“How dare you! Unhand me this instant!” The Teifling sputtered as Junipor pinned her in place. Somehow, even frustrated she spoke with an air of opulence. 

      The moment they entered, upon seeing the Teifling, Junipor dashed like a bolt of lightning, and skirted behind the accursed creature. She moved with a grace that took both her brother, and the Teifling, by surprise. Once behind her, with quick reflexes and a strong grip, Junipor then grabbed hold of the intruder’s wrists and forced the Teifling onto her knees. 

      “Brother! Summon the priestess’s, she’s blight born!” Junipor’s hands ached while holding the Teiflings wrists. The woman’s skin was warm, much warmer than normal. 

      “Uh, Juni?” Alder tried to step in.

      Before he could continue, the Teifling threw her head back, smacking Juniper in the jaw. White stars flashed before her eyes, forcing her to let go. There was a momentary disorientation, during which the Teifling jumped forward and circled to face her. 

      There eyes locked. At first Junipor believed the Teifling’s eyes were a light brown hue, but now that she got a good look at them, she could make out a dot of intense blackness encapsulated by a tame ember flame. It almost looked like gazing into a desolate pit surrounded by fire.

      “Juni?” Alder’s voice tried to speak out, but Junipor ignored him with a hiss. 

      Junipor’s tail straitened, the hair on the back of her neck grew stiff, and her hands reached toward the knife at her belt. Upon retrieving it, something changed in the air surrounding the Teifling. With a flick of her wrist, the Teifling reached out with her hands open, and the area in front of her seemed to boil. Then, out of seemingly nowhere, a large two handed scythe appeared. Its handle was black, the color of enriched obsidian, and its edge gleamed like polished silver. 

      Junipor froze, gazing at the weapon. Blood grooves were etched into its fine metal sheen, and at the pommel there was a dark red ruby encased in bronze webbing. 

      “Domitilla, stand down! This is wholly unnecessary.” Caius’s voice rang through the metal bars. 

      The Teifling’s smirk quickly turned to a scowl. She looked over at the human, barely able to constrain her frustration. “She drew on me first.”

      “Domi? I command you to stand down.” His voice was suddenly very stern, almost how a male was supposed to sound.

      Even with her reddish skin, Junipor could see the harsh amber blushing over the Teiflings cheeks. The Teifling clenched her fists, turning the scythe back into mist, and began pounding at the bars.

      “You never let me do anything!” She yelled. “I told you this wasn’t a good idea, the least you could do is let me have this.”

      Caius jolted back, then summoned the courage to stand his ground. “I’m not going to let you carve your way through a peaceful village…again.”

      Again? Junipor narrowed her eyes. Her tail waged to the side.

      “That was one time, and a complete accident!” The Teifling waved his complaints aside with a flick of her wrist.

      “You set the brothel on fire!” Caius pressed the subject. The two of them were seemingly at each others throats, completely forgetting the others in the jailhouse. 

      “This better not be a Fanfow village you’re talking about.” Alder spoke up, with his own hand on the handle of his axe.

      The human gasped at the insinuation. “Don’t be ridiculous, we would never…” Caius held his hands up, trying to explain.

      “Speak for yourself,” The Teifling scoffed. Junipor’s eyes never left the blight born, and judging by the Teiflings body language, she would happily destroy the jailhouse without a second thought. 

      So why wasn’t she? Junipor couldn’t help but wonder.

      Junipor forgot she still held a knife in her hands. She dared not risk another attack again, even though it went against her instincts Whatever that weapon was, and however the Teifling summoned it, that was no ordinary scythe. Junipor never heard of magic being used like that, she had never seen magic before at all. She guessed it made sense that a blight born could conjure some abnormal, or infernal, power.

      “Forgive me Lady Phedona, your lessons on patience are failing me…” Junipor was seething. Humans, and now Teiflings! What could possibly come next? She could only wonder. 

      The guard behind Alder hadn’t moved since entering, he simply froze as everything seemed to happen. Junipor got the sense he had yet to see real combat, and struggled to maintain discipline. There wasn’t fear in his eyes, only confusion. Sensing a lull in the atmosphere, the guard finally caught his breath and took a step forward. His shoulder pauldron’s were unblemished, his uniform practically new. 

      Junipor expected to see him try and force the Teifling into the cell, or the adjacent one, alongside the human. Instead, to her shock, he took out a key and unlocked the human’s cage.

      “What are you?” Junipor reached out, trying to stop him from sliding the key into the lock.

      “I was trying to tell you,” Alder spoke with a grunt. “They have the governors seal, they’re permitted for travel.”

      Junipor couldn’t believe it. She didn’t want to believe it. “But…she’s a…”

      “As long as they don’t break any laws, they’re free to go.” The guard spoke calmly as he unlocked the cell.

      The human smiled as the cell door came free. “Thank you, once again I’m really sorry about the confusion. The good governor did mention we should’ve reported to the guard before waltzing through any villages. This was my mistake.” 

      “What were you thinking, walking through the middle of town?” The Teifling asked the human. 

      The human walked out slowly, and then offered a slight nod to the guard before answering his companions question. “I was thinking I could use a drink” His response sounded sincere. Junipor supposed he was being honest, although there was no telling with humans.

      The Teifling shot Junipor a frightful glare, then returned her attention back to the human. “I leave you alone for two minutes, and already you’re in a cell. I swear Reomus is rolling over in his grave.”

      That name again? Junipor guessed she meant the Inquisitor ‘what’s-his-name’ that the human mentioned before.

      “First humans, then blight born,” Junipor reluctantly returned the knife to its scabbard, although she felt naked without it while in the presence of the Teifling. 

      “You can keep the compass,” Junipor was so focused on the devilish intruder that she hardly noticed the human walking past her. He pulled on his cloak, and adjusted the buttons of his tunic while offering to let her keep the small instrument.

      “I don’t want it,” Junipor wanted to reject anything he had to offer outright. Yet as she placed the small leather box onto the same stack of crates she sat on earlier, Junipor couldn’t help but regret parting with it.

      “You sure?” He asked with a sly grin, his tone of voice was absolutely incorrigible.

      Junipor snarled, swiped up the box, and strode out of the jailhouse. Her ears were fully perked as she forced the door open, and she regretted turning her back on the Teifling. Her brother quickly followed at a measured pace. He knew better than to jump up ahead, but instead waited until the jailhouse was well out of their line of sight.

      “Don’t worry, the guards will keep an eye on them.” Alder spoke with some measure of confidence.

      “Blight born! Here! Are you serious?” Junipor’s tail wagged back and forth.

      Alder spat on the ground, “Let’s just hope they’ll be gone by morning.”

      “If only we we’re lucky.” Junipor sighed. She noticed a light dusting of snow falling from the sky, and wondered where Seldie had run off to.

      As if to answer the question, a ball of snow flew from an overshadowed alleyway, and smacked her in her cheek. Junipor fell onto her side, against the gravel of the street, and immediately readied herself for whatever came next.

      The Zakinae hopped from behind a hidden stack of crates, Francesca perched on her shoulder, and frantically rushed to help Junipor back on her feet.

      “Languin! Languin!” Seldie’s voice was slurred after several hours of drinking. She could hardly keep her hand straight as she reached out.

      Junipor groaned, resisting the urge to slam a fist full of frost into the dragon girls face, and slowly accepted the hand. Once standing upright, Junipor looked down at the Zakinae. Somehow, the woman’s innocent, and drunkenly adorable face, kept Junipor from feeling too upset. Her right shoulder was sore from the fall, but other than that no harm was done. 

      Later, she promised herself. I’ll make you regret that later.

      Seldie noticed Alder walking away and tried to capture his attention. “Deheir? Deheir dag ven daiyri?” She asked, knowing that neither of them fully understood what she was saying.

      Alder shrugged, then offered both of them a wave. “Night’s still young, might as well get back to the hearth. Alabasto still has a lot of mead in storage. You should come?”

      Junipor didn’t need to be convinced. She searched her pockets to make sure the compass was still there, and then quickly followed her brother to the tavern. 

      While they were walking, Seldie wouldn’t stop trying to grab hold of Junipor’s fluffy tail. Whether it was some drunken attempt to play with something, or Seldie found it warm and comforting, Junipor wasn’t sure. Either way she wagged her tail from side to side, dodging the Zakinae’s attempts to grab hold. She had to keep it up all the way to the tavern, until eventually giving up and letting Seldie cling to it as if it were a warm blanket.