MetallumOperatur said: Glad to see you uploading chapters again now that the forums and club are back! Now it's your turn, I know you have a chapter ready :P MetallumOperatur said: “I could be like a body guard… with benefits?” Writes down idea for a possible business venture. I take 15% royalties :P MetallumOperatur said: tygertyger said: Heh. I'm still waiting for the scene (much later, I grant) in which Sönke meets May's child. Or just sees her with a baby bump. I'd be happy with either. Yes, Sönke might very well become the first guy in the MSG with male offspring :-P Who knows. How many of the girls were favored by the RNG gods (or should it be lords?) may or may not be revealed later :P MetallumOperatur said: Also time for a passport update. Decided to keep a few entries from the previous page as I suspect we haven't seen the last of them. I do hope this is roughly what you had in mind for Daena :-) yay, passport, fits quite nicely :) |
Chapter 47 Soreness was certainly one of those words you could use to describe what I felt when I awoke the following morning. I didn’t regret what I had done the night before and felt, now that it was over anyway, not much in the way of discomfort about it. But there was also a part of me that wondered whether I had made the right decision. My train of thought was interrupted when I felt a smooth hand run soothingly along my naked hip. From the size of the hand I realized it was surely Daena, who seemed to have remained glued to my back all through the night. “Are you awake?” She asked. It seemed obvious that she had somehow sensed my waking. “Hmmm,” I hummed softly. I practically felt her indecisiveness as she fidgeted slightly against my back. “I’m sorry,” she finally said softly. I blinked and tried to imagine what she was feeling sorry about. When I couldn’t find an answer, I turned my head to look back at her. Our sweaty skin separated and she bit her lip as she looked into my one eye. “I mean… It was our first time and I just used you like that, even though I knew you were a bit…” I sighed. Strange as I feel about the whole thing, I don’t feel like she used me at all. Am I not the one who is trying to use her? I turned my gaze away from Daena to look around the small space and realized that May was already gone. Daena was still talking, though her apology had somehow gotten of course. “…and you took it like a champ, I mean I’m not saying we should do this every day, but….” Her voice had turned husky by the time she finished. “I think I’m going to need a day or two after that,” I admitted with a soft chuckle. At least until I’m more used to her. “But May was not kidding when she said you knew how to handle your hammer.” “You know, I could just do you again and again, right now,” Daena said throatily and a lewd smile passed over her face before she turned more serious. “But we should really get going.” She darted forward and I felt her lips barely brush against mine before she pulled back just as quick and swung her legs off the bed to quickly get to work on getting dressed. I watched her forgo her usual, revealing outfit and instead put on a piece of studded leather armor and tight leather pants. Overall, the outfit emphasized her muscular form, but left a lot more to the imagination. I sighed and wondered at myself. Now that the time had come to depart, something I had been keen on for a few days now, I felt a desperate need to stay in bed for just a little while longer. But of course I knew that was not an option. Or rather, it was an option, but not one I was willing to decide on. With a groan and a discomforted hiss, I followed her example and swung my legs off the bed. I rolled my head to make my neck pop a few times and went to work gathering the clothes that I had been granted. “Jeez, you really did a number on me,” I groaned as I felt my thighs tremble slightly. The part of me that was uncertain whether the previous night had been a good call was receiving reinforcements. “Ahh,” she cooed. Her face alternated between looks of guilt and something like pride at the number she did on me. “Like I said, I’m really sorry. But I’m sure it’ll only get easier.” “Yeah, I’m sure,” I yawned as she went over to one of the house’s walls and grabbed a huge warhammer that hung there. I had assumed the thing to be merely decoration, as I figured the weapon was much too impractical to actually wield. It was as tall as I was and the barbed head had easily three times the volume of my head. While I could probably lift the thing, it would be impossible for me to even think about using it. But of course, that was my mistake. Even after months on Arcadia, it was easy to forget just how much stronger the average mamono was compared to myself. And while I did not know where Daena ranked when it came to sheer physical strength, she probably wasn’t on the lower end. In any case, she handled it easily as she strapped it across her back, then picked up one of two travel bags that stood by the door and that I hadn’t noticed at all the day before. I assumed that the other one was mine to carry, so I picked it up after I finally finished dressing and mentally cursed my decreased strength. This would not be a fun first travel day. As we stepped out into the morning sun and were greeted by a large portion of the village, I walked up to them. Though, if I was honest, most of them did not make me feel very comfortable in my skin, I wanted to at least say my thanks and my goodbyes, especially to those that I had gotten to know a little. Lya smirked as I approached her. “Not quite the traditional way, but it seems you’ve been ridden hard and good at least, eh boy?” I gave her a quizzical look. I imagined we might have been heard from outside, but how would she know the details of the previous night? “You walk funny,” she explained with another smirk. I supposed I was walking a bit bow legged. I tried to correct my gait, though I feared it was a moot endeavor, and said my goodbye to the villagers, Shyan, Lya, Danna and lastly May. Before I could open my mouth, she said, with a twinkle in her eye. “No hard feelings, I got my taste.” She then gave me a peck on the cheek. “And who knows.” She meaningfully stroked her stomach. “One way or another, I’m looking forward to the proper wedding.” I did not know for certain what a ‘proper’ amazon wedding entailed, but I had a pretty good idea. She seemed quite certain there would be a wedding, but I was not sure how Kasumi would react to Daena’s proposition. On the one hand she really wanted to include different partners, but on the other hand she was fiercely protective at times. I supposed there was a difference between having a woman join us for a night or two and a more permanent addition. No matter though, I would cross that bridge when the time came. I thought back to the way she had rubbed her belly and swallowed, which made her smile a strange sort of smile. I hadn’t even considered the fact that, unlike mamono, May may not suffer from fertility challenges. It was too late to do anything about it now. What were the odds anyway, even if she wasn’t a mamono? So, instead I set my mind to the journey ahead. Our first destination would be Westholm, the nearest sizable city. With any luck, we would be able to find some sort of clue as to where we might start our search. I was not feeling hopeful it would be a quick affair. Another upside of heading to Westholm first was that I’d hopefully be able to pick up some better fitting and weather appropriate clothing. Asking Daena to pay for it again seemed like I was taking advantage of her, but I had scarce other options. I didn’t have a coin to my name and the temperatures had been sinking quite rapidly. Who could say how long we’d be on the road? And an undersized shirt and a skirt seemed highly inappropriate for a wintery climate. --- The first day of our journey together passed quite uneventfully. Owing to my own soreness and generally still poor physical condition meant that we didn’t make very good time, but I doubted that even had I been well rested, I would not have been able to keep up with Daena’s normal marching tempo anyway. Even with her Warhammer and pack, which was considerably heavier than my own, she marched evenly and lightly and always a step in front of me. While my soreness was an annoyance, it was not enough to ruin my rising mood at the simple feeling of making progress, even if only towards our first goal. But of course it did not always pay to be too optimistic. Because while my soreness could not quite rain on my parade, the actual rain was more than capable. It started pouring during our first night out. I had been concerned about the nights even before we set out, but I had hoped that gluing myself close to Daena and her body warmth would allow me to manage until we could procure some more suitable clothing and equipment. But the downpour that settled in before we set up camp for the first night extinguished all hope of being even remotely warm. Even under the covers and with our bodies closely entangled, I was cold. Cold enough that I could not stop shivering and barely managed to close my eyes all through the night. Daena assured me that the distance to Westholm was not so terribly far and so, since sleep was an impossibility anyway, we broke our impromptu camp in the early hours of the morning. As morning turned to noon, the rain did not relent. In fact, it seemed to grow worse. Halfway through the next day, I had developed an effervescent hatred for mud. With every step I took, it grasped at my feed, pulled at them to keep me from lifting them again. Soon I felt an exhaustion that reminded me of when I first arrived in Ahmose and had been close to giving up struggling against the sand and the hot sun. Right then it felt like a cruel joke that I had ever felt threatened by too much warmth. I required more and more breaks as the hours crawled by and the rain was joined by ever stronger gusts of wind. Harmless at first, but before the day was out, mighty gales howled through the trees all around us and were soon joined by deafening thunder. Strange how I once loved to sit inside and listen and watch a storm raging outside, when I now felt like this one might just snuff me out. “I know a place,” Daena shouted in my ears during one of our short breaks. “We can’t go on in this storm.” You mean ‘I’ can’t go on in this storm, I thought dimly to myself, but felt nothing but glad for the prospect to be out of the pelting rain. “Let’s go,” I shouted back and wondered why she hadn’t said anything about ‘a place’ before. “You’re not going to like it,” she shouted back. “Who cares, it can’t be worse than this,” I shouted back and unsteadily trudged after her as we continued. Even shouting was difficult to manage with my waning strength. We walked for half an hour more when my left leg sank knee deep into a mud puddle. I fell over and struggled to return to my feet. I managed, but couldn’t extricate my leg from the grasping earth. The cold mud seemed to suck the warmth from my limb even quicker than before. Finally Daena picked up my pack, pulled me out of the mud and then slung me across her shoulder as well. With this much weight on her, as well as the storm and mud fighting her at every step, I could feel that even she was having trouble keeping it up. She fought the storm for another hour, an hour that felt like an eternity, until we reached a small hut in severe disrepair. We made it inside, which alleviated a great deal of our storm related concerns, yet the broken-down window shields meant that wind and rain were still blowing inside. “The place is ramshackle,” I shouted as I considered the ruined furniture. “Is that what I don’t like about the place? It’ll still be hard to get warm, but it’ll help.” What was that place anyway? Did someone live here? Or was it some kind of way house to be used by travelers? Daena shook her head, sadly almost, but then put on a resolute face and pointed downward. “There’s a basement,” she shouted over the noise and got up again to open a hatch that I had failed to notice among the scattered debris around the floorboards. The hatch opened into a dark hole in the ground. I looked at her with uncertainty as she dropped our packs down the hatch and gestured for me to climb down. Something about the hole gave me an ominous feeling, but I figured it beat staying up there. And Daena seemed to think it was the best option. With a tight lipped frown, I followed her instructions and clambered down the ladder, though my numb limbs made it a difficult proposition. The amazon followed right behind. The first thing I noted when I got down was that there was a lot more space than I had anticipated. A room mirroring the hut in size, seeming cut from bedrock, with a narrow hallway leading away. The second thing I noted was a faint stench. Something was pulling on me to follow the hallway, but before I had a chance to follow the call, Daena called me back to my senses. “We need to warm up. We can’t make a fire, so we’ll need to use each other’s bodies.” She had already removed her clothing and used her hammer as an impromptu clothes rack. I followed suit and hung up my clothes. Though them being clustered so closely together would mean that they’d dry slowly, if at all. Finally I entered Daena’s embrace. She was not particularly warm either, but this way a portion of the body heat we’d lose, we’d give to the other instead. I had stopped shivering a while back and I knew that wasn’t a good thing. It meant that my body was starting to preserve energy, which meant that blood flow to my extremities would soon be limited to preserve core body heat. Needless to say, I was not trying to lose anymore fingers, toes or other some such. --- Our rest had been a miserable one. Though sensation had returned to my limbs and Daena’s body eventually provided me with some amount of warmth, I eagerly awaited sleep, or unconsciousness or anything else that would allow me not to feel the misery of the wet cold. I could not tell how long we spent there, as the darkness of the cellar made it impossible to tell time, but it seemed like a long while to me. Eventually, our clothes, and more importantly, the blankets were dry enough to use again. We ate from our travel rations as we waited for the storm to pass. We tried to pass the time as best we could, though there was not much to do, and the environment was hardly making me feel like having any sexual adventures. Amazingly, it seemed like Daena was not particularly in the mood either. At least she made no moves on me. Instead, we spent a great deal of time talking. She told me of how she grew up, from being a little girl with dreams of being a great warrior. She talked of her rivalry with her sister and their constant attempts to one up one another. She told me of her travels, which hadn’t actually taken her very far and been mostly limited to Elizabeth. Of her time training for war and of the events surrounding Elizabeth’s rise to lordship, where tribes of amazons, long-time enemies of the previous lord Dorothy, had assaulted the capital. Strangely enough, though she talked of how she’d trained for fighting, she admitted freely that she wasn’t what you might call a great warrior. She could take care of herself, certainly, but she was a better huntress than she was a warrior. In exchange, I talked about my experiences on Arcadia, at least the things I had not told her already. And when that was exhausted, I told her of earth, the good and a little bit of the bad, although she much preferred to hear of the good. That was something I had noticed frequently. Most mamono seemed to see ‘the other world’ as a hidden paradise. A land of milk and honey far away from scarcity and conflict. And while I did not wish to lie to people about the fact that earth was far from a paradise, I also didn’t relish trampling on their dreams. Not when it seemed a certainty that they would never see the real deal anyway. I talked about the technologies that were hard or almost impossible to really grasp for her, the quirks and little impossibilities of life, the rise and fall of nations and empires, often so short lived, especially when looked at through a mamono’s lens of time. Our talks were interrupted by occasional, long bouts of silence, where each of us were lost in our own thoughts. I didn’t really mind that either. Daena didn’t seem to be the type of person that had to be talking at all times to not feel uncomfortable and neither was I. Though I tried to ignore the feeling, all along I still felt the strange pull this place had on me. Whenever I brought up the topic, Daena would evade my question or change the topic altogether. Promising me that she would tell me later, when it was time to leave this place. I didn’t even know why I obeyed her in this. Since we were dry again, it was no longer necessary for us to stay close and I wondered about a lot in the small room to distract myself from the slow crawling passage of time. I could easily walk over there and see what it is, I kept telling myself. And though the pull never abated, somehow I never did. Because, while the place seemingly tried to pull me in, there was also a part of me, one that got louder every time I stepped closer, that told me to stay away. All the while I had the ominous feeling that I’d been there before. A feeling that I might regret going down that dark path. Then one morning, or day, or evening, I really couldn’t tell, we awoke and there was silence above us. “Is it finally over?” I asked. Daena ascended the steps that led up to the hut and I behind her. The inside of the hut was quite ravaged. Even more so than when we first arrived. Dirt, tree branches, leaves and more were strewn about the floor, carried inside by the punishing wind. Outside, though the storm had taken a bit of a toll on the forest, was a picture of serenity. Barely a wind blew, and the forest was filled with the sound of its animal life, no doubt as relieved as I was for the end of the storm. “Come on, let’s get our things and head out.” Daena said. She dropped back down into the cellar to grab our things. I went behind her and quickly collected my traveling pack. I was about to follow her back up, when my gaze was once again caught by the beckoning hallway. “No,” I said to myself. “I need to know.” I jumped back down the few steps of the ladder I had already ascended and dropped my pack to start down the corridor unencumbered. I heard Daena cursing from above, but by the time she had dropped back down, I had too much of a head start. The more I followed the surprisingly long hallway, the more familiar it was to me. My chest tightened as I passed by locked doors, one by one, but I knew that they were not the right ones, my goal was further down, behind the bend. I rounded it and found one door, blown out of its hinges as if something heavy had crashed into it. I stepped through and froze. The room, which seemed to be the source of the stench I noticed when I first dropped down into the cellar, was sparsely furnished. A chair, a little table and a large slab of wood, covered in dried blood, bloodied shackles at the top and bottom end made me uncomfortably rub at my wrists. My breathing grew labored and more urgent as a picture of filed teeth filled my mind. I felt as though I was drawn by a cord and stepped forward. My hand ran over the specks of dried blood. My blood, I reminded myself as a storm of turbulent emotions roiled inside of me. “Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked her. “Why the fuck wouldn’t you tell me?” I shouted. “I thought it might be better if you didn’t come back here,” Daena answered softly from a few steps behind me. “Besides, you knew, didn’t you? At least, you had your suspicion, right?” I frowned, but found I couldn’t disagree with her assessment. That didn’t change th fact that I was angry with her. Daena set her jaw and stepped forward. Her arms opened and she embraced me in an attempt to console my quickly dishevelling self. We spent a good while like this. All throughout I tried to force down everything that tried to force itself to the surface. Only when I felt like I had calmed down enough that I wouldn’t start breaking down immediately, I disentangled myself from her. “Ok, maybe you’re right. Let’s just go,” I stepped around Daena and stopped dead in my tracks. In the frame of the broken down door stood a lone, shadowy figure. Green eyes conveyed a look of glee in her otherwise covered face --- She traced the scar that ran across her face. “Treason must be punished.” “Why do you do this?” I mouthed. “Hmmm.” She affected a thoughtful expression for a second. “I could have taken her, of course. But that would be too easy, don’t you think? Isn’t it much more appropriate to let her know that it’s her fault, that the one she loved suffered for her sins? Isn’t it better to break the future she hoped as she tried to break mine?” I felt anger welling up inside of me. And anger that gave me back an unexpected bit of defiance. “You fucking bitch,” I muttered at her and tried to spit at her. Her gaze turned hard. “That kind of behavior will not help you, but I suppose this would have happened regardless. She gave me this.” She ran a finger along the scar on her face. “And I shall give you the same.” As realization set in, my breath grew panicked and I struggled in my restraints. I desperately moved my head out of the way as she closed in with a sharp blade in her hand. A strong pair of hands grasped my head and held it still as she laid the edge of her knife on my forehead and slowly started to draw it downward. I felt and heard it scraping across my skull as the blood started to flow into eye. I screamed in fear and pain and outrage as the blade cut through my eye before I finally, blessedly, blacked out. --- The flashback faded away and I found myself lying on the floor. My breathing was ragged and choked and I barely had control of my body. I quickly took in the scene before me. The lone, shadowy figure was backing off as Daena swung her hammer in an arc. |
mugen91Nov 23, 2023 7:13 AM
| Yikes! Not the best way to return to the scene of the crime! |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
| Well, at least the senseless violence makes a bit more sense. Now just need to reunite with your missing lady and get some answers =) |
| I'm sure she's only there to relive the good old days... |
emeraldtryst said: Well, at least the senseless violence makes a bit more sense. Now just need to reunite with your missing lady and get some answers =) We might get some answers eventually :P MetallumOperatur said: I'm sure she's only there to relive the good old days... She seemed to be having fun at least. |
| Chapter 48 She was speeding through the forest, her heart thumping with anticipation. If it hadn’t been for the storm, she’d have caught up already, but the risk of losing the trail was too great. And so, she had waited anxiously. For three days the storm had raged on and as soon as it slowed down, she had departed. She was headed towards a little hut hidden in the wood, where she might find her heart’s desire. After a few hours of running, she arrived at her destination. Her heart beat rapidly in her chest, in large part from the effort, but also from the building excitement of finally holding her lover again. She nimbly jumped down the open chute leading into the cellar. Two packs lying on the ground showed her that, indeed, the advice she had received was sound and she was in the right place. She hurried down a hallway and checked each locked door until finally she stood in the frame of a broken door, a tall woman was turned away from her and he was looking straight at her. She was so excited that she barely registered that, instead of the happiness she’d expected, his scarred face reflected horror. She hesitated, not knowing why, and almost didn’t react when the tall woman turned. --- The shadowy shape of the kunoichi barely managed to pull herself back by her tail before the hammer crashed into the doorframe next to her, exploding it into a shower of splintered stone. Closing in rapidly, she sidestepped Daena’s swipe and delivered a spinning kick to her side. Daena swung wildly to create some distance between them, but failed to hit the nimbly dodging fighter. Weirdly enough, the kunoichi was not drawing the weapon sheathed across her lower back. Realization finally set in as my thought paralysis was lifted. “STOP!” I shouted. The kunoichi jumped a few steps back and took on a semi-relaxed pose. Daena kept holding her hammer defensively and took a few steps back before she carefully half-turned her head to me and gave me a questioning look. It was obvious she was trying not to let her opponent out of her sights. “Kasumi?” I asked. “Who else?” She returned the question and removed the mask from her face. I breathed a sigh of relief as I recognized her voice, even if the darkness still made it difficult to recognize her features. I took a few steps towards her and opened my arms. She ran towards me and jumped into my open arms, wrapped her arms and legs around me and almost brought me to a fall. She peppered me with kisses as I wrapped my arms around her and pressed her tight against me. A tumultuous storm of emotions roiled in my chest; Relief, happiness, trepidation, anger, confusion, curiosity and more. In the end, rather than give voice to any of them, I just let her lay her head on my shoulder and breathed in her familiar scent, tinged with fresh sweat, and felt the contours of her body pressed against my own. We remained entangled for a few minutes and neither of us felt the need for words to express our happiness at seeing the other again. When I finally opened my eye once more I saw Daena standing there to the side, looking a bit lost as she awkwardly shuffled her feet with her hammer still in her hands, though she did not carry it in a guard position anymore. I maintained the embrace for a while longer, but finally broke the hug. Kasumi released her grip with some reluctance to let me go. “Oh, what did they do to you?” She asked soothingly and softly stroked my scarred face. Though her words sounded soft and caring and soothing, there was a cold and angry fire that burned in her green eyes. My eye was drawn to the slab of wood once more and she turned to consider the simple looking thing and ran a hand over the dried blood. “Who was it?” She asked, a note of deep anger now present in her voice. “Later,” I said, eager now to leave this place behind me. “Let’s get out of here now.” Kasumi let her hand linger for a moment longer, then followed behind me as I walked to where Daena still stood a little awkwardly. More than awkward, she seemed more than a little uncomfortable with the situation. I took a deep breath anc cleared my mind. Then I clapped her on the back as I passed her. “You coming?” “You sure?” She asked with an uncertain tone as her eyes continued to linger on Kasumi. I stepped into the hallway. Whatever draw the place had had, it was gone. Now all I wanted was to leave the accursed place behind me. After a moment of silence, both women began to follow me, though I could only hear Daena move. Kasumi was as quiet as she ever was. When we reached the hut above and I finally breathed some fresh air, Kasumi, seemingly for the first time since she’d stopped swinging her hammer at her, really considered Daena. “You must be Daena. I am sorry for startling you.” Daena, unexpectedly, turned red in the face. “No, no, no. I attacked you. I’m sorry, I just saw the look on his face and thought he recognized one of them. I didn’t think that… well, you know…” “No matter,” Kasumi cut her off. “I’m grateful that you would protect him.” Daena scratched at the back of her head and shuffled her feat. “Well, you know, it’s only natural I would when…” I didn’t let her finish the thought. I imagined Kasumi knew as well as I where she was going. There was another question burning in my mind now that the fresh air was clearing my thoughts. “How did you find us in the first place?” I wondered. “I thought we’d have a long search for you ahead of us.” “Finding you was not hard,” Kasumi answered. “Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that, after you were found, it wasn’t very hard to find you. Once the report reached Westholm, it only took a few days until we knew where to find you. Before that though...” She sighed and hung her head. “It seemed hopeless. We found Melnik dropped to the ground before we even got close to the harpy. I rushed back to find you and Faela gone. I was not worried then, I thought as long as you were wearing this.” She displayed a ring, the ring she’d gifted me after our impromptu wedding. She wore it on her left thumb. “I was certain I could find you.” That didn’t make things clear at all. “How would this allow you to find me?” “As long as I have the counterpart, I will always be able to find it.” Her eyes turned darker and she shook her head as if clearing her thoughts. “I chased into the underbrush and soon found the ring and other possessions of yours, only without you or Faela. Vela scouted in the air and I tried to find your tracks, but I didn’t find anything to go on with, only the traces of an ambush I failed to see coming.” She sighed and her lips turned into a tight lipped frown. “Vela didn’t find anything either. With no indication of how or where you were taken, it was difficult to start our search. After some time spent searching fruitlessly, we agreed that Vela should deliver Melnik and perhaps see if Marchesa can help in any way.” Then I suppose she got the information she was looking for. I thought, a little bitter. She was not present, so she must’ve decided to pursue her revenge after all. Can’t really blame her for that. Although Kasumi keeps talking about us, our and we. “Without anything to go on, the search did not go very well. We expected that some mamono had snatched you to use you as a mate. It was strange there was no hint or trail of either of you, but that was our best bet. We thought our best hope was to listen for talk or rumors about someone having recently acquired a husband. I visited some of my contacts, so they would contact me if they heard anything. We got lucky, though the report was not what I hoped for. I received word of a report about a human male with your name and mostly matching your description being discovered by a tribe of amazons. We immediately…” she paused as the sound of heavy wingbeats could be heard outside. “There was no one at the other places they suggested, how is it…?” Vela ducked through the door, bent over so as not to hit her head or scrape the doorframe with her horns and stopped talking when she saw me. I saw her eyes focus on my missing eye and the scar running over my face and an angry look filled her face. “I will tear them limb from limb, rip out their wings, melt their faces. I will crush them beneath my claws and make them curse the day they laid hand on what is mine.” She cursed loudly as she stomped over to me and unexpectedly scooped me up and held me in a bone-crushing hug. I groaned as I felt my ribs creaking in protest until her grasp loosened enough for me to enjoy it. The wings on her back unfurled and wrapped around her front, completing the embrace. “I missed you too,” I said, smiling faintly into her voluptuous bosom. “I met with my contact and she gave me the name Ano’sàl and where to find them. We hurried there as fast as possible, but by the time we arrived, the storm was beginning to pick up speed. The chief told us that you had left early on the previous day. We waited for the worst of the storm to pass and split up, going to the places they told us you might have taken shelter at. I hurried here and… you know the rest.” “How long has it been?” I asked, not knowing how much time I had spent down there. “41 days,” Kasumi answered curtly. “Eight days between us finding you and you waking up,” Daena added. “No, my wounds would have taken longer than that to heal, surely? This doesn’t fit,” I protested “Without treatment? Surely,” Daena agreed. “But even without conventional magical healing, our treatment hurried your recovery along greatly. Remember what I told you about our stocks of mermaid blood?” I swallowed and considered the information. “I guess. Maybe,” I conceded, not exactly familiar with such wounds or how long they would take to more or less heal. Not to mention that I was utterly unfamiliar with the treatment methods of this world. After all, aside from the incident in Ahmose, I had had basically no contact with healing or medicine since my arrival. “Do you want to tell us your side?” Kasumi asked gently. “What happened to you? And what happened to Faela?” I frowned. I wasn’t exactly happy to think back on it. In fact, I would have preferred to lock away those memories forever. But surely, they deserved to know, didn’t they? I cleared my throat and tried to think back on it. What had really happened to Faela? How had everything started? I knew that I knew. I just had to dredge up those memories. --- “Why does everything that can go wrong always go wrong?” I asked, mostly annoyed after shrugging off my surprise. I had little doubt that my two capable companions would be able to retrieve Melnik, but wondered if that mamono might have been just a little suicidal, diving in and stealing a man from a group containing a dragon of all things. I’d have expected Vela to be a suitable deterrent. Did she seriously believe that she would get away? And why had she gone for Melnik? Surely, I was a more tempting target than that wretch? Not that I wanted to be kidnapped, of course. “Hmm? What are you talking about. Couldn’t have gone any better, I’d say,” Faela said with a mocking note in her voice. I turned to her with a look of surprise and saw that something was not quite right. Her bearing had changed. She was standing perfectly upright, not sparing her injured leg anymore and looked at me with a mixture of amusement and hunger. That look gave me a really bad feeling in my stomach. I took a slow step backwards to gain some distance from her, but was stopped by the sound of another voice behind me. “To think that a daughter of mine would grow so soft as to be tricked so easily.” Daughter? I turned and saw a familiar sight, though I wasn’t quite sure where I’d seen her before. A kunoichi with a distinctive scar running from her forehead over her left eye socket and down to her chin. The bad feeling in my stomach turned into a pit and I turned to run in the other direction, only to be stopped by two more masked kunoichi that had crept up without so much as a sound. I stopped and looked around and panic threatened to overwhelm me. This didn’t seem like your typical mamono attempted rape thing, which would have been bad enough. This seemed much more sinister. When one of them grabbed my wrist, without even thinking about it, I shifted my weight and hurled her over my shoulder. She was probably less confused at the move than I was, for she made a pirouette in the air and landed gracefully on her feet before, faster than I could react, she closed the distance and struck me on the side of the head. The next thing I knew, I was lying dazed on the ground and tried to think of a way out. The same woman was now holding my arms behind my back and painfully pressed a knee into my spine. Needless to say, I was fast running out of ideas. Left with no promising course of action, I leveled an accusing stare Faela’s way. I highly doubted it, but maybe I could work her sense of honor? “You fucking traitorous bitch,” I cursed at her. Her only response was mocking laughter as she slowly walked closer. I looked at the wound on her leg and wondered how she could walk so easily. She followed my gaze and, with a smirk on her face, ran a finger along the wound. A black mist of sorts welled up behind her finger and when it lifted, it left nothing but unblemished skin. My expression turned even more perplexed as her entire body became enveloped by this black mist and a small statured, black haired girl emerged. “A doppleganger?” I exclaimed, utterly confused now. “Good work Arteya,” the scarred Kunoichi said, ignoring me. “Of course Kiku, but…” the doppleganger, Arteya said. Her voice seemed odd, it held at once a childish note but also filled with malice. After a moment of silence, which she spent grinning at me maliciously, she continued. “I would like to use him before you get started on him. I’ve been horny for days and while I’ve enjoyed the other cur, this whore was having his dick out almost as often as not. It’s only fair I take my recompense when I could not use him without making them suspect me.” The lead kunoichi nodded amicably and after a moment added. “Liliel, your turn.” I heard movement behind me, but couldn’t move my head enough to see what was happening there. I suddenly felt a pain shooting through my left hand as one of the kunoichi stepped hard on it, then bent down to remove the ring Kasumi had given me after the branding ceremony.. “Don’t want the traitor following us.” She said to no one in particular before finally stepping off my hand. “Indeed,” the lead kunoichi agreed. “In fact, get rid of his things. Who knows that else she planted on him.” --- “What did you do with Faela?” I asked. Since I had awoken in the dark room, shackled onto a piece of wood, I had been a bit too preoccupied to actually consider that they must have replaced her at some point. Or had we met up with this fake one from the start? I looked at the small statured woman, Arteya is what the other had called her and waited for an answer. “Hmmm,” Arteya mused. “What makes you think we did anything to her?” I looked at her blankly until she gave a theatrical sigh. “No imagination. You took a trip down the river and after that…?” My eyebrow pulled in as I recalled that part of our journey. After our meeting with Melira we had taken the boats down the stream. The trip down the river had been fairly uncomfortable and Faela had been a blight on my existence. Now that I thought about it, it seemed that after the boat trip, Faela had slowly started to become more tolerable. I squinted my eyes, suspecting that I had found the answer Arteya was leading me towards. Still, what had happened to the real Faela? “Looks like you’re on the right track. Think back to what we found after the first night.” The first night… A sudden violent shock ran through me as I recalled the mutilated corpse we had come across only a few kilometres from our nightly camping spot. I unsuccessfully fought the rising nausea the realization gave me and spat bitter bile on the floor. Arteya giggled softly. “If your stomach is that weak, you’re going to have a tough time in the days to come.” Her seemingly concerned tone was overshadowed by the mirth on her face. A sharp pain then quickly pulled my thoughts from Faela’s fate to my own as Arteya yanked on my jewels a little harder. “I am not here to satisfy your curiosity though, I am here so you can serve my needs. I can see you might not be in the mood.” She looked at my limp dick. “But worry not, I considered the possibility, so open wide!” She held out a little flask and I did my best to turn my head away and keep my mouth shut. She simply held my nose shut until I couldn’t hold my breath anymore. My mouth opened to breathe and she forced the concoction into it. --- I felt dizzy and sighed painfully as I shrugged out of Vela’s embrace, who had continued to hold me during this episode. I turned and leaned against her. I looked at Daena, some parts of the story would be new to her. Then I closed my eye and started with a monotone voice. “Faela is dead.” The lack of startled intake of breath showed that this was, to some degree, expected. “But it didn’t happen on the clearing. She’d been dead for a while. You remember the corpse we found the day after we left the boats behind, Kasumi?” She made an affirmative sound. “That was her, the same people that got me later. A doppelganger who goes by the name of Arteya...” I felt Vela tense up and draw in a sharp breath. “…took her place. Don’t ask me how she knew how to imitate her well enough that you couldn’t tell the difference.” I stopped and let the events of memory pass again before my mental eye and continued with a sigh. “After you two took off after Melnik, they came out. Faela, or rather Arteya…” I felt Vela tense again. “…revealed themselves. I tried to fight back but…” I let out a mirthless laugh. “… whatever good that did me. They forced me to the ground and... I don’t know, next thing I know, I woke up shackled to that thing.” I thought for a moment. “I didn’t see them, but I think someone called Liliel was also important.” I then proceeded to describe the days, as far as I remembered them, in detail. Vela continued to run one of her claws over the unmarred side of my face as I spoke. I saw Kasumi’s eyes growing narrower and angrier as I spoke and the same was true for Daena, though to a lesser extent. Perhaps because she had already heard part of this? Though I could not see her face, I could also feel Vela’s heart beating faster and harder and her body became more tense, though the claw that ran along my face soothingly maintained its soft touch. As I spoke, I felt my mood turn from bad to worse. The high I felt after being reunited with Kasumi and Vela so quickly replaced with the hopelessness that reclaimed me and I slowly felt myself become sick. “I need to be alone for a second,” I blurted out and ripped myself from Vela’s hold to step outside and smashed the door shut behind me. My breath quickened as the world seemed to spin around me nauseatingly before I violently purged the contents of my stomach. When I finished, I slipped down to the ground, my back to the wall of the hut and tried to get a hold of myself. My face cradled in my hands, I could hear the quiet conversation of the women, deliberating whether they should follow after me. I was thankful then that they did not. I closed my eye and focused on my breathing until my heartbeat gradually slowed down and eventually reached a somewhat normal level again. I waited for a little while longer before I took a few deep breaths to collect myself. Trying to ignore the taste of bile in my mouth, I stepped back inside and was greeted by three pairs of worried eyes. “Sorry about that,” I blurted out. In spite of everything, I felt embarrassed for my weakness. I sat down and, after receiving some affirmations to take all the time I needed, I finished my story. “You left out the most important part,” Vela said. “Who did it?” I gave an involuntary dark laughter and shook my head. It seemed perfectly ridiculous. Still, I pointed at Kasumi. “Her mother.” That had about the expected effect, from the shocked expressions, to the disbelieving silence. “That is impossible,” Kasumi finally said. “Why? Your mother would not do that?” “No, she would, but… I killed my mother,” Kasumi said with narrowed eyes and a cold tone in her voice. “Well, that explains the desire to hurt you. Let me guess, you split her face open. Something like this,” I drew my finger across my face, following the outline of the scar. Her eyes momentarily glossed over as she was lost in reminiscence. “Something like that,” she admitted and didn’t sound so certain anymore. Rather, she seemed more than a little worried now. “That doesn’t make sense,” Vela protested. “What’s the point in torturing you, if she wants to hurt her?” “She said something about punishing her directly would be her getting off too easy. Something about punishing those she comes to love. Destroying what she cares about.” “What a coward,” Vela shouted in anger and punched a hole in the wall. “But why would she leave you alive?” “I don’t think my survival was part of the plan.” “If we had found him any later than we did, I doubt we could’ve done anything for him. Many of his wounds were infected and he was delirious with fever,” Daena confirmed my statement. “Still, how would Kasumi know what happened? It could’ve just been someone stealing a man,” Vela argued. “It happens often enough.” I held up my right hand and emphasized the empty space where my ring finger had been. “There’s mail waiting in Bestallion, I think.” There was some subdued silence after this. Kasumi came over to me and ran a hand over my head. “The question is what to do next,” she stated after a moment. “Isn’t it obvious?” Vela blustered. “We can find and kill the bitch and all the others that were involved,” I said coldly. The others looked at me surprised, like they didn’t expect anything like that out of my mouth. “What? Vengeance not an understandable motive? Is a man supposed to smile and grin after this?” “It’s just that you don’t really seem like the type for it,” Kasumi said evasively. I looked at the angry red scars, the painfully stiff fingers on my right hand chuckled darkly. “I’m not sure there’s anyone who wouldn’t dream about slicing that bitch open after what she did.” “You wouldn’t be worthy of being mine if you took all that lying down anyway,” Vela exclaimed. “Anyway, the point of the matter is that we have no idea where to look, no idea how many we’re dealing with. Also…” I fixed a look on Daena. “…now you heard the whole thing, I’m not going to hold it against you if you don’t want to be part of it.” My other two companions gave Daena a measuring look. Kasumi’s face was mostly neutral, but Vela tilted her chin up to look down on the woman even more than she already did with her superior size. She grinned. “Ha, and give up on the sweetest piece of ass I’ve ever had. No, you’re stuck with me. Well, if you’ll have me, that is.” Somehow, that dispersed at least some of the gloom that had settled on me as I retold the events. I even managed a weak chuckle. “Damn, I found myself a real romantic type, eh? Or should I say: “I was found by one?”” I joked and got up from where I sat. “I guess then we should get on the way. Anyone have an idea where to go first?” “She’s your lover?” Vela suddenly asked, a hint of danger in her voice. I shrugged. “That’s no longer just my decision, I think. But I’d like for her to stick around.” “A lover? Or something more? In any case, it’s too early for such a decision,” Kasumi said bluntly, though she hardly appeared surprised. “But, as far as I am concerned, you may travel along with us and prove yourself.” “I don’t like it.” Vela huffed. “A dragon does not share her mate with her lessers.” I raised an eyebrow at this. I hadn’t really paid it much mind yet, but her attitude had shifted considerably. It was true that she had finally loosened up to me before things went to shit, but when exactly had I become hers? Last I knew, she was simply bestowing great favors upon me by occasionally making use of me. However, rather than open that can of worms then and there, I decided to put it of for a later time. “You’re already sharing with me,” Kasumi reminded her. “And this woman saved Sönke. It is only right to at least give her a chance to prove herself.” Vela fixed Daena with an icy glare and, in spite of the more than obvious difference in stature and power, the amazon returned the look without backing down. Finally, Vela narrowed her eyes and huffed. “If you want her around, she’ll share your half of the time with him.” When exactly did we start splitting my time? I wondered. It seems some things had been discussed and agreed without my presence or say so. Still, the most important question still remained. “Well, where to go first?” I asked again. “Westholm would be a reasonable first destination,” Kasumi suggested. “I know someone that might be able to give us a clue, help us even, perhaps.” Vela made a very unhappy face. “What’s wrong?” I wondered. She kept squirmed and kept making an unhappy face, but remained silent for a while. “Westholm is the home of the Nightshrouds,” she finally said. A small shudder ran down my spine. I liked her, even if I was now very unsure where exactly we stood, but the thought of dealing with multiple Vela’s at once was, well, scary. |
mugen91Dec 1, 2023 1:44 AM
| "Westholm is the home of the Nightshrouds." I love little touches like this -- the clan system is something that I don't think was ever discussed, but lots of writers make mention of it. This is the sort of thing that makes a shared universe more consistent, and that makes it more immersive. |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
tygertyger said: "Westholm is the home of the Nightshrouds." I love little touches like this -- the clan system is something that I don't think was ever discussed, but lots of writers make mention of it. This is the sort of thing that makes a shared universe more consistent, and that makes it more immersive. Not to mention that there might be some shared story time incoming :P |
MetallumOperatur said: An elf getting laid!? What madness had this world plunged into!?!!! Phiew, it sucks to be Faela, but at least my world makes sense again... Also looks like Sönke is Dragon property now. Can't tell if that is good or bad, though. Depends on the nookie, I guess. ;-) |
MetallumOperaturSep 2, 2018 2:07 PM
Chapter 49 We had spent a little more time by that cabin in the woods, but finally set out again to continue on the same way that Daena and I had originally been on. I stuck close to Vela, since I had some questions. “Not that I’m not happy to see you,” I said somewhat cautiously. I had been pondering how exactly to broach the topic, but had failed to come up with a better idea than just to ask. “I was honestly expecting you to be off pursuing your own revenge.” She turned her head to stare down at me for a moment, then harrumphed. “You’re mine,” she said, as if that was all that needed to be said. “What about your aunt? Avenging your mother? Didn’t you get your info from Marchesa?” “I did,” she said tersely. “And?” I was growing annoyed at having to extract the information bit by bit. Vela however seemed in no mood to divulge any further information. She had a tight lipped frown on her face, but wouldn’t say any more. With all the catching up we’d done earlier, it was already late in the day when we left and some time later I was facing an entirely new problem. Soon it would be time to go to sleep. Of course, none of them said anything, but the sense of expectation in the air was palpable. That was a challenge I had not thought about before. Two women were certainly doable. Just have one on each side. But three? Three provided a logistical challenge and seemed to be a kind of damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation. The palpable tension rose as we were busy clearing a spot of the storm ravaged forest to set up camp. All three of them steered well clear of the question while he took a simple dinner, but their faces said all that needed to be said. Vela threw the other two demanding looks. Kasumi looked determined. Daena seemed somewhat uncomfortable. In the end, when it was finally time to turn in for the night, it was Daena who was nice enough to spare us from an awkward situation. With a sigh, she said. “It wouldn’t be right of me to butt in on the first night.” “Damn right.” Vela muttered somewhat satisfied. Without further ado, she grabbed me and pulled me down to the ground with her. Kasumi was not far behind as Vela held me fast with ease. --- “Now I know who to thank for your appreciation for dick,” Daena was laughing and clapping me on the back as we approached Westholm the following day. “Well, she wasn’t the first,” I said awkwardly. “But the one who hooked you,” Kasumi put forth playfully. We arrived at our destination in the early afternoon. Westholm wasn’t quite your typical city. In fact, it blended quite beautifully into the forest. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say it was difficult to distinguish from the forest surrounding it. Even more so than Elewyr had been, Westholm was a city populated with trees and the biggest indicator I had that we were now in the city was the number of people gallivanting about and the fact that many of the great trees around us seemed to have doors built into them. Due to the numerous trees strewn throughout the city and obstructing my vision, it was difficult to identify any landmarks, aside from the one, massively large tree that was located some distance ahead. “I know just where to go. To the prancing Centaur!” Daena declared and strode out with confidence. We followed behind her through the tree filled city. I noticed a lot of insectile and plant species of mamono around. I saw especially many honeybees, alraunes and some kind of tentacled plant mamono. Luckily, though there were much more than out in the forest, the ways between the trees weren’t filled up too much. Nonetheless I felt a disquieting sense of discomfort whenever I saw one of the women leering too openly my way. Despite the moderate number of mamono in the streets being rather welcomed in that particular moment, I could not help but wonder where the rest was. This was supposed to be a dryad city, yet there was barely a dryad to be seen. Many trees throughout the city had doors set in the trunk, but the space that hollow trees offered seemed hardly sufficient to make up for all the missing people. Daena led us to one of those large trees with a door set in the trunk. Still dubious about the potential logistics, I followed her through and my breath caught in my lungs. Though my brain adamantly attempted to refute the possibility, the inside of the tree was decidedly more spacious than should be physically possible. It also did not feel like we were inside a hollow tree at all, more like we were suddenly in an entirely different space. “What’s going on?” I asked and worry crept its way into my tone and my anxiety flared up. “Where are we?” “Inside the heart tree?” Daena suggested. Her calm and carefree posture suggested she had no idea what I was so flustered about. “But how?” I looked around me. It certainly didn’t look like the inside of the tree. Or rather, perhaps that’s what the tree might look like on the inside, if it were hollowed out and much, much bigger? Although there was no obvious source of light, it was not dark inside. There was furniture strewn throughout the room, a bar located on the far side, except rather than made artificially, it looked like everything was growing right out of the ground and the walls. A few mamono were sitting inside, but didn’t pay much attention to us. We were greeted by a beautiful dryad soon after stepping in. Aneksi had spoken a little about dryads and their heart trees, but I had not expected anything like this. Or perhaps, even knowing to expect it to be bigger on the inside, I had barely been able to imagine what that would be like. I figured at least part of it might have been that it felt very weird to know that we were in the dryad’s heart tree, which she was fused with. To some degree, it kind of felt like we were inside of her. Kasumi paid her for two rooms and we headed up a set of stairs that trailed the outer edge of the ‘room’ and seemed to be made of a myriad of intertwining branches. Above was a similar room, except this one had weirdly cylindrical hallways going off at irregular intervals. We entered one of those and entered one of our rooms. “Am I the only one who thinks this is weird?” I asked incredulously. My companions just shrugged, which seemed to indicate that I was indeed the only one who thought of this as strange. “We’re in a pocket dimension, that’s why it’s bigger on the inside than on the outside,” Daena explained in a tone as if things were obvious. “But how does it work?” I asked. It was one thing to hear that mamono like dryads or mimics worked with pocket dimensions. Quite another to actually experience it. “It’s magic, of course. Innate mamono magic, in this case,” I shook my head with some annoyance. As always, getting the ‘duh, it’s magic’ explanation of how the hell things worked in this place was intensely dissatisfying. It made me feel like mamono were taking their magic too much for granted. How could they not feel any wonder at how this was possible? But then I reminded myself of all the technological marvels we had back on earth. Most people perhaps understood some of the underlying principles, but didn’t understand how different devices and products did what they did in detail either. Perhaps it was just a sense of normalcy that drove people to accept things for how they were. Our room was simple enough. It consisted of little more than two beds and some shelf space, but it filled our immediate needs. All the room’s amenities followed the same pattern of seemingly growing out of the walls and floor. It was certainly better than staying in a moist, cold cellar while a storm raged above. As the others dropped their things and started to head out again, I asked Kasumi to stay behind. Both Daena and, in particular, Vela, gave me a long look at that, when in the end both of them headed out without complaint. When the door was closed and we were alone I started. “I didn’t want to say anything earlier, since you had trouble speaking about it before, but I think I deserve to hear the whole story now.” She frowned and I frowned back. I knew she didn’t want to talk about it and I had been happy to wait before. But after everything that had happened, I felt I had to know now. Even if I was asking a lot of her. Her frown slowly morphed into a look of uncertainty and she held my eye for a while until she let out a deep sigh. Her arms crossed before her chest in a visibly defensive posture even as she began to pace back and forth the room for a moment. She sighed again and finally sat down on the bed next to me. “You’re right,” she said. “After what happened, it’s natural you’d demand an answer. I suppose so.” In spite of what she’d said, she fell silent after that and closed her eyes. The silence stretched for a good long while. A good long while I spent getting impatient, yet remaining silent myself. Finally Kasumi opened her eyes again and took a deep breath. “I grew up in a village of only my kind. My own clan. One that was headed by my mother. We made a living by doing other people’s dirty work; espionage, blackmail, sabotage, intimidation, even assassination. You name it” “Isn’t that pretty much what you do for Marchesa?” I asked. I took some effort to keep my tone neutral. And if I was being honest, there wasn’t much of a surprise behind her words so far. She pursed her lips and shot me a measuring glance. “Yes and no. The work I do for Marchesa is to maintain the status quo. She cares about maintaining her power, keeping people in line. My work before was… sowing chaos. We started conflicts, supported the worst scum on the continent, ensured that things never got better, only worse. I mean to say, it was not only that. But a lot of it was. This was about… 150 years ago. At least, that’s when I myself started being assigned to missions. My mother was…,” she heaved a disgusted sigh. “My mother has two qualities she used to become the leader of our clan. She is more fertile than any woman I’ve ever met and she is skilled at manipulating people. By the time I was a woman, a large portion of our clan consisted only of my sisters. And me and my sisters were raised to think in two terms only. There was us and there was them. Everyone that wasn’t us was irrelevant. Everyone who wasn’t us was weak and paying any heed to them or their needs was the same as being blinded by their weakness. I was barely aware of, or maybe I just did not care about, what consequences my actions really had.” I narrowed my eye, but didn’t say anything. Their was a hint of a tremble in her normally controlled voice. “It’s not meant to be an excuse. Having her for a mother doesn’t excuse the things I did.” She sighed and seemed to collect her thoughts for a moment. “My mother had big plans. Although she held power in her position, she wanted more. She didn’t want to work for others, she wanted others to work for her. Did you know that Kioko was once ruled by a coalition of kunoichi clans? My mother was obsessed with the idea. Thinking about it today, it seems ridiculous, but then? But to work towards that goal, she had to build more power, more influence. And for that, she needed more soldiers. Whenever we were out on missions, we were on the lookout for breeding stock.” “And I suppose that’s when that guy you mentioned before enters the equation?” I dared to interrupt her story. “Yes,” she said, her eyes downcast. “It was not always easy to get our hands on men, it never is for anyone, I suppose. Sometimes, a target of ours would own one of their own, but getting them out was difficult. One day, I had been going on assignments for a few years by that point, I was sent to kill a werewolf that was a little too successful in one of Kaori’s many conflicts. When I killed her, she had this man with her. He was not in a good state, probably a slave from the pits and thought he was being saved.” She sighed again and gave me an apologetic look. “I managed to get him out and sated my needs. He wouldn’t stop calling me an abomination before the lord, that he’d rather go back than lie with me. Weirdly, he really didn’t seem to know anything about the Lords. My mother had taught us that it was a game men played. They act reluctant, though they really just wanted to be used. Why else would it be so easy to excite them? Deep down I knew, of course, but another part chose to ignore this and use the convenient explanation. Men were not us, so their needs weren’t of any consequence anyway. Even though he was so reluctant, I took a liking to him. He filled out a little more after I brought him back to the village and he turned into a pretty one. I soon stopped using the other men in favor of him. The other humans started to like him too, he had a gift for easing their worries. He talked with them, listened to them and told them strange fairy tales. At first, mother looked at it favorably. That was until he started to incite them against us. It started harmless, they sometimes refused their food, so we would simply force them to eat. They tried other forms of passive resistance, but without much success. Then two of them killed themselves. I had started to nurture some doubts by this point. Not out of some sense of nobility. Mostly because I wanted him to myself. After the incident, I was summoned before my mother and she was not in a good mood. Since I was the one who brought him in, she made accusations. I should have seen it coming, really. Losing two men? That required someone to take the blame and it couldn’t be her or her policies. She accused me of spoiling him and conspiring with him to turn the men against the clan. She made a big show of it. Musing how she might punish me for my transgressions. In the end, she suggested that if I wanted to take a bit of the strain off of the men, I should just join them. I was a futanari and though the chances for pregnancy are much lower, I could be used for breeding and relief just as well as any man. Just as any man, except that my sisters were instructed to make sure I regretted my actions.” She bit her lip hard enough that a thin trickle of blood ran down her chin. I had wanted to remain quiet until she finished her story, but couldn’t help putting a hand on her shoulder and squeezing softly. “Your own mother did that to you?” I asked. A mirthless sort of laugh came from her mouth. “Believe me, it’s far from the worst she’s done.” As if to emphasize the point, she traced a finger along my scarred face. Then she took a deep breath and continued her story. “This went on for about ten years. Around then, my mother finally felt confident enough with her forces to make a real powerplay. She started to disrupt operations of a certain powerful mamono, one with her hands in diverse… ventures. While things went well at first, the tables were soon turned on her. One of my sisters was captured and failed to end her life as we had been taught. I don’t know what exactly they did, but I heard it involved a great deal of pain and finally, a necromancer. No matter how they did it, the identity and location of our village were out. After that, it did not take long for Marchesa to launch an assault and there really wasn’t much to be done. My people were capable fighters, but open battle against hardened formations? Not to mention the magical barrages?” She shook her head. “When the guards left to join the fight, I escaped my shackles, found a weapon and went in search of my mother. When I found her, she was distracted by the bad tide the battle had taken and before she knew what was happening, I was upon her. I slashed open her face, then stabbed her in the neck. There was more I wanted to do, but I was forced back by two of my sisters. She was lying unmoving on the ground and there was so much blood, I was so sure she was dead.” Her gaze turned contemplative. “The distraction in the back did not help the already losing battle. I did not resist and was captured. After some time spent… in imprisonment, Marchesa offered me to work for her instead.” “Just like that?” I asked. “I mean, you belonged to the enemy and she has no reservations?” Her eyes clouded over and she took on a pensive expression. “Not just like that. She took extensive measures to ensure that I had no lingering hostile intent towards her, nor any loyalties towards my dead mother or sisters.” “I thought you had developed doubts? Why start working for her to do the exact same thing?” She sighed. “It’s not the same. I rarely get sent to kill someone. I am not instigating conflicts anymore, it’s just… business.” “But you still kill people,” I protested. “What would you prefer? A turf war where civilians get involved or a single clean kill that smothers conflict before it starts?” she asked incredulously. “Obviously just the one. But…” “But it would be better if there was no conflict in the first place? That’s just not the kind of world this is.” There was a hardness to her voice that made me frown. Of course I knew that she told the truth. And if I was being honest, the world I was from wasn’t that kind of world either. Even if I had never had any touching points with these darker sides. “I guess you’re right. But I’d prefer it if it wasn’t you doing the dirty work,” I told her earnestly. I took her hand in mine and squeezed softly. Her eyes turned soft and she kissed me on the cheek as she returned the gentle squeezing of her hand. “I know.” I sighed. “Still, that’s quite a story. I can’t even imagine going through that for ten years.” A shudder ran over my spine. Even without the torture, I doubted I’d have survived the constant violent gangraping. “And she’s alive.” I registered a hint of fear and anger in her voice. “And she did this to you.” Her hand ran over my face softly. “I swear I will make her regret ever resurfacing.” The slight trace of fear was gone and now there was steel in her voice. “There’s a piece or two that I would like to cut out of her myself.” Was all I could say to that. We sat next to each other in silence, each lost in our own violent fantasies. While the thoughts initially gave me a warm, tingling feeling, after some time they turned depressing, so I decided to change the subject. “So… you were jealous? Wanted the guy all to yourself? Hard to imagine with… how open you are now.” Torn out of her own thoughts, she smiled. “Hard to imagine, huh? Shall we head down to the others, before they wonder what happened to us.” She got up, but I grabbed her hand. She looked at me curiously. I bit my lip and pondered my words, then decided to just say it. “I just want you to know that this doesn’t change anything between us.” She smiled, turned and straddled me. Then she gave me a long, fierce and breath-taking kiss before grabbing my arm and pulling me after her, out of the room. We headed back down to join up with the others, who had taken a seat at one of the tables and seemed to have ordered for all of us. Four mugs were standing on the table and the dryad that had greeted us earlier was just delivering an equal number of steaming bowls. “That was quick,” Daena said with a salacious grin. “Just talking,” I said quietly. In spite of my words, I found myself in a contemplative mood. “Don’t look so glum now,” she said in an attempt to encourage me. “Drink up and you’ll feel better.” I followed her advice and gripped the mug in front of me, drinking deep gulps of the warm, spiced wine. The warmth that quickly suffused my body caused at least some of the tension I was feeling to release. We dug into our food, though Daena and especially Vela didn’t seem to be pleased to find no meat in it. “What’s our course of action then?” Daena asked when we were finished and had gotten a refill of our drinks. “I will take Sönke to the university tomorrow to meet my contact,” Kasumi declared. “We’ll see if she can help us find our quarry, perhaps even offer assistance… and of course, what her price will be.” “Why are you taking him alone?” Vela asked, her eyes narrowed. “Sönke might have relevant information, so he is coming. She does not appreciate large crowds, so we’re keeping the group small,” Kasumi explained with a tone of finality. “Fine, but I want us to keep our stay here in Westholm short,” Vela said, her tone conveying a sense of finality of her own. One might almost think she doesn’t care for visiting the family, I mused as I took another deep drain of my mug. “It almost seems like there’s not much planning to be done until we’ve met with that contact of yours,” I observed. “Although I’d like to see about getting a glove for this, I don’t like looking at it.” I held up my useless hand. I gave it a light flex of the fingers with a pained expression to emphasize the point. “I’m sure we can find something to accommodate you,” Kasumi said with a smile, though a hint of worry was showing through. “Perhaps we should turn in early.” “Actually,” I said with a sheepish grin. “I was hoping to have some fun.” Three pairs of eyes fixed on me very intently, very quickly. “What did you have in mind?” Kasumi asked finally. Hoping I was not going to regret it and being quite aware of how selfish it was, I said. “I was thinking… all three of you.” Kasumi smiled lewdly while Vela harrumphed. “I’d prefer to have you to myself.” “Well, your loss, our gain,” Daena laughed, laying one of her muscled arms over my shoulder and pulling my head down into her cleavage. “You are still on probation,” Vela warned, getting up. “Don’t forget that he is MINE first and foremost.” She snatched me from Daena’s grasp and employed the frighteningly embarrassing princess carry and beat her mighty wings, causing a gust of wind that knocked over the mugs on the table next to us, much to the clamoring complaint of said table's occupants. My budding embarrassment quickly gave way to a feeling of elation, as we rushed towards the stairs, giving her (and me) a good head start. How is it that I’ve been laying the dragon and this is the first time we have done something like flying? I wondered, determined to change that. As she dropped me on the bed, Vela warned. “I hope that you’re ready, I’ll thoroughly show you just who is number one.” I chuckled nervously, as Kasumi and Daena stepped in, their bearing not indicating that they intended to let Vela steal the march. Well, I asked for it. I thought with a mixture of arousal, anticipation and trepidation. |
mugen91Dec 8, 2023 2:47 AM
| Three-on-one, and no Ityphallikos Curse to help out. I see a rough night ahead. Fun, but still rough. |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
tygertyger said: Three-on-one, and no Ityphallikos Curse to help out. I see a rough night ahead. Fun, but still rough. Perhaps our MC is aided by the fact that two out of three are able to help out by taking a more... active part :P |
TsunamiSeeker said: Since your story seems to be going on strong I think I should try to finally catch up! Before that unfortunately two month shut down of MAL... I believe I got to the point where your MC left Ahmose. Again looking forward to where it all leads. (Obviously trying not to read the story on this page to avoid spoilers) XD Good idea probably :) You have a few chapters to catch up on :P |
| Welcome to Westholm! You made it there before me ;-) |
Chapter 50 To my immense surprise and relief, I was a lot less sore than anticipated when the next day came around. Not to say that the three women hadn’t been trying, but I didn’t feel like I had anything to complain about. I had asked for it, after all. We ate a quick breakfast and soon after, I got ready to leave with Kasumi. To my puzzlement, we didn’t head for the door however. Rather, we took a set of naturally grown stairs downwards. The natural wood that encompassed everything within the heart tree was soon replaced largely by a tunnel of packed soil that was streaked through with roots of all sizes. A number of mamono were busily walking by as we stepped in. “Any reason we’re going below ground? Does your contact live down here?” I wondered. Were we even still in the heart tree’s pocket dimension? “No, this is just the fastest way to travel from heart tree to heart tree,” Kasumi explained. “We’re going to the university.” “You have uhmm…,” I fumbled for the right word. “…criminal contacts at the university?” “Sedaris is the Rectrix Magnificus, not a criminal. I have solicited her services before to help me with… things.” I bit my lower lip and considered her somewhat doubtfully, then shook my head and let it go. “Well, if you say so.” We headed through the tunnel network that connected the separate pocket dimensions of the city's many heart trees. After a short while, though I felt like we had barely put any distance behind us, we ascended yet another set of stairs, only this one was much wider than the one at the inn. We entered the room above and my mouth involuntarily dropped open. In my mind there was little doubt that this was the inside of the massive tree I had observed when we first arrived the day before. Even if you considered the bigger-on- the-inside magic that was going on with the heart trees, this was well beyond what I expected. “This is the university?” I asked in wonder. “It’s Irene’s heart tree. The governor of the city. The university is one of the institutions hosted in it. It’s also the seat of this region’s government.” “Hmm,” I mused as I looked around and contemplated what I saw. Unlike the inn we stayed in, this place had windows high up that seemed to let in natural light, though I wondered if you could actually see outside if you were to look through them. After all, we were not simply inside a big tree, but rather a pocket dimension. There were a fair number of mamono and even a few handful of humans up and about the place, perhaps some of them were students? How did university work on Arcadia anyway? I doubted that they offered Bachelor and Master programs here. As I pondered the question, Kasumi took the lead. She seemed well aware of where to go and did not appear plagued by the same multitude of questions as I. After a fair few minutes of walking, she had led us up multiple flights of great stairs until we walked through a weirdly cylindrically shaped hallway that reminded me of the one that our room at the inn was located in. Only that the corridor was significantly wider. Only now did I wonder if these might be representative of the tree’s branches. Kasumi knocked on a door and stepped in after hearing a nondescript noise from inside. I shrugged and decided to shelf these questions for the moment to follow her inside. Inside, I was forced to quickly halt my stride. I didn’t know what I had expected, exactly, but I had not expected this. The large, richly appointed room was overflowing with books. Books on elaborate shelves on every wall, books stacked on every decorated chair, or rather, on any surface available, many even on the floor. Given that, to my knowledge, there were no printing presses on the island and remembering how much I had paid or the books I had owned back in Bestallion, this seemed a vast fortune indeed. “Who is it?” A voice asked from behind a stack of books on a large desk of dark wood. I noted that, unlike almost every other fixing or piece of furniture I had noted so far, most of the furniture in this room did not appear to have grown out of the tree itself. “Kasumi,” Kasumi replied evenly. “Kasumi? Ah, yes, of course. I received your message, please take a seat,” the voice intoned. When did she send a message? I wondered. Had that been before they found me? No, that did not make much sense. But I hadn’t noticed her having the time to do anything the night before. I shook my head to put the thought out of my head. She had probably made some arrangements while Vela, Daena and I had been imbibing. Kasumi, after all, had not drunk anything. I looked around with a dubious look, not sure where exactly we were supposed to take a seat. Kasumi simply removed a stack of books from a chair and carefully placed it on the ground. With a shrug, I followed her lead and curiously looked at the top book of the stack. For some reason I was unable to read the title. This bugged me since I was somehow able to read most of the writing here on Arcadia, even though the writing system they employed differed from the one I was familiar with. Even if I might be unable to read some or even most of the books here, the thought of staying for a while, just perusing them, intrigued me. I sat down next to Kasumi while our host was clearing some space on her desk, allowing us to finally see her through two towers of books. The pale, blue-ish hue of her skin, along with the tail that was snaking its way around the desk, made me guess her to be an echidna. Her eyes were still cast down towards the book she had been reading, lying open in front of her and did not seem to pay much attention to her guests. “Your message was quite vague. What can I do for you?” She asked in a disinterested tone. Kasumi gave her a brief, efficient outline of our situation, giving her the essential information and outlined what we wanted from her. Only when Kasumi got to the point where I, along with my kidnappers, seemingly disappeared from the clearing, did she finally look up from her book. Her piercing green eyes fixated on me gave me an instant feeling of arousal and I guessed this one to be quite powerful, or at least possessing vast quantities of demonic energy. “Are you saying you teleported away?” She asked me directly and the intent look in her eyes had an uncomfortable intensity. “I don’t know. My memories aren’t clear on how we left the place, but when Kasumi and Vela returned, we were gone. No traces were leaving the clearing and even with Vela’s aerial surveillance they couldn’t find anything.” “Hmm,” she mused. “Teleportation is something rarely encountered outside of the lords themselves. I find it hard to believe that a group of lesser importance such as this would have access to such powers.” She seemed to be lost in thought for a moment. “There are other methods of magical transport, still requiring far greater power than most possess, yet more limited than true teleportation.” “We are mostly interested in finding them, not to find out how they did it,” Kasumi tried to gently steer the conversation back on track. “And yet, to know how they move would aid you in that endeavor, would it not? If they indeed used one of these methods I have in mind, it may be possible to trace them that way.” Her fingers drummed on the dark wood of her desk as she considered her own words. “There are other methods that might help you get an approximate location on your target, especially given your… association, but it would be preferable to me to explore the first option,” the echidna decided. Then, the curious expression on her face slowly morphed into something more business-like. “Naturally, I will require something in exchange for what you ask.” “And that is?” I asked carefully. A brief smile flashed across her lip and disappeared again as she began to explain what she wanted. “As it happens, not too long ago something of an enigma has surfaced that is deserving of investigation. To make it brief; An unknown cave complex with some mystery surrounding it was recently discovered. Lord Elizabeth herself seems to have taken a keen interest and commissioned the recently founded intrepid trailblazer’s society to enter the caves and investigate. While I will have access to the official reports and debriefings, I want to make sure that I will have access to full and unaltered records and accounts. I want you to join them and record what you find down there and report back to me anything that might be of interest without any… undue filtering of information.” “What is it you think we’ll find there?” I asked as my brows narrowed. “Is it something dangerous?” “No one knows,” Sedaris explained. “But the Lord herself has shown such interest, it is only natural that I’d be curious, no? You should discuss the specifics with the trailblazers.” “Can’t we just pay you?” I asked. If I was being honest, what she said was somewhat intriguing, but I also really didn’t want to get bogged down with this chore right now. Not when there were bigger fish to fry. “I have little need for money,” Sedaris explained. “My interests lie more with things I cannot easily purchase. “You could buy… more books,” I said hesitantly with a look around the already overflowing room. “I have named my price,” the echidna stated resolutely. “Now I would say it is up to you to say whether you will do it or not.” I could feel the echidna’s interest in us slipping as her gaze drifted back down to the book she’d been reading. Kasumi gave me a long, measuring gaze, but finally nodded to the woman. “Marvelous, I was preparing to send some of my students or deal with other, adventure friendly types, but your work has been of value in the past. I recommend you get in contact with the trailblazer society soon. From what I understand, it will be a while yet before they leave, but it won’t hurt to convince them of your merits sooner rather than later.” “If it will be a while yet, perhaps we could start with your end of the agreement?” I suggested. “I think not. You have come here because you need something from me. It’s only appropriate that you do something for me first, no?” Her eyes never left her book, but I felt there was no point in arguing with her. She seemed fairly content, regardless of our answer. Kasumi sighed. “I know there is no point in arguing. We will do this for you.” “I shall make an appointment, so I can make an introduction. After that, I eagerly await your report,” she said with a brief smile. Though her posture didn’t change and she was still not looking at us, it was clear she had just dismissed us. We left the room and made our way back down. “I honestly can’t tell if this went well or poorly,” I admitted. How extensive a task had we just agreed to? Would the others be on board with it as well? Was there any other way to get what we wanted? “It went just about as expected,” Kasumi replied. “Sedaris has never accepted money in exchange for favors. It has always been favors for favors. Besides, this might not be the worst idea to disappear for a few months.” “Won’t the trail go cold?” I wondered dubiously. Kasumi shook her head. “The trail is already cold. But someone like her doesn’t need a physical trail of evidence to help us.” I bit my lip, then nodded. She had more experience with this sort of thing than I did. So what could I say? Instead I turned my mind to the new business at hand. “So, what exactly do you think this expedition will entail?” I wondered. “Hard to tell. I think the point of the expedition is to find out what exactly we might find,” she said teasingly. “I was just hoping to wrap it up quickly,” I said, a little frustrated. She gently reached around me and pulled me close to her. “We will get her. She’ll pay. For everything.” I frowned down at her. “I hope so,” I replied, though I did not feel entirely convinced. “Come on,” Kasumi suddenly said and wrapped her prehensile tail around my waist to pull me along. We left the university and the entrance area was much emptier than it had been before. Rather than go back down into the network of tunnels, we exited through a great gateway and stepped out of the pocket dimension and into the brisk midday sun. We walked for a little while until she stopped in front of a tree. “Come on,” She said with a smile and started to climb the tree. I shot a doubting look at my crippled hand and she quickly wrapped her tail around me again and helped me follow after her. She didn’t carry me up, though I knew she easily could have. Instead she just made it easier for me to pull me up myself. Before long, we reached a collection of sturdy branches quite high up, yet strong enough to support us. I leaned against the trunk and Kasumi laid down on the branch with her head in my lap. I gently brushed my hand first over her cheek, then her hair. She made an appreciative sound and closed her eyes. I spent a little while looking around, taking in the vista of Westholm. It was still hard to truly tell we were in the middle of a city. Sure, there was the occasional conventional building. More than the occasional, actually. But there were so many trees still, you could see only a few of them at a time. After satisfying my need to study my surroundings, I followed Kasumi’s lead and closed my own eye. It felt peaceful to sit there in relaxed silence. Almost like things were fine. None of us said a word for many minutes, until I decided to break the silence. “Not that I mind the others having joined us, but it’s nice to be able to spend a little time like this,” I said quietly. Kasumi chuckled. “Shouldn’t it be me that complains about not having you to myself?” “Maybe,” I admitted. “Though it feels like you don’t mind too much.” “Maybe,” Kasumi conceded. “I never expected to have a man for myself. Most mamono don’t. Not with the imbalance in the population. So even when I share you, I feel like I’m lucky. I smiled down at her still closed eyes. And yet you had me to yourself, originally, I thought quietly. You never seemed very intent on keeping me for yourself only. “That said,” Kasumi continued and she opened her eyes as a mischievous grin briefly flitted across her face. She grabbed my hand and moved it down to her breasts. “It is true I have not had you alone since our reunion.” Rather than massage her breasts, as she likely intended, I pulled her up so that she was leaning against me and only then moved my hand down her tunic and started lightly playing with her breasts. She turned her head and gave me a soft kiss. “Hmm, that looks nice,” A voice intoned from above us. I froze and quickly looked up. A dryad was lying on a branch above and was smiling down on us. “Don’t stop on my accord now. Unless…” She added lasciviously. “…you’d like me to join in?” “Sorry, we’re kind of having a moment here,” I said apologetically. She puffed her cheeks playfully, but didn’t seem too angry. “Then I will have to settle for watching.” “Well, I was kind of hoping for some privacy,” I said, still in an apologetic tone. She laughed brightly. “You’re on my heart-tree honey. I’m going to know what you two get up to, whether I’m here or not. And in any case, I’m sure you can at least give me a little show?” I looked at her doubtfully, but Kasumi had already made up her mind. She clasped my jaw and pulled my head back down to her to kiss me again. It had to be said that her efforts were working well in eroding my reluctance. She nimbly turned around and kneeled before me. “I want to feel you inside me now.” Her hot breath in my ear and the seductiveness of her tone convinced me that if we were going to do it on her tree, then let the damn dryad have her show. --- In retrospect, though I had wanted to enjoy the feeling of our joined bodies for longer, it was really not the time of year to sit naked in a tree. At least, aside from the dryad, we had not drawn much attention to ourselves. It seemed Kasumi had intentionally moved us to a quieter area. When we were done and had, somewhat awkwardly in my case, gotten redressed, we climbed down the tree. I had expected she might lead us back to our inn and the others, but instead we spent an amicable day strolling through the city. Considering how far it was from Bestallion, I was impressed with how familiar Kasumi appeared with the place. Eventually I brought up the topic of getting a glove to hide my crippled hand. “Wouldn’t you much rather go to a healer that will return the use of your hand to you?” Kasumi asked with a smirk. I remained silent for a long moment. “Honestly, I had not even considered that. I feel a little stupid now,” I admitted. “I guess I am still not as used to this place as I thought I was.” She ruffled through my short hair. “You’ll get there, I’m sure,” she assured me. “I’ll look around for someone that can help you,” she promised. “There should be a number of practitioners skilled enough for the task in the city.” With that uplifting thought, we continued our stroll through the city and only returned to the inn when the sunlight started to dwindle to meet back up with Vela and Daena. Vela in particular seemed somewhat annoyed that we’d been gone most of the day. “Sedaris will help us find Kiku and the others, but only after we take part in this expedition and bring back whatever information there is to find down there,” I concluded the outcome of our meeting. “Another errant?” Vela complained, much as I’d expected. “Why would the Lord herself commission this? There must be something extraordinary about that cave,” Daena remarked thoughtfully. “We know nothing except for that the Lord herself seems to have commissioned the expedition and our participation is Sedaris’ condition for helping us find Kiku. If we want her help, we have little choice in the matter.” I shrugged resignedly. “Will you two join us?” “Hmpf, it looks like there is no choice,” Vela conceded reluctantly. I switched my gaze to Daena, who smiled, shrugged and finally nodded. “We don’t know what might be down there that is of interest to a Lord. I’d prefer it if you stayed here,” Kasumi said to me. I scowled at that, but before I could voice my displeasure, she interrupted me. “BUT; I do not feel comfortable leaving you alone here either.” I nodded slowly. “In that case, we should head to this intrepid trailblazer society tomorrow and collect some information. Unless one of…” I slowly stopped talking as Vela visibly stiffened and leveled an intense stare at something behind me. “What’s wrong?” I asked as I turned to look at what had suddenly put her on edge. Two wyverns had entered and were walking towards us with obvious intent. Rather than the skimpy outfits preferred by many of the mamono, they were clad in black scale armor that actually covered most of their bodies. They stopped before our table and stood at attention, left wing behind their backs, right claw over their hearts. “You are summoned to appear before the matron Nightshroud,” the lead wyvern announced to Vela. I expected Vela to react angrily at being summoned, but she only gave a resigned sigh. “I will follow the matron’s summons in the morning,” she said in a tone equally stern and even. “You are summoned to appear at the Nightshroud mansion tonight,” the lead wyvern said apologetically. “Your companions have been granted permission to enter.” Vela’s resigned look turned to a look of fierce displeasure for a moment, then it switched to a rarely seen look of resignation. “Then I won’t have her wait.” I was more than a little astonished that she was not putting up more of a fight. She did not seem eager to go and it seemed quite unlike the Vela that I knew. Naturally, that made me wonder about this matron of the Nightshroud family. If she was able to easily cow Vela into obedience with a simple summons, she was probably formidable. I wasn’t entirely sure that was someone I needed to meet. Vela got up and considered the remaining table. “I’ll need to make the arrangements with the trailblazer society as soon as possible,” Kasumi quickly said. “I have some business to take care of in the city,” Daena quickly jumped on the bandwagon. It seemed like these two were eager to get out of this invitation, so I started. “In that case, I will…” “…Join me,” Vela completed the sentence with a stern tone and unceremoniously pulled me to my feet. Both Kasumi and Daena shrugged at me as Vela dragged me with her as she followed the wyverns who were leading the way out of the inn. I didn’t resist. Not that there would have been much of a point. Besides, I thought that this might be a good opportunity to learn a little more about Vela and where exactly we stood. |
mugen91Dec 15, 2023 1:46 AM
| Nice touch about the rarity of teleportation magic. I don't think we even considered it when we listed the schools of magic used on the island. I suppose we have to consider it now. |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
tygertyger said: Nice touch about the rarity of teleportation magic. I don't think we even considered it when we listed the schools of magic used on the island. I suppose we have to consider it now. Talked about it for a fair bit with metal and we agreed that certain types of magic like teleportation or instant communication would be too overpowered to be widely available :) TsunamiSeeker said: Good chapter! Interested in seeing what this matron of the nightshroud family is like... Will she help or hinder Vela's quest for revenge on her aunt? Looks like you might have to wait until next time :P |
tygertyger said: Nice touch about the rarity of teleportation magic. I don't think we even considered it when we listed the schools of magic used on the island. I suppose we have to consider it now. This has already been touched upon in the part of the revised ruleset for the MSG that is already posted here. Check the "The Rules TL;DR Version" post. The main issue here is that we have a setting that in a nutshell boils down to: late medieval technology + magic + monster girls. However, magic without any limitations can do literally everything one can imagine + a whole lot more. So for every technology ever invented there can be a magical substitute that does the job even better: cellphones -> telepathy, radar / areal surveillance -> scrying, high speed trains -> portals, nukes -> upscaled fireball / meteor, etc. Hence the instruction to writers to not make the magic "break the medieval setting". For telepathy/scrying/teleportation/portals that means that they are very, very, very hard to pull off and even then they still have significant drawbacks to deterr their use in all but the most exceptional circumstances. Even the lords can only freely teleport around in their own domain and will face the same drawbacks as all others if they want to go beyond their own borders. So, Amarante wants to visit Michiko for a cup of tea? She too will be taking the boat. |
| Noticed two things: - Don't think Sedaris would mention that Elizabeth has taken an interest in the "anomaly", as that is supposed to be a secret only a handful of people know (admitted Sedaris is among those handful of people, but still). She would probably be telling Sönke & co that Irene has taken an unusual personal interest in it, which is more in line with the official story behind the expedition - A certain society's name has not been properly capitalized. Ya rascal! |
MetallumOperatur said: Noticed two things: - Don't think Sedaris would mention that Elizabeth has taken an interest in the "anomaly", as that is supposed to be a secret only a handful of people know (admitted Sedaris is among those handful of people, but still). She would probably be telling Sönke & co that Irene has taken an unusual personal interest in it, which is more in line with the official story behind the expedition. Well, she doesn't really mention an anomaly as such, only that there is something of an enigma. She doesn't say what it is. It might even just be mysterious that Elizabeth is taking an interest. Or it could be enigmatic in that people thought they were aware of all such cave systems. If you want, I can change it, but I don't think the way its worded really gives anything away. MetallumOperatur said: - A certain society's name has not been properly capitalized. Ya rascal! Oh no! How could I? |
Chapter 51 Outside of the heart-tree’s pocket dimension, the wyverns wasted no time at all in quickly spreading their wings and taking off into the sky. Vela gave me a short and appraising look before she pulled me from my feet and pressed me tightly against her. My stomach lurched as a few beats of her powerful wings took us into the sky, after the wyverns. The cold evening air on the back of my head was juxtaposed curiously with the heat of her body pressed against mine. Though, with my head pressed into her cleavage, I could not see much of the landscape passing beneath us, my heart beat with rapid excitement and I felt like this was an experience I’d certainly enjoy a repeat of. Perhaps facing outwards, so I could actually see something. I felt us soar higher as Vela occasionally performed slight course corrections, but the flight did not last all that long. Finally, we touched down and Vela’s iron grip relaxed enough for me to turn and consider my new surroundings. Where most buildings in Westholm had either been part of the tree-filled landscape already or had at least attempted to blend into the landscape, this was quite another thing. Dark in the evening gloom, I found myself staring at a mansion that made no such attempt. It would be apt to describe it as ridiculously large and decidedly un-forest-like. Well, I mused to myself. It’s the home of a dragon family. The kind of humility to just blend in with your surroundings doesn’t seem probable to be high on the list of priorities. Then I scrutinized Vela standing beside me. No, if Vela is any indication, humility is not one of the traits of the Nightshroud family. Under the dark sky, the mansion almost appeared to be built from pitch black rock and as we walked the last few steps towards a massive portal, I saw that draconic figures adorned the wall of the mansion in regular intervals. Just inside the portal, two wurms stood guard. Similar to our wyvern guides, they too were dressed professionally without revealing all that much skin. In addition, their gazes were rather unobtrusive, as if seeing me didn’t rouse too much in the way of passion. I hadn’t seen many wurms yet. They, like all draconic mamono, were quite rare after all. But all of those I had met had been a bit slow and obviously horny, which made me wonder whether these two were already having their needs met. While I was still considering the wurms, the lead wyvern turned to Vela, while the other two continued on their way. “Matron Nightshroud will be informed of your arrival. I’m certain she will summon you when she is ready to receive you.” She gave a curt bow and followed after her comrades. “Didn’t she already summon you to appear without delay? What’s with not being ready now?” I wondered. Vela just shrugged, which I found very strange. But, since she didn’t seem to mind, I had a hard time making a valid complaint. “Still,” I looked around the high-ceilinged entrance hall, a large set of stairs leading up and another leading downstairs and yet another large portal straight ahead, “what are we supposed to do now?” “Get settled in,” Vela said and stepped toward the flight of stairs that led upward. Still puzzled by her relaxed attitude, I followed behind her. Before we could take our first step upwards, a honeybee came flying towards us and landed a respectable distance away from us before bowing her head. “Mistress Vela,” she intoned, keeping her head low until Vela gave a grunt. “I am Mina. I have been assigned to assure that all your needs are met. If you would please follow me to your rooms?” She waited respectfully until Vela nodded and then wasted no time in leading the way up the stairs. I looked up at her as I followed behind Vela. Like the wyverns and wurms, she too was not dressed very provocatively. Maybe this was something particular to the Nightshrouds? Something about being too prideful for such cheap seduction? After all, even though she certainly showed more skin than these women, Vela’s clothes would hardly be called revealing by Arcadia’s standards. Mina’s guidance led us to reaching a richly decorated, though somewhat still spartan looking, room before she respectfully retreated. “I guess your family is really important. Or rich, at the very least,” I said while I tried not to be impressed with the wealth and power that had been flaunted before me. Though, perhaps, I wasn’t entirely successful. “My grandmother was our clan’s sole survivor of the dragon wars,” Vela said, as if that explained something. When my gaze turned more questioning, she clarified. “She is very old and has had a very long time to accumulate wealth. Having what little was left of the combined hoards of the entire clan as starting capital did not hurt either.” “I see,” I said thoughtfully. “Still, being the only one? So there is only your grandmother, you and…,” I gave a questioning hum as I wondered whether bringing up her aunt was a good idea. After all, I still did not know whether Marchesa had delivered or not. And, if she had, what exactly that delivery had entailed. Still, Vela gave me an expectant look, so I finished. “You know, your aunt?” Unexpectedly, mentioning her aunt I did not get a rise out of her. Instead, she just shook her head. “She was the only survivor, but there were two eggs, which she managed to hatch. Still, there are not many of us left.” “How many?” I wondered aloud, before realizing this might be a touchy subject. “Sorry, you don’t have to answer that.” “Six dragons currently count themselves as part of the Nightshroud family, though one of them is not of our blood. This naturally excludes my mother and…” “Your aunt? Whatever happened to that?” I decided to let caution fly in the wind. The way she said it, it almost sounded like that aunt was dead. “I mean, I’m not complaining, but I was pretty surprised to see you, I kind of figured you were going to be occupied. Revenge and all that.” She gave a long, uncharacteristic sigh and turned away from me. “When I delivered the man, Marchesa upheld her end of the bargain.” She turned and looked at me a little uncomfortably. “I went there right away, yet what I found were bones and a plundered hoard,” she admitted with a frown. “I returned to Bestallion, ready to unleash my anger on Marchesa and damn the consequences.” She sighed and heaved her shoulders and clenched and unclenched her claws a few times. “I wanted to hear her excuses first, why she had me go there, knowing that my… mark was already gone.” She stopped speaking again, visibly getting irritated. “I wanted to dismiss the story she told me as nonsense, but it made sense. The looks that thing gave me, I didn’t understand at the time.” Her irritation seemed to increase further, as evidenced by her slamming her claws down onto, and through, a countertop. “You kind of lost me there,” I said carefully. She spun around, almost like she’d forgotten I was there. She looked at me for a moment, then shook her head and continued in a much calmer tone, though she still gave off a hint of danger that made me stay a few steps away. “From what Marchesa finally told me, my aunt died even before my mother. I can’t be sure, but the bones… she must have been dead for many years…” She broke off again, her clawed foot tapping on the floor as her irritation flared up again. It was my turn to frown, but I decided to ignore the sense of danger she gave off and stepped up to her to put an arm around her hip. I hadn’t expected any adverse reaction, but was still happy to see that it calmed her, even if only marginally. “A doppleganger. Who specializes in extracting information to perfectly impersonate her victims.” A picture of a disfigured corpse sprang into my mind, Faela’s form enveloped by a black mist before another emerged from it. “A doppelganger by the name of…” “…Arteya,” I completed the sentence for her as the gravity of her irritation became clear to me. She’d been traveling with her. The one she’d really wanted to kill for all these years. I imagined for a second I was actually capable of killing Kiku myself and I found out that, unbeknownst to me, I’d been traveling with her. And my hatred for her was fresh, yes, but nowhere near as deeply rooted, as longly matured as was Vela’s. I let out a long breath and sat down on the bed. “What are the odds? I mean… you know. Is that why you decided to come back?” I suddenly wondered. Was it not that she cared for me, but rather just for revenge? “I didn’t know about that until you said the name,” Vela said as she sat next to me. She reached around me and pulled me into her lap. Her strong arms wound tightly around me as her body squeezed against me. “I… care about you,” she said almost meekly before her voice returned to the more normal, confident, tone. “You are mine!” I couldn’t help but chuckle a little. “I don’t suppose I have a say in the matter?” Her arms squeezed harder for a moment, enough to be uncomfortable, but quickly relaxed. “You’re the one who wanted me in the first place, I will hear no complaints now!” She reprimanded me. I gave a little chuckle and relaxed into her embrace. “There’s truth in that.” I looked around the room and was once again somewhat intrigued. I had noted it on our way through, but it seemed like the building material that was used for this mansion was some kind of black marble. While one would expect that this would cause a dark and dreary atmosphere, the magical lighting that permeated the place seemed to eliminate this anticipated side effect. I was inclined to ask Vela about it, but before I could, a knock came from the door and the honeybee servant, Mina, entered. Her perfect timing made me think she might’ve been listening in on our conversation. Or perhaps she could only hear that we were talking, but not the contents? If she heard, I expected that this grandmother would be interested in hearing some of this. Unless she already knew. “Mistress Vela, would you and your guest care for a bath?” Vela squeezed me a bit more before releasing me and rising to her clawed feet. “A bath would be appropriate,” she said without turning to the honeybee. “I guess we could go for a bath,” I added, feeling a bit ignored since my arrival here. Mina gave me the barest hint of a smile and nodded, gesturing for us to follow her. We walked for a good while, which once more emphasized to me how oversized this mansion was. We went down multiple flights of stairs until we were underground. Even though we walked through corridors made of the same dark, marble like material, the size of the corridor, probably made for dragons, and the omnipresent lighting made it hardly feel oppressive. Eventually we reached an antechamber, where Vela wasted no time discarding her clothing. I shot a quick look at Mina, who had the same unobtrusive look as the others had, and shrugged. When I removed my clothes, I noticed that Mina was giving me a look over, though she just had the same smile on her face as before and I saw no lust in her eyes. I was slightly confused by the indifferent reactions I’d been getting. I could well imagine that some portion of the mansion’s attendants and guards were married, but would all of them be? With that question still unresolved, I followed Vela through another portal into an exceedingly warm room bathed in darkness. “Careful,” Vela said from up ahead as the portal closed behind us and the darkness became complete. I froze, unsure of where to walk and moments later felt my arm grasped by Vela’s claws. She slowly pulled me forward until I heard the gentle lapping of water. Obviously I heard water, we were there for a bath after all. And still I had to stifle a slight gasp when, moments later, my feet touched shallow, but hot water. I halted, but was quickly pulled forward once more by Vela. With every halting step forward, the water deepened until Vela finally pulled me downwards and let go of me. I remained still as I got used to the not-quite-scalding water on my torso. Even as I slowly got used to the darkness, there was no light at all to make out even vague shapes. In exchange, as I floated on the water, I slowly felt my other senses sharpen. The contrast of the hot water and warm air felt quite pleasant and the gentle sound of water droplets falling from the unseen ceiling had a strangely calming effect. I heard Vela move in lazy circles around me as I continued to lie on my back and drifted on the water’s surface. “This is nice,” I said calmly. “I loved this place when I was young,” Vela said from somewhere behind me. “I can imagine. Were you down here often?” I asked. “Only after my mother’s death. I lived here for some years,” There was a strained note in Vela’s voice. “How big is it? And how deep does it go?” I wondered in an attempt to quickly change the subject. There was a short pause, then Vela said from the front. “Quite big. And half a dozen meters deep further back.” “Wouldn’t want to get turned around under water in this darkness,” I commented with slight worry in my voice. “Don’t worry, you won’t drown with me here,” Vela promised and her voice had a soothing quality as it came from the side this time and closer. “That’s reassuring,” I remained quiet for a little while then wondered. “So it looks like you’ll stick around then?” “I still seek revenge. But our fates are intertwined now.” “We don’t know that,” I said, while clenching a fist. “I can’t say for sure if Arteya was not just hired for the job or what her relation with Kiku is.” “Marchesa was either not able or not willing to tell me where she was, it is my best shot,” Vela declared a small distance behind me. “Hmmm,” I hummed. “But if you’re going to stay… Well, I know it’s not really the same here in Arcadia, but I kind of am together with Kasumi already.” I waited anxiously for a reply, when Vela’s clawed hands reached around me from below and pressed me close against her naked body. “We spoke about that. She is fine with being the concubine. So long as she occasionally gets you to herself for her little games.” “Concubine?” I asked incredulously. “Isn’t that a bit weird?” “Call it second wife, if it makes you more comfortable. But I am a dragon. Even if I may have feelings for a lesser being, I can’t possibly be a lesser wife.” “I’ll focus on the part where you have feelings for me,” I said teasingly. “As you should,” Vela said pridefully while letting her claws carefully roam across my body. It was a strange feeling to have these things, that could tear me apart in an instant, softly scrape across my skin. Even if I was confident that she would never do such a thing. “What about Daena then?” I asked, not sure how to breach the topic. “What about her?” Vela asked, her tone suddenly a little annoyed. “Well, it seems she’d like to… join that little arrangement.” “In saving your life, she has earned favor. I suppose, so long as she understands her place and if Kasumi is willing to share the time she has with you with the amazon, she may stay. For now.” That was unexpected. “I thought you’d be vehemently against it. Since you, you know, have feelings for me now.” “She saved your life when I could not. I am not above acknowledging the facts. But if she were to join us, she would be below me.” “Speaking of which, how about I get below you?” I said, trying to sound seductive. “Can’t resist me, even when you can’t see me?” Vela asked and there was a hint of pride in her voice. “Who could or would want to?” I asked playfully. I felt her body shift and I figured she was probably using her tail to move us through the water. By now, I had lost all orientation, so I had to trust that she knew what she was doing. Before long, I felt her let go of me and continued to drift through the water until I felt the smooth rock of the bath’s floor on the back of my head. I heard Vela splashing through the water and a moment later felt a soft hand running over my face. ”What is...?” I exclaimed, surprised by the unexpectedly soft sensation. “Hush,” Vela’s voice sounded above me and I felt a small impact next to my head, before her hand went to the back of my head and pushed it upwards. My face was pressed into her waiting sex and, though surprised, I wasted little time before I extended my tongue and began a sensual exploration. The lightless surrounding made the whole deal an interesting experience. By now, my other senses, including my sense of taste had become a bit sharper, so I experienced her smoky flavor that much more intensely. Now that I thought about it, this was the first time I had eaten Vela out. She seemed to enjoy it. While stoic at first, I could soon hear low moans even through her thighs against my ears. Her long and heavy tail was laid heavily across my torso and slowly swept back and forth. “Ready for your reward?” Vela asked, a little while later. She did not even give me a chance to give her an orgasm before she rolled off me. “I’ll let you take the lead today,” she said. “How unusual,” I teased, though honestly surprised. She had always strictly been on top when we had sex, dictating what we did and how we did it. I felt around to the side and my hand soon found hard, smooth scales. I came closer and felt around until they slowly shifted to soft skin, only occasionally broken by scales. I re-positioned myself and gently kissed the soft flesh of her inner thighs, then moved back towards her sex. I gave it a few more flicks of the tongue before moving upwards, kissing her stomach and then her breasts. The scales normally covering them almost like a natural bra had receded to reveal her buds to my lips. Perhaps she did something similar with her claws? I wondered to myself. As I continued to slowly make my way upwards, her unusually soft hands roamed over my head and back and lightly caressed me. Finally, I moved on from her breasts to take her lips. I pushed my tongue past her lips in a deep kiss. She gave me no fight for domination, just a soft intertwining. Still, given our difference in stature, there was no way for me to penetrate her while kissing her, so I reluctantly released her lips and moved downwards again. I ran a hand along her outer thigh and then gently entered her. Strangely, though she was obviously not a frail woman, I felt the need to start gently. And it wasn’t like I was in a hurry, so I took her in deep, slow thrusts and, since it lined up better than with any other woman I’ve ever been withl, I began to run my tongue over her sensitive nipples again. I heard a low, grumbling moan build in her throat and moved from one breast to the other and slightly increased my pace. The moan became a bit louder and her hands stopped roaming. Instead, they closed around me and squeezed tightly as she tightened around my member. Once she relaxed a bit again, I slowed my pace again. “How long are you going to make me wait?” She asked in an uncharacteristically husky tone. “Coming right up,” I obliged breathlessly and increased my pace again, focusing on giving her what she wanted. A few moments later I moaned as I released my seed into her. Vela made an appreciative sound as her hands began her roaming again and I felt the sinuous membranes of her strong wings close around us. “You’re not going to waste this opportunity with only a single shot, are you?” She asked and I smiled. “I would never.” --- I felt quite light headed, but supremely relaxed when we finally left the darkness of the bath behind us. Our clothes were gone and instead there was a robe of soft black fabric and a black dress. Vela gave a displeased grunt, but put on the dress. Similar to everything else I’d seen here, it was not provocative, but the black fabric suited her well. I noticed that her hands had reverted back to her normal claws, robbing me of the opportunity to actually see them. The robe that I assumed to be for me was a different matter though. It seemed like a long bathrobe. I supposed they probably didn’t have anything for me on such short notice. “You should have your clothes back tomorrow,” Vela said when she saw how I scrutinized the garment. “Mina likely wanted to make sure we’re clean when we meet my grandmother. Come, If she hasn’t called by now, she likely won’t call until tomorrow.” With that she made for the door and led me back to her room, where we soon retired to bed. |
mugen91Dec 22, 2023 3:01 AM
| Ah, a reference to the Dragon Wars! And kudos on that little economic twist -- of course the sole survivor of a clan would inherit all those hoards. |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
tygertyger said: Ah, a reference to the Dragon Wars! And kudos on that little economic twist -- of course the sole survivor of a clan would inherit all those hoards. It did add up to allow her a decent start to her business ventures :) TsunamiSeeker said: Loved this chapter! (Especially the H-scene) Really are building up the meeting of the matriarch of this dragon family. I like it, no busting in while your covered in sweat, dirt and other more questionable substances for your MC. I hope she'll live up to the build-up then :) |
| Nice another chapter! I really liked the H-scene in this one. Curious to learn how "grandma" is going to react to her granddaughter bringing a husband along. |
Chapter 52 The next morning, while we were still lounging around in bed, I wondered. “What was that you did with your hands yesterday?” Vela gave me a long, questioning look, then recognition bloomed on her face. “You mean this?” She asked and showed off her claws which seemed to shrink as the scales receded and she soon showed off an entirely human looking hand. Owing to her general stature, it was a fair bit larger than my own, but the difference was far from what it normally was. I took it in my own hands and inspected it. “This is amazing,” I exclaimed. “This is nothing, any dragon can do that,” Vela said dismissively. In spite of her words, I could not help but notice how she puffed out her chest and seemed quite pleased with my attention. “Is this the same as transforming into your ancient form?” I wondered. I had actually been curious about that for a while. To put it mildly. She hummed as she thought it over. “The principal is similar, but still very different. Many mamono can change aspects of themselves. Aside from us dragons, there are only very few mamono capable of transformation on a scale as taking on our ancient form. It’s also not something one does on a whim.” “I guess it would take a lot of energy,” I mused aloud and she nodded. “Have you ever done it? What does it feel like?” She frowned and looked at me like she was wondering how to answer the question. But then she sighed and said. “I’ve never done it before. And before you ask why, as I said, it is not something one does lightly.” I pursed my lips. Her tone suggested she preferred I drop the topic. Was it a sore spot of sorts? Was she unable to, given her youth? Had she never tried? I decided to drop the issue and change the topic. “So what’s up with the people in this mansion? I don’t sense the normal… lustfulness here.” Vela scoffed at that. “My grandmother employs men to take care of her servant’s needs.” “What? Talk about job benefits.” Where those were concerned, for mamono, access to men surely ranked near the top. “Yes, on rare occasions, long and outstanding service is awarded with a husband.” “She buys husbands for her staff?” Vela nodded, then shook her head and looked thoughtfully at me. “Well, there are many men who see it as a good opportunity to come here. Some of the men serving the family were purchased, but most are regular, free citizens. Of course, even those who were purchased are not the matron’s property. The Lord has outlawed such practices, after all. But the family is rich and powerful and as long as they perform as expected, the treatment they receive here is better than they can expect elsewhere. Enjoying the protection of the family is also a big plus. And it’s not as if anyone is forced into a marriage that they themselves do not desire.” “I guess your grandmother is a popular employer then.” “Yes, many wish to work here, but few get the chance. You may have seen that all the guards are dragonkin and if you wish to join the serving staff, you have to be a honeybee.” “Why only honeybees?” I could see how a proud dragon would rely only on dragonkin for security, but why only honeybees? “It has been that way for millennia from what I hear. It’s easier to get around the mansion, but what the reasons are beyond that, I cannot say.” Vela shrugged, seeming not to care too much for this mystery. Meanwhile, I had a shudder running down my spine. Millennia. Such an easy word to say, but it was hard to imagine just what it encompassed. Vela might be younger than me now, but, barring any accidents, she’d be around long after my bones turned to dust. While I pondered, not for the first time, who got the worst deal with the unequal lifespans of Arcadia's inhabitants, a knock came from the door and Mina came inside, carrying a neatly folded pile of clothes. She bowed and announced. “Matron Nightshroud is calling for you.” “Finally,” Vela grunted and moved from the bed, putting on the dress that was left for her the night before. Since Mina made no move to leave, I also left the bed and stepped towards her to retrieve my clothes. Her eyes dashed downwards only briefly, but otherwise she maintained her professional bearing. “Do you need any assistance?” She asked curtly. I shook my head and smiled. “I can handle that myself,” I grabbed items from the pile of clothing and quickly got dressed. At least I had sort of gotten used to my crippled hand. “Please follow me then,” The honeybee said when we were done. We left the room and were led through the large mansion, towards the enormous foyer. “So why have us come here yesterday, if she’s only going to see us today?” I asked. “Better to waste our time than hers,” Vela said with a shrug, once again very un-Vela-esque. I wondered, and not for the first time, what manner of person this grandmother of hers was, that Vela seemed so indifferent to being treated as an obvious inferior. “So what should I call her? Grandmother?” Vela stopped abruptly, but quickly caught herself and continued walking. “Don’t do that. Call her matron or matron Nightshroud.” “Ok, ok,” I said. “I was only half serious.” She gave me a long stare that told me to make sure I didn’t fuck that up. We reached the entrance hall and the honeybee led us to another portal straight ahead from the entrance. She knocked on the great door and a moment later, it slowly swung open. Mina stepped to the side and gestured for us to continue. Staring at the artfully carved wings of the great door, I followed after Vela as the portal was soon closed behind us by yet more guards. We walked along a short corridor, lightly decorated though it was, it was a definite change from the rather spartan decorations I had seen in the rest of the mansion. When we reached another large door, Vela didn’t waste time knocking, but rather just pushed through right away. I followed her into another large room. And stopped, stunned. The shimmer was overwhelming. Where most of the mansion so far had shown muted signs of wealth, but not being overly showy about it, this was the insane opposite. Coins, jewelry, gems and untold treasures glittered in huge piles in the far end of the room. Amidst the piles stood a large chair, carved from onyx. Sitting on that chair was the tallest person I’d ever seen. If Vela had seemed tall to me, this woman was surely a giant. Vela stopped some distance from the chair and reluctantly went down to one knee. I stopped a short distance behind her and followed suit. I figured that, if even Vela did it, this probably wasn’t the time or place for experiments. Without any perceivable signal, Vela rose again and I once again followed her lead. Now I took the opportunity to take a good look at that grandmother of hers. She showed the most obvious signs of age I could recall to have seen on any mamono so far. Her hair, I imagined once just as black as Vela’s, was pepper and salt. Her face showed shallow, though distinctive lines. Hard, red eyes were fixed on Vela and her tight expression indicated she was not used to smiling. She did not look frail however, quite the opposite. Her form, which I guessed to be easily above three meters, exuded raw, frightening power. Standing to the left and right behind the chair were a red dragon and a man, though I would hesitate to call him human. He had some definite inhuman features and looked inhumanly handsome. My best guess was that this was, in fact, an incubus. “The whelp returns,” she said, her powerful voice resonating through the hall and matching the overall expression. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Vela stiffen, but not respond. “Why did you not return here immediately when you arrived in Westholm?” She demanded. A cheerful family reunion if ever I’ve seen one, I mused to myself. “We are in the city on unrelated business,” Vela said evenly, though I got the impression she was very deliberate in keeping her tone as nondescript as possible. “Your first duty is to your family,” Grandma said sternly. “Returning here should have been your first priority. What news do you bring?” “I still seek revenge,” Vela’s tone sounded somewhat defiant. The old dragon snorted derisively. “Are you still following your delusions? One would think a Nightshroud to have better sense than that. No daughter of mine would cowardly kill her sister. Do I need to beat some sense into you again?” Vela let out a low growl and Grandma’s hard eyes narrowed. She got up from her chair and Vela immediately ceased her growling and backed away a step. I looked on in fascination as the game of dominance played out. “You seem to have developed some sense since your last visit. Perhaps there is some hope still that the whelps of this family grasp what it means to be a Nightshroud.” She scowled for a moment, but then reiterated. ”But my question stands, what news?” “My revenge is not complete, but I know now that it was not Auriga who killed my mother.” “Of course not. I told you so years ago. Did Auriga beat sense into you then?” “I found nothing but dead bones and a plundered hoard,” Vela said after a short moment of careful consideration. The matron’s face froze for only an instant, then split into a mask of anger and I got the sudden impression that I was still standing a bit too close for comfort. For all her palpable anger, the only word that finally left her mouth was. “Who?” “I do not know.” I suppressed the impulse to shoot Vela an incredulous look. Wasn’t it possible we’d get some help if we told her? Was it a good idea to lie about this? “Treva!” Grandma roared and the red dragon standing behind the throne stepped forward, standing at attention before the matron. “Vela will no longer be allowed to pursue this matter on her own. One clan member killed could be a coincidence, two is a concerted attack! I want the resources assigned to the investigation to be increased twenty fold. I will know who is responsible! We will see them annihilated!” Obviously not daunted by the task, the red dragon, Treva, stood even straighter before beating her wings and taking off, leaving through an opening in the ceiling. I guess wings help with getting around this mansion. Maybe that’s what Vela meant. “Now,” Grandma said, seemingly calmed down a little. “This business you have in Westholm. Does it have something to do with finding the perpetrators?” “It’s about a different matter,” Vela said. Grandma gave her a hard look and Vela continued. “It’s about those that did that.” She pointed at the blinded side of my face. Matron Nightshroud looked at me. It seemed to me she took note of my presence for the first time and at that moment, I felt like I might have preferred it if she had continued to ignore me. The look she shot me felt a little like that breeder Seba had sent me to. Being sized up, though this time it was probably not to gauge what quality offspring I might produce. Although, I thought as I gave a sidelong glance at Vela, maybe that’s precisely what it is. “You’re prioritizing a pet over someone who murdered your kin? And these servants of yours in the city, I hear you’re even sharing him? Have you lost all pride?” Vela took an angry step forward, her tail swishing behind her in irritation, but I burst out first. “Listen here, gra-, matron Nightshroud. I don’t give a fuck what you call me, but you don’t insult her!” Vela looked at me with big eyes and even Grandma seemed taken aback, though I imagined that their surprise paled in comparison to my own. She gave a low chuckle, but her eyes remained stone cold. She took a slow step towards me and I was regretting my outburst hard, wanting nothing more than to turn tail and run. But I figured I was in too deep to back out now. I stood my ground and stared her straight in the eye, which became increasingly difficult as she got closer and seemed to tower higher and higher above me. She stopped, barely a step away and continued staring balefully. I felt beads of cold sweat forming on my brow, my leg was twitching and I felt an irrational need to evacuate my bowels. The staring contest went on for an uncomfortable length of time. When I was about to hit the abort button and look away, she finally said. “A backbone, at least, if no respect for his betters. And you think he is worth the interest of a Nightshroud?” She asked, her attention directed at Vela again. She nodded, which made me happy. Almost as happy as not having the matron looking at me anymore. She looked back at me, measuring me again. “I cannot permit just any cur off the streets to mix with our blood. If you wish for him to join the family as a brood servant, he will need to prove his worth.” “And what is that going to take?” I asked, wondering if I’d developed a death wish since entering the throne rone. Grandma gave me another long, hard look and ignored my question. Then she turned away and spoke to Vela again. “As soon as I get word, the family will mobilize. This includes you, Vela. We will rain death on our enemies! To that end, I expect to be kept updated about your location so that you may be summoned immediately when the time is right. Even a whelp like you will have something to contribute. Until I dismiss you, you are to remain in the mansion.” Taking this as dismissal, Vela nodded and turned. I followed her, all while mentally apologizing to her for ever thinking of her as stuck up or arrogant. How she turned out as mellow as she did, I’d never know. Rather than return to our assigned room, Vela took me outside and then carried me to a large terrace on the roof of the mansion, where we were all alone. “Why’d you lie to her? About the identity of the killer,” I asked her. “You heard her, she wants to mobilize the family. Can you imagine what kind of waves it would make if the entire family and most of the guards went on the warpath, looking to spread blood and gore? It is not the proper way a dragon should behave, but brute violence will not help me find my vengeance. I’ve tried long enough. Besides, the only thing I did not tell her was the name.” “I don’t think she’ll be happy when she finds out,” I cautioned, feeling a bit relieved that if she did find out, I would not be the immediate target of her displeasure. “If I have taken revenge by then, it won’t matter. If I have not taken revenge, I might be dead, so it won’t matter either. Besides, this is my revenge. And I’ll be damned if anyone takes it from me.” “How did that go in the first place? I mean, she hears her other daughter is dead and she is ready to go on the warpath, but she didn’t care when your mother died?” “She was furious. Much more so than what you saw just now. But after some time I convinced her to let me pursue revenge. Although it seems she has been looking into the real culprit from the start. She never believed that it was Auriga, no matter how many times I told her. She beat me bloody every time I dared to bring it up. One of the reasons I left earlier than she desired.” “And she was fine with you going out to hunt your aunt if she was sure it wasn’t her? How come you didn’t know where to find her? Or how could she not have known?” Vela frowned. “I don’t know the details. Auriga left many years before I was born and, from what my mother told me, the matron believed she would get over herself eventually and did not pursue her.” “So even when she learned of your mother’s death, she had no way of contacting her? How did Marchesa know where to send you?” Vela shrugged, then sighed. “I don’t know,” she said earnestly. “So the matron never believed that it was your aunt? And still she was fine with you going after her to kill her?” I reiterated my earlier question. Vela bit her lip and almost looked a bit embarrassed. “She thought the thrashing I’d get at my aunt's claws would be a character building exercise.” I shook my head at that and put a hand on her side. “’We’ll get her, the real one,” I tried to encourage her and grabbed her claw and squeezed it before changing the topic. “She does not seem to like me though.” “What do you mean? I think that went extraordinarily well. Though I was a bit worried for a second there. If you had tried to pull back, she might have gotten angry with you.” “Well, you know better than me where that is concerned.” I gave a nervous chuckle and tried not to imagine what the situation would have been like if she had been really angry with me. “But what was it with the permission thing?” Vela snorted and shook her head. “She wants to make sure the family grows stronger, so she wants family members to only choose high quality mates.” “And who is better at judging worthiness than her?” I remarked and Vela nodded in exasperation. “Still, how can one person have so much money? That was just insane!” Vela gave me a pitying look. “That was nothing compared to what’s in the vaults. And you could argue that the family’s real wealth comes from all its land holdings.” I looked at her somewhat disbelieving and she shrugged. “She has been in this area longer than most mamono have been alive. You need money to bring the family back to greatness.” I sighed. “It’s hard to imagine. Living that long.” Vela didn’t answer that. Instead she only gave me a long look. “I wonder though, why is it the Nightshroud family and not clan? When I learned about different species of mamono, I heard about dragon clans.” A sad look passed over Vela’s face and her shoulder slumped slightly and I wondered if I’d said something wrong. “The dragon clans were disbanded and outlawed after the dragon wars. Even by replacing clan with family, the matron was walking a thin line in the first centuries after the wars.” “Is it such a big deal?” What did it really matter? If the matron really was the only survivor of her clan, what was the hurt in calling herself a clan? “The wars were immensely destructive. To shatter the dragon’s pride and to keep the survivors from fighting for dead glory, the clans were forced to disband, along with the confiscation of most of their riches.” Vela had a big scowl on her face. It seemed she didn’t like the topic. Understandable, considering how proud she was of her draconic heritage. “It’s also the reason why it’s better to let the matron cool down, rather than give her information she might be able to act on. She is as fierce as any dragon has ever been, but she knows that going on the warpath with the entire family could compromise our continued existence. These considerations will likely win out after she has had some time to get over the news. They have won out for me.” “And what about her orders not to leave the mansion? We have to prepare for this expedition business. And afterwards, we need to find Kiku and Arteya.” “I will convince her that she should allow us to leave. I have been the one to uncover the information about Auriga, so I believe she will see the value in letting me continue my investigation.” “I hope you’re right. If she really is as much of a bigshot around here as you say, it would be impossible to properly get around Westholm, let alone participate in that expedition.” “It’ll be alright, don’t worry.” She put one of her clawed hands on my head and ruffled through my short hair. I looked at her a little surprised. Not only now, but also the previous evening, Vela had been awfully nice to me. Not that I did not appreciate it, but it seemed weirdly out of character. Then again, she had been acting a little jealous with the others around. Was she simply relaxed now because there was no competition? I also still had a hard time wrapping my head around why she suddenly claimed me as her mate. It was true I had been after her since I first saw her and she had eventually given in and admitted that she at least lusted after me a little. How had lust turned into caring though? Had she started developing feelings and those were now amplified after she thought that I was lost to her? Even with her change in attitude, I somehow doubted I’d get a straight answer out of her. My thoughts were interrupted when I spotted another flying figure rapidly approaching the mansion. Vela also spotted her as the figure slightly adjusted her course and was heading straight for us. A few moments later, another dragon landed in front of us. Although she bore definite family resemblance, some of her features set her apart from Vela, or Grandma for that matter. For once, she was significantly shorter than Vela, though still taller than Daena and certainly myself. Her form was also much more lithe than Vela’s. Seeing them next to each other, the newcomer seemed almost frail by comparison. Though, of course, she was by no means frail. While I studied her, she had already started greeting Vela. “It has been a while since I’ve seen my cute, little niece.” The newcomer was reaching up and patting Vela on the shoulder, who seemed pleased at seeing her, but seemed conflicted about accepting her affections. As she was patting Vela, I noticed that she did not have claws for hands and, looking down, neither did she have claws for feet. Overall, she also seemed a whole lot less scaly than Vela was. Finally, she turned to me and mustered me with a bright smile on her face. “You must be my niece’s mate.” She suddenly scooped me up in a surprising hug. ”It is good to see new blood joining the family. I am Rigel, it’s so nice to meet you.” |
mugen91Dec 28, 2023 2:14 PM
TsunamiSeeker said: "Pushover" being in quotations because there's still no way I'd call any MGE dragon a pushover... At least not to their face. "Pushover" is relative. A dragon who is weak when compared to other dragons is still more powerful than most other mamono. And grandma is every bit as scary as I thought she'd be. |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
TsunamiSeeker said: Oooo... Not only do I get the long awaitated and built up introduction of the "grandma" of the nightshroud family (which pretty much dead on hit my expectations btw) Glad she lived up to expectations :) TsunamiSeeker said: but I also got the introduction of a completely new member of the nightshroud family too, this one seemingly a lot friendlier and much less physically imposing when compared to her kin... I suppose you'll have to wait to find out ;) |
| Though I can understand why Vela isn't too thrilled to go for a family visit, I'm with grandma on this one though. Not immediately coming over to tell her that her daughter is dead is kinda a dickcunt move. Also, a dragon with a warm personality and does not seem arrogant? Where do I sign up? |
MetallumOperaturFeb 8, 2019 6:13 AM
MetallumOperatur said: Though I can understand why Vela isn't too thrilled to go for a family visit, I'm with grandma on this one though. Not immediately coming over to tell her that her daughter is dead is kinda a dickcunt move. Well, mayybeeee she'd have visited before leaving Westholm, now we'll never know :P MetallumOperatur said: Also, a dragon with a warm personality and does not seem arrogant? Where do I sign up? That's actually pretty easy, just pick up your phone and dial 1800-friendly dragon, I'll repeat - 1800-friendly dragon Only challenge is finding that phone on Arcadia :P |
Chapter 53 To be greeted by one of Vela’s family members with such warmth left me stunned. I had by no means expected it, especially after meeting the matron earlier. Instantly it left me to wonder whether she was the other ‘whelp that needed to learn how to behave as a member of the Nightshroud family’? But she said she was Vela’s aunt. Wouldn’t that likely make her much older? What even constituted ‘old’ for a dragon? “Don’t stare like a deer in front of a dragon’s maw,” Rigel laughed as she let go of me. “Sorry, I just didn’t expect that kind of greeting,” I apologized somewhat sheepishly and still trying to calm my racing pulse. She smiled wide and waved away my apology. “If you’ve had the patience to seduce my stubborn little niece, your reaction is understandable.” “Who’s stubborn?” Vela muttered under her breath. I threw her a sidelong glance as her reaction surprised me once more. I expected some manner of outburst perhaps. Then again, these were her family. I couldn’t expect her to deal with them exactly as she did with the outside world. “What are you doing here Rigel? I thought you lived in the city?” “Not currently, no. Or not quite, I should say. But mother has called such members of the family as are close to Westholm together to hold council.” Her voice turned a bit more serious. “I expect it has something to do with your arrival?” Vela nodded, but didn’t say any more than that. “You moved out of Westholm? How come? Didn’t the matron bring in a master rune caster just to teach you here?” “I’m hatching eggs.” “Eggs? Did you find a mate?” Vela asked, her tail shaking with excitement for a moment, until she shot me a sidelong glance and she controlled herself with visible effort. “No.” Rigel pulled a face, but then her face brightened again. “Believe it or not, some people found two eggs and mother is having me and Yayoi hatch them.” “Yayoi?” Vela questioned with visible confusion. “And why you? Couldn’t she have one of the others do it?” Rigel rolled her eyes and said in a conspiratorial tone. “She hasn’t given up hope to make me behave more like a ‘proper’ dragon. She thinks hatching the egg might be a character building exercise.” Vela huffed. “It doesn’t seem very successful yet.” Rigel grinned shrewdly. “Not yet, anyway.” She then looked at me again and her face fell a little. “But I’m interrupting your date. And after you brought him up here, I didn’t think you were such a romantic Vela.” Vela’s face turned slightly red. “I just took him up here on a whim. It’s not like I planned for anything to happen.” She huffed indignantly. Rigel looked from Vela to me and broke out into a small fit of laughter. “Of course not. Anyway, mother will call us together soon enough, I’ll see you then.” And with that as goodbye, she spread her wings and left us alone. “Not like how I imagined another member of your family,” I admitted. Vela smiled fondly. “She’s been like that as long as I can remember. And she has been a headache for the matron for many years.” Things were clicking into place for me now. Vela had stayed here for a while between her mother’s death and before setting out. If the other members of the family were anywhere near as strict as the matron, perhaps Rigel had filled sort of a kind elder sister role for her? That would explain why she didn’t complain at Rigel for patting her head like she were a little kid. “Well, I don’t mind her, but,…” I said as Vela looked at me curiously. “… what about that thing you brought me up here for?” “Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Vela reprimanded me, but then her lips turned up into a slight smile and she closed in and pushed me to the ground. Her cheeks turned a little red and she said. “But if you’re so desperate for it.” I smiled and was not intent on arguing. Vela dropped onto her knees and straddled me, but before she could do anything more fun than that, Mina came buzzing up to the terrace and dropped down beside us. Interrupting us made her seem quite uncomfortable, but she spoke up nonetheless. “I’m terribly sorry to be interrupting, but the matron is calling.” “Now? Already?” Vela growled and Mina nodded apologetically. Vela looked down at me and heaved a heavy sigh. Her expression told me that she wanted to ignore the summons and keep going. “We’ve got plenty of time later,” I promised her and with an annoyed grunt, Vela rose to her clawed feet and pulled me to my feet after her. Her arms enclosed me and she beat her great wings and flew us down. Mina followed us and when we were inside the mansion again, once again led the way. We headed up the broad stairway and after walking for a while, finally reached a large set of doors guarded by two wyverns. Mina stepped to the side, bowed her head and made a gesture to enter. Vela pushed open the doors and barged into the room. I followed a few steps behind her. The room was not especially large, not compared to many of the other rooms we’d been to before at least. It featured a large table, on which three black scaled dragons were seated. At the head of the table was the matron herself in all her monstrous splendor. To her right was another especially tall specimen, not quite reaching to her level, but certainly taller than Vela or especially Rigel. The seat to the matron’s left was empty, but next to that one Rigel was seated, waving at me with a smile. Vela stepped into the room and I hesitantly followed after her, earning a scowl from grandma. “Vela, I called for you. Your pet has no place in this council.” Vela stiffened, but didn’t argue. And while I was a little annoyed at being labeled a pet, I was not especially keen on taking part in whatever this was anyway and had not expected to either, so I shrugged my shoulders and clapped Vela on the back. “I’ll see you later.” Vela nodded reluctantly and I turned and walked back out the door again, where Mina gestured for me to follow her. “Are you hungry?” She asked. “Their discussion is likely to last the remaining day.” I felt over my stomach and decided that I could go with something to eat. “If they’re going to take all day, I’m going to take you up on that offer.” She smiled and led the way. While we walked, we met the red dragon that I had seen in the throne room earlier on her way to meet with the others. When she was out of ear reach, I asked. “Is she also part of the family?” Mina turned and looked after her. “Lady Treva has not yet been officially named as a member of the family, but has served the matron faithfully for many years.” “Why would she serve when it is not even her own clan?” “She will earn a position in the family,” Mina explained. “The matron recognizes that old divisions do not serve the interest of all dragonkind. Thus, she has accepted Lady Treva as a prospective member of the family. She has served as her seneschal for many years now and on occasion, as a bodyguard. But it is the family, not the clan.” She added the last part in a somewhat reprimanding tone. Well, if dragons really are so rare that they’re basically at risk of extinction, it’s no wonder. Perhaps remnants of other clans have had less success in re-establishing themselves? And can you really call the Nightshroud successful? Barely more than a handful family members after millennia? Mina led me downstairs and into a large kitchen area where some other honeybees and humans were preparing food. Mina gestured for me to sit down at a large, sturdy table. “I hope you don’t mind eating down here? I could have something delivered into Lady Vela’s quarters.” I waved her off. “I’m already here, might as well eat here.” “Very well,” she nodded and headed off, towards a man stirring the contents of a large pot. She embraced him from behind and peppered his neck with kisses. Her husband maybe? Or perhaps the man employed to ‘take care of the servant’s business’? She whispered something in his ear and he turned his head to look at me, then gave an answer I could not make out. Mina made her way back over and said in an apologetic tone. “It’ll take another moment or two. Food will be done soon, but the Mistresses upstairs will be served first, of course. We will all eat together then. Unless that would bother you?” “You don’t need to treat me special,” I said. “At least not when Vela is not around.” I wasn’t sure exactly how Vela might react if her family’s servants were to act too familiar around me. Come to think of it, realizing that Vela was someone who had servants to order around if she so wished felt somewhat strange. Stranger still was the thought that I might order people around if I so chose. “Gladly,” she smiled again and left me alone at the table to help the others. I watched them put the finishing touches on their dishes and finally serve some very generous portions on enormous platters and covering them to preserve the heat. Placing the platters on silver trays, one honeybee after another took off and flew up an opening in the ceiling. Guess these really are for getting around the mansion quickly. When they returned with empty trays, they quickly got around to arranging the next plates. This dance continued for about an hour, until they finally came to rest after having served the fourth course. They quickly got to work again though, setting the table I was already seated at. I got up and offered to help, but was quickly deflected. “You’re a guest here, please sit down and let us take care of this,” the man Mina had greeted earlier told me. I reluctantly sat back down as they finished setting the table. The serving personnel ate the same food as the mistresses above. It seemed quite generous, as I suspected that the matron would likely tolerate nothing but the best. The first course was a beautifully seasoned soup, followed by what had not been used of the second and third course combined. While most of the meat had been used in the portions served to the dragons upstairs, the vegetables, mostly beans and cabbage, tasted quite good as well. I largely kept out of the conversation while we ate, until one of the honeybee’s wondered. “How did you and Lady Vela come to be together? She was so focused on revenge when she left.” Eight pairs of curious eyes looked at me expectantly and I felt like it probably wouldn’t hurt to give up a little bit of information. I chuckled as I recalled my early attempts at making an impression with Vela. I retold a few things, pointedly left out the puke episode, as that was just too embarrassing to divulge. “How did you get all those scars?” One of the men asked and the honeybee next to him elbowed him in the ribs. “He probably doesn’t want to talk about that,” she scolded him. “It’s ok,” I said. “But I really don’t want to talk about it.” “See?” The honeybee said smugly. “I just wanted to hear another story. Nothing ever happens here,” The man complained. “If you have time to be bored, you can use it to show me a good time,” the honeybee laughed and grabbed at his crotch. I shook my head. Somehow, it always come back to that. “Is this everyone?” I then asked. “What do you mean?” Mina wondered. “Is this all the people the matron employs? “Of course not. There’s two more men and ten more honeybees, but they are currently needed elsewhere in the mansion. And then there are the guards of course.” “I noticed. They were all wurms or wyverns.” “The matron would not trust the security of this place to any lesser species.” She seemed quite unbothered referring to herself by such terms. “Aren’t you bothered by being called a lesser species?” I knew that it would get on my nerves if my employer referred to me as such. “That’s how dragons are,” another one said lightly, shrugging her shoulders. “The Ladies of the house don’t speak to us too much anyway and it is one of the best jobs to have around here. The benefits make me the envy of all my friends.” To emphasize her point, she started groping the man beside her, who didn’t seem to mind all that much. Quite the contrary, actually. If they didn’t really mind, who was I to tell them that they should? They kept peppering me with questions for a while longer, but when they finally shifted to their own topics again, I slowly slipped out of the conversation, content to just listen. Most of what they had to talk about seemed to be rumors and gossip anyway. Quite understandable if, as the man had said earlier, there wasn’t all that much of interest happening. When the meal was finished, I said my thanks and headed out. Mina offered to escort me, but I declined. How hard could it be to find my way back to our room? That being said, naturally I quickly got turned around and lost my way. I stumbled through the black corridors for a good hour before finally finding my way back to the foyer. Luckily, I knew what path to take from there. Back in our room I sat down in one of the oversized chairs and wondered what I should do. I felt like I had been in this situation often since my arrival on Arcadia, much more frequently compared to back on earth. The omnipresence of the internet and a multitude of other sources of distraction back on earth had really spoiled me. If only I had something to read at least. As I was bored, I struggled against my thoughts invariably turning to darker places. Try as I might though, my thoughts kept returning to that dark cellar, that insane grin, to those filed teeth. When I finally couldn’t take it anymore, I left the room and wandered around the mansion for a few hours until I finally returned and collapsed onto the bed. I hoped that I had tired myself sufficiently to let my mind focus on sleep and stay away from dark places. My strategy proved reasonably successful, as my mind remained blissfully blank even after I lay down on the big bed and closed my eyes. Physical exertion be praised. I thought as I slowly drifted into, what I hoped to be, pleasant dreamland. My journey to the land of dreams was interrupted though, when the door was noisily opened and a big weight was suddenly dropped on top of me. I struggled to get air into my lungs and tried to get the weight off of me, until I came awake enough to realize that it was Vela, who had dropped onto the bed on top of me and was muttering complaints. “Dragons aren’t meant to sit and debate all day long!” She claimed and closed her arms around me and rolled around until I was lying atop her. Able to breathe more freely again, I asked. “What did you talk about for so long?” “I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” Vela said in a tone of exhaustion. “Suit yourself.” I rested my head on her chest, which was really better than any pillow, and closed my eyes again. I slowly felt myself drift off again, but then an incessant pressure on my shoulders, pushing me downward, prompted me to crack open my eye again. Vela kept pushing me downward and mumbled “You know what to do.” She spread her legs and I sighed, moving my head under her dress. “What are you waiting for?” She mumbled and I half-smiled, half-yawned. I placed a still tired kiss on her inner thigh, slowly traced my lips to where her legs met, but stopped just short of the goal, instead I kissed the inside of her other thigh and moved my way down. I repeated this process, occasionally breathing a hot breath on her flower. Vela sighed in frustration, but I was not in a hurry. Especially since I was slowly coming awake again. That and the somewhat rude manner in which she’d demanded service. I kept teasing her until the confined space under her dress was saturated with her aroma and her nectar was flowing freely. I was going to keep the act up for a while longer. I figured that Vela could use a little teasing, but she had different ideas. She grasped my head through the fabric of her dress and shoved it against her sex. “I thought I was clear on what I wanted.” She complained and I finally complied. In all honesty, my own lust had risen and I wanted to raste her anyway. I let my tongue snake out of my mouth and gently lap at her. As before, her taste had a strong hint of smoke. While I had been too tired to really be in the mood at first, first her aroma and then her taste was quickly getting me into it. The gentle touches of my tongue were quickly replaced by hungrier, deeper motions. I could dimly hear Vela moaning somewhere above me and suddenly heard a ripping sound. Surprised, I tried to take a look, but Vela shoved me back in before I could get clear of the hem of the dress. Greedy as she was, she only released me after I had satisfied her no less than three times. When finally her claw did not hold me down anymore, I finally pulled my head free and moved up to her. I saw that the sheets and the underlying mattress had newly acquired a few deep furrows and I shot a look at Vela’s claws. “It’s a good thing you haven’t accidently scratched me before,” I said, half joking, half serious. She clicked her tongue at that. “I wouldn’t hurt you without meaning to,” she said calmly. Vela now had a contented look on her face. “What do you mean?” I asked as I positioned myself next to her. “Mamono instinctively know not to hurt their partners,” Vela said with a yawn. “And I heard there is something about our demonic energy that keeps humans safe from damage, unless we mean to harm them. But I’m not sure where I heard that.” “Well, that’s certainly good to know. But, you know…” I said and tried my best to sound seductive. I grasped her wrist and drew it towards my crotch. “I’ve helped you out, you think you can help me?” She grumbled. “Sleeping time now,” she declared and rolled onto her side. Then she grabbed me and held me like a body pillow with both arms and legs wrapped around me. This is so unfair. |
mugen91Jan 5, 1:16 AM
| Vela behaving like a pillow princess? Looks like grandma is a bad influence on her. |
MetallumOperaturFeb 14, 2019 4:30 AM
MetallumOperatur said: Vela behaving like a pillow princess? Looks like grandma is a bad influence on her. The worst, in fact :P |
| Shame on Vela! Gets off and falls asleep. Ain't that just like a guy... with wings... and claws... and a world class rack... |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
tygertyger said: Shame on Vela! Gets off and falls asleep. Ain't that just like a guy... with wings... and claws... and a world class rack... I'm almost afraid she might get away with it! |
TsunamiSeeker said: Such a shame that he was probably the ONLY male resident in that mansion that got some action but didn't actually result in him getting off that night. Who knows what kind of devious fetishes those honeybees have... but you're probably right :P |
| Chapter 54 What happens when a dragon makes you eat her out and then uses you as a body pillow for most of the night without offering relief? Naturally, I was even more horny than the night before when I woke from somewhat fitful, but dreamless sleep the next day. Vela was nowhere to be seen and so I assumed that she was already up and about. My stubborn case of morning wood made me contemplate taking care of the problem myself but, this being Arcadia, somehow that felt like a waste. Instead, I focused on thinking about not-sexy things for a few minutes and eventually managed to make the problem go away for the time being. Then, finally feeling presentable, I got dressed and stepped out of the room. I looked around, but couldn’t see anybody around the long corridor, so I decided to first head towards the foyer and then see if I could find my way toward the kitchen to score some breakfast. Before I even reached the foyer though, I ran into one of the servants I’d eaten with the day before, though I couldn’t recall her name. “Good morning,” she greeted me. “Mistress Vela sends for you.” I returned the greeting and followed her. Incidentally, she led me towards the foyer, where I had been headed anyway. “Where is she?” I wondered. “She will be here momentarily. If you will excuse me now,” she bowed, turned and left, leaving me to scratch my head. Being bowed to sure was a strange feeling. Especially when, the evening before, she had been much less formal and a whole lot chattier. Perhaps there was a difference since we were in the mansion proper, rather than an area where really only the servants moved about? I was not left to ponder the point for long, since Vela did not make me wait long. She appeared through the large portal that led towards the matron’s throne room and headed outside without breaking her stride. She looked like she was in a somewhat foul mood. “Coming?” She asked, turning and giving me an impatient look. I quickly followed after and when we were outside, she grabbed me and spread her wings without much ado.. “Actually,” I said and she stopped, though her impatience was still visible. “I was wondering if… can you take your ancient form?” Her brow creased and she frowned. “Why would I do that?” “I’ve been curious what it looks like and… riding a dragon… it seems pretty cool.” Her cheeks turned a light shade of red. “You want to ride me?” She asked in a somewhat higher pitched tone. “That’s not something a dragon can do with just any m-man.” Flustered Vela was unexpectedly cute. “I thought I was your mate? That hardly seems like ‘just any man’,” I argued. She looked uncertain for just a moment. Then she grabbed me tightly and took off into the air. “I need some time to think about that.” Her voice was barely audible through her low volume and the sound of the buffeting wind. She’s been much more approachable since we came to the Nightshroud mansion. Perhaps it’s something about going back to a place of your childhood? It certainly seems like a step in a good direction, I thought to myself. After a short flight, we touched down in front of our inn-tree and headed in. We checked the two rooms we had paid for, but did not find either Kasumi or Daena. But that was fine, they were bound to show up sooner or later. “I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry.” I had been forced to skip breakfast after all. I headed down ahead of her and asked the dryad that owned the place to bring me some food and sat down at one of the tables. Vela made an appearance soon after and sat down opposite of me, the wood creaking under her weight. The dryad came by with a platter of cold foods and gave me an enchanting smile. A smile that reminded me of how Vela had left me in distress the night before and caused quite a stir in my nether region. Her smile quickly faded however and she abruptly left when Vela scowled at her intently. I raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything until she reached across the table, grabbed a hold of my collar and drew me over the table, now scowling at me, though a bit less sinister. “When you’re with me, you don’t look at other women!” “That’s going to be difficult,” I tried to appease her. “Almost everyone around is a woman.” Besides, with two other women around and the preferences one of them has, that’ll be pretty difficult. She narrowed her eyes, then let go of my collar and crossed her arms before her chest. “You know what I mean.” Then seeming to read my thoughts, she added. “When you’re with me, you’re to look at me!” “Okay, okay. Only look at the scarily beautiful dragon,” I conceded. Not that there was much point in arguing with her. She seemed satisfied with the answer at least. “What did you talk about yesterday anyway?” She looked a bit annoyed again, but didn’t blow me off again. “I secured permission to continue my search, so long as I keep the matron informed of my movements and check back into the mansion regularly for as long as I remain in Westholm.” “That alone would not have taken so long. Nor would it have required all the others there,” I noted. She suddenly looked even more annoyed, but answered nonetheless. “A lot of things. The matron shared the news I brought and we discussed it at length. We also talked about some… some miscellaneous matters.” Somehow, she looked even more annoyed when she talked of miscellaneous matters. It made me curious, but it didn’t look like she was going to tell me anything about it. Weighing my options, I decided not to push the issue then. We come back into the city and she’s back to scowling all the time, I silently lamented to myself. “Did you make any promises about what you’ll do if you find Arteya before the others?” “I’m supposed to inform the matron, so we can coordinate a proper response.” Her words were curt and to the point. “And I guess you will not?” She smiled fiercely and nodded. “No, I will not.” I guess she’s probably right when she says that it might cause issues if the entire family goes on the warpath. But, I think she mostly wants this revenge for herself. “What are we going to do today then?” I changed the topic. “Look for Kasumi and hear what she has to report about this expedition?” “She’ll be back here soon enough. You’re with me now, you don’t need to think about her.” I raised an eyebrow, but did not object. Not out loud, anyway. “What do you have in mind?” Rather than answer, she got up and wrapped the tip of her tail around my wrist and pulled me along behind her I knew I was getting some sooner or later, I smiled to myself and eagerly followed after my draconic lover. --- Our lovemaking did not last very long that time. Vela rode me fast and hard, but after being backed up from the night before, I did not particularly mind, nor did I last very long. I couldn’t help but chuckle when the thought crossed my mind that it seemed more like I was Vela’s mount than the other way around. “Asserting your dominance?” Asked Kasumi when we stepped out of the room. “I am the first wife,” Vela huffed. “I have no need to assert my dominance, it is already abundantly clear.” Kasumi’s only response came in a barely perceptible rolling of the eyes and a smile in response, seemingly not bothered by Vela’s statement. Instead, she gestured for us to follow her. Vela scowled at that, but before she could say anything, I deflected her. “Have you met with this intrepid trailblazer society then? What have you learned about this expedition? When are we leaving?” “Calm down,” Kasumi replied calmly. “All in good time. Let’s head down first.” After getting dressed, we headed downstairs, where Daena was already waiting at a table. “Are our two lovebirds done?” She grinned, but also didn’t fail to eye me hungrily. Vela huffed again, but didn’t say anything. Instead, Kasumi spoke up once we’d sat down. “Was your meeting with the matron successful?” I shot a curious look at Vela. This was mostly her business. Vela outlined what she was willing to share, which wasn’t that much, and then fell silent. “So, what’s happening about this expedition then?” I asked again. “Are we all set up?” “We met with representatives of the trailblazer’s society and we should be cleared to participate, though they wish to meet with both you and Vela. Some equipment needs to be procured, although we already have most of what we need and it is them that will be responsible for acquisition of the remaining gear anyway. Aside from that, all we need to do is be present when everything is prepared. They haven’t hired all the desired personnel yet, but they estimate we’ll start in about two to three weeks time.” “We have time to kill then?” I said, mostly to myself. Disappointed, since it meant that in addition to the expedition itself, it felt like we were wasting even more time. “In the meantime,” Kasumi interrupted my thoughts. “I found a healer that can help with your hand.” I held my crippled hand up before me and looked at it with a crooked smile. I had almost gotten used to it by now. At least the occasions where it pained me because I used it without thinking had been reduced by a lot. It would be good to finally have full use of it again, though. “That’s great,” I finally said with a weak smile. Then I realized I should probably show somore more enthusiasm and added, with a bit more determination. “When do we go?” “I didn’t know long you two would be gone, so I made no appointment. But she didn’t seem very busy, so we could just drop by and see if she has time for you.” “Is that really something you can just do on the fly?” I asked in mild disbelief. “Wouldn’t that be a difficult procedure?” “It shouldn’t take all that long,” Daena answered in Kasumi’s place. “We don’t have a real healer in our village, which is why it took that long for you to recover. A decent healer would have had you back on your feet much quicker.” “Even if you say that, with the injuries I had, I’m still amazed at how quickly I recovered.” “We don’t have a healer, but we know a thing or two about taking care of a wound,” She said with a winning smile. “And mermaid blood, even if diluted, helps a lot.” We continued chit chatting for a while, but finally I was eager to get going and see for myself whether this healer could actually fix my hand. We said our goodbyes and Kasumi and I ventured out into the underground network of tunnels connecting the different heart trees and after only a short walk, we headed up another set of tree root stairs that led into a cozy, comparatively small room. Unlike the other heart trees I’d seen so far, the walls in this place did not consist of solid wood, but rather a thicket of thin branches. It seemed less like a place of business, as our inn was, and more like a home. That, in turn, made me wonder whether dryads were fine with any random stranger coming into their heart trees through the underground network. Or did they perhaps have some means of keeping people out? It seemed likely. “Hello?” I asked, feeling awkward still at having just barged into someone’s home unannounced. In the far end corner from where we’d come up, the branches began to move and a small opening formed that quickly became large enough for a person to comfortably step through. A small statured dryad soon appeared through the opening. “Hello to you too.” Her voice was unexpectedly deep, especially coming from her petite frame. “Is this the man you talked of?” Kasumi nodded her response and the small dryad continued. “You need me to take care of what we discussed?” Kasumi nodded once more and the dryad gestured for us to follow her behind the curtain of concealing branches. Contrary to the rather spartan appearing ‘entry area’, this place was beautifully furnished with naturally grown, dark wood. She told me to sit down in a low chair of intertwined, thin branches that grew from the floor, complete with a footrest and laid a bare hand flat against my cheek. She looked deep into my eye and there was something disconcerting about her gaze that slowly made me feel a turbulence of uncertainty roiling up inside me. Before it could affect me too badly though, she broke eye contact and considered my hand instead. “Very well then, let me have a look.” She grabbed my wrist and held my hand up to her face. She examined it with deft, strong fingers and made contemplative sounds. All the while, I tried to suppress the wince that was increasingly trying to escape from my mouth. She wasn’t being rough, but it hurt anyway. “I can certainly fix you up, though the missing finger I cannot regrow.” I had expected as much, but was still disappointed. “There is one problem,” the dryad added. “And that is?” “Your hand had time to mend by itself and the bones have not mended well. It is the source of your problem. In order to fix it…” Understanding bloomed, along with hesitation. “…But first you have to break it again?” She nodded. “Other healers might do it without, but my spell is one of growth and I cannot mend what is technically mended already.” I thought about it for a short moment. I was scared of the pain, but ultimately, this really wasn’t a question, was it? “Let’s do it then.” She nodded once more and gestured for me to lean back in the chair. “You might want to bite down on that.” A branch twisted its way up to my face and I gave her a questioning look. “Isn’t that part of your heart tree? And kind of part of you?” “Don’t worry about it. I don’t bite unless it is requested of me.” The branch was incessantly pushing against my lips now, so I finally opened them and reluctantly bit down on it. More branches ambled their way up toward my wrist from the floor and tightly coiled around first it, then my arm, holding it securely in place. Being constrained made my pulse quicken and my breathing grew strained in anticipation of what was about to come. Kasumi took hold of my free hand and squeezed it tightly. With a series of snaps and crunching sounds, I felt my fingers breaking one by one. To my surprise, I barely managed to subdue the building scream and realized that, though it was painful, the pain felt dulled somehow. Nonetheless I felt the blood beating savagely in my veins and my eye popped wide. “One more time,” The dryad warned calmly and this time I groaned loudly as I felt the rest of my hand follow suit after my fingers. When the branches released my hand and the dryad grasped them softly, I felt myself shake uncontrollably. Then I felt movement come into my hand and I felt the shards of my broken bones move through soft tissue. Compared to her re-breaking the hand, the pain was nothing. It was more dull than painful, but it was still supremely uncomfortable. I squirmed in the seat, somewhat grateful for the restraint as I wouldn’t have managed to keep the arm still and tightly squeezed Kasumi’s hand. My eye was clasped shut as I fought to control myself. It took her about five minutes, though the discomfort had started to subside even before she declared her task completed. I opened my eye and still felt my heart beat in a fast staccato. I looked at my hand. It didn’t look all that different from before. The skin was still blemished by red scars. But I was able to ball it into a fist without any significant discomfort. Although I felt that the hand was still numb, so I couldn’t be entirely sure. “Thank you,” I said, slightly unsure, but sincere nonetheless. Magic really was incredible. Not for the first time since arriving on Arcadia I felt a strong pang of envy at this mysterious power that would always be outside of my grasp. “It is my privilege and profession to aid those in need.” The dryad smiled kindly. Even with me sitting in the low chair, she barely reached my height. “I don’t suppose you can do something about the eye?” I asked, not hopeful, but it was worth a shot. Two fingers found their way to the scar running across my face and paused where Kiku had cut through my eye. “This is beyond my abilities, as I have told your companion. I cannot regrow body parts. There are few who possess such skills, none that I could name whose ears you are likely to reach.” “Guess I’ll have to get used to it then,” I said with a sigh and a shrug that was not entirely sincere. “But this is more than I hoped for.” I moved the finger on my hand, simply happy at the absence of pain. “It is good that you are not disheartened,” she said kindly, then looked over my shoulder with a questioning glance. I turned to see Kasumi nodding her assent and looked back to the dryad, who had extended her right index finger towards my forehead. I pulled back a little. There was something disconcerting in her gaze once more. But with my head resting against the thicket of branches the chair was made of, I didn’t have far to go and her finger soon touched against it. The breath caught in my throat. It felt like she was pushing straight into my brain. A moment later, I blacked out. --- The light was dim when groggily came back to wakefulness. Kasumi was lying draped across me with her head on my chest and looked at me in quiet contemplation. I could swear she had a somewhat guilty expression in her eyes, but I couldn’t be with how misty my eye was. That and the fact her face was always difficult to read. I dried my wet eye and wetter cheek. “What happened?” I wondered. Instead of answering my question, she pulled herself up so that she was straddling me and asked. “How are you feeling?” Though I hadn’t received any answers, my disorientation slowly faded and I noticed an uncomfortable tightness in my chest. Unsure of how I was feeling, all I could say was, “I’m not sure.” Kasumi pushed herself up, her knees on either side of my hips, and laid my head against her breast. “It’s okay,” she said soothingly. “No need to hold back.” I was thoroughly confused, moreso when a loud sob escaped my lips. Kasumi did not seem to share in my surprise. She stroked my cheek and cooed softly into my ear. The first sob was followed by another and another and many more. Before long, I was bawling like a baby. It felt somewhat emasculating to cry for no reason. I couldn’t remember the last time I cried. But at the same time, it felt cathartic. Eventually, the storm subsided and what was left was calm and confusion. “Feeling better?” Kasumi asked softly, not letting go of me just yet. “Yeah, but I’m confused. What was that?” She remained quiet for a moment and I could sense her hesitation. Finally, she spoke. “I have to apologize. I was worried you wouldn’t agree.” “With what?” The calm slowly left me and I felt my ire rising. “You were acting like you’re okay, but you can’t repress your feelings over what happened. In the long run, it would cause you much more pain than the hand could have.” You’re not the type that shares her feelings either, I thought angrily. And yet, she was not wrong. And I did feel better. Still, I felt betrayed as well. “You can’t just pull shit like that without asking me!” I said, my voice rising higher in volume than I’d intended. “Would you have agreed if I had proposed it?” “No, I wouldn’t. That’s why it’s not ok!” She didn’t have an immediate answer to that and hung her head slightly. Still angry, I asked. “What did you do to me anyway?” Without looking at me, she answered. “People are bad at dealing with trauma. She said she could help you better come to terms with what happened to you.” “So what? Trauma resolved? No need to go after Kiku anymore?” I asked sarcastically. She shook her head emphatically. “Even with magic, it will be harder than that to fully overcome your trauma. She merely eased the burden.” “If it was supposed to be unconsciously, why was I just bawling my eye out?” “She warned me that it might happen. A side effect.” “So what? From now on I’m just gonna randomly break down? Is that supposed to be better than before?” She shook her head again and lifted my chin, forcing me to look into her eyes. “Nothing of the sort will happen. She said it would only happen after the treatment.” She paused for a moment. “Are you angry with me?” She kept her tone even, but I could tell she was anxious. I wrangled with myself. Anger and reason fought a fierce battle. And reason wasn’t even entirely sure it was onboard with whatever had just happened. All the while, I shot her a long hard look. One she, to her credit, did not avoid. Finally, I sighed. “I appreciate that you found a healer for my hand. Honestly, I don’t know what I’d do without you. But the other thing… that just went too far.” “I’m only concerned for your well-being. You pretend like everything is alright, but I know that it is not. As do the other two.” Her gaze turned a bit stricter. I frowned at her. On the one hand, I knew that her actions were well intended. On the other hand, her acting without my agreement was infuriating, especially because of what had happened to me. Still she met my gaze without turning away. I chewed on the inside of my cheek and stewed on it for a moment, but couldn’t come to an answer. This was something I had to think about. To her I said. “Maybe you’re right. No, you’re definitely right. But you can’t decide something like this over my head! It’s not like you were eager to talk about your past immediately either! Things take time.” Her eyes narrowed. “This is different. What happened to you was my fault. So I should find a way to fix things.” I rolled my eye. “What happened to me was Kiku’s fault, not yours. What I need to feel better is kill the bitch, not psycho-cry-therapy.” “But you said you felt better after. Isn’t that good?” I gave an exasperated sigh. “Yeah, I did. But I don’t appreciate randomly breaking down crying. That’s not me. It’s hard enough to maintain some amount of self confidence in this world, without this constant reminder that I need others to take care of me.” She stopped me and looked at me seriously. “There is no shame in depending on someone else.” I averted my eyes from her intent gaze. “You don’t really need anyone.” She placed her hands on both sides of my head and forced me to look at her again. “Don’t say that.” Her tone turned sad and she hugged me tightly, laying her head against my chest. “I don’t know what I’d have done if I had not found you again.” I bit my lip and hesitantly wrapped my arms around her in return. I knew she loved me, but it was still hard not to feel like our relationship was too uneven. “And in the meantime, I just went and picked up another woman.” Kasumi remained quiet at that for a moment. “Do you love her?” She finally asked. “I don’t know. I like her, but I’ve hardly known her long enough to call it that.” “You feel guilty about loving more than one woman?” “It’s not normal where I’m from. It seems hard to make it work. I mean, just think of Vela, she’s holding back, but she obviously wants me to herself, gets pissed when I look at someone else. You’ll probably get bored if I don’t do it with someone else. Besides, if I’m to love more than one woman, no matter whether it’s two or three women, I need to be able to give all of them the attention they deserve. And then there is the whole thing with Kiku. It just feels like a lot.” “You’re overthinking it. Mamono grow up expecting to share a partner. Vela knows that, even if she herself might not have expected to have to share. I know it and Daena knows it. She saved your life and I doubt that Vela has any complaints about that. Otherwise I don’t doubt that there would have been a big fight already. For a dragon, she’s unusually rational and understanding.” “Well, if you had said that before I met the matron, I probably would have disagreed with you.” Despite myself, I couldn’t suppress a light chuckle. I quickly refocused though and returned to the topic at hand. “I’ll need a moment to figure out how I feel about this, so let’s stop this topic for now and get out of here.” Kasumi gave me a gentle kiss, then disengaged and let me get up from the chair. I looked around, but couldn’t see an exit. Then, as if someone had timed it perfectly (or was listening), the light grew brighter and some of the vines to the side receded to form the same opening that we had passed earlier. We walked through and saw the dryad lying on a bed of branches that had not been there before, reading a book. Kasumi walked over to her and fished a handful of coins from her purse. We were about to walk out when I realized I didn’t even know her name. “Sorry,” I said, “I don’t think I caught your name earlier.” She smiled serenely. “It’s Melindra.” “Thank you Melindra,” I said sincerely. “I’m…” “...Sönke,” She said with the same smile. “Your wife told me. Feel free to return if you feel the need to lighten your burden some more.” She waved her hand and returned her attention to her book and we made our way down, back towards the inn. |
mugen91Jan 12, 1:44 AM
TsunamiSeeker said: Nice chapter, kind of understand where Sonke and Kasumi are both coming from. Can't say I'd be very happy with essentially being forced to cry my eye out with releasing all the pent up emotions regarding a traumatic experience. But at the same time I'd also not want to see someone I care about carry all that pent up emotional baggage by themselves... Tough call but I'd actually side with Kasumi on this. I've always hated when people do stuff for me and say "you'll thank me later." But the thing is that most of the time I actually do thank them later. True enough, though that wouldn't stop anyone from being angry at first I imagine :) |
| Wut!? Just when you thought you had seen it all... and then Kasumi comes and pays the Dryad with coin. |
| Whew, finally caught up. Love me some dragon goodness almost as much as I love how closely this tacks to my own unspoken ideas. Good times! As for the current chapter, you may as well go ahead and get all that pride out now, otherwise it'll only come back to bite you later =P |
emeraldtryst said: Whew, finally caught up. Love me some dragon goodness almost as much as I love how closely this tacks to my own unspoken ideas. Good times! As for the current chapter, you may as well go ahead and get all that pride out now, otherwise it'll only come back to bite you later =P Yeah, Pride does not quite seem worth it :) And which of those unspoken ideas do you mean? MetallumOperatur said: Wut!? Just when you thought you had seen it all... and then Kasumi comes and pays the Dryad with coin. I know right? Unheard of! |
| Oh, just how I imagined fragments of the old dragon clans, how at least a few of them get around being outlawed, how some of them would have adapted. Just good stuff all around =) |
emeraldtryst said: Oh, just how I imagined fragments of the old dragon clans, how at least a few of them get around being outlawed, how some of them would have adapted. Just good stuff all around =) Ah yes. Maybe someday we'll find out how the Sunwrath managed to keep themselves together :) |
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