It took a few days to catch up to Derek and his undead army, but that was to be expected; his winged soldiers had not returned and so he was on the move. Belmardina wondered why the man did not simply fly away on winged crabs, but Blutgang reminded her that Derek had a lot of gold, and gold was heavy; too heavy for an already weighty giant crab to carry on wings made of shedded feathers.

And so the two armies met on the beach by the turbulent sea. The sky was clear and strikingly blue, reflecting off the newly polished armor of the kraat patrol.

Blutgang stood before his men and called to Derek; “Derek Stylez, male witch and necromancer of the undead crab army: by order of King Dru, you are to be imprisoned on the grounds of illegal reanimation, destruction of property, and theft. Will you go quietly?” He called over the roar of the sea.

Derek did not answer this, but looked very confident in his purple robes and monocle. Belmardina, who stood far off to the side of the battle, wrinkled her nose in disgust at the man she had once wished as a husband. How utterly juvenile I was!

Finally, the he-witch spoke to Blutgang; “So Belmardina grew after you married her? I didn’t recognize her the other day when I ordered my creations after her. Maybe I should’ve married her after all. Fire is very useful when feeding the magic of necromancy.”

Blutgang hefted his heavy kite shield and halberd, “You won’t turn yourself in, then?” He asked in his simple manner, ignoring the comment. Indeed, he could have come up with any number of come-backs, explaining his little queen’s worth. But underneath his armor and tunic, within his feathery chest, he already held the truth close: Belmardina was worth more than all the gold that Derek had or could ever plunder. He had no need to defend her honor as her honor was enough in itself.

Derek shook his head slowly and retreated to stand atop a massive boulder. He then flicked a hand, twisting the magic within himself. At once, his hundred crab warriors strutted forward, their shells gleaming in the sun if they had died only recently, or absorbing light if they were old, covered in barnacles and blotches of decay.

The kraat patrol was only about a hundred in number themselves, but they were experienced warriors, and they held their ground confidently, their talons locked into the sand.

The undead army then rushed to meet the kraat, but the kraat were not so foolhardy to fight without a plan. Theodar brought the soldiers forward and they formed two parallel lines between which Blutgang stood.

Belmardina wondered why the king did not fight, and she watched closely to see what his plan was. Slowly the two lines began to turn as if they had formed the blade of a fan, pushing the crab army counterclockwise. As they moved, Belmardina saw it; they were rotating to create an opening toward Derek himself.

Derek kept his eyes on his soldiers, willing them to fight through his evil magic. When he finally realized what was happening, it was too late. The two lines of kraat soldiers opened right to where he stood, and Blutgang ran up the line with his kite shield up and his halberd at the ready.

Even from the distance she was watching, and even with the roar of the ocean and clashing of metal on carapace in her ears, she could hear Derek give a surprised yelp as the seven-foot-tall kraat king rushed upon him.

Belmardina had never seen a kraat jump. Her eyes widened when she saw her husband bound fully the height of a human into the air and onto the massive boulder in one leap. He gave his shield a quick jerk forward, knocking Derek onto his back.

“Yield.” Blutgang said, his halberd raised above the wizard’s chest.

“To a mangy kraat? Never!” said the young man, raising his gloved hands, straining his fingers in odd motions. A rumbling in the earth began, and the kraat king stumbled backward.

An ancient and extinct undead crab, bigger than any living person on Dru had ever seen, unearthed itself from the sand close by. Green magic shone from within the lifeless shell, forming wicked eyes.

The mighty crab’s bear-sized claw shot forward and caught Blutgang as he tried to recover from his stumble. It attempted to crush the king between its fingers, but it was hampered by his armor and tall kite shield.

Belmardina could barely see what was happening and found herself hopping up and down anxiously. She could see and hear Derek bellowing at his creation to crush, but it seemed the undead claws were not powerful enough to perform the task. Finally, she saw the necromancer point to the sea. The giant beast side-stepped toward the ocean, its body obeying the new plan: Drown the king.

Quicker than any of the soldiers could react, the crab ploughed into the ocean, submerging itself and Blutgang under the tumultuous waves. All at once, the fighting stopped as Derek and the two armies turned to watch the outcome. Bubbles and disturbances in the waves could be seen as the beast raced along the seafloor, spurred on by its eight legs and the vile magic that drove it. In the wink of an eye it was already a mile out, hundreds of feet below the surface.

Belmardina’s heart thundered in her chest. Her head became fiery. Before she knew what she was doing, she raised her hands above her head and felt the world hurricane through her. The fire shifted from her head to her lungs as her traveling tunic fell apart to make room for a fifty-foot dragon.

Her once toothpick-like horns twined vertically into the air, her wings spread out far enough to make shade for twenty people on each side, and her yellow mane draped several feet below her neck.

But she had no time to notice her changes.

She considered briefly going after Derek himself in the hopes she could force him to dispel his magic, but she also knew that with his armor, there was no way Blutgang could swim to the surface. The choice was made: she launched into the air, knocking soldiers from both armies onto their backs with her updraft. She rose quickly to three hundred feet, and then came back down into the sea with a crash a mile away from the shore.

Even with her new weight, she found difficulty sinking to the seafloor; the fire in her lungs threatened to keep her aloft, so she twisted her long body until she found a rhythm that sent her spiraling to the bottom.

Within moments she caught sight of the enormous undead crab, its thick claws still holding her husband, who kicked weakly with his orange talons. She tucked her feet underneath her and pinned her wings back as she surged toward the waddling monstrosity.

She slammed her thick snout into the crab’s flat shell, tipping it a little, but it came back to its feet and snapped at her with its free claw. It caught part of her mane, but she wrenched herself away and came at the beast with new effort. She placed the heavy nails of her foreclaws against the crab’s underbelly and thrust upward with her feet planted in the seafloor. As she rose to her full height, the crab tipped backward, crashing into the sand, instantly making the water murky and opaque.

The crab was down, but now she could not see. She nearly panicked as she searched about the ten writhing limbs, almost unaware that she was nearly out of breath herself. It seemed like minutes before she finally found the claw she was looking for.

The bedraggled form of Blutgang was clamped within.

She attempted to pry the rigid fingers open, but the beast, imbued by Derek’s powerful magic would not give. As she felt about, her hands passed over something metallic, thin, and weighty—the halberd! She took it from her husband’s claws and forced it between the two pincers, prying with all her might.

Finally, the beast’s might gave out and she snatched the kraat king with both claws while still carrying the halberd in the crook of an arm. She found her swimming rhythm again and realized as they rose from the seafloor how close she was to losing her air. Luckily, her new lung capacity had allowed her to stay under as long as she had. But was Blutgang still alive?

Belmardina breached the surface, gasping for air, and made her way to shallow waters. The fighting had ceased, and she would later learn that Theodar, Blutgang’s second-in-command had snuck up behind Derek right after Belmardina had hit the water, and gave him a fantastic blow to the head with the hilt of his sword. After some convincing, the he-witch dispelled the magic just as Belmardina resurfaced. Empty shells littered the shore, scattered about the kraat soldiers who waited breathlessly for word of the king’s fate.

When she was close enough to the shore, standing in about five feet of water, Belmardina held Blutgang in front of her. She could not tell if he was breathing or not, and so dropped the halberd, quickly and clumsily removed his cape, breast plate, hip guards, and pauldrons. She then pressed onto his diaphragm with a large claw. Instantly, her husband spluttered to life, coughing up a good pitcher of water. “Thank Dru’s hat!” she muttered, waiting for him to regain control of his body.

Finally, Blutgang slipped out of her hands, standing in the sea, his strength returning. He looked up at her with the same gentle smile he always did, and he began to laugh. “Now I know how it feels to be held by a giant, as you were held by me.”

Belmardina joined in the laughter and transformed herself back into a human. She had forgotten, just as she had on the beach by the cave of gold many months ago, that she was not wearing any clothes. But, once again, her husband was ready: he took his cape which was still floating close by and wrapped it about her.

He drew her close and she delivered about three-hundred kisses to his orange beak.