by S E Meliers
‘Can I assist you?’ the store keep moved from the back of the store towards them.
‘Yes,’ Calico said. ‘My friend, here, would like a hat.’ Praise obediently purchased a simple woven hat and bundled her braid up under it. ‘Much better,’ Calico approved. ‘And something you should consider before venturing out in the future. Women with red hair have such delicate skin,’ she commented to the store keep. ‘It freckles so appallingly in the sun. We had best continue our walk, then,’ she directed Praise back out into the square.
‘Thank you for that,’ Praise said softly. Her heart was pounding and she felt light headed. Despite the woman’s warning at their last meeting, she had not been as cautious as she should have been – so caught up was she in her dragon-lover.
‘You had best calm,’ Calico replied, ‘before you alarm your dragon.’
‘Yes,’ Praise breathed deeply and tried to achieve inner calm. Already, she felt through her link a stirring in the sleeping Ember. ‘He is still asleep,’ she said. ‘He is settling.’
‘Your link is getting stronger,’ Calico watched her intently. ‘That is good. You have accepted him.’
Praise shrugged one shoulder, uncomfortable with the subject. ‘He is my dragon.’
‘Yes,’ Calico smiled. ‘He is your dragon.’
They turned towards the beach in companionable silence. Praise pondered the woman and her motives. She did not trust her, regardless of the woman’s aid in evading the EAerymen. She berated herself for her negligence in regards to the EAerymen – luck would not always be on her side occupying the same city as they did. As soon as the road stretched empty around them, Calico smiled pleasantly. ‘So do you find yourself more comfortable now with the sexual proclivities of your dragon?’ she asked in the same tone as someone else would discuss the weather, or the menu for the evening meal.
‘You cannot ask that!’ Praise was astounded.
‘Why ever not? It was the cause for your concern upon our last meeting, I merely wondered if it continued to be uncomfortable for you. Evidently, the answer to that question is yes,’ Calico pulled a face.
‘Oh my Sacred Sacrifice,’ Praise appealed to the EAeryian god. ‘Anything relating to copulation,’ she whispered the word, ‘is not a subject for discussion, and most definitely I will not discuss such things with you, whom I barely know.’
The white haired woman shrugged. ‘As you wish. I was just trying to establish rapport.’
‘Well, do not try,’ Praise repressed. ‘It is really much better when you do not try.’
‘Very well. Shall we turn to the matter at hand, then?’
‘Yes, please,’ Praise rolled her eyes skywards. ‘What is it that you want?’
‘A simple matter, one I am sure you, dear friend, will be happy to grant me.’
‘And what do I get in return if I do what you want?’ Praise asked coyly.
Calico laughed, delighted. ‘Oh, you are learning, are you not! Very well, what would you like from me?’
‘I do not know what you want from me,’ she countered. ‘I cannot name my price unless I know the cost.’
‘Very wise,’ Calico commented as they stepped from the road and into the sand dunes. ‘I think you will be surprised – my request is not so very much, between friends. Lovely, as always,’ she said as they reached the beach. Calico led the way across the crumbly sand to where moisture made it firm. ‘So, my request -’
‘Swiftly,’ Praise could feel Ember stirring. ‘My dragon wakes,’ she added to urge the other woman on.
‘I ask merely that you not kill someone.’
Praise blinked. ‘I will be in the position to kill someone?’ she asked astonished.
‘You or your dragon. All I ask is that you do not. That person has a role to play in the future. Killing him too soon would cause serious disruption to how things need to be,’ Calico was very serious about this, her gaze fixing Praise in place. ‘Will you do this for me? Understanding the import of what you do?’
‘Has he done something deserved of being killed?’ Praise qualified.
‘Oh, many, many times over,’ Calico shrugged. ‘But so have many people who continue to live and breathe, and they have not half the role this man must play.’
‘Will he do something to Ember or myself that would cause us to want to kill him?’ Praise enquired carefully. Ember took flight.
‘Clever girl,’ the white haired woman approved. ‘But, no. This man is incidental to your life at this point of time. In the future? Who knows. I will not, until his future is assured.’
‘By me, or Ember, not killing him,’ Praise repeated. ‘Sure, why not then. Who is it that we are not to kill?’
‘The necromancer, Shade.’
‘Is that a person? Sounds like a… I do not know, a plant, I suppose, that would give forth a nasty poison,’ Praise wrinkled her nose.
‘Will you do this for me?’ Calico insisted.
‘If you promise me,’ Praise frowned, trying to think of something valuable that the woman could give her that she could not otherwise obtain to make the promise worthwhile. It struck her suddenly, and she was pleased with her own canniness. ‘You promise me that you owe me one precognition to be asked for in the future. If I ask it, you will grant me aid in this way.’
‘An interesting proposition,’ Calico was displeased. ‘How do I know that what you would ask will not detriment the future?’
‘This necromancer is meant to die, at the hands of Ember or myself, right? Else you would not be asking,’ Praise returned, hastily. Ember drew near. ‘Are you not altering the future to suit your wishes? Would you deny me the same? And, I may never call for my favour to be repaid. I just want to know that if I feel there is a need to know something, I have the option to ask. It actually seems to me that you are getting a pretty good deal: a sure thing, for something that may never happen. Hurry now, Ember nears.’
‘You are cannier then I accounted for,’ Calico noted dryly.
‘He approaches,’ Praise murmured, gesturing to the sky.
‘Very well,’ Calico said decisively. ‘Though I cannot guarantee I will be able to see what you desire. It does not work that way.’
‘If you see it, however, you will tell me its entirety.’
‘I agree,’ Calico said. ‘Will you promise me to spare the necromancers life?’
‘I will, if it is within my power to do so,’ Praise replied as Ember landed on the sand several dragon lengths away.
‘My Lady,’ Calico dropped a curtsey. ‘We will meet again.’ She walked swiftly and yet without seeming hurried, back the way they had come.
‘Who was that?’ Ember asked in the dragonspeak that curled round her bones with strength and potency.
‘A friend, I think,’ Praise replied truthfully. He would know if she lied. ‘I am not entirely sure, yet, but she has been kind in the past, so I think she may be a friend. We shall see. Shall we go for a swim?’ she kicked off her boots and wriggled her toes through the sand. ‘It is a lovely day.’
‘I do not feel like swimming and my scales are freshly oiled – the salt would ruin that,’ he curled up on the sand. ‘I shall watch.’
‘If you like,’ she shimmied out of her trousers, a light cloth in deference to the day, and unlaced her bodice. ‘Oh, I almost forgot,’ she pulled the necklace from her purse and slipped it around her neck. ‘I bought this today,’ she preened.
‘Magic opal,’ he rumbled.
‘Magic?’ she was surprised.
‘Mmmm,’ he examined it closely. ‘Very nice. Especially with your current mode of dress. Though, the hat, perhaps, does not suit.’ She laughed and threw the hat at him discus style before running across the sand to plunge into the ocean. ‘You should be careful,’ the dragon warned. ‘You do not want to lose your new bauble in the sea.’
‘Maybe you should come and get it for me, keep it safe,’ she stood waist deep in the water, tilted her head to the sun and stroked down her neck from jaw to where
the torque rested on her collarbone, then down to graze over her breast.
‘Wanton,’ he replied and shifted from dragon into crouching male. ‘I will ruin my sheen.’ He straightened from his crouch and strolled across the sand and into the water. She turned her back to him and waded deeper, casting a coy glance over her shoulder. He dove suddenly under the water, stroking with swift strength. She shrieked as her legs were seized, dragging her underwater. He caught her against him in a tangle of water slick limbs and seaweed hair so they surfaced together. She spluttered.
‘You have to stop almost drowning me!’ she gasped out against his neck.
‘I like you breathless,’ he licked the water that beaded on her jaw.
‘Well, there are other ways of doing that,’ she braced against his shoulders and lifted herself up on him, wrapping her legs around his waist and trapping his arousal between them. He caught her buttocks in his large hands to support her, and pushed out with his hips, using his hardness to stroke against her clitoris with a wicked smirk in his eyes. ‘Like that,’ she gasped, giggling before levering out and reaching between them to capture him and guide him into her. ‘Or like that,’ she closed her eyes.
They rocked slowly with the motion of the waves, sleek flesh shining with sweat and sea, the ocean a glittering array around them and the sun smiling benevolently down. She traced her fingers down his cheek and across his lips. He caught them between his strong white teeth with a gentle nip, tasting the salt with his tongue before releasing them. His hair fanned out in the water at his hips, red silk suspended in water.
She framed his face with her hands, trusting him to hold her weight and continue the slow motion that coiled pleasure deep within her belly. She stroked his eyebrows, the same red as his hair, across his eyelashes, a darker red, causing him to close his eyes. Whilst he was blind, she leaned down and stole a kiss from his lips. He smiled, and kept his eyes shut, silently tempting her to take another. She lingered, breathing his breath, before deepening the kiss, and moving from sweetness into passion. He groaned, and his movements became more insistent. His angle changed slightly, and the change sent sparks shooting through her groin. Her eyes rolled back and mindless need surfaced, her body taking charge, pushing flesh against flesh to pull that lurking pleasure to the fore. She came before he did, or her coming caused his own, she was not sure. For a moment, he seemed unsteady with the pleasure: ‘Do not drop me,’ she gasped out.
He laughed against her chest.
They waded to the beach and lay down on the sand to let the sun dry them. He lay on his back, his hands folded beneath his head. She put her head on his shoulder and idly drew pictures across the planes of his chest. ‘I have to tell you,’ she said slowly. ‘About me.’
‘Yes,’ his eyes were shut and he kept them so, but she sensed his awareness.
‘I am from the EAerys, but I am not EAeryian,’ she said carefully.
‘No, too small,’ he agreed.
She smiled. ‘Yes, I am too small. My people, we are farmers. Sometime, in some previous dispute between Shoethalians, Rhyndelians, and EAeryians, we fell under the EAeryian rule, when everyone tallied up their losses and gains, and so it has been for almost as long as we have history. We are not their equals. To them we are…’ she shrugged. ‘Lesser creatures. They are not cruel, it is not their way. But, we are… insignificant.’
‘Hmmm,’ he rumbled with understanding.
She smiled. ‘You would understand how they feel, as almost everyone is insignificant to you,’ she stroked his chest fondly.
‘You are not insignificant to me,’ he replied. ‘Continue.’
‘The EAeryians have a god in the mountain. I do not understand it completely. He breathes fire. Every few years, they must take a red haired virgin to the god in the mountain,’ she realised her fingers were clenched tight against her palm and deliberately relaxed them flat against his skin. ‘Red hair only runs in some families. These families are given wealth above their neighbours by the EAeryians, and in return each child is kept safeguarded and pure until their twentieth year. After the twentieth year, the child can marry and have a normal life – except that they know that if their child is red of hair, it may become a virgin for the god.’
He did not comment. She kissed his chest. He was listening. ‘Not every child is taken. The god only needs a virgin when certain signs are seen. Sometimes it can be a lifetime between virgins. Sometimes it may be two a year for several years. The EAeryians come and take them away, and they are never seen again.’ She closed her own eyes. ‘It is dishonourable to run away if you are the virgin that is chosen to go to the god, as then a younger virgin, who has not had as much life, or an older virgin, who should have been released from the obligation may have to go in your stead.’
‘You ran away,’ he said quietly.
‘Yes, I did,’ she kept her eyes closed.
‘I am glad,’ he moved suddenly onto his side so that his shadow fell across her, shading her from the sun. She opened her eyes to meet his. ‘Because you were meant to be my mate, and not the virgin of some mountain god,’ he pushed a lock of hair from her face.
She smiled sadly. ‘Someone would have had to go in my stead,’ she said. ‘I ache not knowing who. If I had been less selfish, for that reason alone I should have gone. But I ran away from my escorts, and came here.’
‘The EAeryians at court,’ his eyes flashed and his expression hardened before relaxing. ‘But, you are no longer a virgin, so they search in vain,’ he stated with a pleased smile.
‘Yes, that is true,’ she touched his smile with her fingertips. ‘But it is dishonour for them to return without me. They will not stop their hunt until they can take me back with them. I do not know what they will do with me then if they catch me. I do not think it will be pleasant.’
He propped his head up on one hand, elbow in the sand, relaxed, and drew a hand down the flesh between her breasts to her belly button. ‘They do not know where you are,’ he said, ‘or that you are a dragon mate, so you are safe at the moment. We could kill them, but that would probably only cause more EAerymen to come from the mountains to seek revenge, and they are an odd people with secretive ways that not even dragonkind know of.’ He stroked ever widening circles around her stomach.
‘If they were to discover where you were and come for you, my kin and I could easily defeat them, but,’ he sighed wearily, ‘you are apt to wander off when I sleep, and with patience they could simply seize you when I am not there to defend you.’
‘Sorry,’ she apologised.
‘I do not suppose that to mean you will change your habits,’ he frowned.
‘No,’ she grimaced. ‘I would try, because it is safer and sensible, knowing as I do now that they are so close, but I cannot be with you all the time. I need to be on my own sometimes.’
He nodded and closed his eyes again, settling back onto the sand and drawing her in to his side. ‘We will leave Amori,’ he said. ‘Truen is under the Shoethalian rule. It is not near the beach, but it has a mountain lake that my kin and I will enjoy. If the EAeryians appear there, then I will know that they suspect your presence and I will kill them.’
Shade
Shade leaned back against the headboard, and frowned. It wasn’t that Song wasn’t talented or dedicated to her current task; his mind just wasn’t focussed. “I am sorry,’ he apologised. She pushed back the silken fall of her dark hair and bit her lip, frowning down at him. The view was pleasing to him, all that dishevelled hair and flushed cheeks, her corset half unstrung and breasts almost spilling free. ‘I just cannot keep my mind on the immediate events,’ he explained. She raised an eyebrow and wriggled experimentally. ‘I know,’ he said huffily. ‘It is not that I cannot perform, it is just that it is not going anywhere… if you know what I mean.’
She shrugged and half closed her eyes as she rolled her hips. Her lips quirked in a half smile. She didn’t mind if he did not get completion as long as she did.
‘Selfish
wench,’ he swatted at her bottom. ‘Get off me.’ She dismounted and wriggled up under his arm, sitting companionably against the headboard with him. With a sigh she rested her head on his shoulder. He kissed her forehead. ‘They are up to something,’ he murmured against her hair. ‘I can feel it in the air.’
The enemy, after initial forays to test their defensive strength, seemed to have settled back with the intention of starving them out with a long siege. This found favour with Honesty whose scryers reported an armed force gathering at Guarn. Honesty and his council advisors were confident the King would come to their defence before starvation became an issue. Shade, however, was sceptical. The Shoethalians’ attack on Amori and Truen had been swift and effective. Shade doubted that the highly organised and well prepared war leader behind the invasion would be unaware of the amassing force at Guarn and patiently sit around Lyendar and wait for them to attack.
‘It is the first rule of war, after all,’ he continued, ‘that all warfare is based on deception. When small in number, appear great; when low on supplies, appear well provisioned; when planning, appear at a loss for ideas; and most importantly, when able to attack, appear unable. Logically, one can therefore assume that as they seem content to wait us out, they’re busy planning how to get in.’
He was weakening, and it frightened him. He was used to maintaining no more than three or four skeletons for long periods of time. In times of peril, he would increase this number to ten, maybe, but never had he needed to maintain such a number for long. Each skeleton required a certain amount of energy, or life-force, to animate it and keep it that way. The more skilled, interactive, and independent the skeleton, the more energy it required, and skeletons with the skills to defend against experienced and skilled barbarian warriors took considerable energy to maintain. After the first few forays, the dead had boosted his skeleton force to just under three hundred strong. He would reduce his skeleton force and save his energy if he could be confident of replacements being made available in the numbers required – but with the enemy using their long distance war weapons to keep the residents of Lyendar cowed and not risking their men, and the Lyendar citizens who were killed as a result of the war weapons usually crushed beyond usefulness, he could not risk it.
