by Freya Garth
The big dragon’s growl intensified. Doraya could feel the vibrations through her bare soles and up into the most intimate part of her body, which was a strangely pleasant sensation.
‘All right!’ Goril said roughly. ‘Doraya, I didn’t want it to be this way.’ He pulled her to him and ripped off her shirt, then growled himself with rage as he saw the livid bruise on her shoulder and Merlan’s dark finger marks on her breast, as well as the older bruises that patterned her slender body. ‘Who did this to you?’
She took a step back, quailing at the fury darkening his golden eyes. ‘Different people…’ Her heart sank to her ankles. Probably he wouldn’t want her, now that he could see what other people thought of her.
‘I should—’ He took a step toward the trapdoor. Was he going to take her back into the castle? Then he seemed to think better of whatever he’d had in mind. ‘No, it’s not the time.’ Goril ran his fingers through his unruly hair. The dragon’s growl was now producing steady vibrations throughout the top of the tower. ‘If we don’t meet Fiami’s needs, she’ll explode. Take the rest of your clothes off.’
Doraya hurried to obey, grateful for the reprieve, and couldn’t help noticing that Goril was also pulling off his own jerkin and shirt, boots and breeches. His body was superbly muscled, with an erection as thick as her wrist that reached up to his navel. The sight sent an electrical pulse straight to her quim, and she felt wetness gush onto the tops of her thighs. She flushed with shame again and hoped he wouldn’t notice.
‘Come here.’ He took her in his strong arms, and she could feel him vibrating like the dragon. Although she had no idea what was going on, she had never felt so safe in her whole life as she felt in his embrace. Looking up, she felt her mouth covered by his, a sensual tongue flicking across her lips and probing between them, gently at first and then more roughly as a groan came from the back of his throat. His erection was so hot against her skin, and she wriggled to feel it better, pressing her breasts against his muscular chest and eliciting another groan.
‘I need to fuck you.’ He sounded strained, as if he was exerting every sinew to maintain control. ‘Fiami needs it.’
‘I’ve never—’ She blushed, swallowed, and looked away from the shock on his face. If this was what he needed and she didn’t know how, surely he would send her away? She didn’t want to leave his embrace. She didn’t ever want to leave that shelter again.
He held her tight with one arm and stroked the other hand down her flat belly and in between her legs. ‘You’re so wet,’ he said in wonder. Thank goodness he didn’t seem to mind. The feeling of his hand there was warm and strange and wonderful, so Doraya pushed her hips forward to feel it better. Goril’s probing fingers met resistance. ‘Ah. I see,’ he said, and turned to his dragon, his fingers still gently stroking Doraya’s pussy and making her gasp with pleasure. ‘Fiami, I will not take Doraya’s virginity like this. I will satisfy you as best I can.’
The volume of Fiami’s growling abated slightly, which Doraya guessed must mean assent.
Goril took his fingers from her pussy, and she couldn’t help moaning at their loss.
‘In a minute, little one,’ Goril said. ‘I must satisfy myself and Fiami first.’ He pressed his erection against Doraya’s mound, and her whole body quivered in response.
‘Of course,’ she whispered. ‘Please tell me how to help.’
Goril traced her lips with a finger, making her tingle all over. ‘Such a sexy mouth. Have you ever had a man in your mouth?’
She shook her head, suddenly longing to taste his cock.
He took his hand away reluctantly and began to stroke his throbbing erection. ‘Then I shall begin with your breasts. Kneel for me.’
Doraya knelt at his feet. He placed his cock in between her ample breasts, and she instinctively used her hands to raise and press them together around his erection.
‘Oh, you little darling,’ he panted, thrusting his cock back and forth between her breasts, his pre-cum providing useful lubrication. He grabbed a handful of hair at the back of her neck to hold her against him, and Doraya fleetingly wished she’d had the chance to wash and comb it first.
‘I’m close, little one,’ he gasped.
Close to what? she wondered, but she didn’t have to wait long to find out. A gush of warm spunk shot out and hit the underside of her chin. Goril shouted his pleasure into the night, and Fiami, too, lifted her head and roared toward the stars. Another gush came, as Goril looked at Doraya and saw the pearly liquid running over her breasts and his own purple cockhead clamped between their white softness, which stimulated one last gush before he dropped to sit on the ground, his back against the dragon’s heaving flank.
‘Is that what Fiami needed?’ Doraya asked.
‘It’ll do for now. Come here.’ Goril patted the ground at his side.
Doraya moved to sit beside him, but he lifted her onto his lap. She could feel his semi-hard cock against the base of her spine.
‘I think you need a little pleasure, too,’ he said conversationally, and put his hand back between her legs, stroking with a sensual rhythm that made her want to buck her hips and beg. His other hand slid gently across her unbruised breast, kneading her flesh, rubbing her nipple to hardness. Feelings she had never experienced raced through her body, and all she could think was that she wanted more.
‘Please—’ she gasped, not knowing what she was asking.
Goril’s hand slowed, and his hot breath caressed her ear. ‘Yes? What can I do for you?’
Then she did know. ‘Please. Don’t stop.’
She heard a throaty chuckle from behind her as his hand speeded up again. Her whole being was expanding and contracting, the focus of sensation radiating out from and into the intense delight at the core of her being. The thought crossed her mind that dragon riders really were something special, and then she almost lost consciousness beneath a wave of peaking pleasure which swept through her again and again. She cried out in ecstasy, barely aware of Goril crooning soft words of appreciation in her ear.
Her body juddered to a stop, but strong aftershocks pulsed through her, making her shiver. She felt another new sensation in her mind, the brief mental touch of a huge happiness, which disappeared as quickly as it came. Goril swung her round, one arm under her knees, and held her close to his broad chest.
‘Doraya,’ he said softly, as if her name felt good in his mouth. ‘Doraya. I wish it could have been different.’
‘It is perfect,’ she said, and, on impulse, reached up to touch his cheek.
He looked down at her, surprised again. ‘You have excellent manners for a kitchen wench.’ Goril rose to his feet with her still cradled in his arms. ‘Wait until we are in the caves. It will be so much better then.’
Doraya rested her head on his strong chest, tired now, unable to imagine how anything could be better than this.
‘I can’t let you sleep yet, little one.’ He put her carefully down on her feet and steadied her until she had her balance. ‘We need to dress and ride.’
‘On Fiami?’
Doraya wished she could swallow the words back as soon as they had left her mouth. Of course they would be riding Fiami. This was what she wanted. If only she wasn’t so frightened.
Fiami turned her huge head to inspect Doraya with her enormous golden eyes, then laid her head down flat on the ground and nudged Doraya’s toe, very gently, with her chin.
‘Doraya.’ Goril sounded awed. ‘I think she wants you to stroke her head. In the middle, between her eyes.’
Doraya leaned forward and stroked Fiami’s smooth green fur with repeated strokes, gently at first, then a little harder. Fiami half closed her eyes and relaxed. Doraya sank to one knee by the great beast’s head, so she could stroke harder still.
Goril pulled his clothes on and then knelt behind her, raised her hair and kissed the back of her neck, which was distractingly pleasurable.
‘I have never seen,’ he said, still in that hushed voice
, ‘any dragon take to a woman like that.’
‘She’s beautiful,’ Doraya said.
‘So are you. We need to move.’ Goril pulled her to her feet. Fiami’s eyes snapped open, and she flicked her tail in disgust. ‘Life is not all fun time,’ Goril told his dragon. ‘Although now we have Doraya, there will be more fun than before. Doraya, is there someone you want to say good-bye to?’
She shook her head. There really wasn’t anyone.
Goril looked oddly sympathetic for a moment. ‘Then you must dress. It will be colder while we fly.’ He picked up her clothes and handed them to her, wrinkling his nose in disgust. ‘I promise this will be the last time you wear such wretched garments.’
Doraya pulled on the familiar rough-textured clothes and was glad of their warmth.
‘I must make my farewells,’ Goril said. ‘I am sorry to leave you, but I will be as quick as I can. You will be safe with Fiami.’
He was gone through the trapdoor and down the ladder before she could draw breath.
With him gone, Doraya realised she could hardly believe what was happening to her. It seemed her long-held wish had come true. Fear twinged in her belly as she realised she knew nothing about the dragon riders, only the stories she’d heard all her life. Really, she’d wanted to escape from her life of drudgery at the castle more than she’d wanted to be a dragon rider’s woman. Except that Goril was so attractive—and, apparently, so kind. That was a stroke of luck, anyway. But what kind of a life was she going toward? She hadn’t given that much thought.
Still, just minutes ago she had been a kitchen wench here at King Panac’s castle, bullied and harassed with nothing to look forward to. Whatever life held as a dragon rider’s woman, it couldn’t be worse than the life she was leaving. And she didn’t believe Fiami would eat her. The size of the dragon still awed her, but Goril had told her she would be safe, and Doraya believed him.
Then she heard him climbing back up the stepladder, and he emerged from the trapdoor, a small hide sack in one hand. His face was back to its former impassive expression, but Doraya thought she detected a hint of satisfaction.
‘How do we ride?’ Doraya asked.
As if in answer, Fiami bent her foreleg backward so they could mount.
Doraya hesitated. ‘Won’t I hurt her?’
‘She is very strong,’ Goril said, and Fiami lifted her head proudly. ‘She will barely feel us once we have mounted.’
Doraya put a tentative foot on Fiami’s warm leg, which did indeed feel as strong as a tree trunk. She climbed up onto the dragon’s back, helped by Goril, who settled himself close behind her, tied his sack beneath Fiami’s wing, and put his arms tightly around Doraya’s waist. The next thing she knew, Fiami was moving toward the edge of the tower, putting her front feet on the parapet, and jumping into the air. Doraya’s stomach fell away, then jerked back up like a child’s toy on a string with the first swooping beat of Fiami’s enormous wings. The dragon seemed to be exulting in her element, and jinked and swerved until Doraya began to feel sick. She tried to find something to look at, but the ground below was dark and she couldn’t see the horizon. Her head flopped back onto Goril’s chest, and she groaned.
‘Fiami!’ he called, sternly through the wind of flight. ‘Doraya is new to dragonback. Fly straight, please.’
The dragon grumbled, but obeyed. Her straight flight was smooth, with just a ripple at every wingbeat, and soon Doraya was feeling more like herself, but so sleepy. Her head nodded forward, and she jerked it back up again. What if Goril let go of her and she fell off?
‘Sleep, little one, if you wish.’ His lips brushed her ear with fleeting warmth. ‘I am a trained dragon rider, and I will not let any harm come to you.’ He tightened his arms around her for a moment as if to add emphasis to his words.
Doraya closed her eyes gratefully and sank into sleep.
* * * *
Goril clasped his precious burden close. In other circumstances, he could easily have become aroused again by Doraya’s proximity, but Fiami’s fierce joy in flight was dominating his mind. Plus, it wasn’t a good idea to distract a flying dragon.
Flight was always so enjoyable, largely because his dragon found it such fun, but a small corner of his spirit couldn’t wait to get back to the caves with Doraya. His tribe would be surprised and delighted by her arrival. She would take some of the pressure off the other six women, too, which would be no bad thing. They coped admirably, wonderful women that they were, but the tribe needed more. Even seven women to thirty-five men was still nowhere near enough, especially when those men were healthy, active, and highly sexed dragon riders.
When would another child be born? Tadus had seen ten summers now. Surely it was time for another child in the tribe. Or would Tadus be, as many of his fellow riders feared, the last?
Goril sighed. It seemed such a shame for the dragon riders to die out. Then again, there wasn’t exactly much for them to do. In the old days, there had been borders to patrol and invaders to repel. Of course he was glad of peace in the land. It was much better for everyone, but he wished the riders had something more constructive to do, a real role like they’d had in the centuries of war which preceded the peace. There wasn’t much for fighters to do in peacetime. Not that it was much of a peace—the three realms had stopped fighting, but they didn’t like each other and only communicated by dragon rider.
Goril was fed up with being a messenger. He and Fiami deserved a more dynamic role, yet there seemed no way to make that happen.
His thoughts went round and round in a horribly familiar pattern as Fiami flew on into the dawn.
* * * *
Doraya woke and unpeeled bleary eyelids to see a huge mountainside approaching fast. Her stomach leapt into her throat and she screamed in terror, eyes snapping wide, body pressing back against Goril in an effort to get away from the smash that seemed inevitable.
‘Hush, little one.’ He wrapped his arms more tightly around her quivering body. ‘We’re nearly home.’
Fiami swooped and banked around a spur of the mountain, then plummeted into a tunnel that seemed so narrow, Doraya held her breath for fear the dragon would hurt her wings on the rock walls. The big beast was slowing her wingbeats as they slid into an enormous cavern and came to a stop.
Goril helped Doraya down from Fiami’s back. Every muscle in her body felt stiff, and she swayed against him.
‘Saban!’ he called. ‘Where are you?’
Several women came running, and she felt gentle hands detach her from Goril’s grip.
‘This is Doraya,’ he said. ‘Take very good care of her.’ There was a warning note in his voice. ‘She’s had a rough time. And she’s mine.’
‘Understood, Mister Dragon Rider,’ said a pert voice.
‘Goril?’ Doraya’s voice quavered. She was terrified of going into the unknown without him, especially with a group of women. What if they bullied her like the kitchen wenches did? Had she jumped out of the frying pan, only to land in the fire?
A familiar finger traced her jawline and lifted her chin to make her look at him. ‘These are dragon riders’ women, Doraya,’ Goril said softly. ‘They will look after you. I will see you again soon.’
She remembered how he had praised her manners on the castle’s tower. She was a dragon rider’s woman herself now. Doraya did her best to stand straight. ‘Thank you,’ she said, and was pleased that her voice sounded steady.
He smiled briefly and was gone, striding away across the cavern.
An older woman took Doraya’s hand. ‘I am Saban,’ she said gently. ‘Welcome to the world of the dragon riders.’
‘And their women,’ said the pert voice. Doraya saw a shapely woman with nut-brown skin and eyes, her curves accentuated by a clingy tunic dress with a deep cleavage that accentuated her high breasts. ‘I am Mabbi.’ She took Doraya’s other hand and wrinkled her nose. ‘You need a bath.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Doraya said. ‘There was no time.’
‘D
on’t worry,’ Saban said. ‘We’ll go straight to the grotto.’
The two women led Doraya across the cavern in a different direction from that taken by Goril. Doraya wondered how long it would be before she saw him again. They entered a tunnel that twisted and turned, rising and falling with other tunnels leading off to the left and right, illuminated by soft globes of light. Would she ever find her way around? Other women fell in behind them, chattering in soft tones of excitement. Doraya couldn’t follow much of the conversation, but she did gather that the arrival of a new woman at the dragon riders’ caves was a rare event and a source of joy. Her spirits lifted, although she wished Saban and Mabbi weren’t rushing her along so fast. Did all dragon riders and their women always go everywhere at top speed?
‘This way,’ Saban said, turning into a side tunnel. ‘Nearly there.’
The tunnel seemed to be widening gradually, and they were heading downhill. The air was still fresh, even though they seemed far inside the mountain now, and the floors were swept clean. Then the tunnel opened out into another cavern, and Doraya gasped as she took in the sight before her. A large pool was on her left, twin waterfalls fell from an outlet high in the back wall of the cavern, and a shallow stream ran in a rocky bed from beneath the waterfalls to an outlet under the cavern wall on the right. The whole cavern, like the tunnels, was lit by globes, which gave a warm, diffuse light.
‘This is where we bathe.’ Saban pointed to the pool. ‘We wash ourselves under this waterfall,’ she continued, pointing to the left-hand one, ‘and rinse our clothes under the other.’
‘Do you wash your own clothes?’ Doraya asked.
‘We wash our own clothes,’ Saban said. ‘You’re one of us now, Doraya.’
‘One of us.’ The other women pressed close, wanting to welcome Doraya, now that they were in the grotto. She counted six of them, all older than her except for Mabbi, all wearing flattering tunic dresses in beautiful colours, some with beads in their hair. They began to remove her clothes, stripping her naked, then gasping at her bruises.
