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  Maddie was Mauve’s girlfriend, though the two spent about as much time fighting as they did in harmony. She was a sweet girl, slim waisted with a generous bust. Hal liked her well enough, as did everyone except his father, who still hoped for an eventual match between Mauve and Lilith.

  “Can it wait until later?” asked Hal. “Once I’m loosened up a little?”

  “Eleanor is here, too,” said Mauve. “I’ve seen how you get around her. And I’m sure you’ve noticed how she gets around you, too. She’s normally so talkative, but every time you join the conversation, all she can do is blush and stutter her words.”

  Mauve clapped him on the shoulder and nodded toward a group of girls across the crowd. Hal spotted Maddie and her best friend Eleanor, both dressed in dresses of the current fashion - which some of the older generation found scandalous. The dresses barely made it down past the girls’ knees, and the tight stockings they wore underneath left so little to the imagination that Hal couldn’t help but stare.

  “Fine,” said Hal. “When is Roth planning on starting?”

  Mauve immediately turned his attention toward the ogre scholar, who was already sitting in the middle of a circle of four drums. Roth was the only ogre in residence in the Kentar estate, and his clothes had been specially made by the estate’s tailor to accommodate his four, long, spindly arms. His face was naturally smooth, and in place of eyebrows, thin ridges protruded from his head. A long pony tail of straight black hair fell across one of his shoulders.

  Roth smiled at Hal and Mauve, and then began to drum a slow rhythm, drawing the attention of the entire room. Before Hal had time to reconsider, Mauve had already grabbed his arm and begun pulling him into the fray.

  A circle of open space and polished wood floor lay just in front of where Roth was drumming. Hal suspected that either Mauve or Roth had spread word of the spontaneous performance long before he’d ever agreed to do it.

  I can’t be mad at either of them. The people want a show, and who else will give it to them?

  It was only then that Hal saw a flicker of nervousness on Mauve’s face. The feeling was infectious, and soon the two of them were shooting each other sidelong, anxious glances. Hal looked to the circle and then back at the waiting crowd.

  He took off his belt, as did Mauve. Mauve’s belt looked heavier than Hal’s, given that it held both pistol and sword. An empty moment passed with neither of them hurrying to be the first one to showcase the dance, Roth’s drums echoing rhythmically throughout the ballroom.

  “Alright,” said Hal. “It was your idea. You should start this off.”

  Mauve let out a nervous chuckle.

  “You’re the one who Roth claims has the real potential with the flows,” said Mauve. “Maybe you should…”

  Roth’s drumming grew louder. Hal looked over and saw old ogre looking at him and Mauve impatiently. He took a deep breath and started to step forward.

  “Fine, I’ll do it,” said Mauve. “You’re right. It was my idea.”

  Hal breathed a sigh of relief as Mauve stepped out into the circle, the crowd breaking out into eager, expectant applause. Mauve bounced on the balls of his feet to the beat of the drums, raising his arms up and down, and then just as Roth shifted into a new rhythm, he lowered into the deep crouch of the introductory Kye Lornis flow.

  Hal had always found the dance to be a thing of both beauty and power. He watched Mauve slowly swaying around the edge of the circle, stepping back and forth in time with the drums, his hands upraised, outstretched, and always moving.

  Mauve dropped to one knee before rolling backward over one shoulder and up to his feet again. Immediately, he hopped forward onto his hands, holding the strength pose for only an instant before bouncing back to standing and twisting himself into another powerful roll.

  The crowd went wild as Mauve’s freestyle flow continued. He had a powerful style that matched his build, and Hal noticed Maddie and more than a few other girls watching his movements excitedly from the edge of the crowd.

  No more than thirty seconds had passed before Mauve spun back into place next to Hal, slapping him on the back and urging him out. Hal grinned, spinning into the circle as though pushed by the momentum of the contact.

  While Mauve’s style was powerful and heavy, Hal excelled at the quicker, more acrobatic flows. He took his time with his standing introduction, stepping and spinning, and then leaping into the air. Landing with his hands down, he maneuvered across his shoulder, onto his back, and then onto his hands again before pushing up to his feet, all a continuation of the same fluid spin.

  Technically, the Kye Lornis was a martial dance. Karnas had denied Hal dueling training and even the basic wrestling that most boys learned in their youth before they picked a weapon focus. But Hal’s father’s concerns about combat training hadn’t extended to the dance, and it was what Hal had put his full efforts into outside of his work as a scribe and translator.

  He hopped up into a spin, leaning slightly on the diagonal toward his landing foot. As he touched down, his other leg spun upward, pulling him into a backflip that had taken him the better part of a year to perfect. Roth let out a high-pitched whoop from his drum perch. The crowd went wild.

  Hal spun back toward Mauve, and for the remainder of their showcase, they danced across from one another, spinning into exaggerated kicks and occasionally clasping hands to twist each other into partner flows. The crowd clapped along with Roth’s drumming. Hal saw Eleanor watching him, her smile reaching to the edges of her face, one finger twisting her straight brown hair.

  Hal and Mauve continued until they were sweaty and out of breath, and finally, Roth brought his rhythm to an end, letting them both off the hook. The two raised their hands into the air and gave a bow. The crowd cheered and applauded, and Hal felt his mood shift as he basked in the attention.

  CHAPTER 3

  When the dancing was over, and they’d caught their breath, Mauve winked at Hal and hurried off to his girlfriend’s side. He took her hand and led her off toward one of the hallways leading out of the ballroom. Mauve had already regaled Hal with a generous account of how he’d taken Maddie’s virginity, and Hal suspected his friend was hoping for another taste of paradise.

  A fiddler had begun playing to fill the void left by Roth’s drumming, and a good portion of the crowd had coupled and begun dancing. Hal saw Eleanor eyeing him from the edge of the dance floor and decided to take a page out of Mauve’s book, taking her hand as he went by and pulling her along with him.

  Hal watched as Eleanor’s face flickered with delight as they began to move together. She was better at dancing than he’d expected her to be, and made a show of pushing in close to him. A few times, her breasts even pressed against his shoulder, and she had a habit of lifting her skirts every turn and flashing her lower legs at him.

  The song ended after a few minutes, and it was suddenly Eleanor’s turn to lead Hal off down a hallway. The two of them dipped into a darkened entranceway, the locked door underneath it leading off to the guest rooms. Hal had assumed that Eleanor was a virgin, and looked at her with surprise as she confidentially met his gaze and kissed him on the lips.

  And I almost skipped out on this. I need to thank both Lilith and Mauve come morning.

  Eleanor’s hands moved across his chest and stomach. Hal almost flinched back in shock as she groped at his crotch. She kissed him again, rubbing between his legs, pushing her tongue into his mouth, and making her intentions fully clear.

  “You can lift my skirts up,” she whispered.

  “I… Right now?” Hal gaped at her.

  Eleanor smiled wickedly at him. She reached down and did it for him, pulling her skirts up to reveal her legs underneath. She was wearing socks that only went up just beyond her knees, and nothing else. Hal’s jaw dropped open when she took his hand and pulled it between her legs. His hand grazed across fine, soft pubic hair and nude skin.

  “We can be quick,” whispered Eleanor. “Won’t you show me more
of your dancing skills, Halrin?”

  She turned so that her back was to him and pushed her bare butt against his crotch. Hal reached around to her front, his hands palming her small breasts through her dress as he pressed his erection into her. He smiled to himself as he felt his heart pounding with excitement, both from his arousal and the risk of them getting caught.

  After a quick glance down the hallway to make sure that nobody was heading their way, Hal lowered his trousers just far enough to free his cock. Eleanor was grinding into him, her body eager and ready to be taken. Seeing her like that was enough to shatter any illusions he’d had about the sweet, innocent looking girl.

  Sweet and innocent is alright. But this… might be better.

  Hal kissed her neck and leaned her forward against the closed door of the entranceway. It took him a couple of seconds to find the right angle, but he knew immediately once he had, the tight crush of her wet, hot lane welcoming his shaft inside.

  They both let out matching sighs of pleasure as Hal slowly began to move, one hand massaging her butt under the skirt while the other took turns playing with her breasts over the outside of her dress. He thrust slowly, trying to keep Eleanor quiet as tiny squeals of pleasure escaped her lips.

  He was paranoid about being caught, and at first, it distracted him. Eleanor reached her hand back and ran it through his hair, pulling his attention back to her young, nubile body. He pumped his cock deeper into her, feeling the momentum of his pleasure building, drawing him in.

  Eleanor shifted, widening her stance and pushing her butt higher into the air. Hal took hold of her waist and let himself fall into a slow, deliberate rhythm, pulling her back into him as his hips pushed forward. He went back a little too far on one thrust and fumbled to get the tip of his shaft back inside her, to no avail.

  “You’re so cute,” whispered Eleanor. “Here.”

  She reached around and gave him a helping hand. Hal cupped one of her breasts and pushed as deep into her as he could go, savoring the sensation.

  He was about to begin building his pace again when a noise came from down the hallway, back toward the party. His heart skipped a beat as he rushed to make himself decent. Eleanor fixed her skirts and let out a nervous laugh, which made Hal laugh, too.

  The person who’d intruded on their encounter bumbled by them with drunken steps, taking zero notice of their ruffled hair and embarrassed expressions. Hal was about to suggest that they pick up from where they’d left off when a loud shout came from the ballroom, followed immediately by several more.

  He frowned, slowly making his way down the hallway, half expecting the party attendees to have discovered their hijinks, somehow. Instead, he was greeted by the sight of at least half of the crowd pressed up against the ballroom’s windows, peering out into the night.

  The floor suddenly shook, almost as though an earthquake had hit the estate. Earthquakes were uncommon in Cardvale, but not unheard of. Hal glanced toward Eleanor in time to see her making her way back toward her friends.

  Whatever had caught the attention of the crowd had also pulled it away from Karnas, who’d been flanked by hangers-on for most of the party. It was the best chance Hal would have to speak with him alone that night, and he decided to take it. He hoped that Eleanor would still be in a flirtatious mood when he got back, but when he looked over at her, he found that she’d joined the rest of the crowd by the window.

  “What is it?” asked a slightly overweight man.

  “I have no idea…” said Mauve, who was near the center of the crowd. Hal spotted Lilith by his side, and she was looking his way. She smiled and gave a slight nod. Hal took a single step and then winced as the stone on his necklace suddenly burned hot against his chest.

  He pulled it out and looked at it, impressed by how brightly it was suddenly glowing. He glanced up to see if anyone else had noticed it just as he heard the screams.

  Flames erupted through the windows along the ballroom, the same windows that nearly every attendee of Karnas’s victory party was pushed tightly up against, vying for the best view outside. Hal could feel the heat from where he stood, and had a perfect view of the horror as it unfolded.

  Lilith. Sweet, innocent Lilith. She’d been front and center. She hadn’t been given any time to react or to do anything other than be so tragically unlucky. The flames hit her in a direct burst, instantly turning clothing, skin, tissue, everything but a handful of bones into ash and dust. Hal felt a scream being torn from his chest. He had his pistol out, though he had no recollection of drawing it.

  Karnas was screaming, though it was as much for his own pain as for his beloved daughter. He’d been just far enough back to miss the brunt of the heat, but his hair and chest were alight. Hal stumbled forward, numb and unsure. He couldn’t think clearly, let alone understand what was going on.

  “Halrin!” screamed Karnas. “Run!”

  The ceiling of the Karnas estate caved inward in a cascade of roof tiles and dust, and something out of a nightmare poked through. A scaled black reptilian head half the size of a carriage stared down at Hal and his immolated father, watching them both with crimson red eyes.

  Its skin was shiny, segmented, and glistening in the light. Blood from an unknown victim already dripped from its dagger sized teeth, and faint trails of smoke escaped its nostrils in tepid puffs.

  “My daughter!” screamed Karnas. “You monster!”

  He charged forward, still smoldering where the fire had hit him. Hal watched, unable to find his courage or his voice, as his father made a made a foolhardy dash forward. The fight, if it could even be called that, was over in less than a second.

  The monster pecked its snout down like a chicken digging for grub, except it opened its mouth wide at the last second. Karnas was seized by its dagger sized teeth. The creature bit down on him once, the sound of it a wet, sickening crunch, and Karnas instantly went limp.

  Hal fell to his knees as he watched the monster chew and swallow, using a long, disgusting tongue to lick its teeth clean of the man who’d raised him. It didn’t seem real. It couldn’t be real. It was all happening too fast, and Hal was still right there, watching it.

  I can’t just sit here!

  He coughed as he forced himself back to his feet, smoke and the scent of charred flesh clogging his throat. The people who’d managed to avoid the creature’s first onslaught were letting out desperate screams as they fled the estate. Hal had no intention of running, though even if he’d wanted to, the flames from the earlier attack had already cut off most of his avenues of escape.

  He already had his pistol in hand, and he squeezed its handle tight enough to make his hand hurt. The monster had pulled back from its entrance point, not to abandon its siege, but to expand the hole outward, destroying more of the building’s roof.

  He lifted his gun in a trembling hand, took aim at the monster, and fired. The shot went wide, missing the monster’s head by several feet. It let out a roar and surged forward, its long neck stretching and pulling a fat, reptilian body into the ballroom along with it.

  The gnashing teeth were still covered in his father’s blood, and they snapped closed a few feet from his face. The monster exhaled near enough for him to smell its putrid breath. Hal was shivering, but he forced himself to stay upright, and forced his eyes to focus on what was happening.

  There was someone on the creature’s back. Hal stared up at a man wearing a golden full helm with a thin eye slit. A red cloak trailed off his shoulders, and loose chain mail covered his chest. The man seemed to pull at the monster, his hands digging into its neck until the grotesque thing halted in place.

  Hal sheathed his empty pistol and took a slow step back, his fear suddenly hitting him with a vengeance. The monster seemed to sense his weakness, and picked that moment to finally strike. It lashed out, not with its teeth, but with one of its claws, knocking Hal off his feet and pinning him to the floor in a single movement.

  He screamed with all the air he had left in his lun
gs. The monster’s claw was wider across than his chest was broad, but only barely. It seemed to enjoy toying with him, letting the razor like claws dig into his skin, threatening to snap his ribs. He was sure that the creature could do it if it wanted to.

  Seconds went by. Hal had never in his life felt so tiny, fragile, and weak. He’d already vomited up what was left of his dinner, and his stomach was threatening to suffocate him through the continued dry heaves.

  The monster squeezed again. Hal screamed again. He shut his eyes, but that only made the reality of what was happening worse. He reached his weak hands up and tried to pull at the dragon’s claws. It was as though he was trying to put a bend into a sharp sword blade, and he only managed to cut one of his palms.

  Hal felt the pressure against his chest increase for an instant as the creature leaned over him, and then he was pulled into the air. His head whipped back from the speed of it. He had an instant to see the true carnage wrought by the monster on his family’s home. Dozens of corpses lay scattered across the lawn, and the estate itself was in flames. It would be abandoned, though he didn’t expect to survive for long enough to be around to care.

  The monster held him aloft for a few more seconds. Hal turned his gaze onto the rider atop it, hatred surging through his blood and bones for the man who’d orchestrated the deaths of everyone he’d loved.

  And then, the monster leapt into the air, still carrying Hal. He could hear and feel the rushing of its wings, a sound that reminded him of standing too close to one of Roth’s drums while he was in the middle of a furious rhythm.

  Hal got another look downward at what remained of the Kentar Estate as the creature flew off, carrying him like a predator after a successful hunt. It was his home, and it was now a funeral pyre, consumed by flames and thick with the smell of death.

  CHAPTER 4

  The air was bitter cold, and Hal’s exposed skin prickled before going numb. For the first few minutes of the flight, his tears had spilled freely. His last memory of Lilith was of her curious eyes as she looked toward the window, eager to see what had captivated the crowd’s attention.