Nadine grabbed Corey by the hand and drew him to stand against the rocky wall of the cavern. The myriad prismatic lights of the cavern played over the curves of her pale body, dappling her alluring shape with all the colours of the rainbow and more. He couldn't help it… the presence of her naked so close was so captivating that he almost forgot about the creepy, deformed thing skulking around nearby.

"Keep very still," murmured Nadine. "That poor creature is completely blind. Many eons ago, its ancestors were men and women, very much like us. Down in the dark of the tunnels beneath, they've wound up like that."

A terrible fate.

The spies edged their way out of the cavern and then hastily swam up river to get clothed again. Corey was already forgetting the uncanny creature in the cave as he thought again, with a thrill, that he and Nadine would be getting married and living together. He almost forgot the perils of the mission.

"Nadine… can I move in with you as soon as we get back?" He wouldn't have to be stuck in the crowded novice dorm anymore, stuck with those guys who teased him and having to listen to their snoring or smelling their cheap aftershave. To think, he would get to be with Nadine the entire time… and she would actually be his wife. Such a fabulous and fun lady. He would get to embrace her curvy form and kiss that freckled face every day. Not to mention fulfil his fantasies.

He didn't say that out loud though. Instead he blurted another thought that came into his head. "How do we decorate the baby's room?"

Nadine grinned, her brown eyes lighting up. "If we're having a little boy, I think maybe a nautical theme to create a fun and adventurous space. If we have a little girl, then pink with a Princess theme."

She touched her belly pensively. Her brown eyes had a far away look. "Yeah, I don't have a stereotypically girly career. But would I want my baby to get into my line of work, with what happened to me?" She sighed. "We still have to get out of this. Get the heart back. If we can just do that, then we can get married. My bed is too big for just me, and it's been lonely." She smiled. "You'll love the cuddles in the evening that a man and wife should do to detox. But first, we gotta go on a honeymoon. Somewhere fun." She winked.

She took his hand and they travelled through the woods, up to the heart of the island. Eventually, the trees gave way to a boundless plane, covered in blue-green vegetation. A crowd of ugly, two legged things with beaks, sort of like shrivelled brown birds with no feathers, scampered towards them and ran past, stumbling in their ungainly gait into the distance.

Nadine scratched her freckled nose and gazed after them. "Grunts. They're mighty spooked about … something. Acting like they've been frightened, or driven away. I think we may have a lead."

They went in the direction the grunts were heading away from. This direction took them in the direction of a mountain that loomed menacingly against the horizon. When they grew close, they saw a dark, cave entrance.

Nadine's smooth brow puckered as she frowned. She ran her gloved fingers over the edges of the cave entrance. "This is not natural. This was carved. There may be a network of tunnels beyond here. Whoever it was who stole poor Arctur's heart… they may have their hideout here."

Holding hands, they crept into the cave which opened into a tunnel. Little, black and white striped rodent like things scampered away from them as they went into the dark, their way lit by strange, glowing stones that had an iridescence that lit up the tunnels just enough for them to see by. The pale light made Nadine's face look kind of ghostly – like a ghost who's freckled and fabulous, of course.

There was the sound of shallow breathing echoing down the tunnel ahead. They saw a carved chair in the wall, with a small, ugly humanoid creature asleep. It was dressed in a crude guard uniform. It was like a little man, with an ugly, brown, make like face, with protruding bottom teeth.

"Orc guard," whispered Nadine. "Not very alert. Now we tiptoe." They tiptoed carefully past the sleeping orc. When they were level with him, he grunted and shifted in his sleep. Nadine put her gloved hands on his shoulders and leaned her beautiful, freckled face close to his ugly, mask-like one.

"Sleep…" she breathed.

The orc sighed and seemed to relax. Nadine took Corey's hand again. "Wish I'd had to investigate an orc," she said glumly. "I wouldn't have been raped then. I know it."

This was awkward. Corey's insides squirmed with a painful mixture of feelings. Hot anger that she had been hurt, sad pity for her and yet at the same time, he felt unaccountable jealous pangs of the ogre whose baby she had inside her. It was very difficult to rationalise this. Even if her baby was conceived from a chaos ogre's sperm fertilising her egg, Corey was the one she loved. Didn't that mean Corey had won a great victory – the one for her heart. A great achievement, when one considered how cool and glamorous Nadine was.

He put his arms around her and pulled her into a hug. She gave a little moan and nuzzled his cheek as he stroked her long dark hair and her back. Hugging Nadine always made him feel so warm, and the scents of her hair and skin so exciting.

"You make me feel better – even at the most craptastic times," she said softly. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

They began to kiss. Corey felt giddy and his heart began to race as he felt aroused. They were making out here? But it felt so right and the feel of her soft lips against his made him want more…

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

But just as they were on the brink of giving themselves over to passion, they heard a dreadful yelling and crashing. They broke apart, startled. The whole ambience and series of events on this island had naturally made them both a bit jumpy!

Holding hands, they crept up to the source of the noise. There was a screeching and yelling coming from behind a heavy, wooden door in the wall. Nadine turned her freckled face to him and put a gloved finger to her lips. She leaned against the door, heaving it open.

In the room, there were two orcs. One was bigger than the sleeping guard they had seen. He was very nearly the size of a man. He was dressed in more expensive looking armour than the guard as well. He was whipping a tiny little orc. "Take that, you worthless sack of pond scum, take that, you miserable little runt."

Nadine strode forward, glaring. "Stop that, you bully!"

The orc raised his whip. "I'm chief, and I can beat my slave, freckleface! Yer going ter die down here…"

At that moment, the orc slave growled and turned on Nadine to attack her! Ungrateful wretch. The little orc sank his teeth into the soft leather of her boot, but Corey kicked him hard across the room. Nadine raised her stun stick, and let the Orc Chief make an ass of himself, trying to strike her with the whip and getting it wrapped around her stick instead. Then she rapped him smartly over the head with it and soon had them both tied up with the whip.

Nadine knelt by them, glaring. Corey thought he'd better leave the interrogating to her and see how a super-spy handled these things.

"Tell me the truth," said Nadine, "who are you working for?"

"This is the domain of the Warlock, stupid wench," grumbled the Chief.

Nadine compressed her lips. "Right. And this Warlock, would he steal anything of like, value. I mean, anything that can be used in whatever magic he does."

"Course. He hoards magic items. Didn't yer know that already?" said the Chief.

"And has he stolen a heart lately?"

"Well I don't know, he doesn't exactly discuss it with me. No more than he would tell a human witch like you. He does steal stuff from off the island though. Foreigners… so dumb."

"Hmm…" Nadine twirled a strand of her long dark hair in her fingers, looking thoughtful. "One more thing…" she blushed and bit her lip. "Um… has there been a – a green chaos ogre around here…?" She went so deep red that her freckles looked weird. What was she thinking about? She was trembling. "Huge, fat, green… ummm…"

"Only one chaos ogre around here," said the Chief, frowning. "Uncouth monster. Don't know where the Warlock dug 'im up from. He's Blab or Blarsh or something. Always rambling about spreading his ogre seed among human women. Women may be stupid and blind, but even human men can't be stupid enough to let stuff like that happen. They'd end up raising generations of cross-bred things…"

Nadine took a deep breath. What must she feel about the Orc Chieftain's crassness, especially since the ogre had raped her? "Alright," she said. "Stay here. Don't make a peep. And don't be so rude about women. While we're at it, don't beat orcs weaker than you. I suppose I'm wasting my breath…"

She took Corey by the hand, and led him into the corridor.

"Sounds like that Warlock must be the mastermind behind this theft," said Nadine.

The tunnel grew wider. They could hear the sound of rushing water ahead. The tunnel opened out onto the sandy bank of an underground river. The air was chill here, but smelled fresher. There was a rickety old wooden bridge that crossed the river, but it looked in a shocking state of repair. Nonetheless, they tentatively set foot on it and took the risk.

The bridge was damp and slimy. Corey almost slipped on a patch of slimy moss growing on it, but Nadine grabbed his arm to steady him. "Careful, darling."

But being careful wasn't enough. As he followed Nadine, the bridge gave way beneath Corey, the damp, rotten planks snapping under his weight and he fell into the icy water below.

Nadine screamed a vehement exclamation and immediately dived in after him, her slender hands clutching at him as she dragged him back to the far bank. There they sat and shared her waterproof packet of dried fruits and meats and rested, while they dried out.

Nadine put an arm around his shoulder. "Don't worry, my love. We'll find another way across."

"Across? A way across? A way?" A reedy little voice sounded over the rushing of the river. It was a little man with a ratty face, punting a raft across. "I can get you across." He disembarked from his raft nearby them. "Twenty gold pieces."

Nadine smiled at him. "Sorry. We've definitely got no gold."

"A pouch of silver?" asked the ratty man, undeterred.

"Um…" Nadine reached for her belt pouch. "Would you accept three silver pieces?"

"Hmm. It'll have to do," he squeaked.

Corey didn't think he'd trust the raft in a bathtub. Nonetheless, he followed Nadine as she crouched down on it, and the raft man punted them across to the far side.

After they had bidden him farewell. On the far bank, there was a large timber door set into the wall. They both heaved it to one side and found themselves in a rough, stone room with broken furniture and a single wooden cupboard. There was a weird smell of bad meat in the air. There was a guy in shabby clothes lounging on a bench. He was staring at them without blinking. He had shaggy hair and red rimmed eyes. His ears were a bit pointed. Why? He looked like a human guy in every other way…

"Hey!" said Nadine, grinning at him.

"What're you doing here?" growled the man.

Corey spoke up. "We're on our honeymoon in the Diamond Sea." That was almost true. He slipped an arm around Nadine's slender waste and she leaned her head against his shoulder.

"On your honeymoon, eh?" said the man. "You've lost your way."

"Yeah," said Corey. "Do you know much about this place."

"This is in Warlock's inner domain," said the man. "A refuge for the worst outcasts. I, kids, am a werewolf. I'm not welcome anywhere else. I've always been an outcast."

Nadine's brows drew together and she walked over to the werewolf and touched his arm. "I'm so sorry to hear that. It's wrong to pick on people for stuff they can't help."

"Hmm," said the werewolf. "But how d'you stop them doing it? You can't. The boatman and I have nowhere else to go. I suppose you've encountered him. Little guy with the raft. He's a wererat."

"I honestly had no idea," said Corey. He decided to try and flatter the werewolf to get info out of him. "You seem like a smart guy. What else can you tell us about this place?"

"It's cursed," grunted the werewolf. "The undead haunt the tunnels beyond. The warlock's scariest bodyguards."

Nadine looked worried. "We'll be careful. Look after yourself." She took Corey by the hand and led him through the door at the far end of the room and they went down a dark tunnel. The place had the ancient, fusty reek of an underground dungeon. Nadine pressed her belt and a torch set into it flickered on. "Corey…" she said. "I think this is gonna get really dangerous. Whatever we've seen so far will be a picnic compared to the undead. I couldn't stand it if anything happened to you…"

The tunnel opened out into a rough chamber. The fetid stink was even worse here. They stopped dead at the sight of three corpses strewn around the rocky floor. Nadine gave a little cry.

But this was nothing… one of the corpses twitched, and it's eyes flickered open. It's eyes burned red! It bared rotted fangs and with unnatural, jerky movements, it flipped onto its feet, hissed at them, and then lunged with yellow fingernails…!