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Description

[Marks the Spot]

Belix staggered into the room with a half empty jug of booze under her arm. Clyde followed soon after and set aside the giant suitcase he had been carrying all this time. Meanwhile, Belix remained on the floor, languidly giggling while Clyde stood over her rubbing his neck.

“You didn’t break it did you?” Clyde asked.

“Ghah!” Belix scoffed, raising the bottle to her lips, “Let me check.”

She took a deep tug from the bottle and he finally pulled it away from her. She let out a half-hearted whine, but quickly collapsed onto the floor. Picking her up in his arms, Clyde carried her to the bed and dropped her there. He expected her to start off with some sort of drawn out sexual innuendo, but, Belix seemed to have passed out as soon as her head hit the pillow.

He stepped back and scratched the back of his head. They hadn’t dug too far into their money, wanting to keep a low profile while they stayed over and chartered their transportation out of Miji, but that held its own risks. They weren’t exactly in a good neighborhood and were currently carrying a small mountain of cash. Money might spend, but it carried with it a unique set of risks, which he made note of when he moved back to lock the door.

His eyes landed on Belix, murmuring a bit in her sleep as she rolled over, and he winced knowing what had to happen next. The fight had left her in a mess, and he couldn’t allow her to wounds to go untreated. Of course, that meant stripping off her clothes and examining how deep the damage went, which bothered him for a number of reasons which he didn’t actually want to process. So, he instantly thought up an excuse and went to go out to find some medical supplies. As his key slid into the lock and it clicked into place, Belix rolled over again and opened one eye.

“Ugh…” she grumbled, sitting up on the bed and groaning, “Is it me?” she wondered, slurring her words, “Am I doing something wrong?”

She looked down at the black silk costume his spider’s had crafted for her and rubbed it against her cheek. So soft, so smooth, and it smelled surprisingly nice, despite being soaked in her blood and sweat.

“...but it dissolves,” she complained, finally pulling it over her head, “That...sucks…”

Still, she folded it carefully and placed it on the counter top. While there she stopped in front of the mirror and checked her own injuries.

“Gods…” she muttered, checking the cut Clyde had bandaged earlier, and then pulling back to get a better look at her bruises, “Damn...that fucker sure liked the face...heh…” she fell back, casting an arm across her brow, “Oh, my sweet hero, would you forsake me, am I still not...beautiful in your eyes?”

She chuckled at her own silly little joke, and then felt a sharp, shooting pain in her ankle, remembering how the Gremlin had nearly shattered her leg bone just a few hours ago. Upset once again, she took off her pants and looked at the wound, which had grown into a massive blacks scrape. It didn’t feel broken, but it was unquestionably nasty and likely to get infected.

Letting out a depressed sigh, she lifted her leg into the sink and washed it out.

“Yeah, I’m fuckin’ gorgeous,” she complained, grabbing the jug of ale and carrying it with her to the bed.

Between sips, she looked down at her body, the major wound on her left leg was going to be a problem unless it got treated, but it was her right leg that had really taken a beating. The left half of her belly was basically one big purple stain, while her arms both looked and felt like ten miles of bad road. With a depressed sigh, she pulled open her muffler and looked inside.

“Well, at least he didn’t muss up my tits,” she mused between sips, “Small favors…” she thought it over for a second, “Hmm, maybe I can get a back scrub out of this.”

Minutes passed, and she heard a knock on the door.

“Ah, my prince charming,” she stumbled to the door, “So...early,” she glanced at her jug, “I haven’t even finished my sleeping potion.”

She paused as she reached the door, a thought reaching through the fog of her mind.

“Wait...didn’t he have a key?” she muttered.

“Bel!” a man’s voice called to them through the door as he banged on it again, “Come on, open up!”

Belix eyes narrowed, she was still pretty drunk, but focused now, she recognized who was standing behind the door. Letting out a deep sigh, she leaned against the entrance and took another deep sip from the jug.

“The fuck you want Ecchs?” she demanded.

“Is that anyway to talk to your boyfriend?” he shouted back.

“Fuck buddy,” she corrected him.

“Are we really gonna discuss this through the door?” he sighed, “Come on, let me in!”

Looking down at her jug, and seeing it mostly empty, she chugged the last few gulps and then set it aside. Rolling her eyes, she finally opened the door and saw a tall man in a dark suit step through the threshold, he smiled at her, revealing several rows of sharp serrated teeth. She left the door open as he examined the small, drab room she was taking shelter in.

“I can see you’re moving up in the world,” he joked.

“What are you even doing here?” Belix demanded.

“Looking after family interests,” he shrugged, “Plus, I heard you were around, figured we might run into each other, didn’t think you’d go back to your old pit fighting ways.”

“Right, and you just happened to be watching?”

“Agater’s an old friend of the family,” Ecchs shrugged, “And what the Hell else am I supposed to around here for fun?”

“Swim?” Belix offered, “I mean, there’s also fishing, gambling…”

“Fucking?” Ecchs smirked at her.

“Is that what you’re here for?”

“Um...no...”Ecchs mentioned as he looked her over, “Not anymore anyway.”

“And this right here is why we’re not dating,” Belix mentioned, “But, what, you just came here to say ‘hi’.”

“Mostly,” he admitted, “But, I do have an offer I wanted to give, and you can even drag that scraggly ass crew along if you want.”

“How kind,” Belix rolled her eyes, “But I’m not interested.”

“Are you actually saying 'no' to me?” Ecchs demanded.

“Yes, I’m also saying ‘get the fuck out’.”

“You know, not to be petty, but I have lent an ear to your problems time and again.”

“Yeah, and I repaid you by draining your balls,” Belix scoffed, “We’re even, now get out.”

“Just to be clear, you do know how badly I can fuck up your life, yes?”

“You got guards out in the hallway?”

“Well, no, but…”

“Then,” she stepped closer to him, “Considering how, EASILY, I have thrown you around the room before, do you honestly think you can make me do something I don’t wanna?”

“Under normal circumstances...no, but…” he removed a black club from his coat and held it by his side, “At the moment, I like my odds.”

“...really?” Belix scoffed, “You’re just gonna…”

She was cut off when the blackjack hit her in the side of the head, her vision went dark and Ecchs had to catch her before she hit the floor.

“I’ll apologize to you later…” Ecchs stopped mid-sentence when he heard footsteps approaching from the hall.

Something heavy fell hard on the ground and the foot-pace increased until Clyde slid into view behind the door frame. He took one look at the scene, noticing the club in the intruder’s hand, Belix unconscious in his arms, and, with a flick of his wrist, a knife slid from his sleeve into his hand. Ecchs laughed nervously, setting Belix on the floor and throwing up his hands in surrender.

“Okay...I know, this is probably not going to work...but, I swear, it’s not what it looks like.”

Clyde’s eyes narrowed, he saw the club dangling from Ecch’s fingers and sliced it in half. Ecchs dropped the weapon and stepped back.

“Alright, okay, I get it, you’re not fucking around,” the intruder tilted his head to the side as he examined him, “You’re new right? I mean, I don’t remember you...you’re not that kid with the cape are you?”

“You hurt my friend?” Clyde asked in return, his voice like ice, cold and devoid of pity.

Ecchs glanced towards the door, then the window, considering his options.

“We were having a discussion and...well I think she got a bit tipsy and…”

The intruder stopped talking when Clyde lunged forwards and shoved a knife into his mouth.

“One for yes, two for no,” Clyde raised his fingers and then grabbed hold of Ecch’s collar, “Did you hurt my friend?”

The intruder’s eyes narrowed as he glared at his captor. Without warning he bit down on the knife, snapping it in half and spitting the shards in Clyde’s face. There was a quick exchange of blows between the two men, finished when Clyde jammed the broken blade into Ecch’s neck. The intruder fell back, gagging and coughing, though, no blood was flowing from the wound. Ecchs tore at the damaged skin, revealing a thick hide of armored scales beneath. The broken blade seemed to have lodged itself into the jugular, making it difficult for him to breath, but it didn’t seem to have punctured the armor in any significant way.

Ecchs quickly removed the weapon from his neck and threw it away. Clyde pulled another blade from his coat and planned his next point of attack.

“Can’t tell if you’re good or just lucky,” the intruder croak, staring daggers back at Clyde, “But you’re gonna pay for that.”

Clyde got ready to continue the battle, but while they were distracted, Belix had come to, and, rather than engaging directly, she had moved over to the nightstand. Lighting a candle, she snuck up behind Ecchs and dropped the flaming wick on his head. His hair instantly caught fire, the blaze crawling down his body until it consumed him down to his chest. He howled in pain, and the other two had to watch as his skin melted off revealing a shockingly distended reptilian continence. He took a moment to rub the charred parts of his face and brush away the remnants of his human disguise, then he swung his head around to snarl at Belix.

“That Fucking HURTS!” he roared at her.

“It’ll grow back you pansy, now quit your whining,” she rolled her eyes, leaning against the wall as she spoke.

Clyde took note of her relaxed posture and reevaluated the situation, he didn’t put away his knife, but he did relax his arm a bit, waiting to see how this all played out. Belix gave him an approving nod and sighed, turning her attention back to Ecchs.

“So, you wanna tell me what the fuck this was all about?” she demanded.

“I told you,” Ecchs insisted, his voice now a throaty growl, “I need a favor.”

“And I told YOU, to stuff it up your ass!” she snapped, “What the Hells is so important you’d risk me waking up mid-way and ripping your dick off?”

“...my uncle…” Ecchs muttered, almost embarrassed to say it, “I think he’s screwing my sister-in-law?”

“Greta?” Belix shrugged, “Shame, I kinda liked her.”

“You know what he does to them,” Ecchs glanced anxiously at Clyde then back to her, “He uses women, breaks them, until…”

“So get your brother to do something,” Belix said off-hand, “Hells, get YOU to do something!”

“I can’t,” Ecchs insisted, his human facade growing back in pieces and patches, bit by bit, “My father rules the family, and he would never side against him, not without proof.”

“Ah, I get it, so you’re thinking a honey trap, huh?” Belix surmised with a smirk.

“What do you mean that he breaks them?” Clyde demanded.

Ecchs glanced at him, then at the open door.

“I’m...should we really be discussing this?” the intruder demanded, closing the door, “I mean...out loud?”

“Just tell him,” Belix grumbled, looking quite upset herself.

“...fine…” Ecchs complained, shaking his head, “We...that is to say...I am Ryukau.”

“You’re a dragon?” Clyde quirked an eyebrow.

“More like a sea-horse,” Belix chuckled.

“Dragon!” Ecchs insisted harshly, but Belix continued laughing, “Urgh, this is why I hate talking about this, most people don’t even believe we exist and Some Others!” he snapped at her, “Prefer to treat us like a joke, but we are very, Very real,” he put a hand over the patch of his face that had reformed and taken the shape of his human eye, “We hide ourselves, because our true forms can be a bit… overwhelming.”

“What does this have to do with anything?” Clyde wondered.

“There’s a… a rather well known, but unspoken rule among my kind,” he continued nervously, “When we mate...we assume the form of our lovers, we only assume our true forms when we breed with our own kind, it’s rather common sense actually, because if we don’t…”

Ecchs let the statement hang in the air between them and Clyde finally realized what he was attempting to say. Aghast, stunned, he took a step back and almost lost his grip on his blade.

“And you’re saying he’s forcing himself on her?” Clyde demanded, “In that form?”

“Well, I didn’t, but...ostensibly, yes,” Ecchs admitted, he looked away, shame evident in his one human eye, “We all know about it, we hear her screaming, and my Uncle’s delighted purrs… every time we meet, and she can say what she wants, she can lie, but I know,” he smashed his fist into a nearby counter top, breaking it and splitting open the false skin on his knuckles, “I KNOW! And I can’t do anything about it…”

Before Clyde could ask, Belix stepped closely and whispered into his ear.

“Cryak, the uncle, he was next in line before his brother had kids,” she told him quietly, “They’re a long lived species, but, even still, he’s now fourth place behind two whelps and a daughter, if any of them have kids his ranking goes down even further.”

“So, what, this is his revenge?”

“I guess…” Belix shrugged, glancing over at Ecchs who was desperately burying his face in his hands, trying to collect himself, “The father could step in, but the little brother, Kyo, he sort of broke tradition by marrying Greta.”

“What, they only marry their own kind?”

“No,” Ecchs scoffed, “But… it has to be with someone who won’t override our genetics, Mountain Elf blood is too strong, the child would be a half-breed, illegitimate.”

A dower look crossed his face which did not fade when he finally glanced up to face them.

“What?” he demanded, “You’re like two feet away, of course I heard you.”

“Then, can’t your brother…”

“I don’t fucking know,” Ecchs sighed, “Blackmail, that would be my guess, my uncle has something on him, or… I don’t fucking Know… but he’s the one who has to act, HE has to call out Cryak, and, if I act on his behalf, we’ll both be disavowed.”

“So be disavowed!” Clyde took a step towards him, “Listen, I don’t care how you’re dressing this up, but you’re letting this happen!”

“...you’re new,” Ecchs glared at him, “So I don’t expect you to understand, but, my father would side with my Uncle, I Can’t Beat My Father!” he growled in Clyde’s face, advancing on him menacingly, “And right now, as preparation to my ascendance to the throne, I am taking care of his business, both local and abroad, Right Now! My father is at home, with my mother and my sister, Keeping Them Safe! If I were forced to step down, My father would have to resume his old duties, travel abroad and leave them alone in that house with that Fucking Monster! And if I tried to come back I’d be shot on sight.”

Both men were standing face to face, neither willing to budge as they stared the other down with a steely eyed determination.

“He’s not wrong,” Belix admitted, trying and failing to draw their attention away, with a sigh, she continued, “If I’m understanding this right, you want me to go with you, act as bait…”

“If he’s doing what I think...what I know he’s doing!” Ecchs walked around Clyde and desperately approached Belix, “I’ve already put some information in his ear, something he knows he can use against me, he’ll move, trust me, he Will Move!”

“How about I just sneak in late at night and cut his throat?” Clyde offered, “Nothing to fall back on you, nothing to trace…”

“We’re not that easy to harm,” Ecchs pointed to some of his still exposed scales, “And we heal rather quickly, you’d never take his head off while he was sleeping, and you’d never escape.”

“I think you’d be surprised,” Clyde scoffed.

“Our organization is Global!” Ecchs insisted, “We touch almost as many corners as the church, my father will live three of your lives over before breathing his last, and he will keep the vendetta alive.”

“Yeah, well I can be pretty damn slippery when I need to…”

“Can you vanish off the face of Din?” Ecchs demanded, “Fade into shadow and become true nothingness, or do you intend to walk amongst men, ever worried that a blade might find your own neck.”

“I don’t Fucking Care!” Clyde glared back at him coldly, “If you won’t do something then I will.”

“Why Me?” Belix asked solemnly, finally managing to break up the argument, she looked into Ecchs eyes with sincerity and restated the question, “Anyone, everyone you could ask, and you come after me, why?”

“...because, it…” he looked away in shame, “It was the best way to sell the illusion, I need him to believe that he’s taking something from me, something I love and cherish, and… and because I told my mother about you.”

“Been planning this for a while then…” Belix mused.

“No, actually I haven’t,” Ecchs admitted, taking her hands in his, “But, it’s been said none the less.”

“...tell me where he is,” Clyde stated quietly, folding his arms.

“It’s not just your life you’re ruining,” Belix snapped at him, “And, if we’re going to be traveling together I’d rather not do it with a price on my head.”

“So you’ll do it?” Ecchs asked expectantly.

“...for Greta,” Belix nodded, then pulled her hand away and pointed towards Clyde, “But he’s coming with me.”

“That’s not a...huge problem…” Ecchs shrugged, “I can deal with it.”

“Good, now get out,” she pushed him away, “I need my beauty sleep.”

“Of course, right, of course,” Ecchs smiled happily, “I’ll come by later...um...mid-morning, we’ll discuss everything on the way.”

“Sure, whatever, just go,” Belix sighed as he practically hopped out of the room.

She wandered around, head in her hands until she noticed Clyde staring at her.

“I’m really tired,” Belix groaned, “So, if you’re getting ideas, then don’t expect much activity…”

“...don’t…” Clyde told her quietly.

“Right...sorry, it’s just a reflex at this point…”

“Stop!” he insisted harshly, eyes looking worried and almost tearful, “Please, stop...stop fighting for me.”

A sad smile creased her lips and she walked close, resting her hands against his chest and laying her head across his shoulder.

“Run away with me,” she whispered as he stood in the room, completely stunned.

Before he could respond, she placed a finger over his lips, looked deep into his eyes, and pulled him closer.

“Come with me,” she breathed desperately, “We’ll find a place, somewhere that’s far and away, we’ll build our house and we’ll call it our home, we’ll till the land, find a child, we’ll adopt,” a tear leaked down her cheek, “Watch them grow, and abandon us to go out into the world and find their own place, and I’ll…” she wept openly, but tried to hide it by burying her face into his neck, “I’ll watch you die, I’ll hold your hand, and bury you in the plot behind our home...and I’ll watch the dirt-mound grow grass and disappear, long before I join you…”

Clyde had nothing to say, nothing that could even pass his lips, he could barely stand as she held him against her. Finally, she slipped away, her warm arms sliding off of his body, leaving him disconcertingly cold, and she cleaned her eyes.

“Can you?” she asked, “Can you walk away? Forget the world? Forget responsibility, duty, obligation?” Belix turned back towards the bed and tossed herself onto it, “I didn’t think so, Hells, I’d probably go stir crazy living the quiet life, so… no, I think this suits me just fine.”

Clyde sank to the floor, not even bothering to raise his head while Belix pulled the covers around her and got comfortable on the bed.

“If I… stop breathing or something, could you...roll me over or something?” she muttered wearily.

Clyde said nothing, just stared at the floor and waited for tomorrow to come.

Description

[Marks the Spot]

Belix staggered into the room with a half empty jug of booze under her arm. Clyde followed soon after and set aside the giant suitcase he had been carrying all this time. Meanwhile, Belix remained on the floor, languidly giggling while Clyde stood over her rubbing his neck.

“You didn’t break it did you?” Clyde asked.

“Ghah!” Belix scoffed, raising the bottle to her lips, “Let me check.”

She took a deep tug from the bottle and he finally pulled it away from her. She let out a half-hearted whine, but quickly collapsed onto the floor. Picking her up in his arms, Clyde carried her to the bed and dropped her there. He expected her to start off with some sort of drawn out sexual innuendo, but, Belix seemed to have passed out as soon as her head hit the pillow.

He stepped back and scratched the back of his head. They hadn’t dug too far into their money, wanting to keep a low profile while they stayed over and chartered their transportation out of Miji, but that held its own risks. They weren’t exactly in a good neighborhood and were currently carrying a small mountain of cash. Money might spend, but it carried with it a unique set of risks, which he made note of when he moved back to lock the door.

His eyes landed on Belix, murmuring a bit in her sleep as she rolled over, and he winced knowing what had to happen next. The fight had left her in a mess, and he couldn’t allow her to wounds to go untreated. Of course, that meant stripping off her clothes and examining how deep the damage went, which bothered him for a number of reasons which he didn’t actually want to process. So, he instantly thought up an excuse and went to go out to find some medical supplies. As his key slid into the lock and it clicked into place, Belix rolled over again and opened one eye.

“Ugh…” she grumbled, sitting up on the bed and groaning, “Is it me?” she wondered, slurring her words, “Am I doing something wrong?”

She looked down at the black silk costume his spider’s had crafted for her and rubbed it against her cheek. So soft, so smooth, and it smelled surprisingly nice, despite being soaked in her blood and sweat.

“...but it dissolves,” she complained, finally pulling it over her head, “That...sucks…”

Still, she folded it carefully and placed it on the counter top. While there she stopped in front of the mirror and checked her own injuries.

“Gods…” she muttered, checking the cut Clyde had bandaged earlier, and then pulling back to get a better look at her bruises, “Damn...that fucker sure liked the face...heh…” she fell back, casting an arm across her brow, “Oh, my sweet hero, would you forsake me, am I still not...beautiful in your eyes?”

She chuckled at her own silly little joke, and then felt a sharp, shooting pain in her ankle, remembering how the Gremlin had nearly shattered her leg bone just a few hours ago. Upset once again, she took off her pants and looked at the wound, which had grown into a massive blacks scrape. It didn’t feel broken, but it was unquestionably nasty and likely to get infected.

Letting out a depressed sigh, she lifted her leg into the sink and washed it out.

“Yeah, I’m fuckin’ gorgeous,” she complained, grabbing the jug of ale and carrying it with her to the bed.

Between sips, she looked down at her body, the major wound on her left leg was going to be a problem unless it got treated, but it was her right leg that had really taken a beating. The left half of her belly was basically one big purple stain, while her arms both looked and felt like ten miles of bad road. With a depressed sigh, she pulled open her muffler and looked inside.

“Well, at least he didn’t muss up my tits,” she mused between sips, “Small favors…” she thought it over for a second, “Hmm, maybe I can get a back scrub out of this.”

Minutes passed, and she heard a knock on the door.

“Ah, my prince charming,” she stumbled to the door, “So...early,” she glanced at her jug, “I haven’t even finished my sleeping potion.”

She paused as she reached the door, a thought reaching through the fog of her mind.

“Wait...didn’t he have a key?” she muttered.

“Bel!” a man’s voice called to them through the door as he banged on it again, “Come on, open up!”

Belix eyes narrowed, she was still pretty drunk, but focused now, she recognized who was standing behind the door. Letting out a deep sigh, she leaned against the entrance and took another deep sip from the jug.

“The fuck you want Ecchs?” she demanded.

“Is that anyway to talk to your boyfriend?” he shouted back.

“Fuck buddy,” she corrected him.

“Are we really gonna discuss this through the door?” he sighed, “Come on, let me in!”

Looking down at her jug, and seeing it mostly empty, she chugged the last few gulps and then set it aside. Rolling her eyes, she finally opened the door and saw a tall man in a dark suit step through the threshold, he smiled at her, revealing several rows of sharp serrated teeth. She left the door open as he examined the small, drab room she was taking shelter in.

“I can see you’re moving up in the world,” he joked.

“What are you even doing here?” Belix demanded.

“Looking after family interests,” he shrugged, “Plus, I heard you were around, figured we might run into each other, didn’t think you’d go back to your old pit fighting ways.”

“Right, and you just happened to be watching?”

“Agater’s an old friend of the family,” Ecchs shrugged, “And what the Hell else am I supposed to around here for fun?”

“Swim?” Belix offered, “I mean, there’s also fishing, gambling…”

“Fucking?” Ecchs smirked at her.

“Is that what you’re here for?”

“Um...no...”Ecchs mentioned as he looked her over, “Not anymore anyway.”

“And this right here is why we’re not dating,” Belix mentioned, “But, what, you just came here to say ‘hi’.”

“Mostly,” he admitted, “But, I do have an offer I wanted to give, and you can even drag that scraggly ass crew along if you want.”

“How kind,” Belix rolled her eyes, “But I’m not interested.”

“Are you actually saying 'no' to me?” Ecchs demanded.

“Yes, I’m also saying ‘get the fuck out’.”

“You know, not to be petty, but I have lent an ear to your problems time and again.”

“Yeah, and I repaid you by draining your balls,” Belix scoffed, “We’re even, now get out.”

“Just to be clear, you do know how badly I can fuck up your life, yes?”

“You got guards out in the hallway?”

“Well, no, but…”

“Then,” she stepped closer to him, “Considering how, EASILY, I have thrown you around the room before, do you honestly think you can make me do something I don’t wanna?”

“Under normal circumstances...no, but…” he removed a black club from his coat and held it by his side, “At the moment, I like my odds.”

“...really?” Belix scoffed, “You’re just gonna…”

She was cut off when the blackjack hit her in the side of the head, her vision went dark and Ecchs had to catch her before she hit the floor.

“I’ll apologize to you later…” Ecchs stopped mid-sentence when he heard footsteps approaching from the hall.

Something heavy fell hard on the ground and the foot-pace increased until Clyde slid into view behind the door frame. He took one look at the scene, noticing the club in the intruder’s hand, Belix unconscious in his arms, and, with a flick of his wrist, a knife slid from his sleeve into his hand. Ecchs laughed nervously, setting Belix on the floor and throwing up his hands in surrender.

“Okay...I know, this is probably not going to work...but, I swear, it’s not what it looks like.”

Clyde’s eyes narrowed, he saw the club dangling from Ecch’s fingers and sliced it in half. Ecchs dropped the weapon and stepped back.

“Alright, okay, I get it, you’re not fucking around,” the intruder tilted his head to the side as he examined him, “You’re new right? I mean, I don’t remember you...you’re not that kid with the cape are you?”

“You hurt my friend?” Clyde asked in return, his voice like ice, cold and devoid of pity.

Ecchs glanced towards the door, then the window, considering his options.

“We were having a discussion and...well I think she got a bit tipsy and…”

The intruder stopped talking when Clyde lunged forwards and shoved a knife into his mouth.

“One for yes, two for no,” Clyde raised his fingers and then grabbed hold of Ecch’s collar, “Did you hurt my friend?”

The intruder’s eyes narrowed as he glared at his captor. Without warning he bit down on the knife, snapping it in half and spitting the shards in Clyde’s face. There was a quick exchange of blows between the two men, finished when Clyde jammed the broken blade into Ecch’s neck. The intruder fell back, gagging and coughing, though, no blood was flowing from the wound. Ecchs tore at the damaged skin, revealing a thick hide of armored scales beneath. The broken blade seemed to have lodged itself into the jugular, making it difficult for him to breath, but it didn’t seem to have punctured the armor in any significant way.

Ecchs quickly removed the weapon from his neck and threw it away. Clyde pulled another blade from his coat and planned his next point of attack.

“Can’t tell if you’re good or just lucky,” the intruder croak, staring daggers back at Clyde, “But you’re gonna pay for that.”

Clyde got ready to continue the battle, but while they were distracted, Belix had come to, and, rather than engaging directly, she had moved over to the nightstand. Lighting a candle, she snuck up behind Ecchs and dropped the flaming wick on his head. His hair instantly caught fire, the blaze crawling down his body until it consumed him down to his chest. He howled in pain, and the other two had to watch as his skin melted off revealing a shockingly distended reptilian continence. He took a moment to rub the charred parts of his face and brush away the remnants of his human disguise, then he swung his head around to snarl at Belix.

“That Fucking HURTS!” he roared at her.

“It’ll grow back you pansy, now quit your whining,” she rolled her eyes, leaning against the wall as she spoke.

Clyde took note of her relaxed posture and reevaluated the situation, he didn’t put away his knife, but he did relax his arm a bit, waiting to see how this all played out. Belix gave him an approving nod and sighed, turning her attention back to Ecchs.

“So, you wanna tell me what the fuck this was all about?” she demanded.

“I told you,” Ecchs insisted, his voice now a throaty growl, “I need a favor.”

“And I told YOU, to stuff it up your ass!” she snapped, “What the Hells is so important you’d risk me waking up mid-way and ripping your dick off?”

“...my uncle…” Ecchs muttered, almost embarrassed to say it, “I think he’s screwing my sister-in-law?”

“Greta?” Belix shrugged, “Shame, I kinda liked her.”

“You know what he does to them,” Ecchs glanced anxiously at Clyde then back to her, “He uses women, breaks them, until…”

“So get your brother to do something,” Belix said off-hand, “Hells, get YOU to do something!”

“I can’t,” Ecchs insisted, his human facade growing back in pieces and patches, bit by bit, “My father rules the family, and he would never side against him, not without proof.”

“Ah, I get it, so you’re thinking a honey trap, huh?” Belix surmised with a smirk.

“What do you mean that he breaks them?” Clyde demanded.

Ecchs glanced at him, then at the open door.

“I’m...should we really be discussing this?” the intruder demanded, closing the door, “I mean...out loud?”

“Just tell him,” Belix grumbled, looking quite upset herself.

“...fine…” Ecchs complained, shaking his head, “We...that is to say...I am Ryukau.”

“You’re a dragon?” Clyde quirked an eyebrow.

“More like a sea-horse,” Belix chuckled.

“Dragon!” Ecchs insisted harshly, but Belix continued laughing, “Urgh, this is why I hate talking about this, most people don’t even believe we exist and Some Others!” he snapped at her, “Prefer to treat us like a joke, but we are very, Very real,” he put a hand over the patch of his face that had reformed and taken the shape of his human eye, “We hide ourselves, because our true forms can be a bit… overwhelming.”

“What does this have to do with anything?” Clyde wondered.

“There’s a… a rather well known, but unspoken rule among my kind,” he continued nervously, “When we mate...we assume the form of our lovers, we only assume our true forms when we breed with our own kind, it’s rather common sense actually, because if we don’t…”

Ecchs let the statement hang in the air between them and Clyde finally realized what he was attempting to say. Aghast, stunned, he took a step back and almost lost his grip on his blade.

“And you’re saying he’s forcing himself on her?” Clyde demanded, “In that form?”

“Well, I didn’t, but...ostensibly, yes,” Ecchs admitted, he looked away, shame evident in his one human eye, “We all know about it, we hear her screaming, and my Uncle’s delighted purrs… every time we meet, and she can say what she wants, she can lie, but I know,” he smashed his fist into a nearby counter top, breaking it and splitting open the false skin on his knuckles, “I KNOW! And I can’t do anything about it…”

Before Clyde could ask, Belix stepped closely and whispered into his ear.

“Cryak, the uncle, he was next in line before his brother had kids,” she told him quietly, “They’re a long lived species, but, even still, he’s now fourth place behind two whelps and a daughter, if any of them have kids his ranking goes down even further.”

“So, what, this is his revenge?”

“I guess…” Belix shrugged, glancing over at Ecchs who was desperately burying his face in his hands, trying to collect himself, “The father could step in, but the little brother, Kyo, he sort of broke tradition by marrying Greta.”

“What, they only marry their own kind?”

“No,” Ecchs scoffed, “But… it has to be with someone who won’t override our genetics, Mountain Elf blood is too strong, the child would be a half-breed, illegitimate.”

A dower look crossed his face which did not fade when he finally glanced up to face them.

“What?” he demanded, “You’re like two feet away, of course I heard you.”

“Then, can’t your brother…”

“I don’t fucking know,” Ecchs sighed, “Blackmail, that would be my guess, my uncle has something on him, or… I don’t fucking Know… but he’s the one who has to act, HE has to call out Cryak, and, if I act on his behalf, we’ll both be disavowed.”

“So be disavowed!” Clyde took a step towards him, “Listen, I don’t care how you’re dressing this up, but you’re letting this happen!”

“...you’re new,” Ecchs glared at him, “So I don’t expect you to understand, but, my father would side with my Uncle, I Can’t Beat My Father!” he growled in Clyde’s face, advancing on him menacingly, “And right now, as preparation to my ascendance to the throne, I am taking care of his business, both local and abroad, Right Now! My father is at home, with my mother and my sister, Keeping Them Safe! If I were forced to step down, My father would have to resume his old duties, travel abroad and leave them alone in that house with that Fucking Monster! And if I tried to come back I’d be shot on sight.”

Both men were standing face to face, neither willing to budge as they stared the other down with a steely eyed determination.

“He’s not wrong,” Belix admitted, trying and failing to draw their attention away, with a sigh, she continued, “If I’m understanding this right, you want me to go with you, act as bait…”

“If he’s doing what I think...what I know he’s doing!” Ecchs walked around Clyde and desperately approached Belix, “I’ve already put some information in his ear, something he knows he can use against me, he’ll move, trust me, he Will Move!”

“How about I just sneak in late at night and cut his throat?” Clyde offered, “Nothing to fall back on you, nothing to trace…”

“We’re not that easy to harm,” Ecchs pointed to some of his still exposed scales, “And we heal rather quickly, you’d never take his head off while he was sleeping, and you’d never escape.”

“I think you’d be surprised,” Clyde scoffed.

“Our organization is Global!” Ecchs insisted, “We touch almost as many corners as the church, my father will live three of your lives over before breathing his last, and he will keep the vendetta alive.”

“Yeah, well I can be pretty damn slippery when I need to…”

“Can you vanish off the face of Din?” Ecchs demanded, “Fade into shadow and become true nothingness, or do you intend to walk amongst men, ever worried that a blade might find your own neck.”

“I don’t Fucking Care!” Clyde glared back at him coldly, “If you won’t do something then I will.”

“Why Me?” Belix asked solemnly, finally managing to break up the argument, she looked into Ecchs eyes with sincerity and restated the question, “Anyone, everyone you could ask, and you come after me, why?”

“...because, it…” he looked away in shame, “It was the best way to sell the illusion, I need him to believe that he’s taking something from me, something I love and cherish, and… and because I told my mother about you.”

“Been planning this for a while then…” Belix mused.

“No, actually I haven’t,” Ecchs admitted, taking her hands in his, “But, it’s been said none the less.”

“...tell me where he is,” Clyde stated quietly, folding his arms.

“It’s not just your life you’re ruining,” Belix snapped at him, “And, if we’re going to be traveling together I’d rather not do it with a price on my head.”

“So you’ll do it?” Ecchs asked expectantly.

“...for Greta,” Belix nodded, then pulled her hand away and pointed towards Clyde, “But he’s coming with me.”

“That’s not a...huge problem…” Ecchs shrugged, “I can deal with it.”

“Good, now get out,” she pushed him away, “I need my beauty sleep.”

“Of course, right, of course,” Ecchs smiled happily, “I’ll come by later...um...mid-morning, we’ll discuss everything on the way.”

“Sure, whatever, just go,” Belix sighed as he practically hopped out of the room.

She wandered around, head in her hands until she noticed Clyde staring at her.

“I’m really tired,” Belix groaned, “So, if you’re getting ideas, then don’t expect much activity…”

“...don’t…” Clyde told her quietly.

“Right...sorry, it’s just a reflex at this point…”

“Stop!” he insisted harshly, eyes looking worried and almost tearful, “Please, stop...stop fighting for me.”

A sad smile creased her lips and she walked close, resting her hands against his chest and laying her head across his shoulder.

“Run away with me,” she whispered as he stood in the room, completely stunned.

Before he could respond, she placed a finger over his lips, looked deep into his eyes, and pulled him closer.

“Come with me,” she breathed desperately, “We’ll find a place, somewhere that’s far and away, we’ll build our house and we’ll call it our home, we’ll till the land, find a child, we’ll adopt,” a tear leaked down her cheek, “Watch them grow, and abandon us to go out into the world and find their own place, and I’ll…” she wept openly, but tried to hide it by burying her face into his neck, “I’ll watch you die, I’ll hold your hand, and bury you in the plot behind our home...and I’ll watch the dirt-mound grow grass and disappear, long before I join you…”

Clyde had nothing to say, nothing that could even pass his lips, he could barely stand as she held him against her. Finally, she slipped away, her warm arms sliding off of his body, leaving him disconcertingly cold, and she cleaned her eyes.

“Can you?” she asked, “Can you walk away? Forget the world? Forget responsibility, duty, obligation?” Belix turned back towards the bed and tossed herself onto it, “I didn’t think so, Hells, I’d probably go stir crazy living the quiet life, so… no, I think this suits me just fine.”

Clyde sank to the floor, not even bothering to raise his head while Belix pulled the covers around her and got comfortable on the bed.

“If I… stop breathing or something, could you...roll me over or something?” she muttered wearily.

Clyde said nothing, just stared at the floor and waited for tomorrow to come.