Loria Van Bernhardt stoically suppressed the urge to shiver as she clambered with her guide through the treacherous mountain crags, a bitter wind howling about them. The hardened Violet Knight continually aimed the wide shield slung to her side in the blowing wind's direction, stamping her hobnailed boots to fight back the encroaching frostbite. The robust warrior found herself struggling to keep up with the wiry elder's progress as they marched ahead. Yelling out over the roaring gales, Loria asked, "Grier, how do you scale these damned cliffs like a mountain goat?"

The robed man ahead shrugged, responding, "Many valuable reagents could be found in these old caverns before the dragon came. Come here, we are nearly at the hidden entrance." The old man stooped low, bundled up tight in his layered robes, gesturing towards an almost imperceptible fissure under a great, cracked boulder. As the female knight trundled up to his side, Grier opened a bundle of cloth, revealing a gleaming sword and stoppered vial. The wiry druid explained, "This sword has been enchanted to scythe through the drake's hardened scales effortlessly, and that berserker's brew will allow you to match his reflexes. Good luck."

Loria quickly tested the odd sword, finding the balance off and blade wanting, eliciting her to ask, "Are you certain of this sorcery? Can I truly trust my life to this weapon?"

Grier waved away her concerns, gesturing down the rocky crevice and saying, "Absolutely, but you must hurry. The creature sleeps deepest at full moon, now is the time to strike."

Nodding bravely, Loria clambered in, having to drag her crest-emblazoned shield behind awkwardly due to the entrance's prohibitive breadth. Unfamiliar with spelunking, though filled with grit and battlefield poise, Loria fought back her claustrophobic panic as she slowly wormed down the damp chasm. Hours of crawling taxed her endurance, the winding tunnel unending and maddeningly narrow. Delving ever deeper, Loria's small nose wrinkled at the growing scent of sulfur from below. As she wriggled through a particularly narrow section, Loria's fingers found a scrap of velvet cloth caught where two jagged stalactites met. Though bathed in total darkness, she could not mistake the fabric's identical texture to her own order's Violet sashes, a coveted and rare item. Confusion and doubt gnawed at the Violet Knight's mind while her infiltration continued. Upon smelling the rank stench of a beasts lair and hearing odd noises, she realized the climatic moment of battle was near, and uncorked Grier's potion. Sniffing at the contents, Loria immediately felt faint and wane, her nose numbed by the herbal concoction's vapors. Licking at a small bead of the oily substance, Loria's paranoia grew more acute at its foul undertones, and she deigned to abandon the suspicious brew.

The knight's pathway gradually widened, and she spotted the brightness of firelight ahead. Steeling herself for the approaching battle, Loria recounted her vows to the Malvania royal family, promising to bring their beloved princess back from her abductor's scaly clutches. Her calloused, skilled hand lingered at the enchanted swords hilt. Her mind kept flickering back to Grier's odd manner and unlikely instructions, before reorienting to her trusty katzbalger and unsheathing it instead. The warrior women had always been one to trust her instincts in critical moments. Shield in one hand, shortsword in the other, Loria raced ahead into the approaching glow of the looming entrance way.

The Violet Knight's eyes struggled to adjust to the huge cavern's brightness, numerous braziers lining the carved cave walls. She gasped at the imposing sight ahead, the female knight becoming incensed at the perverse tableau of draconian domination before her. At the center of the room, amid numerous gleaming treasures, was a great stone dais, a black-scaled dragon coiled atop. The horrid drake had its scaly talons and long, tapering tale possessively curled about Princess Belladonna Malvania's naked form. The great noblewoman had been reduced to wretched ruin, her pale, bruised flesh covered in countless deep scratches, some still freshly bleeding. The princess' blue eyes locked with Loria's, the poor girls debased state enraging the trained shield-maiden. The angered knight would of immediately rushed the black dragon, if it didn't have such a controlling grasp upon the abused hostage. The reclining drake was an intimidating sight, obsidian scales covering its huge, corded muscles and great, furled wings.

Circling about the calmly-watching reptile in a combative pose, Loria flinched back as the bane of her kingdom finally spoke aloud, "You're late, morsel, and now I've become very peckish. It seems we've got a rude little knight to deal with haven't we, Princess?" As the great black dragon finished speaking, he carved a fresh gash in the mewling beauty's left breast, as if taunting Loria to attack. The grizzled knight keep circling the horrid dragon, studying the situation and looking for an opening.

***

I was a bit irritated to notice the garishly-clothed martial brat's movements appeared spry and sober. Worse, she clutched an actual weapon in her hand, rather than my favorite tooth-picking blade. Grier would be punished for this failure in food preparation, though it was probably best to get to the bottom of this complication. I studied my toned, dangerous prey carefully, deciding to needle the haughty warrior's pride. I mockingly hissed, "Knight girl, where's your fancy sword? Don't you believe in the 'powerful enchantments' of the royal alchemist? Surely an agent of your sworn liege has only your best interests at heart?" The look of hurt in the feisty knight woman's eyes revealed my success in rattling her, so I drove home on the treacherous nature of her 'great mission'. While keeping my eyes steadied on the revolving fighter, I jeered, "Or perhaps you've gotten the wise to your 'glorious' quest's true nature? You've been sent here to fail, to die, to feed me," as I spoke, the Violet Knight started to lunge forward enraged, so I simply squeezed at Princess Belladonna like she was a rag-doll, her mournful yelps warding the knight back again.

"Stow your lies, lowly serpent, are you so afraid to face me on equal footing? How shameful!" Loria howled out in anger, raising my own prideful hackles. How could a pile of meat understand that she wasn't worth even the mildest of honors or risk-taking? Best to just get things cooking, and put the bitch in her place. "Would you like to watch me rip the Malvanian royal heir's breasts off? Here, lets start with the left one, it's smaller," as I threatened the princess and began tweaking her bosom mercilessly, the Violet Knight finally dared to charge forward, screaming valiantly.

As she closed the distance in a straight line, I focused on my diaphragm, releasing a resounding cough and coordinating my neck muscles to expel a gout of tarry, flaming bile straight at the foolish woman. She dived to the right, shrinking low and hiding up behind her great shield, though I managed to keep on target as my oil-sacs emptied out on the violet-clothed knight.

I kept belching out an inferno upon where the knight cowered, opening wide and soaking the zone in a conflagration of self-igniting effluvia. Flash seared knight was simply the best, though it was a bit of a shame having to snuff out this prey so quickly. It was so much more fun when they were good and drugged, and I could just bat the knights about the cave for hours as the pain of their liege's betrayal slowly sank in. Emptied out of flame oils, I peered up, and realized the knight was no longer behind the shield, its bottom embedded in the ground and free-standing. Sensing an approaching shadow in the corner of my eye, I turned and raised a claw just in time to ward off the sword's swipe, though it almost cut to the bone on two of my claws, cutting the ligament on my smallest talon.

Heaving back over my resting platform and hissing in anger, I kept the princess between me and the knight, slinking backwards and reorienting my scaly heft for an escalating scuffle. The terrified princess shrieked out as my claws dug into her trembling arms, "J-Just give up! Oh god, you can't win, he'll just make it worse for both of us if you keep this up!" The knight woman, now holding her sword in both hands, lunged forward unperturbed. I used the precious noble like my own shield, successfully unnerving and fending away my presumptuous prey.

I mockingly yelled, "Listen to your liege, I believe that was a royal commandment! If you want this ruined dove so bad, catch!" With that, I shoved Belladonna forward towards the knight woman, confusing the Violet Knight who averted her bladepoint and heaved the princess aside with her free hand as they briefly collided. Using the distraction, I whipped my tail with trained expertise right at the foolish warrior's legs, tripping her up and sending both women sprawling. As the bowled-over warrior woman scrambled away and reaimed her sword towards me in desperation, I responded with a guttural hack. Bellowing my oil-sacs forcefully, I dribbled out the very last dregs of my infernal bile upon the Violet Knight, splattering her in a cascade of burning droplets. She kept trying to back away, starting to grunt in alarm as her brilliant uniform slowly ignited from several points simultaneously.

I just knowingly smirked and wiped a burning strand from my scaly muzzle, watching the woman's ignoble defeat proceed. The fallen knight was forced to split her attention between keeping her sword pointed at me, and batting away at the growing flames engulfing her clothing. As she desperately pawed at the smoldering grease, it just soaked into her thick clothing deeper, even spreading to her leather glove and engulfing her left hand in flames. Her grunts turned to mournful shrieks, as the Violet Knight's cloaked frame rapidly became engulfed in sputtering, oily blazes. A minute later, and she could no longer even keep her sword up, the haughty knight woman reduced to desperately ripping her inflamed clothing off and begging the princess to run. I smugly watched Belladonna just curl into a fetal ball in the corner, covering her ears at the burning, pained shrieks of her suffering would-be savior.

Reclining peaceably a few feet away in a feline pose, I casually whisked her sharp little sword aside with my tail, relishing in the smell of cooking meat that filled the cozy cave. As the moaning woman finally got her blazing outfit off, I drooled slightly at the sight of her darkened, scorched flesh. "Here, let me help you with that," I coyly hissed, extending my uninjured claw and slicing away at her remaining coverings, leaving several deep gashes for good measure. The defeated knight woman curled up defensively, though she continuously shuddered with pain, her upper body covered in numerous severe burns, the skin on her left hand blackened and peeling in places. "Oh, I wish you could understand just how delicious you smell right now, knight girl. You seem to have a high pain tolerance, maybe I could manage to feed you a bit of yourself? Let's take a nibble and see if you're fully cooked, I call first bite," with those mocking words, I extended my draconian snout towards her cowering form, opening wide and licking at her ruined left hand with my bifurcated tongue.

The knight woman's charred flesh tasted divine against my tongue as I slowly reeled her left arm towards my toothy maw, the feisty knight still trying to wrench the burnt limb away fretfully. I let my sharp teeth play about the quivering hand briefly, relishing the moment before feasting in earnest, feeling my prey's knowing reactions as my scaly jaws settled upon her forearm.