by Hana Starr
And then it was like she was flying too, the stones racing smoothly beneath her. Her stomach was a tangle of nerves and delight, and she spread out her arms to the side to feel the passing of the air and tossed fragments of ice between her fingers. Laughing and exuberant, she completely lost herself in the magic of the moment. She was no longer a scientist, no longer a woman of facts and architecture, but an intrepid changeling deep within the midst of fantasy.
And the twisted ruins of the destroyed city –for she had come to think of it as such, because it had to be- rose darkly against the mountain behind. They were very nearly the same color but the closer they drew, the more she realized that the city was quite obviously set up to be the home of a flighted species. She couldn’t see any ramps or bridges, and the towers were composed of strange zigzagging paths. Travel would be quite literally impossible without wings, or very nearly so.
About halfway there, Rornak swished his tail and they began a wide arc that gradually took them around to the rear of the city. Nelly had no idea how long they had been traveling for when the speed suddenly dropped, and then dragons tilted their wings to drop back to their paws. Running silently now, they finished the last leg of the journey in silence but for panting breath.
I wonder if I’m heavy? Rornak didn’t seem too bothered, though. Not by pulling her around, at least.
The mountains were so tall and close by the time they slid to a halt, that even craning her neck back all the way she couldn’t see anything.
Now that they were actually here, the thought of being threatened entered her mind. The dragons shifted back to human, and stowed the sleds beneath some fallen stone at the foot of the mountain.
“Are you ready?” Rornak asked gently, putting his hands on her shoulders. By this time, neither of them were startled. The gesture felt terrifyingly natural, and Nelly knew sooner or later they would have do to something about it. For now however, there was the task at hand to focus upon.
“As much as I’ll ever be,” she replied. “You lead and I’ll follow, right?”
Horule growled and then spoke with the first true trace of emotion she’d heard from him: it was disgust. “You do not wish to wait out here with the sleds like a child?”
Nelly said nothing, only turned back to Rornak, who nodded and began to lead their way along the wall for such a long time that her legs ached and her lower back throbbed. Very gradually, the side of the mountain wrapped back around and she saw the city again. Rornak sighed, and she felt a tug of pity for him in her heart as she took a longer look at it.
Now that they were close enough and the weak sunlight was hitting the formation at exactly the right angle, she saw the metal underneath the decorated mountain exterior. Great pains had been taken to hide this series of walls and dwellings, and yet it still hadn’t been enough.
Some things never are, Nelly thought, thinking mostly of her own inadequacies.
Suddenly, Rornak caught her wrist and turned her. Looking back the way they just came was an opening in the wall, a mere crack mostly hidden from the other angle. He made a lowering motion with his hand, and she nodded in understanding as they headed into the crack.
It was completely, utterly dark inside and somehow moist. The smell of it was moldy and rancid, signaling that no one had been through this way in quite a long time. Very abruptly aware of the sound of her own breathing, Nelly tried to quiet herself so the sound wouldn’t echo. Even so, the going was difficult and eventually Rory reached back to grab her hand and guide her.
Somehow, that made things all the harder.
The tunnel rose up and wound around, seeming to follow the path of the mountain as near as she could tell. Part of her wondered if this was one of the ways that the younger generation of Akait had used to escape when the invaders attacked, but she didn’t dare ask about it.
Then, the tunnel opened up slightly along one side and she was able to look out. A helpless little gasp escaped her lips, making Horule growl very low in the back of his throat. She could hardly care right about then because she was seeing her first real glimpse of the city. Every building was a tower, built straight up with openings scattered along the sides. Tall and thin, many of them were broken or half-collapsed, with their interiors exposed in a tangle of metal and wiring. The rubble lay everywhere, not yet cleared away.
And this was her first glimpse of the invaders. Her blood ran cold and the sight of them. Rornak had been right in his descriptions of them, and now she understood the repulsion in his voice. They were humanoid and their suits were bulky and silver, but dull, and oddly cylindrical and bulky at all the wrong angles. Each suit had a visor in the front but it was dark and no facial features –if there were any- could be seen. They were everywhere, far more than she anticipated, going in and out of the buildings or crawling up over the rubble. Like ants on a picnic blanket, it was quite clearly obvious that they did not belong. They were wrongly equipped for this, clamoring laboriously up the side of towers with a system of climbing ropes and pulleys that had no place here.
And was that rope? Was there even anything to make twine here with, and who would use such a primitive technology on a foreign planet?
Nelly turned to look up at Rornak, a question on her tongue, but he lightly shook his head and she understood. Even if it was safe to voice a question, he had no answer.
Then they were off again, moving deeper into the darkness. Rornak kept holding her hand every step of the way, and she reached out with her other hand to trail her fingers along the wall. At one point, it abruptly switched from jagged stone to a smooth texture that was slick as ice. A small sound of surprise escaped her as she encountered a knob that could only be some sort of bolt or joint. Metal, then. They were very close inside.
Then, the metal tunnel ended in nothingness. Rornak and the others came to a halt, and she could feel the abrupt dead end right there in front of her. She started to ask what they should do now when she felt Rornak reach out, his body twisting slightly as he felt for something. And just like that, the wall slid in on itself with hardly a sound but for a pneumatic whirring.
And then they were standing not in a tunnel but a doorway that led out into dark metal hallways, which were rather wide and tall. They resembled hospital corridors, branching out in all directions from this point.
Rornak paused, his head tilted in a very birdlike position. Nelly strained her hearing too, but she couldn’t detect anything and apparently neither could the aliens, because they then proceeded to lead her right down along one of the halls. Horule continued to pick up the rear, lagging behind. For once, Nelly was glad to have him along because it was helping to ease her racing nerves. This was worse than taking an exam, or giving a presentation in front of a meeting room with dozens of attendants. This wasn’t just going to be a day that she could put behind her if she messed it up. No, any failure here would end in death or capture.
However, she really didn’t have anything to fear. When he had led them in a huge wandering path around the perimeter of what seemed to be a large section of building, Rornak finally drew them to a halt and spoke in a voice that was hardly louder than mere breath. “I do not see or hear anyone, and there is dust upon the floor disturbed only by our tracks. They have either not been through this part of home at all, or they have deemed it useless.”
“It isn’t, is it?” she asked, knowing the answer this time before he even said it.
“Our labs are here. Come, I will show you what the components you need look like and we shall carry back as much as possible.” Suddenly, Rory frowned and looked around. “Where did Horule go?”
Nelly turned around. “He was right here!” she exclaimed, but the big alien was gone as though there had never been a trace of him.
Rornak frowned. “These creatures do not kidnap. They destroy. I am sure we will see him again soon.”
However, as they entered one of the strangest labs she’d ever seen and began to gather up pieces of metal and electronics that were some
how as light as plastic in her arms, Horule still didn’t show up. Nelly struggled to keep her mind in three places. In one, she was searching endlessly for any sign of the dark dragon. In the second, she was watching for any other unexplained sounds that might mean trouble. And finally, she was simply in awe of the technology here.
As Rornak handed her pieces of equipment, he quickly explained how everything fit into the design of the fuel port they were going to build. Each part interlocked with the next, and all the mechanisms were held inside and activated on their own according to the conditions applied to the exterior. It was almost like some sort of living system, and simply astonishing. The interiors of the parts finally resembled something she knew, built like blocky computer chips, and she could feel puzzle pieces clicking into place in the back of her mind.
It was always like that, with her. She always figured things out and connected the dots long before she knew they were there. That was why she had such an intuition with architectural designs: she simply just knew.
But, Horule did not show up until they were nearly ready to leave. The two aliens with her had linked mechanisms slung over their shoulders, wrapped around their bodies, and their arms were laden down, while she was only carrying what could fit into her hands.
“I can take more,” she protested, but Rornak ignored her. That was irritating because he certainly didn’t treat the females of his own species like they were fragile little princesses, but she supposed it just couldn’t be helped for now. He was looking past her, intent on something.
Dread crawled up her spine, but it was just Horule. He looked as blank and dull as ever. “I apologize for my absence,” he said blandly, sounding as though he really didn’t mean a single word he said.
“Where were you?” Rornak demanded, starting to seethe. His body blushed with paleness as his slow blood sped up with anger, and his shoulders were squaring.
Please, not a fight. Not now. We can’t afford it!”
However, Horule didn’t look like he even registered the threat. He said mildly, “I apologize, my leader. I did not want anyone to find us, no matter how…abandoned, this area looks.”
Rornak was still seething, but Nelly nudged at him with her hips because her hands were full. The gesture was automatic, and she did it just without thinking. His eyelids flickered, and all of them pretended not to see his dick suddenly hardening.
“Fine,” he said, sounding quieter. “But next time, respect me and inform me of your plans.”
It was such an eventless trip that Nelly felt deep in her bones that something would go awry on the way back, but nothing did. And it certainly was a long ride back, as every miniscule jolt of the sled flying across ice and rock went straight to her burning pussy.
Well, she also had to share the sleds with bulky pieces of electronic material, but that hardly registered through the pulse of her desire. All she wanted was to get back to her private chambers as soon as possible.
Chapter Seven
If there was hurt in Rornak’s eyes when she shot him down, it didn’t even register. Nelly had no idea what to do with the feelings inside her but to get rid of them as soon as possible, and that meant that she couldn’t bother with anyone else. Even if it was entirely his fault, she didn’t feel like this was any place or time for her to get that deeply involved in this.
She didn’t want her virginity taken, she just wanted to make it feel good. Sleeping with him would be too big of a commitment right now; her own fingers would just have to do.
As soon as they came back to the hiding place, Nelly leapt off the sled before it had even come to a full stop. She wasn’t prepared for the slick ice beneath her feet however, and she found herself sliding to a full-body crash right on the cold, hard ground.
Rornak dropped from the sky, hitting the ground on humanoid hands and knees. Nelly felt the scuff of his feet across the stone, every sound of contact like a hard finger flicking up and down between her swollen pussy lips.
“Are you okay?” he asked, furrowing his eyebrows as he reached down worriedly.
Nelly pushed his hand away and sat up on her own, trying to look as brisk and calm as she should have. It was next to impossible however, with the material of her panties getting wet with her own hot juices and then rubbing back up against her. Every move she made seemed to rub just in the right way to make her feel a little hazier, a little shorter of breath.
“Yes,” she replied primly. “I’m very okay, thank you. Just, I’m eager to get back inside.”
There really was no hiding her arousal from any of the dragons, but Horule just wrinkled his nose and turned back to the burdened sleds to start unpacking them. And Rornak was starting to get visibly excited, and not just because she could see his dick hardening. His eyes shone bright with more light than all the stars and the distant sun put together. “I am sure that once all the equipment is put away…” He licked his lips. “Or were you hoping to go now? May I join you?”
And that was the moment when she made the potential mistake. As badly as she wanted to agree, as much as saying yes would solve quite a few problems, she just couldn’t. It felt worse than awful to have to shake her head, but he had to be a leader of his people; he couldn’t go sleeping around and letting himself get distracted like this. Even more than that, neither could she. And what would be the point in sleeping with an alien, anyway? She didn’t mean to stay here, and she wasn’t about to start sleeping around now.
So, in the end, she did shake her head. “I’m sorry, Rornak. I just have something that I need to do alone.”
His member wilted like a dying flower as his shoulders slumped. The light died from his eyes. “I see. Well, if that is what you wish, then so be it.”
He turned away abruptly, showing her his back. And his butt, which was still as shapely as ever. Her fingers ached to reach for it, curling against her palms. Every part of her cried out to grab him now and bring him back, but she just couldn’t.
It took more strength than Nelly knew she had to leave, and then it felt so strange to be walking down the tunnels by herself after having just gone all around enemy territory holding onto Rory. She kept her face hidden from the other dragons as she passed through the big communal area, but none of them paid her any attention despite the fact that she was practically dripping down her own thighs. Her arousal had to be so evident to them…
How much longer can I stand being in this place where there’s just no privacy to speak of?
Falling through the door to her sleeping room, Nelly nearly slammed the door shut behind her and then fell into the pile of furs that doubled as her bed.
As she did so, it occurred to her that she’d never seen any furred animals out and about where these could have come from, but that didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but hiking her legs up onto the soft furs and spreading them wide. Gabbing at her zipper, she yanked it down and slid her hand down into the free space between her soaked panties and jeans.
Then, very lightly, she reached out with one searching finger and rubbed all over the hot material drenched in her own juices. It was so slick and warm under her touch that she couldn’t help but to start rubbing, friction caressing her folds. Her hips wiggled with delight and her breath caught in her throat; eyes closing with pleasure, she slid deep into her imagination where a parade of bouncing, firm breasts and a variety of different dicks greeted her. How could anyone live with such nudity on display all the time and still seem so chaste?
With all these good-looking men and women around, why hadn’t she heard any screaming or even seen anyone flirting with each other? The situation they were in probably had something to do with that but that wasn’t like it had ever held anyone back before. But she didn’t want to think about that right now, not when she slid one finger down under her panties to caress in a wide circle around her sensitive clit.
Her slit and pussy opening were swollen and open, begging to be penetrated, but she’d never done that. Instead, she placed a finger on either s
ide of her clit and pressed down against herself. Jolts shook through her body as she did, and she bit her lip on a cry of pleasure. It had never felt this good before, and she had never so badly wanted something inside her.
Then, suddenly, the door opened wide and Rornak was standing there with the biggest expression of hurt she’d ever seen in any man’s eyes. Startled, she snatched her fingers away from herself but the friction of her fingers dragging so quickly over herself made her start to quake very deep in her core. Before she knew what was going on, her head tossed back ad a new wetness soaked through her panties and ran down to her ass opening as she came.
It was so abrupt and intense that she could hardly breathe for the next handful of minutes, or even move. When she was finally able to lift her head, the door was shut again and Rornak was done.
I’m sorry, she thought, trying to hope in vain that he would understand that it was just wasn’t the time or place to get involved.
Chapter Eight
