by Robin Wirth
brushed along the side of the very hard flesh he
found underneath.
With a wicked smile, Lancelot pushed
the bra aside completely and moved to taste her
instead. His tongue swirled around the little nub,
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and heat swirled all down Felicity’s body,
making her shiver.
“Lance!” she gasped again, with far less
of a protest and far more of a desire present in
her tone this time.
“Sweet, sweet, sweet,” he whispered as
he licked his way over to uncover the other
breast and give it a fair turn. Then he used his
fingers on each of them as he moved over her
again and plied her with soft, searching kisses.
Felicity sighed softly into his mouth, and
his tongue slid in to quench the thirst she’d
suddenly acquired. “Oh Lance!” she breathed,
then repeated his name several more times as
they clung together.
“You know something, Miss Lake?” he
said after a while. “I’m bloody well going to
magic up that tent, and then we’re going to make
some dinner.”
Felicity laughed, and answered, “Good
idea.”
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Neither one of them made any move to
get up, and then Lance was kissing Felicity
again, this time with even more hunger than
before. Their breaths came in short little gasps
as he moved more fully on top of her, rubbing
against her with his hardened need.
Felicity gasped at the feel of his cock,
still safely ensconced inside his pants, as it slid
along her inner thigh, quite near the place it
clearly would like to be. Her senses were reeling
as Lance finally moved away and stood up, so
that she was unable to make her own muscles
work to do the same.
Lance picked her up and set her on top of
their sleeping bags. “Stay right there,
sweetheart,” he said. “I want to feed you dinner
in bed.”
“I thought that was supposed to be
breakfast,” she replied, and her words were still
quite breathless.
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“No, sweetheart,” he answered with a
chuckle as he flicked his wand at the tent and it
was finally up. “It isn’t morning yet.”
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TWENTY-EIGHT
Lance and Felicity finished their meal
well before the sun was due to set, so they
decided that in the interest of actually
accomplishing
something
useful
before
bedtime, they would begin to explore the area,
looking for a way inside.
Thus far the pair had been wandering
around by the base of the mountain for about an
hour. Lance was keeping Felicity decidedly
close to his side as they walked about, quite
frequently interrupting the alleged work time
with ample kisses and touches.
“You do know that we would cover a lot
more ground if we split up, don’t you, Lance?”
Felicity finally asked when he’d pulled her into
his arms yet again.
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“Felicity, my dear, how could I possibly
allow you to go wandering about this place all
alone?” he wanted to know. “We are deep in the
heart of the forest. Who knows what sort of
murderous cutthroats might be lurking about, or
wild creatures that might be lying in wait for
someone as tasty as you?”
She
giggled
softly
as
Lancelot
emphasized this point by tasting the side of her
neck with the hungry growl of one of the forest
creatures of which he spoke. She slapped at his
hands as he tried to slide them up her shirt again.
“I doubt any of them could get a taste if
they wanted to,” she informed him. “You’ve
already consumed all the best bits.”
“Oh no, my sweet, I’m quite certain there
are a few other bits left that will be quite
delectable,” he assured her.
Felicity caught the precise meaning of
those words. Her face went up into flames even
as her body reacted to the idea in a most
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favorable manner. When he kissed her this time,
she couldn’t help but let him. They stood like
that for a time before she finally managed to pull
away again.
“Dearest girl,” he whispered into her ear.
“I’d never forgive myself if I left you alone and
you ended up getting injured, or worse. What
kind of a protector do you take me for?”
“Lancelot Jones, what kind of adventurer
do you take me for?” she admonished him. “Do
you think that I’m some kind of helpless little
twit who doesn’t know how to take care of
herself? If I can help my aunt fight a dragon at
the age of twelve, I can certainly handle
anything this old forest has to offer.”
“Mm, but I don’t want to let you go,” he
grumbled as he continued his nibbles up her chin
and back to her lips again. His tongue delved
into her mouth, and for a moment she savored
him before she moved resolutely away and
crossed her arms over her chest.
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“I’m going to go look at the other end of
the thicket and see if I can find an opening over
there. Otherwise, with your current desire to
cuddle in full force, we’re never going to find
anything but frustration.”
“Can I help it if you’re so delectable, my
sweet?” he chuckled as he pulled her closer
again. “I know that you are right, and I suppose
I’ll have to let you go. But would it sound stupid
if I admitted that I was going to miss you?”
“Of course it would sound stupid, you
silly man,” she informed him, though she smiled
as she said this. “But, I have to admit that I like
it anyway.”
They both laughed as they kissed some
more, and then Felicity turned and ran off into
the trees as Lancelot watched her go. The look
on his face went from enraptured to amazed to
something almost like fearfulness as his hand
came up to hold his heart.
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Then he actually put the hand to his face
and realized he’d gone quite warm. He shook his
head in wonder, and began to search for a way
inside in earnest yet again.
Lancelot broke free of a row of trees and
approached what looked like a chink in the
mountain’s otherwise pristine armor. Hunkering
down, he began to pick at the loose rocks that
appeared to be blocking a small hole.
Too small for a man to get into,
> unfortunately. He would have to turn himself
into a field mouse to fit inside the thing, and
even if he did there was no way of knowing if
the hole went inside the mountain or the only
thing he would find would be an enraged owner.
“I’ve got to hand it to this Amaranth, she
certainly knows how to shut out the world,” he
commented wryly. “Still, she must know that
we’re not likely to give up—”
Lance sprang back to his feet when he
heard a swooping sound from somewhere up
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above. He didn’t spot anything as he spun
around in alarm, but his heart began to hammer
in his chest.
He began to run frantically in the
direction where he’d last seen Felicity,
memories of the dream he’d had filling him with
dread. He wasn’t about to let some dragon run
off with his girl, he thought angrily.
“Felicity?” he called out. “Are you all
right?”
“Yes, I’m fine,” she called from a bit of
distance away. Lance began to pick through the
trees, following the direction her voice had come
from. Every tree in sight seemed to be rising up
to prevent his progress, and he began to suspect
this was on purpose.
“Did you hear anything funny just now?”
he called out to her again. “I thought I heard
something up in the sky, but I don’t see anything
there now. Can you see anything from over
there?”
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“Yes, I think I do,” she said, her voice
sounding a bit alarmed. Lance heard her begin
to run, and what sounded like her sleek, small
form diving into the trees. “Damn!”
“What is it, my girl?” Lance called
urgently. “I can’t seem to get to you. Please tell
me you’re all right.”
“It appears that we’ve got company,” she
announced, her breathing hard as the sound of
her running again met his ears. “It’s a dragon,
and he seems very much inclined to have a go at
me. Oh, damn! Lance! Help me! He’s trying to
fly off with me! Let me go, you great hulking
beast!”
Lancelot flung his wand up into the air,
flying after the departing dragon and the girl it
held in hot pursuit. He cringed at the sight of
blood on Felicity’s shoulder where the beast’s
claws held her fast, and he shook his free fist
with outrage.
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“If you harm her, it will be the last thing
you ever do, dragon!” he called after it. The
dragon let out a little sound that almost reminded
him of a laugh, which only made Lancelot
madder still.
Lancelot took in every detail of the beast
he could possibly remember for future reference.
Not much bigger than himself, this dragon was
a deep red in color, and upon his head was a
small golden crest. His wings were also golden
colored, as was the tip of his tail. He completely
doubted that this creature was the dragoness they
sought.
Felicity was able to turn her head just
enough to see the look Lance was casting her
captor, and she knew how angry he had become.
Her heart clenched to think this might be the last
time she saw his beloved face, and tears sprang
into her eyes.
She couldn’t help but think of the kisses
they’d shared before their meal—especially the
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ones that were in places other than her lips.
Would she ever get to experience them again?
The dragon flew straight and fast, and as
it approached the top of the mountain a portion
of its surface suddenly split open with a
resounding crack. Lance was just behind them,
but the mountain began to close before he was
fully inside.
With a resounding snap, the doors
clamped shut again right against his body as he
barely made it through the opening. Felicity
cringed when she saw the wand fall from his
hand, and watched as he plummeted to
somewhere in the darkness far below.
“Lance!” she wailed. “Oh no, Lance!”
By the time the dragon set her down,
Felicity’s eyes were so swollen from tears that
she could barely open them to have a look
around. The creature had set her down in a nest
full of at least twenty others of his kind.
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It was also riddled with animal bones of
all shapes and sizes, but none of them appeared
to be human, she was happy to note. The
discovery did not necessarily confirm that she
wasn’t on their menu at some point, but at least
she could be fairly certain she wasn’t about to be
offered up as a hatchling meal within the near
future.
She breathed a sigh of relief, but it was
short-lived as thoughts of Lance returned in full
force. What had become of him once he’d
reached the bottom? Was he lying there, alone
and broken in the dark?
The dragon who had brought her here
grabbed her arm again and forced her to sit
down, curling up beside her and covering her
with one of his wings. When he did so, she
realized that it was painful to the touch, and the
wetness on her shirt confirmed her suspicions
that she’d been bleeding.
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Felicity lay as still as possible so she
would not agitate the creature, and let her tears
slide freely down her face. She had no idea what
she was going to do. But that was not her main
concern. She was much more worried about
Lancelot Jones.
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TWENTY-NINE
Lancelot came to with a start, and looked
around with a frantic shake of his head. Since it
was pitch black all around him, there was not
much to see.
Realizing that he must have injured
himself somehow after he’d entered the opening
into the mountain, he began to slowly examine
his body for broken limbs. He tested out each of
his arms, and they both seemed fine, so he used
them to check elsewhere.
His fingers slid along his midsection,
and then he bent slightly to touch his thighs. He
brought his legs up one at a time to examine
them as well, and miraculously they seemed
sound.
His head was aching something fierce,
however, and the sticky substance he felt
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covering it could only be blood—a lot of it.
Through
a
spinning
haze
he
vaguely
remembered now that he’d dropped his wand in
mid-air and plummeted a great distance, and
struck his head on the rocks below.
Feeling the ground beneath him, he was
able to determine he was lying in a pile of jagged
rocks, mostly the size of his fist or less. Had he
hit anything larger, the outcome could have been
much worse.
“I could be injured quite badly,” he
whispered out loud, just to make sure that his
voice still worked. Then, as more of the previous
events assailed his memory, he groaned and
added, “My sweet Felicity could be hurt even
worse!”
Lancelot’s heart thudded inside his chest
as he felt frantically around for his wand. He
could barely crawl as he pulled himself forward,
but he continued to try with a determined effort.
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Without his wand, the only magic he was
likely to conjure would be quite difficult at best,
with his head in such a state. The pain of it was
almost nauseating.
Finally, his fingers touched the very tip
of the curvy, wooden rod, and he sighed with
relief. As least he wouldn’t be stuck sitting here
all alone in the dark. He fell forward on top of it,
completely exhausted by the effort it had taken
just to find it.
Eventually, he rolled onto his back with
the wand in his hand. He gave it a flick, and a
very dim light glowed from it, barely enough to
see half a meter from his face.
He would have to find a wall and follow
it with his hands, even with the help of the light.
But still, he was grateful for the dim blue to
break up the overpowering blackness of the
dark.
Before he attempted to get up, he tried to
get a better look at the amount of blood he got
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on his hands when he touched his head, and he
was not pleased by the result. The fact that some
