Dragon Core

by Sain Artwell

  “For?” Alron prompted.

  “That would of course be the wrench in the porridge, as they say. It shouldn’t be there and nobody dares to admit it’s theirs. Not that yours shouldn’t be where it is. It most definitely fits in its place. Rather well, I might add. If you insisted, I would, of course, do my duty to aid you…” Sofi’s gaze flicked to his morning dragon.

  Alron found a smile tugging his lips.

  “Don’t you fret dearie, I’m awake, and ready to rescue you,” Fei purred, crawling up to peck Alron’s cheek. “Take me beast, but spare the girl.”

  “Such noble self-sacrifice, how could I not honor a warrior’s last wish?” Alron replied, and with playful glee grabbed Fei’s horn to pull her into a full kiss.

  With nibbles and tugs at his lips, she promised passions hotter than any dragonfire. Alron growled. With great effort, he brought the kiss to a pause.

  “Best if you wait outside,” he said to Sofi, gently removing his arm from around her. “We’ve not indulged for many, many years. And, while I find you fetching, the old love I am about to rekindle with this woman may spark violently. I do not wish you to taste it and misunderstand our arrangement as something it is not.”

  “Of course, very understandable. I shall tinker with my hand cannon, and make preparations for when we’re ready to continue? Yes, ahem.” Sofi slipped out from underneath the blanket, and hustled out of the hollow trunk. Moss silenced her steps, though Alron soon heard her shuffling about on the boat.

  “Scream loud if you see beasts or barbarians,” he shouted after her.

  “I will!” came her reply.

  Fei drew herself atop Alron’s chest, fondling his muscles. “A little harsh. No?”

  “It is a kindness. She’s been of aid to us; an unexpected yet welcome ally. I’d rather not repay her by dragging her into our accursed quest for vengeance. Once Mlevanosk is secure, and we’ve broken the Blackmetal City, we shall find her a haven.”

  “Mm-hm. We could do so, we certainly could…” Fei canted her head from side-to-side, as if simultaneously agreeing with and disputing him.

  She flipped to straddle him, shedding the blanket from them to reveal the erotic spread of her body, her nipples erect from the chill. Alron’s arousal was already nestled between her thighs, standing hard against the crack of her abs.

  “She’s a precious little wyrmling. So very trusting, so very afraid…” Fei muttered, slathering the underside of his cock in the nectar of her own arousal, while worshipping his battle forged physique. “The girl has a lover in Blackmetal City. A combat slave, who wasn’t able to earn her name when Sofi did. A tumultuous affair. Very endearing. Impossibly appetizing…”

  “I see. And?” Alron asked, sliding his fingers over Fei’s thighs.

  She’d tanned further, and her skin now strongly contrasted her white hair. He relished the feel of her, from the smoothest scales and velvety soft stretches of skin, to the hardened scales on her limbs.

  Fei hissed out a moan as she ground against him. “She’s a mere wyrmling. Far from home. She’s barely begun mastering her first vestige. She’s afraid and weak and has a lover home. Why would she do this? Why is she here, ready to follow us on a path of death, so ready to throw her life away to repay Mlevanosk for teaching her?”

  “She’s grateful. They are friends.”

  “Is that all?” Fei squinted, suspicious.

  Alron shrugged, the majority of his focus occupied by Fei’s breasts. “I believe so. When questioned at the battleship, she spoke straight from her soul.”

  “That.” Fei raised a finger. “That is what vexes me. She’s honest, earnest, naive, as if unwise to the nature of wyrmkin. She could be a spy, a drone mind controlled by a skilled oracle from afar.”

  Alron rolled his eyes. “No oracle can maintain control so long without renewing it.”

  “But something doesn’t add up. You have to admit it.” Fei stopped rolling her hips. “Something in her irks me. Watch her. See how she shivers at night, how she looks at the weapons around us. If she offers herself, I say we indulge. I want her. I want to ruin her, make her like us, to make sure she is loyal to you, to us. If she really is what she seems, then I want her even more…” Her eyes gleamed with a mad grin.

  “Slow down. Did you lose something to the sea?” Alron teased.

  “No such thing.” She scoffed, and lifted her hips. Fei positioned herself above the tip of his cock, and began to tie her long, silky hair into a bundle.

  “Something is different. You’re in a strange mood, a strangely good mood, I would say.”

  At that, Fei flashed him a proud grin. “You could tell?”

  “The excitement radiates from you like a thousand dawns.”

  “I was able to go back to my dreamworld last night, Alron. Perhaps I shouldn’t have. I had a chat with the darling Alron and some of our hatchlings, and it helped a little. I feel as if I’m truly here. In the now. If I can bid them a proper goodbye they deserve, make sure they have everything they need, perhaps I can be… more here again.”

  “I’m glad to hear that.” Alron smiled at her.

  Fei returned the smile. Then, she licked her lips. Her gaze fell to their hips, where a glistening line of her liquid lust trickled over the veins of his cock.

  “Mmh… Speaking of being made whole again, I’ve long smoldered in the anticipation of this moment,” she said.

  A horny blaze twinkled in her azure eyes. He could tell she was truly here and fully in the present, focused only on him and only him. Her exhales puffed flames. Their dragonsouls shivered as Alron’s attention focused on her. Without intending to, he dragonized the tarp beneath them, along with the hollow. Air distorted with motes of soulfire. Broken hilt and its shard were finally about to be forged together.

  Alron proceeded with a leisurely pace, taking control of her hips. Together, they guided his head past her lips, and into her most womanly embrace.

  “Scream and squeal, my love,” he said. “Today, your body and soul will remember to whom they belong.”

  Fei all but sucked him inside, deep inside. Stars. So deep… Alron had forgotten the snugness of her. It pressed on him with tightness nearly as painful as the hardness straining his erection. Oh, and he’d forgotten her moans. Stars above! Those sexy half-whimpers. The way they transformed her elegant beauty, replacing her cocky grin with an outright obscene expression. Those moans were to his ears what the scent of a feast was to the starving: Thoroughly and utterly irresistible—like an old addiction.

  And like an old addict with nowhere to hurry, Alron took his time savoring his favorite vice. Winding Fei’s long hair around his fist, he created a leash by which to make her dance and moan. She shuddered in anticipation.

  Alron pulled down. An unashamed cry of pleasure spilled from her lips. An even more depraved cry was released when he smacked her rear with an open palm and pulled her hair cruelly tight. At first, Alron’s heart skipped a beat. Doubt visited him. Did she still like it the way he did?

  Biting her lips, Fei whimpered apologies in a small voice. Her hips began to gyrate as her sex sucked on his cock, sliding along his length at a quickening pace. She still loved a harsh touch.

  Struck by a sudden surge of pleasure, Alron grunted a praise.

  “More, please,” she purred.

  Suddenly, a century of pent up lust crashed down all notions of inhibitions. Alron stood with Fei pierced on his cock and pinned her against the wooden wall of the hollow. He thrust into her with a vicious pace, to which she responded by smacking her ass against him and clawing at his back. With broken cries, she begged for release.

  Alron pulled her hair, struck her ass, and whispered in her ear, telling her to climax.

  Convulsions began with her hips and thighs, growing to violent jerks. Alron held Fei down against the wall, continuing to drive into her until the last spasms of her high triggered the beginning of his.

  Pleasure surged through his brain in tides, washing away
all other thoughts beneath a blanket of bliss, all but the steady rhythm of pumping his seed into Fei, all but how his essence poured into her, spilled over, and how her slippery squeeze welcomed every drop.

  They paused to compose themselves. Sweat glistened on Fei’s breasts. Loose strands of hair had tumbled out of her bun. His cum dripped down her tanned thighs. For a flicker, he thought she couldn’t be more arousing if she tried, then she winked, gave him a naughty smile, and parted her lips, begging for a kiss.

  Alron granted it. During that dance of lips, he felt neither the burn of vengeance nor the festering wound of betrayal, only her—only the touch of his beloved beautiful Fei and her passions for him.

  His dragon-core burned hot, a bowl of coals in his stomach. A corona of soulfire framed Fei, intensifying as the bond between their dragonsouls was once more sealed. Though Fei remained her own person, her mind and body were a part of him now, much in the same way as spawn of Carrion Scourge had been a part of the dragongod.

  When their lips broke apart, Fei brushed a strand of hair behind her pointy ear. A satisfied smile curled her lips.

  “Stars, I had forgotten what real sex tastes like.” Fei swallowed, her labored breaths pushing forth puffs of soulfire.

  Alron… My beloved Alron, he’s still my Alron. He still loves me. The voice of Fei’s thoughts hummed against his.

  Alron grinned, and returned a thought: I do.

  Her face sparkled with unbridled joy. Fei leaned in and nibbled hungrily at his lips, while whispering to him words of love and obsession.

  Alron echoed them, and the two resumed actualizing lust into flesh with celebratory sex.

  He handled her with a harsh hand, guiding Fei by her neck, hair, and steel sure words. Not once did she have to doubt where her body belonged, or which hole she was to spread wide for his use. With her hands pressed to the ground, Alron plundered the tight depths of Fei’s throat, fucked tears into her eyes, and watched her hump air when he smeared her throat and face with his seed. Without a pause, he forced her cumstained face against the ground, spread her rear-hole for his pleasure, and left the gaping hole drooling with his load.

  Again, and again he took her in every way imaginable. Moments ebbed between peaks of pleasure. He and Fei worshipped each other’s bodies in an almost religious awe.

  Alron hadn’t realized the depth of his thirst for her, until, after the tenth load, his cravings showed no signs of calming down. Perhaps he should’ve risen above those urges. Such a thought did pass by his mind. He did not act on it, but rather bent her over and used her cum-filled slit once more.

  Their lust was simple. Uncomplicated. Primal. Loud. There was no complex game of power, no seductive tip-toeing of words, nor an exploration of personal fetishes. The night was the manifestation of a century of pent up lust and longing. It was pure sex.

  Alron felt a fool for his earlier reservations, for talking Fei into taking their second chance slowly. Why bother, when the two of them had always preferred to speak with their bodies?

  Daylight faded. The sprites and chirpers of the night had long since returned from their burrows by the time they agreed to rest.

  Steam wafted up from their sweat and sex soaked bodies.

  Fei shivered in his arms. “Ow, ow…” My legs. Aaahh, my thighs… ow, and the hips too. Poor hips, did you forget how to take his cock?

  Alron chuckled. She looked up to meet his gaze, and returned a weary if satisfied smile.

  “You’re quieter,” she spoke softly. Alron raised a brow, but before he could ask, she continued, “I understand what you meant now, my quiet lonely piece of driftwood.”

  “Hm.” Alron moved Fei’s hair behind her ear, enamored by her beauty. What need had he of other thoughts but her in this moment? None. And so, his head remained empty, his mind filled with her glory. My Fei.

  Fei pecked his cheek.

  Someone sneezed outside. Sofi lingered by the entrance to the hollow, cocooned in three layers of blankets. She breathed tiny puffs of magma-red fire into her palms. Her teeth clacked. “A-a-apologies if I’m intruding. Are we continuing the journey today, or camping for another day? If we are camping, could I perhaps enjoy your warmth again?”

  Alron let out a long breath.

  Sex, and other forms of relaxation, were always appropriate in a measured quantity. They were tools, weapons to bolster one’s sanity when faced with the impossible, or simply to be used as an efficient release of stress. This once, however, he may have over-indulged by ten hours.

  “No. Let us move,” said Alron. He gathered his clothes. “Pack your belongings. We leave the boat here.”

  As if startled by some unseen ghost, Sofi jumped. Her eyes jumped up from his crotch. “Yes, masterrrr is not the word to address you, but Alron. Yes, Alron! At once!”

  She waddled out, blankets still cocooned about her.

  Cute, Fei thought.

  Alron agreed, and the two grinned. Fire flickered in Fei’s eyes as she whispered to him, “My Alron, you must smell how she’s dripping with want. She desires you, oh how she wants you. Make her yours, Alron. Make her ours, and make her reveal her true self. We could help her master her vestige, help her assimilate and master more, until she has a dragon-core. We can guide her through the steps, and then… Alron, she could be of actual use to us. Perhaps even be one of us?”

  “She has a lover,” he said, grin gone.

  “Lovers die. Deaths breed vengeance, and the vengeful flock together. Alron, if you do not take her, I will make her yours. The two of us alone may have the strength to destroy the Blackmetal City, but you’ve seen what I’ve seen: Those small cannons, the strange strength enhancing armors, and missiles which could hunt us like animated dragonfire. We may have sat still for decades, but the world did not. It moved on, forgot us, and left us behind. We need your full might to make sure we succeed. And for that, you need more bonds.”

  Alron glared at Fei. When he spoke, his words were grave and tone cold. “Do. Not. Kill. Her. Lover.”

  “Isn’t it a little late to start counting lives of strangers?” Fei snorted, crossing her arms.

  “Do not make me betray an ally,” he warned.

  “Sure, but how many other opportunities will we—”

  “I will not betray her. Do not make me betray an ally. Ever.” They stared at each other in silence. Fei guarded her thoughts from him, but he could see dark ideas brewing behind her eyes. Perhaps more had changed in her than he realized.

  Soft steps crunched hoar-crisped moss. Sofi re-appeared at the door, hefting her bags. “I prepared your belongings as well, Alron. I hope that’s okay. Are we ready to embark?” she asked.

  Fei’s gaze narrowed on Alron. I’ll pretend you didn’t place a stranger’s life above our justice. If I make her yours, will you accept her then? she asked.

  Ketzar, Ori, Yali, Ne, Jhzetol. Five of nine perished in that star cursed ritual. I do not wish that to happen again.

  They obviously didn’t love you enough.

  But I loved them, very dearly. To this day, I do. Having had his fill of reminiscing old wounds, Alron turned from Fei, walked out, and gave Sofi a nod.

  “We’re ready. Stay close, and beware the will-o-folk. Without an oracle, our only defense against illusions is the strength of our will and pain. If the woods begin to twist and turn oddly, stab a claw in your thigh.”

  Sofi nodded sharply. “Yes, Alron.”

  Alron cast Fei one final look as they waded into the deep, murky pools.

  We need more bonds. She’s a ripe candidate, a blank slate with but one vestige, and a heart ready to fall for you, Fei whispered to his mind. Is your conviction more important than getting our justice?

  That stung, and the thought lingered with Alron for hours of swampy marching. If he wasn’t prepared to break his own pride and convictions, how could he expect to break a nation?

  Chapter 8 - Wealdborn

  Claw-curved peaks of Grovemother’s tail reached high in the yellow-
clouded sky. Here, in the depths of Wealdfront, creatures, plants, and the ground itself were animated by hidden vestiges of the Grovemother.

  Branches attempted to snatch the dancing swarms of sprites from the air. Roots slithered in the murky pools, and nearby trees strangled each other, more than once making an attempt at Sofi’s ankles—to which Alron responded to swiftly. Once, a bush ripe with pinecones uprooted itself and ran off in one direction, while the pinecones—which revealed themselves as wooden beetles—dropped to the ground and ran in the other. Here dwelled thousand year trees the size of towers with everburning leaves, pools of sentient water folk, and myriad draconic beasts. Sprites, of course, common as they were, filled the air like snowfall suspended in time. One butterfly shaped fella sat down on Alron’s horn and kept on sitting.

  Will-o-folk—vestige-possessed wisps of mist and gas—cackled and whispered, attempting in vain to tempt Alron off course with nonsensical mirages. He never wavered. Their power, however, proved plenty to lure Sofi off course, leading her to trip into a pond opaque with pale algae. She’d thrashed frantically when something beneath grabbed her legs.

  “We can turn around. We can yet turn around and make it to Breakfort. It would still be the logical choice, in terms of saving time, if we hired a fast enough firewagon, I believe it would,” Sofi said, shivering after Alron had pulled her out. “Is there any way I could persuade the two of you to consider turning around?”

  “I could think of a way. Several ways, depending on your boldness,” Fei said, wrapping a hand around the girl’s shoulder.

  Compassion in her voice and gaze hid a manipulative coldness. In the hours of their journey, the two had reached a silent consensus over the matter of Sofi’s seduction.

  Should the girl ask for simple pleasure, it would not be denied. But anything more would be rebuked, for her own sake.

  Despite this limit, Fei’s enthusiasm towards tempting the girl intensified with the passage of days. Suspiciously so. While Alron trusted Fei’s promise—she would die before betraying him—he knew the woman better than to trust she wouldn’t fudge the rules.