Nina and Francis head into the woods where Tyrnon waits, ready to implement their plan, when an ambush from a band of hidden bandits complicates the matter.

Nina and Tyrnon return to the farm to conclude their business with Johan and the Shepherd. Francis, as usual, contributes nothing while Tyrnon proposes a rather unusual deal.

Nina decides to pursue the dragon, and when she finds it, she learns a little more about its history from his "owner", Johan the fabrics merchant. Then it makes her an offer that, technically, she could refuse, but she decides to accept instead.

Nina and Francis have been on the road for a couple of weeks now, and though the traveling has been uneventful, the increasingly revolting proximity to Francis has been forcing her to reconsider her plans. That is, until they stumble across a dragon.

Nina has been spending a lot of time at the tavern, all for nothing. She's been waiting for some questing heroes to show, but they seem to be taking their sweet time, so she decides to get a little more proactive. But before she can set off to find a quest of her very own, her plans are derailed by the lovesick king's decision to follow her.

Christiana takes you on a personally-guided tour around some of the locations in her podcast novel, Nina Kimberly the Merciless.

Thanks to Mur Lafferty (Check out her podcast fiction anthology, Voices) for the introduction and to Alfred Hitchcock, for being awesome.

This is but a tiny taste of what's to come...

Thanks to Scott Fletcher for lending his awesome vocal talents!