The Dragon's Den

by Katy Katz

  "Your virginity." Isabela laughed.

  "Well if you're going to dream, dream big to impossible." Haley laughed. Even life or death situations with Isabela had more emotions in them than just fear.

  Isabela felt more alive dying than she had felt living the last 3 years without Haley. Isabela struggled to try and get up. Haley swooped her up and carried her on her shoulder.

  "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

  "Today, I get to sweep you off your feet, and you get to enjoy the ride." Haley kicked the loose dagger on the ground up with a practiced foot into her hand barely grabbing it with a lucky shot finger grip at the hilt.

  "That was pure luck." Isabela said.

  "Pure talent." Haley said. Offering Isabela her third dagger.

  "You can't really expect me to let you carry me." Isabela seemed indignant, but was pleased at all the attention, though her back was screaming in pain.

  "Well, we've got to get you help and, no doubt, Anders is dragging ass. I think if you walk your going to make it worse. So, I can carry you, or leave you here to die. So you want a gorgeous fabulous woman carrying you off to play hero, or die here bored in the dirt?" Haley started walking headed toward the next clearing.

  "Seriously. These are my choices?" Isabela started to wiggle, but her back screamed and she let out a small shriek.

  "I'm guessing by that little scream, yes, those are your two choices." Haley stabilized her legs as they began the trek down Sundermount.

  "Great so when do we meet up with this gorgeous fabulous woman that's going to carry me down the mountain?" Isabela asked. She got the response she expected Haley smacked her ass and laughed.

  "Dying would really be bad timing. Any chance of stopping to have sex?" Isabela asked.

  "Nope." Haley said shuffling down an embankment.

  "Damn. Now you have me worried." Isabela sighed.

  "Sorry. I'd rather take the chance at a lot more sex than one last fuck."

  "Picky. Typical. Then again, a lot more sex sounds pretty good."

  "Yeah, now we just got to get that demon mouth off your back." Haley stated.

  "Tell me your fucking kidding me." Isabela just felt reality slap her in the face and it didn't feel good.

  "Isabela, think how much it would take for me to carry you down a mountain. You should be glad it's only a demon mouth."

  "Oddly, that might have made me feel better."

  Maren and Merrill arrived where the humans had camped the night before. The embers from the fire were still hot. Haley must have just broken camp.

  Maren was checking the trail. "It's one set of footprints. Heavy. Dragging. Haley, is it?"

  Merrill had been filling in Maren on bits and pieces of her life as they travelled to the campsite. Merrill knew so many fascinating things. "They're still hot." Merrill said.

  "They can't be far."

  "Let's go then." Maren indicated toward the trail.

  Merrill hung back. "You don't have to come."

  "I don't understand." Maren said blinking.

  "You don't have to come. You're not obligated to come. You said you'd come to the camp, and you did. I don't want you to feel like you have to come with me." Merrill shifted her focus to the embers buried in the dirt and kicked at them uncomfortably.

  "Do you not want me to come?" Maren asked. They hadn't really talked about anything. Especially about anything that had happened. It hadn't been uncomfortable until now. Merrill had just talked about her life in Kirkwall and her adventures with Haley; Maren had mostly been listening.

  All those adventures and the way Merrill had been talking about Haley…wait she was foolish…"I should go"…

  Merrill stopped her as she started to pass. "Do you want to go?"

  "I don't understand. Don't you want me to go? Aren't you with Haley?" Maren blurted out without thinking.

  Merrill's look changed from complete concern to utter amusement. "No." She laughed. "Haley and I…no…Haley is with Isabela…at least I think they are trying to work it out…I just meant, I didn't want you to feel obligated if you didn't want to come, but I would like it if you did, but I would understand if you didn't, I'm not really one of the clan anymore. Not really. I know people would talk. I know I was never very popular and I wouldn't want you to suffer for it…I just…"

  Maren looked bewildered and Merrill sighed. "I always do this. I just talk, and talk, and talk, and make no sense. Sometimes I should just stop talking." Merrill lifted Meran's chin with her fingers and kissed her gently. She really didn't know how her fellow elf would respond after last night.

  Maren immediately wrapped her arms around Merrill and kissed her back with abandon. There was a great deal of passion and lust, but there was a glimmer of something else too. Maybe a sincere interest. Merrill pulled back and looked at Maren with those incredibly expressive eyes. They were saying so much, she couldn't read it all, but she liked the part she could read.

  "I have to go find my friends. Help if I can. Do what I can. This…whatever this is…I…I don't know what it means…" when she had asked Haley what it had meant she had not liked the answer, though now that she thought about it, she might have blown it out of proportion. Could she still have feelings for Haley, but have feelings for Maren? At least be curious about Maren?

  Maren had come out of nowhere. What had happened…well it was wonderful, but it seemed like it came out of nowhere…something felt like it was behind it. It didn't have anything to do with Maren. She felt caught in the middle of something, but she'd like to try the sex again.

  Maren was hanging on her every word, the way she had hung on Haley's. "I'd like this to continue. Us to continue, if there is an us. See if there is an us. I need to go. If you don't come with me I understand, but if you want more…I think I do to."

  Merrill wasn't quite ready for Maren's enthusiastic reaction. Maren knocked her to the ground kissing her. If her friends weren't in danger she wouldn't have gotten up from the ground anytime soon. Maren moved over and kissed her neck sending goose bumps down the right side of her body, and instantly she could feel herself getting wet and a butterfly tickle at her core.

  She did want this, but not now.

  Well she did want it now, but she couldn't have it now.

  Dammit.

  "I have to go. Do you want to come with me?" Merrill had pulled back from Maren enough to get her attention. Maren's thoughts were thick with lust and the smell of fresh sex almost left her free from thoughts outside carnal ones. She knew if she just touched Merrill…what was she thinking? Merrill needed to find her friends and had invited her along. She shook her head to clear it.

  "Let's find your friends." She picked up her shield and started on their trail with the same determination as she had just had at initiating sex. Well, at least she gave everything her full attention. Merrill started to follow from behind her. Something seemed off. She didn't know if it was Sundermount, her friends, or what, but not everything was what it was supposed to be.

  ***

  Haley had heard the rustling up ahead and put Isabela down. The Rivani was sweating profusely and her color wasn't looking very good, she had been slipping in and out of consciousness.

  She could see Aveline in the distance, but there were a good 20 slavers and mercs and 3 of them that were able bodied. Haley had been holding position for a few minutes trying to figure out what to do. Surprise was her only advantage. She needed time, but she didn't think Isabela had much in the way of that.

  "I don't think you realize your position." Aveline said buying time.

  "What? Guard Captain Aveline? You think I didn't know who you were? This was a straight up easy job, I just didn't expect to get a mage out of it." The large sweaty slaver laughed. "You've made your fair share of enemies. At least one with enough coin to pay my price. Too bad your friend Haley isn't here. Me and my boys were looking forward to that bit of fun."

  "That's the thing about fun." A woman's voice spoke evenly from behind the la
rge slaver with the sweaty dirt ring around his neck. He smelled as putrid as he looked. "Since your not fun, fun wants no part of you." Before he could turn Isabela slit his throat and blood spray began to paint the trees.

  Anders shot out a spell and all the enemies around him slowed leaving time for Aveline to start making quick work of them. Anders could hear the crack of an ice spell being cast. They had a mage of their own. Damn.

  Merrill sprayed and froze a swath of men from the north. She had an elf with her. They were making quick work of the men. Everyone was too far away for him to heal except Aveline. He would just have to keep casting and keep her in fighting shape. There were too many. They were going to be overwhelmed by numbers. Merrill was holding her own, but there were more to the south. Besides the fewer that lived, the fewer they had to share the profits with.

  Anders had just cast and saw an archer he had just missed drawing back full. There was nothing he could do. He wasn't aiming to kill, but they were already on the verge of being overrun.

  Right before he was about to release the arrow a giant sword cleaved him in half. Behind him in a spray of blood Haley was cutting a bloody swathe to them. They were being destroyed from the outside in and the inside out.

  Some kind of demon appeared near where their leader's body had fallen.

  Once the battle became 2 to 1 the mercs and slavers started running. Their reputation preceded them it seemed. Normally, Haley would give chase, but not this time.

  Haley ran over to where the leader was slain. The demon at its full height roared. Whatever had been in Isabela decided to jump to a fresh unoccupied body.

  The giant gaping mouth stood at the center of what had to be a 12-foot demon.

  Haley could see Isabela's body slumped on the ground. Dammit she couldn't see if she was breathing. There was a giant whole where the mouth had been and blood was oozing out of it, but it appeared to have left Isabela, but did it leave her alive?

  The demon was huge. Haley's head barely reached its paunch belly.

  She swung her sword with all the centrifugal force she could muster and embedded it deeply into its thick thigh. It roared an unhinged scream of pain and backhanded Haley into a tree with a sickening thud. Haley heard something crack. She hoped it was just her ribs. She felt as though a thousand pillows had hit her. That kind of hit was the worst. If you couldn't feel the pain, you were in serious trouble.

  Haley could taste the blood fresh spewing from her mouth as she coughed. Maybe a rib had punctured a lung.

  Merrill tried a spell, but it bounced off the demon, seemingly annoying it. It turned to finish off Haley. An elf with a sword and board cut what should have been an Achilles tendon, if it were human, from behind.

  It turned and crumpled a bit. It's movement crippled a bit. When it's clawed hand sent the elf flying a familiar sounding-sickening thud followed.

  This was not going well.

  An even louder scream pierced the air, and the demon stopped. A dragon was circling. Suddenly the green canopy above them was on fire. The beast landed roughly near the demon, which had begun to retreat.

  The warrior elf's body was at an unnatural angel. There might not be anything for a mage to fix, then again, Haley might not last much longer either.

  Smoke and flame encircled the dragon going into a tighter and tighter circle until it was too small for an animal to exit. Instead Asha'bellanar, stood tall her white hair staunch against the blood everywhere.

  She looked at the demon who gave a scream that rattled Thedas.

  "You have made me late for my appointment. This is not going to go well for any of us." The Witch of the Wilds said adjusting her greave.

  Chapter 6

  Haley looked up and down endless rows of giant mirrors, eluvians, her voice and steps seemed to echo a second after they should have made noise. This place made no sense, nor did how she got here.

  "Hello" Haley cupped her hands to her mouth. She had already started to move her hands away when the voice finally started.

  Everything seemed dark, billowy, unreal, and left her with a clammy uncomfortable cold feeling. What had she just been doing? There was a demon…maybe something that came from Isabela's wound.

  Where was Isabela? Was she all right? Where was she?

  "Isabela." Haley shouted. Again, the delay, and again the annoyance grated on her last nerve. "Isabela." Haley spun in a circle looking for movement from anywhere.

  "I assure you. If she were here yet, she couldn't miss that call." Flemeth reappeared next to Haley, wiggling her finger in her ear in protest of Haley's volume.

  "Where is she?"

  "What good would it be to know where she is, if you don't know where you are?"

  "Fine. How is she?"

  "A better question. Dead. Well almost. She was dead. She got better, I made sure of that. She wasn't very dead. Just for a second, but you see I couldn't let that happen, because I need you. History isn't done with you yet. In order for history to have you, it seems you need Isabela, at least for the moment. This debt you have incurred…actually is on the house...a rarity, but sometimes necessary." Flemeth's husky voice was filled with bemusement. She seemed enamored with her armor in this form. She appeared to be constantly be looking at herself, you'd think she's just use a mirror, Haley thought to herself.

  "They aren't those kind of mirrors, and before you ask it, no, I don't read minds. I read the obvious." Flemeth's self-amusement always had lousy timing around high stakes.

  "Can I see her?" Flemeth pointed to an Eluvian that had begun to glow. Isabela's form looked like it was coming crashing through it sideways. The mirror was close to where Haley was standing, she rushed over to it in time for Isabela to be deposited at her feet.

  Haley knelt down, and gathered Isabela to her. Her body was warm, and the wound where the mouth was had healed and was gone. Isabela moaned in a semi-conscious fashion.

  "Bela." Haley said holding her firmly by the shoulders. "Bela." she said a bit louder, shaking her very lightly.

  The once sweat drenched cloth she wore on her head had dried. She looked peaceful. She managed to stop her head from free floating and tried to focus on Haley. "Are you real?" Isabela asked Haley in a sleepy uncertain voice.

  Haley caught the Rivani's lips with her own. Isabela had full rich warm lips. They were soft to the touch. Haley wanted to make sure she wasn't hallucinating either. She pulled her hand lightly up to brush off the forelock of hair as she kissed Isabela. She let her hand pull back into her long hair and tangle in it as she deepened the kiss, Isabela responded instinctively kissing Haley back and wrapping her hands in the small of Haley's back pulling her closer to her.

  Haley moaned at the familiar kiss. How much she had missed Isabela. It had hurt so much when she was gone. Now that she was back…well, there was nothing keeping her from leaving again anytime she wanted.

  "No." Isabela said, as if reading her thoughts. "This time I stay with you until you say go."

  Haley looked into Isabela's honey-brown eyes. She could see everything she ever wanted in them.

  Desire, heavily mixed with love.

  It was delicious and decadent.

  Was it even real?

  "She's not really here. Not completely, physically, then again, neither are you. But lest you be sad, the things you see and feel here are real, as are her feelings for you. This I didn't see coming, fate is sneaky that way. Lucky, I happened to be in the neighborhood. Demon mouths don't go away on their own. Freak accident, but a deadly one, usually. This story has an usually happy ending.

  Well…most everyone lives anyway." Flemeth paused for effect. "That's a good start."

  "Where are we?" Haley looked up at the Witch of the Wilds catching her gaze directly in her eye. Flemeth always laughed at the fearless, for those were the ones who were truly to be reckoned with, but Haley's gaze was broken by Isabela's cough.

  The pirate sat up slowly and rubbed her eyes as if just coming to. Haley reached down for a familiar
skin of water she kept on her for travel and found it full. It shouldn't have been, but she didn't question it and gave it to Isabela who took it gratefully.

  This place didn't make sense.

  Isabela wiped mouth with the back of her hand absently. The soot from her hand being cleansed by the fresh water and the clean breath.

  The Rivani was shaky, but found Haley's shoulder sturdy and strong as usual when she leaned forward trying to get up.

  The abrupt shift in weight didn't even budge Haley Isabela just fell against her in a familiar way immobilizing way.

  Haley took her by the shoulders and slowly pushed her back to a sitting position. The Pirate gave up protesting early. Haley moved behind her and she curled up in her arms. Tired for the moment. Letting Haley hold her, holding her making her feel weightless.

  Haley felt so warm. Her frame was small, wiry, but she radiated an immense heat like a human blanket; one Isabela was more than happy to snuggle up in and lean against.

  "Where are we?" Haley repeated, this time more softly: happier, quieter, to be with Isabela, if only for a moment.

  "It is a sensible question, but without a sensible answer. We are between worlds. You, Isabela, and the young girl "of the people" Maren, I think her name was, (Flemeth couldn't resist doing air quotes) were about to cross-over from the world of the living into the world after…that can't happen, not-just-yet. Thedas still needs you. Your job is not done. Your lives are spared but at the cost of the universe using them, and you to alter history, again, though to you, you haven't done it yet. It doesn't have to be linear to you. Actually, it doesn't even have to make sense to you, which is lucky, because it doesn't make that much sense even to those of us in the know."

  "I don't understand…" Haley started.

  Flemeth waved her off with her hand.

  You needn't have too. Your bodies: Isabela's, Maren's and yours, are still on the mountain. You're in varying degrees of injury. I needed a placed to put your consciousness somewhere while I do a bit of healing. It wouldn't do me any good to save you, if you died from the pain."

  Maren groaned on the ground not too far from them.