A bloodchilling roar filled her head. Katula sat up with a start. Her hands were in chains, and her eyes were blindfolded. Wait. She wasn't blindfolded; the room was pitch black. "Ah, looks like Shivanoshei arrived on time, not that it matters. I would have preferred to have time to play with our prisoner." A dark figure drew back a shade and light flooded the room. A draconian was sitting in a wooden chair out of reach of Katula, but close enough to smell his breath. In his hand he clutched Katula's spear.br

"Lucky for you, anyway." the draconian stuck out his tongue and rolled it over his "lips". Katula winced in disgust. She decided to avoid looking at the pervert and examined her surroundings. She was on a feather mattress, for the draconian's was-to-be pleasure no doubt. Another chair was at her foot of bed, also made of wood. The window was on the rightside of the draconian and the door stood in the shadows.br

"You know, if you even think about escaping, I'm supposed to take you dead," the creature stood up and pranced over to her. Katula flinched as a bony finger dragged itself over her cheek. "And we wouldn't want to hurt that precious skin, now do we?" Katula acted fast. She stuck a leg out past the draconian and kicked the tip of the chair.

The chair flipped forward and struck the draconian in the back of the head. It grunted then slumped to the floor. "Women don't like uncivilized jerks like you. Learn some manners." Katula kicked the scaly mass then stepped on it as she walked over to her spear. Finding a knothole on the ground, Katula placed her spear in it and began slicing the chains with the spear tip.br

IThe draconian spoke of a Shivanoshei, who or what is it?/I After a few minutes of working, the chains fell to the ground, giving Katula the opportunity to tend to her blisters.br

She picked up her spear and headed through the door. A troop of draconians awaited her. They seemed surprised to see her come out alone. Obviously, they thought all the noises in the room was natural for...br

Taking her chance, Katula screamed out words she had never known, and all the draconians froze in place, still stunned. Katula's hair fell down past her shoulders again. IWhat happened?/I she gasped. The only spell she had ever known was to drown all victims with her staff. But her mother's staff was gone, wasen't it? She looked down at her spear. The shaft gave a radiant blue glow, just as her staff had done. Is it possible? Her spear's glow died as time passed. She stood there for awhile, gawking at her spear. Another roar knocked her back to reality.br

Katula shook her head and passed the frozen sculptures to the door. As she opened it, a mighty wind almost blew her back in again. A dragon stood towering in front of her, not looking all too happy. Then the dragonfear kicked in...br