It had taken some time for
Morrigan to adjust to being the warren leader. Frankly, she knew nothing about
running a mine or leading people for that matter. Nora helped her though.

The beautiful blonde had
told her how she ran the mine in her stead during her “episode” and showed her
the ropes while she made her presence known throughout the mine.

Once her looming authority
was reestablished, productivity had increased to an even higher level than
before.

Having found the flaws
within how Tyrus ran the mine, Morrigan had made several decrees that boosted
morale of the prisoners especially when the prisoners now received their
rations every day as well as banning whipping. Morrigan truly loathed the sound
whips made.

She wanted to ban the
barbaric past time of the fighting pit however, many inmates enjoyed it enough,
on top of Nora’s adorable begging convinced her to keep it open. In truth, the fighting
pit was a steady stream of energy for her and was a necessary evil once she
began practicing with her powers again.

All in all, the inmates were
grateful to Morrigan after killing Tyrus and improving their lives in ways that
she could.

She also learned that the
Skinks were ingenious builders after Xol ordered them to rebuild as much as
they could from the furniture she had destroyed within her new dwelling,
despite her protesting, fashioning her a new lording chair as well as small
functional furniture such as a stool or end table from the scraps. The Skinks
had been more than thrilled to be able to build rather than mine, so
eventually, she let them start crafting things for the inmates too.

She deeply missed her hovel
in the abandoned tunnel except she could not bring herself to walk down the tunnel.
Eventually she had asked Nora to gather her belongings and bring them to her
new room.

Xol was her constant shadow
as well. Where ever she went, he was close by like the silent guardian he was
determined to be. She was happy with the chance to learn more about the
Saurian. He even began teaching her snippets of the Saurian language. The first
take away of those lessons were the proper names of the race.

It turned out Saurian was a
Federation given name, the racial name actually being Marmuro’k.

Xol further explained that
each sub-species had their own names; the Skinks were really called S’randin,
the Lizards like himself were Kêzi’kân, and the third species she had yet to
see that the Federation labeled “Gators” were called Timse’h.

“What are the others’
names?” Morrigan asked as she looked left to Xol who stood like a statue, watching
diligently as the prisoners pushed filled carts of Viridian towards the
elevator for loading.

Xol cast a quick glance at
her before pointing at the other Kêzi’kân that stood sentry at the top of the
slope to her overview. “Hî’tet-Tau,” he rumbled without taking his eyes off the
procession before pointing at the S’randin that were off on the other side of
the warren tinkering with stone and bone.

“Yekku-Krî’ket. Qiote-Arak'tarul,”
he stated.

She found it interesting
that the Kêzi’kân clicked the hinge of their jaw to pronounce a “k” sound as
well as unable to pronounce a “P” sound.

It made it hard for Xol to
speak Terran given his little knowledge of the language to begin with, but the
Terran language was filled with the letter “p”.

“So, Hî’tet is part of your
clan?” She inquired.

Xol nodded knowing the girl
was looking up at him.

She learned there were 13
clans of the Marmuro’k, Tau being one of them, though she had no hope to memorize
them all yet.

“Is that why he follows your
directions so…quickly, while the others are a bit more timid?” she asked
curiously while trying to make sure he understood the question.

Xol hummed, “Xol-Tau ssstrong,
honorable warrior,” he replied.

Like he had been teaching
her the Kêzi’kân/Marmuro’k language, she had slowly been working with Xol to
improve his pronunciation of Terran words, though progress had been slow in
that regard.

Morrigan smiled, “Right, the
Marmuro’k value and respect strength,” she chirped proudly, making sure to
force a “CK” sound on any “k’s”. It was an amusing nuance she and Xol worked
around seeing as humans did not have locking jaws that could be used to articulate
the noise. Xol found it as an acceptable substitute.

The low rumbling hum that
came from her guardian told her that her prior knowledge was correct.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get
tired of seeing you like this!” Nora called out as she sauntered up to the
overview.

Morrigan was beyond thankful
to Nora for holding her up and keeping her grounded. She honestly had no clue
what she would have done without her. “What's that pray tell?”

Nora’s bright smile flashed
in Morrigan’s eyes as she walked up and sprawled out over Morrigan’s lap,
hooking her arms around her neck. “This whole regal royalty look you got going
on,” she teased.

Xol let out a low hiss
announcing his displeasure of Nora being near Morrigan.

Nora bent her head back to
look at Xol upside down with a cocksure smirk, “relax ya big brute, it’s just
me.”

Xol clicked his teeth
together in a sort of scoff, though he did nothing to truly interrupt the two
women.

Morrigan snorted though she
smiled softly,  “oh, I’m far from royalty…”

Nora straightened upwards
and planted a soft kiss on her cheek. “you’re definitely a queen to me,” she
whispered sweetly, causing Morrigan to blush. Nora snorted, “and to everyone
else here for that matter, not that I give a shit what anyone else thinks… except
maybe the big guy here seeing as he probably wants to rip me in half every time
he sees me,” she tacked on sarcastically.

Morrigan giggled and turned
her head to Xol, “Xol, you wouldn't rip Nora in half would you?” she asked playfully.

Xol shifted on his feet
uncomfortably, “onlly if you desirre it, Mirina Sor.” It was his way of
cleverly omitting his feelings about Nora despite the fact that Nora openly
irritated him on purpose.

“Awe, you’re such a sweet
heart Xol!” Nora quipped which drew a fanged sneer from him.

“But really though, the
Queen Mori thing? Total turn on,” Nora flirted which caused Morrigan to go
bright red as she couldn’t keep herself from laughing.

She definitely knows what’s
up, Apollyon jabbed as her deity took pleasure in teasing her as well.

“Warren leader! Leader!” a
prisoner ran into view running towards the overview from below.

A step forward from Xol
caused the prisoners to skid to a halt panting. “Warren leader, one of the task
masters… they started whipping Brad!” the prisoner announced out of breath.

Morrigan’s whole demeanor
shifted as her jaw clenched tightly and her hands strained the wooden chair
arms the S’randin built for her.

“Precious, why don’t you let
me handle this?” Nora asked as she stood up.

“No,” Morrigan snapped, her
anger rising steadily, “I will handle this insolence.”

Oohhh yeahhhh, Momma is
going to punish the naughty child, Apollyon mused, obviously basking in the
rage roiling in her core.

She stormed down the slope
and briskly passed the guards who flinched at the anger that radiated from her.

“Hî’tet, make sure the
elevator gets loaded!” she called up as she stormed towards the prisoner, Xol
hefting his hammer over his shoulder as he towered from behind.

“Show me,” she demanded, and
the prisoner directed her to the tunnel she needed to go down without question,
albeit timidly.

Nora trailed behind with
Yekku, the blue and gold patterned S’randin who had originally defended Nora
some time ago.

Yekku and Nora were both
curious by nature and easily excitable which made them an amusing pair to be
around even though only the Marmuro’k could understand the S’randin.

The sound of a whip crack
resonated down the tunnel as angry shouting could be heard. The inmates that
Morrigan passed parted like the sea, giving her as wide of a path as possible
until the crowd parted on the offending task master and victim.

“I don’t care if the other
tunnels made their calls! The lot of you back to work! We only have half a bin
so no one is leaving!” the task master roared as he whipped a meager older man
curled up on the ground.

Morrigan seethed rage at the
sight of this. When the task master brought the whip back over his shoulder,
Morrigan snatched the length of leather and tugged hard enough to rip the
weapon from his hand.

The man spun on his heels
angrily only to freeze in place, the color draining from his face once he saw
who had been standing behind him just five feet away.

“What-did-I-say, about using
fucking whips in this mine!” she growled, each word bled her seething anger as
a crackle of crimson energy jumped across her body.

Tear his fucking hands off
girl! Apollyon cackled in hysterical bliss.

In lieu of answering her,
the task master turned to run as fast as he could however, Xol lunged forward,
closing the gap before the man could take a single step.

Xol lifted the man
by the neck and presented him to her, “Mirina Sor qîrsí hûn yek qiriskin, Mônkee,” Xol rumbled with his teeth bared.

The grip Xol held around the
man’s neck prevented him from speaking, not that it mattered to Morrigan.

“No, but an example will be
made,” she responded to Apollyon before focusing on Xol.

“Remove his shirt and hold
him Xol,” she ordered.

Xol followed her direction without
question, understanding her intent as he set his hammer aside and tore the
shirt from the man before presenting his back to her while holding the man’s
arms out to the side.

Despite how much she loathed
whips, it would serve its intended purpose as it coiled at her feet.

The crowd of prisoners caught
on and backed away as the man struggled helplessly against Xol’s strength.
Frankly, Morrigan was likely the only one in the mine who could contend against
the Kêzi’kân’s strength and that was only by logical deduction made by
Apollyon.

The whip tore away a deep
layer of flesh as Morrigan’s rage enhanced each strike of the whip. One could even
suggest that if she had struck any harder, she would have sundered the man
straight to the bone.

The man screamed and wailed
in pure agony as Morrigan aggressively assaulted him, only growing more and
more angry with each strike.

Nora leaned over to Yekku as
she watched with wide eyes, “I don’t know about you, but I am so freaking
turned on right now,” she said with giddiness.

Yekku slowly turned his head
to look at the strange blonde woman and flicked his tongue slowly, his own eyes
were wide as saucers, whether it was from the punishment Morrigan doled out, or
the bizarre statement made by Nora. He turned his head slowly back to the
spectacle and went about watching as if she had never said anything as she
rocked back and forth on her heels chewing her lower lip.

By the time Morrigan had
deemed the lesson learned, the task master’s back was shredded to ribbons,
almost literally. She wrapped the whip in her hand tightly and used her crimson
claws to tear the leather weapon into pieces.

Xol lifted his prisoner up
by the wrists with a single large hand and faced the man towards her. She
watched the man sob uncontrollably and muttering incoherently.

She came within a foot of
the man, not daring to be any closer, “Shut up!” she snapped, “if you so much
as raise a hand at another one of ours, I will pull you apart piece by fucking
piece,” she growled out, “you have three work cycles to heal, then you will be
put on digging until I deem you worthy to taking up the title of task master,
do I make myself clear?”

The man didn’t respond in
his agonizing sobs until Xol tightened his grip on the man’s wrists,
threatening to shatter them.

Everyone was silent as
Morrigan dropped the bits of the whip on the ground, except for Nora who
sounded like she was doing her best to stifle uncontrolled giggles as she
fidgeted dramatically. Her eyes alight with excitement.

The victim, Brad, gasped as
he lifted his head up from the ground, his arms unfolding from behind his neck
as his scraped knees balanced painfully on the stone floor, to see what was
happening now that noise had stopped.

Morrigan jerked around
sharply, her crimson claws flashing on display when she realized someone was
closer to her than she instinctively desired, only to find Brad cowering in
fear again a mere foot behind her.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry…” Brad
stammered out as he tried to scoot away from her quickly.

Morrigan’s anger quickly
dissolved at the sight of the man, “No, I’m the one who should be apologizing,”
she said softly.

The older man looked up in
fear to see her features soften with a sort of protective compassion a leader
would have over their people.

“Stand up Brad, you don’t
need to worry, it’s become a nasty reaction for most people who come close to
me or touch me…” she explained, feeling bad for scaring the poor man.

She was not lying
though. There was an incident shortly after Nora got her to take walks amongst
the populace where a male prisoner grabbed her arm to gain her attention. She
ended up severing the man's forearm off in panicked reflex. Since that
incident, the inmates gave her a minimum of three to four feet of space to be sure
she wouldn't accidentally retaliate.

“I-I just want to say thank
you for coming to my defense Mirina Sor,” Brad stammered out quickly before he
started groveling at her feet.

Morrigan groaned and rolled
her eyes as Brad’s behavior spurred a ritualistic bowing throughout the group.

She did not like being
referred to as “Mirina Sor” nor did she appreciate the type of attention Xol
had spurred into the community. She even demanded that he call her by her name,
but that was so far the only order he stubbornly ignored, sticking with using
the title he had given her.

Don’t hate Mori, this is
what fear and respect gets you; unwavering loyalty, Apollyon hissed with pride.

Morrigan scowled, “everyone
to your feet, and please, call me Morrigan…” she commanded gently. After a
moment, people began to rise to their feet.

She sighed, “good... take
whatever Viridian you have and cart it to the elevator then get something to
eat.”

Even with a whole community
loyal to her that followed her orders without question, being a leader was
still tiring and hard on the brain.

Morrigan walked back to the
central warren with her private company following closely, Nora hanging off her
arm.

Hehe, I swear this girl is
like a cat in heat, Apollyon cracked.

Normally Morrigan would have
blushed at the thought however, seeing as Nora continuously rubbed her arm
against her body and kept burying her nose into the nape of her neck,
Apollyon’s observation was rather accurate. More so, it kind of felt right to
Morrigan.

She couldn't explain why but
Nora made her feel at home, as if they truly belonged in each other’s arms, yet
at the same time, the guilt of her distant relationship with Taylor made
Morrigan’s feelings difficult to decipher or flourish. She was always in a
constant flux of confliction.

They returned to the central
warren to find most of the prisoners having retrieved their food and watching a
loud altercation near the elevator.

Morrigan groaned at the
prospect of another issue to sort out.

They all witnessed Hî’tet
blocking the path of an irate guard who was shouting a whole world of racial
and degrading things, including threats to Hî’tet’s life.

“Hî’tet! What the hell is
going on now?” Morrigan called out as they got closer. Both the Kêzi’kân and
the guard looked in their direction before the guard stormed past Hî’tet,
disregarding the warnings from the guards who normally watch over the elevator.

Xol-Tau let out a loud
threatening hiss as he moved between the guard and Morrigan, brandishing his
hammer while Hî’tet flanked and the two S’randin closed in to surround the
guard.

The level of menacing alien
threat seemed to cause the guard to reassess her current situation.

Nora and Morrigan stepped
into view as everyone scrutinized the intruder that invaded their home.

The guard woman looked to
the pair and sighed impatiently, “listen, my orders are to escort the new
warren leader to the surface. The Warden wants a word with them.”

Morrigan cocked her head to
the side, “why does the Warden want to speak to me?”

There was a flash of
recognition in the guard’s eyes as she made a move to slip underneath the head
of Xol’s hammer and make a grab for Morrigan.

However, Nora shoved her
behind and coalesced her ice daggers as she met the guard in the middle.

The guard was a fast one as
she drew her side arm and pressed it against Nora’s temple as the ice mage
pressed one icy blade against the woman's throat and the other just underneath
the ribcage in a stand off.

“Move aside inmate, I'm
running late,” the guard barked only to be blindsided by a massive spectral
claw snatched her off the ground and held her in the air on display as it
wrapped around her tightly.

Everyone turned to see
Morrigan mimicking what the spectral manifestation did with a very dark look on
her face.

“That was a mistake to
threaten someone I care about,” she enunciated with cold, hallow anger.

Morrigan tightened her grip
slowly until the guard’s armor crumpled and blood poured freely to the ground
as bones began to shatter under crushing pressure.

Now that, my little goddess,
was a righteous kill, Apollyon said full of pride and sadism.

As the body slumped to the
ground, Morrigan looked at Nora to make sure she was okay. The look on Nora's
face was something she did not expect.

Instead of surprise, anger
or any other emotion she could express, Morrigan saw a level of happiness on
Nora’s face that looked she was seconds away from bursting into tears.

Dropping the daggers, Nora
threw her arms around her and pulled her into a tight embrace as she sniffled.

Morrigan started to worry as
she gently placed her hands on her back, trying to keep focus as the blood from
the guard rushed through her system.

“What’s wrong?” she asked
softly.

Nora laughed as she pulled
back, keeping Morrigan close to her and kissed her passionately.

All of Morrigan’s senses
fell away between the blood high and the passion Nora exuded as she returned
the same level of feeling, despite all her reservations and confused feelings,
she pulled Nora tightly into her.

The Marmuro’k all looked
around the warren awkwardly until one of the prisoners coughed loud enough to
break the spell over the two women.

When Nora pulled away,
Morrigan’s face held a confused expression as the fog in her mind started to
fade.

Damn girl, could you imagine
some blood play while you crack her clam like an otter? Hahahahaha.

“Nothing’s wrong precious,
that was just the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me,” Nora interjected
with a bright smile.

Morrigan’s face turned
bright red as she processed both voices. “Dick,” she told Apollyon as she gave
Nora a sweet shy smile. Apollyon just giggled to itself in self amusement.

Both women noticed that the
guards didn’t move or make a sound after witnessing one of their own brutally
murdered in front of them. It seemed the guards who stood guard over Mine 4
understood the potential dangers when Morrigan was involved.

Morrigan let out a deep sigh
as she watched the guards awkwardly pretend nothing happened and let go of
Nora.

“So,” she said crisply to
garner their attention, “which one of you ladies or gentlemen want to escort me
to the Warden. It seems I owe him a visit.”

Everyone surrounding her looked
at her as if she grew a second head.

All ten of the guards
shuffled their feet nervously before one of the men stepped forward. “I will,”
he stated firmly though subtle fear hid in his voice.

Xol stepped in front of her
to try and block her path with a shake of his head.

“What?” she asked him
incredulously with raised eyebrows.

Xol placed his massive hand
on her shoulder and said, “you sstay.”

Murmurs broke out throughout
the gathered inmates. She could hear their surprise that she didn’t freak out. In
truth, she was just as surprised herself.

Morrigan, you have PTSD.
Apollyon informed her dryly.

“Really?” she blurted
incredulously with furrowed eyebrows and a frown, though she was ignoring Xol
for the moment.

That’s my guess, so far you
haven’t had any anxiety whenever your pretty blonde touches you, or the lizard
now… Given what happened, I believe your anxiety is transfixed on male humans…
Apollyon explained cautiously.

Morrigan shook her head
sharply with a deep frown, packing away what Apollyon told her for later and
returning her attention back to Xol.

“Listen Xol, if I don’t go then
the Warden may send more guards next time, hell, given the fact I killed the
guard he sent he may send a damned army,”

Xol growled at that, “let
come! We fight!” he snapped viciously, unwilling to let her go.

Morrigan shook her head,
“no, we won’t fight unless we need to. I appreciate you wanting to protect me
but I’ve met the Warden before I came to this mine Xol, I’ll be okay I
promise,” she said as if trying to argue with a four-year-old.

Xol only hissed and pointed
to his chest, “Xol go with!” he demanded.

Morrigan let out an annoyed
sigh before Nora stepped up behind Morrigan and placed her hand gently on
Morrigan’s shoulders and leaned in.

“Come on big guy, give it a
rest,” she said which earned an angry hiss.

Nora let out a terribly
mimicked hiss with her tongue between her teeth, “yeah, yeah hiss at me all you
want but seriously, if you're so honorable and respect Mori as much as you say
you do, then you should believe her when she says she’ll be fine.”

That got Xol’s gears to come
to a grinding halt as he looked over the tiny women, taking a glance at the
mangled body behind them.

He knelt before Morrigan in
a deflated manner, “Mirina Sor…” was all he said in sullen respect.

Morrigan brushed her temple
against the side of Nora’s head as tender thanks for her backing her up before she
brushed her hands over Xol’s crest.

“You’re a wonderful guardian
Xol, and you can continue guarding me when I come back. I shouldn’t be gone
long but this is something I have to handle alone.”

He nodded before standing
and quietly stepped aside so she could approach the guard, savoring Nora’s
touch as she stepped out of reach.

The guard stayed as far away
from Morrigan as physically possible as they stepped onto the elevator.
Morrigan can hear Nora giggle at that as the elevator’s motor churned on and
began to raise the lift into the abyssal darkness of the elevator shaft.