The Game Dork's Gaming Corner: Do Lizardfolk Females have Breasts? [https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PYiaObN1Mbg/Wn54MtGhnbI/AAAAAAAAS8c/IgvlrYD8_9k984MwYTHW1DOdT6GAL4CkACLcBGAs/s1600/Valeris_warrior_queen.jpg]
http://www.gamedorkscorner.com/2018/05/do-lizardfolk-females-have-breasts.html
With the temple high above him, he smiled grimly, and began the long march upwards. Fate or destiny, he would bring her back. There was much in this world he regretted, but never so much as the thought that Kira had needed him, and he had not been there for her. In many ways, this was the second chance he had never gotten. And as he took each step up, he kept reminding himself that he would pay any price. Blood, sweat, or tears, he would fill this world with it.
~*~
Her arm throbbing like it was on fire, Daria’s eyes flickered open. Her first thought upon waking in almost pitch black darkness, was that she had been captured. Her neatly dressed wounds, and the damp cave she was now within, sent a jolt of shock through her body. As well as the small campfire that had been built beside her. Its curling smoke alerted her to the fact she was in the home of some savage monster. No doubt, it wanted her alive and fresh, so that it could devour her piece by piece.
Teeth gritted in a snarl at the thought, she tried to roll to her feet, when a slim hipped lizard that looked much like a human, strode into the cave. With light green scales, red striped paint on her cheeks, and golden eyes, she immediately knelt down by Daria’s side, her expression worried. “You must not move, your wounds will reopen again.”
Lips flapping open and closed, Daria stuttered, “you speak my tongue?”
To which the demon replied with a gentle smile, and a shake of her head, that did not look at all comforting with those razor sharp teeth. “It is you, that speak our tongue, stranger. This world was ours first.”
Uncertain what she could possibly mean, Daria searched around her for her weapon, and saw the look in the lizard’s eyes turn to wary caution. “If you intend to harm me, surface-worlder, I will fight back.”
“Harm you?! You are the one that has taken me captive! Stolen my weapons, and no doubt plan to eat me!” She exclaimed.
Chuckling as she rested back on her heels, the lizard shook her head, and smiled. “You surface-worlders and your foolish notions. I have no plans to eat you, and as for your belongings. They are right there.” And she pointed to a pile that sat atop a stone. “Perhaps we should begin again. I am Renwen, and this is my home, such as it is.”
Hard to leave the incredulous tone out of her voice, she replied, “You live here?”
Wincing slightly in pain, Renwen looked down at her dirty palms, her slender fingers curling in anger at her sides. “Not always. I once lived among my people, before the dragon riders came, and drove me out. They say I have no place among them. That only the True can bask in the light of the temple.” Spitting into the dust, she growled, “Phaw! I say! I have the same blood as them. Why must I swear my soul away like some crepling?”
Unable to help but smile at the stubbornness in her voice, Daria asked, “who are these dragon riders?”
But as quickly as that, the lizard's mood shifted, and her expression became stern, her golden eyes flashing. “That is none of your concern, surface-worlder. Why are you here? You should not have come. It is not safe for your kind.” She then stood up abruptly, and began bundling up what looked to be food into a sack. “You must head south, past the ruins of Felgora. I still have some few friends among the gamoran. They shall take you back to the surface world.”
But as Renwen shoved the sack into her arms, Daria grabbed her wrist. “Please! I cannot leave, there is someone here I must find first. I think he means to enter the temple.”
The words sparked both contempt and fear in the lizard-woman as she shook Daria’s hand away. “Then your friend is dead.”
“Why? What is up there? Can you take me?”
But Renwen simply shook her head again. “Truly, your kind is doomed. I have never seen a race more intent upon their own destruction. It does not matter what is up there, but what guards her realms.”
“And what guards her realm?”
Leaning forward in a hushed tone, she whispered, “hellions.” But seeing that Daria did not understand, she muttered angrily, “have your kind no understanding at all? I speak of those who devour souls. Face them, and not only do you bring death upon yourself, but an eternity of torture. Do as I say, and leave now. Forget about your friend.”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
But as much as Daria wished to do just that, she could not. She had to find him first.
Seeing the stubborn look in her eyes, Renwen let out a rueful chuckle, and smiled. “You remind me so much of our hatchlings, so brave, and so reckless. Very well, I shall aid you.” But then she raised a finger, “But only until we reach the Tower of Dusk.”
“Thank you.”
“Think nothing of it, hatchling. It is good to be reminded from time to time of our duty to one another. Living alone out here for so long, I had forgotten, but seeing you fall off that cliff has shown me that I cannot stand by any longer.”
“Come, we move quickly. Your blood will attract the creepers, but with the ointments I have placed upon them, they should disguise your scent for a while.”
Daria, her wits still rattled at the thought she was being helped by a demon, quickly collected her belongings, and chased after her. The wiry reptilian, surprisingly fast as she scampered out of the cave. The rock wall that stood in front of them, shimmering out, and into existence as the lizard disappeared through to the other side.
Certain that it had to be some sort of illusion, she shouldered her way through, and came out into a much larger cavern. The underground lake that was to her right, showing dozens of fish that swam just beneath the surface. Each unique hue of their scales, a beautiful array of light that was set against the backdrop of a waterfall.
Staring breathless as the fish swam in concentric circles, she felt a light tug on her arm. “Come now, hatchling, we must be away from here.”
Still in shock over the concealed cave, she asked, “are you a mage?”
Renwen, her expression twisted into a frown, replied, “Mage, I do not know this word?”
“Someone who wields magic.”
“Ahh, you mean, Dreamers. Most dekaram are born with it. It is She-Who Sleeps that allows energy to flow through us. Now come, little hatchling.”
Her arm still aching, Daria hurried after her, leaving the rock pool behind, and together they journeyed back to where she had fallen. The maze of stone blocks that riddled their path, slowed them down as Renwen waved at her to hurry. Each step taking her deeper into a labyrinth she knew for certain she would not be able to find her way through on her own, and thanked the Lightbearer for sending her Renwen. Although admittedly, she still had a hard time believing that the reptilian woman was a demon, or dekaram.
Navigating a path through narrow cracks that almost caused Daria to cry out in agony, they did not stop. But even Daria, a seasoned adventurer, was having trouble finding her breath, when Renwen suddenly stopped. The weathered lizard, pressing her ear to the cavern’s floor. Her look of warning back at Daria, the only excuse Daria needed to unsling her warhammer. It would be difficult fighting with one hand, but she had trained often for such an occasion. A warrior had to be able to fight no matter how many injuries they sustained. Still, she did hope it would be a short fight, when again she heard the howls. Hundreds of them, all around her.
Renwen, her golden eyes on the rocks ahead of her, shook her head from side to side. “There are too many, little hatchling. I will try to lead them away from you. But you must follow the light, and beware the deceitful one. He will speak lies disguised as the truth, and the truth disguised as a lie.”
And again before Daria had a chance to argue, the lizard-woman was gone, leaving her alone surrounded by rocks, and the sound of howls. Renwen’s words, Follow the Light, rang in her mind, when she sensed something moving behind her. The urge to just pick a direction and run, came on strong.
But as she tried to calm her rapidly beating heart, she looked up, and thought she saw a pinprick of light. Strange enough that there was light at all, but it appeared to be a star.
Again hearing the scramble of movement behind her, she could wait no longer, and used the light to guide her path. The eerie cries of the creatures, somehow closed the distance behind her, when she burst out of the maze into open flat ground with an immense black tower ahead of her. The dozen creepers that trailed after her, moved on four spindly legs, had pale bare flesh, and red eyes full of hatred.
They reminded her much of hairless monkeys, and moved much in the same way with hands and legs working together.
Warhammer raised up, she felt a sharp stab of pain as she prepared herself to do battle, when they turned on their heels, and ran away. The voice that spoke from behind her, deep with a rich timber. “Hello, little one.”
Tears pricking her eyes at the name she had not heard in years, she slowly turned her head around, and saw a man in the shape and likeness of her father. His familiar broad shoulders, deep set blue eyes, and dark hair down to his shoulders, sent up an ache in her heart. “You’re dead, father, I saw you die.”
His warm rugged features creased in a smile, her father shook his head. “No, little one, I was captured, and brought here. Your mother too. She waits for us in the garden.”
Tears freely streaming down her cheeks, Daria remembered how she had dreamt of this very moment a thousand times, and a thousand nights she would awake screaming. The pain and loneliness she had felt every single time, clawed at her throat, and insides. “No, she’s gone. I know she’s gone.”
“Don’t be silly, girl. We have a long journey ahead of us. Do you not wish to see your mother again?”
But even as he beckoned her with an outstretched arm, she could see the tower. It's single window high above, in the shape of a star with a roaring fire. And for the first time in many years, she was torn. What if she had been wrong? What if her parents really were alive?
“Have you been down here this whole time?” she asked.
“Yes, little one, but now it’s time we went home. Please, come home.”