Chapter 12

If everyone in the world will love universally; states not attacking one another; houses not disturbing one another; thieves and robbers becoming extinct; emperor and ministers, fathers and sons, all being affectionate and filial - if all this comes to pass the world will be orderly. Therefore, how can the wise man who has charge of governing the empire fail to restrain hate and encourage love? So, when there is universal love in the world it will be orderly, and when there is mutual hate in the world it will be disorderly.

Mozi (470 BC-391 BC)


A burning headache welcomed Malefor on her return to the realm of consciousness. It felt like a thousand needles piercing her skull, brutally poking and stabbing her brain akin to a maniac. Although the pain began to fade from the moment her mind began to work properly, she still couldn't react immediately, and a hiss escaped her mouth when her front paws weren't responding to her command to grab her head between them. Slowly, she opened her eyes, searching for the source of her struggle.

The first thing she saw was a red glow in front of her. For some reason, if felt rather uncomfortable to look at it for some time, but she refused to look away. Trying to focus her eyes, she saw that a small camp fire was burning five meters away from her. Against the bright light, she could see a figure sitting behind it in the darkness of the night, but there was nothing that indicated who it actually was.

As in a reflex, her paws tried to come forward, but she hissed again when she felt the already expected rope keeping her firmly attached to the tree she was against with her back. She couldn't see yet what material the rope was made of, but it was probably fire proof. This didn't help her headache however, and she cursed under her breath, trying to get some of her frustration out of her. Through her pain, she could hear something moving , but she didn't care that much. Her brain was feeling like a volcano on the verge of exploding, so she had better things to get angry about.

This only made her surprised more greater when eventually, something happened. Two fingers took her muzzle in a tight grip, one finger on top of her nose and the other under her chin, keeping her mouth shut. Angry at such a humiliating and childish treatment, Malefor tried to open her mouth to demand release, but to her confusion, she couldn't break through the iron grip.

"Frodjan. You can't beat me, fuck face. It takes more than some fancy fire tricks to get dragons of my kind to our ancestors. You got Alboin good, but you won't pull that off twice."

Malefor aimed her angry yellow eyes right at the source of the voice, and she was surprised to look right into a pair of light blue eyes. It was the blue female from the campfire. The purple dragoness grinned a little bit when she saw the slight disgust and shock in the female's eyes at seeing her slit-like pupils.

"Well….., you are a rather nasty one, aren't you?"

"Don't know the half of it." Malefor tried to say, although it came out as a mumble. The blue dragoness didn't seem interested in what she had to say however. Instead, she began to force Malefor's head in al kind of positions, apparently studying her features and looks.

"Say what you want, but you have a body to kill for. I think someone of the Withwara tribe will pay a lot of money to show you a good time, little girl."

Malefor her eyes widened in shock. This dragoness, this insolent bitch, she wasn't really talking about….

"Prostitution?" another voice said. Malefor and the blue dragoness both looked sideways so they could face the person talking. Another purple dragoness was laying there, attached to the three by the same rope that held Malefor back. To her relief it was Cynder, who looked like she hadn't been harmed too much, disregarding some scratches.

"You aren't really going to sell us to be used by some perverted freaks? " The purple dragoness said, a hint of fear and disgust sounding through her voice.

"I am sorry dear, but after your friend here mutilated my brother, I have to say that my empathy for you both has been reduced to zero." The blue lizard sneered.

"Although I have to say that I feel a little bit sorry for you, small one." She said to Cynder.

"You weren't the one committing the crime, but guilt by association is still guilt. And I am going to be very honest with you two, I need you bitches to release some of my...tension upon. It is not funny to see your sibling suffer, but you will experience the same feeling within some minutes, I promise you. We will just wait for Agilulf to return, and the fun can begin."

Malefor wasn't satisfied with this explanation though.

"Who are you? You have no right to keep us here. We have some better things to do than to make you money."

The blue dragoness only laughed at this.

"I have all the right, you cunt. I won't let me be commanded by some slimy dragoness from the south, to pompous and high-classed to get things done by herself."

"Release me, and you will know how pompous I can be." Malefor replied.

The blue dragoness just scoffed.

"I would like to see you try."

Without giving any more attention to the two purple sisters, she went back to her spot and sat down again. Malefor wasn't looking at her however. Her mind was thinking and analyzing the situation, trying to find a way out of this, but it didn't seem like she had many options at the moment. Apparently, these three dragons were siblings, or at least related in some way, and she severely wounded the brother of this female one.

Malefor could very well remember her own emotions regarding such a situation, and she could perfectly understand why this dragoness would hold these thoughts. This didn't mean that she wouldn't try to stop it from happening, if only to spare Cynder the pain. She had to admit though, that she herself was getting very tired too from all the physical abuse through the years.

"I am sorry, Mally."

Malefor looked at her right to look at Cynder. What was she talking about?

"About what, dear sister?"

Cynder sniffed a little.

"About getting us in this shit storm. If I hadn't stopped you, we could have won the fight and we wouldn't have been in this situation. That's why I say sorry. But, I….I just couldn't see you like that. I couldn't let you go down that path. Not again."

In the dim light of the fire, Malefor could see a single tear rolling down Cynder's cheeks, seemingly a pearl rolling down her face, reflecting the light of the moon and the fire. This single piece of emotion touched Malefor somewhere deep inside, a place she knew all too well, but had forgotten about in her years as a dark master. Empathy.

"You don't have to be sorry, Cynder. If you hadn't stopped me, I would have killed that dragon, and the ancestors know what would have happened to us then. Maybe, just maybe, we can get out of here."

Cynder nodded, although weakly, not very convinced that they would succeed. Still, a small smile appeared on her face, quickly replaced with a frown.

"That's all good and all, but what about Rhyddrech?"

Malefor stopped her thinking for a moment. She had totally forgotten about the dragon that had led them to here in the first place. One mental face palm later, she looked around, trying to find her companion, but she couldn't find him anywhere. Eventually, she took the last source of information.

"Euhmm, Lady blue dragoness, could you please tell us were our friend is being held captive? It wouldn't be to much of a bother to you, would it?"

To Malefor's irritation, the blue dragoness didn't move are talk in the slightest, seemingly obvious to the question asked, or ignoring it outright.

"Excuse me, I am talking to you." She said a little bit louder and with more anger in her voice. Lightly surprised, the blue dragoness looked up like she had been stung on the head by a bee.

"What did you just say?" she asked, her eyes displaying anger and aggression. Malefor wasn't imposed however. This dragoness would need to do much more to scare her.

"I asked you were my friend was…."

"I have heard that already. But how did you call me again?" the blue dragoness spat, interrupting Malefor her question. This was off-putting to the purple dragoness, but it quickly turned to anger. The lack of manners this dragoness had were frustrating to her, and she began to get very irritated.

"Listen, lady, I do not want to be rude but…"

"What was that?"

"You are interrupting me ag….."

"Lady? Did you just called me a fucking lady?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I?"

Malefor wasn't quiet understanding the situation. She had had just used the proper term to address a dragoness, but this one seemed furious about it. If she wouldn't have known better, she would have sworn that steam was shooting out of her ears and nose. Her eyes were wide open, beaming imaginary flames of death at her. Within the blink of an eye, the dragoness had crossed the open space between her and her prisoners, coming straight for Malefor.

Grabbing her muzzle again, her other paw grabbed Malefor's throat. The sudden attack only angered and confused the purple dragoness even more, and eventually, from Cynder's standpoint, she could only see two dragonesses, both furious, glaring at each other with enough aggression to put the dark master to shame.

"Call me a woman again, only once, and I will rip your heart out." The blue dragoness spat, spit ending on Malefor's face.

Malefor didn't understood the situation, and it kept getting weirder with every word of the blue dragoness. Was this a feminist thing? Malefor didn't knew, but she didn't really care either. Her anger was already to immense to even try to think about such a possibility.

"Lady. A fucking woman. Are you serious? Do I look female to you, ay? Do I?"

With one big build up, Malefor succeeded at getting her mouth open, and she spit one big ball of drool and spit, combined with some ashes in the dragoness her face. A scream of rage emitted from the blue dragoness her mouth, releasing Malefor's throat so she could get the drool of her face. When she looked back at the purple dragoness, she almost exploded when she saw the satisfied grin on the dragoness her muzzle.

"That does it. Say goodbye to your beautiful face, bitch, because you aren't going to recognize it when I am ready with you."

Her now free hand positioned itself above Malefor, and it came down with much more power than the former dark master had expected from such a fragile dragoness. A muffled moan came from her maw when the blue dragoness her claw made one big slash over her forehead, damaging the tattoo situated there. Blood began to drip over her head, leaking into her eyes and mouth, making her squirm more, trying to get her claws at the blue dragoness to repay the favor. Sadly enough, she couldn't.

"I bet there will be some sickos too who like to fuck a disfigured whore, don't you agree?"

Malefor only growled in return. Cynder at her tree just kept screaming at the blue dragoness that she had to stop, but in vain. It only seemed to piss her off even more.

"This was only the appetizer. Here comes my real magnum opus, dry slut"

Her claw positioned itself again above Malefor's head, making itself ready for another slash.

"Authari. Anaikan banja blips."

The female dragoness didn't turn around to answer the voice, that from Malefor's standpoint seemed to come from nowhere, the person speaking probably still hidden behind the thick wall of trees that surrounded them. This didn't stop the blue dragoness from answering however, growling something in that incomprehensible tongue of hers. Malefor and Cynder could only look and wait when the blue dragoness started to have a whole discussion with the hidden dragon, not leaving her position in front of the former dark master.

Her eyes kept their sharp focus directed at the captured purple dragoness, and Malefor knew that only the smallest excuse would be used by this female to hurt her in ways way worse than the rather weak scar on her forehead. The blood began to get more and more annoying with the minute however, her eyes starting to feel sticky thanks to her own red bodily fluid dripping in them. Her anger and frustration were still high, and she wasn't all too happy either with the situation getting more and more confusing to her with the minute.

As someone with a rather demanding and dominating character, it was a horrible feeling to feel the situation slip through her controlling claws. It didn't help that this side of her had been suppressed for years under Tenebris' spell, and it felt…..wrong to see the scene before her unfold, totally out of her reach.

Malefor her attention was drawn away from these thoughts by a sound on her left-side. She tried to look at it by turning her head, but the blue dragoness grabbed her head tightly again, enabling her to see what was happening next to her. Now, the blue dragoness did look at the person speaking however. Her voice sounded very angry, in comparisment with the other voice, the speaker of whom seemed to be way calmer than the hysterical and screeching voice boiling out of the female her mouth. This didn't calm her though, the tension in the woods rising to a point it was almost suffocating.

Eventually, the speaker came close enough so Malefor could look at the person that was buying her very valuable time. To her surprise, it was the other blue dragon, the one with the muscles. If her memory served her right, she thought that the blue dragoness had named one of her companions Agilulf, or something along those lines, but she didn't knew for sure if this was him. It didn't really matter, because if this was him, then she and her sister were officially fucked. Now they would have to deal with two dragons that were both out for their skins.

"This situation is getting more and more complicated as time passes by. Ancestors, help me." Malefor thought, sighing mentally. While thinking this, the situation in front of her became more and chaotic, both dragons just rambling to each other, although the male one was way calmer and more collected then his female counterpart.

The conversation seemed to become much more heated when the female realized that she was going nowhere with her argument, and in her anger she screamed something that brought a smile to the other one's face. A smile that slowly morphed into a full laugh, to the dragoness her dismay. She didn't talk anymore tough. Instead, she decided that everyone in the whole world could kiss her scaly ass for the moment, turning her back at the blue dragon and their prisoners. The male didn't seem to bothered by the whole ordeal, instead opting to focus his full attention on Malefor.

"You have really fucked with him, you know? There haven't been too many dragons like you, that can claim to be still alive after insulting him like that."

Malefor frowned, and now her mouth was free, she would let all her questions roam freely.

"What are you talking about? What is happening here?" she asked. Agilulf was quick to reply.

"You have made a big mistake, purple dragoness, and although it was an understandable one, I do not think you will be forgiven any time soon. I think you will be very surprised to hear that the so-called dragoness you just insulted isn't a dragoness at all. She, or actually he, is a total male, and there is nothing biologically female about him."

Malefor didn't really knew what to say. This had to be a joke, and a really bad one at that. There was no way in the underworld that this strong and pleasantly looking dragoness was a male. It couldn't be true. The purple dragoness looked at the slender and shiny blue back of this so called male, frowning deeply.

"You would be better off if you stopped staring at him. Authari doesn't like it when people stare at him, and certainly not when said people insulted him based on his manhood."

Authari only huffed angry, a small cloud of snow shooting out of his nostrils. Unknown to him, this move could have looked rather intimidating when it would have been a more …manly dragon standing there, but in this case, the snowy cloud only accentuated the shiny and sleek scales of the blue dragon, making him look more cute and sweet than the threatening beast he wanted to be.

Still, his outburst from some seconds ago had made it very clear that he wasn't someone who could be pushed over like the innocent thing he looked like. Malefor would almost say that Authari possessed a more psychotic side when he was angry, although the painful and touchy subject matter could have been the cause of that. Whatever the case was, both purple dragonesses were still hanging against the tree's, and their situation hadn't improved much.

Still, being captured without some murderess female lookalike at your throat was nice.

"You are lucky that I came in time. He would have hurt you badly." Agilulf said. Cynder however, still had a question about the matter.

"Why help us at all?" Agilulf grinned at this.

"It's just a principal of not damaging the goods, if you know what I mean. You may have scorned Alboin up pretty bad, but he will live. I am sure about that, and as long as we get our gold for delivering you, we won't complain."

Malefor huffed.

"You are a disgusting, pathetic waste of breathing space. You are the personification of all that is wrong in this realm. Rotten to the core. I hope that you know that."

Although she hadn't meant her words that serious, it was more a way of letting her pent up aggression and frustration go, Agilulf's face turned from the slightly amused grin from some seconds ago to a stone-cold expression, all amusement leaving his facial features. His eyes now looked right into Malefor's, his pupils becoming smaller with every passing second. A dark shadow seemed to brew inside the dragon's orbs, and Malefor didn't like it one bit.

"Bold statements coming from someone like you."


Rhyddrech tried to hide his face between his paws, but nothing could prepare him for the brutal punch that landed on the back of his skull. An immense jolt of pain travelled through his body, and his spine was barely able to keep itself together. With an enormous crash, he was thrown against a stone wall, the strong structure trembling on its foundations.

"B..B…..But dad, I didn't meant it that way. I was just helping them out. I couldn't predict that…."

His sentence was cut short by another punch on his mouth, some teeth giving up their fierce last stand and falling down on the ground in the ever enlarging puddle of blood.

"Please dad. I didn't knew. I really didn't. Believe me."

The enormous green dragon standing next to the young and broken body didn't even care to answer, instead turning around to another green dragon standing at the doorstep of the building. He huffed when he recognized his daughter, looking at him with a familiar look of disappointment. Nothing was said between them, until the daughter sighed deeply, looking at the ground.

"Not again dad. I thought you would have grown out of it by now."

There was a hint of sadness in her voice, although the overall tone was more neutral than really judging the events playing out in front of her.

"Leave us alone Tenkamin. This is a business between me and Rhyddrech."

The dragoness sighed again.

"He still is your son you know."

Galvano scolded at this remark.

"Don't remember me of that, daughter of mine. Spare me the shame."

Instead of continuing looking at how her father returned to beat the living shit out of Rhyddrech, Tenkamine turned around and flew away. She had seen this enough times before to know where, when and how this whole ordeal would end, and she didn't want to see it all again. She pushed her body to the max, her wings flapping and pulling like so many nights before, until she was high enough so no one out of her village would notice her. After hanging on one place for some minutes, she decided to calm her mind a little. Looking around to navigate herself, she spotted the place where she needed to be. Many miles away from her village, at the far end of the surrounding forest, she saw an open space in the thick blanket of trees.

There, far away from her current position, was the grave of the first king of their tribe, Galam Cennalath. His grave was nothing more than a house-like shaped building, with his body buried under its heavy rocks. There were many structures like this in the forest, every king of almost every tribe in the swamps being buried in the ocean of trees. Ironically, at such a place, Tenkamin felt herself more at peace than anywhere else. It made her feel so insignificant and meaningless in history, and she had to admit that she felt rather comfortable with leading a meaningless and normal life. If she could, that was.

It gave her the feeling that she had nothing to prove, nothing to say and nothing to worry about. Who was she, next to someone who had singlehandedly build their town between the dark trees in a time that the shadow of Pharamond's rule hadn't left yet? Who was she, next to the person who created the strongest tribal force of the whole realm? Galam had fought against many armies of dragons, apes, the power of Warfang and even the gods themselves to give his people peace for eternity, and still he found it in himself in all his goodness to create the heaven that was her hometown.

"May his light shine upon us." Was what the priest's in her town always said, but Tenkamin preferred his shadow more. Reasons enough to hide in the comforting darkness of his grave whenever his descendants decided that punching their kids was the right thing to do. She really wasn't the person to become sentimental and philosophical about stuff, but this was one of her guilty pleasures. Or means of escape, like today.

As fast as her strong and powerful wings could carry her, she raced to the place, leaving her home alone. At least, until she noticed a fire burning in the woods. Although it were probably just criminals, likely coming from Dante's Freezer with some goods for the southern tribes in the swamps. Nothing special about that. Still, she needed to investigate this. Maybe, it could give her some much needed action and energy, to get her mind away from the situation at home. And a good fight was always welcome to a proud Withwara warrior in her prime.

Coming closer to the fire, she could already hear the loud and obnoxious voice of a person clearly speaking the language of the northern ice dragons, and the accent was clearly from the area surrounding Dante's Freezer.

"Nice prediction, even if I say so myself. " she whispered, a small grin gracing her muzzle.

Listening carefully to the words spoken, Tenkamin could kind of figure out what was happening, although she began to get confused when more than eighty percent of the words became insults of some sort. Whoever was speaking at the moment, male or female she couldn't tell, was getting really worked up about something. Her surprise and confusion became worse when she heard another voice entering the conversation, and this one was clearly female. And to top it all off, the voice spoke English in an accent used by the dragons living in the high society of Warfang, of all places.

"That is one fish that is way out of her pond." She thought. Again, the voice's seemed to become more and more aggressive, until one sentence seemed to derail the whole conversation.

"Bold statements coming from someone like you. "

Whatever this meant, Tenkamin didn't knew for sure, but she didn't care that much either. She had wasted her time long enough.

Time to do some inspection. And, like the proud warrior she was, as dramatic as possible of course. She hovered herself until she was right above the camp fire, and after checking her landing and first-to-drop-cheap-ass-one-liner for the last time, she tucked her wings against her body, plummeting to the ground.

At the very last second, she opened them again to slow herself just enough to not break her legs. With a crash even the gods couldn't replicate, she landed in the fire, making dust and smoke fly to all the directions. The fire blew out thanks to the air and wind produced with her landing, covering the surrounding area in smoke and the darkness of the night.

"Who is there?" She heard the English voice ask.

"Your worst nightmare, forzh." her voice whispered.

"And now explain yourself and your purpose before I rip your throats out."

From somewhere behind the smoke, she could hear the English voice, curse under its breath.

"Oh, in the name of the ancestors, please end me now and release me from this madness. My brain can't keep up with all this." The voice said, a sarcastic and melodramatic undertone putting Tenkamin out of 'her moment'.

"Who the fuck are you?" she heard the sexless voice mutter behind her. Trying to heighten her head, she proudly exclaimed.

"Tenkamin, daughter of Galvano, daughter of Gawain and glory full descendant of Galam Cennalath, king of the Withwara tribe. And who are you, if I may ask?"

"Open your eyes, dear princess, and you will recognize us." Agilulf's voice said. Tenkamin did what was asked from her, and a scowl of disgust appeared on her features.

"What are you guys doing here?" she almost screamed, anger accompanying her words.

Authari scoffed again. "Lets the exposition begin, dear brother of mine."


Okay, here are the Burgundian translations for everyone who cares.

Frodjan= Be wise.

Anaikan banja blips= Have mercy ( or"have a erciful punch" depending on your source).

Here is the Bretons translation.

Forzh= cunt

Okay, so before I end this, I do have to say that the only reason I could write this was that I have one week of vacation to spend. In that time I have to finish my essay, jam and record with my band, get my drivers-license for my Suzuki and help with creating a big "fuif" ( kind of party, mostly held in a circus-tent or in a large building. There is no age restriction on the alcohol, a fact that creates some very fun experiences.) and I have to work for school, because my exams won't be that good if I do not perform well on my French exam. Anyway, if you don't care about this ( and you probably do) then...just ignore these past sentences.

I also want to say that Alboin, Agilulf and Authari are all brothers, if you hadn't figured it out by now. I just want to make that very clear.

Another funny thing. This is the first chapter in ages that focusses just on Malefor. Many of the past chapters have some scene with the vilians in them, bit this one hasn't. I am planning to make one chapter fully dedicated to them tough, but that one will have to wait for some time. This story is about Malefor after all.

All comments are appreciated

Goe dagske nog verder.

PTPD