Sorry for the delays all. Got put on a big project at work and with 4.3's new info...I had to do some creative hole filling in the story. Enjoy.

Also, I have finally started posting my original, serial novel: The Red Thread Tapestry which is available on 's sister site, fictionpress. I'll attempt to put the link here, with spaces (since you're not allowed to put links here: www. fictionpress. net/~ oriwhitedeer. ) Check it out, and please leave a review (since that site is still stuck in the old reviews = good culture even if the reviews are all bad :P)

Anyway, on with the show...

Straydog Saga

Flea 39: The Caverns of Time: Vessels of the Infinite Slayer

It was well past noon when Shandori finally found the strength to open her reddened eyes. The stabbing sensation in her face was not the work of villainous daggers, but of the gentle rays of light coming from her humble room's small window. She had woken up earlier to rush to the privy, but found sleep was the only medicine she had for her harrowing state.

Shandori felt a warm form beside her as she stirred. The long, heavy sensation of an arm across her stomach and a head on her shirt-covered chest barely registered through the pain. She reached to the nightstand for a pain potion, but only succeeded in knocking the vial to the floor with a 'tink.' She moaned for a moment, moving her sluggish hand over her blushing face.

"SSSsshhhhhhiiiiit…" Shandori whimpered as she tried to adjust her breathing in an attempt to somehow lessen the throbbing in her mind. She looked down to the still snoring form at her breast with a small smirk. "Deaaaamon sucker…" she playfully hummed, pulling on a single one of his messy black hairs. "Waaaakie wakie," Shandori mumbled as she quickly pulled up, plucking the hair from Christoffel's head. When he did not stir, she repeated the process until the prickling pain finally caused his own dehydrated eyes to open.

"The hell….aaaauuuuhhhgg," Christoffel moaned as the stabbing rays of sun shot into his face. "Where am I?"

"My room, apparently."

"How did I….how much did we drink?"

"A lot."

"Y-Yes," Christoffel coughed as he began to realize the position he was in. A redness that was not the result of a night of drinking shot to his cheeks as he did his best to sit up. The sensation rocked his stomach, causing a small amount of bile to splash in his dry throat. Shandori moved to reach for the fallen vial of pain potion when she noticed a few crumpled and beer-stained papers on the side table.

With one hand popping the vial's stopper and the other gripping the paper, Shandori scanned the words written in bold face as quickly as her aching eyes would allow. The vague, hazy memory of the drunken day before brought the words back somewhat, but it took her three tried in her groggy state to truly discern their meaning.

"Chris, did we sign up for this, do you remember?" Shandori asked, passing the papers to her ailing companion. He took the leaflets with shaking fingers and did his best to comprehend the words before him. Despite the difficulty, the amount of gold per returning retainer came in as clear as clean glass.

"N-No, but it looks like we have 'til tonight to get well if we are going to…my brother will expect me to do something," Christoffel coughed as he rubbed the skin just above his fel-gemmed collar. Shandori's pain-filled eyes seemed to go beyond the residual hang over. They glazed with a bitterness that caused a small twinge of concern in Christoffel's chest.

"Should we have to at this point?"

"Hmm?" Christoffel gave her a questioning look as Shandori turned away with a small sigh.

"When this all started, it was only supposed to be a few jobs, some gold, and that's all. I never signed up for all this…heroism crap."

"Well, technically heroes do this for, you know, noble reasons. We'd still be doing it for the money. Your mercenary code shouldn't be violated," Christoffel chuckled with a wince as he motioned for Shandori to pass him whatever was left of her pain-relief potion. "After all that's happened, I'd rather…we sit this one out," Christoffel cringed at the memory of his failed fingers and Shandori's swift fall as he swallowed the small amount of liquid in a single gulp. The cool, thick liquid began to work its magic as Christoffel moved to change his shirt. Shandori's eyes lingered on the faded scars as memories of Moodglade threaded through her aching mind. She shook her head and smiled.

"Maybe…but it is a lot of money, if we survive. I mean, we've been lucky as hell so far; remember the time we got ambushed by those centaurs? Stupid, mangy animals nearly shot me in the face!" Shandori mused, causing Christoffel to give a smiling sigh.

"Yes, I remember that. Remember when we had that druidic crushing spell on us in that temple? If that priest wasn't there to dispel us we would have been crushed to paste."

"Yeah, and we wouldn't have added Ima the gnome-troll to our traveling freak show…things wouldn't have been as interesting, that's for sure."

"That's true."

"I mean, things can only get more interesting right?"

"If you say so…if I didn't know better I'd say you've already made up your mind." Christoffel spoke with a raised brow. His incredulous expression slowly shifted to a knowing smile as Shandori gave an admitting shrug. "I'll start sharpening my new daggers. Stupid things cut like butter knives," Christoffel informed as he pulled his boot over his foot. Shandori stood, stretched, and began folding the fliers before placing them in her shirt pocket.

"Alright then. Let's go get some food. We can't fight Twilights on empty stomachs."

"W-W-We're going to Dalaran!" Ima shrieked with breaths audible between her words. Her trembling knees seemed to be caused, not by the rocking ship's deck she stood on, but by some kind of inner terror. She nearly bumped into the long line of Shepherds, volunteers, and mercenaries that poured, one by one, onto ships bound for Northrend. F-bomb looked up to the trembling troll with a raised brow.

"Yeah, we need to through there to get to our formation grounds in Dragonblight. What's so bad about Dalaran? I thought ya studied there for a while."

"I DID and I DO, but not like THIS! What if my friends SEE me? Oh no, what am I gunna do? Herbert's not matured fully yet, and I can't make the potion I use to become a gnome…"

"Wait-a min-it. Yer friends never saw ya as a troll. They won't recognize ya like that, right?" F-bomb reasoned as Ima cringed.

"There is someone that will know. We're not on the best terms right now and, if he confirms his suspicions it's all over for me!" Ima trembled as memories of the young man she foolishly scorned in order to fall in line with her usual companions flooded her terrified mind. One memory displayed the evening when, In apology for a spell gone wrong in one of their classes, the young nephew of Romulus Redmane, Gawain Redmane, presented Ima with a hand-drawn picture of her sitting on a great turtle and fishing in the ocean. Ima's vision did not pick up the subtle reflection until just before her departure of a troll's face reflected in the choppy water.

"Well, why don't ya let Lord Redmane help ya out? I mean dragons take mortal form all the time. Maybe he can teach ya to do it yourself?" F-bomb offered only to receive a shaking orange head.

"Well, Lord Redmane doesn't exactly know I'm here, and dragon magic is crazy strong. I'd never be able to do that by myself!"

"She's right, you know: mortals can do much, but there are a few things well beyond your grasp," a third voice interjected. Coming up the ramp was an uncomfortable-looking Lumigosa. She walked over to where Ima and F-bomb stood and placed her belongings down with a huff.

"Miss Lumi, you decided to come?" Ima asked with surprise in her warm-ember eyes.

"After giving it some thought, and the fact that my beloved Kalecgos and the other aspects are STILL debating whether or not to even start planning a counter-strike, I decided that if the mortals are going to do something, you'll be needed all the help you can get," Lumi unassumingly spoke. The pair of mortals in her presence slightly cringed, but had spent enough time with the blue dragon not to take offence at her statements. "What about you, Ima? Does Romilstrasz know you're here?" Lumi asked, referring to Lord Redmane's true name.

"He knows…I bet he's chuckling to himself right now," Ima huffed as the trio moved away from the ramp are and closer to the cabin. Ima's eyes sparked for a moment as an idea popped into her mind. "Miss Lumi, you're a highly talented, beautiful, and intelligent blue dragon! Can YOU change me into a gnome when we get to Dalaran?" Ima whispered as a pack of strangers passed the trio. Lumi puffed up and crossed her arms.

"While I am all of those things, it would take an awful lot of my skills to change you into a gnome long-term. The most I can keep you in that form is for a few days at a time…"

"That'd work fine! Will you do it? Please, please, please?" Ima's eyes began to shine, begging with prostrate desperation for her potential savior to move in her favor. Lumi's eyes slowly rolled in thought before a sly smile came to her lips.

"I may be able to accommodate you, under one condition."

"What's that?"

"You will be my personal servant for the remainder of the trip." Lumi offered. Her smile rose as Ima's jaw dropped.

"Boy, that sounds familiar. You can't have her, she's already spoken for," Another voice came from around the ramp area. Walking towards the three were the familiar forms of Shandori and Christoffel. They carried very little with them save for their weapons, gold, and whatever armor was left over from their previous battles.

"Hey there you two. Was wonderin' when you'd show up," F-bomb spoke as she waved to the elf pair.

"Yeah, yeah, so what's this about stealing our troll?" Shandori asked with a raised brow. Lumi explained Ima's predicament, her ability to solve it, and her terms. Shandori crossed her arms with a frown for a moment before her lips did a sharp reversal.

"You know, I think I may be able to let Ima out of her debt a little early. You can have her for a while if you can do me a small favor, it would only take you a few seconds."

"Oh, and what's that?" Lumi asked as she watched Shandori point to the choker around Christoffel's neck.

"Get THAT off."

"Dori, I don't think that's a good idea, it's rigged to-" Chris began as his sentence was viciously cut off by Shandori's voice.

"Yeah, it's digging into his neck and looks really uncomfortable. There's some fel magic in the gem, and I'm REALLY worried it might drive him wretched. Think you can help?"

"Dori!" Chris hissed as the blue dragon walked closer to where he stood.

"Hmmm…" Lumi leaned forward and examined the necklace for a moment before smirking. She lifted her hands and closed her eyes. Christoffel felt the choker vibrate against his skin as the gem imbedded within began to glow bright red.

"S-Stop, it's going to-" Chris felt the choker break and clinched his eyes shut in preparation for the end. After a few seconds, he opened one trembling green eye. His shaking hands reached to feel un-exploded skin where the choker once tightly lay. He looked to Lumi who held the broken artifact in her soft-looking hands.

"That was child's play! May I have the troll now?"

"She's all yours. Have fun Ima!" Shandori laughed at the troll's look of utter dejection as she felt a pair of sharp green eyes fall on her person. She looked to Christoffel with sheepish eyes as Lumi, F-bomb, and a luggage-toting Ima walked into the cabin area and to their room. "What?"

"Why the hell didn't you say something? She could have blown my head off!"

"She might not have done it at all if she knew why you had that thing on. And you're welcome," Shandori hissed as she felt a night-time shiver run through her spine. "I'm heading in and grabbing some dinner, you coming?" Shandori cheerfully spoke. Christoffel's cold gaze caused the momentary bubbly-ness within Shandori to pop and sink.

"N-No. I think I'll walk around for a bit. Your little impulse has made me lose my apatite," Chris coughed, still visibly shaken, and apparently highly un-amused. Shandori gave a seemingly nonchalant shrug.

"Suit yourself. I'm not leaving any rations for you, just so you know," Shandori spoke with the hint of a joking tone to the pale-faced Christoffel, but his mood seemed to remain flat.

"I think I'll survive." Christoffel turned, without another word, and walked towards the bow of the ship. Shandori frowned and entered the cabin area where a small feast of bread and dried meat awaited her in the crowded dining area.

Christoffel looked to the moonlit sea with an inner current so tumultuous it made the churning ocean seem little more than a placid puddle. Though whatever awaited him and the others in Northrend would surely be terrible by his measure, the cause of his current state was far closer. As he leaned over the rail along the ship's left bow, the moon only served to remind him of Shandori's conniving vision, smug smiles, and arrogant tones. He nearly growled as he ran has hand over the spot along his neck where his fel choker once was.

While he was free from the constant threat of decapitation, the soothing green gem kept his hunger satiated and his nerves calm. He gave a small smile as the recent memory of Shandori's freeing wit seemed to chip away at his cracking wall of anger. The sound of clanking plate boots caused him to slowly turn. There, eyes that were like twin full moons met his, causing him to blush under the cover of darkness.

"Hey, Chris, you have a minute?"

"Sure," Christoffel shrugged as Shandori took her place beside him on the otherwise empty deck.

"I wanted to say sorry for what happened earlier. I didn't want to tip her off as to why you were wearing that thing, in case she refused to help," Shandori sighed with a guarded shine of guilt in her eyes. Christoffel shook his head.

"You don't need to…I guess part of me needed it kept on, the gem and all," Christoffel shrugged as the pair found an uneasy silence settling between them. The night wind was cool on their skin, but seemed incapable of soothing a growing discomfort. Neither seemed able to look the other in the eye as their vision rested on the black sea beneath them.

Shandori gave a small smile as she brushed a small piece of loose hair from her cheek.

"Well if you'd just stop sucking on demons, you wouldn't have this problem," Shandori gave a satisfied laugh as the blood elf beside her gave her a look that made her blood run cold. The slight amusement mixed with something that resembled abject misery seemed to crumple her playful attempt at a joke. "C-Chris? Look, you know I'm joking right?"

"Dori…" Christoffel's voice gave way as he rushed to return his wet vision to the blind sea. Thoughts of the woman beside him being torn apart by dragons, or old gods, or whatever horrors awaited them seemed to choke him as he bit back the emotions he refused to let her witness.

"Come on now, don't get all soggy on me," Shandori gave a nervous laugh as she moved to place her hand on his far shoulder. He could smell her scent, the sweaty, flowery scent he'd come to memorize on his person and nearly let the fear-filled tears spill. Though his memories still bound his heart, the great tragedy that was his life seemed swept away whenever she was near, smiling and raucous as he found her to be. He seemed incapable of holding his dammed up emotions in his fel-weakened state as he turned with vulnerability in his usually stone-wall of a face.

"Dori, we can't do this. We need to go back."

"W-What do you mean? I thought we agreed to go-"

"We did but…I-I can't," Christoffel's voice was cut short by the sound of creaking deck boards. From the shadows came several cloaked figures came from behind boxes and seemingly from the empty air. Christoffel stowed his emotions as Shandori turned and walked in front of her companion.

"Twilights…how did they get on board?" Shandori hissed as one in their number began to chuckle before addressing her words.

"Shandori Sagesmoke, your bilious actions and crass manner have gotten you far, but you and your companion have come far enough. You cannot be allowed to set foot off this boat, my kin and I shall see to that!" the figure's voice rang with a strange echo. Shandori drew her sword and took her light-weight shield from its place on her back as Christoffel poured deadly poison on his sharpened daggers.

"Is that right? Well I'm not in the mood for this shit. You want trouble, you got it!" Shandori shouted as she charged forward and delivered what should have been a decapitating blow, but her strong sword seemed to glide through the strange figure as if he was made of air. He turned to look at where the wound should have been and then back to his would-be slayer. He smirked with a glint of amusement in his eyes as Shandori took a shocked step back. "Wha-What the hell? What is this?"

"You needn't ask, just perish!" the figure hissed as his form twisted and swelled. One by one the other figures followed suit until a group of strange, metallic-looking dragonspawn stood before them.

"What are they?"

"They look like what my comrades in the Argent Crusade called 'infinite dragonspawn' but they can't be…" Christoffel informed with momentary confusion in his voice before his lips knowingly frowned.

"What! But I thought-" Shandori did not have time to finish her statement before their strange enemies were upon them. Christoffel did his best to incapacitate one of the dragonspawn, but the best took much longer to subdue than the common mortal.

"They should have ended with Murozond's death, but my brother accused my father of messing with the timeline or something…" Christoffel managed to inform as he finally got the casting dragonspawn under control.

"Well isn't that just peachy!" Shandori growled as she did her best to deliver harsh blows to her attackers, while using her shield to block their vicious spells. Despite their best efforts, Christoffel and Shandori found themselves outnumbered and easily overpowered by the murderous infinite dragonspawn.

Just as it seemed Christoffel would fall to a crushing blow to the back of the head, a great roar echoed in his ears. A large, purple panther pounced on the dragonspawn, biting and clawing at its face and neck. Christoffel leaped to his feet and out of harm's way to witness the heroic sight. Seemingly out of nowhere, four more rescuers came, effortlessly pushing back the onslaught with their shining weapons and armor.

As the panther continued its vicious assault, a thin, elf-looking woman in shining golden armor brought her great sword down upon the creature's neck, severing what Shandori's sword could not. Standing a bit back from the fray was a thin-bodied, red-haired human mage. While his body seemed willowy, the fire spells he loosed from his firm fingers seemed to strike the dragonspawn with the mass of a full-grown oak. Shandori watched as strong arrows broke through the scaled chest of her current attacker. She should see something biting at its hind quarters as the dragonspawn finally buckled. Shandori caught sight of her orcish rescuer, and gave the hunter and his tiger pet a thanking nod.

The last of the dragonspawn were dispatched by another human mage. The dark-haired, pale-skinned, and crimson-lipped beauty dispatched the offending dragonspawn with seemingly little effort as the others finished off their respective enemies.

When the battle was over, Christoffel rushed to Shandori's side, and did his best to quickly inspect and assess his companion's injuries before turning to see the five rescuers with less frantic eyes.

"Th-Thank you…I don't remember seeing you on board but, I'm glad you showed up. Otherwise…" Christoffel cringed and shook his head.

"The question is why were they after us? Don't they go after, I don't know, more important people?" Shandori shook her head, looking to the five heroes before her for any hint of an answer. The five looked to one another then looked around the scene as if waiting for someone else to arrive. Shandori's eyes went wide for a moment before she turned to Christoffel.

"Hey, wait a second…don't these things usually end up with people from the future coming to help out people in the past who get attacked by these things?"

"You know, you're right…" Christoffel confirmed, based on what his old comrades mentioned about their exploits in the Caverns of Time, as the five heroes suddenly seemed rather uncomfortable in their gaze.

"Where is that annoyingly useless little dragon?" the female mage leaned and quietly hissed to the red-haired mage. Her only reply was a shrug.

"Whoa, so people from the future actually came back in time to save our sorry asses, eh? So what do I end up like? Queen of the universe or something? No wait, the old gods take me over and I go insane berserker and kill a bunch of people? How about I rob from someone and they imprison me for 1000 years, then when I get out I kill someone who saves the world? Or maybe I save the world and stop the end of days?" Shandori excitedly speculated, which seemed to make the blood elf beside her crack a smile. The orc hunter gave an annoyed sigh as the black-haired mage brought her palm to her angry-eyebrowed face. The red-haired mage placed a calming hand on her shoulder as the purple panther shifted into his true form to speak.

"Nah, it's nothing like that…"

"Shhh! Allorian we can't tell them anything!" The paladin hissed as she continued to avoid eye-contact with the mercenary pair, despite having a masking helm to hide her features.

"Well when you-know-who finally does show up, he'll wipe their memories anyway, right? Isn't that how this works? We might as well have a little fun while we wait." the cheery-voiced druid, called Allorian by his fellow hero, reasoned. "I mean it's not like we can screw up the timeline anymore than it already is…"

"You mean Han was right? My father, err, Hollus Fenweaver did tamper with things?" Christoffel asked, eyes looking to the open-lipped druid for an answer.

"Sir, you have no idea the damage Hollus Fenweaver did. We're just finding out about it in our time. A lot of stuff that should have happened after Deathwing's demise didn't, and the bronze dragons are trying to clean up the mess," the druid sighed. Shandori felt a small shiver run through her as the young druid's mannerisms sparked a hint of familiarity.

"A fine job those fools are doing…" The black-robed mage sneered, "They can't even show up expediently to finish what they contracted us to do!"

"Calm down, dear. We completed our task. I'm sure they'll make it worth our while," the red-haired mage spoke with a soothing tone that did seem to diminish the other mage's bile. Shandori felt the nagging feeling start to flow to her questioning lips as Allorian turned to give her a mischievous smile.

"You look really, REALLY familiar kid. Do I know you? I mean, there's no right way to take this, but: part of me wants to hug you, the other wants to punch you in the face," Shandori admitted, causing a booming laugh to erupt from the young druid. The golden-armored paladin gave a sigh and shook her head.

"You haven't changed a bit, auntie D. I mean, you got OLD and everything, but pretty much the same," Allorian snorted. Shandori's eyes went wide for a moment as she watched the druid proudly pose, doing his best to settle on an angle as her mind worked.

"You-You're my sister's kid?"

"Yeah that's me. Kinda followed in mom's paw prints as you might have guessed," Allorian smugly smiled.

"Does your dad still hate me?"

"Oh, only…a lot, but that doesn't stop us from meeting; whether father is AWARE of our visits is really irrelevant," Allorian winked. Shandori felt an odd sense of corruptive pride swell within as a golden hue shown in the scene, followed by a strange burst of light overtook the scene. Shandori and Christoffel found themselves in a strange fog, as the present and events of the recent past began to drain away from their memories. A small, frazzled-looking, white-haired female gnome appeared, and dusted off her robes before approaching the group.

"Ah, I see our mercenary friends are still alive. I'm sorry for the delay, heroes. I got a bit tangled in the loose ends," the gnome, known to his mortal friends as the female gnome 'Chromie' informed.

"It's about time. Any longer and Allorian would have told them everything," the paladin whispered, giving the young druid a sharp look beneath her helm. The druid called Allorian presented the young woman with the tip of his tongue before turning to face back to the disguised bronze dragon.

"Now, now, no harm done, Lady Rhia; I'll just wipe their memories of your presence and hopefully everything should be fine. Those troublesome infinite dragons did interrupt a…critical moment, but I'm sure the flow of time will create a proper situation to correct things…"

"Oh?" the paladin asked, brow raised beneath her helmet. Before Chromie could find the words to answer, the orc hunter spoke up.

"What about our payment?" the orc hunter less-than-tactfully reminded. Chronie's eyes went wide in recollection as he began rummaging though his bags.

"Of course, you may choose from these rewards for your epic deeds," Chromie offered, pulling several large items from his too-small satchels. As the others claimed their prizes, the young paladin looked to the two, still-dazed elves with a sigh.

"So what was so important in this moment? What did the infinite dragons interrupt?"

"Oh um…this was the moment Christoffel was supposed to tell Shandori how he felt about her. It was a long time coming but, you know how he can be when it comes to being honest about this sort of thing," Chromie spoke, eyes checking the paladin for any signs of damage or disappearance. The young woman seemed to only stare at the brigand-elves as she looked to her own fine, hero-earned attire and smiled.

"Those two…" She shook her head and turned to claim her own set of plate bracers for a prize.

"There's a lot they didn't tell you, eh?" Allorian softly asked as he placed a shiny new emerald ring on his strong-looking finger.

"I guess they just wanted me to see them as heroes, not money-hungry mercenaries," the paladin shrugged.

"Well, Lady Rhia, life changes people. Sometimes they need a damn good reason to change," The red-haired mage offered as his eyes slowly moved to rest on his dark-robed lover. She crossed her arms at the motion and turned away with a half-hearted huff. "I'd say you were, ehhhh, good enough, maybe?" A muffled laughing sound came from beneath the paladin's helm as she moved to remove the stuffy object. Long, ebony hair spilled out onto her splendidly adorned shoulders. She gave the mage a bright smile as her pale blue eyes, touched only by the chaste magic of a paladin, shined in the blackened sky.

"Thanks, Gawain; you really know how to make a girl feel good about herself," Rhia spoke with a hint of sarcasm in her usually straight-laced voice.

"At your service, Infinite Slayer!" Gawain smirked with an over-done bow, which caused his lover to roll her eyes and turn her attention to the gnome-bodied dragon.

"At any rate, we should leave. Let them get back to…resuming their business." The black-robed mage looked with commanding eyes to Chromie, who was not swayed by her perceived sense of authority, but nodded in agreement. Once the party members claimed their payments, Chromie pulled them from the scene with a snap, leaving the pair of elves to wake from their state, none the wiser.