Now Jakon had time for one more stop, but it was tucked in a hard-to-reach part of Dirlop Mountain. The trail here itself was more of a rough deer trail than any kind of road. In fact, it was so thin it was the kind of trail only scrawny starved deer could hope to get through. To make matters worse, the trail went between countless boulders that were craggy and towering big. They were all light gray, almost as gray as the sky rumbling above him, and with plenty of false branches that led to nowhere, or worse, to a sudden steep cliff few dwarfs could hope to fall down and survive.

Oh, and don’t forget the couple of craggy boulders crudely bridging a deep, dark chasm.

Or the craggy head-shaped boulders that provided stepping stones to hop over another deep, dark, and very echoey chasm.

But only a lean and mean kind of guy could hope to traverse this trail, so very, very few people in Dirlop could follow him here, had they even known about it, which almost no one did.

Almost.

It was their secret little spot, pretty much, and his breakfast of strawberries and cream was powering him extra fast through it today.

Since right now, there was nowhere else he would rather go than this very hot spring, or pond, or maybe it was both, but it was at the end of this winding, dangerously thin trail.

The hot spring’s water was amazingly clear and stunningly clean, at least the surface, but both above and below the surface, there were more craggy boulders from house-cat sized to towering huge. Some made awesome seats. Some made makeshift floors—as long as you watched out for the many, many underwater crevices into the dark, deep depths, but swimming over them, as spooky as the darkness was below, no problem.

But best of all, that hint of orange and cream, as embarrassing as that scent was to the source … the purr the moment he arrived … Ivy Reap.

She looked like a tigermite i.e. human girl with her skin colored like an orange tiger, and with house-cat ears poking out of her windblown scarlet hair. Her tiger tail always even wiggled like it had a mind of its own.

Except she was more beautiful than any human girl could hope to become. Her figure was so curved slim in the rightest way, and curved obese in the chest places. It was so big it shocked him the first time seeing it. He had too much trouble not leering at it. And throw in her orange and cream scent … she was definitely half elf girl.

Crouched on top of a towering-high mouse-shaped boulder mere paces ahead of him, Ivy wore form-fitting slacks that left just enough to the imagination and cowled bra top that left even less to the imagination. Both were as scarlet bright as her long ponytailed hair, and her garb was full of shiny bone studs carved into little tiny human skulls.

But her those big bright green eyes staring super happy at him.

Her fanged grin might of spooked less worthy men, like elves, but not–

“Jakon!” Ivy said, “Time to … spare!”

She whipped out her steel katars. Which looked like steel knuckles except that instead of steel knobs for the knuckles, both had long thick steel blades.

And she leapt.

Pouncing him.

His training took over. Just as her katars came within reach of his chest. He caught her arms.

Rolled backwards.

Gently shoving his thick leather boots into her soft exposed belly.

Rolling over with him she giggled.

Laughed.

And she plopped solid on the ground beyond his head. The top of their heads were next to each other, and they held hands now and wow, did Ivy have such soft hands. Even with her retractable claws, she never scratched him badly with them, and wow, could she slash someone bad with them, if she wanted to.

Ivy took a deep breath. “If we ever fought for real …”

“I would sooo,” Jakon said, “go pervy dwarf on you. Those boobs would be sooo groped it wouldn’t be–”

“Funny?” Ivy said, “I have great boobs! Perfect for that deadly distract and slash.”

“Exactly,” Jakon said, “Ever consider fighting naked? You’ve practically halfway there …”

“Ooo,” Ivy said, “I would sooo wear a skirt. A supershort skirt, and kick a lot. Last glance down there will be your last!!!”

They both giggled this time. Still holding hands, and loving it, yet … Jakon … he had to …

“Ivy,” Jakon said, “there’s something else I need to tell you.”

“Ooo,” Ivy said, “Time for our first actual date? I did say you have to defeat me first. It’s a tigermite mate thing, you know, without actually hurting me, and no excuses, you clutz! Or else you so will discover why tigermite girls are feared among our men … he-he.”

“No no, that’s not – wait, what?” Jakon said, still holding her hands, but the smooth stone ground against his back now felt too solid, too wet.

“You heard me,” Ivy said, “But I scent another girl on you so …”

“That’s what I wanted to talk about,” Jakon said, and squeezed her hands tenderly, even if her fingertips pricked him with her claws, “Gunter gave me a dozen card deck of monster cards, and one of them is a living monster card. A gorgeous and feisty snow vixen elf named Azura, and she–”

“Ooo,” Ivy said, “Not a date but a carding then? Fine. If you defeat me. I’ll go be one of your living monster cards. But only if you defeat. If I defeat you, it’s—he-he—you become my living monster card. Fair’s fair, right?”

“Right that’s—wait, what?!” Jakon said, “Why are you … so alright with being carded?”

“A girl just loooves being cherished,” Ivy said, “And a living monster card of the true battle type is truly cherished, and yes, I’m only accepting a true battle type carding. None of this playing card nonsense only stuff ‘cause living monster cards have to be true battle types.”

“You mean,” Jakon said, “True Monster Cards.”

“Oh yeah, that,” Ivy said, “The kind that can be used for fighting, not just fighting enhancements.”

“Enhancements?” Jakon said, “You mean …”

“Us magical critters,” Ivy said, “Get enhancements holding the right number and kind of monster cards—if they’re made right, which is hard, even for dwarfs to get right, and that’s saying something, but really, why do you think they’re so popular? Really … sorry, Jakie Poo. You’re dwarf and human, so twice the nonmagical sorry for you there.”

“And living monster cards,” Jakon said, “Are harder for fighters like us to defeat. Imagine the abuse–”

“Don’t need to imagine,” Ivy said, “Plenty of card collectors have come after me, and lots and lots of nations raise battle hungry monsters all to card them into war decks wielded by their nobles or generals and blah blah blah. Monsters like me are in such hiiiiigh demand, it’s scary sometimes.”

Jakon sighed. “Ever wonder what would happen if us lightlings could be carded too?”

“Ooo,” Ivy said, “What a dream come true! Less demand for us darkling monsters. Yay!”

“No,” Jakon said, “Even more, I think. Any petty noble would create a war deck, so guys like me would be carded as their fodder, well, if I lived elsewhere, maybe, but it’s monsters like you and stronger that would become even more important. The tie breakers.”

“Well …” Ivy said.

“Think about it,” Jakon said, “It’s one of the reasons petty nobles don’t have war decks. Just the deck itself is pricy but that’s not enough to stop small decks being built, except each monster carding is just as incredibly expensive, so only people with real wealth or connections could hope to create a deck of True Monster Cards. But if regular folk like us could be carded, enhanced, then small decks of regular enhanced folk would become far more common.”

“Ooo … crap,” Ivy said, “You’re right. That … nonono. That has to be wrong but …”

“Sorry, Ivy,” Jakon said, “But I’m … flattered you’re so willing to go living monster card for me. It’s tempting, in a sense, since I know … well … a deck of Living Monster Cards … well …”

Ivy purred. “Well, what? You going somewhere? Leaving poor little me behind?”

‘Um,” Jakon said, “Maybe. Not sure yet. The parental units are undecided, and in conflict, but I suspect it’s only a matter of time, all because of spores or something.”

“Ooo,” Ivy said, “You mean magical spores? You have them too? Yay! Once you open them … wait … why haven’t yours opened, if you have them?”

“Good question,” Jakon said, “And I don’t know. That’s why my mom wants to send me to someone who might be able to help me with that but my dad’s … reluctant, and after I saw that strange castle on Razorspine Peak for a–”

“You TOO?!?!?” Ivy said, and from holding hands and on her back, she flipped over, over him and landed her fine sexy ass right over his gut and now her awesome sexy legs vised his chest.

The impact of sexy left Jakon breathless, especially with the smooth hard stone against his back, but seeing Ivy stare so bright-eyed intent down at him—despite her amazingly ample chest taking up most of his view of her.

Even with her vicing his chest with those amazing legs of hers …

Her grinning so kitty cute fanged at him … Jakon only managed to smile big back at her, and not heat up redder than iron in a smithy fire.

“I soooo saw it too!’ Ivy said, “Sooo spooky. I so want to explore it but … let’s go together!”

Now, Jakon couldn’t help but grin more than … heart-thumping happy.

“Traveling together …” Jakon said, but couldn’t finish after Ivy laughed so happy her amble chest jiggled cheek warmingly amazing.

“Better than alone,” she said.

“Much better.”

And heading into a dangerously fun and looong journey … never sounded better.