Operation Honey Trap vs The Emperor of the Apocalypse

Delphi was happy with their progress after sending Han packing back to his boss.

She knew the guards would have to meet up somewhere, which meant waiting for those two, giving them a small head start for the day.

Winter was back to her cheery self. Still a bit tender, but her ballooned left breast was back to its ordinary inflated size now.

They were getting very close to Horsham, and she was starting to allow herself to get excited.

As they approached Dadswell's Bridge, she decided to treat the girls with a visit to an old tourist attraction, assuming it was still standing.

"What the heck is that?" asked Indy, staring up at a huge koala bear.

"It's the Giant Koala," laughed Delphi.

A faded sign on the three-storey high koala construction read 'Giant Koala Tourist Complex'.

"It's seen better days, poor old thing," smiled Ruby.

One of its eyes had popped right out, and there were a number of holes in the creature, aside from the doors which lead inside it.

"It's super creepy," said Winter. "It looks evil."

"Shall we see what's inside it?" Delphi rode her horse towards the double doors between its front legs.

She dismounted and strode towards the entrance. The other girls tethered their horses to a nearby fig tree.

"This tree is covered in ripe figs," said Feifei happily. "Delphi," she called, "there's figs over here".

"Shit!" Loveday pointed on the koala's hind leg. "Komodo Dragon! Delphi, get away from there!"

Delphi started to back up cautiously. As she did, three other dragons appeared on the Giant Koala, clinging to the sides of the attraction.

"Maybe they live in the koala, and we disturbed their nest," said Ruby. "If we back away quietly they might leave us be."

"No chance," said Delphi. "Han said they're very aggressive. Get your swords out. Aim for their bellies or the eye. They have tough skin. Don't forget they can spit poison too."

"These creatures were the ultimate killing machines during the War," said Feifei. "They're the reason people left the Mainland after they went rogue."

"Well they killed lots of people," said Loveday, "and no one could work out how to control them."

"Form up," called Delphi. "Feifei, you're with me on the frontline. And Loveday and Indy. We'll try and kill them with the swords. The rest of you behind us shooting. Use the crossbows. Keep the horses protected to our backs."

The four dragons crawled off the koala and dropped to the ground, approaching the girls slowly.

More of the creatures appeared behind the first four, climbing up onto the koala where they could watch what unfolded with the girls and their horses.

No doubt waiting to join the feast, thought Delphi sourly.

The four beasts that were menacing them, now stood up on their hind legs, towering over the women.

"Bloody hell," said Lili. "No wonder these guys had such a terrifying reputation during the War."

"At the end of the day they're just flesh and blood like us," said Delphi. "Don't deify them."

The Chastain family had been involved in the creation of the tubiàn. It wasn't a history she was proud of or liked to share.

A gob of poison suddenly shot out of the mouth of a dragon. Delphi jumped backwards and it landed in the dirt at her feet.

Another dragon spat at Feifei. She used her shield to protect herself. The spit hit the shield directly and ran down the face of it, leaving threads of sticky salvia dripping from it.

Delphi did a commando roll and sliced upwards, getting a direct cut into the belly of the dragon that spat at her. It immediately dropped to all fours.

"It's bleeding Captain," said Lili, watching as blood dripped from its belly into the dust.

"Shoot now girls," cried Delphi.

Four crossbow bolts were shot, three landed in the bellies of the standing lizards and the fourth bounced off the tough head of the dragon that had been injured, missing it's little beady eye.

All of the standing dragons dropped to all fours, and the hissing sound became so loud they could barely hear each other.

The dragons clinging to the Giant Koala now ran forward and joined in the attack on the girls. They sensibly stayed on all fours and used their long heads to almost joust with the girls and their broadswords.

Delphi managed to get a strike into the eye of one that was attacking her, and it withdrew immediately, hurrying behind the koala to hide.

"Girls, aim for their eyes with your bows," she called.

The eyes were a small moving target, and a number of missed shots meant that the girls on the frontline were now heavily pressed, under attack and on the backfoot.

Feifei managed to get a strike in under the chin of the beast she fought, and thick blood started to spill to the ground.

"Under their chins it's soft," she called out.

Delphi thrust her broadsword and managed to stab a beast through its chin and into the roof of it's mouth. It collapsed to the ground and stopped moving.

"Well done, Delph," called Arrie. "I think you've killed one."

The sound of an animal screaming alerted the girls to two lizards which had come around behind them and had already snatched up one of their horses.

The dragons raked the horse with their claws and bit onto her haunches.

"Oh my God," cried Ruby in horror, watching her horse being eaten alive.

She fired her crossbow wildly, but the arrow bounced off the dragon's nose.

"Focus Ruby," called Delphi. "The name of the game here is to stay alive."

Delphi grabbed Ruby's crossbow and fired at the dragon that was already eating the girl's horse. She scored a direct hit in the creature's eye, and it fell down dead. Her next shot killed the mare that had been maimed and was being eaten alive.

The other dragon that was eating Ruby's horse withdrew after watching what had happened to its companion.

Indy was being pressed back by a dragon. It flicked its head hard and managed to knock her sword from her hands and knock the girl off her feet.

She backed away rapidly on her butt in the dirt and it ran after her.

Delphi flew over and dived in front of the giant beast with her sword, thrusting up under its chin.

It collapsed on her, pinning her under its heavy head. Her sword's grip kept its full weight off her, but she couldn't move.

Lili and Ruby rushed over to try and lift its head off her, but before they could get there, a dragon clamped its jaws onto Delphi's boot and started to drag her out.

She held onto her sword as she was yanked roughly free.

The dragon moved backwards, pulling her through the dirt by the leg.

Her sword swipes were ineffectual as the creature kept its nose to the ground, dragging her along more and more rapidly.