‘Oh my, that’s so precious little man, trying to be all…bold and proud. You’re nothing but a thief, like me. You want to plunder this place, to take its riches. That’s why you’re with all these simple fools isn’t it. To steal and pick through their leavings for whatever scraps that they leave for you. You’re better than that, little man. You don’t need them.’<br/><br/>The voice almost purred its words. Her subtle female tones like delicious gold in the night.<br/><br/>‘You don’t need them. Leave them to their fates, their inevitable deaths. The yahnus will kill them all and the beasts gnaw their pauper’s bones. Come with me, little man. Come with me and I shall show you the riches that you crave. Gold brings so many wonderful things, but you cannot spend it if you’re dead.<br/><br/>The answer is clear…leave them. Let me make you…no. Let us become rich together.’<br/><br/>At the sounding of the final syllable the figure showed herself. She was dressed in neat black boots and wore an elegant leather jerkin atop a silken blouse. At her waist hung a needle-thin short sword, bedecked with tassels and golden braiding. Upon her vulpine head sat a jaunty hat with a huge feather jutting upwards and glittering golden rings beset with precious jewels adorned her fingers.<br/><br/>The female vulpari smiled dangerously, curling her muzzle into a grin.<br/><br/>************************<br/><br/>‘Yes…yeeeees. Oh Sirka, you cannot believe how long I have waited for someone to call me by my name!’<br/><br/>Raza cooed with relief and grasped the nymph to her chest, crushing her tight into a blazing cuddle. She rolled around on the cobbles, sending sparks and embers flying as her happiness manifested itself in heat and flame.<br/><br/>‘I don’t remember Sirka. I have been here so long…in this silent darkness. There was no escape for me, yet now…now with the both of us. There’s a chance, a wonderful chance that we can escape. That we can be free of this wretched place, you and I together, like so few of our kin have ever been!’<br/><br/>Without pausing to catch her heated breath Raza kissed her fellow nymph, square on her unprotected lips. The kiss burned sumptuously, full of spice and relief, all of the stranger’s elated emotions pouring fourth in the ecstatic display.<br/><br/>‘Oh my, but you are real. I can taste it on your lips…you’re real. You’re not here to torment me! You are so beautiful…I cannot believe it, I just…I just can’t believe it. After all these years…’<br/><br/><br/>************************<br/><br/>Tyora was quickly hauled into the air, straight into the soft, warm and furry embrace of Miss Flopsy. The change in the elf was immediate, as it had been with the human girl. Gone was the adult, replaced instead by the form of a child. A helpless, puny little child held tightly in the clutching paws of a giant, stoic bunny.<br/><br/>Miss Flopsy set off at a rapid pace, throwing herself into the darkness as though it meant nothing to her. Perhaps it didn’t. The enormous rabbit ploughed its way through the twisting maze of cobbles and gloom, never unsure of its footing. All the while Katrin stared at Tyora, watching her. Studying the elf’s face. She remained silent, save for her slightly elevated breathing.<br/><br/>‘There is someone close to you now…who is lying to you. Attempting to mislead you. I can tell, I know. A regular serpent in the grass. Always it is that the snake leads the good and the beautiful into temptation…pay its lies no heed and together, you and I, we shall survive this place.’<br/><br/>Finally Miss Flopsy came to a stop and bowed herself, pushing with all her might against a seemingly innocuous wall. Mysteriously the drab plaster rumbled and opened inwards, like a huge door. The rabbit wasted no time in darting into the newly created opening, only pausing to close it behind itself.<br/><br/>It was dark inside the new opening, pitch black the like of which the elf was rarely aware. Tyora became vaguely aware that Katrin had left the rabbits arm, but she needn’t have panicked. A lantern flickered into life and showered a treasure-trove of comfortable chairs and cushions into light. It was held aloft by Katrin, its light casting crazed shadows across her delectable form.<br/><br/>‘Welcome to my…our home.’<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>