As Dandelion's whinnies and the wolves' growls faded Josh ducked out of the treeline and paced quickly to the mouth of the cave. It led into a long corridor that stretched back toward the mountain's heart. The smell of clean smoke lingered there, alongside the fading scent of the lore guardian and the Fae she had kidnapped. Breaker had barely taken two steps into the tunnel when Myra appeared at the other end.

Still in the form of the Scarlet Dancer, she flowed toward him on light feet that barely seemed to touch the stony floor. Her long red locks swirled around her face, shrouding all but her glowing eyes as she spoke.

"It is so kind of you to visit me here in my home," she said in a simpering tone. She spread her arms as if welcoming him. "Why don't you come and sit by my fire, and tell me some of the tales that make the Breaker so famous?" She beckoned with one elegant hand, but beneath the illusion Breaker knew her vicious claws lurked.

"I am not here to visit," he said bluntly, "I have come to retrieve the Fae you took from Yutori. I would never have allowed you to take him if I had realized at the time he was not one of your followers."

"But you did allow me to take him," Myra growled, "and we are getting along so well. My little lively one loves his new home."

"I should like to hear that from the Fae's own lips," Breaker said, advancing another few paces. Myra moved as if to stop him, but then stood aside with a toothy smile.

"Of course," she said as he moved past, "I would be a fool to challenge the Breakerrrrrr-" the word turned into a guttural growl as her head grew into that of the saberlioness. Her long fangs extended from her upper jaw like twin swords and she leaped at Breaker's exposed back, biting at his unprotected neck.

Josh ducked and reached up with both hands, seizing the saberlioness by her long fangs. He bent forward and threw the lore guardian over his shoulder as she completed her transformation. Her heavy body thudded to the ground and she lay still for a moment, temporarily stunned. Breaker spread his hands with fingers splayed and summoned water from the air. It formed around her in the shape of a cage and then froze solid. Two hundred pounds of ice as strong as steel surrounded the lore guardian on all sides. She roared and snapped and bit at the bars, but it would take her some time to work her way free.

The room at the end of the corridor was mostly bare, save for a blazing fire in the hearth and a large pile of hides and blankets. Breaker could smell Myra's musk emanating powerfully from the pile of furs. The Fae's scent lingered there as well, but it was weak... perhaps the small creature had merely passed through the room. Breaker paced toward the doorway set in the far wall, when a small sneeze interrupted his progress. He smiled. The sneeze had come from beneath the pile of furs.

"I don't want to alarm you," he said as he approached, "I'm here to help. I've caged the beast that kidnapped you, and I can bring you back to the village she took you from." Crouching comfortably with heat from the flames licking at his right shoulder, Josh reached out a callused hand and lifted up the blankets. "My name is Joshua Cronen."