Fiona felt rooted to the spot as nothing could have prepared her for witnessing a live battle.
The enemies far outweighed Tiatmat's soldiers with sheer numbers.
As the battle progressed Fiona winced at the sound of every blood curling scream.
She soon realized that there was a huge skill difference and that's where Tiamat's men began to shine.
As the enemy's numbers dwindled, Tiamat's soldiers were invigorated by their thirst for revenge.
"Look behind you," she yelled out to Gritzl.
It was hard for Fiona to just stand there and watch when she wanted to help but Tiamat wanted her nowhere near the fight.
He had told Gritzl to watch Fiona, but Gritzl had gotten bored and soon disappeared from Fiona's side to aid his companions in the battle.
Her shout of warning brought the enemy's attention to her. Tiamat saw the enemy hurtling towards her at full speed, but he was too far away.
"Noooo…" Tiamat shouted.
Tiamat's shout echoed on the battlefield and Gritzl looked in the direction that Tiamat was headed and realized his mistake.
He had disobeyed a direct order from the master and now the enemy held a knife at Fiona's throat.
Gritzl knew he would be punished regardless of his next move, but he felt he had to do something to make up for his stupidity.
Without thinking he lunged at the man holding Fiona.
The enemy's eyes widened in shock; he was not expecting such a barbaric attack.
His intent was to hold Fiona for ransom, it was obvious the leader had some sentiment towards her.
He hoped to use Fiona for leverage and perhaps do a barter, let his men go in exchange for Fiona but obviously that was wishful thinking as he realized now that these men were lunatics corrupted by the power of the black flame.
Fiona was too scrawny to use as a proper shield, she would be more of a hindrance.
So, the enemy tossed her aside while he braced for the impact of Gritzl's lunge. His lance went clean through Gritzl's left shoulder.
The enemy's eyes widened in shock as he realized he would breathe his last breath even though he had done damage to Gritzl.
Griztl's strike had cleaved his body in half with his own sword forcing him to his knees as he vomited blood before the enemy fell face down in the dirt.
All around Fiona bodies were collapsing and the earth ran red with blood. Tears streamed down her face from where the man flung her.
As she fell against rocks and scraped up her skin. She struggled to stand, then the earth suddenly opened up beneath her feet.
"What next," muttered Tiamat.
As he watched Fiona disappear before his eyes before he could give chase, he punched his cousin in the face knocking him unconscious. "See to him."
Tiamat yelled out to his men, Gritzl was in pain and had severe wounds that needed treatment and if he continued to mindlessly fight the wound would reopen.
There was also a risk of infection, knocking him unconscious was the best solution.
After he saw that Gritzl was being looked after he pulled out his sword and without hesitation jumped into the underground tunnel that Fiona had been pulled through.
Judging by the size and construction of the tunnel Tiamat surmised that they were unwittingly fallen into mole rat territory.
These giants were normally peaceful creatures and kept out of the way of humans normally.
He could hear Fiona's screams in the distance as she's dragged deeper into the underground tunnels.
Then her screaming stopped.
Lately something had been causing the creatures in this realm to go berserk and he feared for Fiona's life.
The tunnel opened out into some kind of dank, open cavern and Tiamat was surprised to see the tunnel filled with all kinds of junk.
As a hoarder himself, he would be lying if he didn't feel a twinge of camaraderie, one man's junk is another man's treasure.
It seemed as if the mole rat had been collecting objects that appealed to it for decades and stored it in the cavern.
Lucky for Fiona, it meant her no harm, it had never seen a human so shiny before and after close examination the mole rat realized it was due to the object on her ring finger, it beckoned to him.
"Mine…" it said.
"You can talk," said Fiona, shocked out of her mind.
The brownish gray mole rat was huge and funny looking, but she could see it meant her no harm.
It was just curious about her, and they had been eyeing each other for the longest time.
"Get away from it," yelled Tiamat.
He pulled out his sword and rushed towards the mole rat with intent to kill.
The mole rat sensing Tiamat's rising bloodlust even though it was afraid it gently pushed Fiona to the side thinking only to protect since he brought her to his underground lair.
Fiona whirled around to see Tiamat about to lunge for the mole rat and to their surprise she ran over to stand in front of the giant mole rat.
"What the hell woman, are you daft, move out of the way," he shouted.
"No," she responded, and her voice went up a few octaves, "he means us no harm, he's important to this world's ecosystem so you'll have to kill me before I let you disrupt the order of this world."
Somehow Fiona instinctively knew this was her purpose, something was shifting the balance of this realm and it was her parent's request that she fix what they failed to do, she was sure of it.
She knew that Tiamat had a fierce temper and she watched as a black flame seeped out from his body, feeding off his anger but even though it was hard Tiamat fought for control and soon the ominous intent to kill dissipated and Fiona breathed a sigh of relief.
"Unlike my enemies I don't murder innocent creatures," he said testily.
His eyes darkened and he seemed to be trying very hard for her sake to keep a lid on his rage. It would be wise for Fiona to not provoke him further and she understood that.
Fiona turned to the mole rat even though it was intelligent she still wasn't sure how much he understood but she patted him and gave him a hug.
"Tell your new friend goodbye but we can't stay here. We must return to the surface," growled Tiamat.
The mole rat had meant her no harm, she considered it an ally for trying to save her life for the battlefield.
"Thank you," she said to the mole rat and patted it one last time before she turned to leave with him.
Tiamat couldn't wrap his head around the thought that Fiona thought he would actually kill her. She was definitely the most intense and intriguing woman he had ever come across.
On the surface, the battle was already over in favor of Tiamat's men.
"I would never harm you," he said before walking away from Fiona leaving her to follow in his footsteps but what he left unsaid was that he had no intentions of letting her go either.