They ran to the labyrinth. They would not get through the guards, and with Elias down, they needed to leave the castle now. Sasha was running down the stairs, her eyes adjusting to the underground, searching for monsters, her heart pounding to fast in her chest.

“Keep out on the left side. I´ll cover her right”, Sasha said.

Isaak nodded and they covered each side of Ivy. She was far too vulnerable to be down here. It was like feeding the monsters with candy. Damn Isaak that had gave her no choice but to flee. Someone as Ivy didn’t belong down here, a petite and totally harmless girl. The monsters could probably feel the smell of an easy bite.

Isaak’s sword was slashing into something coming from one of the side tunnels. It didn’t take long for them to appear. By the colour of it and the greenish light seen it was luckily pretty harmless. It was more of a slow moving meat eating plant, than anything else. But one kill of one of these always attracted the others.

“We will never be able to take her through this”, Sasha said. She inhaled and gritted her teeth. “We have to go down yet another step.”

Isaak was going by brute force. Killing one of the plants was a bad move, especially when they had Ivy to take into account. Normally she would have more than agreed with the killing, but this was Ivy.

“What about keeping a low profile Isaak, for once?”

“Don’t be put. Together we will manage Sasha. We will switch keeping watch. Plus, they are not stupid. They can feel the smell of you and me.”

“It’s not just the monsters Isaak. They will not just let us leave. We will have the guards to take into account as well. We go down to the dragons.”

“The dragons? Are you crazy?”

“I know Isaak, but trust me on this. The dragons will let no one harm us.”

“How do you know?”

“I’ve been there and I bonded”, Sasha said. “I will explain later. Let us not waste time talking.”

Isaak nodded.

“Well. I think it will take a while for Elias to lash the guards. But you are right. I am all in for shortcuts.”

His thrust in her was total. Sasha wanted to hug him. 

“I go first. Keep close to me.” Sasha said.

She held her knife tight in her hand. In front of her, blocking the entrance to the dragons, a small angelic creature was standing. It had probably felt the sweet smell from the dead plant, drawn to the area by the sugar coating the mud.

“I miss my sword”, she hissed. “This one is bad.”

A single direct attack would be enough to kill her. It went under the name of man eater, so luckily for her Isaak had probably gone up to number one on the things menu. A real man was always triumphing candy. Sasha knew she had a good shot at it. At the moment it was too distracted by the smell of man, and the smell of candy. She was nowhere near its radar.

“Here”, Isaak shouted, and he pushed the sword forward along the ground. 

She eagerly looked at it, joyfully lingering in the feeling that Isaak just about read her mind. The sword ended just perfectly at Sasha’s feet. She dropped her knife and took the sword. It still felt warm in her hand, as a second glove, and extension of herself. This would be like stealing candy from a kid.

She rushed forward, almost like dancing. She kept the sword still, waiting until she saw where the creature would make its first hit. Then she moved fast, letting the creature missing her arm with just inches. Sasha did what she did best. She delivered one effective killing strike. The exact right strike, from the precise angle. Had she waited a bit longer, not coming close enough, she would have lost.

Now, the creature lied dead at her feet. Sasha screamed out in the tunnel, triumph vibrating from her chest.

“Ivy, take my knife and hurry up.”

“Well”, Ivy looked down the stairs. “Here we come. I always wanted to visit the underground.”

“Bet we should keep quite. Heard they are quite the sneaky listeners” Isaak said.

“Don’t be shy. I see them as friends”, Sasha said. “As long as we keep together, you will be safe.”

The dragons had waited their arrival. The queen herself was standing in the doorway, looking at the trio.

“You are a sweet looking lot. Not that often I get visitors”, she said, greeting them.

Sasha held out her hand and bowed. The others followed suit.

“Come forward Ivy. I have waited for you.”

Ivy took some step forward, slowly but steadily getting closer to the dragon.

“You always looked bigger in my visions”, Ivy said.

The queen let her big head wager from side to side, the tongue tasting the air.

“Two strong babies. That’s more than I could have asked for.”

Isaak looked at Sasha, but she just shook her head. He was better of not knowing.

“We are in a bit of a hurry, but I guess you already know?” Sasha said looking at the dragon. The queen was like an old lady out on trick or treat, and Sasha bet she would have come with them if she could, cleaning the complete upper deck of monsters. It was odd the way she had bonded with the dragon, as if she was inside her head, thinking her thoughts.

“Yes. I know. I just had to make up my mind. Now I have.” The queen looked down in one of the darkest tunnel, ushering something forward.

From the tunnel the smallest dragon Sasha had ever seen came, not crawling, but actually flying.

“Denise will guard you. I insist you go nowhere from now on without her”, the queen said, looking Ivy stern in the eye. “Denise will smooth the rocks for you, ensuring we will meet again.”

“Why?” Ivy asked. “Not that I am not grateful though”, she hurriedly added.

“I have not decided upon that yet dear.” The queen looked from Sasha to Ivy, and back again. “I wish you a nice journey. Denise will show you the way out of my domains, and the rest of us will sink anyone who dares to enter the underground.”

“Don’t kill them will you?” Ivy said. “Please.”

“Don’t you worry pet. We don’t need to kill them to keep them wandering here for weeks.”

The small dragon lit up the tunnel with her wings shining in bright pink fluorescent. Her horns were pink, the eyes shining in dark black blue like a torch in front of her. Although she was small, she was a frighten sight.

“We are going for the far away forest. You happen to know any shortcuts?” Sasha asked.

“We will come there eventually, but first we will eat.”

Denise led them through tunnel after tunnel. Sasha had by far lost count, and she could feel the weary from Isaak. He took her hand, slowing down their steps.

“I don’t trust her. I vote for us taking the next stairs we see and head up on level”, he whispered, his eyes glued on Denise who was floating above Ivy.

“Let us wait this one out Isaak, if I am wrong we will do it your ways.”

“It might be too late then.”

Sasha squeezed his hand.

“Denise, how long before we could leave the dragons realm?”

“Two quarters left, and five hundred meters straight ahead. Do you like your steaks medium or rare?”

“Tender, rare please”, Sasha answered. “Well done for my sister and Isaak.”

“That will be it then”, Denise said.

Both Isaak and Ivy shook their head, but they asked no questions. Sasha smiled. They were going to a party, and she bet no one would look for them there.

The staircase was longer than normal, and filled with dust. Sasha carefully examined the ladders.

“They seems a bit old, but sturdy. Will you go first Isaak? Not sure you will fit.”

Isaak looked up, Denise shining in front of him.

“What’s up there?”

“Friend zone”, Denise said. “We will go directly up in town, now please, hurry up. Food is running away.”

“There are no entrances towards town”, Isaak disagreed, but starting to climb. “Man, this is tight.”

His skin was scratching towards the walls, as he slowly forced his ways upwards.

“No entrances, just exit. Never try this on your own. We usually use this one as a chimney.”

The dragon alighted at Ivy’s shoulder. She polished her wings, making them shine ever brighter.

Sasha was the last one to leave the underground. Halfway up towards the surface, she looked down, ensuring that no one was following their footsteps. Underneath her feet there was no longer any tunnel, nor a staircase. Deciding this information was probably too much for Isaak, who was struggling even more to squeeze his way through the small hole. She crossed her fingers and hoped for that the queen had not played them.

The four of them ended up on the floor beneath a fireplace. Isaak was coughing, and Ivy breathed heavily, as she smoothen her dress and looked around. Sasha sat down on the floor, studying the fireplace.

“It doesn’t make sense”, she said, lifting the stones and looking at a solid wall.

“Where are we?” Ivy asked.

Sasha went up from the floor, looking around with a big smile on her lips.

“Esmeralda!” she shouted. “You have visitors.”

The woman entering the back kitchen had three plates balancing on her arms. She looked brittle, and Isaak immediately helped her with the plates.

“Dinner for four?” he asked, putting them down at the table situated behind the bar, in Esmeraldas private quarters.

“I’ve already eaten, and customers are waiting. You start and I come back with something to drink.”

“I´ll help you”, Denise said and dimmed down her colours.

Denise now flied behind Esmeralda looking more like a big moth than a bright pink fairy tale. Sasha took the well-worn kitchen footstool, sitting down beside Isaak and Ivy. It was a sturdy piece that was once in bright fir wooden, now it was so stained with dirt and grease it looked more like oak. She preferred it to the other two small chairs that was far much more fragile and hadn’t aged as well. Any moment the chair would probably break underneath the weight of Isaak. The risk of such an occasion was probably why Esmeralda had just put yet another layer of brown paint on them instead of changing them.

“Two steaks well done, and one rare”, Isaak noted. “That must have been one of the most surreal things in my life.”

“The steaks or the excuse of a salad?” Sasha asked.

“The Dragons”, Isaak said and pointed his thumb towards the bar.

“I am really hungry”, Ivy said and mashed the potatoes. “Now, that went well.”

“Well?” Isaak looked at her sister as if she was crazy. ”Ivy, that was absurd, and I do not trust that small pink devil for one second. We will have to slink off, getting rid of her.”

“She is not a devil, and I kind of like her.”

“Well I do not”, Isaak said.

“She is a terrific protector”, Ivy said, her lip a thin line as she carefully wiped her mouth with the napkin.

Isaak felt silent, but Sasha knew him. He was sulking. He had made it his personal quest to keep Ivy safe, which said something, him being the most searched for criminal in the kingdom.

Sasha felt squeezed in between the two of them, the table really just made for two.

“We will rest here for tonight, then we head out of the city”, Sasha said. “I am sick of getting chased by Elias.”

“He looked pretty beaten up”, Ivy said. ”You must learn to curb your mood.”

“I did curb my mood.” Isaak took Ivy’s hand in his “I know exactly how well he heals, don’t you worry small dove.” He kept his hand in Ivy´s, turning to Sasha. “If I didn’t curb my mood, I would have twisted the knife, let him scream in agony, making him pay for hitting on Sasha.”

“Bastard! It was you that sent him hunting me down.”

“Hugging?” Ivy said and pulled them closer.

Sasha pinched Isaak in the back. She may be letting her sister lead her by the nose, but Isaak didn’t have that luxury.

Their hug was interrupted by a high pitched scream followed by complete silence for two brief seconds, before a cacophony of noises and yelling was heard from the bar.

Sasha sprinted up. She ran across the kitchen, out of the swing doors and looked into the overfilled pub. Half of the people had risen from the chairs, knifes, bats and hands close on the sword tilts. The reason for their sudden outburst had obviously something to do with their newest companion. All eyes were stuck on the floor beneath the big mole.

“Bloody dragon”, Isaak said and pushed forward.

Sasha scanned the area, looking for Esmeralda. She stood behind the bar, wiping some glasses.

“She fucking had to go and kill someone!” Isaak stated. He kicked with his boots on the body. “I will not clean this up.”

Sasha had reached the place of the crime. She pushed Isaak aside. Some of the men standing close to him made a cursed sign and stepped back when they saw her.

“That was mine to kill” Sasha growled. She looked up at the tiny dragon, looking all innocent. Her fists were pumping and she saw red smoke in front of her. “You had no right!”

”Aiden betrayed us”, Denise said. “Now, if you excuse me, I think my dinner was just served.”

Sasha turned her back to the scene and walked up to Esmeralda.

“Give me a beer, your biggest bottle.”