Phaedra sniffed the air again. She could smell it. She was getting closer. She wasn’t the only one, either. A few other demons seemed to be sniffing the air as well, but other than that they didn’t seem to care.

  “Damn it,” Yroth said bitterly.

  “What?” Phaedra asked.

  “I was planning to take you there next,” Yroth said angrily before motioning ahead. They were heading towards a cave, which the smell seemed to be coming from.

  “Oh no,” Phaedra said before running a little faster. Had there been a cave-in? Were there people trapped beneath rubble? Why weren’t any alarms called, or--

  She turned the corner into the cave and three thoughts filled her mind.

  The first was how absolutely beautiful it was. It wasn’t a very large cave, in fact it was quite small. Nearly every inch of the walls were covered in beautiful gems, as if they had carved away the rock just enough to get to the gems, but then stopped before actually removing them from the walls. Then polished the gems themselves.

  The second thought was relief when she saw it hadn’t collapsed.

  The third was barely restrained rage when she saw the three kobolds on the ground, bleeding out and rasping for air while a small group of them cowered against the opposite wall. Trapped. A fourth kobold was being held by the throat by a far larger scorpion demon, who lifted and then slammed them down against the ground. “Well? Aren’t you going to answer me?” the demon asked with an almost playful tone that did little to hide the cruelty of his actions.

  The kobold gave out a pathetic, broken chirping sound.

  “I asked--”

  “Just what the HELL do you think you’re doing?” Phaedra asked, her claws extended and clenched at her side. It took all of her self control to not tear into him there, but who knew? Perhaps there was a good excuse.

  The scorpion let the kobold go, making them collapse and clutch his throat, gasping for air. He quickly got to his feet and turned to her before bowing. “L-Lady Phaedra,” he said. “I was merely--”

  “Choose your next words carefully,” Phaedra said viciously, unable to keep the rage out of her voice.

  “W-what?” he asked.

  “What were you doing? Why?” Phaedra asked.

  “These insignificant creatures attacked me,” he said. “I demanded they--”

  “SILENCE!” Phaedra yelled, unable to take it any longer. She turned to look at the cowering kobolds. “What ACTUALLY happened?” She then glanced back to Yroth. “You know them, find a healer, someone who can help.” She then stepped into the cave. The demon stared at her, his eyes narrowed.

  None of them answered, instead just staring at her with fearful looks. She knelt down by one of the wounded kobolds. Judging by their whimpers, they were alive. But she didn’t know for how long. There was just so much blood.

  “They refused to listen when we told them to get ready,” the demon said, his voice cold and vicious. “That this was their home, they’d never abandon it. They were disobeying your orders, Lady Phaedra. Then they attacked me.”

  “I never ordered them to prepare,” Phaedra said angrily. “The kobolds aren’t being moved. Only my forces are moving. They were to be left alone.”

  “They were? My apologies, my lady,” he said in a cold, gentle tone. “I have made a dreadful mistake.”

  “What is your name?” Phaedra asked.

  “Turntip,” he said.

  “Go,” Phaedra said. “I’ll decide what to do with you later.”

  “H-he demanded the dragon’s treasure,” one of the kobolds finally said, only for the others to quickly cover their mouth.

  “What?” Phaedra asked. She had barely a moment to react when she saw something black move towards the kobold out of the corner of her eye. She blocked its path, only for it to pierce her abdomen. Her eyes went wide when she saw Turntip’s stinger lodged inside her. She felt it twitch and then slashed out with her claws, cleaving through the tail. Blue blood flowed out from the stump and he pulled back, letting out a pained hiss. She reached down and pulled the stinger from her body, dropping it on the ground with a pained grunt. She could feel its venom, burning through her veins and causing her to stumble back. She gripped the wall and held onto it for a moment, trying to steady herself.

  Ow. Ow ow. She felt like she was going to throw up. Bad enough it was so hot, now she was stabbed and poisoned. “G-go, just… just go,” Phaedra ordered.

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  Turntip stared at her, clutching his torn tail in both hands. However, a moment later he smiled. “I challenge you for the Rite of Conquest,” he said.

  “W-what?” Phaedra asked. She didn’t get a chance to fully process this before he was suddenly on her. He grabbed her arm and then turned, throwing her back towards the entrance. She hit the wall hard, some of the gems cracking and digging into her skin. She stood there dazed for a moment before a sudden blow to her side sent her careening out of the cave, twisting and rolling in the dirt. “O-ow…” she whined, giving a soft whimper. Everything hurt. So much. She could feel the venom burning through her system. While she doubted it would be fatal on its own, it didn’t make it hurt any less. She had to focus, he’d be out any moment.

  Then she felt it. The Rite of Conquest. Ah. Of course. She’d left a lot of blood in the cave and already agreed to an open challenge. At least his tail was gone, so he couldn’t stab her again. She blinked a few times before shakily getting to her hooves.

  He came walking out a moment later, a cocky grin on his face. “I’m sorry it had to come to this, little sheep.” He began to grow and she let out a low groan. Damn it, she already didn’t like this. Two legs soon became six as his hands grew into massive black pincers. His tail, which she had cut off, began to regrow when he took his true form. Because of course it did. Within a few moments the demon was a massive scorpion, his pinchers and stinger nearly as large as her. She made a mental note to start carrying her healing amulet around. It would have been useful both here and for the wounded kobolds.

  “Phaedra!” Yroth yelled.

  Phaedra turned towards her before holding up a hand. “I-it’s fine. I’m fine. He’ll be dead soon. Don’t interfere.”

  Turntip slowly advanced on her. “Such a sheep…” he muttered. His tail suddenly shot forward. She slid to the right and held up both hands, grabbing the stinger and holding it tightly. At least he couldn’t pull it back.

  Unfortunately, a moment later a pair of pincers came in on her left, wrapping around her stomach and giving a tight, agonizing squeeze. The stinger yanked back from her grip. The other pincer then shot forward, wrapping around her chest. “I could tear you in half,” Torntip said coldly. “Do you surrender?”

  Phaedra groaned and stared up at him, the world blurry. She wished she could tell Yroth to not look, she really didn’t want her to see this.

  “Well? Sheep? ANSWER ME!” Torntip yelled.

  “Y-you want to k-know something?” Phaedra asked weakly. “We… we really need more… legends to help spread… s-some of the sayings… y-you know?”

  “What?” Torntip asked.

  “Y-yeah,” Phaedra said softly. “I… I really thought, when I figured out what I was, I was j-just a joke. B-but it’s like my ship. N-nobody ever g-gets it. I-I’m the only one who laughs a-about it.”

  “You are a joke,” Torntip said in a mocking tone before giving her another squeeze. “A wolf bearing a sheep. Everyone has laughed at you by now. Surrender, or die.”

  “F-funny, I was about to s-say the same thing to you,” Phaedra said.

  A moment later his stinger plunged forward, driving deep into her side. Her world turned red and her hands lunged out, the claws digging into it.

  “I’m not… a sheep…” Phaedra said before she began to grow. Her wool fell away, flowing off her body like a strange garment. Her claws began to grow and extend, digging into and shattering the stinger. The part lodged in her body fell to the ground with her wool while she grew.

  The pincers tried to close tighter around her, but her growth forced them open. Fur began to sprout from her body as her mouth extended outwards into a long, canine muzzle. Torntip tried to pull away, but she ground both of her front paws down, pinning the remains of his tail down as she kept growing.

  Soon she towered over him, her fangs barred. “I’m no sheep,” Phaedra said coldly. “I’m merely a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

  Phaedra plunged her head forward, biting him at the base of the tail and lifting him up into the air. She then slammed him down. Once, twice, three times. Each time the ground cracked from the blow and it took her a moment to realize two of his legs had broken off and one of his claws had shattered. She let him go for a moment, growling and lifting her head over him.

  He didn’t move. A shame, that. She was hoping he’d have lived longer. It wasn’t often she was able to show what she inherited from her father.

  Phaedra lifted her head to the sky and let out a loud, haunting howl, before plunging both of her front paws forward, tearing into the remains of his body until she found what she was looking for.

  His heart, black and pulsing with magic. With a single bite she devoured it whole, feeling its power dissolve within her and adding to her own. She took a deep breath while the pain faded away. Grateful that her transformation washed away much of the toxins.

  Slowly she began to shrink down again, her paw moving over her abandoned wool to absorb it back over herself. While it only took a few seconds to return to her more sheepish form, she could feel every eye on her watching the change. Her wounds were, for the most part, gone now. The flowing magic of her prey’s heart washing over and revitalizing her. She glanced around. None were moving. She looked to Yroth. “Well? The healer?”

  Yroth, at least, finally seemed shaken from her stupor. She snapped her fingers and nudged a pair of kobolds, one yellow and the other light purple, towards the cave.

  Phaedra tried to say something, but the words wouldn’t come out. She just watched them head into the cave helplessly. She sighed and looked around at all of the staring faces before finally turning towards the nearest demon. A strange flaming cat demon. “You.”

  “L-lady Phaedra?” he asked fearfully, pulling back from her.

  “The kobolds are my subjects as well, they will be treated as such. I have no intentions of dislodging them from their homes. Spread the word, I am only taking the demons with me. They are free to stay and continue their duties here, or come. This will not happen again.”

  “O-of course, Lady Phaedra,” the demon said before turning and all but bounding away.

  Phaedra sighed and then started walking back towards her keep. She needed to wash all the blood off herself, anyway.

  …

  She wondered how mad Yroth was at her. She hadn’t wanted to reveal her true demonic form like this. Would the dragon hate her now? Possibly. Maybe.

  She tried to ignore the voice in her head that said ‘certainly.’

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