Half-blooded
By Smash

Chapter 6: Urge



“Okay, how about this.  You know about the Trinosis Equation, stating that the lengths of the legs of a right triangle squared will equal the squared length of the line opposite the right angle?”

“Right, A squared plus B squared equals C squared.  We dragons know it as the Pythagorean Theorem.”

“Well, this triangle is a right triangle, yet all the lengths of the legs are the same, and therefore, violating the Equation.  How is this possible?”

“Easy.  Draw the triangle on a sphere.  Each line is one-quarter the circumference of the base circle.  An interesting point is that this not only a right triangle, every angle on this one is a right angle.   Now see if you can solve this one.  You have twelve sticks.  How can you rearrange these sticks to make six squares with one stick per side?”

“Ouch.  I’m not really that good with this kind of question.  Okay, so I can make one square out of four then add three more for another square twice then the final two for a fourth, but that only gives me four squares.  And that’s the most conservative way to place them; at least I can’t think of anything else.  I give up.”

“Ah, you fell into the trap.  You were only thinking about two dimensions.  You forgot that the sticks can be formed-”

“Into a cube!  Ooh, I should have known that.”

It was the final day of my captivity in the dark cave room, about a week after my first awakening in it.  I was greatly looking forward to my release.  I would miss the closeness of my two mistresses, but never admit it out loud.  The green and I were passing the time by posing riddles to one another.  I was getting beaten royally.

“What’s the score now, some thirteen to zero?” I asked.

“Fourteen,” she said casually.  Then she broke out in a canine grin at my forlorn expression.  “Don’t worry kid; you’ll know a lot more when you reach my age.”

I glowered.  “Kid?”

She chuckled, a low throaty sound.  “Well, what else to call you when you compare your age to mine?”

“Okay, so how old are you?”

“Three hundred and sixty years.”

Something about that just didn’t click.  “I thought you were born during the Dragon Purge.”

“I was.”

“But the Dragon Purge was 20 years ago.”

“No, I was born during the first dragon purge.  A dragon attacked the emperor’s castle, and even though that dragon was slain in the attack, the emperor got the impression that we were all evil and ordered to kill us all.  That Purge ended when a dragon saved the emperor’s life, though the history books said that it was because the dragons were all dead.  But we were just reestablishing the species when this latest Purge comes.”

“I know the feeling,” I muttered.

“Anyways, the 360 years I’ve lives translates to, say, eighteen years if I were human.  My sister is some 400 years old, translating to about twenty one.  When she rescued me from the old lair, she had just returned from her first journey into the outer world.”

Suddenly there was the faint sound of wings beating outside the cave.  “Your sister’s back,” I said unnecessarily.  “Do you think I’m well enough to go out and meet her?”

The green got off me and, standing beside the pad, looked me over critically.  “I suppose you’re recovered enough.  Are you sure you can do it?”

“I hope so.”  I heaved myself out of the bed, took three steps, and fell into Dryconia’s arms.  “Gods,” I swore, trying to get my feet under me again, “Nothing like three weeks in bed to royally mess up your legs.”

“I’m going out next,” Dryconia said.  “I’ll help you to the entrance.”

I was very grateful for her help.  In fact, she practically had to carry me the entire way.  By the time we made it to the entrance, I could stand on my own, but my pace was at least twice as slow as usual.  When I pushed my way into the connecting room, Serpentyne was already in the stream, attempting to massage out the blood on her hide, her eyes closed.  I made my way over to her and, with fingers that remembered old deftness, began to work on her hide.

She froze as she felt my hands upon her, but relaxed as she took in my scent.  I attempted to squat down so that I could reach her, but my knees gave out on me and I tumbled backwards.  After picking myself up, I slipped my feet into the stream and began to massage her from that position.  It was still awkward.  Finally, I gave in and slipped into the stream myself, straddling her.  From that position I was able to reach every part of her body easily, if not quickly.

At that moment I realized I had not stopped in my room on my way to the front of the cave.  I was completely naked.  I didn’t pause in my ministrations, but my mind was racing.  I finally came to the conclusion that, since the dragons wore nothing in this form, they would not be offended if I wore just as much as they.  It would be more likely that they would be offended by the fact that I hadn’t bathed for the entire time I was sick except for the periodic sponging downs they had given me.

The rest of the washing went easily.  For once, I managed to keep my body under control, though I credit it to the weakness my body was going through after my sickness.  The red stirred not an inch under my touch, and when I was through with her, she heaved herself out of the stream and held her arms out to me, beckoning me to carry her.

“Er, I’m sorry,” I demurred, “But I can barely walk and I’m sure I can’t carry you.”

She glanced my nude form over once and agreed.  “You’re right, servant.  So I’ll walk over there.  But bring along a bucket of water with the oil to wash off the dust again with.”

I nodded.  “That, at least, I can do.”

I followed her into the room with my burden, managing to come in after she had shaken herself dry.  I first brought out the bucket of water and cleaned the dust off her feet.  I grabbed the oil next.  Starting at her head, I rubbed the oil into every part of her body.  I had to use much more oil than usual, as her hide was patchy and cracked.

“Were you oiled while I was sick?” I asked accusingly.

“Yes,” the dragoness simply answered.

“Well, it’s the worst job I’ve ever seen.  Your hide has cracked in several places anyone should have been able to reach and is patchy almost everywhere else.  Who did this?”

“I did,” she said.

Oops.  I could almost feel the steam rising from my face.  “Well, er, that is…” I stammered.

“No, it’s no matter.  I know I didn’t do a very good job.  I could tell because of the discomfort from my cracked hide.  But when one has to oil her own hide, she can’t reach everywhere on her body.”  She paused for a second and her old militant attitude came back.  “But if you tell anyone, you’re as good as dead.”

“Yes, mistress,” I said obediently and continued to oil.

***

I was almost back to normal by the time Dryconia was back at the cave.  I was still unable to carry her, but I completed the washing with much more efficiency than I had her sister.  She did seem surprised when I straddled her in the stream and was even more so when she took in my nudity, but my unaroused state must’ve reassured her that I wasn’t going to try anything funny.

As was her sister, her hide was cracked all over.  I oiled over the cracks, but was much less critical about the clumsy application of oil.  I do learn from my mistakes.  The green did seem to know what I was thinking though.  After I had finished her upper body and was sitting on the floor to easily reach her lower body, she spoke.  “Sorry if I’m working you too hard.  I had to oil myself over the past few weeks and it’s really hard to reach some parts of my body.”

“Oh, you’re not working me too hard,” I said from the floor, rubbing oil into the base of her tail and reaching for the bucket again.  “I admit I am feeling a bit tired, but that would be natural after all the enforced rest.”

“Well, your body is still very weak from the plague.  For the next month, if you get too tired, you are hereby ordered to stop whatever you’re doing and rest.  Got that?”

“Yes, mistress,” I murmured.  She didn’t speak again until I had finished with the oiling.  She helped me to my feet, drawing me close to her warm body.  Very close.  Her claws traced a pattern down my flesh as she stared into my eyes.

“I, er, I want to ask you…” she began.

“Yes?” I inquired.

“Er, never mind,” she muttered and pulled away.

I retreated as well, grabbing the bucket of oil and a nearby mop while heading back to the entrance to the cave.

Dryconia laid a claw upon my shoulder, pulling me back.  “What are you doing?” she asked.

“I’m going out to clean the entrance to the cave,” I replied.  “I wasn’t able to catch you or your sister, so it must be pretty messed up.”

“But you’re exhausted.  I can tell,” she protested.  “Listen, you go to bed.  I’ll clean it up.”

“No, really, it’s okay,” I said.  “I can finish this.”

Her eyes narrowed.  “Listen, servant, I am ordering you to go to bed.  It would be little use for on your first day out of bed to work too hard and be bedridden for another week.”

I started to snap a response back, but before I could even open my mouth, the green dragoness lunged at me.  Before I could summon my staff as defense, or even cast a shield, she had her two claws on my wrists.  I vaguely heard a spell being chanted and an electric shock surged up my arms, enveloping my entire body.  When it stopped, I was back in my room, lying on the bed, the words of the green words echoing through my head.

Then, felt more than heard, the words of a second spell echoed throughout my mind.  As they faded, I felt an immense lethargy overcome me.  A few seconds later, I drifted off to sleep.

***

The next week passed with relative calm.  I regained my strength slowly yet constantly.  At the end of the first day I was able to catch and carry one of the dragonesses when she came back from hunting, though I had to rest for several minutes afterwards.  After the second day I only had to stop for a few seconds.  After the third day, I was able to carry them without any visible strain.

I also finally had time to clean my old robes.  From the time since I first arrived at the lair to when I had caught the plague, I had never had time to clean any of the three robes I carried with me.  For the entire two weeks I had been in the lair, I had worn the same three robes over and over and over and they had gotten pretty disgusting.  So I took some time out of my other duties to clean them in the same stream I had used to wash the dragonesses.

I began my studies again as well.  The show of magical power Dryconia had preformed impressed me very much, but I didn’t like being forced into anything, so I began to study magics that would allow me to resist draconic abilities.  It wasn’t that I didn’t trust my mistresses, but after all that power from just a young dragon, I decided I’d better be prepared in case I encountered another one.  The techniques I studied would be little more than annoyance if I ever encountered a dragon who actually wanted to kill me, but would protect me from much incidental mischief.

It turned out I would be very glad I did so.  It happened about ten days after my recovery.  It started to be just a normal day.  I got up, pulled on a clean robe, and went to study.  Normally my green mistress would come in soon afterwards to instruct me, but today she was absent.  It wasn’t an oddity; she sometimes had tasks more important, so I wasn’t concerned.

But when I came to meet Serpentyne at the entrance, she was already there.  “Am I late?” I asked.

“No,” she said.  “I’m just hunting second today.”

“Why?”

“Is there any reason you need to know?” she asked severely.

“Just my curiosity.”

“Not a good enough reason.”  I was about to press her for more information, but we then saw the green speck on the horizon that was her sister.  Serpentyne changed to fully dragon form and took to the air while I positioned myself to catch her sister.  The green landed gracefully in my arms and I carried her inside.  During her oiling, I broached the subject of her sister’s odd behavior.

“No, I haven’t the slightest idea why she wanted to change times with me,” the green said.  “She has never wanted to go last before.  She claims that flesh tastes better in the morning, or something like that.  But I’m not too attached to my time, so when she asked me for a switch, I saw no reason to refuse.”

Hm.  I mulled that over for the remaining time spent oiling.  Soon Serpentyne had returned and it was time for the second part of my duties.  The meeting on the cliff edge was normal enough, but there were several small differences in the way she arranged herself in my arms, the most noticeable of which was the way she hung a leg over my arm in such a way that forced me to press my fingers into the very sensitive region between her legs just to keep her in my arms.

The washing seemed normal enough except for the fact that she had her eyes open and studying me every second of the time.  A decidedly lustful gaze glinted in her blue orbs as she contemplated my form bending over her to wash blood out of her hide.  And it only got worse as the night wore on.  While I was oiling her upper portions, she pressed her chest out, enhancing her appearance to the point where my eyes practically glazed over when I looked at her.  And when I moved lower, she rested one leg upon a nearby rock, offering me a good view of her femininity.  A very good view.  I thought I would have been used to the body of my red mistress by now, but my heart was pounding after it was done.  And that was the least of my awkwardness.

As I straightened up after I was done, Serpentyne moved closer to me.  She grasped my arms and pulled me into her while stroking her head past my neck, emitting a long rumble of satisfaction as her body moved up against mine.  I was too dazed to react in any other way but pull her closer as my dazzled mind tried to sort out what was happening.

At length she pulled back, eliciting a soft whimper from me.  She surveyed my trembling form from arm’s length, running her tongue over her sharp teeth.  She slowly drove her claws into my arms.  It hurt, but it was a delightful pain.  Prodded by her advance, I pressed my fingertips into her shoulders.

She released my arms, causing blood to flow, but the holes she had torn in my arm scabbed over almost instantly.  My fingers also released her arms as she moved into me again.  Her claws moved up to my collar and began to work on my robe.  I froze, finally understanding what she meant to do with me.

She took note of my nonmovement and paused in her work.  “Really, Keirsah,” she purred.  “For someone of your obviously high intelligence you aren’t very quick at realizing lust when you see it.”

“You mean you’re going to-”

“Mate with you.” she finished for me.  “Isn’t that what you’ve wanted since you first saw me?”

“No,” I said.  “I admit that your figure is the most striking think I’ve ever seen, but the only thought of mating with you occurred while you were holding me while I was in the ravages of the plague.”

She pulled back from me, glaring haughtily while adjusting her body to a very provocative position.  “Are you saying that I’m not what you want?”

“No, no,” I assured her.  “Now that I think about it, I want to mate with you very much, but I…I can’t.”

“What, are you impotent?”

“No, I just… I’ve always had this vision of an ideal union, one based on love, or at least romance.  And I can’t say why, but I can’t mate with anyone until I discover that relationship.”

She snarled.  “How lovely.  But I have decided and I will have you.  Now resign yourself to me before I have to force you.  That’s an order from your mistress.”

That little speech touched off something in the back of my mind.  I would obey orders if I agreed with them or if they were part of my duties, as was the case in my serving, but when someone tried to make me do something I didn’t want to by ordering me, that set off my temper.

“I will not,” I snapped.  “Get yourself another pansy for your dirty work.”

She growled in rage and began to advance towards me.  I growled back, falling into a defensive posture.  She spat to the side, displaying her contempt.  I bared my teeth in an imitation of a draconic growl.  She charged at me.  I hunched over and as she was upon me, I threw myself to the ground just in front of her and she flew over me, lashing tail leaving a stinging welt on my face.

I struggled upright in time to see my opponent spin around on all fours and launch herself at me again.  This time I was too slow and she plowed into me, knocking me over.  I threw my arms out to the side and slapped the ground hard while keeping my head tucked into my chest to keep it from hitting the rock below me.  The dragoness, seeing that she was atop me, hissed in satisfaction and yanked the top of my robe open.

I had read nothing about what to do if a dragon had pinned you to the ground, so I did what came naturally to me.  Suddenly my staff appeared in my clenched fist.  I flailed about, trying to knock her back, but I didn’t have the leverage to hit her.  I flailed about with my staff and my free fist, but I couldn’t do anything.  The dragoness had the top of my robe open and was working on removing it the rest of the way without letting me up.

Then I realized that I wasn’t thinking.  I had been relying purely on fighting instinct and that wasn’t enough.  She knew perfectly how to counteract me.  So I did something completely unexpected.  I set my staff aside and curled both my hands around to her tail.  She paused in her work as both my hands curled under her tail.  And when I began to stroke there, she arched her back, releasing my body.  She yowled, claws groping along the floor as her mating instincts overruled her reason.

Perversely, I was not enjoying this.  All my mental power was focused on one thing: getting away.  Come on, just a little more, I thought.  Just release my legs and… there!   Abruptly, I ended my caresses and drove my fingers into her soft nether portions.  Hard.

There was a scream of pain somewhere above me as the red dragoness reeled back in pain.  I snatched my hands back and grabbed my staff in midair as I dove out from under her.  She snatched at me, but I managed to evade her grasping claws.  I landed hard on my frontside, but scrambled up quickly.  The dragoness behind me was slower in rising, being on her knees and struggling to face me.

Something I read came to my mind.  The weak point on a dragon was the nasal cavity, leading straight to the brain.  Intuitively I brought my staff over my head and brought the ball down on her snout.  She crashed to the ground, dazed.  I skirted her prone form and dashed into the hallway and back into the lair.  I could hear her enraged roar from the room behind me and decided that I would be forced to find a safe haven tonight before Serpentyne caught me and raped me in the hallway.

Lady Luck seemed to be smiling on me.  As I dashed around my first corner, I nearly plowed full tilt into Dryconia.  We both skidded to a halt, I tumbling into an undignified red heap against a wall.

She pulled me up.  “Hey, what’s the rush?” she asked.

“Your sister is after me,” I replied, hurrying down the hallway again as the faint sound of scrabbling scaled feet wafted up from the entrance.  “She wants to rob me of my virginity.”

“What?” Dryconia asked, shocked, as she followed my down the passage.  “I always knew she had a strong sex drive, but when she would stoop to raping humans…”

“Look, I don’t have much time to spend on meditations,” I interrupted.  “Can you get me some refuge?”

“Yes.”  She bent down on all fours and motioned to her back.  “Get on.  I can move more quickly this way.”  I clambered onto her, laying flat onto her back and wrapping my legs around her midriff.  As an afterthought, I attached my staff into its customary bindings on my back.

“Ready,” I announced.

“Hold on,” she said and sped down the passageway on all fours.  And not a moment too soon.  Looking back, I saw Serpentyne, in the same four-footed position, speed by the passage opening.  She caught a glimpse of her green sister dashing down the passage with me upon her back, scrambled to turn, and set off after us.

I couldn’t recognize any parts of the lair we passed.  Several times as she slowed down to turn, I recognized bits of the library or kitchen, but I was too busy trying to keep my grip on her back to look around.  But at all times, the red sister was always somewhere near us, enraged and lust-filled expression unwavering as she glared at me.

At one time when the red was some distance away, she turned another sharp corner, almost sending me flying, and dashed into a dark room.  There she skidded to a halt, actually sending me flying.  I hit something soft and tumbled down to the floor.  I opened my mouth to utter a shout of indignant ire, but was muffled by something soft flinging itself across my mouth.

“Stay quiet,” the voice of Dryconia whispered into my ear.  “I’ll try to stall her.”  There was the sound of scaled feet going towards the door, the only bit of light in the room.  I squirmed around and inched towards the light, wanting to eavesdrop on the conversation.

Serpentyne was saying, “I saw you run off with him, sister, and you know where he is.  Now tell me!”

“I told you before,” Dryconia said.  “He fell off sometime in the past few seconds.  He’s probably hiding somewhere else in our lair.”

“Right.  I know you well enough to know when you’re lying.  My mating urge is growing and if I can’t have him, I may be forced to use…the other one in this lair.”  There was a decidedly lusting tone in the red’s voice.

“Are you threatening me?” the green growled.

“Just stating a fact.  You of all people should know how strong this is.”

“But you can resist it now.  So get out of my sight.”

“Very well, my sister.  But I shall return.”

Dryconia came back into the room.  She seemed furious.  A growled word activated the lights around the room.  The green flung herself onto the pile of silks in the center of the room and fumed.  I rose from my position on the floor and went to join her.

“Something bothering you?” I asked tactlessly to her back.

She rolled over, fire in her eyes.  “I can’t stand when my sister brings that up.  It’s so humiliating that I can’t think of it without practically losing my temper.”

“I know that it’s probably private, but what did happen?”

“Well, I trust you to not tell anyone.  Please.”  At my nod, she continued.  “You know how dragonesses have a monthly mating season?  Well, my season is only about a week after my sister’s.  It varies, but it usually goes like that.  I had been in season a couple of days.  My sister had been in its grip for about a week.

“A great storm was raging at that time.  My sister couldn’t get out to find a dragon to satiate herself with.  And so, cooped up in this lair, unable to smell anything but her own scent and mine, she finally snapped.

“I was in the library.  My sister crept up behind me, moving silently as only one of our kind can do, and attacked me from behind.  The chair I was using toppled over backwards and I fell into her, knocking us both down.  I was too confused to fight.  She squirmed around to bring herself above my.  She slid her tongue inside me.  And then she…she…”  The green whimpered, clutching at my arms, but she summoned up the courage to speak the words.  “She used me!

“It was like a whirlwind.  I felt only a surge of energy in my body and then it was all over.  When it was all over, my head was nestled between her legs and her head was in a similar position on me.  She had managed to abate both our mating lusts, but it…it…”  She couldn’t find the words.  After a pause, she continued.  “When it was over, she apologized over and over for what she did.  She may seem arrogant, but she does care.  I forgave her, of course.  I knew since my first urge that we females can do crazy things when we’re in the grip of mating passion.

“My sister doesn’t usually bring it up.  But when she is especially angry with me, she pulls it up because she knows that it will make me lose my temper.”

I shook my head while sighing.  The two dragons were such strange creatures.  And, even though I didn’t understand at least half the things that went through their heads, I found myself attracted to them.  But not only because of their bodies, but a strange, elusive quality that awakened a voice within me, one that I had heard only once before, when I had lost my temper from the taunting of the other children in my youth.

The green spoke again.  “I believe it is best for you to sleep in this room tonight.  My sister and I have an agreement that we do not enter each other’s lair.  We dragons are very territorial and don’t tolerate invasions very well.  That’s why we told you not to enter after dark.  But I know you’re in this room, so I think I can stifle my reaction.”

That was good.  I didn’t think I would be able to hold out against the red if she decided to come after me.  “Where should I sleep?” I asked.

“Right here,” the green replied.  She smoothed the silk under her body.

That didn’t quite sound right.  I looked at her, my bewilderment obviously registering on my face.

“Did I say something wrong?” the green said.  “Oh, the symbolic meaning is different for humans, isn’t it?  Well, I suppose I can find a bed somewhere else in the room.”

“No, I couldn’t push you out of your bed,” I protested.

“But there’s nowhere else in the room you can sleep,” she said.

“I’ve slept in worse before I came here,” I said.

“It’s a matter of conscience,” the green told me.  “I just couldn’t let you be uncomfortable when I was sleeping on silk.”

“And it’s a matter of conscience for me to not push you out of your own bed for my selfish comfort.  So what are we going to do?”

The green thought for a minute before brightening.  “We use my original plan.  We sleep together.  It won’t be any different than when you were plague-ridden.”

I nodded.  “Yes, that is a good plan.  I thought at first that you also wanted to mate with me,” I said, laughing.

My laughter died short at the look in her eyes.  The violet orbs held an unusual intensity as they stared at me.  “Don’t be too sure,” she murmured.

I stared suspiciously at her.  But then the emotion in her eyes died and she motioned for me to lie down.  I disrobed and lay next to her.  She placed a claw around my shoulders as she spoke the magic word that plunged the room into darkness.


Chapter 7: Mate



The next morning I awoke quite late.  A bright light was shining on my face from somewhere in the room.  I groaned bad naturedly and turned on my other side.  The bed I was sleeping in was quite strange to me.  It was…soft.  I hadn’t slept in a soft bed for five years.  What was happening?
Then other parts of my brain woke up.  /You’re in Dryconia’s room after her sister tried to attack you. / I looked around.  The green dragoness was nowhere to be found.  The light was from a window carved into the wall.  I shrugged, struggling out of the bed and sliding down the pile of silks to my staff and pouches.   I would have pulled on a new robe, but the sound of nearby running water reminded me that I needed to wash.
I followed the sound until I found a previously unnoticed opening in the back of the cavern.  I followed it in to see a pool of water, steam visibly rising from it.  It was like a bath.  I hadn’t seen one of these since I had snuck into a minor lord’s castle and seen him relaxing while I swiped some food and silver from the next room.
Well, I needed a wash.  I didn’t think my mistress would begrudge me an hour in her water, especially after the day I had yesterday.  I placed my things to one side and slipped into the hot water.  I gasped when my body slid into the water.  It was like nothing I had ever felt before.  It was about knee deep, the water so hot it felt like I was being cooked alive.  But my body quickly adjusted to the heat and it was quite relaxing.
I had just closed my eyes when I heard the hiss of scaled feet.  My eyes snapped back open to see Dryconia staring at me.  The green dragoness had a fluffy dark pink towel clutched in her claws, wrapped around her back, under her tail.
“Oops,” I said, scrambling to get out of the pool.  “Sorry.  I didn’t know you were going to bathe here.  I’ll get out.”
“No, go ahead,” she said.  “Provided…that I may join you?”
“Sure,” I said, shrugging.  Outside, I was indifferent.  Inside, I was ecstatic.  She slipped into the pool beside me, tossing the towel aside and letting out a mighty sigh when her backside entered the water.  She then struggled to the waterfall that fed the pool and rolled a large rock in front of it, blocking it off.
“The water is from an underground hot spring,” she told me, answering my unasked question.  “This part is actually fed by an offshoot of the main stream that I can block and unblock for my bathing.”
I nodded, not really paying attention to what she was saying, most of my attention bound up in admiration of her body.  A brief thought crossed my mind of why I was lusting after her when I never had before, but it seemed unimportant with her near me.
She relaxed in the water beside me, now waist deep.  I stretched luxuriously and ended up with my arm around her shoulders, though not actually touching her scales.  I felt the water infusing my skin, relaxing away all the tensions in my muscles.  All my troubles felt far away, the incident with Serpentyne last night like nothing.  The fact I lived in a world that hated me, less than that.  All that really mattered was the relaxing water and the wonderful creature next to me.  She now had her claw resting across my shoulders, lightly scratching at my upper arm.  She seemed nervous.  I turned on my side, facing her.
“What’s the matter?” I asked.
She didn’t answer for a while.  Then she spoke, more to herself than to me.  “Oh no, why is it happening /now/?  Why can’t I resist it?”
I shook her gently.  “What’s wrong?” I asked, beginning to get concerned.
“No, I can’t now!  I can’t!  I’m only half blooded!”  She stared at me, a glint in her eyes.  “I’m sorry I have to do this, Keirsah...” she said labouringly, “please… forgive me…”  Then she lunged.
I screamed in pain as her teeth sunk into my shoulder.  My arm went instantly limp as the nerves were severed.  It hurt-
I felt something moving on my shoulder, just above the numb region.  It was the dragoness’ tongue.  She was drinking my blood!  I shuddered at the vampiric touch, but was unable to pull away, completely overtaken by the dragoness’ action.  I felt myself growing faint from the pain.
But then she stopped.  I whimpered as I saw my blood billow out from my wound as a red cloud in the water.  She stared in apparent horror at her own doing.  She reached a trembling hand over and grasped my shoulder.  She gasped a few words and the blood stopped flowing.  The pain receded.  What had been a laceration in the shape of her jaws before was now just a pale scar on my shoulder.
“T-thank you,” she quavered.  “Now, while I am still in control of myself, I must warn you.  I risked too much last night and lost.  My body has demanded you as its first mate.  If you don’t want that, get out and run while I still can resist myself.”
My jaw dropped.  Me?  And her?  It seemed like a dream.  But all too real.  Indeed, I had already felt the demand of her body.  And mine was responding in the only way it knew how.  I couldn’t resist.  It seemed my choice had already been made for me.
“I will stay,” I murmured.  Almost before I finished, she was upon me.
Her body against mine crushed all the air out of me as she rolled atop me, forcing me onto my back into a slightly uncomfortable sitting position with my head poking above the water.  I was almost forced underwater as she rubbed up against me.  I felt she would take me right then when she paused.  Her tail began to twitch.  Her hot breathing impacted upon my throat.  Then she began to move.  She slid down on my body, her nose moving in zigzag patterns across my flesh, licking occasionally.  My breathing became labored as my arousal soared.  She discovered the product of my arousal and I stopped breathing entirely as I saw her distorted from completely engulf me.  The feeling was incredible.  I closed my eyes, my breathing becoming quite shallow as her tongue played about me.  I don’t know how long she was there, but all too soon she stopped, bringing her head back above the water with a gasp.  “What-what’s going on?” I asked, struggling to ignore the desire she awoke further in me.
“I don’t know!” she cried.  “I’ve never felt like this before.  It’s like I’m being forced to-”
The rest was drowned out as suddenly the urge to duck underwater myself hit me.  It was like an invisible hand grabbed me and drove me down.  My hands clutched convulsively at the green, wrapping around her thighs, as I yanked myself nearer to her.  I stroked something warm with my fingers and then with my lips.  My mind was hazy with lust and the lack of air was already making my blood pound in my ears, so I wasn’t exactly sure at first what I was doing.  But slowly, in a part of my mind that was not completely a slave, I slowly realized what I was doing.
Normally, I probably would have enjoyed this.  But I couldn’t breathe.  My father taught me to swim before he was killed, so I drew on a little of that knowledge, slowly exhaling the air out of my lungs.  As the air impacted on the dragoness’ flesh, she shivered.  She liked it.
But soon I was out of air.  Already my sight was slowly fading out from lack of oxygen and I couldn’t even feel most of my body anymore except my lungs, which felt like they were being crushed.  But the urge completely overrode my survival instinct and I couldn’t pull up to take a breath.
I was panicking now.  It was still pleasurable when my tongue ran up my dragoness partner, but my lungs were screaming and I knew I couldn’t hold on much longer.  But a second faint voice in my head controlled me, demanding that I do this, not allowing me to resist whatsoever, completely ignoring my body’s other need.
Just as I thought I couldn’t stand it for another second, the demands relaxed and my head burst above the water.  I gasped a breath of sweet air, opening my eyes, but no sooner had I just made out the green form of the dragoness, limp against the side of the pool, than the voice awoke again in me and forced me under again.
It was sooner that I broke water for a breath this time, but the voice forced me under again, no matter how much I resisted it.  But now that I knew that I would survive, I began to obey it, actually enjoying the experience.  It was a good thing, no matter how uncomfortable it might be to my lungs.  The dragoness writhed against me, and, from a source of knowledge I didn’t even know I had, I moved with her every squirm.  I knew, from deep inside, every place where I could increase her pleasure, every point that would send her into incredible rapture.
Suddenly, the incredible demand receded.  I stayed, my face pressing into the warm flesh of the green for a few seconds before I rose up to the surface.  Dryconia was limp, arms and wings splayed wildly as her chest heaved, every breath coming out with a moan.  In a moment of tenderness, I moved a hand up to stroke her face and her claw quivered.  It snapped out and grabbed my wrist, not painfully, but firmly.  The green flailed with her other claw and managed to capture my other arm as well.  Pulling on my arms, she got herself out of the water, pulling herself close to me and both of us into a kneeling position.
I never quite realized how large she was.  She practically towered over me, her claws releasing my wrists, but now her tail was wrapped around my back, holding me to her.  One of her claws moved between my legs, stroking my maleness, making me remember what her purpose was.  I clumsily responded to her, stroking along her chest, groping about, wondering what I was meant to do.  She smiled at me and nuzzled me along the neck, encouraging me.  More boldly, I stroked her along the neck and chest while she gave me another caress.  I moaned and smiled, gazing into those violet eyes, sinking into them.
“Is it always like this?” I murmured.
“Why?  Have you never been with another before?”
“Never.”  I sheepishly looked down.
“Nothing to be ashamed of,” she smiled.  “After all, neither have I.”
I should have been surprised, as having these urges every month for her 400-year life would have produced at least one situation where she would have been forced together with another dragon, but the whole thing seemed natural that she come together with me for her first time.
The dragoness withdrew her claw from my body, placing both on my shoulders and pushing backwards.  Her strength easily overcame me and I was forced back into a sitting position with my head just poking up above the water.  She moved so that she was kneeling right over me, her claws moving to embrace me, holding me close to her chest.
I glanced up at Dryconia’s head.  She was looking down at me with those violet cat’s-eyes, smiling at me with an expression of such passion that I was positive there was no other being she could want now but me.  The dragoness cupped a claw around my head and pulled it in closer to hers.  Her mouth brushed my lips once, pulling away almost immediately, then again, lingering a bit longer.  The third time, she pushed her mouth onto mine harder, her tongue sliding between my lips, and at the same time, pressing her body down upon mine.
I felt only a slight resistance before I was swallowed up in the soft, warm, wetness inside the dragoness.  I moaned into her mouth, completely stunned by the absolute closeness she had brought to me.  My hands encircled her under the wings, pulling me into her in a vain attempt to penetrate even deeper.  She hissed at me as I did so, her tongue vibrating inside my mouth, like she was telling me to continue.  So I did, straining at her with all the energy I could muster.
I’m sure most if not all of the priests in the villages I have been around would have condemned me for this act, loving a creature not even of my own species.  But I wasn’t even doing anything, it was like being carried along in a river’s rapids, the dragoness dragging my only slightly reluctant spirit along with her own demands.  The perfect mergence of dragon and human forms formed a new kind of pleasure, exotic and powerful.
Dryconia came first.  She clenched at me inside, crying out at the same time, breaking our kiss.  I cried too as she clutched me to her, almost crushing me, her wings sweeping a tidal wave of water from us.  But as she slid against me, I also felt something change.  An incredible ecstasy, beyond even that of the magic, blasted through me.  My body jerked in the dragoness’ grip as I let loose inside of her.  I thrust against her, meeting her fierce advances with my own.  She howled with each thrust, claws tearing at me, demanding every part of me as I also screamed, my desire surging through my body with every thump of my heart.
Some time later, I lay, collapsed, against the side of the pool.  The dragoness was floating a few millimeters above me, still joined to me by her tail and claws in a lover’s embrace.  Her head lay on my chest, snout just under my chin, tickling me with every breath.  The water was several degrees cooler than when that incredible experience began, betraying the passage of a good amount of time.  Not that I really cared.
/Well, there goes one hope all shot to pieces,/ I thought, thinking of the excuse I gave Serpentyne on why I wouldn’t be with her.  But it seemed irrelevant that I didn’t love Dryconia when I mated with her.  Or did I?  I glanced over the green form floating over me, tenderly stroking along her wings and back.  Did I really love her?
Caught in my thoughts, I did not see the crimson form sulking in the shadows near the doorway or the droplets of moisture that splattered on the floor.
***
I awoke to a ticklish feeling along my throat.  The green dragoness was licking and kissing me along the neck.  I smiled sleepily, running a finger along the back of her head and neck.  She looked up at me, her lower jaw hooked into a radiant smile.  She removed her claws and tail from me, causing me to whimper softly, not wanting her to leave.  But she calmed me with a light kiss on the lips.  After separating from me, she went to a stone against the side of the pool, much like the one that let water in, and pushed it aside.  The water rushed out of the bath, almost dragging me along with it but for the fact that Dryconia caught me and helped me out as the water rushed along.
I glanced dully around for something to dry me off.  The dragoness was already on the move, picking up her discarded towel and returning to me, gently sponging the water off of me.  After I was dry, she dried herself, though more slowly.  She tossed the towel aside, motioning for me to follow her.  As I did so, I realized how tired I was.  Idly, I called my staff and leaned upon it as I stumbled towards the green.  She caught me and helped me into the her main chambers, laying me on the bed of silks again and resting with me until I fell asleep.
***
"That was incredible," I murmured to the side of the dragoness' head as I awoke again.
"Yes, it was. I never thought that being with a male could be so…fulfilling." She purred gently, flickering her tongue around my back, tracing over the scars left by her teeth. "I'm sorry about drinking your blood. It must have scared you."
"To tell the truth, yes, more than about anything. I knew that dragons needed blood to get the energy to mate, but I didn't know you would take that blood from your mate."
"We normally don't, but you caught me at a time where I didn't have enough energy to mate. I was only about halfway there, and so I needed blood. You were the only one."
"That's all right. You made up for the pain and more." I grinned. She smiled tentatively back.
***
“I think it would begin to be dangerous to your health to stay here.”
“I couldn’t agree more.”
Dryconia and I were discussing what I should do about Serpentyne.  I no longer had any virginity to lose, but I still did not want to mate with her.
“I’ll send you into the city and explain it to my sister by saying we were running low on some magical supply or other.  I’ll come and get you when my sister’s urge is receding.”
“I’m not sure.  As you know, the city loathes magery in all its forms except in objects.  I’m not sure I could hide my magical powers for that long.  And what about the plague?  I got sick once, I probably will again.”
“Do you have any other choice?  You can’t stay in our lair.  She’ll find you eventually.  I can’t fly you far out, but she’ll find you anyway.  You know you can’t drive her off, but neither of us can go in a populated area unless its an emergency.  We can’t risk being discovered.”
Between the choice of mating with her and death, I thought to myself, I’m pretty sure I’d choose the former.  “I have little other choice I suppose,” I said out loud.  “But what should I do if I get in trouble?”
“I’ll tune into your magic.  If you cast any spells, I’ll take it as a distress call and come to get you.”
“Are you sure that will work?  Can you get me out of there that quickly?”
“Yes.  A simple spell on my part will have me in and you out of there in a matter of seconds.  And about the plague: you won’t catch it again.  You’ve built up an immunity to it.”
“How are you so sure?”
“I ran some tests on a blood sample I took from you when you were sick.”
I didn’t like this.  But there was little other choice.  “Okay, how do I get out?”
***
A mere few minutes later, I was packed with the best food we could find, a clean robe, and the scroll with the disguise spell, which I invoked right before I left.  “It should last the few days until you can come back,” Dryconia had told me.  I had left my staff in the green’s lair.  The magical aura around it could possibly alert some to the fact I was a mage.
Dryconia was unable to bid me farewell.  She had to go to some other part of the lair while I snuck out to mislead her sister into thinking that it was just a normal day.  I got out with relative ease.  There was just one close call.  I was exiting a side passage when I heard the hiss of feet against stone.  I just managed to hide in the shadows before Serpentyne passed by.  She looked almost normal except for the fact that her hide was an even more brilliant crimson that usually appeared when she was ready to mate, I just noticed.  She passed by me without even looking at me and I managed to get out safely, thank goodness.  The town was just a half-hour’s walk from the cave.  I got moving.
I felt naked without my staff.  I had spent five years with it by my side at all times.  Even though I had set it aside at times in the cave, it was after I learned I could summon it to my hands with just a thought, so I felt like it was there.  Now I couldn’t even call for it or I would be captured by mage-hating, dim-witted, cattle.  My fists clenched as I remembered what they had did to my father.
Then I came to the gates.  I hoped fervently that my disguise spell was in order before calling up to the gatehouse and being let in.  Te city was much more pleasant this time.  Though there were still plague victims chained to the outer wall, there were much fewer.  It seemed that it had already taken its toll on this town and had now moved on, mostly.
It took almost no time to find a good place to stay.  Many buildings were abandoned as the occupants died out and were unoccupied, even though they had been ransacked when it was revealed that the owners were dead.  The city’s government hadn’t yet claimed the buildings, so I could hide out in one for a few days.  I went into the first one I saw.  It was a broken down, one-floor, pile of junk, but it would protect me from the elements and robbers for a few days.


Chapter 8: City



I was walking throughout a dream world.  It was a pathway in the desert, almost totally barren of all life but a few scraggly plants out in the distance.  I was wearing nothing but an old white robe that hung around my bare ankles.  The world seemed larger, as if I was a few years younger.

Ahead of me floated a strange figure of light.  It was mesmerizing to look at, infinitely desirable.  I was following it, almost in a trance.  Suddenly, a new form loomed in front of me from a side path.  I stopped.  The form looked like a tall man in a white robe.  When I saw his face, he looked exactly like me.  He grabbed my arm and suddenly, there was a shock.  Then he was gone.  I was left holding a staff looking exactly like my own and was wearing red.

There was a fuzzy period and then I was running.  My red robe flapped about my feet as I clenched my staff in a white-knuckled grip.  Behind me, there sounded the cracks of hundreds of whips.  My back was already torn apart and if I stopped, they would hit me more and my flesh would be flayed from my bones.

I ran hard into something soft.  It wrapped about me, protecting me from the whip blows.  I looked up to see a red dragoness, looking remarkably like my red mistress.  She held me into her, close but not tenderly.  But her arms deflected the scourges and I gratefully clung to her.

Next, I was pulled into an embrace with another dragon.  The form was of my new green lover.  She held me in a tender embrace and pleasure flowed freely through me.  Beyond her shoulder, the strange form still pulsated and the closer I pulled the dragon, the closer I came to my destination.  I felt the dragoness shift under my touch, changing proportions.  I glanced at her again and the red again held me.  But now she had me like her sister had, close into her, lovingly stroking me.  And the objective came closer still.

But then it changed.  I stopped drawing nearer to the light and began to be pulled away.  I looked at the dragoness holding me, wondering what was happening, but she wasn’t there.  Instead I was surrounded by darkness.  Darkness that drove pain into my body, making me scream.

And suddenly I woke up.  A bulky man with a short sword had the weapon leveled at my throat.  I shouted in surprise, jumping back.  I almost called my staff, even to the point where the air began to shimmer in my hands, but I remembered that I wasn’t supposed to practice magic in the town.  I squirmed away from the blade, getting up on a pile of rubble.

“Okay, kid, what are you doing here?” the man said.  He moved his sword to waver inches from my eye.

“Well, it appears that I was sleeping,” I grumbled.

“So why weren’t you in one of the guest houses?”

“Guest houses?”

“Yes.  The city lord has set up a group of houses for passers-through available for a small fee.  This is to keep people like you from moving into potentially dangerous and illegal places like this.”

I had a feeling the lord was caring more for his pocketbook than for my personal welfare.  But I couldn’t break a law when a soldier was right in front of me, so I nodded.  “Okay, where?  And what and how do I pay?”

“You can pay the landlord when you get there or you can pay me right now.”

I snorted mentally.  This guard didn’t know he was dealing with another thief.  There was no way I would trust even a grain of sand to the hands of this bungling crook.  “No, thanks,” I said out loud.  “I’ll take my chances with the landlord.”

The soldier shook his head.  “You know, your money would be in much better hands if-”

“No.”

“But-”

“I said no.  Just lead me to the place and go away.”

He looked like he was going to argue more, but I glared menacingly at him, letting him know that I knew his plot and I was dangerous.  He mumbled something and turned away, walking out the door.  I followed.

He led me through a twisting corridor of alleys and byways.  It took all my attention to verify that he was not leading me in circles.  At length we came to a broken down building looking almost exactly like the one I just left.  I stared for a few seconds before letting loose a heavy sigh and shaking my head.  Ignoring the soldier, I made my way inside.

***

“Okay, you pay me twelve silver for each day you spend here, ten for the room, seven for the bed, plus a twenty percent tax for the government and another twenty percent for the tithe.  Of course, there’s still-”

“Enough!  Enough!” I screamed, holding my hands over my ears.  I dug into my pouch, grabbing a stone I had and throwing it to the man.  “I’m planning to stay a week.  That should take care of all expenses.”

The stone was, or at least looked like, a very valuable gemstone.  It was actually just a hunk of quartz that I polished up and minorly enchanted to make it look more valuable.  I planned to use it to trick a dealer into trading me something that I needed for the stone and thinking that they had ripped me off.  The enchantment wasn’t very powerful, so it would eventually revert into its original form after it left my presence.  But by then, I would be long gone.

“Um, yes,” the house owner said.  “Actually, you might need a bit more to stay a full…”  I glared at him and he shrank into himself.  “Er, this should be fine.”

“Good,” I said.  “Now just tell me where I can stay and you won’t have to worry about me for a week and then I’ll be gone and you’ll never hear from me again.”

“Around that corner,” he said, pointing.  “Third room to the right.”

“Good,” I said, walking down the hallway.  The room was easy to find, but that was the only good thing.  The room I had in the dragonesses’ cave was cleaner than this.  I sighed heavily and cleared enough of the rubble to get a look at the bed.  It, at least, was tolerable.  I leaned back on it and, within seconds, I was asleep again.

***

There was a feeling of belonging when I woke up.  Even though I was in a place that I did not fit in, there was a feeling of familiarity around me.  I opened my eyes.  A bright orb clutched in four claws hovered in front of me eyes.  Almost instinctively I reached out and grabbed.  My hand closed about polished wood.

“Oh no,” I groaned.  “How did you get here?”

I stared in horror at my staff clenched in my hand.  I must’ve accidentally called it while I was asleep.  Quickly, I buried it under a pile of rubble in the corner before lying back upon the bed again.  It would be best to keep as low a profile as possible for the coming week or two.

Within a few hours I was bored witless.  I had already gone through my pouches three times, sorting out my supplies and spellcasting ingredients over and over again.  That took an hour.  I had cleaned the room I was staying in so that it was actually suitable.  That took two hours.  I daydreamed for an hour.  Then I was bored.

Some of my ingredients were running short.  I decided to risk recognition for more supplies.  I had explored the city thoroughly the first time I came and I knew every place that sold what I needed.  And this time I would buy it honestly.

***

“Two coppers.”

“Four.”

“Three.”

“Deal.”

I tossed three small coins onto the table and took the small bag of pine needles.  I had already retrieved the guano, pine, and cedar chips I needed.  All that was left was rosemary.  I knew a good stall that sold the top quality.  It was pretty expensive, but I had some extra coin and I might as well use it.

I ducked through an alley to avoid a large knot of people.  A sparkle caught my eye in the shadows.  I investigated.  My staff stared at me through the shadows.  My breath caught in my throat.  I knew it was mine.  The attraction to me through the force currents of the magic guaranteed that fact.  But how could it be here?  It couldn’t have been moved.  The electrical defense system made sure of that.  I didn’t call it.  There was no reason.  I sighed.  It was attached to me.  It would always return.

“You’re following me,” I murmured, idly stroking it.  “Well, stay there for now.”

I continued on.  The stall was coming up.  I had to push through a great crowd surrounding it, but most of them were too busy shouting to get heard and jostling each other to get at the stall to notice me.

A sharp shove sent me stumbling.  “Get outta my way kid!” a voice came.  Rage suddenly surged within me.  I got to my feet and turned slowly to see the fool that had pushed me.  A fat man wearing clothes that identified him as a rich oppressor.  Cocky and self-important.  Not bothering to summon my staff, I walked straight through the milling crowd and right up to the man.

“I thought I told you to get out of my- oomph!”  That was as far as he got before my fists slammed into his massive gut.  He staggered back into another knot of people who unintentionally shoved him back at me.  I stepped to the side, letting him stumble past me, and then planting my foot in the small of his back and shoving.  He went face down into a particularly dirty rut, ruining all his fanciful clothes and his swaggering self-importance.

I turned, seeing that the entire crowd of people was very quiet.  I walked to the stall, where the ever-cool owner glanced at me inquiringly.  “One offer,” I said.  “One silver for one bag.”

“Deal,” the man said coolly and the transaction was made.  I stepped past the still-staring throng of onlookers, maneuvering the rosemary into my pouch.  The fat man I had humiliated staggered to his feet and was not blocking my path.  “How dare you…” he sputtered.  I calmly straight-armed him to the side, knocking him back onto his fat posterior while moving off into the shadows.

Searching for supplies took up a full day.  Now I could begin to enjoy myself.  But it was not to be.  While walking past a somewhat gaudy stall, I felt a tugging on my sleeve.  I tried to brush it off, but I couldn’t and I was pulled to look at some kind of stupid demonstration of some kind of ‘magic’ gem that lit fires.  As I got closer I saw that it was just a magnifying lens.  I snorted quietly, but he didn’t hear me as I was in the back.

The wood the demonstrator was working on burst into flame.  There was a long “Oooohhhh” from the audience.  The man next to me turned and said, “Wow!  Isn’t that amazing?  That’s the most remarkable thing since I found that water gem.  Too bad that magic-user stole it.”

Uh oh.  I recognized this guy.  He was the victim of my final theft before I had become a servant.  Quickly I hid my face and started to move away.  But my arm was grabbed by the same man.  “Hey, where are you going?  The good stuff’s just starting!”

I scowled and pulled away.  “What’s wrong kid?” he asked.  “Are you scared or something?”

“No, I’m not scared,” I snapped.  “I’m just sickened by the flagrant profiteering being run in this booth.  That isn’t magic.  Anyone in this crowd could buy one of those ‘jewels’ in a store a few blocks down for one silver.”

The man stared and shook his head.  He didn’t believe me.  I unflatteringly went over the entire population of the town in my head until I was interrupted by a gasp from beside me.  The man beside me was staring into a corner.  I followed his gaze and suppressed a groan.  There was my staff, standing perfectly upright.  The idiot shopkeeper was practically mesmerized by it.  He walked over to it, reaching out to touch its deceptively smooth surface.

I stared for less than a second before I leapt.  I managed to grab the bottom of my staff and get it out of the way.  I rolled, slamming into a wall, ending up sprawled on my back, my staff across my chest.  I struggled upright.  The man was staring at me, face twisted in an expression of greed.  This was not the man I had seen before.

“Ah yes, I remember.  I’ve seen you somewhere.  You robbed me of my water gem.  Well, I want my pay.  I’ll take that staff first.  Then I get your pouches.  Then I’ll turn you in and collect the bounty.”

I snarled at him.  But I was cornered.  He ran at me, hands groping for whatever he could grab.  By pure accident, his fingers brushed my staff.  A flare of light surged and he was thrown back into the crowd by the electrical defense of my staff.  For the second time of the day, total silence reigned.  The storekeeper was helped up and the first words out of his mouth were “Magic-user!  Magic-user!” as he pointed at me.

Every swear word I knew was flying through my head as I saw my possibility of escape crumble.  Desperately I tried to remember the escape plans I had gone through with the green dragoness, but they all slipped my mind as the crowd turned as one towards me.  Then I remembered.  I spat out the first spell that came to my head. Shirak! The globe atop my staff burst into light.  I felt something tied into me from far away respond.

And then the mob was upon me.  I was already cornered.  But, above their heads, I saw the mountain where the two dragonesses and I lived and a green form taking off from it.  I frantically beat back the mob with my staff while hoping Dryconia could see the light from my staff.

Then I noticed that the space between the buildings was too small for her dragon form.  She couldn’t reach me.  I needed to get out in the open.  I bashed down a nearby door with a backwards kick and then ran inside.  Curses!  The building was just one floor with no stairs.  I quickly applied my shoulder to the opposite door and dashed out that way.  I ran along the streets until I saw a building with more than one floor and upper windows.  I kicked in the door.

There were no stairs.  I panicked for a few seconds before I realized that there would be no stairs in any buildings.  There was a ladder right next to me.  Without even pausing, I grabbed it, attaching my staff to the casings on my back, and began to clamber up.

About halfway up the first member of the mob chasing me came into the building.  He noticed the door, fortunately blown open, and dashed through it, out of sight.  I kept climbing.  Some ten more people ran through before one looked up.

“Hey!  Here he is!” he shouted before starting up after me.  I didn’t care to look down.  I knew that I already had a substantial head start and I guessed that it would get me to the top in time for me to be caught by the dragoness.

I was right.  I managed to get to the top just in time to see Dryconia speeding straight towards me, mere yards away.  I threw myself flat just in time as the monstrous green dragoness swooped right over me.  As the gust of wind tore at my robes, I felt two huge claws close over the staff on my back.  I was lifted into the air by the strap holding my staff to my body.

I was bodily taken from the roof and into the air.  I knew something was bothering me about that, but I didn’t care to pursue that as my stomach suddenly lurched to my mouth as she downbeat, yanking me upward.  And then I felt like I was in free fall on the upbeat, only to get wrenched to a halt on the next downbeat.  She spun on her tail, nearly making me throw up, and began to fly back to the lair at a dizzying pace.  I bounced against the straps on my chest with each beat and I was sure that I would have some very interesting bruises on my chest when I got back.

We were almost out.  I could see the edge of the city just coming up.  But on her downbeat, I felt something give way.  Looking down, I saw that one of the straps across my chest had snapped.  Then another went just as I was looking.  And a third.  I yelled up at the dragoness carrying me.  “Help!  I’m going to fall!”

She looked down at me and saw what was happening.  But just then the final strap separated.  I made a futile grab for my staff, still clutched in her claws.  Both hands missed.  I looked down to see the land thirty feet down rushing up to meet me…

Chapter 9: Captured!

I woke up with a clear memory of everything that happened, although all the energy had drained out of my body and the only thing I was even aware of was the brown blur of my sight and an immense lethargy, as if my body was on the verge of giving up on me.
A line of white light appeared, slowly opening into a fuzzy square. Some kind of white and gray lumps moved into sight. They came towards me.
"He's still out of it. The mage-toxin is working just like it's supposed to."
"Give him the antidote. I want some questions answered."
I felt something being forced into my throat and my swallowing. Then the world come slowly back in focus. In front of me was a haughty man, looking down his overlarge nose at me with contempt. His white robe was decorated with symbols of some kind. /Priest,/ I thought. The man next to his was dressed in a tattered mouse-gray tunic and was a great deal bulkier and heavier set than the priest. /Torturer, that one. /
The priest spoke. "Okay, mage, I want names, I want places, and I want occupations."
"What are you talking about?" I managed to ask. It was very difficult, as my airway was constricted by a heavy iron collar attached to the wall round my neck.
"Don't try to pretend ignorance," the priest said, jabbing at my chest with a spindly finger. "You're the second magic user we've caught in two months, and there are more of you."
I smiled inside when I saw that both these magic users were me. But that thought was quickly squashed by a blast of unreasoning fear. There were horrible stories about what they did to mages in the dungeons. Our tongues were cut out and fingers smashed so that we could never again cast any but the most minor spells just for being a suspect. For a more serious offense, our hands and feet were cut off. Or maybe death awaited us. But the worst, only a rumor, like all of them, but still enough to make one's blood run cold, was that our soul was sucked out. They used magic to do this, of course, in one of the most hypocritical of examples I had ever seen.
Meanwhile, I had subconsciously bared my teeth at the priest and emitted a low, threatening growl. The torturer stepped forward and cuffed me alongside the head with such force that stars spun before my eyes. It was a bit before the room came into focus again.
"Very well, if you will not answer me," the priest said loftily, "then we shall have to convince you. You, see to him." The priest left. The torturer produced a knife from his belt and came towards me. I screwed my eyes shut as the razor sharp point traced along my skin.
***
What I hated most, I decided, was the way he acted. The torture was not sadistic. I could handle sadism, I could handle anger, I could handle insanity. But I could not handle the way this man acted with the bored air of one waiting for time to close up shop. He acted as unemotionally as a butcher carving a pig as he cut strips of flesh off my torso and tossing them to the floor before searing my wounds closed with a hot branding iron. I only knew that when this was over, I would have a lot more scars on my body.
I have no idea how long this lasted. After it was over, the priest came back into the room. "Have you decided to tell me about your godless friends yet?" he asked contemptuously.
I let loose with a blizzard of profanity that surprised even me. I wasn't even aware I knew a few of those words. The torturer blanched and stepped back. The priest just turned pale. He gave a nod to the man and he continued.
When the priest came again, the torturer had started in on my muscles. I'm sure that most of my body was almost completely inoperative. When he asked me again, I growled at him with such threat that he actually stepped back before he left the room.
For the third time, the torturer had injected drugs into my body that reacted to my nerves, sending waves of pain, heat, and cold up and down my body. I could do little more than to twitch and groan in pain as I hung limply. When he came again, I could muster little more than to spit on his shoes.
The fourth time I was almost ready to break down. Then the priest produced the next torture that made the others seem like nothing. "Break his fingers, one by one," he said, not even bothering to ask me weather I was ready to betray my nonexistent mage partners.
That finished it for me. "Okay, okay!" I cried hoarsely. "I'll tell you!"
"Good," the man in white said, sitting on a stool in front of me and gesturing for me to continue. I swallowed against my dry throat and began. Ironically, I did not tell him what he wanted to know. I told him the truth. I spilled my guts about my father, his death, his gift to me of my staff, and the varied exploits I performed in my years of wandering.
I had just got to the point where I was fleeing to the dragon's lair when the man suddenly slapped me across the face. "Are you trying to call me stupid?" he bellowed. "You! Bring the hammer!" The torturer scuttled over with an iron hammer that he handed to the priest while he roughly grabbed my arms and forced them out in front of me and spread my fingers. He took the hammer back and raised it over the knuckle in my little finger.
"The man by the gemstone stand!" I bellowed. The torturer was so startled by my shriek that he barely missed my finger. "We never told each other our names, but I know one as the man who owns the gemstone stand by the entrance to the city," I babbled. As the torturer raised his hammer again, only to be stopped by the priest as he stared intently at me.
"The fat rich one who goes out wearing all those gold chains and the man selling those fire-starters and many of the guards." I frantically searched my memory for every person I had met while in the town while I spoke as quickly as possible, making up places in the town and desperately trying to sound convincing.
After I ran out of ideas, I fell silent, feinging panic as I let my eyes dart around the room in fear. The priest, however, seemed satisfied. "I always knew that those people selling magical items were dangerous. Thank you mage, and for your help, I shall make your death a quick one. But first you must be punished for your infractions." The torturer raised the hammer again.
"But I told you what you wanted!" I cried.
"But I never said that you wouldn't be punished," the priest told me. Then he turned and proudly strutted away.
I lashed out with my feet at the torturer, but he caught them and forced them into stocks behind me. Then he took the hammer and raised it.
"No!" I managed to scream once as I saw it rise. But it had no effect. I watched in utter horror as the iron head fell.

Chapter 10: Serpentyne

At times like these, time stands still.  This horrible moment would forever be in my memory.  The hammer was a simple blur and the gleeful expression on the torturer’s face was like a nightmare.  I was aware of my fingers spread, helpless, and all the pains that had been inflicted in me at once.  Then there was a mighty crash and the moment was shattered.  A blast of heat seared the side of my head and a beam of pure, clean sunlight plunged into the dank room like a spear.
But the hammer was still coming down.  It was mere centimeters from my knuckle when it was suddenly torn out of the man’s hands.  My eyes followed the path it took until the remains of the hammer landed on the wall with a splat.  The iron head had been melted into a puddle and the wood haft was totally burned away.
Hoping against hope, I turned to the other side.  At first I had to squint against the sunlight, but my eyes rapidly adjusted and I soon saw the copper stomach scales, blue eyes, and crimson body of the dragoness Serpentyne.  She stood in a molten doorway that had been melted in the wall, her arms crossed across her chest, staring with a scowl at the man who had just been holding the hammer, smoke rising from her nostrils as she recovered from her last fire blast.
She glared at the man for only a few more seconds before she made her move.  I saw little more than the lithe body darting towards the torturer and leaping upon him, but I heard a short, strangled, scream and a low growling as the dragoness dropped the lifeless body and vaporized it with a gout of flame.  Her teeth were bloodstained as she turned and grinned at me.
“Got into a bit of trouble, didn’t you?” she asked me.  “Well, I do fly to the rescue in a very impressive fashion if I do say so myself.”
I groaned in pain.  The surge of energy that prompted me to speak to the priest abandoned me, leaving me little more than a corpse.  The red dragoness ambled up to me with that same seductive stride I had seen her use before and began to cut me loose.  The ropes surrendered easily to her claws and she easily bit through the chains.  When all the chains were broken, I flopped pathetically forward, unable to stand with the muscles that they had cut.
Serpentyne reacted with shock and disgust at my broken form.  Not disgust at me, but for what they did to me, at least I hoped so.  I was shaken by another realization that I wouldn’t be able to serve anymore, what with the fact that I couldn’t move my legs below the knee and my arms not at all.
Serpentyne knelt by me.  “What brutes,” she growled and I could detect the rage in her voice.  “Why would they do this to someone for being what they are?”  There was a pause and a heavy sigh that sent hot air along my back.
“You have no idea how happy I am that my sister insisted that I bring the healing elixir.”  There was shuffling and gentle claws rubbed a liquid into the back of one of my calves that had been cut open.  Suddenly, strength flowed through my lower leg and the pain completely disappeared.  Incredulously, I bent it upwards and felt it respond.  And during that time, my other leg was also healed.
As the dragoness moved along my entire back, I began to hope that this wasn’t some weird fevered dream.  But I decided that this felt too real to be a dream and relaxed into it.  The dragoness then turned me over and began to work on my frontside.  As her claws spread the healing fluid around my scars, they mended and disappeared.  But I noted that this only happened to the new scars.  The old ones still hang around, blemishing my appearance, appearing nearly everywhere on my body.
After she finished attending to my front, she held my head up and put the rest of the elixir to my mouth.  I drank it, my vision becoming increasingly clearer as the elixir destroyed the drugs that were weakening my body and what internal injuries I might have taken from that nasty fall.
The dragoness offered me her arm.  I accepted, letting her lift me up.  When I was on my two feet, I had to lean heavily on her to just stay upright.  I was healed, but I was so very, very tired.  I guessed that, after a rest, I would be as good as new soon.
The dragoness was speaking.  “I suppose you’re wondering how I found you.”  I nodded.  I hadn’t really, not about to question a miracle, but I found it easier to just agree with what she said.
“Well, I knew that you had run away from me, as I couldn’t find you in the lair.  My sister had told me you were out in the town, but I couldn’t tell where and I was way too conspicuous to go and search.  So I waited for you to return to me.  But after my sister went out suddenly and came back with your staff clutched in her claws, but not you, I figured out what happened.
“So I decided to exercise a small bit of the magical power I had.  I’m not nearly as formidable as my sister in that regard, but I do know how to scry.  Using your staff, I was able to see you in the dungeon.  But I couldn’t tell where it was, so it took a day to figure that out.  That’s why I was so late.  I sincerely apologize for that.”
I nodded my forgiveness and she continued, now looking at me with a glint of greed.  “However, with all the furor, I was unable to mate.  And so…”  she trailed off, licking her lips.
I tried to get away from her, but her claws grasped my arms hard.  I tried to call my staff, but it didn’t show up.  That alone scared me more than the thought of being trapped with a lust-driven dragoness.
“Sorry, lover,” she hissed hungrily, “But you can’t cast magic in this place.  How else do you think you were imprisoned?  No one will find us either, if that’s what you’re hoping.”
“But I’ve already been with your sister,” I protested weakly.  “I’m not… pure.”
She hissed with a trace of bitterness.  “Yes, I know.  Why?  What has she got that I haven’t?”  She puffed out her chest proudly.  She began to push me up against a wall.  Her claws pierced my shoulders.  It hurt.  I now noticed that I was bare, my robe and what pouches I took with me into town taken by the authorities.  “But it doesn’t matter,” Serpentyne continued.  “Dragons are not monogamists.  We have many mates, so you can still in good conscience be with me.”
That was it.  I might have managed to come up with something if I was awake, but my mind was as exhausted as my body.  I managed one last sentence as her body began to rub against mine.  “If you are so insistent on mating with me, a mere human, I must know why.”
“Because I love you,” she snapped impatiently.
“You mean it?” I asked.  “Or are you just saying that so that I’ll sit still and be a good little servant?”
That gave her pause.  Then she spoke.  “I… I believe I may.”  There was the ring of sincerity in her voice that could not be faked.
“Then,” I continued, “Why would you express your feelings for me by raping me?”
She staggered back as if I’d hit her in the face, dropping me.  I managed to hold myself up against a wall as I stared accusingly at her.  She hung her head and looked at her feet.  I could barely see a tear rolling out of one of her eyes.
“Come on,” I said, mercifully changing the subject.  “Let’s get out of here.”
She took me over her shoulder again and helped me out of the still steaming hole in the wall.  When outside, she made a low whistle to a corridor nearby and Dryconia came out of the shadows.  They helped me to an open area in the middle of the wreck of a building.  Once there, Dryconia changed into her full dragon form and together, the two managed to get me onto her, settled between two ridges on her back.  It was like a natural saddle.  Serpentyne got up behind me, hands firmly around me to hold me in place.  Though it was merely a safety precaution, her claws on my flesh seemed a most intimate touch.  I shivered slightly.
I must’ve been asleep by the time we got back to the lair.  It was much more comfortable riding on dragonback than in the claws.  I dimly remember the two dragonesses helping me to my room and Serpentyne volunteering to keep me company for the night.  She lay with me, cradling me in her arms as I finally slipped off into an uncomfortable sleep.
I dreamed again.  I was back in the torture chamber and the hammer was whistling down at my outstretched hand again.  It was blown away again, and Serpentyne appeared in the doorway again, but this time she suddenly shrieked and disappeared in a blast of flame.  When I turned back, the hammer was back in the man’s hand and it was whistling down at my fingers…
I screamed as my eyes snapped open.  With my scream, my staff in the corner flared violently to life.  The red form holding me suddenly snapped awake too, suddenly holding me so tightly that I was immobile.  It took me several seconds before I remembered all that had happened over the past day.  I slowly slowed my struggles until my eyes lay on the blue eyes of the dragoness, half sardonic, half concerned.  She smiled slightly, reassuringly.  “You all right?” she asked.
“I-I suppose,” I managed.
“Good.  I thought that you would be having some problems with your experiences in that dungeon.  It appears that I’m right.”  She changed her tone.  Now she was tender and caring towards me.  “Don’t worry, Keirsah.  We’re both here for you.  I would do anything possible for you.  I love you.”
Again, she had to remind me.  But I wasn’t scared of her anymore.  In fact, after her rescue, I trusted her more than I had anyone else, even my father.  I dimmed my staff and mulled over this revelation as I slowly fell asleep again.  This time there were no nightmares.
When I woke, I was alone.  Serpentyne must have gone out or something.  I spent most of the day in bed, reading a book that I took from the library.  Dryconia stopped in around noon.  She sat next to me on the pad and I rolled onto my side.  First she pulled a bolt of red cloth out from somewhere and handed it to me.  “Here’s a new robe,” she said.  “Since your old one was destroyed I thought that you’d like something new.”
“Thanks,” I said, smiling, slipping it on, and turning back to my book.  It was about ten seconds before I realized that she was still sitting next to me.
“Yes?” I asked, turning.
She had a very serious expression on her face.  “Keirsah, I have something very important to say to you.”
“Yes?”
“I know that my sister is well along in her mating season.  She has resisted mating for over a week and a half for you.  Now you have a choice before you.”  I opened my mouth, but she interrupted me.  “I know, you’re going to say that you’re going to stay true to me, but it’s not that simple.  Once a dragoness has chosen a mate and resists her urges for that mate, it becomes more important than just a dalliance.  It becomes a requirement.  Until you mate with her, my sister cannot be with anyone else.  She will be able to survive, but it may destroy her entire life.”
It never seemed that serious to me.  “So what am I to do?”  I asked.
“I cannot tell you.  You must make that choice yourself.  Just do what you think is right.”  Then she stood up and left.
The rest of the day passed in a blur.  I tried to read, but I couldn’t.  I tried to study, but the spells escaped me.  But I did not have to wait long.  In what seemed like a few minutes, it was time to do the remainder of my duties.  I went out to wait for Serpentyne to return.  I passed the washing in a daze, my mind still running over what the green sister had told me.  As I finished washing the green, I made my decision.
After I was done, I went off and placed my staff in the corner of my room.  I put on an older robe and a belt, then went off to my destination.  The dragoness’s room was still empty.  I lit a bar and brought it to the top of her horde, where she slept.  I placed it beside me, just enough so that she could barely see the light when she came into the room.
A shadow appeared in the room.  I could see the dim crimson from at the entrance to the room.  Her nose was raised to the air.  She could smell me and the scent maddened her now.  I could see her eyes become unfocused as she staggered towards the source of that scent.  Me.  I was strangely unafraid and I loosened my belt as she climbed towards me.  At last her head appeared over the side of the bed.  Her blue eyes sparkled like sapphires in the dim light.  She looked at me, her tongue flickering out over her snout.
“Hello, lover,” I murmured to her just loud enough to hear and opened the top of my robe to her.  She flickered out a claw to trace along my chest gently as she also climbed up next to me.  She placed a claw over the bar next to me and it obligingly went out.
I felt her sharp claw moving along my chest, pulling apart my robe, and when my belt would not open to her, cutting that apart.  I could feel her heated breathing all along my body as my own breath became more and more erratic.  Her claws were now at work on the rest of my body, sliding along my chest, working their way up my legs, moving along my stomach, stroking my hair, and also places less mentionable.
I clumsily groped out and managed to find the fiery dragoness in the darkness.  Now I slowly worked my way along her.  I could feel her head right in front of me.  I slowly ran my hand up it, tracing her crest in the center of her forehead, sliding over one of her horns.  I could feel her breathless chuckle as I stroked her ragged mane, moving along the back of her neck.  Then I moved lower, tentatively groping, finding the two fruits upon her chest, gently exploring as she hissed encouragement to me.
I moved lower still, feeling the subtle dampness between her legs and the smooth flesh under her tail.  I could feel her arching against me as I caressed her, much like the first time I did, but now much more vigorously.  When finally I stopped, a massive blast of hot air impacted against my face as the dragoness stopped holding her breath.  She purred and began to stroke me gently again.
I could somehow see her dimly now.  With the bit of my mind that was not totally enraptured, I noted that my staff appeared again, standing near the bottom of the horde, the ball at the top emitting a pale light that slowly got brighter as I became more excited.
I turned back to Serpentyne.  She, I now saw, was leaning over me, straddled across my midsection with her arms supporting her by my shoulders.  I slowly began to appreciatively look her over.  I never really paid much attention to this fantastic creature, even while I was working on her for my duties.  I had been near her sister, but that was like a whirlwind and I never got the chance to actually appreciate her.
Those deep blue eyes glittered as she saw me contemplating her.  She spread her wings, letting herself swell out to her full draconian size, at least half again as large as me.  What caught my attention now were her wings.  Good-naturedly, she let one fall within my reach.  I touched it gingerly, sliding my fingers along the thin bones that gave it the shape.  She purred and nuzzled my face as I did so, distracting me and allowing the wing to snap back into position.
Now she moved with more purpose, placing her claws upon my shoulders and digging into the cloth below me, holding me immobile.  She lowered her head towards mine, opening her jaw and neatly forcing her tongue into my mouth.  She held the kiss for what seemed like forever while curling her legs about mine, holding us together.  At last she separated from me, a constant purr coming from her throat as the wonderful creature rubbed her body against mine, sending dozens of shocks running through my system.
My arms were released during her kiss.  I gently reached up to touch her, but my wrist was captured in a gentle grip, gentle but impossible to break.  “Not yet,” she murmured softly, placing my wrist back on the cloth and holding it there.  With her other claw she began pawing along my chest, caressing the old scars and the still tender flesh of my youth.  While still transfixing me with those eyes, she moved her head lower down and licked along my throat and face.  And I twitched and squirmed as her tail also came into play, mercilessly tickling my sides.  I never before quite realized the incredible sexual properties of a tail.
I was in heaven.  With every touch of paw, tongue, or tail, a wonderful tremor shuddered throughout my entire body.  But, like all good things, it came to an end far too soon.  As she at last let up, my body was glistening with sweat, my breath coming in ragged pants.  She got up off of me gently and leaned back on her haunches near my waist.
Her claw still had hold of my hand.  She slid up on my body a bit and brought my captive hand up to her chest, allowing my fingers to caress the perfect hemisphere there.  I brought up my other hand, the one not captive, and began to stroke her with that one also.  She smiled and leaned back a bit, making me strain to reach her, and when I did, she leaned further back again, until she was on her back, pulling me atop her with my captured wrist.  Once there, she ran that hand along her chest and spoke.
“Now,” she whispered seductively, “It is your turn.”
Awkwardly, tentatively, I explored her body.  With the one arm that she still had possession of, Serpentyne helped me along, showing me the hidden nerves that she helped me work over, making her body arch with every touch.  I let my head sink down, letting my nose barely touch the center of her chest and slowly moving upwards, taking in the dry, slightly spice-like scent of her.  When I reached her mouth, I engaged her in another long and passionate kiss, allowing myself to slip away in the moment before I broke it again and gazed into her eyes.  She broke that gaze, leaning her head back gently, relaxing into the blankets as she released my wrist.
It was a second voice within me that decided what to do next.  It didn’t force, but the suggestion just had a certain rightness to it that I found impossible to ignore.  I sat up, straddling her across the waist, stroking gently along her stomach, tracing the subtle muscles that adorned her while she hissed in pleasure and encouragement above my head.  I stroked lower, tracing her inner thighs, tickling the smooth flesh under her tail.  I could feel her muscles tightening, her legs wrapping around my back.
I smiled, rubbing my fingers around the swelled flesh that emitted an intoxicating and arousing aroma.  Then I stroked again with my lips, purring in a crude imitation of her constant rumbling that seemed to reverberate throughout her entire body and mine too.  I could now taste her scent upon my tongue.  I was now in control, able to command her every action.  I took advantage of this, wreaking my revenge for every embarrassment that she had inflicted upon me as she howled her lust from what seemed so far away.
At last, she howled one last time, her legs clenching around my shoulders with such strength that I felt sure she would break something.  But, somehow, I made it through as her juices poured out upon my tongue and she finally went limp.  She purred loudly, one claw resting near my head, the other wildly splayed out away from her body.
After a short time, she twitched her claws, moving them to my shoulders and grasping them.  They weren’t pierced, but there would have to be bruises the next day.  With inhuman strength, she pulled me up, also rolling, so that she was atop me again.  She released me, her claws stroking back down along my chest.  She smiled down at me, the expression of lust mixed with tenderness.  I smiled back, knowing what was coming next.
She sank onto me, engulfing my lower body into her, groaning mightily and arching backwards as I penetrated her.  I smiled, in control of myself for once as I curled my hands around her lower back, thrusting into her again.  Her arms gave out and she collapsed, nearly knocking the air out of me.  I could feel her arms and claws working their way around my body and felt her mouth press onto mine.
She twisted about within my grasp, almost as if she was trying to escape from me.  But I seemed to know her and I moved with her, never letting her escape from my embrace.  Her panting breath impacted upon my face when she separated, giving me a hint of sulfur.
Over and over the rhythm repeated, driving me relentlessly towards climax.  I could feel my pulse racing, strangely in perfect unison with my dragon lover’s.  At last we were teetering upon the edge, straining against each other.  It was a moment of strange calm, my breath catching in my throat.  The moment was shattered as the dragoness whimpered, the muscles deep inside her twitching.  I myself made no noise, unable to even breathe as a surge of pleasure washed over me.  The dragoness screamed, her inner muscles clenching about me and, in reaction, my climax also crashing over me.
Hissing, screaming, roaring, she ravished me.  I could not do anything but lay there, whimpering and twisting, as her incredibly strong claws pinned me to the silks.  The feeling was immense, pleasurable rather than the painful I had almost been expecting.  She brought her head close, forcing her mouth upon mine.  That was the last thing I remembered before spiraling into a wonderful, lovely bliss.
I must have slept for a few minutes, but the next thing I was aware of was the dragon’s claws on my chest, caressing me, pulling me back from the void with gentle persistence.  I opened my eyes groggily to her hiss of satisfaction.  The next thing I knew, she was tongue bathing me, gently rekindling my arousal.  She smiled as she finished, glancing over my form.  She knelt in front of me, pulling me up to face her.  She stroked over my shoulders and arms, pulling me in for another passionate kiss.
At her pulling, I responded eagerly, but she fell away from me and I followed, ending up mounted atop her twisting form, thrusting uncontrollably into her.  She stroked me over my back, arms, and neck as she purred in very controlled ecstasy.  I could feel myself coming to her again, unable to even slow the process.  I cried out, clutching even tighter to her body.
I collapsed, but Serpentyne kept right on moving.  Her body surged against mine, driving my arousal up yet again.  I stared at her but soon could think no more as a wave of desire blasted over me.
***
When I thought even my young and energetic body could handle no more, she at last stopped, her carnal appetite sated.  She rolled so that she was next to me and gathered me up in her arms.
“You were wonderful,” she whispered.  “Thank you.”
I didn’t say anything, already falling off into a deep sleep.  She spread her wing protectively over me, smiling, and cosigned herself to oblivion as well.



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