“Griselda is so angry with you,” Cynthia laughed, sipping her tea as the pair of them sat before a calm sea, watching the ships sail just offshore. “She’s got her soldiers searching everywhere, she sent some out to Tom’s place even, but I guess after a few hours he was able to talk them into leaving. I think she knows he was in on it, but he’s been strutting around town and flirting with people, rubbing it in her face!”

“That’s Tom all right,” Dirk laughed, sipping his own small saucer and looking out at the waves. He sighed, the roads had been thick with soldiers the last several days, and he and Cora had contented themselves with remaining in Tom’s hidden cabin, soon or later there would be an opening…

“I was right about that other priestess by the way,” Cynthia said, “her cousin just showed up ‘to visit’ last night. If she finds you again, she’ll probably march you to an altar right away.”

“Then I won’t be found,” Dirk replied, “she can’t keep her people patrolling the roads like this forever, sooner or later they’ll slip up and Cora and I will be gone.” He thought a minute, “any word from Argus?”

“He’s still out at your ranch,” Cynthia explained, “it looks like Griselda still wants him to start work on the mine, such that he can… I suppose that’s the one thing you and her both want, but her guards aren’t letting him see anyone, I think she’s suspicious of him but still needs him too much to replace right now.”

“He’s safe enough for now then,” Dirk muttered, “anything else?”

“Cora’s parents are worried sick about her,” Cynthia said, “I’ve been trying to assure them that she’s okay, but obviously I can’t exactly tell Theo where his daughter went off to.”

“We’ll have to apologize when it’s all over,” he sighed, “there’s no helping it.”

Cynthia looked like she was about to say something, then frowned, “s-something’s wrong!”

Dirk’s eyes went wide as the calm sea they were in front of quickly turned into a frothing spray, dark clouds forming overhead. He reached for a pistol that appeared at his side instantly, and he scanned for threats as he felt the sudden incomprehensible trepidation of a nightmare.

“What’s going on!?” he shouted.

“S-Someone’s cutting our dream thread!” Cynthia shouted, her voice distorting as her eyes went wide with shock, “Dirk, you’ve got to-“ she screamed in pain and suddenly vanished, seeming to split apart like frayed fabric as threads of her flew away into oblivion.

Dirk whirled around as something dove out of the clouds to pursue him, with a scream of terror he fired his pistol, bracing himself for it to be upon him.

…

Dirk gasped as he sat upright, panting as a cold sweat covered his body. Cora stirred, glancing up at him as she stretched and yawned.

“Cynthia stop by for her usual naughty dream?” she asked.

“No,” Dirk rasped, still a little shaken. He’d been in battles before of course, but the raw primal fear of a nightmare was… it was something else entirely. Cora seemed to notice his discomfort and sat up, putting an arm around him.

“Hey,” she said quietly, “seriously, what’s wrong?”

“Something kicked Cynthia out of my dreams,” he growled, forcing the icy feeling of his fear down and standing up to reach for his clothes, “she said something about Griselda bringing another priestess in, maybe she did it?”

“Maybe,” Cora nodded, “I think… maybe we’ve lingered here too long, should we start on our way?”

“Yeah,” Dirk sighed, “through the brush if we can’t use the road… here’s hoping the razorlizards will have the decency to warn us before leaping.”

“Stick close to me,” Cora replied, “they’re usually alone and they’re usually reluctant to attack amazons without a pack.”

“And I’m not an Amazon,” Dirk muttered, I guess I’ll train the beasts to fear guns…

“Hey,” Cora giggled, climbing over him, “you just need to smell like me, that should be easy, I’m nice and sweaty from spending days hiding out here…” she smirked at his grimace while she loomed over him, “oh come on, you love it.” He watched as she slowly slid her brassiere off, tossing it away and letting him see her breasts tumble free. “Just think, if you had an amazon’s scent on you, they’d probably leave you alone…”

“And how would I-“ he was cut off as Cora pressed herself down on him, burying his head in her chest, her cleavage wrapping around him and soaking his face with the sweat and grime of two days of hiding in the jungle as she squeezed him close, laughing at his feeble attempts to push her away and free himself. The worst part is she was right, he did love it, something about the ripe earthy smell of Cora’s sweat just drove him wild, and when he gasped for air as she pulled back, she could feel the hardness rising between his legs as her massive body pinned him down.

“Look at that,” Cora laughed, seeing his dazed expression and his hair slick with her sweat, “yep, no razor lizard would dare come near you now, you definitely smell like you’re mine.” She lifted her arm casually, sniffing her armpit and wrinkling her nose, then looking down at him with an evil grin.

“Cora!” he started, “don’t you dare-“

“Come on, you want to be safe from lizards, don’t you?” she taunted, slowly lowering her pit towards him. Dirk’s eyes went wide as he saw the stubbled skin ominously descending on him, and he managed to lift his arms up, catching her tricep and struggling as she giggled, trying to force it her sweaty pit into his face.

“Come on Dirk!” she said, smiling through gritted teeth, “Just… give… up!”

His strength failed and his yelp of surprise was cut off as Cora’s armpit covered his face, causing him to flail a moment while she laughed, pressing down and rubbing her sweaty pit across him. She let up after a moment, fighting to keep her face straight as he glared daggers at her.

“There you go, you’re lizard-proofed,” she teased.

He rolled his eyes, “and you wonder why you didn’t have luck with men before you met me.” He grinned up at her as he reached down, pulling his pants along his legs and finally kicking the way, “well come on then!”

Cora grinned and reached down to slide her own underwear down, and a moment later he felt her legs plant on either side of him, slowly sliding down his manhood as she positioned herself. The first thrust of her hips hit him like a cannon as always, driving him against the rough fabric of the hay mattress as she began to ride him.

“Whew!” she laughed, smelling the odor of her pit on his face as she pinned him down, “I really got you good!” He couldn’t respond so she just grinned, teasing him more, “you probably love that don’t you? Smelling like an amazon’s pits, you love anything that reminds you you’re mine!”

Can’t argue with that, he thought, gritting his teeth as her hips picked up speed. She seemed to sense his unspoken agreement, and gave an animalistic moan as she enjoyed the thought.

“I should send you into town after you use your tongue on me,” she growled, “just coated in what my cunt gives you, everyone will know what you’ve been doing, who you’ve been doing it to…” She grunted as she bit her lip, imagining it.

Dirk gasped and reached up, gripping the sides of her arms as he began to spasm in pleasure, Cora looked down in surprise, her mouth open, “WOW! You really like the idea huh?” she gritted her teeth and started riding him faster, “keep it up for just another second for me!” Dirk’s eyes all but rolled back in his head as he struggled to control his body against Cora, racing to reach her own climax as Dirk’s ended.

“And… Yes!” she groaned, squeezing him like a bear and causing his back to pop as he went limp in her grip.

As always after lovemaking with Cora, he needed a few minutes to get his bearings, blinking as the jellylike feeling slowly left his limbs. She sighed and stood up, letting him see her towering form as she knelt down to get her clothes, slowly getting dressed again. She spared a glance down at him an smiled, enjoying the naked man’s look of near paralysis after a round with her, and the awed stare he gave her legs.

You’re mine Dirk, she thought affectionately, Griselda can go to hell, she’ll never have you!

…

Dirk and Cora slowly traversed the edge of the road, ready to dive into the brush at the first sign of anyone approaching. The day was warm, and the humidity meant they were both quickly coated in sweat, their clothes sticking to their bodies like they’d just crawled through a riverbank.

Cora stopped suddenly, and Dirk raised an eyebrow, “what?” he asked quietly.

“Do you hear it?” she asked softly.

He craned his neck, realizing how quiet the jungle had become, “I don’t hear anything,” he replied, reaching for his pistol nervously.

“That’s just it,” Cora muttered, “you ever hear the jungle quiet?”

“Nope,” Dirk nodded. His eyes went wide as he caught a glint of metal down the road, “Cora!” he hissed, pointing to it.

Her head whipped around, and she froze. For a moment neither of them moved, then slowly, uncertainly, the pair crept forward. The steel did indeed belong to one of Griselda’s guards, so far down the road she could barely be seen from where they’d first noticed the glint of metal, but rather than a group on patrol, they came across four of the women, lying motionless in the road.

“What the hell happened here?” Dirk asked, cocking his pistol as he slowly walked forward with Cora, scanning the treeline.

Cora drew her sword, kneeling over the bodies. The women had surprised looks on their faces, and the wounds varied, some had scratchmarks across their steel breastplates, others had sword wounds, and Dirk grimaced in distaste as he saw a ring of jagged teethmarks on one amazon’s exposed arm.

“I know what this is,” Cora said, her face going white.

“What-“ Dirk was cut off as she swept him off his feet, causing him to wheeze as the air was knocked from his lungs and Cora dove into the foliage on the side of the road. Before he could ask her what was going on her massive hand clapped over his mouth and she hugged the smaller man close, keeping him quiet while she just pointed to the road.

There was a hiss, then a click of claws almost like a razorclaw, but different somehow, muted. From the other side of the road, out of the wall of vegetation, a thing from a nightmare crept forward. It had to be at least half a foot taller than Dirk himself, covered in dark green scales and walking upright like a man, a thick tail swishing behind it almost like a cat’s when watching a mouse. The hands had only four fingers, but inch long claws protruded from each point, and a snakelike tongue flittered out of its mouth as it tasted the air. For a tense moment Dirk was sure it would jerk it’s terrible yellow eyes towards them, give a scream, and leap into their hiding place, claws flashing… but evidently its senses weren’t as sharp as it’s wild cousins, and with a hiss it stalked over to Griselda’s dead amazons, pulling a serrated knife from its belt. From the trees behind it three more of the creatures appeared, long swords dangling from their belts as they hissed back and forth to one another in an unknown tongue.

“I can’t watch this again,” Cora whined, squinting her eyes shut.

Again? Dirk’s eyes went wide, the war… she must have seen this in their war with these things. He realized what the creatures wanted with the dead as soon as the knife had come out, but as the Lizardman knelt down he felt he couldn’t look away from the grisly scene.

He felt Cora’s hand slip off of his mouth, and he looked back at her, a pit forming in his stomach as he saw the faraway look as her hand drifted to her weapon. He’d seen it before, he’d had it before, Cora was slipping into instinct, and he slowly nodded as the same numbness filled him. He leveled his pistol at the lizard that was now cutting a slice of meat from its kill.

*CRACK* the gunshot startled the creatures, an unfamiliar and unexpected thing in this part of the world. The Lizard screeched angrily, twirling as it fell into the dirt, twitching, the butcher’s knife still in a clawed hand.

“AAHHHHH!” Cora screamed defiantly, a strong harsh battle cry unlike anything Dirk had ever heard out of her before. She thundered past him, her sword flashing as she leapt at the creatures.

They were large things, each of them taller than Dirk by a head, but Cora loomed over them menacingly, and they screeched in fear as her sword came down on one, nearly splitting in two from the force of her blow. The other two turned to flee, tails rigid as they threw their swords away, Dirk leveled his second pistol and another gunshot rang out, causing another to tumble forward as he holstered his gun, unfurling his rifle next and cocking it as he strode forward in a controlled steady stride. Cora was not so calm, the final lizard had retrieved its blade, and was now hissing madly as it hacked at the amazon, forcing Cora to deflect each blow as sparks flew through the air. Finally, she brought her fist around, striking the creature in the side of the head and causing it to stagger, then grunting with exertion as she brought her sword up, stabbing under its ribs with enough force to lift it off the ground, limbs flailing for a minute before it went limp.

With a sigh Cora flicked her wrist, pulling her sword free and letting the corpse fall to the ground. Dirk spared a glance at her, and they made eye contact for a moment as Dirk slowly walked towards the second creature he’d shot. It was still alive, flailing slightly as it tried to make the tree line.

“Do these things take prisoners?” Dirk asked, putting his boot on the lizardman’s back and pinning it in place.

“They take you alive sure,” Cora spat, “but you’re not a prisoner, you’re rations.”

Dirk sighed, nodding as he drew a knife from his belt, kneeling over the creature as its serpentine eyes went wide one final time.

When the deed was done, he stood up, smelling the lingering smell of gunpowder on the air, closing his eyes and listening to his own heartbeat. He breathed out slowly, willing himself to calm down as he opened his eyes again, turning to Cora.

“You okay?” he asked quietly.

“Yeah,” Cora said, scowling as she knelt over the dead lizard, “I was really hoping to never see these things again…”

“I can see why” Dirk muttered, coming to her side. He looked down the deserted road, “I guess we won’t have to worry about Griselda’s people from here on out…” He frowned, “what are these things doing here? I thought their realm was on your southern border?”

“They have ways of moving through the jungle,” Cora muttered, “to hear the priestesses tell it, this whole land was theirs once, they hunted and ate humans for sport until the Goddess Diana empowered the first Amazons, who then carved our Queendom from their clutches… they have altars, places of power in the deep brush we don’t know about, even after all of this time. They had ways of moving between them, magic…”

“Teleportation,” Dirk mused, “I’ve heard of it on a small scale, individuals of particular power can do it… you’re saying that these four used it to get here?”

“I don’t know the first thing about spells and rituals,” Cora replied, “I just know that sometimes they’d have one of those damned stone altars in the brush and we wouldn’t know it was there, and then thirty of the hissing brotherfuckers would be behind us…” she looked around at the jungle, “it’s possible there’s still one out here somewhere, forgotten by time until now.”

“How many could come through it?” Dirk asked hesitantly, “are we talking dozens, or…”

“Half of their army retreated through one when we were besieging one of their cities,” Cora replied, her face white, “if they’ve got mages to power them, I don’t know if there’s a limit. Dirk… these uniforms… they’re from a caste of these things, the butchers…”

“Seems fitting,” Dirk growled, glancing at the knife with disgust.

“You don’t understand, they go behind the main force, to uh… dress the meat… this means there’s a much larger force of them out here somewhere, we’ve got to warn Rain’s End!”

“Cora, we can’t,” he muttered, chewing his lip as he stared at the dirt, “we’re wanted there… I don’t feel like leaning on Griselda’s good will even if we’re warning about an attack.”

Cora was quiet a moment, “she wants you,” she said finally, “I could go back, the lizards will mostly be moving through the brush… I’ll bet I can get there before them.”

Dirk felt his heart skip a beat, “y-you can’t,” he said, “I need you with me.”

She paused, looking to him, a sadness starting to fill her face, “Dirk… everyone I know lives in Rain’s End, if the Lizards take it unawares…” she looked down at the dead soldier with the bite mark on her arm, and shuddered, “I can’t just leave them to die.”

Dirk nodded, numb. His face felt wet, and he wiped it, aware dimly that it had nothing to do with the heat. He blinked a few times, then sighed.

“You can go,” she said quietly, “keep going, find the Queen, she won’t let Griselda have you no matter what happens in Rain’s End… You’ll be free.”

“But…” he looked down the road, the southern route free and open, seeming to beckon to him. He looked down, sighing, “I can’t just leave you like this, I love you, let me come with you and we’ll settle this some other way, I don’t care if I’ve got to shoot my way out of my own wedding, we’ll beat her somehow, we’ll-“

“Dirk!” Cora snapped angrily, “Just… Just this once, please let me protect you, the way an Amazon does for her man… I love you…”

“And do you think I don’t love you?” he asked, looking up at the towering woman, “do I not get to protect you too?” He smirked at her troubled expression, “come on Cora, I thought we were past this…”

She blinked away a quick tear and giggled at the way he was looking up at her, a defiant grin on his face even as she loomed over him, “I’ll tie you to your horse,” she threatened.

“I’ll chew through the rope.”

“I’ll break your legs and tie you to your horse,” she said, sheathing her sword and crossing her arms.

“I’ll crawl,” he retorted.

“I’ll-“

“Face it Cora,” he said, cutting her off, “we’re going back together.”

“Yeah,” she sighed, smiling weakly, “I guess the trade off for a man I can talk to is one I can’t leave behind… huh?” She moved towards him, lifting him under her arms as they embraced. Tears streamed down her face a minute, “Dirk… if we’re really going back, this could be it for us…”

“I can’t think of a better way to go out,” Dirk said, giving her a small smile as she hefted him in her arms, “dying defending home and hearth.”

And it was his home now, he realized, as much as it was Cora’s. He’d grown enchanted with this lush and green land, and for the first time since he’d lost his family all those years ago, he found that his thoughts drifted to people he truly cared about. Somehow, he’d fallen into a new family of sorts without even realizing it.

“All right,” he sighed, looking over the dead lizardmen, “Cora… grab one of those for the road.”

…

The journey back was solemn, and they kept their horses at a quick clip. They were about an hour away from Rain’s End when the first group of patrolling guards spotted them, scurrying to surround them, swords and pikes at the ready.

“Dirk Sommer, Cora Spearwall, you will come with us immediately!” the guard captain shouted, readying a bow in case they ran.

“Oh of course,” Dirk said with a smirk, shooting a look at Cora, “I came all this way to visit my beloved Lady Griselda, has she missed me so much?”

The guard captain’s brow furrowed, “V-Very well, dismount and let us lead you.” The amazon looked at the covered carcass on the back of Cora’s horse and frowned, “what’s that?”

“A gift for my fiancé,” Dirk growled, leading his horse by the reigns as the Amazons escorted them towards Griselda’s fortress, a towering circle of stone just outside the city walls.

…

Griselda was waiting for them at the gate, to the stone ring fort, the tower of her personal residence and keep looming over them as the amazon noblewoman strutted forward. Today she wore the same fine green dress Dirk had seen her in during his first night in Rain’s End, complete with the bejeweled ceremonial sword, glittering slightly in the sun.

“Oh look, my wayward fiancé has returned,” she said mockingly, “I’m glad you and dear Cora finally came to your senses… Still, I’ve decided to move our nuptials up a little.” She gestured to another woman, easily ten feet tall and bearing a familial resemblance to Griselda, but also in an outfit similar to Cynthia’s own ceremonial attire, complete with a lizard skull hat, though of a horned variety that Dirk didn’t recognize.

“Pleased to meet you,” the new priestess said, looming over him with a smug grin, “I’m Griselda’s cousin Isabelle, I will be officiating your wedding…” she shot a wicked grin at her cousin, who nodded, “Perhaps you and I might grow to know each other better while I am here,” Dirk fought the urge to flinch away as the woman traced a finger along his jaw, “it’s so sad how many men get cold feet before a wedding,” she sighed, “I’ll prepare a more powerful compliance ribbon for you, to keep another runaway groom situation from happening…”

“That all sounds lovely,” Dirk said, a hint of sarcasm creeping into his voice in spite of himself, “but I brought Griselda a little wedding gift, something I think reflects my feelings towards our wonderful engagement.” He nodded back at Cora, who pulled the cloth covering off the dead lizardman, causing the assembled amazons to recoil in horror at both the sight and smell of the corpse.

“Where did this creature come from!?” Griselda hissed, her hand unconsciously going to the ceremonial sword at her side.

“We’ll tell you all about it,” Cora replied, “but in the mean time? You might want to call up your levies and arm the militia.”