Tender Mercies

Martin found himself unable to look away as well, he knew he was looking at his own death, but his body seemed about to betray him in spite of that. His sword fell from limp fingers, clanging loudly on the cold stone floor.

Kelnozz admired the body of the woman in front of them, but tried to not let himself become distracted by it. When Martin's sword hit the ground, the noise reminded him of what they were doing. He gazed up from the dragon - woman's body and stared into her face. For a brief moment a vision in his mind fell over the one in front of him. He saw Alesha standing before him for a moment, and he realized that save for minor details such as hair length and color and facial details, the two looked very much the same.

"I know you, beast," Kelnozz said, his voice almost guttural. "You have stolen the image from one who was my friend."

Martin blinked and looked with new perspective after hearing Kelnozz's words. It was true, the body before him was Alesha's, only the alien cast to the face and the hair was different. He gathered his strength and broke free of the powerful enchantment that had nearly captured him.

Nordan only barely heard the words, so deeply gone was he in his struggle within. When the words connected, he gasped as he realized it did look like Alesha's body. Unfortunately for Nordan, his lust for Alesha was so deeply seated that this only made his fight harder.

"She hath spoken highly of thou, elf... wouldst thou care to liken this body to hers?" Kaergothryl said, her pose and demeanor seductive, but in her eyes Kelnozz could see condescension and mocking.

In spite of that, he nearly slipped again under her sway. It was Martin who saved him. "We've come here to kill you, she-bitch! Enough of this!"

Kelnozz looked to Martin in surprise at the normally mild mannered man's outburst. Martin had already unlimbered his bow and set arrow to it, staring down it at the woman.

"Yes, enough talk, it is time your reign as the eldest white dragon ended." Kelnozz drew his longswords and ran towards her.

Nordan remained motionless, torn in indecision. The magic had insinuated itself deeply into him, so that now he saw Alesha in front of them instead of Kaergothryl. He shook his head to clear it, but to no avail. His mouth worked at forming words, but no sound came out. In spite of the bitter cold of the room, a sweat broke out on his forehead from his internal struggle.

Martin's arrow connected with the girls chest, directly between her breasts, but it only shattered and fell to the ground, leaving her unmarked. Her triumphant laughter was filled with scorn. It ended abruptly when Kelnozz slashed across with one sword and opened a wound along her ribs.

"I will feast upon thy bones!" She screamed, leaping so high into the air that any question as to her true nature was dissolved. In midair a light flashed from her body, forcing the companions to look away. When they looked back they saw a great white dragon standing before them.

The flash of light left Nordan confused. When he looked again, he saw Kaergothryl in her true form, and was greeted with a powerful roar from the beast. All three of them were momentarily deafened and stunned. Martin grabbed clumsily for another arrow while Kelnozz tried to shake the ringing out of his ears. None of them were prepared for the dragon's next attack.

Drawing in a deep breath, Kaergothryl stretched out her neck and blew forth her most powerful weapon, freezing cold winds that drained the warmth from all three of them. Only by covering their faces and tucking in their hands as quickly as possible did they avoid extreme frostbite and losing their vision.

The next attack came while they were recovering from the cone of frost. Kelnozz was sent flying by a swipe from Kaergothryl's mighty paw. He rolled with the landing, but was still hurt by the impact. Martin fitted an arrow to his frozen string, but grimaced when it snapped when he tried to pull it back. Tossing his bow to the ground, he picked up his fallen sword and ignored the cold steel in his hand. The pain and the combat helped Nordan kick the last of the effects of the spell. Combat and battle was something he knew. With a road, he charged the dragon, ducking under a backhand swing by the same paw that had tossed Kelnozz and connecting loudly with Kaergothryl's other forelimb.

Kelnozz charged again as well, angling to the powerful beasts side to make sure it could not get all three of them in a single blast from its breath weapon again. Once there he thrust and chipped at the thick scales, slowly but surely carving into them and causing Kaergothryl to return it's attention to him. The dragon's long tail caught him unaware, battering into his legs from behind and promptly dropping him on his butt.

Martin followed Kelnozz's lead and attacked the dragon from the other side, trying to force his sword through the armored scales. His efforts seemed futile, however, as his sword could not find purchase in the flying lizards hide.

Nordan was more effective with his hammer, a powerful swing from his hammer connecting with the wrist joint of the dragon's left forelimb. The audible crack of scales and bone breaking could be heard by all of them, though it paled in comparison to the dragons roar of pain.

The talons on the dragon's other paw had the strength of steel and the edge of razors. Nordan was the unwilling recipient of their business end. Staggering from the mighty blow that had failed to fell him, Nordan bled freely from both his side, left arm, and left thigh. Seeing him still standing, Kaergothryl opened her mouth and snapped her head towards him.

Kelnozz climbed back to his feet and dodged another swipe of the tail by leaping towards the dragon's side. Using his swords as climbing tools, he thrust them into the thick scales and pulled himself up slowly until he was on the dragons back. It was then that he saw Kaergothryl angle its head up towards the ceiling, trying to swallow a struggling Nordan. His legs still stuck outside of the side of the dragons mouth, and another hand was holding onto one of the mighty teeth while the dragon shook its head back and forth trying to dislodge him.

Martin knew his blade was not going to work for him so he tossed it down and ran back to where his bow lay on the ground. Working furiously, he restrung his bow with one of the several spare strings he carried in a pouch at his side. Finishing the job, he knocked an arrow just as Nordan was lifted into the air and fighting to avoid the dragon's gullet.

Still holding his hammer in one hand, Nordan realized that he was in trouble. The blood that ran down his arm made his grip on the weapon slippery, as well as making him feel weak with the loss of it. His people believed that all of life was a fight, from the struggle of birth up to the very last breath, and Nordan held strongly to that belief. Mustering as much leverage and strength as he could in the dangerous environment, he swung his hammer backhand into the roof of Kaergothryl's mouth. He pounded on it again and again, hoping he was at least hurting the dragon, even if the injury wasn't severe.

Martin's first arrow deflected off a scale near the dragon's eye, making it close it's eyes defensively while it struggled with the incessant hammering inside its mouth. Kelnozz had wrapped his leg around one of the bony spikes coming out of Kaergothryl's back along its spine and he was doing his best to drive his swords into the back of the dragon.

At long last the elf met with success and felt one of his blades slip between two scales and grate along the side of the dragons backbone, sinking in deeply. He twisted and wrenched it around inside, forcing the dragon to open its eyes and mouth and grunt in pain. Martin's arrow flew true at that point, sinking deeply into the right eye of the dragon. The angle was such that the arrow could not pass any deeper into the beasts brain, but nonetheless it blinded it in one eye and made it forget about everything else.

Nordan found the extra room helpful. He looked to the ground, some 30 feet below him, and prepared to jump. Realizing he had a greater opportunity, he turned back and gripped his hammer in both hands. Mustering every bit of strength he had left, he drove the hammer into the roof of the dragons mouth. The grim satisfaction he felt at hearing and feeling the bone give way was enough to make the following flight through the air and impact with the ground as the dragon spit him forcefully out worth it.

The ground felt so comfortable for Nordan that he could not imagine a reason to make him get back up. Laying there on the cold ground, Nordan idly wondered where his hammer had gone too. Martin ran to where he was laying and checked him over, noting that while he still bled freely from his wounds, nothing appeared permanently broken.

Raising her wings, Kaergothryl beat them powerfully, trying to gain some distance. Kelnozz looked down and realized he was in trouble. He tried to pull his sword free from Kaergothryl's back, but it was wedged in tightly. Cursing, Kelnozz took three running steps along the unsteady back of the dragon and leapt to the side, thrusting out with his sword and puncturing the leathery membrane that was Kaergothryl's wing. Using it to slow his descent, Kelnozz's sword tore through the wing all the way to the bottom of it.

Kaergothryl hissed in pain at the long rent in her wing, but enough of it was left she was still able to gain elevation and fly towards the escape hatch in the ceiling of the room. Kelnozz hit the ground after a twenty foot drop and came to his feet quickly in a roll. He looked up at the dragon and looked around for some way to make it come back to the ground.

"Martin! We can't let her get away!" Kelnozz called out, seeing Martin aiming his bow at the slowly fleeing beast.

Martin fired as quickly as he could, loosing arrow after arrow. Each one was defeated by her thick scales, however. Martin and Kelnozz both looked on in frustration while Nordan watched the pretty and big white bird flying above them. It escaped to the tunnel and they soon lost sight of it.

"What now?" Martin asked when Kelnozz ran over to them to check on Nordan.

Opening his mouth to respond that he was not sure, Kelnozz was stopped by the loud bellow from above them. Thinking the dragon returning, they were not disappointed. This time, however, it returned with company. A blue dragon had landed atop it and was driving it towards the stony floor. Having shredded its wings and blackened a spot on Kaergothryl's head with its own electrical breath weapon, Luingirth let go of the doomed dragon as they cleared the passage. Kaergothryl roared one final time before it crashed into the ground with enough force to knock Martin and Kelnozz off their feet.

Gaining their feet again, They saw Luingirth land nearby and a figure on her back leap to the ground. He walked over to them and both of the men were soon able to recognize him as Nordan's chieftain, Helmut. A look of concern passed over his face when he saw Nordan laying passed out on the ground. Martin had already bound his wounds, but he looked pale and weak.

"What are you doing here?" Kelnozz asked them, more surprised to see Helmut then Luingirth. "I told Loo to come back after a day or two because we would be finished here, but how did you come too, Helmut?"

"I decided I wanted to see this great evil army you spoke of, so I'd set out on my own months ago. Got lost a few times, got in trouble a few times, and had a bit of trouble getting over The Periphery, but it wasn't so bad. I'd figured I was done for when I saw this here fellow coming down from the sky at me after I'd killed off a dozen orcs and a couple of hill giants," Helmut nodded towards Luingirth, who was making sure that Kaergothryl was dead. "So, he brought me back here after he convinced me he wasn't going to try to eat me."

Kelnozz chuckled and grabbed Helmet's hand in greeting. "Good timing, we had her beat, but she was about to get away from us."

Helmut grinned. "Aye, we had some trouble on the way back, a big nasty black one of those things came up outta this big swamp we flew over. Between Luingirth and I we put him in his place though, he ended up flying out of control into some terrible storms over the mountains, nothing could have lived through that."

Kelnozz's eyes widened. "Big swamp next to the mountains and with powerful storms over the top of them?"

"Aye," Helmut nodded, kneeling down beside Nordan and checking his bandages then putting a hand on his face to move his head and check the coloring of his face.

"Loo!" Kelnozz called out, excited. "Could it have been Aglarond you two dispatched on the way here?"

"Verily, Kelnozz, it was he," Luingirth responded, walking over to where the were talking. He reached out and dropped Kelnozz's sword at his feet.

Kelnozz absent mindedly sheathed his lost blade and said, "But how? Aglarond is far larger and older and more powerful then you?"

"Helmut is a mighty warrior, he struck many telling bows on Aglarond," The dragon explained after chuckling. "Twas not us that slew him, twas the storms that struck the felling blow."

Kelnozz nodded, thoughtfully eyeing the barbarian warrior. "This mountain is full of orcs, what say we get out of here?"

"Good idea," Martin said, noticing how few arrows he had left.

Nordan groaned then and slowly opened his eyes. "We kill her?" He asked as soon as his eyes focused on his surroundings.

"Aye laddie, the bitch is dead!" Helmut said, grabbing his arm and hauling him to his feet. "Looks like your hammer din't make it though."

Nordan looked over to where his prized possession lay, head separated from the shaft, which lay in two separate pieces itself. He scowled and walked towards it, wondering if he could have it fixed.

"Take this one, Nordan, it's an old one I've had for a while with no use for... I prefer the great sword." Nordan turned in time to catch the warhammer Helmut had pulled out of a pouch attached to his belt that was obviously too small for the hammer to have fit in and tossed at him.

Nordan studied it carefully, noting the finely detailed carvings and runes on the head and shaft. Swinging it experimentally, he was amazed at how well balanced it was. It was very heavy, but balanced so well he was able to swing it as though it were a dagger.

"How did you fit that hammer in your pouch?" Martin asked, eyeing the weapon and noting there was no way it could possibly fit entirely into the bag at Helmut's side.

"'Tis a special bag I found when I was younger. Had to kill a wizard for it. You can put all sorts of things in it and it seems to never get full, but it's easy to find what you're looking for." Helmut explained, grinning.

Nordan sneered at the mention of magic, then remembered his new hammer and he shrugged it off. He'd never seen a weapon as fine as the one in his hands.

"Aye, I've one of those myself," Kelnozz said, patting a pouch at his side. "But we must get out of here, gather up what you must take, we must fly!"

At the realization that they had treasure to sort through, spirits lifted. Nordan, still feeling a bit week in spite of his miraculous recovery, forgot his injuries altogether. The hoard of Kaergothryl put the smaller black dragons treasure they had slain with Alesha to shame. Easily ten times as large, they were hard pressed to only fill their pockets and pouches with valuables. Martin found a hand and a half sword that put his own to shame both in use and look. He also discovered a quiver filled with arrows. Upon closer examination, the arrows appeared to be of exceptional make and quality.

The real purpose was the glowing gem that Kelnozz found. A milky white diamond as big as his palm, the elf knew that he'd found one of the keys to release the good dragons. Slipping it into a pouch, they mounted Luingirth and soared up into the sky.

Once outside of the mountain they saw the tribe of orcs fleeing from the mountain. They had seen Luingirth return and heard the battle. Now seeing the blue dragon emerge victorious, survival became their priority. Chuckling at their plight, Luingirth turned to the south and flew in hopes of discovering Aglarond's lair so they could recover that key as well.

*****

"You'll tell me what I need to know, fool!" Alesha hissed, her mouth inches from the cheek of Helmut.

Helmut grinned defiantly at her. "If what Nordan told me is true, lass, I'll enjoy you trying to get it out of me!"

Alesha ground her teeth in rage and reached out to slap him. Helmut's head rang with the powerful blow and bounced off the table he was strapped to, but his grin remained in place. "Where is Kelnozz at?" She demanded again.

Helmut ignored her, instead imagining her without her sexy armor on. It brought him more blows and torture, but he endured it wordlessly.

Alarmed at Kaergothryl and Aglarond's continued silence, Alesha had sent a few dragons to check on them. The two sent to Aglarond's lair encountered Luingirth and the companions leaving the lair, stolen treasure intact. A mighty battle had ensued, but Luingirth was outnumbered. Helmut leapt from his back onto the back of one of the black dragons sent against them. He wounded it mortally, riding it to the ground and as far as the other companions thought, to his doom. Luingirth slew the remaining black dragon with help from the riders on his back, but reinforcements had arrived. Luingirth was forced to flee, losing his pursuers after several days of restless flight. Helmut had been captured and brought before Alesha, however. Now he lay tied naked to a table and subject to her interrogation.

Alesha noticed Helmut's gazes upon her and changed her tactics. Instead of abuse, she switched to seduction. "Tell me what I need to know and perhaps we can find out if you barbarians have some things in common..."

Helmut laughed. "Aye lass, more then you think, but you'll not here anything from me about them."

"Oh, we'll see about that, large one," Alesha moved over to where Nordan's large cock lay against his thigh. She stroked it gently, making it quickly rise to greet her. Then she licked up and down it and took it into her mouth.

"I see you barbarians do have something in common," Alesha said, admiring openly the size of his manhood. She engulfed it in her mouth again, sending waves of pleasure through Helmut.

Alesha used every trick in her book to drive Helmut to the edge, then she would back off. She did this five times, using her skills and experience to know when to stop. Finally, knowing that he was ready to burst both mentally and sexually, Alesha gently caressed him while moving her lips up next to his ear.

"Where are they going, Helmut?" She asked softly.

"Come closer," Helmut said, his voice strained.

Alesha smiled. Like Nordan, Helmut had been so easy to dominate with sex. She put her ear next to his mouth, realizing that before she killed him, she could still use him this once as a sexual slave. He did not deserve to die happy, but it would please her as well, so she would give that much to him at least.

"None of your damn business!" He said, a taunting grin on his face again.

Alesha's eyes widened in surprise. She stepped back, shocked at his denial. "I will not be denied!" Alesha shouted, turning to a rack filled with instruments of torture. She selected a cat o nine tails and turned back to him. For a brief moment she was struck with a sense of familiarity about him. She shrugged it off quickly and uncoiled the whip. Helmut never even grunted in pain as the whip rose and fell on him, instead staring into Alesha's eyes with his own tormenting mischief filled ones.

Chapter 11

Nearly a month had passed since Helmut had been captured. Every day, for hours on end, Alesha would "interrogate" him. This varied from one day to the next, but typically consisted of some sort of sexual manipulation ending in him being promised an explosive release if only he confided in her the plans of his friends. It was Helmut's satisfaction to see that he was not the only one being frustrated, for every time she attempted the ploy, he denied her.