Jakon smelled such a strong rosy fragrance now, like those rose bouquets mom loved on her birthday, but it couldn’t be coming from Sky. Sure, she was a gorgeous elf girl so her natural smell would be some kind of plant or fruit, but there wasn’t a touch of alcohol to the aroma, and wow, did that girl smell of alcohol right now. Not that he minded but just her fumes were enough to get him drunk, no, drunker than whatever that healing potion she fed him did. He could still taste its rosy goodness and alcoholic searing wow. He’d...

Drakoth curled tight around the top spire of the Dirlop Mountain. As if he was squeezing the life out of a giant mouse, but the spire was too much like a granite spike into the sky, even if it was on the cooler side. For now. His flame wasn’t needed. Yet. Along the steep craggy slopes the wind carried the smell of dead warthoggish orc and dying dwarf. Flesh he would normally roast and eat, but no. Not this time. Not when his victory was so close. Soon he’d celebrate by munching that tasty looking elf girl that was mating...

Jakon barely managed not to gasp. That roar shook everything. Even the whole mountain. To the very core. Just the wind, it carried the stink of serpent now. Enough to sour his appetite. Even for mom’s coming corned beef sandwiches. Fresh or reheated. No doubt the delicious reward for defending Dirlop Mountain. Because curled on the top spire of a peak … a scarlet dragon. Several times bigger than a war stallion. Wings out wide and endless times more fierce than any other beast he ever saw. A dragon that glared their way. No. At Frostine a few paces away...

That cloud of cherry musk swirling toward Jakon. Only paces away. From on top of a low boulder. Where Scarlet had been. Scarlet went back to her card form. And into his deck? By herself? His breathe was ragged but still steady. His strength still there. Like dwarven steel. It wouldn’t give in. He wouldn’t shatter like less human steel. Not until the job was done and his home safe again. But now for the final enemy. The snow vixen in snake-bone armor loomed over him. On top of a ring of tall boulders. She glared down at him. Her...

The moment Scarlet screamed Jakon turned right. Just in time. Toward a scarlet and black blur. One lunging from behind another craggy boulder. His heart jumped even faster. His neck and chest so bare. Despite his jerkin. It wasn’t armor. Not by far. Too much like another ambush by his mom. One he’d learned to survive. Almost. Jakon didn’t stumble back. That wouldn’t give him time. Not without throwing off his balance. Time slowed down. Drastically. The small-chested scarlet fox was crumbled and dying by one boulder beside Jakon. Her gasps and moans only roiled his blood more. No dodging...