We turned in unison toward the approaching figure from the west. The person unfurled its massive red wings and flew above our heads. We heard a *whoosh* as the strong wind generated by the wings blew across our bodies. The person nonchalantly dove like a hawk and landed right next to Hleara.

"Show off!" the draco pouted.

The last guardian of the cavern dropped its cloak to the ground, revealing a beautiful looking woman. She stood a head taller than Hleara and her skin was similarly covered with red scales. Her hair was dark brown and she had a fuller figure than Hleara. The newcomer wrapped her arms around Hleara in a warm hug. "Long time no see, sister."

Although the hug looked friendly, Hleara was squirming and struggling to break free. And she looked like she was about to faint!

Recognizing the danger to my party leader, I used the Sprint skill to appear next to them instantly. "Sprint SUCCESSFUL. +50 XP." I grabbed the other draco's arm and pulled with all my strength. "Let her go!" I glanced at the caption above her head and read her name as "Dovarata."

Dovarata glowered at me with her glowing red eyes. She was surprised at my strength, which had forced her to release Hleara. "How rude," she tsked-tsked and dropped her arms peacefully.

I bravely returned her angry stare. "Better to be rude than to allow you to hurt Hleara."

The draco looked at me with amusement in her eyes. "Oh? And what does my sister mean to you? Is she your lover?" she challenged me verbally.

"Not at all," I replied calmly. "But she is my party leader and perhaps, even a friend."

The rest of my party nodded in unison. They had drawn their weapons and they were ready to defend Hleara.

Dovarata turned to face Hleara again. "How nice for you to make such new friends with these . . . brave little simpletons." In a flash, her face turned from calm to angry.

I was very concerned by her sudden shift in mood. Was she bipolar? I grabbed Hleara's arm and pulled her back away from Dovarata.

The guardian sniffed. Confusion crossed her face. "Why do I smell my father on you? Did he talk to you recently?"

Uh-oh! I was hesitant to speak up. There was a strong likelihood that she did not know of Hleandros' passing or my personal involvement in his death. If Dovarata learned of this, then she would attack me immediately.

Hleara gently pushed me back and stepped between us. "Our father foolishly acted on an old grudge. He challenged a dojo in human form, lost the duel with the headmaster, and then stupidly attacked the dojo in his true form."

"Oh! I wish I was there to join in the fun! Why isn't he back yet?" Dovarata asked.

"He lost," Hleara delivered the news succinctly.

Dovarata's jaw dropped and she blinked her eyes several times. "Our father . . . lost?" She pointed an accusatory finger at me. "To him?" She sniffed loudly. "And to those two?" The draco pointed at Van and Bila. Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Why are you with father's murderers? Did they force you to bring them here? To steal his treasure hoard?"

"No, I asked them to come here. Father was too foolish and haughty. He believed that he was invincible. He paid for this mistake with his life," Hleara replied. "I wanted to take my share of father's treasure hoard before someone else tries to claim it."

Dovarata's eyes glowed. "Not only are you cavorting with father's killers but you plan to help them steal his treasure? Unforgivable!" Her hands balled into fists and trembled with anger.

Hleara shook her head. "They did not seek him out. Father came to them with murderous intent. They only acted in self-defense," she refuted.

Dovarata stomped her foot. "How could you side with father's murderers? His blood runs in your veins. You are a traitor to the dragonkin. Father was right to cast you out of his lair."

Hleara was unnerved by her sister's condemnation and visibly shrank from the strong words.

I gently pulled Hleara behind me. I was beginning to feel sorry for her. I couldn't believe the words I was hearing from Dovarata's mouth. Apparently, she was a daddy's girl and firmly believed that Hleandros' could do no wrong. However, I could not let these words go unchallenged, or else Hleara's confidence will drop even further.

"We are not murderers. I was there when your father challenged the dojo and I fought to prevent him from destroying the dojo. Murderers commit their acts of killing with no justification. My personal justification for killing Hleandros was in defense of self, dojo, and town," I explained. "Hleara did not participate in our defense against Hleandros. She did nothing wrong."

Dovarata laughed mockingly. "You humans and your honey-coated words. I care not for your so-called justification. If you participated in the death of my father, then you are his murderer. Now, I'm not foolish enough to fight you three right now. I don't want to draw my sister into this fight. She is dragonkin, after all. But we WILL settle this one day. At a time and place of my choosing."

The draco looked at Hleara. "You and I are the remaining descendants of Hleandros. I will not deny your birthright--a half share of his treasure hoard. But I will not permit you and your . . . friends . . . to claim one copper more than that."

Hleara nodded in agreement. "I will take no more than my share of the hoard, elder sister," she promised. An amicable, 50-50 split was more than fair considering that Dovarata had to stick around and guard the lair whenever their father left. Which was frequent. Therefore, Hleara was prepared to offer a 40-60 split since she was not around to protect the treasure.

Dovarata flapped her wings and took to the air. She flew over to the alcove and landed. "I will observe from here." She peered down at us like a cat watching the mice running around.

While her observation will be uncomfortable, I guessed this was a better alternative than having the sisters fight it out--possibly in their red dragon form. Even though the cavern was huge, I doubted it would fit two dragons. If a fight did break out, I had no doubt that some of our party will be squished like ants. Thus, I was extremely relieved that the matter had been resolved peacefully.

Hleara looked up at her sister. "Let's split the treasure room into four quadrants. And you get to make the first choice, Dovarata," she suggested.

The elder sister grinned. "West."

I remembered that she appeared from the west opening. As the head guardian, Dovarata was undoubtedly familiar with all the pieces of treasure in this room. And she was probably guarding the most valuable pieces personally. I sighed at this realization.

The draco noticed and her grin widened.

Before Hleara opened her mouth to make a choice, I immediately held up my hand. "Wait," I said as I activated my Magic Sense and started scanning the room for magic items. As I feared, approximately half the items giving off magic auras were in the western quadrant. The next highest number of such items were located in the northern quadrant. "Choose north," I advised. "Magic sense SUCCESSFUL. Level 9, +500 XP."

The party leader eyed me for a moment and then read my pop-up message. She nodded in understanding. "I choose north," she affirmed.

Dovarata sucked her teeth in annoyance at me. "South."

"I take east," Hleara said. She walked up to me and touched my arm gently. "Your responsibility is to locate the magic items in the piles of treasure in the northern section. Rijana and I will focus on the eastern section." Then the draco turned toward the rest of the party. "Bila, Van, Bjoukin, and Bjoukia will focus on taking the rest of the valuables in the northern quadrant." She took out four bags. "These are Superior Bags of Holdings. Load them up until they are full. Then come back to me." She then turned toward the three elves on loan from Valatea. "You will do the same for the eastern quadrant," Hleara ordered while handing each elf a Superior Bag of Holding, too.

Jogging over to the piles of treasures in the northern section, I maintained my Magic Sense and started plucking out the easiest to reach magic items. They included three swords, a claymore, four daggers, and the biggest prize: a suit of mithril armor! I put them on the ground away from the coins.

As I turned around and started to approach the next pile, I felt a strong wind above me. I looked up and saw Dovarata diving toward me! I heard dice rolling inside my head and then they stopped. "Wisdom check SUCCESSFUL. +25 XP." I managed to remain standing.

The draco landed right in front of me. She saw my calm looking face and pouted. "I was hoping to frighten you a little. But I guess you do have strong nerves," she remarked with grudging respect. She remembered that I was the only member of the group who dared to talk back to Dovarata and defend Hleara. Her red eyes glowed as she stared at me. "Tell me something, human. How can you maintain your Detect Magic spell for so long? I haven't seen you use a mana potion to replenish your mana pool."

Uh-oh. I remembered Kalistra once mentioning that my Magic Sense was a very rare innate ability and highly sought after by spellcasters. Thus, I hesitated to answer her.

The draco's eyes narrowed and she grabbed my right arm. "Tell me," she commanded.

I felt a magic compulsion from her eyes and the dice rolled again. "Wisdom check SUCCESSFUL. +25 XP."

"You're not an ordinary human fool, are you?" she hissed. "I can't believe you withstood my Compulsion ability." Dovarata's face softened and she tried another tactic: bribery. "If you answer my question honestly, I shall grant you a piece of treasure from my share of the hoard."

I decided to accept the bribe. It was better to answer her question than to have Dovarata hover over me and interfere with my search. I took a deep breath and answered her honestly. "I have an innate ability called Magic Sense. This allows me to see magic auras in my environment. I don't need to spend any mana to activate or maintain this ability."

The draco's eyes widened in surprise. She had never heard of this strange ability before. However, she immediately understood how useful it could be. Especially in locating the magic items buried in the piles of treasure in this room. "I want you," she said. Her grip on my arm tightened.

"Um . . ." I became flustered and embarrassed.

"Release him, sister!" Hleara said. She flapped her massive wings, flew across the treasure room, and landed next to me. "Lord Mulligan is an important person in the human continent of Britannia. And he is favored by the gods, including Lord Bane."

I rolled up my left sleeve and pointed at the divine mark of Bane on my forearm.

Dovarata inhaled a deep breath and immediately let go of me. She did not want to provoke the mercurial god into making an appearance in this cavern. "Perhaps my choice of words conveyed the wrong meaning," she said diplomatically. Her eyelids fluttered and she pressed against my back.

I felt her womanly charms and her wonderful scent hit my nostrils. I squeaked, "Um, what do you mean?" Oh, God! This was so embarrassing!

Bila ran on all four paws and reached me in a flash. She got up and said, "Lord Mulligan is in a loving relationship with his kind. He has no interest in an illicit affair." The cat girl grabbed my left arm and pulled. She didn't want the draco's flabbiness to soil my body any further. Furthermore, she saw herself as the keeper of my morality and she will NOT allow me to cheat on Amelica!

Dovarata became angry at the cat girl's impudent words. She immediately grabbed my right arm and pulled my body toward her chest.

Bila pulled on my left arm again and drew my body toward her. And thus began the mini tug of war!

The two continued to pull me back and forth. Neither was willing to let go and allow the enemy to win this battle. Eventually, both women dug their claws into my arms and drew blood. "-1 Health. -1 Health."

Hleara saw my pop-ups and intervened. She slapped each combatant on top of her head.

Dovarata and Bila immediately released my arm in unison to rub their scalps. "Oww," they complained in unison.

"Lord Mulligan is not your plaything!" Hleara yelled at the two. "Bila, you are a bodyguard. Please let your master make his own decision. And Dovarata, I should remind you that Lord Mulligan had personally defended the dojo against our father. What happened to your grudge?"

"Sorry, master!" Bila apologized and bowed deeply to me.

The draco, on the other hand, was not repentant. At all. The elder sister crossed her arms. "I have not forgotten this fact. I will exact my revenge against those who participated in father's death. But if you can work with one of our father's killers, then I should be able to do the same, too."

"What exactly do you want him to do?" Hleara asked.

"Oh, nothing unusual. I want him to do for me what he's doing now for you: search for the magic items in my share of the treasure," Dovarata replied nonchalantly. Despite all the time she spent examining the treasure in this cavern, she had a nagging suspicion that she had missed some of the magic items. Therefore, having me help her locate all magical items in the treasure hoard with my Magic Sense will help Dovarata immensely.

I groaned aloud. "There's too much treasure here!" I complained. It will take at least the rest of the day to find the magic items in this cavern!

"I'll make it worth your while," the draco replied with a grin.

"And what can you offer in return?" Hleara asked.

"A personal favor," the elder sister answered. Originally, she offered him an item but Dovarata decided she didn't want to part with any of the magic items in her share of the treasure hoard. And she doubted that mere gold will entice me. Hence, the switcheroo to a personal favor instead.

I looked at her with a wary expression. "I was hoping to leave right after I help Hleara. Can't I return another time?" I asked.

"No." Dovarata grinned and wagged her finger at me. "You humans are tricky. Once you return to the human continent, I will have no way of finding you again. I'm not letting you out of my sight until you have done what I asked."

Hleara took a deep breath. Whenever her elder sister became stubborn like this, there was nothing Hleara could do about it. She turned to face me directly and asked, "Can you help her?"

I was surprised by the request. "Only if I have your assurance that you will take me to Southampton today," I replied.

The draco shook her head. "I can't make that promise until I locate the Orb of Travel," she answered.

"You're looking for the Orb of Travel?" Dovarata interjected. She reached into her robe and pulled something out of a Bag of Holding stitched into an inner lining of her sleeve. She held a glass orb with a tinge of blue in her palm. It was the size of a small piece of fruit.

"Damn!" Hleara cursed.

I looked at the caption of the orb and it was named, "Orb of Travel."

"Why are you holding it?" Hleara demanded to know.

"I was thinking of using this item to visit the human lands. It's been boring looking after the hoard here. And the guardians aren't very good conversationalists, either," Dovarata joked. The precious magic item disappeared back in her robe. The draco looked at me and smiled triumphantly. "If you want to use the orb to travel to Southampton, then you know what you need to do."

"Fine," I said meekly. I knew that unless I kill Dovarata, there was no other way to gain access to the orb. However, as a Lawful Good player, attacking her, for this reason, was not justified. In fact, it would be considered murder. If I attack her now, then Van, as a paladin, will be obliged to defend her from me. Furthermore, I will lose a tremendous amount of Reputation points and therefore, jeopardize my candidacy for Kingship. Thus, I had no choice but to help Dovarata in exchange for access to the magic item.

Without further delay, I returned to the pile of treasure in the northern section, activated Magic Sense, and resumed my search for hidden magic items.