Shia stood to my left as the crew packed up our gear. We watched the gathering darkness with our night-sensitive eyes. We didn’t really need our night vision to see the creatures watching us. A hundred little eyes glowed back at us, hiding in the trees and behind the roots. The little people were gathered around us like fireflies—each set of glowing eyes a different color.

“You need to get a set of pants; you look like a four-armed green sumo wrestler.” Shia joked.

“I still have my boots on.” I laughed, “I do have a disguise I could wear.”

“Save that for a costume party.” She laughed.

I pulled out the dragon mask, slid it down on my face resting on my bottom tusks, and snorted at her joke. “Think I will fit in the little people’s clothes?”

She raised a brow at me and smiled.

“Clan is ready to march, Magus Barker.” Thurnar said stepping up beside me and hefting his hammer on his shoulder.

“Word spreads fast,” I answered to the change of my name.

“Humph.” The dwarf pulled on his grey beard and puffed out his bottom lip. “What are you gonna do about them?” He nodded to the gathering eyes in the darkness.

“Tootsie?” She buzzed over from watching Agatha flirting with Verim. “Yes, Pig Face.”

“You are always there to keep a man humble,” I grumbled under my breath.

“You are only an orc, you are only an orc, you are an ugly four-armed orc.” She chanted in my ear. “I would say I do it to keep your head from getting too big but if I painted that face on a watermelon it would be smaller.”

“That is so sweet of you Thalia.” I laughed alone at my own joke. The creepy hummingbird only glared on.

“Is there something you need?” Tootsie sighed.

“How do you use the dragon mask, creepy bug?” I asked.

“That’s it? That’s what you called me over here for? Can’t you come up with something complicated once in a while?” Tootsie huffed.

I tapped my foot.

“Just run up on them and shout, flame on.” Tootsie said after a moment.

“Alright you can go back to gawk at Aggy and Verim now,” I said cracking my neck.

“Are you done talking to your god now?” Shia asked as I jumped around getting warmed up. I was not looking forward to charging into range with the angry little fire ants again. I needed to psyche myself up.

“Yeah.” I practiced moving each of my four arms. It was strange having four arms and I was not quite confident with my new ones yet. I wondered to myself if I would move the wrong one in the heat of the moment. “When I charge through you charge in with the falconites and get any I leave behind. I have Mia and Thurnar coming in behind you with the elves. I imagine the goats are going to be too distracted with Verim to be much use, so I have Mido, Dredge and Goar bringing up the rear. I am going to burn through fast so try to keep up.”

I felt Khan lick my palm and looked back to see the horse-sized dog lift his head. He whimpered. I patted him on the forehead and his tail wagged. “You can eat a few of those little guys if you want to.” I ruffled the hair on the sides of his face.

I looked back to see Goar pull his pistols and give me a wink. Shia’s dingo rubbed up against my leg and reached down to pet him too, but two vines snapped out from her fingertips and tugged him over to her. “The little one is mine.” She said and petted the dingo between the ears with her vines. “You can’t keep everything for yourself.”

I smiled at her and felt Mia glaring at the side of my face. It had taken some work to convince her to stay behind Shia and convince her it was not because I thought Shia was a more capable fighter than she was. I dropped my eyes and turned back to the little people out in the darkness. I sucked several breaths.

Tootsie zipped back over. “They're not doing anything funny anymore. Everyone is just watching you. You had to go and get everyone on edge by this long-drawn-out display.” Tootsie crossed her arms on her chest and frowned.

“Those things hurt. I am just getting my bearings.” I jumped up and down again. “You ready?” I asked Shia hoping she would say anything to stall me.

She held out a palm in an after-you gesture and raised her brows. It was my plan after all. I dropped down into a sprinter stance with both of my right hands on the ground, knees bent butt in the air and sucked in a couple more breaths.

“Just go for it pansy.” Tootsie prodded.

I bolted. The first thing that stood out to me is that I could run faster than I ever had in my life. I was a streak of arm-pumping fury. Adrenaline burned coal in my veins and my eyes were like lasers staring down at my tiny opponents. I growled out in rage. I ran for the break in the trees right down the center of the group of tiny people. I smiled and whispered, “flame on.”

The mask didn’t activate. I felt no jolt of power and I was now right in the center of the tiny people. Shia was at least twenty steps behind me. My 29-strength had to be a third higher than hers. Khan was only a bound behind me and catching up fast a big playful look on his face. “Flame on!” I turned my head so the flames would hit the nearest little creatures first.

The little people swarmed me like angry wasps after you kick their nest. I was covered from head to boots in tiny biting angry wasp people. Agony shocked my central nervous system, and I found another gear, outpacing my delighted dingo in seconds. I was screaming and slapping with all four arms as more and more of the biting creatures landed on my shoulders and neck and face. Some crawled over my eyes and I had to slap my own face.

Furious Feline

Tootsie flew up beside me laughing so hard it took her three slobbering tries to spit out what she was trying to say. “You have…” She hee hawed, “You have to blow.” She wiped tears from my eyes as I ran desperately searching for a pond to jump into and put out the burning biting of my flesh.

“What are you saying? I used the words you said.” I screamed through the pain.

“I know,” she wiped another laughing tear as she flew backward in front of my face. “I was joking, you just have to blow.”

I sucked in a lung full of air and Tootsie zipped to the side. I turned my head to track her, and a torrent of flame popped the little hummingbird like a swollen tick in a bug zapper. Then I ran full speed ahead of my clan blowing six-meter flames in all directions unable to hit the little people because I had gathered them on my own flesh. My clan ran freely behind me fighting off nothing because I was a running sticky trap out front screaming censored profanities and shooting pointless bursts of flames into the night air.

Constitution 8, 7, 6,

Dragon Mask 10, 09, 08, 07

I watched helplessly as the tiny people relentlessly chewed away my life force.

Constitution 5, 4, 3…

Dragon Mask 04, 03, 02

My dingo bounded ever onward after me like a stupid dog chasing a ball. I blew one last blast of flame at my own chest and the timer ran out. Then I stiffened up like a board and fell flat on my face as my constitution reached one. I thought only of Tootsie laughing and slobbering on herself as I blacked out. “I’ll kill you again.” That was my last thought.