As they swung in, I saw my pack and the dragon saddle on the floor, and the magic circle, deactivated and empty. Panic gripped my stomach.
“Karalti!?” I took a step inside, letting the door slam.
There was a deep hiss from behind me.
I lifted the blindfold as I turned, and saw a pair of huge, brilliant violet eyes peering back at me from the darkness. She was still chained, collared and muzzled, hunched against the wall and melded into the shadows.
“Oh thank god.” I ran to her, fumbling with the keys. Karalti stayed very still as I unlocked each manacle and disconnected the heavy chains from the collar, then the headcage that kept her from breathing fire. As soon as they came off, there was a swooping rush as our mental connection re-established itself... and then the dragon threw herself at me as I reached up to embrace her around her long, powerful neck.
“Hector!” Shivering and hot, Karalti pressed as much of her body against mine as she could. “Hector! That was so awful! I was trapped in this bad, bad place with nothing all around me!”
“Shhh, Tidbit, it’s okay.” I squeezed her tightly, burying my face against her scales, breathing in her deep floral scent.
“They were saying terrible things about you! And me! A-And my mother!” The anxious dragon crooned, swinging her tail from side to side in agitation. “Th-they kept trying to get in my head, and I-I couldn’t attack them, or move, or anything!”
I kissed her arms and rubbed her shoulders and the joints of her wings, not knowing what to do or say other than be with her. When I felt her start to relax, I looked up. “It’s okay, girl. But Suri’s still down here somewhere. We have to find her - she’s trapped, too.”
Karalti wagged her head and pushed past me, stalking toward the door. “I can find her by smell! Come on!”
The dragon was just small enough to squeeze through the dungeon passages, though her tightly furled wings still banged against walls and cell doors, and the spines that started from her rump and ran along her tail scraped the low ceilings. She tracked through the darkness like a scenthound, turned the corner, and came up short at a wooden door. “There! She’s past there!”
“Roger that.” I crawled underneath Karalti’s body and came up at her head, unlocking the door and pushing it into the room.
It was a torture room. Racks and strappado pulleys were cast into sharp relief by torchlight, along with trays of tools and rusted metal cages with built in stocks. Suri was in one of them - exhausted and pissed off, but otherwise unharmed.
“You wanna end up like the last guy who tried to fuck with me!? Come over here, mate! I’ll rip your fucking balls off!” she yelled from across the room.
“I’ll have you know that I never show anyone my balls until we’ve been out to dinner at least twice.” The joke sounded better in my head than it did coming out, but it was something to break the ice as I entered, Karalti padding in on my heels.
Suri couldn’t turn her head much. She was forced to bend at the waist, her wrists and neck locked into the metal stocks, her lower body trapped in the cage. She tried anyway, struggling to look up. “Hector?! Where the fuck were you?”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t get here any faster. The last three hours of my life have been like some kind of Nihilist wet dream-slash-nightmare. Void Wraiths, Void Horrors, Void-this, Void-that.” I pulled up in front of the cage and unlocked the two halves of the door. The lower half swung out, revealing the lock for the stocks mounted under the upper half of the door. “I’m really glad they let you keep your pants on.”
“Fuckin’ oath. Some cunt tried to take them off, believe me. I donkey kicked him so hard that he choked on his own dick.” Suri glowered at the room while I worked. “What the hell happened? And why are you wearing a nappy?”
“A what?”
“You’re wearing a bloody diaper.”
“No public toilets in Taltos, remember?” I let the bottom of the stocks drop away. “And it’s not a diaper. It’s a girdle.”
“It’s a diaper, you shitcunt.” Suri groaned with pain as she sunk to her knees and crawled out. I offered her a hand up, which she accepted. To my surprise, she leaned forward and wrapped me in a tight, fierce embrace.
“Is ‘shitcunt’ something you call someone you like?” I squeaked, as she crushed me into her chest.
“Depends on how you say it and who you say it to.” Suri buried her face against my neck, and only then did I feel the quaking in her hands and the muscles of her back.
I returned the hug, stroking her hair, and glanced at Karalti to gauge her response. The dragon’s crests were flat against her skull, but when I met her eyes, they lifted a little. She tentatively bobbed her head.
“We’re okay, Suri.” I rubbed between her shoulders and clapped her on the back. “Ignas won. Andrik’s dead. Like... really dead. The new Volod is wrangling his court as we speak.”
“Tell me on the way upstairs.” Suri’s voice was thick, as if she was fighting back tears. “I need a long bath and some clean clothes. And you need some fucking pants.”
“Sorry, ma’am, I left my fucking pants back in my other castle,” I replied.
Suri slapped me, but not with any force. I giggled as she stalked off, trailing behind her. I wasn’t sure everything was going to be okay just yet - but it was okay for now, and as Ebisa had said, it was time to think about the future.
Chapter 46
Two Days Later.
As I had done just over a week ago, I woke to the blueish light of Archemi’s sun dancing through the curtains across from my bed. Well, our bed.
Karalti curled around me, her wing draped across my body, her foreclaws clasped over her long, elegant muzzle. Her double heartbeat pounded a steady, slow rhythm against my back. Her lean body took up most of the bed, leaving just enough room for me to sleep.
I yawned as I pushed myself up to sit, letting the leathery blanket slide down my back. My HUD was pinging me, small blue icons pulsing at the corner of my eye. I leaned back against Karalti and pulled them across to check the time - 8:32 a.m - a quest update, and several notifications and messages.
[New PM from Suri Ba’hadir: Want to go for breakfast before the Big Event? RV at my bunk between 0830-0900.]
[New Event! 12pm - The Coronation of Volod Ignas II]
[You have unspent skill points!]
Quest Update: The Slayer of Taltos/Stalkers in the Night
The Slayer is dead, Andrik Corvinus III’s plan for the nation of Vlachia exposed, and the true Volod of the largest nation in the East has cleared his name. The Void-touched plot of the old king did not come to pass, though the cost was dear. Was it worth it? Only you can answer that.
There remain some unanswered questions. During or after today’s Coronation, speak with Volod Ignas Corvinus II to solve the final mysteries of the Slayer of Taltos and claim your reward.
I grunted and accepted the update, then stretched and carefully extracted myself from the circle made by Karalti’s limbs and tail. When I got to my feet, she huffed out a small wheezy sigh and balled up tighter, shielding her face with a wing.
“Still too damn cute for your own good,” I muttered fondly.
I went to our pack and equipped my freshly repaired and polished gear: the Naziri Chest and Leg armor, Boots of the Winding Path, and the Sanctified Cold Iron Gauntlets - or as I liked to call them, the Zombie Crushers. They were much heavier than the fine leather Naziri Gauntlets, but the discomfort of wearing thirty pounds of iron and dinosaur leather on my arms would improve my Strength over time. I could even end up as strong as Suri - I just had to embrace The Suck.
I checked myself in the bathroom mirror one last time, and let out a terse sigh before stalking back into the bedroom. “Okay, Karalti. Wakey wakey, rise and shine!”
“Uuggoo...” The dragon groaned and wrapped her wing more tightly over her face.
“Come on. Up and at ‘em.” I snatched my spear from where it leaned against the wall and poked her with the
blunt end. “Mr Alpha Rod says it’s time for you to become erect! Upright! Turgid. We have a coronation today.”
“You’re gross.” Karalti kicked out weakly with one of her back feet, snapping her killing claw down to try and catch the polearm. “Bring me some breakfast?”
I scoffed. “You can get your scaly ass out of bed and get your own breakfast, Princess. Come on, I have to go see Suri.”
Karalti mumbled, flexing her long ankles and hind claws before drawing her knees up against her belly. “So go see her. I sleep.”
“Not jealous?” I teased.
“No. I sleeeeep.” She sounded increasingly petulant.
I rolled my eyes, but I could tell I wasn’t going to win with her this morning. Dragons didn’t sleep quite as much as cats, but they definitely needed more sleep than humans. I’d spent most of the last two days sleeping as well. “Well, you’ve got an hour. Then we have to join the Coronation parade.”
“Uggh.”
Suri’s quarters were in the floor below our suite. I nervously brushed down my clothes and made sure my hair was sitting right before I knocked on her door.
“Hector?” She called.
“Yeah, it’s me.” Surreptitiously, I checked my breath. As always, it smelled faintly minty. One of the benefits of being a digital ghost.
I heard the heels of Suri’s boots against the floor, then the clunk of a bolt being drawn back. She opened the door and smiled as my jaw practically hit the ground.
“What do you think?” She struck a pose in the doorframe. Suri was already dressed for the coronation: gold rings in her lip, nose and ears, her fiery hair styled into loose corkscrew ringlets. She wore a scoop-necked dress made almost entirely of small glass beads. They poured over her dark curves like a heavy liquid, baring her arms, most of her chest down to the sternum, and both legs to the hip.
“I... umm...” I blinked a couple of times. “Requesting permission to shamelessly objectify you, ma’am?”
“Permission granted.” She linked her hands behind her back and thrust her chest out, her lips quirked in a sly smile.
I looked down, eyebrows raised, and nodded. “I’m pretty sure this is what heaven looks like.”
“Kind of like the Grand Canyon, huh?”
“Yeah.” The urge to brush my knuckles over the bare curves around the edge of the dress was powerful, but I managed to keep my hands to myself. “That sideboob game is intense.”
“Isn’t it?” Suri grinned, flashing sharp teeth. “Ignas put me on to his favorite dressmaker. Old bastard’s got good taste in clothes, I can tell you that.”
I shook my head with a chuckle. “I still trip out at the thought of you being this into fashion.”
Suri planted her hands on her hips. “If you spent all your early life in filthy rags, you’d want to wear nice things, too. Besides, I didn’t get to enjoy that last dress I bought for the auction, what with losing my arm and all.”
“Can’t argue that.” I looked up at her, and glanced past her at her room. I couldn’t see much of it, but what I did see was very tidy. She’d even made her bed. “So, you going to let me in? Or are you coming out?”
“You’re coming in.” She reached out and caught me by the wrist, and yanked me inside.
We made it inside the doorway, and that was as far as we got before she pushed me up against the wall and kissed me. A hot thrill flashed through my body at the contact of her lips. They were hot, sweet, as eager as her hands as she pressed her thighs against mine. I hooked a foot behind her ankle and spun her around, turning the tables, and she laughed against my mouth.
Even through my armor, I could feel the leonine power in Suri’s body as she arched back against me. Her hands meshed through my hair, down my back, and gripped my belt. I ran mine down the side of her waist, listening to the beads click against the cold iron. When the metal gauntlet touched her bare thigh, she shuddered.
“So… is this breakfast, or ‘breakfast’?” I asked her, speaking against her lips.
“Depends how hungry you are,” she whispered back.
“Pretty damn hungry.” I grinned at her, pushed the streamer of her dress aside, and pinned her hips to the wall while I went to my knees.
I’d made the difficult decision to abstain from certain types of, uhh, ‘activity’ while Karalti was still maturing. We had an intense connection, and short of walling her off with magic – which I never wanted to do again – it seemed like a bad idea to expose her to all the things I wanted to do with Suri. But Suri’s pleasure? That was fair game. And I was learning now that there were more ways to get off than the obvious ones – like pinning a girl against a wall while she moaned and bucked and cursed me for not fucking her. There was a dark power to be found in going down on her, in the discipline I had to exercise on Suri and myself… and when she came, throwing her head back, gasping, pushing her clit against my lips, her orgasm thrummed through my entire body. The control – over her pleasure, my pleasure, my body and hers - felt good. Really good, and addictive.
“After this coronation, you and me… we’re going farming,” Suri gasped, once I knelt back. “We’re going to level that dragon up to adulthood so fast your head’ll spin.”
I looked up at her from the ground. She was panting, her eyes dark, her hair tousled. Her lips were flushed, her thighs trembling and slick. I felt like I’d go crazy: all I wanted to do was turn her around, push her against the wall, and fuck her… but in the back of my mind, I could sense Karalti’s innocent dreams, her contentment and comfort. It was best for all three of us that I waited.
“Think you’ll be ready by then?” I teased Suri, taking her hand and leading her to the table where our breakfast waited: coffee, Vlachian citrus tea, open-faced sandwiches, lean cuts of cured meat, cheese, and pickled vegetables.
“I think so.” It wasn’t just Karalti who needed time. Suri had some hangups of her own… the legacy of her rough start in Archemi. She hadn’t even known about them until the day before, where she’d seen me mostly naked and had some flashbacks. I was okay with that, and after some reassurance, so was she. It was all part of healing.
We spent a good hour over breakfast, eating together in the cool morning light. Sometimes we held hands, sometimes we didn’t... but we talked, weaving a dance through the things we liked to do, what we believed, what we thought of the Slayer questline and what happened to Andrik. I was wrapping up the exciting finale of the fight with the Void Horror when there was a knock on the door.
“I’ll get it.” Suri rose and walked past me in a cloud of soft perfume. I couldn’t help but turn to watch the way her hips rolled. The pleasure wasn’t so guilty now.
She opened the door to reveal Rin. The young Mercurion’s face was soot-smeared, as was her smithing apron and gloves. She gasped when she saw Suri.
“Oh my god you look amazing!” She jumped up and down on the spot, shaking her fists with excitement, and then hugged Suri around the middle as the taller woman bent down to embrace her.
“Are they calling us for the parade?” I ambled over, and got the same wraparound hug from Rin.
She nodded, her blue on blue eyes shining. “Yes! They… umm… they had some trouble getting Cutthroat ready, but I think it’s done now. You’re good to go.”
“You aren’t coming?” Suri asked her.
Rin bit her lip and shook her head. “No… neither me or Ebisa are really good at parades and, well, anything noisy. We’re fixing your Spear today, though! And I’ve been busy upgrading Lovelace and Hopper with some of the new combat engineer skills I picked up with my last level. Ebisa helped me reorganize my ability point distribution for the Mystic Engineer class, so… yeah!”
“When do you think the Spear will be done?” I asked.
“After the Coronation, definitely.” The Mercurion bobbed her head, smiling. “You guys look so amazing. I’m so proud!”
Suri ruffled Rin’s hair and flashed me a wry smile over her shoulder. “Well, go get your dragon. I
guess you’ll be flying, so we’ll meet you at the church?”
“Sure will. We’ll go down for you.” I wiggled my eyebrows at her. Suri’s eyes narrowed, but she blushed.
Karalti was busy grooming herself when I returned to our quarters, sitting in the middle of the bedroom with one leg tucked underneath her and the other sticking straight up in the. She looked up at me as I got her saddle ready, her forked tongue sticking out between her front fangs. “Is it time already? I haven’t gotten everything clean yet!”
“Too bad, Tidbit.” I patted the saddle. “Time to fly.”
Level 6 was likely to be the last level where Karalti and I could enter a private suite together. She had to squeeze through the door to the balcony. When she hit Level 7… we were going to have to work out some different sleeping arrangements.
When we were saddled up, she glided out to the battlements of the Keep, looking out over the valley and the city just beyond it. My heart lifted as I took in the sight of the high-walls, the dark steeples, the amber and gold domes cresting the church in the center of Taltos. The vanguard of the coronation parade was working its way down the switchback road – voivodes and satraps, knights on hookwings, banners rippling in the warm summer wind. Behind them rode the remaining soldiers of Vulkan Garrison, then the Knights of the Red Star on their black destrier hookwings and quazi, resplendent in their red lamellar. They surrounded the Royal Coach, the grand golden carriage that bore Ignas toward the city gate. When I focused in, I could see Ignas inside, but not his expression.
Behind them, Suri rode sidesaddle on Cutthroat. The huge hookwing had her head down and her shoulders hunched, skulked after the coach, radiating dejection. Somehow, the stable hands had draped her with decorative red-and-white silk barding woven through with roses. The barding already looked tattered and dirty, and quite a few of the flowers were rumpled.
“Ready?” Karalti asked me.
I pushed myself back along her back, settling into position, and squeezed the saddle grips tightly. “Always.”
Karalti trumpeted, beating her wings stiffly by her sides to warm them up, and then launched herself from the parapets into the open sky. The torque hit me in the belly, and I whooped and laughed as she glided down in a looping spiral toward the city below.
Trial by Fire: A LitRPG Dragonrider Adventure (Archemi Online Chronicles Book 2) Page 40
