance, so I will part with the pair for five stones."

"Do you know how to use a shield, Annie?" Ishiar asked.

"Not really," Annelique replied.

"I'll use them, then. So that's nine stones so far...what's our budget?"

"Twenty-seven," Ushan said. "And remember, that must also buy us armor, and whatever currency we want to save for our journey."

"Alright...here's what we still need," Ishiar said. "Some sort of defensive staff for Sudie, something for Blast, maybe, if we can get her to point to something..." (Blast was, at the time, being yelled at by another vendor for touching things) "...and something for you. I think Gairanda's already got her own gear, assuming she wants to come with us."

"I also have my own weapon..." Ushan said. "It's being fetched for me."

"Plus armor for all of us who can wear it. Which we'll figure out later. Do you have any cheap bows, or guns?"

"My associate on the next street specializes in bows and firearms," the shopkeeper said. "And normally I do not carry staves which are not bladed, but I think I can accomodate your friend..." She pulled a staff off the rack. It was a few inches taller than Sudvana herself. They were guessing it was made of wood, but it looked more like a long, thin strip of petrified flesh that had had a set of claws raked across it's length a few hundred times.

"Inexpensive, and surprisingly strong...and it carries a defensive spell that may be of some use to you. When activated, it will create a cloud of smoke through which only the wielder can see."

"The wielder and her allies, or just the wielder?"

"Only those who are touching the staff, I'm afraid. Hence the staff's excellent affordability."

"Well, that shouldn't be a problem," Sudvana said. "I can just extract a piece of the staff and put a spell of weaving on them, so they keep their magical connection to the enchantment..."

Ushan smiled. "Excellent. How much?"

"Twenty gold pieces," the shopkeeper said.

A gold piece, incidentally, was worth one one-hundredth of one of the gemstones the demons preferred as currency.

"Well, that was an easy decision," Ishiar said.

"I assure you, the difficult part will come later, when we need to make use of these weapons," Ushan said.

Ishiar turned to Blast, who was standing a short ways down the street next to a curio dealer.

"Last chance, Blast! You want a weapon or not?"

Blast picked an ivory flute off of the dealer's table and tapped it with her finger.

"That's not a weapon, Blast."

Blast made a pleading motion.

Ishiar sighed. "How much is it?" She asked the shopkeeper.

"Three silver pieces."

"Fine. I hope you plan to bludgeon somebody with that thing," Ishiar said.

Blast shrugged and bonked Ishiar on the head with it.

Ishiar sighed. "Let's go hit up that bow dealer."

At the end of the evening, Ishiar was dressed from head to toe in black armor bedecked with skulls, some forged, some--unnervingly--appearing to be real. Annelique settled for a pair of enchanted bracers and a steel breastplate with a nominal magical defense field, along with a demonic longbow with jagged, poisonous arrows. Both seemed uncomfortable wielding equipment with such obviously dark overtones, but demonic weapon shops aren't known for their diversity of imagery. Sudvana couldn't find much of use to her besides a mana ring and a belt that provided some limited magical protection, though she did finally manage to find a book of spells that wasn't exclusively dark and demonic magic. (Not that it didn't contain an awful lot of it anyway...) Blast seemed interested only in shiny things, seemingly uninterested in their protective value or utility. She refused to even try on any armor. The one thing she did buy--with an awful lot of money that none of them knew how she got--was a jagged black seed, about the size of a peach seed, which she spent the next twenty minutes smiling and poking at.

Ushan's weapon arrived via a slave courier; it was a long leather whip, not entirely unlike Belaphonne's had been. She also had a suit of what could generously be called armor, though it was simply an enchanted leather one-piece that didn't cover much more of her than any of her other clothing had; all of it's protection came from magic. Lastly, she had a gold bracelet with faintly glowing runes carved into it's surface.

Gairanda did appear once she heard of the group's plans; she carried her usual platemail and longsword, both of which appeared to be made of blue adamant. This probably made her the most well-defended member of the party even without her significant martial skills. Her armor was dented and burned in places, but was holding up remarkably well considering what (or, rather, who) it had been through. She had already had the blade re-sharpened.

They purchased a few other supplies as they saw fit; none of them were adventurers per se, but one of the shopkeepers seemed experienced enough to know what to suggest. While relying on the word of a demonic shopkeeper wouldn't be their first impulse, most of her suggestions seemed reasonable enough; ropes, small magical lanterns, healing and mana potions and the like. There were also a few things they wouldn't have thought of: armor patches, stinkbombs to throw off monsters who were tracking them by scent, and--though the idea was rather forboding--antacid pills. They could carry a few day's worth of food, but they would have to find or catch most of their food wherever they were going.

By this time it was quite late, so they decided it would be best to return home and rest before beginning their journey. Most of them were quite happy to collapse into their beds; all except for Blast, who had apparently collapsed into Ishiar's bed, and Ralier, who was sound asleep against the side of it. Not wanting to disturb them, Ishiar quietly stepped back out of the room to try to find an empty bed.

Strangely, when she returned to the main landing, she saw something strange on a small table in the front room.

It was a small box, made up to look like a gift, complete with a black lacey bow.

Curious, Ishiar walked down the stairs to examine the box. To her surprise, the small note tied to the side of the box said "Ishiar" in elegant but clearly demonic handwriting.

She unwrapped the lace and opened the box. She stepped back with a sudden gasp when she saw what was inside.

It was an egg.

It was roughly eight inches long and perhaps six wide at it's thickest point. It was black, with crescent-shaped bumps covering it's slick surface.

She reached in and touched it--it was warm. She took it out, her mind filled with questions. It was equally smooth on all sides--clearly it hadn't been uprooted. Someone had laid it. It was almost certainly a demon egg. Who would give her a demon egg? And why? Certainly not Ushan, unless she was just batshit crazy. Which it did sometimes seem like she was...but as far as she knew, Ushan was already asleep.

Her legs tingled. Her sexual instincts told her to take the large egg and push it up into herself, ensuring the egg would grow and hatch inside her, but the idea was rather impractical. She was going to be walking into the jaws of death; hardly a good time to be nurturing a child, no matter how good it might feel.

Yet, something in the back of her mind told her to keep it.

She placed it in a leather satchel on her waist, counting on it's hard outer shell to defend it. Unhatched eggs were just about impossible to destroy anyway, so it would probably survive even if she didn't.

With that, she found an empty bed, took off her new armor, and laid down to sleep.

******

Their preparations complete--or so they hoped--they returned to Charlotte's out-of-the-way establishment.

Ushan entered first, seeing Charlotte sitting in exactly the same position she had been in when the group had last seen her. Her eyes were closed, her palms turned upright on her crossed legs as if she were meditating.

The party had grown to sufficient size that they would not all fit within the tiny candle chamber, so the rest remained outside at first.

"Are you ready?" Charlotte said.

"Yes," Ushan replied.

Charlotte nodded and stood up for the first time. As she did so, she waved her hand subtly towards the back of the chamber. The wall behind her vanished, revealing a staircase leading into darkness. She descended into this new alcove, motioning for the others to follow. The air was cold and had a damp scent to it. The strange, otherworldly energy that seemed to permeate the first chamber only grew stronger as they descended the steps. Small bits of black ivy hung here and there along the walls, seemingly growing out of the stone itself. This atmosphere might have been unnerving if not for the incessant swearing on the part of Ralier; it seemed she was having great difficulty making her way down the small stairway. As it was, however, nobody could be frightened or awed while hearing things like "FOR FUCK'S SAKE, HAVE YOU NEVER HAD A CUSTOMER BIGGER THAN A FREAKING WATERMELON!?" She ended up having to walk down the stairs backwards, hunching her head down as her legs scraped against the sides of the walls. Thankfully this made little difference as they still had the armor that Aerothi's army had outfitted her with.

When they reached the bottom of the stairway, they found a chamber many times larger than the one they had left. It was encircled by several different wooden racks and shelves, darkly lacquered as to fit their owner's tastes. The content of some were fairly obvious; magical and alchemical reagents of numerous types. Sudvana noticed glowing feathers and dusts on one rack, sitting right alongside a phial full of claws and teeth and another that contained what appeared to be blood.

The strangest thing, however, was a large set of strange, golden shapes. They were thin and curved, most having multiple pieces jutting out of them in different directions. None of them formed a complete circle by themselves, but they looked as though they could fit together to make such a circle. Indeed, once everyone was in the room, Charlotte began taking these golden pieces off of their racks and placing them into a complex set of grooves that had been dug into the floor, slowly building what appeared to be a fairly elaborate summoning or portal circle. The grooves seemed as though they could hold a huge variety of pieces, and indeed, the number of circles Charlotte could make with the pieces she had looked as though it would be quite high. As she worked, many of the smaller pieces floated into place of their own accord; Charlotte would simply gesture and they would rise from their racks and assume a position in the circle.

"I apologize that the circle was not prepared beforehand," Charlotte said as she worked.

"No, please, we are happy to recieve your assistance," Ushan said.

Many of the pieces interlocked in more than one place, forming patterns in and out of the circle. Gradually a second circle became visible within the first, with more and more intricate patterns emerging as smaller and smaller pieces fell into place. Finally, when there were two complete circles, she placed a few golden runes between them at what appeared to be predetermined locations. Finally, she took one of the vials of glowing dust out of it's holder and simply began to sprinkle it over the golden circle. As she did, the energy in the room began to intensify to the point that it was even a little disorienting.

"It is ready. Step into the circle," Charlotte gestured.

The group did so. Sudvana and Ralier seemed a bit trepidatious, Annelique a bit less so. Ishiar and Gairanda betrayed little emotion, whereas Blast seemed overtly excited.

Charlotte walked over to one of the tables and withdrew a small, aqua-colored crystal. Handing it to Annelique, she said "this crystal will allow you to find the fourth person who bears your mark. It will glow when they are near."

She stepped back again.

"When you reach your destination," she continued, "seek out the portal of three waterfalls. One of the natives should be able to show you the way there. I wish you luck, my friends," Charlotte said. With that, she outstretched her hand. Firey blue energy shot out of it and into the circle, causing the gold to glow. The whole world seemed to shift and suddenly everyone saw white. Electric tingles shot up and down their skin and, just like that, they were somewhere else.

The first thing they noticed were the smells. A thousand of them, all very intense--mushrooms, flowers, trees, and all manner of other things they couldn't quite identify. The next thing they noticed was the strange fauna that was generating it. They were in a forest, that much was certain, but it was quite unlike any forest any of them had been in before. The earth was blanketed in blue-colored grass, broken up by mushrooms that ran from miniscule to shoulder-high and more. The trees were enormous, some easily dozens of meters thick. They vanished up into the distance, obscured by foliage and branches long before their tops could be seen. The sky itself--assuming there was one--could not be seen for the sheer size of the enormous trees and their foliage.

"Where are we?" Sudvana asked, her voice filled with wonder.

"Phaesili..." Ushan said. "The land of the Fae."

"The Fae?" Sudvana said, a look of quiet alarm on her face. "The faeries?"

"Yes," Ushan said. "Why? Is something wrong?"

"I've just...heard stories of faeries luring and tricking people into...becoming food. I've heard they have strange powers."

"Both are certainly true," Ushan said. "But, like Demons, what happens when you meet a faerie depends a great deal on the circumstances under which you meet."

"And whether she's hungry," Gairanda said, peering keenly at the ground for any signs of travellers.

"I'm afraid that won't do you much good, my dear," Ushan said. "Faeries can fly."

"But their prey can't," Gairanda said. "If there are footsteps that disappear, then it's possible we're near hunting grounds."

"Ahh..." Ushan said. "How very astute. And what do your eyes tell you?"

"The ground here is very soft..." Gairanda said. "It looks like a few things have been through here recently...just about all of them barefoot, and lightweight..."

"How recently?" Ishiar asked.

"I'd guess within a week or two, or even less. It's hard to say without knowing what the weather's like out here."

"If we follow these tracks, do you think we'll find a town?" Sudvana asked.

"Well, it's not like we have any better ideas," Ishiar said.

"Everybody keep your eyes open," Gairanda said. "But don't trust them. Faeries are known for their illusions."

"If the faeries are so dangerous, what are we going to do if the first town we find is a faerie city?" Sudvana asked.

"As Ushan said, faeries are not always hostile..." Ishiar said as they started walking. "As far as I know, they are no more hostile than our kind."

"Our kind can be quite hostile, as our war with Aerothi will attest," Gairanda said.

"So we won't start any fights," Ishiar said. "We don't really have much choice. We can't exactly wander around and hope to find this portal all on our own."

The group walked for about twenty minutes, moving slowly at first until Gairanda got a good sense of which direction the tracks were going. There seemed to be many sets of tracks, but they seemed to converge in a particular direction, implying that there was indeed a town or similar point of interest there.

Their short journey was interrupted, however, by Ishiar's voice. She had been guarding the rear and acting as lookout while Gairanda took point at the front. Her voice wasn't fearful and didn't seem to carry a warning, but it nonetheless alarmed the whole party when she said:

"Um, guys?"

They all turned around.

"I'm not entirely sure about this," Ishiar said, "but I think there's a faerie sitting on my head."

She was right. There was a faerie sitting on her head. Or, more appropriately, on her shoulders. This was not some pint-sized pixie, but rather a fully human-sized faerie that appeared to be riding Ishiar like it was a perfectly normal thing. She was wearing a frilly white dress with red flowers embroidered on it and butterfly-like wings of red and pink emerged from her back. Her hair was a deep red, perfectly matching the glittering freckles that dappled her cheeks. Her wrists were each covered with a small circlet made of cloth and lace, her hands holding the front of Ishiar's forehead to keep her balance.

She was smiling mischievously at them. Seeing them all staring her, she shyly put one hand to her face and nibbled on one of her fingers.

"Yeah...yeah, there is a faerie sitting on your head." Gairanda said.

"Um...hello?" Sudvana said to the faerie.

"Hello," the faerie said back. She had a clear, pretty voice with just a little bit of sing-song quality to it.

"Um...forgive me if this is a stupid question, but were you planning to eat any of us?" Sudvana asked.

The faerie laughed. "Why? Did you want me too?"

"No, it's just...we weren't sure what to expect out here, that's all."

"Well, I certainly wasn't expecting you either," the faerie said with a smile. "So what brings you to Glitterdown?"

"Glitterdown? Is that the name of this area?" Gairanda asked.

"Of course it is," the faerie said. "I wouldn't say what brings you to Glitterdown if you weren't in Glitterdown."

"Can I ask you something?" Ishiar said, slightly annoyed at the fact that she was the only one who couldn't see the person they were all talking to (except for her legs, which were dangling down in front of her chest).

"Sure," she heard from above her.

"Have you heard of the portal of three waterfalls?"

"Let me think..." the faerie said. Smiling again, she bent down so that Ishiar could see her--just barely. "What will you give me if I tell you?"

Nobody really noticed Ralier's slight wince at the uncomfortably familiar statement.

"Well, I won't throw you off of me, for one thing." Ishiar said.

"You mean you'll let me ride you?" The faerie said, suddenly sounding ecstatic.

Ishiar instantly regretted what she had said. "...I suppose."

"Okay! Um...what did you want to know about it?"

"Where it is, first of all."

"Oh. Um..." the faerie stopped for a moment. "It's..."

"You don't know, do you?" Ishiar said, burying her face in her hand.

"No, I know, it's...I'm trying to remember..."

"Do you at least know somebody who knows?" Gairanda said.

"Y--yeah!" the faerie replied. "I know a bunch of people who know. The mapmaker would know for sure. Or the flutemaker. Or, um, Andelie might know, or Lylya--"

"Okay, we get the idea. Where are all these people?" Ishiar said.

"Oh. They're all in Glitterdown."

"I thought we were already in Glitterdown."

"We are. I meant Glitterdown the city, not Glitterdown the...other thing. The whole big place."

"Okay, how far away is Glitterdown the city?" Gairanda said.

"It's pretty close. I live in that tree over there; it takes me about ten minutes to fly there from here."

"Okay. Can you show us where it is?" Gairanda asked.

"If she lets me ride her!" the faerie said, looking happily at Ishiar.

Ishiar sighed. "Okay."

At least she wasn't heavy.

"Alright, go that way," the faerie said, pointing in exactly the same direction they had already been walking.

Thus, having survived their first encounter with a faerie, they continued their journey.

They had only been walking for about three minutes when suddenly the faerie started tapping frantically on Ishiar's head.

"Wait! Stopstopstop!" she whispered.

"What?" Ishiar said quietly.

"Wait, everybody--" the faerie hopped awkwardly off of Ishiar and started tapping all the others. "Stop! Everybody stop!" she repeated in emphatic whispers.

"What?" Ishiar repeated.

"Dragon pixies! I can hear them--they're just over there!" the faerie replied, pointing to one side as she rushed to hide in a nook between a tree and a giant mushroom. "Everybody hide!"

It was too late. A long, serpentine form was already emerging from behind one of the titanic trees. It was a strange, translucent creature, with a draconic face and several sets of long, finlike wings that looked like they would fit just as well on a sea serpent as on a dragon. It was easily twenty meters long and two meters thick on all sides. It glowed a pale blue and a set of ethereal organs was barely visible beneath it's translucent skin. The creature had obviously seen them and had started to advance, coming close before beginning a circling motion around the group, almost as though it was deciding which one to choose for lunch. It wasn't long before several more appeared, similarly circling around the group, occaisionally bobbing in and out between the trees or stopping to stare and emit an etherial growl from deep within their throats.

The group drew their weapons and Annelique knocked her bow.

"You're going to fight them!?" the faerie gasped in shock.

"They already know we're *here,*" Ishiar said.

"Then run!" the faerie replied.

One of the dragons suddenly zipped in and out at lightning speed, as if to illustrate just how futile that would be.

"Somehow I don't think that's an option," Ishiar said.

She counted four--they seemed to be keeping roughly an equal distance from each other.

"Annelique? Sudie?" Ishiar said.

"Yeah?" Sudvana replied.

Ishiar gritted her teeth as she gave them a sideways glance. "We have to shoot first or we're screwed..."

Annelique fired her bow and, in the exact same instant, all four dragons came charging in. Sudvana was taken a bit by surprise, but managed to get off a firebolt before the dragon reached her. It recoiled and turned it's head sideways with a growl before resuming it's charge.

The second dragon that was rushing Annelique was struck by her arrow, but it glanced off it's angular head to no effect. She threw down the bow and drew her sword, but the dragon was already whipping it's serpentine body into her midsection, violently knocking her back. Her hand was knocked from her swordhilt mid-draw and it fell to the ground several feet from where she did.

The third dragon was weaving rapidly between the trees, snapping it's jaws at Gairanda and Ushan. Every time it came close, however, there was a piercing crack from Ushan's whip and the beast jerked it's head away again.

"I believe your lady friend could use some assistance," Ushan said, jerking her head towards Sudvana, who had been encoiled by the dragon she was fighting. Gairanda ran towards her as the dragon's maw opened and descended on Sudvana's trapped body, rapidly gulping her down. It was giving it's final gulp right as Gairanda reached her. She could faintly see Sudvana's struggling body going down it's throat.

Expecting it to try to jerk back, Gairanda leapt forward and took a long swing with her sword. Jerk back it did--so far that even her long swing hit nothing but air. Ishiar, however, got a very good hit in--she had the good sense to get behind it. Unfortunately, the beast also had some sense--good enough sense to know that neither of them could hit it if it just flew away. Ishiar, not being happy with this concept, leapt forward and grabbed onto one of it's wings as it flew upward, trying (unsuccessfully) to pull herself on top of it so that she could stab it's brain or somesuch.

The fourth dragon flew upwards and plunged down into the middle of the group, smacking Ushan in the back with it's tail as it snapped at Blast with it's jaws. Blast leaned backwards just far enough that the attack missed, but Ushan was knocked forward into the waiting jaws of the dragon she had been holding off with her whip. It instantly had her in it's mouth up to her hips, and while she still had ahold of her whip, her arms were pinned by it's teeth.

Annelique picked herself up off the ground, only to dive sideways again to dodge another dragon tail. She grabbed her sword again and looked up just in time to see the dragon that had swallowed Sudvana flying off to find a quiet place to digest her.

Annelique sheathed her weapon as her hands began to burn with blue energy. As she stretched them towards the creature, a pillar of ice began to encase it, slowly dragging it to the ground.

"DUCK!" Gairanda screamed as she threw a dagger straight for Annelique's head.

Annelique was fortunate enough to notice and rolled to one side again, narrowly evading the snapping jaws of the fourth dragon. Gairanda's knife stuck into the side of it's neck, causing it to emit a brief screech of pain (or perhaps just irritation). It turned it's head towards Gairanda, a baleful glare appearing on it's draconic features. She leveled her sword at it, prepared to meet it's charge head on.

It rushed forward and tried to knock her off her feet, but Gairanda had braced herself along with her sword. It practically impaled itself on her, causing it to screech and withdraw. Trying a different tactic, it darted around and tried to snap at her from behind, but it got another facefull of sword for it's trouble. It tried it's tail; Gairanda did a rolling jump over it and slashed it yet again.

Finally, it got sick of fighting this extremely annoying meal and turned around to find easier prey.

It soon found some.

The faerie.

The faerie fled the second she was spotted, flying away from the dragon as fast as she could. It mattered little, however, as the dragon bolted towards her with blinding speed and with one giant *CHOMP,* it had swallowed her whole. Hovering in the spot where it had caught her, it looked down on the battle for a few moments before deciding it was content and flying away, the faerie kicking and screaming inside it the whole time as she was slowly pushed into it's innards.

Gairanda tried to run after it for a short time, but quickly realized that the others were still in danger--and she wasn't about to catch a dragon on foot.

The third dragon savored Ushan's taste for a few moments before flying straight up and opening it's maw wide, expecting her to drop right in. Ushan, however, had other plans. The moment the dragon's teeth let go of her arms she extended them both outwards as far as she could, catching herself on either side of the beast's mouth with her elbows. With a dull grunt of exertion, she straightened her legs and then let them both fall to one side, causing her to fall sideways out of the dragon's mouth. She found herself freefalling towards the ground, with the surprised (and irritated) dragon turning around and uselessly snapping it's jaws behind her.

Annelique resumed her attempt to freeze the second dragon, painfully aware that the first dragon was very close to her--she would likely be on the ground, or in it's belly, if it weren't busy fighting Blast and Ralier.

They actually seemed well-suited to the battle. The creature simply couldn't come at Ralier from any safe angle--she had her sharp, armored legs to jab it with on all sides, and she could hit it with her punch daggers if it came from above. She also seemed too heavy for the creature to easily lift, and any time it got it's jaws around her and tried, Blast would jump up and start poking it in the eye until it dropped her. It tried to attack Blast a few times, but she was just never there when it snapped it's jaws--all it got was more pokes in the eye.

Ushan hit the ground with a tuck and roll, narrowly evading the dragon's teeth as it was forced to pull up. Miraculously, she still had her whip in her hand, and without missing a beat she started lashing at the beast once more. It was angry now, and it wasn't pulling back to avoid her whip anymore; it was taking her lashes and still coming. She quickly found herself backpedaling. When she felt her back thump into a tree, she knew she was in serious trouble.

That's when Blast hopped up and poked it in the eye.

The creature, already angry, became enraged. It turned on Blast and shot towards her with such sudden ferocity that it actually took the small redhead by surprise. There was a squeal and a series of rapid, brutal bites, at the end of which Ushan could actually see Blast's squirming form slithering down the dragon's throat. She didn't have time to react to this, however, as the dragon immediately turned back to her.

Not knowing what else to do, she whipped it in the face as hard as she could and then ran towards the rest of the group, hoping she could get some backup. She didn't get far before the dragon turned it's head sideways and she felt a set of jaws clamping around her; one side of it's mouth at the top of her chest, the other in the middle of her thighs.

Ralier was only a few feet away by this time, however, and she had adopted Blast's method of poking them in the eye--except when she did it, it was with foot-long punch daggers.

"LET" *STAB* "HER" *STAB* "GO" *STAB* "BITCH!" Ralier bellowed as she wrapped her arm around the dragon's head and repeatedly drove her left armspike into it's eyeball.

Her hold was short-lived, however. She was thrown off when the dragon took flight, heading straight upwards and trying to swallow Ushan again.

Meanwhile, Gairanda and Ishiar were taking turns relentlessly hacking at the dragon which Annelique had frozen to the ground. It writhed and bellowed in the tight confines of the ever-thickening ice until finally it's body went limp. It began to disintegrate, leaving Sudvana lying in a puddle of thick ooze, clutching her staff to her now half-naked body.

"Th-thanks, guys..." she said.

"It's not over yet," Gairanda said. "Annelique! Hit number two up there!" she yelled, pointing at the dragon that was about to swallow Ushan.

Annelique threw her hands to the sky and a fireball erupted from her fingertips, arcing upwards and striking the dragon square in the head. Ushan was flung violently from it's mouth and her now-smoking body sailed through the air until she crashed violently into one of the trees. Annelique hit the beast with another fireball as it descended towards Ushan, but hitting the tree had dazed the succubus and the creature was fast--it caught her right out of the air and gulped her down quickly before flying away from the group. Annelique tried to hit it with more spells, as did Sudvana, but it was rapidly gaining altitude and was now using the trees as cover, keeping them between it and it's fireball-flinging enemies.

Annelique wasted no time. She leapt into the air, flying as fast as she could after the dragon.

This turned out to be a critical mistake.

There was still one more dragon.

Having failed to make any progress against Blast and Ralier, it had taken to skulking behind one of the trees, waiting for one of it's prey to become vulnerable or separate itself from the group. Annelique had just done both. When she got just far enough away from the others that they couldn't save her, it streaked out of it's hiding place.

Annelique didn't realize her mistake until she felt something warm and wet sliding against her legs. Looking down, she saw that she was already halfway down the beast's throat, and by the time she realized what was happening it's jaws were closing overtop of her. It's tongue pressed up against the top of her head and began shoving her down it's throat, her wings contorting awkwardly as she slithered down into the hot, slimy depths of the beast.

"Dammit!" Ishiar screamed. Picking up Annelique's bow, she took several shots at the creature, but they all missed or glanced off for little damage.

As she watched the last dragon fly off into the distance with Annelique in it's belly, she gritted her teeth and felt her shoulders slump. She realized she was breathing very heavily.

"So much for the four legendary heros, huh?" she said, hoping her voice wasn't cracking as much as she thought it was. "We just got our asses kicked."

No one said anything. The group which only moments ago had contained eight people had been suddenly cut down to four--Sudvana, Ishiar, Gairanda, and Ralier.

"It's alright," Sudvana finally said. "We'll find them."

"How?" Ishiar said.

"I don't know," she replied. "But I thought all of you were dead, yet you found me. Now I think we can find them. We just need help."

"From the faeries?" Ishiar said.

"From the faeries, or anyone else who will help us," Sudvana answered.

"Then we'd better get a fuckin' move on," Ishiar said.

The rest didn't need convincing.

******

(A few moments earlier)

Blast yelped as Ushan's leather boot suddenly gouged into her face, followed quickly by her legs and butt as the succubus was pushed into the stomach alongside her. Soon the two women were pressed together front to back, with the shorter Blast pushed slightly deeper than Ushan.

The Dragon Pixie's stomach had an eerie quality to it. It was hot and slimy, of course, but it had an otherworldly blue glow, and shadowy views of the outside world were just barely visible through it. It's muscles were kneading the two women and thick slime was beginning to drip down their bodies.

"I don't know how to tell you this, my dear," Ushan said, "but we seem to have a problem."

Blast nodded. The only reason Ushan could even tell was because her face was buried in her back.

Ushan thought for a moment. She could feed her honey to Blast, ensuring that she could be brought back to life IF someone had the skill and knowledge to do so before the Dragon's excrement cooled...but she doubted that. She doubted anyone would even know to try it, unless Annelique was trailing behind them. Which she might be.

"Blast dear, on the off chance that Annelique is following us, I would recommend you partake of my honey...while I still have breasts to dispense it with."

Apparently agreeing that this was a good idea, Blast started scooching herself around, trying to get to Ushan's front. She pulled away part of Ushan's elaborate leather outfit, exposing her breast. Gingerly, she started sucking on it.

That was all fine and good for Blast, of course, but Ushan knew her honey wouldn't work on herself, and it wouldn't do either of them any good if Annelique hadn't managed to keep up with the dragon, or if she'd been eaten herself. She figured destiny might go out of it's way to save four fate-bound heros, but a succubus and her crazy alchemist friend might not be so high on it's list.

No rescue came for quite some time. She felt her clothing slowly dissolve as time went by. After an hour or two, Ushan was fairly certain that a rescue was more or less completely out of the question. The disorienting feeling of the dragon's belly swaying back and forth in flight had ended; it had abruptly stopped and was in it's lair now, wherever that was, digesting it's prey in safety.

She gently rubbed her hands against Blast's body; she told herself it was to have one final, overwhelming sensual experience, but in truth a part of her just wanted to comfort the other girl. Blast simply laid in her arms, resting her head against Ushan's chest.

In time, she started to feel faint. She knew she didn't have much longer. It was then that she suddenly felt Blast's fingers enter her mouth, dropping some sort of object inside. It seemed to be some kind of nut.

Given that it was coming from Blast, it was probably going to do something completely absurd. She decided to eat it anyway.

Of course, it turned out she was right.

As she began to lose consciousness, something popped. In an instant, she was wide awake again, but every sense she had was gone, replaced with a completely different set of senses. She could still see, but her sight was different. She could still smell, but her smell was different. She could still feel, but her body was DEFINATELY different. In fact, as she looked around and got a look at herself, she realized she had become--or possessed--a pixie dragon, identical to the type who had attacked her. In fact, she may well have possessed one of the ones that attacked her specifically.

She quickly realized this was the case when she tasted the two bodies in her belly. Her stomach was practically aching with desire to push them on to her intestines, and for a moment she was almost tempted. The dragon she had possessed was indeed in it's lair; a cave containing two other dragons which may well just immediately eat her body were she to puke it up. Her wiser part won out, however, and she surreptitiously flew out of the cave and found a secluded spot in the forest on the adjoining mountain to hork up her body and Blast's.

It took some effort to barf herself up, but she managed it. Her body and Blast's burped out of her throat, thick strands of glop trailing behind them. Both of their bodies seemed intact, though they were both utterly naked except for Blast's potion belt, Ushan's whip, and a few tattered rags clinging to their bodies. Her own body seemed to be unconscious, but Blast picked herself up, wiped off some of the slime, then looked up at her and waved. Ushan sort of waved back with one of her finlike wings. She then flew back to the lair, not really sure what to do next. She didn't have to figure it out, though, because right around that time, she found herself returning to her own body. She could have almost sworn she saw something very strange sticking out of the ass of one of the other dragons just before she did, though...

******

"Ick! Ick ick ick ick ICK!" Maralindi said as she kicked and elbowed at the slimy folds of stomach tissue that encradled her. Big globs of mucous and digestive juice were oozing all over her, soaking her dress and her delicate wings. "Let me out, you overgrown nethersnake!"

The stomach just churned her harder.

"I've got friends! They'll come after you!" she continued, not at all convinced of what she was saying. Sure, she had friends--even good ones--but none who were capable of taking on a pack of Pixie Dragons.

She kept trying to thrust herself back up it's throat, but the esophagal sphincter held itself tightly closed and she just ended up sliding her hands and feet against the creature's slimy stomach walls. She tried casting spells, but they all fizzled practically before she had even started.

Her struggles seemed to give it an idea of her shape, and it began to wrap around her, squeezing and pushing on her from all directions. She slid all around, falling topsy-turvey all over herself. Her dress was soaked, clinging to her skin like wet laundry, and her wings were constantly pressed and folded against her. The beast's belly was making her skin tingle all over, as if she was being massaged by a thousand tiny, slimy hands.

She all but panicked. She was a faerie! Faeries were delicate! They weren't meant for this kind of abuse! There was no way she would survive in here. But the harder she tried to push herself towards the dragon's throat, the deeper it pushed her into it's body.

After ten or twenty minutes, it seemed to get so sick of her struggles that it simply clenched down on her. It was so slick with digestive juice that it forced the faerie's whole body right into the hot, tight tube of the dragon's intestine. Suddenly she felt as though she had been vacuum-packed, with slimy flesh stretched over her like a stretchy cocoon. Nonetheless, the dragon pixie's muscles kept pushing down on her and she started sliding inch by inch through the intestine.

She started to feel faint and dizzy. She squirmed weakly, but it did no good. Eventually she just let herself go limp.

Suddenly, she felt something tickling her foot.

GROSS! It must have been the pixie dragon's turds! Maralindi pulled her foot away, but the intestine kept pushing her towards whatever it was. Something touched her foot again--it actually seemed to be moving. It almost felt like a set of fingers. As another squeeze sent her further down the intestine, she felt a strong hand clench down on her ankle and she felt a sudden yank...

******

Annelique was practically encased in a ball of her own slimy feathers. She could feel the heat of the pixie dragon's stomach outside and on her legs. Klayer had briefly taught her about this too...she said there was only one rule:

"The stomach isn't a roadblock--it's a one-way street. Get on that street and run."

She could get out if she could live long enough to reach the end of the creature's digestive tract. Pushing herself down to the end of the stomach would be all too easy, but the intestines might be another story. Nonetheless, it was her best chance. She did her best to shimmy her body down through the stomach, riding the peristaltic contractions of it's muscles as it tried to digest her. She felt her feet reach the sphincter that led to the intestines in short order. It didn't open up right away, but with a little pushing she got it to yawn open and accept her feet. After that, the stomach itself started to push her in. She desperately hoped she knew what she was doing as she felt herself being pushed into the tight intestine. Her legs and hips slid in easily enough, but it got hung up when it came to her wings. She winced, not entirely sure how to fix the situation. In the end, she just pulled her wings down and folded them against her back as tightly as she could, pushing her wingtips into the intestine. After that it seemed to go smoothly; with a BLORP, the stomach walls squished the big mass of her wings and chest into the intestines, and her head was practically an afterthought.

Her whole body was now engulfed in the strange texture of the creature's intestine. Now she just had to find a way to speed her passage through it. She found that if she extended her wings out a little bit, she could push the rest of her body deeper, then she could carefully pull them back without losing ground. She started doing this and seemed to be making good progress, but she was quickly becoming fatigued. She knew it wasn't from the exertion, either--the heat and digestive juices in the intestines were sapping her strength. She felt her body almost slipping away from her mind a few times, but she forced herself to focus--forced herself to move. She wanted so much just to take a deep breath, but the intestinal flesh covered her mouth and nose so tightly that she couldn't breathe to begin with.

She shimmied and pushed with her wings until they burned from the exertion. Just as she worried that she could struggle no more, she felt her feet push into something thick, soft, and warm.

She winced--it didn't take a genius to know what it was, but it meant she was close to her goal. The intestine began to push her into it, and she felt her feet burrow deeper as the thick substance squished over her calves, then her knees. By the time it reached her thighs her feet had hit another fleshy wall; doubtless the end of it's rectum. Her knees bent and her legs began to curl around as the thick glop began to engulf her breasts. She wasn't looking forward to the next part, but it came nonetheless--she clenched her eyes shut as the intestine squoze down one last time, pushing her head into the thick mass and burying it along with the rest of her body.

At no other time in her life was she so glad that people didn't need to breathe to live.

As she laid suspended in the dragon pixie's waste, she weighed her options. She could wait it out, or she could try to find the exit herself. Both had their risks; she doubted the beast's rectum had the strength to digest her, but then, she was already weak and wasn't an expert on such things. Not to mention the fact that sitting for hours engulfed in a wad of dragon shit wasn't the most appealing thing she could think of. On the other hand, if she pushed herself out, the dragon pixie would know she was still alive and would likely just eat her again.

Then it dawned on her. She didn't need to push herself out--she just needed to get it to push her out. And all she needed to do to accomplish that was make it really want to poop.

With all her remaining strength, she stretched out her wings, pushing the disgusting substance around her outward into the rectal walls. She held it out as far as she could, stretching it to it's bursting point.

This seemed to have an immediate effect--the dragon, previously docile, started moving. There was a disorienting shift, then suddenly the rectal walls started to squeeze. Annelique felt the dragon turds pushing into her as the dragon began to evacuate it's bowels. She was pushed through a tight opening, but thankfully not so tight as to get her wings caught. The dragon shit her out along with the rest of it's waste, leaving her in a warm coccoon on the hard ground.

Despite her aching desire to get out of this giant log of shit, she kept herself completely motionless, hoping that the dragon would not notice her or--if it did--it would not consider her shit-covered body to be particularly appetizing.

It seemed to work. Though she couldn't see and couldn't hear, owing to her head being stuffed in a pile of dookie, nothing had tried to eat her again.

Slowly and pensively, she shifted her weight and began to sit up.

She wasn't keen on the idea of wiping her eyes, given what her hands were covered in, so she summoned some water magic to clean and flush them out so she could look around.

She was in a cave of some sort. It was fairly small, dwarfed by the two dragon pixies who were coiled up inside it, seemingly sleeping. Where the third had gone, she didn't know.

Suddenly, she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye. Something was squirming inside one of the dragon pixies. Though it's ethereal organs obscured most of the view, from the red color of the shape inside she was guessing it was the faerie. Her struggles were very weak; Annelique was guessing she wasn't going to last much longer.

She needed to find a way to get her out, and quickly. Looking around the room, she saw her opportunity--it was hanging from her own belt. One of the thin, strong ropes she had bought in Kikagonroth before they had left.

As quietly as she could, she crawled over to where the dragon pixie was sleeping. Tying the rope up into a loop on one end, she carefully wrapped it around the dragon pixie's tail, then tied the other end around her wrist. Wincing slightly, she put her hand into the dragon pixie's anus and started pushing herself inside.

This roused the dragon from it's slumber. It turned around, quite puzzled at both the sight and the sensation of having an angel try to shove itself up it's ass. It would have eaten her, but apparently she had already covered herself in shit--not tasty. Besides, if she got up it's ass, it would pull her up into it's stomach anyway.

Deciding she must have some sort of fetish and that the situation would sort itself out, the dragon turned it's head back and went back to sleep.

Pushing her way into the dragon's colon was all too easy, but Annelique had expected that getting into it's intestine would be far more difficult. It turns out she was drastically incorrect--the intestine siezed upon her immediately and actually started pushing her upwards, towards the stomach. She felt her hand brush up against the faerie's feet within moments, and only a few seconds after that, she had managed to grab ahold of her ankle. The intestine seemed to be momentarily confused, with one meal it wanted to ingest and another that it wanted to digest. Unfortunately for them both, it decided to push both of them back up towards the stomach for further digestion.

Annelique clung as hard as she could to the faerie's ankle, at the same time trying to pull herself back down the intestine using the rope that led back out of it's rectum. The intestine didn't like this at all, but for once it's slimy surface worked to their advantage by preventing it from ever getting a firm grip on them. She desperately hoped that the rope would not snap or dissolve inside the dragon's digestive tract--it would spell doom for both of them. It was exhausting work, but inch by inch Annelique managed to pull them both out of the intestine, through the rectum and back out into the cave.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!" was the first thing Annelique heard when her feet hit the floor. She turned around and saw the faerie behind her, covered in dragon shit and looking like she was either going to scream or cry.

"Sorry," Annelique said. "That's pretty much the only way out."

The faerie grimaced as she expelled a small brown lump from her mouth. "If I had known it would have been like this, I might have preferred letting it digest me."

"If you had let it digest you, you would *look* like this."

Their reparte had awoken the two pixie dragons, and the third had apparently returned in the meantime. All three were staring at them.

"Oh shit..." the faerie said, seeming to realize their situation for the first time. "Um...we'll be quiet," she said to them meekly.

"It's okay, I don't think we look very appetizing right n--"

Annelique was cut short as water dumped all over her. It seemed to hit her like a firehose from every direction, leaving her soaked and, as it turned out, alarmingly clean.

"Why did you do that!?" The faerie demanded, who had apparently been hit with a similar effect.

"It wasn't me--" Annelique said, but that was as far as she got. There was a snap of teeth as both girls flew off the ground, just shy of a set of pixie dragon jaws.

"We've got to get out of--" Annelique stammered, before seeing that one of the pixie dragons had placed itself firmly in the way of the exit, practically filling it with it's serpentine bulk.

"Why me?" the faerie said. "Why couldn't it have been Sindica? She deserves it..."

"Now's not the time..." Annelique replied, her mind racing. Who had cast that water spell? Was it one of the pixie dragons? Why hadn't they cast any spells before? Was there someone else around?

"Do you know any teleport magic?" the faerie asked.

"No..." Annelique answered. "Do you?"

The faerie shot upward and one of the dragons crashed into the cave wall where she had been only moments before. "No," she said in a wavering voice.

Annelique started to summon her magic, but she had been inside one pixie dragon or another for so long that she was drained almost dry.

The pixie dragons coiled their massive tails around the cave, gradually boxing the two girls in until they were both trapped in a corner, staring at three huge, hungry maws.

"Well, that was a really nice escape we had once..." the Faerie said hopelessly.