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"Well, that detour through a stream trick sure as hail didn't work" said Amphy the Amphibian Girl, bandaging a slash on Bog the Barbarian's shoulder. "How were they able to track us, anyway?" "Dedian Ozcuras." replied Bog, wincing with pain " Their shamans are magic users, at least in a small way. " Around Amphy and Bog lay half a dozen Ozcura bodies from the initial ambush. "Fuckin' magic" Amphy hissed "Man, one thing about Aiers I could do without, it magic." Surveying the slashed and torn bodies of their would-be assailants, the big green naked Amphibian Girl wiped the blood from her old short sword. "They don' fight much better than your run of the mill Ozcuras but they sure is persistant!" All around them, in the rapidly descending evening dark, they heard animal calls, from all sides, getting louder as their pursuers tightened the ring around their prey. "We're surrounded." said Bog "My dear one, I'm sorry I led you into..." "Forget that, Bog" his companion and lover

It was one of the more comfortable, more discrete establishments in one of the better sections of Inquanok City's district of willow and flower. There was no gaudy signage facing the street, with brightly colored illustrations of the delights to be found within, as was the case with lesser, plebian houses. No insistent crowd of pimps and touts waited at the entrance, loudly shouting the praises of it's hardworking, disease free staff, attempting to lay hands on those passing by and drag them inside, no famous beauties - male or female displaying themselves on the second-story balconies for the benefit of gawkers on the street below. The House Ouroboros was not that kind of establishment. There was no sign, only a plain teak door with a carved symbol showing a snake swallowing it's own tail. The door led to a passageway that ran between two streets, and then to a stairway leading to another door. This door was guarded by a soft spoken individual who knew the house's clientele

Oh, kitty" said the aFra "you are so sweet. I wish you could help!" Before the aFra's eyes, the kitty on the steps began to glow, and then to transform. A few seconds later, where the kitty had been, stood a tall beautiful cat-headed woman, dressed in ancient Egyptian costume. Her great feline eyes seemed to stare directly into the aFra's soul. "Poor child, do not be afraid." said the woman "I am Bastet, lady of Ashura, protector of Lower Egypt, daughter of Ra. I will help you, daughter of none, and I, Bastet, guardian of the family and the sacred hearth, will become the mother you never had, and the mother of all your kind, and be your protector against those who impiously violated the laws of life in creating you, and who continue to exploit and abuse you, condemning you to eternal poverty and sending you to die in their endless ignoble wars. The halls of Ma'at have heard your plea for help, and I now manifest Myself in this strange land, lost among the stars, to lead all those

Illustration by Shabazik In her small cell in Castle Kreuzfeldt. , the center of the Holy Order of the Sword of Nortender, Pris, daughter of Amphy the Amphibian Girl, looked across the wooden table at the earnest young werewolf, and sighed. Behind Pris, in various stages of slovenly undress were Pris's two Ozcura half-sisters, the orcpeliers Hortense and Magdalena, who were giggling, whispering lewd suggestions in Pris' ear and winking at the increasingly uncomfortable werewolf. In her journey north through Aels, Pris had been captured by a band of orcpeliers - Ozcuras who had switched sides from the armies of the Dark Legion of Demons and enlisted, for a variety of reasons - with the Dark Legion's mortal foes, the Christian kingdom of Nortender and the Holy Order of the Sword. The warrior monks of the Order took many non-humans into their ranks, a tolerance regarded as near heresy by many others in the Christian kingdoms But humanity was losing the Second War of the Power at