Chương 21: Chapter 20

Duram-Mandom Titania of Whitewood, Dame-Captain of the Goldenwood The stink of rot was an unmistakable one, the smell of collapsing life, the smell of blooming parasites, the smell of sickness and of disease. The smell of corruption was a heady one, one she had spent many years learning, and many years more scouring away. The ambient stink of the world was easy enough to ignore, the faint waft of decay that hung over most earthly places and accumulated in deep pools where sunlight did not reach.

The eleven halls and lands were the few places where this faint aroma of decay did not reach- kept at bay with wards and great diligence. The homely fortresses of Elvenkind, clean bastions in ponds and seas of rolling sickness. Most people bore physical signs of this rot- in their skin, in their horns, in their tails, in their scales. Any number of deviances or corruptions of the pure form sprouting up in the ambience of this entropy, as pattern met change.

Usually, their forms were warped in accordance with their stink, which allowed all to be well aware of the corruption present in their souls, not just elves and their sharp senses. The woman held at swordpoint bore no such physical warping. She was as any eye could see a pure and hale human, with fair form and modest dress. The stench of rot that clung to her was just the opposite- a wafting odor of beached leviathan and wasted tropical harvests.

Like a mountain of putrefying blubber and moldering mango- rotting and sweet and oily. A stench strong enough to drown out all other smells in her vicinity, burying them beneath rolling oceans of decomposition. All but one- a scent that clung strongly to her form, layered over the mountains of sweet and oleaginous stink. Plastered over her skin and in her hair and on her breath like warpaint. The smell of oak smoke and honey- well-spiced with renewed fire and venom, twinged with the heavy musk of intercourse.

A fresh smell, one and a half hour old at the oldest, that spoke of proximity and mingling. The smell of a demon- or something just as rotten- and the hour-old scent of her student subject to its torments. Winds screamed around Titania's blade, and her eyes burned bright blue even through the bright daylight. The winds spiralled around her like a roaring hurricane, and climbed high into the air like a tower.

Those uninvolved were in the process of fleeing already, shouts and nervous yells carrying through the howling airs, followed by the stomping of boots on stonework. The rotten leviathan flinched back, eyes widening and mouth parting in astonishment, brows furrowing and hand raising. Titania did not allow her the space, keeping equal distance with her blade as the thing-in-disguise fumbled with nothing.

"I- I'm afraid I don't know what you're speaking of- elf." Sweet and homely tones in a wonderful, beautiful, and masterfully practiced voice. Among elves, such a voice would be revered for how expertly it guised the speaker. Loathed for the smell that spilled out of those delicate lips.

"L-lady Titania! What are you doing?!" the dark elf called out worriedly.

"Elf…?" The tall form of the trollfather rumbled uncertainly, hand coming down to the hilt of his handaxe and bushy brows furrowed. Keeping her gaze fixed on the disguised landfill, Titania explained herself in brief Rasil-speak.

"This woman reeks of corruption and my student. The smell of my student is not yet two hours old." One ear flicked.

"Inhale, dark elf, and smell for yourself."

"I don't-"" Silence," Titania hissed, making the woman flinch back again. She noticed the brief clench of one hand into a clawed grasping motion before returning to a more relaxed gesture.

"Dark elf- Smell what I smell." The dark elf's face was scrunched up in tense worry, before hesitantly raising her nose to taste the airs. The others stood still, eyes moving between her and the cornered woman worriedly. The trollfather was still as any mountain, evaluating the scene with a stony countenance.

"Eugh!" The dark elf recoiled, raising a hand to pinch her nose with furrowed brows and narrowed eyes.

"It's like someone covered a dead whale in honey and smoked it wi-" The dark elf froze, before suddenly assuming a much more focused and intense look. Her hands went to the daggers on her belt, and eyes narrowed into slits.

"... Lady Titania is right."

"Now- I don't know what I've done to be harassed like this bu-""Teg," Titania interrupted. Those expertly-crafted irises flashed with hateful irritation, before disappearing just as quickly. Like a flash of lightning in the dark of the night- impossible to miss for those who were looking.

"Y-yes Titania?" the fairy replied, half-hiding behind Dordi's shoulder and staring at the sharp winds around her form.

"Create the waygate to Lady Greenwood." The bright purple eyes of the rotten leviathan narrowed into furious slits, and pretenses of innocence disappeared from her face. A half-moment later and a hand in clawlike gesture slammed into the paved road. Titania was already moving. The earth rippled under the leviathan, splintering bursts of rock screaming their way out of the ground in a furious, speeding path towards Dordi and the fairy hidden behind her shoulder.

An immense blade of hardened earth exploded through the paved road of the city, wide as a horse was tall and as thick as a man's waist. Up and forwards, like the blades of the oldest earth elementals. Titania was already between the immense earthen blade and her wards. The winds around her spiraled and compressed along the length of her blade, in time for her to swing up. Her blade of hurricane winds struck the underside of the speeding mountain-sword.

Her arms tensed, muscles roaring and mana laden-body struggling with the weight of a sharpened landslide. Screaming winds and groaning stone filled the air, and a final heave changed the forwards-angle of the earthen blade, upwards more than forwards, and finally all the way back to rest on its hilt. The hilt of the immense blade still stuck fast at the base of the immense trench that it had torn open with its emergence, propping up the tower-sword.

As tall as any of the windmills that littered the town, and wrought seemingly of raw metals- the kind that had never known the heat of any forge save the molten veins of the earth itself. It stood proudly erect near the gates, at the end of a trail of destruction it had carved. Titania slumped forwards, stumbling once before righting herself and bringing up her blade again. Her arms screamed, her legs shook, and her feet were stuck in deep grooves in the ground.

"Teg, run and summon her!" Titania roared out, prompting the fairy to immediately speed away in a glint of light and the twinkling of bells. Titania's attention was focused on the figure of the rotten leviathan, crouched half-behind the newborn towersword and glaring.

"Wretched little elf," the rotten leviathan hissed, eyes wide and burning purple. The dress dissolved in flakes of ash as she dropped the basket of golden apples, which spilled out as crudely-wrought coins instead of fruit. The basket itself flattened in on itself, twisting into sheets of polished canvas. A long lashed tail spilled out from the dress, and the back burst away with the flexing of immense red wings.

The humble bow atop the leviathans' head burnt away, twisted horns growing up and out as the cloth dissolved. Hands spread out, claws growing at the tips of the fingers as slippers burst into taloned toes.

"And such a goodly day I was having, a goodly day that you have stolen." One of the horns was full and wickedly-sharp. The other snapped off halfway up and leaving a mangled, scarred cap to the end of what would've been a magnificent crown. The dress burned away entirely, leaving behind a silky, pitch-black gown decorated with bands of gold and many-hued gemstones. The red hair fell from its humble bun, spilling down in curly waves of red-gold and spreading out like licking flames.

"It began with the capture of a little elfling- a lovely specimen of great thews and exceptional breeding. The child of one who had stolen my victory twenty years prior, now mine. I indulged myself with his flesh and music, and sated my hungers with his loins. In a year he will be my mewling plaything, and do me good service." She pulled up from her crouch, dragging a long blade of glinting grey from the earth as she rose. Unworked adamantine grown into a four-foot curved blade and filled with spiraling ripples.

A saber of immense proportion and immeasurable cost pulled from the ground like an errant weed.

"You have poisoned that delightful moment, elf. You rutting-bitch, sniffing about what doesn't belong to you, speaking of business not your own, and spoiling plots you have no involvement in. You have stuck your filthy face into my meal and spoiled the dish. You have sickened me." The earth itself began to rumble, even as Titania stepped forwards and readied her sword once more, putting on it a mantle of howling, bladed winds and tearing up the ground around her.

It would not be enough, if every blow had strength like the towersword.

"The death of this city will be my theriac." A dragon hiding in the flesh of a woman stood in the midst of a rumbling city, windows cracking and foundations shaking with her rising fury. Pebbles and fruits shook about on the streets, and people stumbled as the earth heaved and rolled beneath them. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

"Your servitude, living or dead, will be your atonement." The dragon raised her blade of raw adamant, voice rumbling like an earthquake and accented in swallowed ghosts.

"You, and you alone, are responsible for this."

"MAL-A-MA-DR!" the trollfather roared, voice booming over the rumble of the earth and the shaking of the city, a mile or more his warcry carried clearly, and a mile more it carried in tone. A moment passed, the dragon giving a tiny glance towards the troll who had roared out the name. A hateful, condescending look, the kind given to an insect found within one's pantry.

Another moment later- and the war-roars of other trolls began to echo through the rumbling city, voices of a hundred trolls rolling like avalanches over the buildings and through the streets. A slowly building flash-flood that ripped through the stone and valleys unstoppably. Angry and enormous in the manner that only the roars of the mountainfolk could be, filled with grudges left unpaid. Loud enough to shake the bones, large enough to cover a mountain.

"KAAAAAA-" The rumbling of the earth grew more fearsome, this time not with the wrath of a dragon, but the tramping of trolls and giants.

"-GAAAAAANNNNNN-" Gravelbrook stomped forwards, roaring in time with the trollsong and swinging his immense axe down in a double-handed grip.

"-UUUUUUSSSSSSSSSSS-" A massive scaled tail smashed into his midsection like a bolt of lightning, doubling the troll over and throwing him back as if struck by a god's hammer. He flew through the air for a moment, then smashed into the brick-walls of a building that flanked the road and disappeared behind a cloud of dust and rumble of earth.

"AAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNN-""Bothersome babe," Malamadr hissed, tail lashing as it shrank and returned to its previous scale.

"Stay quiet."

"KA-GAN-US-AN! KA-GAN-US-AN! KA-GAN-US-AN!"

"Everyone. Flee," Titania commanded, beginning slow but sure steps directly towards the dragon- who regarded her with hateful amusement.

"She is beyond any of you." She needed to force the beast beyond the bounds of the city- beyond the reach of innocents. She needed to hold it long enough for Teg to summon Lady Greenwood, and for Lady Greenwood to arrive ready to battle a dragon. She needed to survive afterwards to return with Rasil. Her bones quaked with pain already. She wasn't sure if she could.

"KA-GAN-US-AN! KA-GAN-US-AN! KA-GAN-US-AN!"

"Do not think yourself an exception to that- elf." The dragon's tail lashed furiously as she took her own step forwards. The step was light, but shattered the stone and rumbled the ground all the same.

"You think I'm going to run from this bitch?" the dark elf hissed, drawing twin daggers, each a foot long and curved, with spikelike forwards protrusions.

"Malamadr, who has long harassed Saint Erem and his works," the half-lizard declared, brandishing an immense, gilded greatsword in her wide clawed hands and glaring. Her own tail lashed about as she stalked forwards.

"I'd rather die than flee." Fortunately, Dordi was more than happy to rapidly scuttle away.

"KA-GAN-US-AN! KA-GAN-US-AN! KA-GAN-US-AN!"

"Harassed?" the dragon hissed.

"As if I were the aggressor. My only crime was refusing to allow his abandonment- refusing to permit his shirking of duties to me."

"Lies falling from a forked tongue," the half-lizard declared. The dragon's eyes flashed. Titania threw herself forwards, speeding along on hurricane-winds. Her blade smashed into the great blade of adamantine- throwing it upwards with another spiraling wind, barely saving the halflizard from a bisection. The ground cracked, her bones shook.

"HE WAS MINE! HE WAS SUPPOSED TO KEEP ME! AND HE LEFT ME IN BONES AND ASH!" Titania ducked. A wicked tail whipped around, stabbing forwards, tearing through the space where her head once sat. The half-lizard swung at it, great blade knocking the tail to the side and chipping the scales.

"KA-GAN-US-AN! KA-GAN-US-AN! KA-GAN-US-AN!" Titania swung, blade filled with light and howling winds. A spiral tower of bladed winds burst forth, and smashed into the dragon's midsection. Rolling, rippling, razor sharp and strong enough to rip roofs off houses. A horizontal hurricane.

The dragon's wings closed around her as she flew back, smashing through the brickwork of a far building- which then toppled from the howling winds, which flung her further into the next row of buildings, which smashed her against the outer wall of the town itself. The hurricane-blade slowly dissipated, Titania letting out a long breath and stumbling once more, righting her blade and glaring tensely at the canyon carved out of houses and streets.

There at the end of the canyon, rubble shifted, then decayed into sand and gravel. Wings pushed out from the pile of loose soil, allowing a figure to emerge once more. Abdomen now exposed- dress shredded and torso covered in many thousands of tiny red scratches. Malamadr raised her hand, brushing against her torso and glaring at her hand. The bright purple eyes turned upwards once more, and glared directly at her.

"KA-GAN-US-AN! KA-GAN-US-AN! KA-GAN-US-AN!" Titania's ears folded back, and she filled her blade with wind once more. The rubble beside them shifted, even as the ground continued to quake, and pushing from the rock was the tall form of the trollfather, hand clinging to his axe and horns spilling rock-dust. His glare and stomp were heavy, and his tunic was tattered.

"Gonna need to hit her harder than that, elf," he rumbled, pushing up and ignoring the tears in his stomach.

"The scales of a dragon are too thick for a little wind to keep them down. You need metal in hand- heavy and sharp." Titania decided against revealing that blow was about as hard as she could hit. Ever-growing in strength, the war-song of the trolls boomed and rolled.

"KA-GAN-US-AN! KA-GAN-US-AN! KA-GAN-US-AN!" —??? Mallorn the Elf The second time he awoke in the lair of the dragon was somewhat more pleasant than the last. He was exceptionally warm, his entire body was sticky, and he was pretty sure his hips were fractured. He was also currently the captive of an amorous monster, and being a captive irked him rather fearsomely.

A quick bath in the springs to wash off the fluids, an uncaring theft of whatever food looked tastiest in the pantry, and a quick dry using a tapestry later and he was sitting nude in the middle of the treasure hoard. Now, he wasn't necessarily mad that he had been bullied into having kinky sex with an ancient evil dragon lady. If she had asked he would've said 'hell yeah' and that would be that. However. He bit into the flank of smoked meat and tore off another chunk of delicious food.

She had decided that foreplay meant a violent kidnapping, abduction, and confinement. Pulling him away from his current duty, away from the roads of civilization, and away from his exceptionally enjoyable adventure. He chewed and swallowed, before taking another angry bite. Now, a weaker man might declare something to the effect of 'I can fix her' and stay as the cozy little househusband of the fearsome dragonwoman.

She was hot and crazy, both of which activated the part of the manbrain that was aroused by unstable women. Through long term persuasion and lovely-dovey impregnation sex, he'd think, surely he would turn her wicked self into a happy and loving mother. Mallorn, on the other hand, was not in the mood to forgive and forget being kidnapped like this. There were plenty of evil women in the world, if he was in the mood to seduce one. As an elf, he would have plenty of time for that later.

'I can fix her'? Fuck that. He was going to turn her into a suit of armor. Now- the dragon was probably expecting one of three possibilities from him. The first was that he attempted to flee without taking anything from the cave. No potential curses, just the frigid wilds until he could get back home. The second was that he attempted to flee after stealing supplies from her hoard, presumably trading off the dangers of the frigid wilds with the danger of whatever spells were laid upon the items in the cave.

The third likely option was that he remained in the cave and waited for a potential rescue, or some better opportunity to flee, or something like that. That would probably be the smart thing to do, remain placid and agreeable until an ideal opportunity came around to strike or flee. She probably assumed that he wasn't stupid enough to simply attack her directly the next time she returned. She was an immense dragon, a shapeshifter, some manner of magic user, and he was a naked elf.

That was her critical mistake, because he was stupid enough to do that. What was the worst that could happen, he'd die? Oh boy, suddenly none of this would be his problem anymore. He tossed the rest of the meat over his shoulder, carelessly littering in her stupid cave full of riches, and cast his gaze around for a suitable weapon to carry out his ambush. Traditionally, an attack like this would be carried out with a spear or a sword from below- but he had seen through brittle scales at the base of her tail.

The tail was something that probably had pretty immense veins to pump blood, and would likely be important for balance and movement. Something big and choppy at that exact spot might be able to cut the spine, cut important veins, and bleed her out. It wasn't a guarantee… But up there, he could cling to that tiny overlook at the roof of the cave if he got up that far, and fall down upon her as she passed. Swords… Spears… He was about to reach out for a greatsword, silvery and rippled, but something stopped him.

Some instinct compelled him to look a bit to the side and onwards. There an immense golden axe sat, handle as long as he was tall and head double-bladed. He stared at it for a few moments more, briefly nonplussed by the somewhat silly design of a double-bladed axe head. … But the extra weight would make a chop like this stronger, wouldn't it? And if he missed his opener, he'd be dead anyways, wouldn't he? So those downsides didn't really matter in this case.

He stepped over the rolling gold, towards the silly long-axe and inspected it for a few moments more. He took hold of the handle, feeling the warm grip and testing the weight. It was indeed heavy, an axe built for someone a bit taller than him, and added weight making the hefting twice as hard as it should be. Struggling on, he stepped back, pulling the axe from the piles of gold and using both hands to raise it upwards. When held aloft, the edge caught the light of the lanterns and glimmered like a golden mirror.

The interior-section of the axehead was a pale gold, more like white or ivory, and the center of the axe depicted a seven-winged woman. He grinned.

"What say you, miss axe? Want to help me kill a dragon?" The axe said nothing, but Mallorn pretended he could hear it making a pleased hum.