NOVEL SIMPLE Fire.
Scarlet sighed, it had taken her two full days, but she had finally collected the last of the stone shards knocked down in her stupidity. There were still hundreds of stalactites left on the ceiling, preventing her escape, but at least now she could walk around her cave in her human form.
The hardest part of the cleanup was all the little shards she had crushed.
Their small size seemed to only make them sharper, but they were also so small she couldn’t pick them up as a dragon. That forced Scarlet to spend the past day and a half crawling across the dungeon floor slowly pushing each and every shard she found.
Wiping away some dirt from the claws, Scarlet shouted into one of the tunnels, “Briar! Can you bring me another mushroom?” While nobody responded back, the distinctive clicking sound her golems made while moving let her know they heard her.
Scarlet now had three golems under her command, one for each day. While she hadn’t intended on naming them at first, their similarity was already beginning to cause her some confusion. Briar, was her first golem, named due to previous harmfulness. Flint, her second, was named after what appeared to be a small streak of it within his body. Her third was named Bell, after the portobello mushrooms they had given her, or at least, she thought they were portobello.
Briar ran out of the cavern, carrying one mushroom in her arms. Its appearance was similar to the portobello mushrooms from Scarlet’s home planet Earth but were far larger being almost two feet tall and four feet wide.
“Perfect.” Scarlet told Briar, “Has there been any good progress on the cave exploration today?” Scarlet asked her.
Of course, Briar couldn’t respond verbally, but she instead stomped her foot twice into the floor, the signal for no. Scarlet sighed, “Well, at least you’re all trying. You can head back now Briar.” Briar giving a cute salute in response and running back into the tunnel.
Progress on the cavern exploration was slow. Of the eight different tunnel entrances (Scarlet had missed one in her early exploration as it was quite small, her golems had only finished exploring one of them.
Chomping down on the raw mushroom Scarlet sighed, for the past three days she’d eaten nothing but these mushrooms, and while they tasted okay, she was starting to get sick of it. She still had to eat though, so she forced down her complaints and gobbled it up, mumbling to herself, “I should have eaten more of that cake.”
Finished with her dinner Scarlet stared over the lake. It was beginning to get late, already the sun’s reflection had vanished from the pool, and even the little light she was getting had begun to dim. Likely she had an hour, at most, it became night, just enough time for another swim.
Currently Scarlet had only two things in abundance, stones and boredom. Besides the stone cleanup, which was now completed, swimming was her only source of entertainment within the cave.
She had even gained a new skill from her time in the water, a swimming skill, one that had already reached level four. Other small changes in her status was a level up in her mana control and a few minor stat increases, nothing crazy, but it was fun to see her improvement.
Reaching the edge of the lake Scarlet transformed back into her humanoid form stepping into the water. The change in forms wasn’t necessary, but just having normal arms and legs seemed to relax Scarlet, so she always transformed when swimming.
With some quick strokes Scarlet had made it to the center of the lake, currently her only entrance to the outside world. She had expected to be greeted by the same sights and sounds as usual, empty trees, the occasional bird, and the slight rustling of wind, that was not what she saw.
A large column of smoke was reaching into the sky. Bird calls had vanished, replaced by the distinctive sounds of clashing iron. Two sides battling against one another in a fierce battle of swords and shields.
Some small shouts of both rage and surprise rang through the forest, one person giving out commands. “Run! I’ll hold them off as long as I can so just run!” the voice quieted by what Scarlet thought was explosions. More cries shook the trees, shrill screams of women and children hushed by a string of gleeful laughter, it disgusted her.
“Dammit.” Scarlet said to herself, fist uselessly hitting the water. The battle was nearby, close enough where she could hear every strike. She didn’t know who or what was fighting, but that laughter, she wished she could help to silence that sick joy. Instead, she was still trapped, helplessly listening to the sounds of slaughter above.
By now the sounds and sights of the battle had come closer, branches snapping from fleeing people, fires replacing smoke and jumping from tree to tree. At that moment someone came into Scarlet’s sight, the first person she had seen since entering this world.
They were quite small in stature, looking to be about four feet tall at most, but that was the only detail Scarlet could make out, the rest of her body was wrapped in rags in a vain attempt to shield themselves from the fire.
In this person’s rush to escape their pursuers they had failed to pay proper attention to their surroundings. Scarlet could see the panic in their body as for a second, they became weightless before beginning to fall into the water below, and they would have if not for Scarlet.
Instead of splashing harshly into the lake, they had been caught in the air, now resting upon Scarlet’s open claw. Upon seeing the person fall, Scarlet had immediately transformed back into a dragon to save them, gently catching the person and holding them in front of her eyes.
“Are you okay?” Scarlet asked them, but the person didn’t answer. They had gone limp, fainting in fear at the sight of Scarlet’s dragon head, it probably didn’t help that they were also literally in the palm of her hand, razor sharp claws forming a cage around them.
“Ah, right.” Scarlet said, realizing her slight mistake. Scarlet was tempted to remove the rags on the person, get a better look at them, but she decided to leave them on and go back to focusing on the forest, she didn’t think they’d appreciate being stripped by some unknown person.
There Scarlet floated, waiting as the battle began to end. Nobody else appeared in Scarlet’s sight, leaving only Scarlet and her now unconscious guest. Thinking no one else would appear, Scarlet began the slightly awkward swim back to shore. Having to hold her new guest above the water proved to be quite annoying.
Shaking off the few droplets that stuck to her scales, Scarlet shouted towards the tunnels, “Briar! I need another mushroom!” The distinctive click echoing in response.
It only took Briar a minute to appear from the tunnel, and Scarlet could almost swear her golem had nearly dropped the mushroom in surprise at their new guest.
Taking the mushroom from her golem Scarlet used one of her claws to slice it in half, “Briar. I don’t want our guest to get themselves lost in these tunnels. While it will certainly slow the exploration, I need you to stay nearby and prevent her from leaving the main cave, can you do that?”
Briar gave a single stomp in response, a clear yes, “Excellent, also make sure to be careful when corralling them. We don’t want to hurt them.” Another two stomps, an agreeing no.
Happy with Briar’s response, Scarlet got to work on finishing the rest of the person’s arrangements. Hollowing out the top half of the mushroom and poking a few air holes into it. Gently placing the person inside and closing them inside.
While her actions may seem strange to someone on the outside, considering the situation it was the best course of action. Her cave was already quite cold during the day, combined with the fact that she was unable to build a fire the person was likely to freeze overnight. Sure, the mushroom casket looked weird from the outside, but it was the only thing she had to combat the changing temperature.
Finished with her handy work, and both tired from today and excited for tomorrow, Scarlet curled up ready to sleep, hopeful that her new guest might have a way out of these caves, or at the very least provided some entertainment.
Scarlet’s eyelid fell, a deep sleep taking her as the hours passed, she had expected to be woken up at dawn ready for a new day. Instead within only a few short hours a loud batch of shouting and a minor scuffle woke her up.
Being woken up so early made Scarlet quite cranky, but she could deal with that. Nervous about scaring her new guest she kept still deeming it smarter to listen in on them for a moment, something she regretted almost immediately.
“Let me go, you stupid earth spirit!” A feminine voice yelled out, “I refuse to be the lunch of some ugly beast!” Now normally an insult like this wouldn’t even garner a reaction from Scarlet, but today that changed. Insulting her new form, one made by the goddess of beauty, the one she now served instantly infuriated her.
Without a sound Scarlet dropped her sleeping charade, getting up and turning her head to glare at her new guest, the one she had saved. The fool had yet to notice Scarlet, lucky for her, gave Scarlet the time she needed to observe them.
The rags that had once covered the person’s body were scattered across the floor. The mushroom bed she had carefully made had its top ripped apart. As for the person, their appearance was far better than their personality. Short brown hair, small round and fluffy ears, even a short tail that extended from their behind, and what a behind it was. Shapely hips, thick thighs, and a jiggly ass, it was almost good enough for Scarlet to consider sparing them from their punishment, almost.
Silently Scarlet came to tower over the woman, she was still oblivious to the pissed dragon’s existence and was still struggling to escape from Briar’s arms.
Of course they kept talking, their small mouth continuing to hurl insults, “I don’t know why that stupid reptile didn’t already eat me, but I’m not staying near that dirty creature any longer, so let me go!”
Briar on the other hand, someone far smarter than their guest, was well aware of Scarlet’s existence, and Scarlet could feel the fear radiating from her golem’s body.
“So, your savior is now nothing, but an ugly, stupid and dirty beast is that it?” Scarlet asked them, her anger barely being hidden in her voice.
“Savoir? That monstrous creature? Don’t make me lau…” The Otter-kin turned her head around, beginning to answer only to stop once she realized what she was talking to.
Scarlet stared at her, a forced smile on her face, “I save you from your fall, personally make you a bed to protect you from the elements, even provide a guard to ensure you didn’t accidentally end up getting lost in these caves and I’m insulted for it?”
The Otter-kin didn’t know what to say, starting to stammer, “Y-you must have misheard me. I-i wasn’t talking about you, I w-was talking about-” Her voice being silenced by Scarlet’s glare.
Scarlet tsked her tongue, “Excuses excuses, you must really take me for the fool if you think I’ll believe you. Briar, drop her, and know if you try to run, I’ll be far more ruthless in my punishment."
Her golem heeded those orders faster than she had ever seen, the Otter-kin falling to the floor almost instantly. They didn’t react to the pain, instead the woman went into a bow, eyes at the floor, “Please ca-can you forgive me? I don’t want to die.”
Scarlet laughed, “Oh don’t worry, I don’t plan to kill you, in fact, you may even enjoy your punishment. Now look up and don’t speak unless I allow you.”
The Otter-kin didn’t break her bow, but raised her head, eyes full of fear, “For the first part of your punishment you need to know my name. I am not some “you”, my name is Scarlet. Of course you won’t be allowed to use my name, you’ll refer to me as Mistress, understand?”
The Otter-kin gulped, “Yes.”
Scarlet slammed her claw, a cloud of dust blowing up, “Yes, what?”
The Otter-kin practically screamed out in terror, “Yes, Mistress!”
Scarlet nodded, relaxing slightly, “Good, now what is your name?”
The otter immediately answered, “Cali, Mistress!”
Scarlet smiled, an almost sadistic grin, “Excellent, I’ll be adding on a few extra spanks for that earlier mistake, but if you're good I might give you a reward.” Transforming into her humanoid form, Scarlet’s new partner was already at full attention, earning a gulp of lust from Cali, their face turning red, “Now let’s begin.”
