Worthless

                             Chapter 8
                            Scalded Feet

"You are positively beautiful," Burn said to Silk as they flew over the
mountain town of Gaia.

"Burn, none of that," Maim growled. "We have a mission here."

"Sorry."

They took a pit stop at Gaia. They bought ProRings there, which protected
against the Rub spell that had ruthlessly killed Burn in the fight with
Astos. They saw a Cat Claw knife for Maim, but they couldn't afford it after
the ProRings. They just went to Gurgu Volcano, Kary's home.

The climb up the mountainside was somewhat taxing. It was nothing serious. A
gust came up when they were about halfway up the volcano that blew some dust
into all their eyes. Burn managed to remedy this instantly by spitting on
his cape, then rubbing his eyes with the wet spot. The mages followed suit,
but Red didn't have anything like that, so he spat on his finger.

They reached the top of the mountain. It looked like a long way down into
the mountain. "What should we do, just jump in? There could be an eruption
any minute. You never know what fiends could do."

"Gurgu Volcano is not likely to erupt. This volcano has been dormant for
2000 years. It would take Kary at least 1000 years to re-energize it that
much, and she's only been here for a hundred years or so."

"Well, in that case, here I go." Red pencil-dove into the volcano. From
where he landed, it seemed like it was about 8 to 10 feet down-roughly the
height of an average room. "God, it's hot as hell in here."

"Geronimo!" Burn yelled as he leapt in, his cape and hair trailing behind
him.

"Time for cooking," Silk said. Then she jumped in, with no less gusto than
Burn had had.

"That was a really bad pun, Silk," Maim said as he jumped in. "Whoof! You
were right!"

"Let's just go."

It would not be that easy. The ground they had landed on was toward the
edge, and the way down was an island of sorts surrounded by lava. The Four
ran through the lava and dove for the land. "That should have cured my
athlete's foot," Red said, panting.

"No more jokes!" Maim yelled.

They soon fought some Agamas, flame lizards of sorts. "I'll bet my pet
salamander at home would have loved to meet these guys," Red said as he
stabbed one in the back.

"GRAAAAAAAAAGH!" Maim yelled.

Proceeding through, they found a fortune in gold and worthless treasure to
sell. They did fight a Red Dragon for one of the items, however, which was
quite useful: Flame Armor.

Soon after slaying the dragon, they found Kary. Kary was a red-skinned
blonde with a purple bikini and six arms, each holding a sword. She was
pretty mad at them for offing Lich, and she attacked. Go figure.

Maim found that it made no difference whether he used Fire, Ice, or Lit. He
just hit Kary with everything he had, spell-wise. Burn Fasted Red, as usual,
and Red attacked. Silk healed the severe wounds that Kary brought about.
Soon she was dead, and another Orb was lit. They flew to Coneria to rest.