by Vic Broquard
“Amorette, you are a genius!” Dario exclaimed, for she’d just given him the answer that he needed. “We should do this again. After all, this way, we can make the humans pay for their murdering of our young. Genius, what an idea!” Amorette beamed.
“Of course, the human females will not be willing to breed with us, Dario. I seem to recall that Alaina said that the gestation period was remarkably swift, something like sixty days or so and that the humans ate like a dragon, gobbling up food three times faster than they normally do. Of course, human eating patterns are so very strange anyway. Why, their bodies are so screwed up. We only need to dine once a week. Those silly creatures eat three times a day, though I’ve heard some eat more than that.”
“Hum, so we are going to have to get us some human females and then keep them captive and safe for sixty days. How are we going to feed them that much? Besides, we don’t even eat the crap that the humans eat. How they survive on all that junk food I surely do not know,” Dario commented, mostly to himself. He was working out in his mind the details of the grand plan for revenge.
“Oh, perhaps you should make one of the human captives be the cook for the females, dear,” Amorette suggested. “But I surely don’t know where you will get all that crappy stuff that they will devour.”
“Hum, we can infiltrate a village, find the best human cook and find where they keep their food supplies. Then, we raid the village, take the cook, take the food supplies, and take the fit women to be bred and burn the rest down. No one will be the wiser! Why, the stupid humans will not even know what we are up to! This is the best idea I have had in centuries, dear!”
“Say, it was my idea, Dario. You know, the human females might not want to go through with it. Once you have them pregnant and they realize that they will be mothers to a baby red, they might do foolish things. Humans are known to do foolish things,” Amorette cautioned.
“So we imprison them in a cavern in the mountains where they cannot leave unless they can fly,” Dario countered.
“Yes, that ought to do, dear, but do keep an eye on them. Humans cannot be trusted, you know.”
“Of course, everyone knows that, Amorette. Everyone.”
Sometime later, the raid on the unsuspecting village of Petr Falls went without a hitch. The woman who ran the inn, Bronya Casmir, was taken to be the cook. The village was ransacked and a large supply of food was taken along with twenty-nine other young women. Several days later, after they were raped and impregnated, ten were taken away by the blacks to their secret cavern, along with one to serve as their cook. Additionally, the greens wanted miners and thus twenty-five men were also taken as slave workers and given to the greens on Jing. The rest of the village was burned and the stone buildings were crushed. They made sure to leave no human alive to tell what had happened. Dario was pleased at how well this coordinated raid went. For once the blacks, whites, and greens cooperated, though he made sure that the greens followed the plan, but he did not let either the whites or greens know what they were going to do with the captive females. Not yet anyway, he wanted to increase the red and black populations first.
A special cavern was created high in the mountains of Rehor in a location unreachable by humans. Here, they had lain in a huge pile of hay to serve as bedding for the females. In a side chamber, they stored the food supplies and created a crude kitchen area for Bronya to use. Additionally, twice each day, several reds would use their breath to heat up the stone walls of the cavern which then radiated heat to keep the females warm enough.
Of course, Dario was wise enough to realize that his fellow dragons could not just bed the females directly. They would certainly protest and raise a ruckus. Hence, several reds cast Sleep spells on them first and then they had their way with the sleeping women, who woke to discover that they had indeed been raped, rather forcefully at that. Ten blacks were allowed to participate along with nineteen reds for this initial experiment.
Dario relied on the ancient information of his mate, Amorette, sketchy as it was. According to her, when the human females were with dragon child, they ate voraciously. Hence, he used this as his guideline, checking on their appetites each day. Those who did not seem to be eating excessively were again put to sleep and re-raped until they began to eat abnormally large amounts of food. After four days, the twenty-nine women seemed to be doing so and most of the dragons left.
The next day, the blacks took their ten away to their own secret cavern. However, the troubles for Dario had only begun. One foolish female ran out of the cavern and jumped off the edge, falling a thousand feet down to her death. This really annoyed Dario, who felt that she’d just murdered yet another of the Red Dragon children. He morphed into human form and stole a pile of rope. When he returned to the secret cavern, he then had his reds tie up the female’s hands, allowing them to be untied only when they were being fed, which was now five times each day.
However, even this was insufficient. One guard caught a female who had somehow gotten herself loose and was going about untying the others. In a fit of rage, he used his fiery breath to burn off the woman’s hands. His friend Dante was a master of the Fabrication spell. He then created locking neck collars and locked them around the women’s necks and fastened them onto a long chain which was then hammered into the bedrock of the back of the cavern. Now they could not flee and kill themselves and the new young reds. He felt this would surely handle the human females. He never dreamed that they would be this much trouble.
Again, he underestimated them. The human female with the seared off hands was slain by another female, a mercy killing it seemed, since the victim continued to scream in pain all the time. “Amorette, what am I going to have to do with these darn human females to keep them from killing themselves, each other, and our new baby reds? No matter what I do, they keep on finding ways to wipe out the unborn reds.”
“Let me talk to Bernardine. She has long studied the human bodies. She’s been fascinated with them, ever since we came to Rehor, dear. If anyone knows, she does.”
An hour later, the old red Bernardine arrived and was briefed on what was going on in the cavern. However, Dario made her swear to keep this a secret, claiming that Bernardine would be slaughtered by the Gold Dragons if they ever found out. That was enough to scare her in to keeping the secret of the human breeding experiment.
After Dario explained what the females were doing, that is, killing themselves and the as yet unborn baby reds, and explaining the steps that he had already taken, he asked, “So what else can we do to prevent them from murdering our new unborn baby reds?”
“Will they even survive the birthing?” Bernardine asked incredulously.
“Well, my great-great-grandmother, Alaina, said that they die when the baby dragons chew and claw their way out, and the newborns then dine on the mother’s blood and soft tissues, before we begin feeding them proper food,” Amorette inserted her views.
“Oh, so you need to keep them alive for a little while and then they will die giving birth, right?” Bernardine asked.
“It would seem so, if such ancient myths are believed. Time will tell. However, let us assume that is the case. If it isn’t, why we will just kill them anyway,” Dario advised her.
“Well, in that case, Dario, you need not keep them in ‘mint’ condition. I have studied their bodies, as you know. I rather like dissecting them, so many organs, so fascinating an internal structure. Lots to learn from their overly complicated bodies. Plus, my great-great-great-grandmother devised some very effective procedures which will work perfectly for you.”
“Yes, yes, but what can I do?” interrupted an impatient Dario. Women always get off on side issues, he thought.
“Easy. Humans use their arms and hands and are doing so to kill each other’s bodies and the unborn dragons. So we make their arms useless. They can still squat and pee. The can still lean over and eat like one of their dog pets, but their arms won’t work. I know just how to make that happen from my exhaustive stud
y of their anatomy. It is really fascinating, you know, so complex. So many things that can go wrong. It is a wonder that their bodies work at all, in my opinion,” Bernardine rattled on, ignoring Dario’s growing impatience.
“Yes, yes, what do we do?” he interrupted her again.
“You know, they might even find a way to get access to a healing potion or their bodies might even attempt to heal up. You never can tell about these humans. Okay, okay. I know just what to do, Dario. It will totally eliminate your problem and even eliminate any way around it by somehow getting access to healing potions.”
“But they don’t have any healing potions, we searched them,” Dario pointed out.
“Yes, yes, but who knows, maybe one will conjure one up. You don’t want any more surprises until the babies are born, right? Then, let’s do this right,” Bernardine insisted.
“Okay, okay. Make it so, please, Bernardine,” an exasperated Dario ordered, thankful that she had the solution and would implement it.
“Well, you see, Dario, there are two different approaches that can be used on human bodies to make one of their appendages totally numb and useless to them. My great-great-great-grandmother passed these down to us. Neither one can be cured by healing potions — that’s the key issue here, you see. The first one requires a tiny bit of very, very precise surgery on their shoulders where their arms join. I only need to use a tiny knife and sever a couple of their nerves in their shoulders. Cut those nerves and their arms lose all feeling and become ‘dead’ appendages. The drawback of a simple severing of the nerves is that in time some bodies heal themselves and usually a simple healing potion will also repair the cut nerves. Many years ago, I did some experimentation, and I believe that I can remove a small length of the nerves that I cut. With a piece removed, then they cannot be healed by any means. Your problems will be over. Of course, the drawback is that you must have a sterile environment or risk the woman getting an infection and dying before she gives birth.”
Dario looked furious and she hastily continued. “I said that there were two ways. Yes, I certainly don’t want them dying on us from an infection, which will surely happen in the unclean environment that you are keeping them in, so the second way is what I will use. You see, the alternative is to use an extraction made from Blue Dragon spittle. As you know, they spew out a highly deadly neurotoxin, which when it touches a human’s skin causes paralysis. What my great-great-great-grandmother did was make an extract from it. One then simply injects a tiny portion of the extract right into the nerves themselves. Viola, instant, total, and permanent numbing of the rest of the extremity. To the woman, the arm will have no feeling, and she will be unable to move it in the slightest. It will appear to be a ‘dead arm.’ Thus, if they cannot use their arms, they cannot kill each other by wrapping their neck chains around each other’s necks. Problem solved.” Bernardine looked extremely pleased with herself.
That evening, accompanied by several Sleep spells, Bernardine performed her work on each of the seventeen women. First, she put on her magnifying lense contraption that allowed her to see enlarged images; she had to find the precise location of the nerves there at the shoulder socket. Once found, she inserted a tiny hollow needle and allowed two drops of her precious extract to slowly seep down onto the nerve. Each patient had five injections in each of their shoulders. Once done, she then verified that the patient no longer felt anything in that arm and hand. A few times, she missed getting the entire nerve covered with the extract and had to repeat the procedure. When she finished, she felt proud of her work. Her operation left virtually no signs on their bodies, save the many tiny puncture wounds that were already healing.
“There, all done, Dario. When they wake up, their arms will no longer move or operate in any way. They will merely be dangling, useless appendages. No healing potion will work nor will their bodies recover by natural means.”
“Excellent work, Bernardine. Here,” he handed her a small bag with a pile of shiny gemstones in it.
“Please, after the female bodies have done their work and have died, may I have them for further dissection and study?” she asked.
“All yours, all yours!” Dario replied. Now he would not even have to waste his breath disposing of the carcasses later on. He looked forward to soon having seventeen new Red Dragon children. Already, he lined up suitable parents for the as yet unborn babies. What a fabulously grand plan he had going. Nothing whatsoever could now go wrong. In fifty days, there would be seventeen new reds on Rehor, and he would become quite famous indeed. Bernardine had not, however, explained to Dario what the long term effects on the women’s arms would be. That was wholly unimportant, for they would be dead in sixty days and it didn’t matter the slightest.
The morning of the eleventh day since the devastating raid, Zoran had his rescue group primed and ready. Since the rescue would require a Shadow Walk to Rehor, Duskas were needed, and he was reluctant to bring along too many who were not Duska. After all, if things went ill, those who were not Duska would be trapped on Rehor. This was offset by his need for as many Archmages as possible and Mage Jarka as well. Zdenka, Verushka, Karel, Nadia, Marek, and Ivana comprised his Archmages, including himself. Jarka, Tomas, Dusan, Chan, Wen, Chika, and Akira were his added thief and Duska support. Unfortunately, Jarka, Zdenka, Karel, Marek, and Ivana were not Duska and dependent upon the others to take them to whatever planet on which the women were being held and brought back again. All armed themselves extensively, ready for a major battle.
Now they waited. Zoran again focused his Duska senses and at last located Danika. Help please help us!
Yes, we are now going to home in on you and find where you are located. The rescue party is on its way. Be brave a little longer, Danika.
Now came the hard part. He stepped into the Shadows, all the while maintaining his mental contact with Danika. He paused and strained his senses and began to follow, albeit slowly, the faint energy line of his connection, hoping that it would lead him ultimately to Danika. On through the swirling black void he moved, ever so slowly, being extremely careful not to break his connection. Memories of doing something similar some twenty years ago when he rescued Chika and Akira came to mind, but he hastily pushed them out, refocusing on the task at hand.
Zoran had no sense of time while in the Shadows. With nothing but grey-blackness all around, there was nothing to mark the passage of time, save his own heartbeat. At long last, he spotted the whitish-blue form of Rehor looming dead ahead, and he now knew that Danika was being held on that planet. He also had to be careful to avoid alerting the barons who lived and controlled Rehor. He had a sudden panic attack. What if they were being held in Clav’s dungeons? Rescue then would be nearly impossible! Had he gotten Danika’s hopes up only to dash them utterly? He forced such thoughts out of his mind, having nearly lost sight of the energy line.
As Rehor grew larger and larger, he began to relax. He was heading into the distant, uninhabited region of Rehor, certainly not towards the three Circles and their fortresses. He felt a bit of relief as he realized that the barons here were not holding the women. Still, were they involved in this diabolical plot? As bad as Baron Storm Clav was, Zoran just could not bring himself to believe that the man would side with dragons over humans. This was becoming a race issue.
Tall, craggy, snow covered mountains moved into his field of view, and he continued zooming in on the energy line, which grew more solid with each passing moment — a sure sign that he was getting close to her. At last, a dark opening appeared ahead of him. The mouth of the complex was squarely in the side of a sheer cliff, wholly unreachable overland. Only by flying, spells, or Shadow Walking could one reach this entrance. He spotted a tiny whiff of smoke, probably from the cooking fire, he concluded. He cast an Invisibility spell on himself and headed on into the cavern complex, though not before he did a hasty check for defensive spells. He found none thankfully and realized that the dragons probably thought that this secret location could not be discover
ed at all, so no need for defensive spells.
He moved inside and landed gently on the bedrock floor near the entrance. He spotted two passages. One led to the cook’s small cave and the other to the captive women. Where were their guardian dragons, he wondered. Cautiously, he moved into the cook’s area and found the disheveled woman cooking over a crude stove. She looked filthy and utterly exhausted. He later learned that she had to constantly cook from dawn to full dark just to make enough food to feed the women’s now voracious appetites. There were no other exits from this cave. He backtracked and followed the left tunnel.
Within a few feet it opened into a huge chamber brightly illuminated by magical spells. There against the back wall were seventeen women chained to the wall. Each was on a thirty foot long chain. A huge hay stack provided their bedding. A long row of tables held their food bowls and water bowls. Nearby were a number of wooden buckets which stunk of urine and feces.
Danika, I have you located now. You are in a cavern high in the mountains of Rehor. The rescue party will be here shortly. Please make no sounds to attract any dragons until we get here.
Thank you. Please hurry. We need help badly. We don’t want to die.
Zoran quickly Shadow Walked back to the others at his fortress in Brn. “Found them. They are on Rehor, high in the mountains. They are in a cavern complex but no dragons appear to be around at the moment. I’d like to keep it that way. Let’s get in, free them, and get them out and try not to alert the dragons while we’re at it. When their captors return, it would be ideal if the dragons had no clue that we were there. Leave them in mystery about how the women escaped.”