“Why are you following us BorraEisZimaGeleiraDreki!” shouted an agitated Fleur.
“Hey! I said to use my nickname like all rivals do!” said Borra with a large smile.
“If I do, will you leave me alone?”
“No.”
“Then why should I?”
This had been going on since Fleur had started to lead them to the junk pile and it did not look like it would stop any time soon.
“Borra, how long have you and Fleur been frien… rivals?” asked Mileena.
“Quiet cat. I’m talking to my Rival!” said Borra rudely.
“Hey! Don’t talk like that to my big sister or I’ll give you another burn mark!” said Fleur.
“Oh? Stupid cat! OH HO HO HO!” said Borra, as she covered her mouth with one blue scaled hand and laughed at Fleur.
Fleur stopped moving, red flames flared up covering her entire body. Beside her, an icy wind full of snow and ice particles started to swirl around Borra.
The nearby Gargs and werewolves all took several steps back due to the intense heat and cold wind storming around the two girls.
Fleur and Borra each took one step forward towards the other, turning their bodies to the side.
Swoosh! Fleur’s flaming tail and Borra’s Ice covered tail flew through the air toward the other.
THUD!
Alpants with an expressionless face once again caught the girls’ tails in his scaled hands. He lifted the two struggling girls up off the ground while they were still covered in flames and ice.
“Ladies, please stop arguing. We are almost at our destination,” said Alpants with a hint of annoyance.
He held onto the struggling girl’s tails until they calmed back down. Fleur glared at Borra who was smiling back at her with a Cheshire cat grin.
“Piiii!” Pii’per shouted a warning from far above.
Alpants looked up at Pii’per and then to a blurry blob in the distance far ahead of them.
“You two, behave while I go take care of whatever it is,” said Alpants. He dropped the two girls onto the snow without another word.
A black scaly helmet in the shape of a fierce roaring beast with large sharp curved teeth, quickly formed around and covered his head.
Alpants launched himself into the air causing the surrounding snow to explode outwards as he shot off into the air becoming a black blur as he disappeared.
In the short moments between the takeoff and becoming a blur, Akira had seen what looked like black wings extending out from Alpants back.
“Do you think it’s something dangerous?” asked Borra with a worried tone. She was holding her tail to her chest and stroking the part that had been gripped.
“Why are you worrying? How many war stories has your uncle told us? Whatever it is, we can just smash it!” said Fleur.
“I like your style,” said Zundar, his hand reaching out to pat Fleur’s head.
Smack!
A thin blue scaled tale slammed into Zundar’s hand knocking it away from Fleur.
“If anyone touches Fleur their hand must be chopped off!” said Borra with a glare at Zundar.
Both Akira and Mileena looked at their hands that had pat Fleur’s head several times.
A short while later a black blur slammed into the snow next to the two girls.
“Let’s continue forward,” said Alpants.
The helmet covering his head quickly receded to reveal his expressionless face.
Graar let out a howl ordering the rest of the Gargs to move once again. They followed closely behind Fleur, Borra, and Alpants and soon encountered a large caravan of lamia who were all various shades of blue.
“It is a great honor to escort both their majesties’ daughters while we make the pilgrimage to pay our respects!” said a muscular ice blue lamia.
Alpants just waved the man away as if he was a nuisance.
With that, the lamia caravan took up position on the side and rear of the Gargs keeping a respectable distance between them.
***
“What? You say there is a tribe of Lamia that live in a heat-filled desert on another continent?” asked the muscular Lamia named Lammy.
Akira had gotten to know Lammy the leader of this caravan while they had traveled. Lammy and his fellow Ice Lamia had thin and wide scaly heads like a cobra. Their appearance was more snake-like than the desert lamia he had met in the past.
“It’s true. They live a nomadic life in the sandy Acadia desert. It is extremely hot there,” said Akira.
“I can’t even imagine it. I think I would die from the heat if I even went to the north during the summer months,” said Lammy.
“Look, we’ve arrived!” shouted a happy Fleur. She was still doing her best to ignore Borra who was right next to her.
Ahead of the large group was another ice-covered mountain that shot high up into the sky.
When they neared the large hole at the base of the mountain, their path was blocked when several gray blurs exited the entrance.
“Halt! State your businesses or be declared an enemy of his majesty!” roared a man with gray scales covering his entire body including his head.
The hundred or so soldiers around him all looked similar with dull gray scales and no hair on their heads.
“I Lammy, have come here for the yearly pilgrimage to pay our respects to his Majesty!”
“Wait here. Someone will come out to deal with you in a bit,” said the scaly man before turning his attention to Akira and the others.
Fleur, Borra, and Alpants led Akira and his entourage forward not looking at the scaly man and soldiers blocking the way.
“Halt! Or you will be branded the enemy of his majesty!”
“Shut your mouth Draconian!” shouted Alpants.
The commanding officer of the gray scalded soldiers took a step back when he heard the sharp reprimand. He took a closer look at the three who were leading the group.
The gray-scaled officer immediately stabbed his sword into the ground and kneeled. The rest of the grayscaled draconian soldiers followed suit.
“Lady FleurCarinaEldurWulkanDreki, we salute you!” shouted all 100+ draconian soldiers as they looked down at the snow.
“OH HO HO HO! Looks like you need to train your minions better Fleur,” said Borra covering her mouth as she laughed.
“Stupid Draconians!” said Fleur as she stomped past the kneeling soldiers.
At these two words, Akira saw the fierce Draconians visibly shiver. They knew they had made a major mistake! If Fleur decided to report the matter to her overprotective father… who knows what would happen to them…
Akira and the rest of the Werewolf cavalrymen and Gargs entered the entrance into a large bowl-like cave that was large enough to house the entire city of Kodria.
The ceiling was filled with large dripping stalactites as warmth flowed out from deeper inside the mountain.
“Your underlings will have to stay here in one of the stone waiting rooms. Only you, and you, can come,” said Alpants, pointing to Akira and Mileena.
“We can not allow our lord to be unprotected!” said Dolph.
“Do you think so little of my honor? No one would dare attack guests of his majesty’s daughter. With me as an escort his safety is all but assured,” said Alpants with his blank expressionless face.
Akira waved a hand to Dolph and Vilkas letting them know it was okay. He and Mileena followed Alpants and the two girls as they headed towards another large entrance that led deeper into the mountain.
Fluffball and Pii’per ignored the glares of Alpants and followed alongside Akira and Mileena.
“Yap!” “Pii!” They both let out shouts of glee as they inspected their new surroundings.
At each of the new caves they passed, the laughing and ruckus activity of the Draconian soldiers immediately halted when they saw Fleur.
They all immediately kneeled and did not look up until she had passed.
Over an hour of walking had passed before they reach the center of the mountain where the Junkpile was supposed to be.
The straight path towards the entrance to the Junkpile was blocked by two towering stone doors that looked to be made for extremely tall and wide giants. The doors were cracked open slightly revealing a gold light and allowing warm air to flow out of them.
The entrance was being guarded by over 200 gray-scaled Draconians.
“Lady FleurCarinaEldurWulkanDreki, If you had sent word to us earlier I would have led a force to personally escort you here,” said an elderly man with a bow.
He had dull black scales covering his body up to his neck. His face looked eerily similar to Alpants.
“Brother, why are you here with lady BorraEisZimaGeleiraDreki?” asked the older man.
“Alhants, the Draconians under your command are as sloppily trained as usual,” said Alpants.
“Oh?” asked Alhants.
“OH HO HO HO!”
“What’s with all the security here?” asked Fleur looking at the 200 + Draconian warriors.
“Recently there has been a spree of burglaries in his majesty’s jun… Treasure room,” said Alhants.
“How?” asked Alpants, looking at the mountain’s solid stone surrounding them.
Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!
The ground underneath them started to shake violently.
“They have come again! EVERYONE GET INSIDE THE JUNK ROOM! WE MUST CATCH OR KILL THEM!” shouted Alhants.
