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Soon after Malion told Arthur, Lillian and Mazzirog to enter his cave with the cage and everyone else was ordered to wait outside, while the four (five if you count the thing in the cage) were inside, the men talked about the dragon and everyone made his speculation, one wondered what else creatures existed in this world, one wondered how old the dragon was, one asked why the dragon was so small and so forth.

"Men, you should be glad that the dragon is helping us with this, I know that I don't want to face beasts like that thing in the cage on my own." Valorfar said. "I doubt that the dragon has any plans against us, for he would have shown them already and I doubt that he looks forward to having these things as neighbors any more than we do." He paced around anxiously.

Meanwhile inside the cave, there was a annoyed dragon that needed to be appeased.

"So you see Malion, we brought it here in hopes of you explaining to us what had happened to this poor man." Arthur said, having explained what had happened so far. They had a 10 minute explanation and introduction so far.

"How can I not know that, they say that there is not a immortal who doesn't know the tale and I thought all the mortals knew it as well." Malion said as he eyed the cage.

"Your story checks out bandit and for saving as many people as you could, I say that you are allowed to stay." The dragon said to Mazzirog.

"The king will be the judge of that, for all I know, he could throw him in the dungeon to rot." Arthur interrupted.

"Well, what makes you think that I would go down easily? Is your courage based on the little experience you have and the need to prove yourself youngling?" Mazzirog was offended by the attitude of the general.

Arthurs blood boiled, how dared he!? Mazzirog looked like he was only 1 or 2 years older than him and even though he did in fact have more experience and was trained by the harsh world, he still had no right. Arthur was trained by royal tutors and he thought that he could still win a fight against the bandit lord, his facial veins began to show and Lillian noticed this.

"Arguing and fighting will get us nowhere." She said. "Mazzirog, I offer you redemption, fight for us and I guaranty your safety." This perplexed everyone.

"Lillian, only the king has the authority to do that." Arthur commented surprised.

"Yes brother, but the king will listen to his subjects and Mazzirog has only harmed me and the villagers and if he fights to save them, and me, then I will forgive him and I think the peasants will forgive him as well. And I doubt that father would press charges against the perpetrator, if the victim wants to sue..." She held Arthurs hand and smiled. Then she turned to Mazzirog. "I say this in hopes that you will stop any activity that involves you being a bandit, if you wish to use your weapons, then feel free to become a legal mercenary, or a soldier in our army." She told him to which he just rolled his eyes.

"Fine..." Was all the response he gave.

"I see honesty in his eyes." Malion said. "The bitterness that held you, ever since you escaped that prison camp has left you. I think that it's because you wanted vengeance, but didn't know how to achieve it, then you tried to hurt others, but now that the enemy invaded, you fear you had become the same monster as those orcs were." Malion looked into the weary eyes of the bandit lord. "Am I not right Mazzi Rog Da Poprište Borbi."

"How did you know that, dragon?" Mazzirog asked angrily.

"Easy, every dragon can easily penetrate the minds of the mortal, we have psychic powers, though we rarely use them, we consider them both dishonorable and impolite, I never entered your mind Lillian." Malion explained and looked at the princess.

"So Mazzirog, I'm curious, care to explain this?" She said.

"No! My own private history is of nobodys concern and you better not tell anyone dragon!" He hissed.

Malion made a sign that indicated 'my mouth is sealed'.

"Well, can you please at least tell me what your name does mean?" Lillian asked, she was interested in Mazzirog as a character, she loved to analyze peoples personalities, she loved psychology and he seemed like an interesting character.

"Ahhh..." Mazzirog exhaled. "It is mostly in Orcish, it means Mazzi horn of the arena, by horn it means lord for orc lords wore horns on their helmets, so Mazzi lord of the arena. They told me that the first word I spoke when they captured me as a baby was Mazzi, so they called me by that, one man told me it means 'fondle' on one language, he didn't tell me which one, though I presume my parents spoke it and I asked them to 'fondle' me and it was probably my first word. So in the end. "Fondle the lord of the arena. And yes, they called me that because I truly was the best in the arena, no one matched my might." He explained. "Now Malion, will you please tell us what the hell this thing is?" He asked angrily.

"Quite right." Malion cleared his throat.

"Well, where to start. This is a difficult thing to explain." He pondered at the thought.

"Just start at the beginning." Lillian said.

"Well, here it is. On a continent far away from here, there was once a country called Southern Slavia, it composed of 6 tribes uniting to one big nation, anyway, another country had interests there and paid the 6 tribes to wage war on each other, that's how the country fell." Malion started.

"What does that have to do with this?" Mazzirog pointed to the cage.

"I'm getting to that. Anyway, after the society collapsed and all manner of people claimed that they knew everything and all kinds of theories how it came to be. We dragons call it 'Štih'."

"Come now?" Lillian interrupted.

"Štih, Š-T-I-H." Malion spelled it. "We hate to use that name. Now, no one knows for certain where or how it came to be, but the main theory is this. When the society collapsed, many people in the cities died and the villages were on the front line and had to be evacuated. So you had a lot of people who had the same origin and culture, but didn't know each other at one place, to make it worse, they were uneducated and stupid. WILL YOU JUST LISTEN!" He made a annoyed remark when Arthur tried to interrupt. "So, soon small bands were formed and it separated the country even more, each band had this one guy who had a abhorrid and laughable theory, but since the people were weak minded, they followed them like sheep. Then, in all that chaos they came, their name was 'Pozeri', they preached that everyone should be exactly the same, that you should feel ashamed for being different and should conform to the society. Now, since the country was so greatly divided, they made the deal with each band leader, in which he or she would be rewarded and allowed some autonomy in exchange for the absolute obedience to 'Pozeri' and hence forward everyone, or damn well near everyone in that country and nearby became a 'Pozer'." Malion took a deep breath and exhaled.

"Now imagine this: a lot of little... I beg your pardon... scum of the earth is something you can deal with, but Pozers were the biggest scum, which preached that you should give up your soul, your essence to become one with other scum, they united the people who were stupid and lead by scum who were even more stupid and spread lies. So the little stains of scum were drawn to one big puddle, out of which emerged one monstrosity called Štih." Malion closed his eyes as he knew that no one could clearly understand what he was talking about.

"Malion I'm sorry, but I don't understand anything you said." Arthur said.

"Picture this, half-giant." He started.

"WHAT? Him, a giant." Mazzirog exclaimed.

Malion rolled his eyes. "He will explain later! Now picture this, a society broken and destroyed, people afraid, scattered, untrusting and lost. This sort of situation brings only the worst in people. Now, Pozeri took all the little pieces of evil and desperation and mashed it together to create Štih. Štih is the definiton of evil, demons are even good when compared to Štih. With a demon you know, you know that it exists and its intentions. But to Štih people came WILLINGLY and sacrificed their own souls, so they could feel accepted and secured." Malion hissed every time he said Štih.

„I think I semi understand now, but what lead them to this?" Arthur asked.

„What, to becoming one, or how their bodies and dementour changed?" Malion rose his scally eyebrow.

„Both." Arthur wondered, as he eyed the beast in the cage, which was thrusting non stop.

„Well, it's easy, people were so desperate and didn't know what to do, so becoming a Pozer was a logical decison, you will feel safe and accepted, as long as you are what they tell you that you are. Those men traded their souls to feel joy they never felt and I say that I dont know WHAT joy can come from becoming... that." The creature hissed as it heard that it was being talked about. „As for their bodies, I've already said, that Pozeri said that you have to do what most people do. So I guess that they somehow wanted to become that, maybe they truly did, or maybe someone said it was nice and pleasant and no one dared to think otherwise, Pozeri say that you must under any circumstances, NOT thinking differently than the mayority." Malion explained.

„Well, that is stupid." Lillian said.

„Yes it is." Malion agreed.

„But why did they do it?" Lillian asked eyes wide.

„I don't know, but I think I understand, imagine if everyone you know died and you are thrown into the world, where everyone hates you and you begin to despair, then someone comes and says 'Ill make it all go away' and you accept without thinking of the consequences."

„This is all so complicated." Arthur said. „But tell me, what is the difference between a Pozer and a Štih?"

„Well, Štih comes from Pozeri, so you can say, that in a way Pozeri are the priests and Štih is the god they worship." Malion was lost in his own thought.

„But... then... what is that called?" Mazzirog pointed with his mace to the creature which screamed at him.

„That IS Štih. This is soo soo hard to explain, it's like Štih is a god and the follower of Pozeri and Štih is called a Štih." Malion sighed.

„Makes somewhat sense." Lillian blurted out.

„So, how do we kill it." Mazzirog asked.

„I'm afraid, it isnt that simple, any blade, arrow, spell would do the trick, they are like any other human, but the problem is... that." Malion pointed with his claw as the creatur spat out black gooy acid, which burned down the rock from underneath it, Malion took a deep breath and exhaled fire on that place to cleanse it.

„The problem is that they, or more concretely, it is contagoues, if you as much as touch the black spit, or their dribble, if you as much as touch them, you are in grievous danger of becoming one of them. Luckily... well, for me, it does not affect immortals, it only affect mortals. But I wouldn't risk it, no one knows much about Štih and they might even hurt me." Malion said.

„Alright, can you give us any ideas on how to battle them? If they are like humans and so easy to kill, do you have any other things to say to us?" Arthur asked.

„Well, I can tell you what is known, strategically, they first send their weakest soldiers called Pi?kice, they are weak and easy to rout for they are cowards, but they are extremely dangerous in big numbers, next off, they send Fenceri, Fenceri are easy to recognize for their uniquely bad dressing style, they are concerned with their appearance over anything else and their toughest soldiers are called Klošari, they look like someone from the city who has spent their entire live on the street and they act though and are though to beat, but are actually big losers in life. There are many more sub types of them, but those are the three most common types." Malion looked at the Štih in the cage. „This one is relatively new, they didn't specify him into one of the many types of Štih."

„Who leads Štih?" Arthur asked.

„No one knows, but rummors has it that there is one leader called Kole and that he is guarded by 3 elite soldier/officers Aco Debeli, Vladan Glupi and Njenji? ?upvi, the four meet when they were all Abortused by their mothers (today people often confuse the term and hence the term abortion came to be, but Abortus means something completely different)."

"Is there anything else you can tell me about their army." Arthur asked, wanting to know what he faced.

"Well Pozeri serve as spell casters, while Štih serve as soldiers, they often wear no armor so their enemies can get infected more easily by their Štih, the most powerful spell of Pozeri known to me is their dribble casting, if the drible hits you in the eyes, you instantly become Štih." Malion looked downward feeling sad for all the poor people who subcame to this blight.

„So I was right, this isn't just some minor threat, this isn't just some peasants raising a revolt, this is an actual army invading us, we need to get together..." Arthur stopped in his track, as he remembered something. „Wait... why..." Everyone looked at him, confused. „Why are they doing this? What interests have they here?" He asked.

„Honestly, I have no idea, the closest base they have is far far away from here." Malion said, thinking heavily, 'the half giant is correct, this makes no sense at all' he thought.

„And why haven't they striked yet?" Arthur rose his voice a bit. „If they have any strategic training they would know that since they have less men, but a secure base and a nearly impregnetable fortress, they should make a surprise attack before we could organise." He said.

„Arthur..." Malion started. „No one and I mean NO ONE knows what drives Štih to do what Štih does, no one knows what Štih is thinking, but many believe that they have a joined conciousness." He put his right hand on Arthurs shoulders. „I wish I knew that myself, but tell me what you know yourself of this threat."

Arthur then quickly but efficientlly explained their situation.

„So, they have nearly 5000 troops and we at best will have 13 000, that including 2000 from your southern allies, 500 from Mazzirog and 10 000 of your army?" Malion asked 'I better find more allies' he thought for himself.

"Yes... but consider that the terrain will be in their advantage, we can't use our cavalry, for the mountain is nearly impassable." Arthur said as he sat down on a rock, his heavy plate armor making loud echoing noises from inside the cave.

"And I do believe I know where they are going to meet us." Mazzirog said as he searched for a piece of paper and something to write with, as soon as he found it he draw a place. (the map above)

"This..." He gave out the hastily written map. "...is where we will most likely fight, all other paths to the mountain are much harder to thread."

The map looked like this, it had two massive mountain ranges from both ends, which were easily more than 30 meters tall at the shortest reaches, in the middle there was an opening slope, but there was a catch, there was one slope then one high ground, another slope and another high ground and another slope which connected to the other mountain range.

"If they set up tower defenses on those ridges, we are doomed, we can't possibly hope to take them out!" Arthur nearly screamed out of fear, no matter how many troops he had, he couldn't possibly hope to break those defenses!

"Not quite, listen can your troops break the enemy if these two middle towers are taken care of?" Malion asked.

"Well I think so, but HOW! We can't bring in catapults, we don't have mages like Štih does, we have only a few and they are poorly trained." Arthur commented.

„Well, it looks like there is nothing we can do here." Mazzirog said dissapointed.

„There must be something you can do Malion!" Lillian semi hugged the dragons arm, causing a few raised eyebrows.

„Well, I have a plan, but tell me have you told your troops that they will fight with a dragon?" He asked.

„Well, I told my officers and as you know, the men outside already know, it went better than I had hoped, but tell me, what did you have in mind?" Arthur said. 'Why do I know that I'm not going to like this?' He thought to himself.

„Well, I was thinking of inviting some of my friends to the fight, if I get a couple of immortals on your side, it would even the scales." Malion said.

'WHAT!' Arthur thought, he was lucky his soldiers swallowed this whole dragon buisness, he didn't know how to tell them he is a half giant and here he was about to get a handful of dragons and other beings to aid him, though the thought was calming and the idea was helpful, he didn't know how his men would stomach it.

„What do you mean by some of your friends?" He asked Malion.

„Well, it depends on how much time we have?"

„Well, the kings army is due to arrive here tommorow, if they make haste and I know they will, and then it will take a day or two to the battlefield." Arthur said caluculating.

„DAMN IT! In that time I can only get a few of them, I know my brother Elision will come, he is near by and hates Štih more than anything..." He thought of inviting his parents, but he decided he didn't want to bring them in this, 'Damn Štih for making me do this' he thought, he didn't want to risk his family by bringing them into battle, but he knew that the human soldiers and their families thought the same.

„Also, if I get all the ingredients in time, I can make a summoning portal, but just one and I think it is best to summon the mountain giant called Ko?a, I know that he will help." Arthur nearly flinched at the thought of another giant, he had so many questions for him. Lillian and Mazzirog were also thrilled with the idea of immortals, Mazzirog for the increased chance of survival and Lillian for meeting them.

"How is this going to help us destroy the encampments?" Arthur asked.

"Simple, me and my brother will burn them to death and Ko?a will make an earth quake, he is nearly twice as tall as you are in giant form." the dragon told him, Arthur nearly had to hold his jaw from opening, he couldn't imagine such a being.

"Now you should dispose of that thing, it can and will spread Štih to your soldiers and people." Malion said.

„I knew, I heard people around saying. „Gotiva, li?e" and what not." Mazzirog said.

„Yes, they appease to human conformistic nature." Malion said.

„Well, if thats the case, I pity the men in the scouting divison." Arthur added.

„WHAT!" Malion nearlly yelled.

„Yes... they are the ones that captured this poor man." Arthur said confused.

„How long have they been there?" Malion asked hastily.

„For a couple of days, nearly a week, why?" Arthur stood up confused.

Malion was boiling with rage, 'Damn it, if these humans weren't so ignorant' he didn't blame them, he knew what they didn't. „Mazzirog said it, if one Štih can spread Štih to many poeple, imagine what a lot of Štih can do to a few people even if they keep away." Malion said angrily.

Arthur thought for a second, then he, like all the other three, opened his eyes broad wide. „Oh Orgazmas (the god they worshiped at the time) what have we done." He said.

„RECALL THEM AT ONCE!" Malion demanded.

„We will never reach them in time." He responded.

„Wait, you told me that Liura said she left when she left the inn, right? Then how did she come back to warn you?" Malion asked.

„I don't know, I wondered that myself, why do you ask." Now Arthur as well paced around nervously.

„Dark elven assassins are known for their use of teleportation runes, if I can find the place where she teleported, then I can communicate with her telepathically." Malion began to turn towards the cave exit.

„MALION WAIT!" Lillian yelled. „The townsfolk must not see you, remember." She said, taking his hand in hers (he was walking on all fours at the time). „I know you are harmless, but they don't."

„What to do, father may be here soon and he needs to be informed and we need to do something to save those men!" Arthur paced about, it was his fault he thought, he never should have send those men there, he felt deep regret, but there was no time to despair.

„No time to cry, half breed." Mazzirog said, as he griped the half giant by his shoulder. „Get that captain of yours to rally the people, we have a dragon to introduce them to." He said with a grin.

„You... you really think they will be okay with this?" He asked.

„With what? Having a dragon defending their asses? I'm sure they would make a feast and even sacrifice more than a few virgins, to get a dragon to defend them and here is a dragon that is willing to do it for free." He laughed at his own remark.

„VALORFAR!" Arthur shouted.

„Sire?!" The man rushed in his weapons drawn.

„Rally the townsfolk, we have an announcement to make, tonight we dine with a dragon." He said.

„Aye milord." The good captain had a huge grin under his golden visor.

„You have half an hour!" Arthur said. „You are dismissed." And with that Valorfar left the cave and took the men back to town.

„Malion, what does Kole look like?" Arthur said, wondering if the man in his dream was by any chance the terrible leader of Štih. „I ask for I wish to rip off his head if I see him on the battlefield." He lied.

„Well, I do believe I have a picture here somewhere." Malion went to another room and was soon back with a rolled up picture. He unrolled it and showed it to everyone.

On the picture was the man which was exactlly the same as the man he saw in his dreams, wearing funny and odd clothes which we now call modern, having short black hair and a short black beard and of course the strangest glasses ever, Malion noticed his curiostity.

„We call these..." He pointed to the black glasses. „...shades. Some believe that underneath them, Kole is hiding two drible balls that he has instead of eyes and that he can unleash a huge amout of drible in drible rays at his enemies." He finished.

„I... I dreamed of him." Arthur confessed.

„WHAT WHEN!?" Malion nearly grabed him.

„The day I first saw this poor Štih." He confessed.

„Oh Arthur." Lillian said sadly.

„And I dreamed of a bald man with bad teeth, who had a machety under his jacket." Mazzirog added.

„Did he look like this." Malion created an illusion, which Arthur recognized as one of the men from his dreams.

„Yes." Mazzirog plainly said.

„No no no! This doesn't make any sense, Štih doesn't just bring its leaders with a very small army on some small island far far away, this doesn't make any sense! I see dark days ahead of this island..." Malion looked down and closed his eyes.