Story (c) Hikage Stinkdawg 2004

The otter shrugged again. "But you’ll make it out fine, you always do, captain."

"That maybe so, but it would be nice if you at least pretended to be concerned about me, Tireal."

Tireal looked up from his book and grinned, "Now where’s the fun in that? I think it’s much more entertaining to watch you squirm."

The hyena chuckled softly and then burst out laughing as he swung the wheel hard to port, parking the small boat neatly snug up against the rocks. He reached into the bottom of the craft and pulled a small leather bag out of their belongings.

"Stay here, Tireal, I’ll be right back."

Tireal nodded and continued to peruse his novel. "I know you will. I’ll be here."

He lifted his eyes long enough from the pages to watch his companion climb the small set of stairs next to the docks. Tireal shook his head and sighed. "That Quint, he’s always getting us into trouble."

Quint neared the large double doors of the black tower fortress. "Damn that Tireal!" He thought, "He’s always getting me into trouble!" The hyena tucked the leather bag into his belt before reaching up to knock. He looked up at the large oak doors and a bright flash blinded him for an instant. He saw a large domed chamber. Blue light lit the room, bathing it in a dull, but sinister glow. There was a pedestal in the center of the room with a sapphire-like gem resting on top of it and as his eyes fell upon it, he felt as if he was falling into the brilliant jewel. A sudden pain shot through his left side and he cried out in alarm. Looking down, he saw a long wound running from under his left arm to just above his waist. His vision was starting to blur and he clenched his teeth to numb some of the pain. Through his cloudy vision, he saw Tireal on the other side of the room with another fur. The new fur was lifting the young otter into the air and Quint saw a flash of silver in the creature’s paw. He tried to yell, tried to do anything to stop what he saw from happening, but the pain prevented him from doing anything except to let out a small protesting squeak. That seamed to be enough, however, for the creature turned to Quint with a very evil grin on his muzzle. The hyena watched in horror as the nameless fur showed him a wicked looking dagger and then gestured towards Tireal. The otter struggled helplessly in the creature’s grasp, screaming in protest. Quint’s vision was almost gone and he had very little strength left. He laid his head on the cold tiles of the floor and helplessly watched as the creature licked the blade of the dagger lewdly. Tireal yelled to Quint for help, but the hyena could do nothing. The dagger glistened in the eerie light as it shot forward, burying itself hilt deep into the otter’s ribs. Tireal shrieked in pain as his clothes were almost instantly stained red and the unknown fur laughed wickedly. Quint roared in agony and anger, but then he was completely blinded by another flash. He stood in front of the giant doors of the dark tower, his paw inches from the wood.

***

Quint awoke with a start; he was sweating and panting heavily. He quickly looked down at his side. His familiar gray fur stared back at him and he breathed a sigh of relief. Tireal slept soundly next to him, the small otter’s arm loosely wrapped around the hyena’s body just above the waistband of his white, crotch hugging undergarments. The hyena sighed and tried to slow his breathing. He gently removed the arm from his hip and silently left the room. Quint found himself on the aft deck, looking out at the sunrise over the horizon. They had been in this port for almost a week now and he couldn’t seem to shake these weird and depressing dreams, but none of them had been that specific before. He felt his chest and stomach knot up at the thought. Were they premonitions? Was Tireal really going to die? The sun started to slowly peek above the horizon as Tireal appeared next to him, causing Quint to lose his train of thought momentarily. The otter wrapped his arm around Quint again and laid his head on his captain’s broad chest. Quint rested his arm on the otter’s shoulders.

"Couldn’t sleep again, captain?"

Quint shook his head.

"Maybe we should abandon this job offer." Tireal mused. "If we do, your nightmares might go away."

There was a long silence as the sun lifted itself from the depths of the clouds in a brilliant display of orange, pink, and yellow.

"We can’t go back, now, Tireal. We’re already under contract."

"I know, captain." The otter sighed.

They watched as the last of the sun removed itself from the water’s surface and the sky brightened into day.

"We had better get started then eh, Tireal." He looked down at the otter and it was all he could do to keep from crying as the memories of his nightmare drifted to the surface of his mind. Tireal looked up at him, worry evident in his face.

"What’s wrong, Quint?" He asked earnestly.

The hyena shook his head. "I don’t want to think about it."

Tireal nodded. "It might make you feel better if you talk about it."

"I said NO!"

Tireal looked back at Quint, green eyes wide in shock as the hyena shrugged the otter off of him. Tireal slowly walked to the cabin door.

"I… I’ll go and get breakfast started…" The otter tried to hide a small sniff of sadness as he disappeared into the doorway.

Quint turned to apologize, but too late. "I’m sorry, Tireal I…" his throat tightened up and he turned back to watch the horizon with his sea blue eyes, "…I… I don’t want you to die."

A single tear slid down the hyena’s cheek as the harbor behind him began to stir with life.

***

Quint found Tireal in the galley, cooking something that smelled delicious. The hyena snuck up behind the otter silently and wrapped his arms around his small body. Tireal jumped slightly, but leaned back into Quint as the water on the small stove came to a boil.

"I’ll never know how you can be so big and move so quietly." The otter commented.

"And I’ll never know how you can cook on a rocking ship." Quint replied as he hugged the otter tightly.

"Practice makes perfect," Tireal smiled to himself.

"That it does." Quint reached over and turned the flame off. "You’ll burn it if it’s on for much longer."

Tireal twisted his neck to glare at him. "And WHO is the chef around here??"

Quint backed away slowly, holding his hands in a defensive position. "Right, sorry… What would you like to drink?"

Tireal went back to cooking the porridge-like slop that was the only food they had left on the entire ship. "What have we got?"

Quint rubbed his lower jaw in thought as he looked into the small pantry. "Jack and shit…"He looked up at the otter. "…and Jack left town."

Tireal smirked. "Great… I told you we needed more liquids."

Quint gasped and reached into the cabinet. "Wait, we have BEER!" He pulled out a glass bottle and held it aloft triumphantly.

The otter poured their breakfast into two bowls and put them on the table. "Give me a small glass… of water."

Quint sat down on the opposite side of the table as Quint tossed the bottle back into the pantry, his glass filled to the top with the foaming beverage. He passed Tireal’s water over the table.

"I don’t understand how you can drink that stuff 24/7." Tireal made a face and began eating.

Quint took a big swig of the drink, some dripping onto his chest. He put the glass back down on the table and sighed happily. "I don’t understand how you can eat that stuff at all." He gestured to the cream colored goop in their bowels.

"It’s not that bad." The otter took another bite. "It tastes no worse than your cooking." Quint winced. "Ouch…" he muttered as the pair continued to eat in silence.

***

The shore was full of activity as Quint and Tireal made their way through the marketplace. Tireal wore a frilly and baggy white shirt and some very loose blue pants that were rolled up at the ankles. Quint wore the same outfit he always wore when on business. His black tunic was open at the chest, revealing his substantial muscles and his brown pants flowed over his legs like a river of fabric. Tireal was struggling to keep up with his captain in the large throng of furs who kept jostling him back and forth. Finally they reached a significant lull in the crowd and Tireal caught up to Quint.

"Who are we looking for?" The otter asked.

"Our contact is an overweight fur who will be sitting in front of the local watering hole, that’s all I know." Quint was watching the entrance of the pub for any furs matching the description.

"That’s a load of help… how many overweight furs do you see?" Tireal strained to see above the people on his toes.

"Only one, come on." Quint grabbed Tireal’s wrist and led him to the front of the building where several tables were set up for outside dining. The fur in question had his back to them and he was smoking a pipe.

"Excuse me, sir." Quint began, but he never got to finish as the wolf in the chair twisted his head at the sound of the hyena’s voice.

"YOU!!?" The wolf shrieked.

"Oh, shit." Tireal said.

The fat fur roiled in anger. "I’m BROKE because of you, you cheating swine!"

Quint remained calm. "I’m sorry… do I know you?"

This only seemed to make the other fur angrier. "You don’t remember!? It was five years ago in Kalimshan!"

***

"... And that's not all, my friends. After the duke had begged for his life at my master's feet and protested his love of the very people that he had murdered, my master looked him square in the eyes and said one thing, 'You'll live, but it won't be a happy life.' And then my master spat in the old boar's face, sheathed his sword and left, but not before defeating the entirety of the duke's hired guards in a matter of minutes!"

The otter was standing on one of the many tables in the tavern, orating to a myriad of faces sitting around the large common room. Many of them were chatting quietly at the bar and others sat around the other tables, watching the otter with some interest.

"When he returned to our ship, my master set sail for the nearest imperially owned port and returned the stolen items to their rightful owners without so much as saying a word."

The otter was wearing a loose white tunic that was open at the collar and very baggy on his lithe frame. As he moved around on the small table, his bare feet made clicking noises with his claws. His pants were dark brown and loose, but not as baggy as his tunic. They were held to his waist by an almost comical large leather belt that wrapped around the small creature twice before fastening at his front.

As he continued his story, a hyena wearing almost the same outfit as the otter, except for the fact that this outfit fit its wearer much better, exited the rest room. He stopped at the edge of the large crowd watching the otter and shook his head. He cautiously pushed his way through the amassed furs to the small table until he was right behind the energetic otter.

A few of the other patrons smiled knowingly in his direction and he winked back.

The otter finished his current train of thought and paused to clear his throat.

"You wouldn't be embellishing our journey just a bit, would you Tireal?"

The otter froze and slowly turned around to see the hyena looking at him with a twinkle in his eye and his arms folded across his well-built chest.

"Um..." Tireal said, "...no captain, not at all."

Laughter floated around the room as the hyena picked up a mug from the table where Tireal stood and took a large swig of the drink that was in it. "Well in that case... I think a round is on me." He turned to the entire bar. "What do you think? Drinks all around?"

The whole crowd cheered in appreciation as Tireal hopped down from the table. No one noticed the hyena captain or his first mate slipping out the kitchen door and into the night.

When they were safely away from the pub, Tireal handed his captain a heavy leather pouch. "We made good money tonight... I got this much from onlookers. How much did you manage to 'borrow' from our good friends?"

The hyena grinned and held up a larger pouch and jingled it. "This much." Tireal stared in wonder at the rattling money in the bag. "How can you get that much out of people's pockets?" he asked.

"Simple." the captain responded, "You gotta’ go for the ones who are either too intoxicated to notice you or the ones that are paying attention to something else, namely your little escapade on the table top."

Tireal nodded. "I'll keep that in mind, sir."

The hyena chuckled. "Relax, Tireal. They won't notice their empty purses until we're far from here."

Tireal glanced over his shoulder nervously. "I know, but... I'm still edgy, sir."

"And stop being so formal when we're on leave. You can call me Quint, you know."

Tireal smiled a little more relaxed now. "Alright Quint, we should probably head back to the ship now, right?"

Quint grinned widely and grabbed the small otter in a firm, but gentle headlock. "Where's the fun in that, eh? I say we go and gamble some of this cash."

Tireal grinned and followed his captain eagerly down the quiet city street.

They arrived at an old run down building with a large tiger standing outside of it. The big cat looked pretty imposing, but Quint walked right passed him without a word. The tiger blinked and quickly grabbed the hyena by the scruff of the neck.

"And where do you think you’re going?" The tiger asked.

Quint smiled. "Inside of course." He jingled the bag at his side.

The big cat looked down at the bag and held out his hand. "Entry fee, please, sir."

"Oh really?" Quint reached into the pouch, the smile never leaving his face as his other paw shot out. The tiger hit the ground with a dull thud and Quint beckoned to Tireal to follow him. The inside of the building looked very different from the outside. It was well lit and many furs were crowded around some small tables watching the games that played out there.

Quint walked straight through the first room and into a small door in the wall. It seemed to Tireal that the hyena had been here before. They entered the small smoky room and were greeted by a largish wolf grinning at them. The table he was sitting at was surrounded by a small crowd of seedy-looking furs.

"It appears that at least someone is intelligent enough to find this game room." He tossed two dice in his paw idly. "Care for a game?"

Quint smiled and sat on the opposite side of the game table. "That depends on what you’re willing to wager."

The wolf shrugged. "How about we start small? Is 500 gold pieces good for you?"

Quint shrugged and took Tireal’s small pouch and placed it in the betting square on the table. "No problem. Can you afford it?"

The canine snorted. "Of course I can. Only a fool would offer a bet he couldn’t pay." He pushed his own pile of riches into the square. "Now… let us begin."

***

"Come on… I just need three more…" Quint shook the dice in his left hand as Tireal looked on anxiously.

The hyena had lost all of their booty and was now trying to win it all back. The bets lay on the table and Quint only needed a roll of three or higher. Two dice rattled in his paw and he closed his eyes in a brief wish for luck before the two cubes rolled effortlessly from his palm. They floated gracefully in what seemed like slow motion to Tireal, who was sweating like a pig in heat. The small ivory dice landed with a dull thud on the wooden playing field and Tireal held his breath. The first of the small cubes came to a stop and all of those around the table tensed as a single black dot reared its ugly head.

Quint winced and crossed his fingers, hoping the other would land on anything but a one. The room fell dead silent as the second cube turned over for the final time. The creatures around the table gasped in shock and all looked around nervously to see what the hyena would do next. The wolf sitting across the table stared at the snake eyes before him and lifted his grinning muzzle slowly.

"I believe that you have just lost, sir." The gray muzzle curved upwards into a sneer as he cupped Quint’s money into his own pile. "Unless of course you have something else you want to wager…" The wolf’s eyes lazily floated over to Tireal and looked him up and down. The otter shuddered under their gaze. "I bet he would make a good cabin boy." The large wolf chuckled dryly.

Quint stepped into the wolf’s line of sight and leaned in inches away from the larger animal’s muzzle.

"My ship." He said.

The wolf blinked. "Eh?"

"My ship," Quint repeated. "I’ll wager my ship in the next round."

"It’s probably a dinghy." The wolf sneered again. "I won’t make a foolish bet like that without some proof of the craft’s worth."

Quint smiled. "Ever heard of the Jolly Dodger?" Quint asked.

The crowd fell silent and the Wolf’s sneer vanished momentarily, but then reappeared.

"You mean to tell me that you own the Jolly Dodger??"

He laughed out loud. "You must think I’m crazy!"

Quint’s smile never faded. "Maybe, but then again… perhaps some more solid proof will show you." He pulled a rolled up sheet of paper from his belt and laid it flat on the table.

The sneer quickly evaporated off of the wolf’s face.

"This is…" he began.

"…The ownership deed to the Jolly Dodger" Quint’s eyes sparkled.

Tireal watched in awe as his captain masterfully conned the gamblers in the room. Three times Quint had wagered the Jolly Dodger in gambling games not unlike this one and he had yet to lose his ship.

"He really is Captain Quint," a horse standing near the table whispered.

Quint turned to him and bowed. "Indeed I am." He turned back to the wolf, who was visibly starting to perspire now, "So… do we have a deal?"

The wolf looked nervously from the large pile of money to the deed and back again. The money he had won was nothing compared to the cash he would get if he sold the Jolly Dodger.

He slowly pushed the entire pile of money into the betting square as Quint placed the deed gently in his square as well.

"Shall we begin?" He asked.

The wolf picked up the two dice in his paw and rolled them around. "Same rules as before," he growled.

"Snake eyes loses the game, first to pass 36 wins…" he faltered, "…wins everything."

"Be my guest good sir," Quint gestured to the paw holding the dice.

The wolf gulped and started to jiggle the dice in his paw. He closed his eyes and wished for the win as the dice flew from his palm. They landed in a perfect twelve. The wolf breathed a sigh of relief and his sneer returned as Quint picked up the ivory cubes.

"Very good roll, but you have me at a disadvantage. I don’t know who you are, and you know me." He idly rolled the dice between his fingers like a pro.

The wolf watched the cubes move nervously. "I’m Blackclaw." He answered.

Quint grinned. "Well, what’s a big scary pirate like you afraid of two small white squares for?" He casually threw the dice on the board and scored a perfect twelve as well.

Blackclaw tensed visibly and then glared at Quint.

"How DARE you take such a high stakes game so lightly!!" he shrieked.

Quint grinned. "I’m only playing the game. You would do better if you weren’t so tense all of the time. Maybe one of your crew should give you a back rub."

Blackclaw roared and tried to throttle the hyena in front of him, but was restrained by his crewmates. "LET ME GO! I’LL RIP HIS LARYNX OUT!"

Quint clicked his tongue in Blackclaw’s direction. "Temper, temper…"

It took several minutes for Blackclaw to calm down enough to roll the dice. He tossed them as casually as Quint had the first time, glaring in the hyena’s direction the entire time. Quint watched as the dice bounced into a score of ten. Quint smiled and picked them up and almost immediately tossed them down again for a score of eleven. Blackclaw fumed silently he rolled again for a seven and he winced inwardly, that score was going to hurt him. Quint rolled and dropped a six on the board. Blackclaw had the game won. He grinned at the hyena who only smiled curtly back and gestured for him to roll. The wolf narrowed his eyes.

Something was fishy about this Quint fellow, but he couldn’t bother with that now. He had a game to win.

He threw the dice and stared at the two white cubes in disbelief when they landed on a three.

The score now stood 32 to 29 Blackclaw leading, but Quint had yet to roll. The hyena flipped the dice a few times in his palm.

"You can forfeit now, Captain Blackclaw, or you can let me roll and be humiliated." Quint smiled.

"Roll the gods-be-damned dice!" Blackclaw hissed.

"As you wish." Quint replied and tossed the two squares onto the board.

***

Quint seemed to remember. "Ah yes… Blackclaw…It’s so nice to see your cheery face again."

The wolf spat. "Because of your perfect roll…!"

Quint shrugged. "It wasn’t my fault. I was just playing the game. You were the one getting all worked up about it."

"That was fifteen hundred! FIFTEEN HUNDRED GOLD!!"

Blackclaw was fuming.

"So you shouldn’t have bet so much on a foolish wager." Tireal spoke up. "Any good gambler knows that if a player is confident enough to bet something as dear to him as his ship, then he is going to win. Either that or he’s a fool."

Blackclaw whimpered as he realized the logic in the otter’s statement. "Well doesn’t this just beat all?"

He paused, thinking. "Hey… you two want to help me out while earning a few extra bucks?"

Quint smirked. "And who would pay us? I’m sure you don’t have much money if you’re sitting outside this bar all day."

Blackclaw ignored the hyena. "I’m supposed to meet two bounty hunters here to tell them some information… the only problem is… the information I’m supposed to tell them doesn’t make much sense."

Tireal blinked. "It doesn’t?" He looked around cautiously. "What’s the info?"

The wolf shrugged. "I’m supposed to tell them to ‘Meet an equine at pier 5 on the stroke of twelve tonight.’"

Quint looked confused. "What doesn’t make sense about that? It seems very clear to me."

"There are no pier numbers in Taldoor." Blackclaw muttered. "I’ve asked everybody where pier 5 is and no one knows or they just won’t tell me. Either way those bounty hunters are going to be mighty angry when they find out that the information doesn’t help them out."

He looked at the hyena expectantly. "Could you guys wait for them to show and tell them the info for me? I don’t want my hide split open… I’m kind of fond of it, and you know how cowboys are…"

Tireal grinned. "Sure thing… you go get yourself a glass of warm milk and take a nap."

Blackclaw glared at him and gave them a pouch. "Give that to them, it’s supposed to be helpful." He reached into his pocket as he stood. "Here… thanks a lot for doing this for me." He gave them fifty gold coins and waddled into the bar.

After he was gone the hyena and the otter burst out laughing. "I guess he isn’t too sharp, huh?" Quint said after he calmed down a little.

Tireal grinned at his captain. "I should say not. I guess he never thought that WE could have been the bounty hunters he was referring to. Now what’s in the bag?"

Quint reached in and rummaged around in the bag for a few moments before grimacing and pulling out a strange object that Tireal had never seen before. The object was made of wood and metal somehow fused together in a curve-like design. There was a hoop of metal that ran from the metal to the wood across an almost 90 degree corner. Between the loop and the corner was a sliver of metal hanging below its larger counterpart. The large metal piece of the object was longer than the wooden one and it ended in an enlarged hole. Tireal was dumbfounded. He had no idea what this thing was or why it was a clue to their bounty.

"What the hell is that thing supposed to be?" He asked indignantly.

Quint turned it over in his paws and sniffed it suspiciously.

"I’m not sure, but whatever it is, it smells like the gunpowder we use with our cannons." He said, still looking at the object quizzically.

"Is there anything else in the bag?" Tireal grabbed the pouch away from Quint and looked inside. He pulled out a piece of paper, neatly folded and sealed with wax. He pealed off the seal and opened the paper.

"Gentlemen," he read, "This object you are undoubtedly now holding belongs to the fur you are after. Be warned that he has many more dangerous objects like this one. The object you now hold has already claimed three lives accidentally. We ask that you please not touch the small metal piece on the underside of the object as it will cause a rather loud explosion and in the worst case, death." Tireal looked at the object nervously and Quint grabbed the bag back from him to put away the dangerous tool. "There is an abundance of gunpowder in the southern mines and we believe that is where your bounty is hiding. Good day to you, gentlemen, and good luck."

"Well that was awfully nice of the boys upstairs to give us his exact location, don’t you think? And it’s a very good thing that we happen to know where Pier 5 is." Quint started to walk back to the ship as he talked.

"Uh… Quint, you do realize that it’s obviously a setup, don’t you?" Tireal was not in any hurry to rush headlong into a dangerous situation.

"Of course I do, Tireal, in fact I’m counting on it."

Quint smiled and put his arm around the young otter’s shoulder. "Don’t worry, I’ll be fine."

They walked the rest of the way to their ship in silence.

***

Quint was not having the best of days. Not only was Tireal right about it being a trap, their contact at the pier turned out to be a total idiot and he was useless when it came to fighting. They had made it to the mines without incident, no thanks to their equine contact who kept getting them lost or sidetracked.

Their real trouble started as soon as they got within throwing distance of the mine. Tireal had just sat down on a rock to get a drink of water from his canteen while Quint went to examine the entrance of the mine for any possible traps or other such things.

Tireal was watching the mountainside for any movement and their horse companion was blabbering on about his last mission. A rock exploded next to Tireal and the otter jumped backwards off of the rock he had been sitting on, looking around frantically for the source of the blast. Quint came rushing back to them and lifted the otter in his arms as rocks blew up behind him. He grabbed the equine by the wrist and dragged him to the tree line away from the cave entrance. As soon as they reached the trees, the explosions stopped. Quint smacked the horse on the back of the head.

"OW! What was that for!? I’ll have you know that I’m…" Quint put his hand over the horse’s mouth.

"Shut up." He said.

The horse scowled, but stopped talking.

"The defenses are triggered by sound. We have to be very quiet, alright?" Quint looked to Tireal.

"Alright, Tireal?"

The otter nodded and Quint stepped out of the trees, motioning for the others to follow. He sent Tireal first and the otter was none too pleased about that.

He nervously made his way across the rocky ground to the cave entrance, being careful not to step on any rocks that made too much noise. When Quint saw that he had made it across he turned to the stallion who had his mouth open as if to say something. Quint glared at him and shook his head. The horse closed his mouth and scowled again as he started for the entrance to the cave. The horse was halfway there when a crow flew over head, cawing loudly. He froze and clenched his teeth, looking around for any signs of the activating defenses, but nothing happened. He sighed in relief and kept walking. Quint held his breath the entire time the horse crossed the rocks, hoping the equine wasn’t foolish enough to start talking aloud to himself. Quint breathed a sigh of relief as the horse made it across to the entrance to the cave. He looked around cautiously and stepped out of the trees. He was a quarter of the way across when something caught his attention. It was a sound on the wind and upon hearing it he turned and darted back into the foliage, hoping Tireal would be smart and hide somewhere. The otter watched Quint hide himself and grimaced.

"What in god’s name is he DOING!?" the stallion asked.

Tireal grabbed him by the arm and dragged him into the shadows of the cave.

"Stay here and don’t say a word." He instructed as he made some gestures in the air. "If you do, you’ll be visible, understand?"

The horse nodded and Tireal watched as his image faded from view. He sat down next to the invisible horse and performed the same hand gestures for himself. His features slowly faded into nothingness and the hallway was empty.

Quint heard them before he saw them, which was no surprise, seeing as how they were not making any effort to stay silent. The creatures crested the small rise in the ground and advanced towards to entrance to the cave. They wore so much armor it was hard to tell which species they belonged to. Quint watched as they drew closer, expecting the defenses to activate at any moment, but the never did. The entire platoon of these armored creatures passed through the entrance without so much as giving it another thought.

When they were all on the other side, Quint breathed a sigh of relief, a sigh, which turned to a yelp of pain when he felt something sting the back of his neck. Lifting his hand to see what had bit him, he felt a dart sticking from his flesh. He pulled it out and tossed it away, suddenly realizing that the world seemed a lot more out of focus than it had before. He groaned and tried to stand, but felt dizzy. Quint managed to crawl along the forest floor for a while before his vision darkened completely. The last thing he recalled before losing consciousness was firm hands upon him, lifting him up.

***

Tireal awoke slowly with an aching head. He opened his eyes slowly and the same familiar entrance hallway came into focus. His head was throbbing like a stampede was trampling his cerebellum. The otter tried to recall what happened, but all he remembered was sitting down next to the invisible horse and then nothing. He reached over for the horse, but felt only air. Odd, he thought. He shook himself and slowly stood, trying to get his bearings as he looked around the small entrance. The walls and ceiling were held aloft by large wooden posts that were embedded into the stone. The stone itself was nothing out of the ordinary, but Tireal couldn’t help feeling ill at ease. The otter looked down the hallway into the cave. Torches lit the walls a farther on, and he could barely see stairs leading down to the right of the main path. Tireal looked back out of the entrance and figured that Quint was already inside. The otter shrugged and started down the tunnel, looking around him cautiously. He kept to the upper level and it was not long before he came to an intersection. A path veered off to the right at a steep downward angle. The torches did not light the steep tunnel and Tireal thought it better to stick to the lit passageways.

He continued along the torch-lit path, passing several more steep tunnels on both sides of the winding corridor. It was a long time, Tireal guessed it to be about an hour and a half, when the passageway he was traveling started to change. There were more frequent drop-offs to the right and left and suddenly the stone floor fell away into darkness and Tireal was standing on a swinging wooden bridge. He looked down into the black pit and gulped. The other side of the bridge beckoned to him and he started to slowly make his way over the creaking boards. He was halfway across when something whizzed by his ear, making him jump in fright. This in turn caused the bridge to rock back and forth slowly. Tireal steadied himself and looked over his shoulder. An armored creature was aiming a crossbow at him! Tireal lifted a leg to run, but the creature’s voice stopped him.

"You’ve only got one way to go, mate, and this time I won’t miss."

Tireal gulped and held his ground. The bridge creaked in protest as the creature slowly made its way towards the frightened otter. Tireal was going over in his head ideas for escape, finding none, he turned his thoughts of ways to overpower his would be attacker. The creature was three steps behind him and Tireal wrapped his wrist in the rope on one side of the bridge. He hoped this would work.

"Now… slowly… turn around." The creature rasped in a hoarse voice.

Tireal didn’t move.

"I said turn around!" The creature was more forceful this time.

The otter closed his eyes and twitched his left hand very quickly as if reaching for something. There was a twang of a bowstring and a loud snap as the rope on one side of the bridge snapped. Tireal gripped the still fastened rope and held it tightly as the creature howled in alarm and fell into the inky blackness below as the bridge turned onto its side.

The otter held on for his life, swinging above the black pit. After the bridge stopped trying to throw him into the darkness, Tireal slowly started to shimmy towards the other side. The rope burned his palms and his arms strained with effort as he neared the end of the bridge. In the darkness he heard the faint splash of the armored creature hitting water. He gulped and redoubled his efforts towards the torchlight. The otter heaved himself up onto solid ground and gasped, panting on the cool stone. After almost fifteen minutes of rest, Tireal stood and continued down the passageway. It was not long before the otter heard faint voices coming from farther on down the passageway. He quickened his steps and almost ran headlong into a group of the armored creatures. The otter ducked into a side corridor’s shadows just in time as the group clanked by, chatting amongst themselves.

"Did you hear about that new prisoner?" One said.

"You mean the Hyena?" said another. "He broke down his cell door earlier today."

"No way, really??" another chimed in.

"Yeah, we’re supposed to be keeping an eye out for him." The voices trailed off.

Tireal slowly peered out of the side path and was about to continue on his way when two firm hands grabbed him from behind and covered his mouth. The otter wanted to bite them, but a familiar voice told him to be quiet. Tireal was pulled farther into the darkness, his eyes slowly adjusting to a dim stone tunnel leading steeply downward. He tried to twist his neck so that he could see where they were headed, but his captor didn’t let him. The otter was carried down a dizzying number of paths and mazelike hallways.

Finally the travelers came to a sudden stop. Tireal couldn’t see what was going on, but by the sound of things, a large door was opening. His captor let him look forward finally and Tireal wanted to look straight back down again. The room was huge and stone. Columns lined the walls and the ceiling shot upwards for who knew how high. Tireal’s eyes were wide with shock and fear, for at the center of this enormous room sat a likewise enormous lizard in a giant throne. The dragon looked at the otter and his captor appraisingly before nodding slowly in their direction and the horse carried Tireal off into another room. The horse lifted the still shocked otter towards some wall shackles, but the otter suddenly realized what was going on. He struggled to free himself and kicked the horse in the ribs in the process. The stallion whinnied in pain and dropped the small otter who darted out of the room. He tried to run passed the large dragon, but the reptile easily picked him up in a scaled claw. He looked the otter up and down once more.

"You may be of some use to me yet…" The dragon mused.

He gently traced some sort of symbol in Tireal’s chest and the otter shuddered as a magical tingle ran through him. That wasn’t so bad he thought just before a surge of energy caused him to loose consciousness.

***

Quint awoke in a cell. He groggily stood and cursed when he saw the bars. He hated prisons. The bars were black and a little rusted. The stone walls were dirty and it smelled like something or someone had just died recently in this place. The hyena walked up to the bars and rattled them to test their strength. The door he was rattling lightly popped off of its hinges. Quint blinked, looked down at the broken door, and then down at himself. He gently put the door down and peered out of his cell. The walls outside were stone as well and lit by a few torches.

He stepped out into the hallway and walked towards the torches. He heard someone approaching and, not having anything to hide behind, held his ground. The armored guard rounded the slight corner and stopped. If Quint could have seen his face he was sure it would have been an expression of shock.

"How did… you get out??" The guard asked.

"It wasn’t that difficult," Quint responded. "Your jail needs to have its bars replaced."

The guard shook his head in disbelief. "Those bars are reinforced steel…"

"They didn’t appear to be any type of reinforced anything to me. I hope your armor’s not made of the same stuff, because it would be awfully easy to get passed you if it was." Quint chuckled.

"Why you…" the guard drew his sword. "I’ll make you eat your words."

Quint raised his fists in a fighting stance. "Give me your best shot." He said.

The guard charged. Quint side stepped his sword and shouldered the poor creature in the gut. The armored guard flew backwards from Quint and hit the wall with a sickening thud. Quint gaped as the limp creature slid down the wall.

"What the hell happened to me?" He asked no one in particular. "When did I get this strong?"

He cautiously approached the guard and removed the helmet from the griffin. He took all of the creature’s armor and put it on, thanking the heavens that they had a similar build. He picked up the sword and left the unconscious lion-bird on the floor.

Quint continued on his way. He followed the long stone hallway to a nondescript wooden door. He opened it slowly and almost jumped out of his skin when he saw a dragon looking right at him.

"Come here 547,"The large lizard said in a calm, but commanding voice. "What is your report of the hyena prisoner?"

Quint realized the dragon was talking to him. He slowly stepped out of the doorway and closed the wooden door behind him, slowly marching up to the dragon’s throne. The hyena gulped and tried to make his voice sound like the guard’s.

"There is nothing to report, sir. The prisoner is still unconscious, sir." Quint hoped that the dragon wouldn’t notice his voice.

"I see…" said the dragon, eyeing him thoughtfully.

He reached above the hyena and deftly pulled the helmet from his head. "Did you really think you could fool a dragon?" He asked.

Quint grinned foolishly and tried to keep his knees from shaking. "Well I had to try, didn’t I?"

The dragon griped the small hyena in his fist and brought him close to the lizard’s giant muzzle. "I could eat you right now, and no one would miss you, you know. Well maybe that otter that’s wandering around my factory would, but he will soon be joining us anyways."

Quint struggled at the mention of Tireal. "Where is he, lizard!" He shouted at the dragon.

"At the moment?" asked the dragon. "He’s hanging perilously over my underground forge."

The hyena fumed and tried as hard as he could to get free from the dragon’s grasp. He managed to lift a clawed finger from his body with his hands and he was working on the second with his feet.

"You are a persistent one aren’t you?" The dragon watched as the hyena moved his fingers out of the way.

Quint fell to the large lizard's lap and got a face full of the dragon’s loincloth. Oh just great, he thought. He stood quickly and leapt off of the reptile’s lap. He scurried across the floor and out of the room.

"Why didn’t he catch me again?" Quint wondered. "He easily could have." The hyena stood, chest heaving outside of another small wooden door with stairs leading upwards in front of him. He slowly started to climb the steps, wondering if he was ever going to find the secret weapon factory that they were sent to destroy.

***

Tireal groaned and opened his eyes slowly. He closed them again when he saw where he was. Reluctantly, he opened one eye to look at his surroundings in more detail. He was hanging from a chain. This much was obvious. The room he was in was surprisingly sophisticated. The walls were stone, but the machinery in the room was what caught his eye. He was suspended over a large vat of what appeared to be molten metal. This was not a good thing. The vat over turned itself every so often, into smaller vats, which over turned into stone molds. Tireal saw where this was going. Conveyor belts brought the stone molds to a series of workers who broke them and attached the metal inside to wooden handles. They were making the odd item that Quint and he had been given earlier. Tireal floundered, at a loss of what to do. Suddenly a door at the top of the stairs on the opposite side of the room burst open and the dragon stepped through it backwards as if leading something into the room. Tireal made out a small figure in armor, swinging a sword at the giant lizard.

Tireal recognized the armored creature and shouted: "QUINT! OVER HERE! HELP!"

The dragon turned and snapped his fingers starting to lower the otter towards the bubbling vat of metal below. Quint cursed under his breath and swiped at the dragon with his sword, but the lizard knocked the weapon out of the hyena’s hand easily.

"Fool! You had lost even before you entered this place!" The dragon bellowed and lunged for Quint.

The hyena leaped over the railing and landed on the staircase several feet below. He rushed down the stairs, trying to get away from the dragon to rescue Tireal. The otter watched helplessly as the chain brought him closer and closer to the deadly liquid.

The otter suddenly had an idea. "Quint! The pouch! Use what’s in the pouch!"

Quint felt at his waste and reached inside the leather pouch as he raced towards the large vat of metal. The dragon leaped down from the balcony and charged after him. Quint pulled the metal and wooden object from the pouch and ducked as the dragon flew over him. He rolled onto his back as the giant lizard readied himself for another pass. Quint stood and pointed the object at the dragon with his finger on the small metal sliver. The dragon descended towards the hyena with a loud roar. Quint fell backwards at the last second and clicked his finger towards him. Tireal winced at the loud noise that echoed through the room.

The dragon roared in pain, faltered in his flight, and slammed headlong into the vat of metal, shrieking as the entire contents of the vat poured onto him. Quint looked at the smoking object with wonder as the dragon’s roars of pain slowly came to a sizzling end.

The hyena put the object carefully back into the pouch at his side and looked up at Tireal who had descended past the smoldering vat and dragon to the floor.

The hyena helped the otter out of his bonds and the two made their way to the top of the stairs. Quint took the object out of the pouch again and aimed it at the control panel in the wall.

"Don’t look at it." He told the otter who obediently looked away and covered his ears.

The object and the panel exploded, sending sparks everywhere. The machinery in the room stopped working and the walls started to shake.

"Let’s get out of here!" Quint grabbed Tireal’s hand and ran out of the collapsing underground fortress.

***

Tireal was cooking breakfast. He hummed quietly to himself as he set the plates of food on the table in the galley of their ship.

"FOOD’S ON!" he shouted.

Quint sat down at his place at the table and stretched, smiling at Tireal.

"I told you we’d be fine." He said as he shoveled food into his muzzle.

"I know, but it was still a close call." Tireal ate his food slowly.

Quint finished his plate first and washed it in the small sink. He whistled as he did and turned back around with a look of shock plastered on his face.

Tireal sat at the table a full four feet taller and more muscular than he had been.

"Uh… Tireal…" The hyena began.

"What?" The otter looked down at himself and shrieked in alarm. "WHAT THE HELL!? WHY AM I HUGE!? WHAT HAPPENED!?"

Quint scratched his head. "I haven’t the foggiest… do you think it’ll wear off or something?"

Tireal tried to stand but hit his head on the ceiling. "OW! I hope so…" He rubbed his sore head and suddenly shrunk back to his regular size, his baggy clothes falling about him as loosely as they had before.

Quint stared at him in disbelief. "Occupational hazard I guess…" He mused and they both laughed.

TO BE CONTINUED!