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The Elemental Portals

Book II – Medioterrae

Chapter X – Truth and Eggs should be handled Carefully

With the spiders gone the group was able to finish removing the last of the spider silk from each other. James took on the task of removing the web sealing the eggs inside Junafir himself, trusting no one else to handle the razor-sharp short blade he took back from Coyotka for the job. The coyote and Chris finished freeing Yup, who was embarrassed to have missed the fight with the spiders but grateful that the others had defeated them before one could bite him.

“We dwarves never mine around here before clearing back the forests for a couple of hundred paces all around.” He informed them. “And even then, we keep fires and guards around the perimeter at night. Those eight-legged bastards are not above paralyzing you for a few quick slurps from your gall bladder before injecting their flesh melting venom in hopes of your mates leaving you behind to distract them.”

“People do that?” Annie asked, shocked.

“Humans maybe, but not Dwarves. We put our victims out of their misery while they’re still unconscious and burn the bodies so that there’s nothing left for the hairy little gut suckers.”

“Has no one on Medioterrae found a cure for their bite?” Paul asked as he pulled treads of sticky silk from his tail.

“No one I know of.” Yup answered and then looked to Magnus, who was still scrubbing spider gut stains from his antlers.

“Nor I.” Magnus offered.

Gael came back into the clearing. He had gone to scout the surrounding area in case any spiders were lingering. Sheathing his broadsword, he addressed Paul.

“There is nothing bigger than a mouse for five hundred paces around us. Annie’s thoughts have driven everything else off. But I’m worried about staying here too long.”

“Because of Aldreda.”

“Yes. She might come back to check on her handiwork. If she flies over and sees us lounging around she might take a more direct approach and fry us where we stand.”

Paul considered that for a moment. “If she lands and finds us gone, she will simply switch to her elf warrior form and track us. Then once she gets close she can change back to a dragon and set the forest on fire around us.”

“Perhaps,” Gael countered, “but if we take all this webbing we have unraveled and string it from tree to tree we can obscure the view of the clearing and prevent her from landing at the same time. She will likely assume that the spiders have spun a barrier to protect the egg host and the horde of food she provided them with from airborne scavengers.”

“An excellent point.” Paul said abandoning his still encrusted tail. “If we get right on it we should be done by noon.”

Everyone dropped what they were doing except for James, who was still trying to coax Junafir back to consciousness and began tying and stringing the web remnants from the overhanging branches. By the time they were done Junafir had regained her senses and was even able to walk around the clearing a bit.

Annie looked at the tigress’s bulging belly. “We’ll have to deal with that as soon as we can.” She noted.

Chris’s spoke up in the silence that followed. “I have something that might help.”

“Oh?” Paul’s brows went up. “What?”

“A poison ... now hear me out ... it’s a poison that mimics disorders of the gut. It induces vomiting and diarrhea and bladder release to drain the victim’s energy. But at a lower dose I think that it would purge her of the eggs without killing her.”

“How sure are you?”

Chris looked down and away from Paul’s stare. “Not entirely sure, but in the Assassins Guild they always warned us never to shorten the dose as it that may result in mission failure.”

Paul looked to Coyotka. “Do you have any knowledge of this?”

“We’ve discussed the potion he’s referring to.” The coyote said, wishing that she had studied medicine instead of off-world cultures. “It is derived from the Oleander shrub. A full dose would indeed be fatal, but I think that a diluted portion would only induce the desired effects without doing irreparable damage to her system, but ...”

“But?”

“... but I would not do it here, not in the forest where we can’t comfort her or keep her warm. She is going to be in for a rough time. We need a safe place with fire, shelter and plenty of water.”

“There is a campsite where we can have all of that.” Yup injected. “Where the main road enters Muspelia. Dwarves built it centuries ago when trade with the dragons was still thriving.”

Paul stood up. “I’ll go talk to James and Junafir. The rest of you best eat whatever we still have. Save a portion for me and James ... I doubt that Junafir will want any.”

They began to gather their things and eat whatever could be eaten cold while Paul walked over to the other side of the clearing where James was helping Junafir hobble around. Their backs were to him and when he stepped on a twig the tigress spun around with a snarl showing bared fangs and extended claws. Her stance was defensive, however, not one of attack, so Paul stood his ground and waited for her to relax.

“What do you want, Paul?” James asked as Junafir turned away with her arms over her face.

“We may have a solution to ... to Junafir’s problem, but we can’t do it here.”

“The eggs?” James asked hopefully. “You think you can get the eggs out?”

“Yes, but I won’t lie; it’s risky.” The collie explained Chris’s plan and Coyotka’s precautions.

Junafir spun back around when Paul was done. Her expression was desperate, and a bit scary.

“I need these ... things ... out of me right away!”

“I know, Junafir, but we need to protect you too. It will be slow going but with all of us helping we can reach the main road in two or three days. Long before ... before things become urgent.”

Junafir’s voice became very shrill as she answered. “Before they hatch, you mean.” She turned away clutching her stomach as tears came to her eyes. “I want them out NOW! I can’t ... I won’t ... feel them moving inside me. I’ll throw myself off a cliff if I feel so much as a twitch from in there.”

James put his arms around her and hugged her close. “Junafir, honey, listen to Paul. If he says we can get there before ... before it’s too late we should go. Honey, you could die if we try to remove them out here in the woods and that dragon, she could come back at any time looking for us. We need to get out of here.”

Junafir spun on James, knocking his hands away so roughly that she left a line of claw marks on his arm.

“Don’t ‘honey’ me! You had your fun, poking and prodding and spurting in me like those ... those dirty ... disgusting ...”

She broke down crying, leaving James standing looking confused.

“She’ll go.” James told Paul, uncertainly. “Let’s get the fuck out of here before ... while we can.”

Paul nodded. “We’ll make a litter to carry her on. You and I will carry her first. Annie and Gael can spell us off.”

Before Junafir could object, Paul motioned the rest to join them.

“Magnus and Yup, you two will break trail. Junafir can’t guide us so try to keep to the old trail heading east as best you can. Coyotka and Chris are on rear guard.” He explained to Annie and Gael how they would alternate carrying Junafir. While the rest collected their things, he and Gael built a stretcher using sturdy branches and Junafir’s spare clothes.

“Let’s go.” He said when everything was ready. “I want to put this evil place behind me.”

* * * * * * * *

Darryl and Nahal had reached the old campsite on the border at sunset of the day they saw the dragon rise up from the forest and emit its fiery cry. Neither had any idea as to what the great black dragoness was signaling and they did not feel like venturing into the thick, spider-infested forest to find out, for as far as they knew Darryl’s friends were still two or three days behind them on the main road.

They made a hasty camp the first night, preferring to build a small shelter rather than light a fire that might bee seen if the dragon was still about.

“How tight do we need to make it?” Nahal asked, thinking of the spiders of her homeland that could squeeze through a crack the size of her thumb.

Darryl made a circle with his hands that was as big across as the width of her hand. “No bigger than this.” He said. “Any smaller than this will be too scared to take us on by itself ... hopefully.”

Nahal’s eyes went wide at the thought of a spider the size of a cat but she carried on silently. The Australian soldiers that occasionally came to the brothel she had worked at spoke of spiders, that big, but she had always assumed that they were exaggerating.

Darryl had planned on using their lead on his friends to spend some quality time exporting the limits of dragon-human mating but the sight of Aldreda, such as he assumed the dragon they had seen to be, had put them both far from the mood required. Instead, they busied themselves by seeing to the camp’s defences. They cleaned out the fire pits on the walls, rebuilt the barriers and gathered wood to light the fires at night. In the central section they patched the walls and refreshed the thatch on the largest hut to make it impenetrable to anything larger than a gecko or thicker than a cockroach. Then they stood watch by day and hid by night, vowing to do nothing to draw attention to the camp before Darryl’s friends arrived.

On the second day, Nahal saw the black dragon return to the forest. She flew in circles near where they had seen her burst of flame, but she did not land. After two circuits she flew back northwards into Muspelia.

They almost missed Darryl’s friends the next day because they were looking mostly south along the main road for their arrival, with the occasional glance north in case the dragon returned. The sharp-eyed Darryl noticed the movement on the edge of the forest though, and he directed Nahal’s gaze that way. She saw a dwarf and a deer-man emerge from the forest first, followed by a large human girl and a horse carrying a liter with a tigress slung between them. A dog followed, then the red-haired James Douglas who’s head she needed to exact her revenge. She hardly noted the other canine and the grey fox that followed the rest out into the cleared area.

After checking the skies for sign of the big black dragon Darryl stood up and waved. His iridescent blue scales stood out against the bare rocky background well enough for Gael to spot him instantly. Nahal kept down behind the barricade, she wanted to stay out of sight as long as possible.

As the group approached, she ticked off what she knew of them from Rory Douglas, Sevade and lately, from Darryl.

The horse was the Blacksmith from Dougs-ur-Mark, and he was looking particularly warrior-like with his leather armour and great sword. The grey fox would be Chris, Sevade’s fellow assassin. She had often caught a wistful note in the red fox’s tone when speaking of Chris, and she suspected that they may have had a relationship, or nearly so. The tall female coyote with the glasses would be the academic with the unpronounceable name that everyone called Coyotka. The human woman must be Annie, James’s friend from earth. She too had the look of a warrior about her, and Nahal was surprised to feel a twinge of jealousy at that. The red-haired James was already familiar to her from when they had almost caught him in the volcano on Terra, as was the tigress Junafir, who appeared to be in some distress. The canine beside James would be Paul Collieman, Arthur Douglas’s former manager on the Terran side. Darryl had told her that the dwarf bringing up the rear was called Yup and that he had no sense of humour.

The deer-man with the three-pointed antlers was new. “Someone they must have picked up since we got separated in the village.” Darryl speculated. “No sign of the elf, Ladread, either.”

Nahal was certain that none of the travellers from Earth or Terra had seen her face during their brief encounter in the volcano overlooking Cognitionis, and her cloak was fairly nondescript. Her greatest concern was that the grey fox might recognize her for an assassin, despite her unorthodox introduction to the trade. Before she revealed herself she threw back the hood of her cloak and belted the skirts of it in a way that would inhibit quick access to hidden weapons. She even changed her stance to one she had seen the Taliban fighters adopt when they intimidated the officials of her home village. A cocky, confident, openly aggressive pose; quite unlike the demure, unthreatening stance the assassins used to blend into the background and pass unnoticed.

Darryl’s friends spotted her as soon as the small dragon opened up the barricade to let them pass. Eyes narrowed and hands went to sword hilts as Darryl rushed to introduce her.

“Nahal comes from southern Medioterrae,” he told them, still ignorant of her true origins, “beyond the equatorial dessert. She is on a quest too but has agreed to put it aside for now to assist us.”

To Nahal’s disappointment no one relaxed after Darryl finished telling them what a great help she had been getting the campsite ready for them. The reason became obvious after the collie explained the betrayal of the elf/dragon. She did not blame them for not trusting a stranger now. She would just have to work harder to gain their trust, enough to get close to James and remove his head anyways.

“Will this place be safe against Aldreda?” Paul asked Darryl.

“During the day we can stay out of sight in the hut’s we’ve repaired.” Darryl told him. “Nahal can go out to check the skies for her if we need to go anywhere as she won’t recognize her. She likely won’t be flying about at night so we should be able to light the fires to keep the spiders away safely.”

“There should be dragon holes in the huts too.” Yup offered. “Deep pits cut into the stone with iron lids to hide in in case of dragon attack.”

“Those?” Darryl frowned. “I thought they were latrines.”

“I hope you didn’t shit in any of them.”

“Not yet, but some smell like they were used for that.” Darryl studied the dwarf. “Why would you need dragon holes anyway? I thought your people built this place to trade with the dragons?”

Yup looked embarrassed and shuffled his feet before answering. “Sometimes, after a closer examination of our trade goods, the dragons would come back as ... dissatisfied customers.”

“You tried to cheat a dragon?” Magnus asked, shocked. “No wonder you needed to hide from their fire.”

“Not me personally.” Yup insisted. “But one or two dwarves have perhaps .... misrepresented ... the value of their products, leading to a ... misunderstanding.”

Paul stepped forward. “If Aldreda catches us alive here in the open jabbering about it there will be no misunderstanding her reaction. Let’s get under cover.”

Darryl and Nahal led them to the huts and showed them where they could store their gear and where they would be sleeping all together in the largest.

“Yes, this is good.” Paul said approvingly as Yup checked out the dragon hole. “But it’s not a good place to treat Junafir. Do you have a smaller one we can take care of her in?”

When Darryl asked what was needed in the way of facilities Paul had Chris explain the plan to use diluted poison from the Oleander plant to induce the expulsion of the eggs.

“Dogbane will give her chills and tremors.” Nahal said absently. “We need somewhere with a bed frame and a fire pit to keep her warm and secure.”

Chris’s brow furrowed and he studied the human girl with he scarred face. “You know a lot about this poison. I’ve only ever heard it referred to as dogbane by assassins.”

“We, uh, call it that too in the, ah, south, where we use it to stop unwanted pregnancies and induce the delivery of the stillborn. It’s very common where I come from.”

“Oh.”

“It should have a place where we can, uh, deposit all the eggs too.” Annie offered, keeping her voice low so Junafir would not hear. “Maybe one of those Dragon holes that are already fouled?”

“We have just the place.” Darryl said. “The hut we fixed up for ourselves the first night we were here. It’s small and comfy but the lid on the pit in it is cracked and sometimes a foul odour emanates from it, like something fell in and died down there.”

“We covered the gap with some thatch,” Nahal continued, “but if you remove the lid altogether and put a couple of stout branches across it could be used effectively as a toilet and then the eggs could go straight in ... mostly, I guess.”

Paul nodded. “Sounds perfect. You two go get it ready.” He said, indicating Annie and Nahal. “Chris, you and Coyotka go back to the shed we stored our gear in and prepare the potion. Once we administer it, I think that it would be best if only the females tended to her.”

James began to protest but Junafir shushed him. “Just the girls.” She insisted.

That hurt his feelings, but James agreed, although he insisted on being there when Chris administered the portion. A sideways glare told Chris what to expect if he miscalculated the dose.

Over in the small hut Nahal and Annie made the bed as comfortable as they could with the materials available. Afterwards Annie built the fire while Nahal chose several thick branches and lashed them together to make the kind of frame the outdoor privies in her homeland had. She was genuinely shocked and concerned for Junafir’s plight and was determined to make this as practical and comfortable as he could for the blameless tigress.

“Geez.” Annie commented when she saw the finished product. “I’d shit on that any day.”

Coyotka brought Junafir in then and they settled her into the bed of straw and blankets donated by the others. Chris came in shortly after and offered the tigress the potion in a small vial.

“Drink it slowly.” He advised. “I don’t know how hard it will hit.”

“Fuck slowly.” Junafir snarled, downing the whole thing in one gulp. “I want these things out of me … Now!”

Chris’s left, instructing Coyotka as to which symptoms to watch for and to call him if Junafir had any trouble breathing. Nahal could sense that the grey fox did not go far, and that others were waiting outside, James among them.

The cramps came almost immediately. Concurrent with helping to hold Junafir down Nahal felt the miniature portal connecting her to Rory Douglas vibrate against her breast under her tunic. The bastard would have to wait, she decided, possibly quite a while.

Chills came with the cramps, and Annie threw more wood on the fire while Nahal and Coyotka struggled to keep Junafir covered with blankets. Junafir clutched her stomach and twisted about while groaning between clenched teeth. She was gasping for air but softly because the tremors were making it hard to breathe evenly. She was getting a lot of air with each gasp though and her pulse, when they could find it, was still strong.

After about an hour of writhing about, by Nahal’s estimate, Junafir began to gag. Waving her arms frantically she stumbled out of the bed and headed towards the pit. Knocking Nahal’s framework aside she crouched on the edge of the pit and leaned over, just in time for a stream of bile, eggs and undigested spider sperm to come spewing out.

Nahal and Coyotka held the tigress’s arms so that she would not fall into the pit inadvertently while Annie rubbed Junafir’s back and answered the worried calls from outside. The smell of old stooge and bile was so vile that Nahal, no stranger to unwashed clients or open toilets, almost threw up. She was certain that the coyote was swallowing her own vomit repeatedly to keep from embarrassing herself, and her estimation of the academic went up a notch. Her respect for Annie was even greater as the girl with the shiny burn scars over half her head kept rubbing and reassuring Junafir like a nurse with a lifetime of bloody experience.

The stream of eggs subsided into gagging. There was no way to estimate how many had come out or how many remained, but a second flow began mid-gag, and they all went back to their roles as guardians and comforters while dozens of more eggs shot out of Junafir’s mouth. When that one was done she went into a series of choking gags interrupted by the appearance of three to five eggs at a time.

The gagging subsided, replaced by a dry hack. Every minute or so it would be interrupted by a burp and Junafir would spit out another egg, but there was no force behind them now.

Nahal had lost track of time while Junafir emptied her stomach, but after a few minutes with no new eggs the three of them led the weary tigress back to her bed or rather, tried to. Before they could turn her around and lay her down she clutched her abdomen and wailed like she was about to give birth.

In a sense, she was.

Junafir stumbled back to the hole and Nahal had just enough reserve of mind to grab the frame and put it back in place before the tigress turned and squatted. The eggs were already popping out of her twat in a steady stream as they guided her down. No sooner than was she seated than more began to slide out of her anus along with the pent-up feces that had been trapped behind them.

Coyotka gave up when the smell of rancid eggs, shit and piss overwhelmed her. She stumbled to the corner to throw up. Annie took her place, still rubbing Junafir’s back as the tigress bent her head down between her legs and spewed out a few more eggs from her heaving stomach. With each spasm more eggs shot out of her lower holes, with enough force to splatter against the stone sides of the pit before sliding down out of sight.

That was when Nahal lost it and had to join Coyotka in the corner. It was the sound that did it, she decided, the sound of eggs splattering and bouncing against the walls while streams of piss and chunks of shit added their own unmusical notes. That and the sight of one egg that broke open right on the edge of the pit, leaving behind an eight-legged thing that had not quite developed into a spider yet ... but that had pale white eyes which she swore had moved ... moved enough to look at her before gravity had pulled it down into the dark.

While she vomited, she remembered that some of the American soldiers that came to the brothel referred to this as ‘yakking’. She had seen domesticated versions of the animals she thought they had been referring to around her home village. They never did this kind of thing, so she had not understood the reference. Now she thought that she did, because it felt like one of the great hairy beasts was trying to force its way up her throat and out into the open.

Only Annie seemed to have the strength and fortitude to stay beside the suffering tigress that had stolen James’s affection from her.

They had no idea how long the purge lasted. Every time that they thought it was over and began to help Junafir back to bed her bowels would rumble or her belly would heave and another dozen spider eggs would shoot out of one office or another, sometimes from all three at once. Juniper was growing more tired after each eruption, and at the end the three other females had to hold her up over the pit least she fall through the frame. Annie took most of the tigress’s weight as Nahal and Coyotka were almost as exhausted as Junafir from their own vomiting.

Finally, after many false starts, Junafir was able to fall asleep in the makeshift bed. Annie checked her breathing, pulse and temperature. The chills seemed to have passed so she pulled a couple of blankets off Junafir and kicked at the fire to scatter the coals and reduce the flames. Nahal and Coyotka were huddled in the corner at the foot of the bed, as far from the befouled dragon hole and the corner where they had thrown up as they could get. They were nodding off. Annie put the thatch cover back on top of the pit to block the smell of eggs marinating in bodily fluids and threw some ashes on the puke in the corner. She went to the door, leaving Nahal and Coyotka, neither of which smelled very nice anymore either, behind.

The sun had set, and it was pitch black on the moonless world as a thin veil of cloud obscured the stars. The cold northern air felt good an Annie’s skin and in her lungs. She did have much time to enjoy it though, as a figure rose up out of the darkness in front of her and someone grabbed her arms.

James’s voice came from the dark figure. “How is she?”

She could hear the desperation in his voice and felt a twinge of jealousy as she had never heard him sound that way over her. But she shook her head to clear it and answered with no hint of it in her voice.

“It looks like they are all out, and she’s resting now. I think that she will be fine, but she’ll need a lot of rest and care before she can travel again.”

James hugged her tight, in the same friendly way he used to when they were at school together. She did not hug him back. She was not in the mood to be comforted at the moment.

Now that her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, she could see the others gathered behind James. There was Paul, looking relieved, and Chris, who still looked a little worried but hopeful too. Darryl, Magnus and Yup were behind them, wringing their hands, and Gael was standing off to one side. When James released her the big horse moved forward to replace him, but Anne held up her hand to stop him.

“Not just yet Gael. There is something I need to do first.”

She strode past the confused blacksmith, with her shoulders square and her head held high. She walked with determination until she reached the far end of the campsite, close to the wall where the fires had been lit to keep the spiders at bay. There she stopped and contemplated everything she had seen this night. The eggs and three-day-old spider sponge that had come out of every hole on Junafir big enough to stick your finger into. The smell of them mixed with sweat, piss and shit. The gagging, the screams, that came before that and the steaming vomit that came after, mixed with the sound of the two other caretakers puking in sympathy.

But to one thing she would remembers for the rest of her life, the thing that she was sure was going to haunt her dreams whenever she was stressed or over tired, was the sight of the broken eggs and the undeveloped spiders inside them.

She had gotten through all of that without as much as a suppressed gag or a dry swallow. She had been strong for her friend’s lady. She had been tough where others had faltered. She had endured, but it was over now, and there was no longer any need to suppress her feelings.

Annie took a deep breath, leaned her head back until she was looking straight up, and screamed at the top of her lungs.

The males huddled outside the hut jumped up with a start, but Paul waved them back.

“Leave her be.” He told the others. He had seen this before, in the wars. It was a good sign, he thought, for her to be able to let it all out now that the danger had passed. He would not have been surprised if she broke down into sobs when she was done screaming. He would have sent Gael to her if she did, but Annie did sob, she just kept screaming loud and hard enough to make the leaves on the trees on the other side of the cleared area tremble on their stalks.

Miles away, spiders that had sensed a presence at the old campsite paused in their journey toward it. Although they could not hear the screams, they could sense the fury and the threat directed at their kind being carried through the cold crisp air. As one they turned and scuttled in the opposite direction. None would venture near that part of the forest again until the presence was long gone, and then some.

Annie stayed by the wall all night. When the sky began to lighten, she went back into the hut to check on the others. Junafir was still asleep, and her vital signs were good. Nahal and Coyotka looked the worse for wear but had also managed to sleep a bit. Annie made them go to the spring at the centre of the camp to wash themselves and bring back water and cloths to wash Junafir with. She stayed behind to collect the blankets and sweep the last of the vomit and other dreck into the pit.

After they cleaned Junafir’s fur they called in the males to carry her back to the big hut. James and Gael had made her a bed of soft pine boughs and clean blankets where they lay the sleeping tigress. James would have stayed by her side, but Paul called a war council around the big fire pit outside to bring everyone up to speed on the situation and consider their next moves.

“First of all,” the collie began, “The small hut smells like a plague hospital. Is there any risk to our health from it?”

Yup and Coyotka consulted in low tones for a moment, then the dwarf answered for them. “Not particularly, although the smell is nauseating when the wind blows this way. It would be best if it were burned, along with everything in the pit there.”

“We would need a lot more wood than we have to do that.” Paul noted. “Any other suggestions?”

The stag raised a timid hand.

“Go ahead Magnus. No need to be shy after what you have been trough with us.”

“I think that James could do it with his sword, once I enchanted the ruby on it.”

Paul scratched his chin. “You did say that it had fire properties. But you also said that you would only be able to enchant one of our gems every second day or so. Do you think that the ruby should be the priority?”

Yup spoke up. “If I may, I would suggest that we have plenty of time to enchant all of your gems. From what Darryl told us, Aldreda has been back to the clearing and our web camouflage has fooled her into believing her trap has worked. She is not likely to come back and if she does our lookout should be able to spot her before she sees us. In addition, there has been no sign of the two assassins that followed you here through the volcano portal, has there?”

All eyes turned to Chris who had to admit that Sevade of the Seven blades had probably lost their trail long ago. “And if he did manage to follow us past the village, he and whatever creature he recruited on Terra to join him will run smack into a bunch of very pissed off spiders.” He did have his eye on Nahal as he said it though.

“Junafir will need a few days to recover.” Annie said. “And we could all use a rest after these last few days.”

“Except for Nahal and I.” Darryl injected. “But I am in no rush to complete my quest, and neither is she, so we can stay here as long as necessary.”

“Alright then.” Paul said. “We’ll stay here until everyone is well and Magnus can enchant all the gems. Perhaps we can even experiment and practice with them a bit before facing the dragon.”

“That would be wise.” Darryl offered. “A fully grown dragon is a formidable foe.”

Gael cocked his head at the young dragon. “Can you help us by identifying her weak spots and telling us what tactics she is likely to employ?”

“Loath as I am to betray one of my species, she has decided to throw in her lot with my enemy, someone that is a threat to all dragons, I believe. I don’t know why she has done it, but yes, I’ll help in any way I can.”

“Good.” Paul concluded. “It’s settled. We have a lot of work to do these next few days; food and firewood to gather, lookouts to post and gems to enchant.” He made some quick calculations and sent most of them off on work parties in pairs, except for James and Magnus.

“Give your sword to Magnus,” the collie instructed James, “then go rest beside Junafir. The warmth will do her good and you can take the first shift on lookout tonight after a good sleep.”

They settled into a routine over the next several days. Magnus would spend the best part of a day feeling out the potential of each of their gems and laying enchantments onto them. It took a lot of his energy and he was not able to forage or stand watch after exhausting himself with the magic. The day after an enchanting he would spend with the owner of the weapon the gem was attached to, introducing them to its new powers and coaching them in how to control the magic.

Each gem owner needed to practice on their own eventually, and Magnus used that time to provide additional instruction to those whose gems he had enchanted earlier. Annie and Yup in particular. In her case it was mostly exploring the possibilities of plant and animal command, while for Yup there were exercises to focus his mind on what he wanted the blunderbuss to do. There being no good fishing holes about and a limited amount of game, thanks to the spiders, what few ignition sticks they sacrificed for training went to procuring enough protein to keep an army going.

On the third day of their stay James mastered his ability to command fire from his sword enough to send a fireball down the pit inside the small hut and render the remnants of the spider’s children into ash. As a follow up he blasted the hut itself with so much force that he thatched roof burst into flames in an instant and the stone itself began to melt.

“It looks like a dragon did it.” Darryl commented. “But I don’t know if it will be strong enough to defeat Aldreda.”

“He can generate a fire shield too.” Magnus assured him. “But it would be better if we had something for him to practice it on.” He said, looking to Darryl.

“Sorry, I’m a few decades shy of fire breathing yet.”

Magnus did Paul’s sapphire next in hopes of it being able to produce a stream of cold water to counter or extinguish Aldreda’s flame. Experimentation with the sword was not promising, however, as Paul could not produce water where there was none, although when there was some he could command it to fly wherever he wanted.

“How much water does it take to drown the fire in an adult dragon?” The collie asked as he made the water from the spring rise up and dance in the air.

“A lot more than that.” Darryl assured him.

Gael’s diamond was next. It proved to be of such a high quality that the first time he tried to summon a lightning storm he almost fried them all.

“Let’s start with isolated showers, shall we?” Magnus suggested as he extinguished bits of burning fur on his chest.

It took a while but eventually Gael could summon fog and rain in varying amounts. Seeing that Paul raised his sword and ordered the moisture in the fog to condense and flow with the power of a geyser in whatever direction he chose. When Gael made it rain he ordered the water up off the ground and into a dome that could cover the whole camp.

“Let’s see Aldreda burn through that.” He said.

Magnus had already done as much as he could with Yup’s flawed amethyst, so that left only Junafir’s star sapphire to be enchanted. That was accomplished on the eighth day since she had been rid of the spider eggs, but she was still too lethargic to practice with it on the ninth.

It was not all work and practice though. In his schedule Paul had been careful to allow time for the couples to get together.

After her screaming session Annie had sought out Gael and as soon as they could be alone she had attacked him with an intensity that almost amounted to rape. It was more than physical contact she craved, but the intense animalistic coupling that assured her that she was still alive and that, for now, all was well. Gael was a willing partner because what he had heard from the small hut that night had scared him, had made him think about what he would do if it had happened to Annie, and her screaming in the night had shaken him more than the drums and horns of the enemy ever did on the eve of an attack.

When she began tearing at his clothes as soon as they were out of sight he helped, finding himself instantly hard and ready for action. She eschewed the normal foreplay and knocked him to the ground, pulling her garments aside just enough to expose her already wet twat as she mounted him, guiding the blunt head of his cock to the moist slit and inside in one desperate motion. From that point onwards she controlled the action, slamming down so his full length impaled her when she wanted it, up on bended knees bobbing on the tip when her clit demanded attention. She finished by leaning back so that the head rubbed the patch of sensitive flesh a few inches up inside her quim. Only then did Gael dare to relax the muscles clamping down on the tubes coming out of his testicles enough to cum.

When he did, he came in such volumes that half of it shot out around the seal her inner lips made on his shaft and dripped down to his crotch. Annie felt it escape and gathered as much as she could with her fingers, bringing them to her mouth to lick them clean.

Later that night they made love in their old, slow, conventional way. When they were done Annie hugged Gael tightly and, in a voice almost too soft to hear, said “I love you.”

“I love you too.” He assured her and swore that he felt a tear escape her eye to dampen his chest. His own eyes were welling up with joy, and he assumed it was the same for her. Over the next few days he confirmed that it was so, and those were the happiest days of their lives.

Chris had assumed that Coyotek would snap back quickly after the night in the hut and revert to her old, aggressive, domineering ways. He was prepared for it, even as he longed for something more. At the first opportunity to order him to do something humiliating however, she surprised him by wrapping her arms around him and burying her hard against his chest.

“Never leave me alone.” She implored him. “Ever!”

“I won’t.” He assured her, and instinctively, he began to tenderly remove her clothing.

She let him, and when she could she reciprocated, undoing his cloak and tunic so he could toss them off and untying the rope that held his trousers up while he caressed her breasts and kissed her.

When they were both naked, he lay her down on the soft grass and they began making love slowly and intensely. His cock stuck out red and eager above the largest knot he could ever remember having, and he slipped it inside her until he felt the spread lips of her cunt and the hard button of her exposed clit against the firm ball of his knot.

Slowly at first, then with ever increasing force, he slid his cock back and forth while he kissed her lips and sucked at her breasts. She kissed him back with an urgency that was new to her and pulled at his ears and fur when he dipped his head to her breasts.

Her knees came up to her shoulders as his pounding intensified. With a grunt and a heave his knot popped inside her. She immediately clamped down on it, squeezing her pussy muscles around its base. Chris arched his back and twisted left, then right. He could feel her twat closing in around his shaft as she swelled up inside due to the friction of his knot inside her, and his fur-covered lower abdomen rubbing against her clit.

They came together for the first time he could remember, with Coyotka marking the occasion with a deep-throated howl. Once they both stopped shaking, he lowered himself to his elbows, and, remembering how she hated to be confined, began to wiggle his knot out of her.

“No.” She said, pulling his full weight down on her. “Let’s stay like this for a while.” And so they did, for much longer than it took for Chris’s knot to subside. From that point on their couplings no longer involved mild torture or humiliation, and Chris finally understood why some referred to it as ‘making love’.

Darryl and Nahal went back to their old ways the night following the purge. Nahal had recovered quickly from the horror of the eggs coming out of the tigress because she had seen and experienced things almost as bad herself. The other’s brush with death did, however, give rise to a horniness in her that she had never experienced before.

If she had consulted Coyotka about it the coyote would have told her that it was a primal post-disaster reaction common in most species. So common in some that births could be predicted to follow funerals to coincide with the gestation period of that species. But she didn’t, and like many before her who had seen terrible things or survived tense situations, she just wanted to get it on with someone. Darryl was the most available someone, and someone she was familiar with.

Paul had suspected that the human girl and the dragon might have been forming the beast with two backs because for the first time in his memory Darryl was not going on about maidens ad nauseum. He sent them out together foraging for firewood with no fixed return time.

They were hardly out of sight of the campground when Nahal grabbed Darryl with more strength than he suspected she had and almost threw him against the nearest tree. He had no time to speak as she stood up on her toes to kiss him deeply and passionately while she rubbed the sensitive spots she had discovered around his groin. One part of his brain rebelled as this was hardly maiden-like behaviour while the other half argued that it could be … he was not an expert in maidens, after all.

The half that apparently controlled his penile slit won out, and his permanently erect penis slid up and out into the open.

Nahal Stoked his dark-blue phallus while she continued to explore his mouth with her tongue. She was fumbling with her cloak and trousers with one hand so Darryl lent his clever claws to the task, slipping the buckle on her belt and opening her tunic to expose her bare chest. A dip and a pull later and she was able to kick one leg of her trousers off. The other tangled around her ankle but she did not notice as she jumped up and wrapped her thighs around Darryl’s narrow waist.

She was surprised to discover that her pussy was already wet and ready for him when she guided the pointed tip to the gateway of Venus, so much so that she was able to slide all the way down onto it with a satisfied moan. As soon as she felt his abdominal plates against her she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and, flexing her thighs and shoulders, pulled herself up again until just the tip was lest inside.

As she rose and fell on him Darryl put his hands on her ass and lent his strength on the ascent. He was able to spread his legs and lean against the tree, which formed a firm base for her to gyrate on. He was even able to bend his knees a little and roll his hips to meet her on the descent, which not only made his cock feel good but also served to heighten her excitement, if the gasps of encouragement mixed with what sounded like swear words in a language he did not understand were any indication.

She was slamming her cunt down on him with as much force as she could muster when she came, and she didn’t let the fiery liquid shooting out around his cock slow her down any. Nor did she pause when he came, she just used the spooge for extra lubricant as she rode him to a second and them a third orgasm.

When she eventually stopped her arms had lost their grip and her legs were slipping away from his hips. Darryl lifted her up off his erection and slid down the trunk of the tree to cuddle her in his lap until her heaving chest subsided and her breath came regularly again. He stroked her hair tenderly as he relished the feel of her small breasts on his chest until she regained enough strength to stand up and look down at him.

“We should find a creek to wash up in.” She said as she rubbed her cum-soaked crotch and thighs. Then she looked down at Darryl, whose cock was still sticking up jauntily though his penile slit. “A cold-water creek.” She added.

Over the next seven days Nahal was most often the instigator of their sexual activity. She not only had Darryl do the things she knew she liked, but also revisited some of the things that had been done to her that she had not been able to appreciate before. If she had time before collecting the head of James Douglas, she promised herself, she would try to recreate as much of the Kama Sutra as she could remember from her time with Rory Douglas and Sevade. Fortunately for her, Darryl and his permanent hard-on could be counted on for at least three positions in a row, several times a day, schedule permitting.

Even Yup and Magnus managed to pair up regularly, playing Gin Rummy with a deck Yup produced that was short two cards and an ever-evolving set of rules.

“I thought you said that Aces were high, Yup?”

“Unless you start off with a Spade.”

“Yesterday you said the same thing for Diamonds.”

“Diamonds OR Spades, either works. There,” Yup said, laying down his last cards and knocking on the stump they were playing on, “Gin!”

Magnus eyed the five cards sceptically. “You have a three, four, six, seven and Jack of clubs. How is that a run?”

“It’s not.” Yup answered as she raked in the copper coins they were playing for. “It’s a flush.”

“But ...”

“Want to try cribbage?” Yup offered, producing a board where one track clearly had more holes than the others.

“No.” Magnus sighed. “I’ll stick to Gin Rummy, thanks.”

Only Paul spent his time on duty alone, alternating staring at the norther horizon for any sign of the black dragon and the road that ran past the campsite for either of her elfin forms. Several times he saw something dark on the horizon and his grip tightened on the hilt of his sword, but each time it turned out to be a crow or a raven. No one ever came down the road.

James spent all his free time with Junafir, who refused to leave the protective walls of the big hut except to eat or go to the latrine the others had repaired. When she did venture outside for either of these two activities she insisted that James be with her with his sword ready, but he was not allowed to touch her ... ever.

When she had woken up in the evening the day following the purge James had been beside her. He had reached out to put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but she had shied away, curled up, turned to the wall and fallen asleep again. The next morning when she stirred James tried to help her up by taking her elbow and she lashed out at his arm, drawing blood. It was hardly more than a scratch, but James looked hurt in other ways.

“Give her time.” Annie advised. “She’s been violated in ways no one could have imagined and she’ll need some time to recover.”

James tried, but every time she stumbled or groaned in pain he reached out for her unconsciously. If she saw his hands coming she screamed and jumped away, but if he inadvertently made contact she went into a fighting rage. It was all that James could do to protect himself without touching her again, which only made things worse. He became quite adept at ducking, weaving and rolling out of claw range, but her reaction was having an effect on him too.

Confused and angry, James went about his duties silent and stoically, but when it came time to practice his swordsmanship with the ruby’s newly activated powers, he went all in.

“That is an excellent display of power.” Paul assured him as he gestured to Gael to start a small rain shower to put out the lingering embers from the large patch of forest James had just incinerated. “But you were only supposed to light up a single tree. Perhaps we should concentrate on your control.”

“I can control it just fine.” James snapped, then immediately regretted it. “I mean ... I should be able to control it, but ... sometimes I just lash out.”

“Is this about Junafir?” Gael asked from where he was directing the rain clouds. Everyone had noticed the tigress’s reaction to being touched but only Annie knew James well enough to recognize how he might react to Junafir’s rejection of even the simplest acts of affection.

“He’s still just a big kid, emotionally.” Annie had told Gael. “Losing his father, leaving the family he only just found out about and feeling responsible for Junafir’s mother’s death, as well as my burns. It’s a lot to carry and being with Junafir was the only thing keeping him together.”

Gael had promised Annie that he would keep an eye on James and being the on-duty fire extinguisher made it easy for him to observe the boy during training.

On being questioned James turned to Gael, opened his mouth, closed it and opened it again to answer. “No ... yes ... I mean ... I know that Junafir has been hurt, but I saved her ... we saved her ... and she’s alive ... but ...”

“But she is damaged.” Nahal, who was skinning rabbits nearby injected. “People can be damaged by horrific events, like having your village raided by the ...” She caught herself just before she said “Taliban”, which would have given her away. “... the southern raiders ... from the equatorial dessert.”

“You look like you’ve had a few traumatic experiences.” Paul said, touching his face in the same place her scars were. “I was guessing that you got those from a wild animal, but now I guess I was wrong.”

“Some people are wild animals.” Nahal said, remembering the day when Rory Douglas had almost taken her face off.

“Did they ... do things to you?” Gael asked kindly.

Nahal looked the horse straight in the eyes. “They did everything to me.” She replied without expression.

“But you’re fine now, right?” James gushed. “You’ve got it all together?”

Nahal thought back over the last few months. She had started as an unwilling prostitute having her contract sold to an Australian recluse that turned out to be a fox-man, a fox-man That had reaped and mutilated her before sharing her with another fox-man who was an inexperienced but demanding lover ... and a skilled assassin. Now she was an assassin who had killed her master and seduced a dragon so that she could take the head of an innocent boy barely older than her in order to use it to kill the fox-man and his evil major-domo.

“Oh, yes.” she said through teeth that were clamped tight to keep her face from twitching. “I am a perfect example of togetherness.”

“Hey, maybe you could spend some time with Junafir and, like, talk her through this?” James asked hopefully. “Or if that doesn’t work out you could tell me what I need to do to help her?”

“That’s not a bad idea, actually.” Paul said. “Talking it out with someone who has had similar experiences has certainly helped a lot of soldiers suffering from battle shock.”

Nahal looked back and forth between the eager boy and the worldly canine. Her plan relied on gaining their trust and getting James alone far enough from the rest to kill him, remove his head and make a clean getaway. But James was never alone. He was either training with Paul and Gael or sitting by Junafir, and if she ever recovered it would be even harder to separate them.

IF she recovered, Nahal reminded herself.

This idea of the boy’s might present her with an opportunity to separate him from the tigress long enough to separate him from his head. All she had to do was sow seeds of doubt in their minds as she went back and forth between them. Then, when the time was right, fill the hole that the tigress had left in James’s heart herself, lead him away from the rest, close to a portal that Rory Douglas could direct her to using the miniature portal, and ... and a plan was forming rapidly in her brain.

She realized that they were still staring at her expectantly, waiting for an answer.

“Yes,” She said, “I’d love to help you out.”

Paul Collieman © Collifan

Gael Tholkes © MarcusXLight

Junafir Pawstone © Frostlupus

Chris Cinereo © Kyroo Echos

Yup Thatchwatyahurd © Kyroo Echos

Sevade © Frostlupus

Constance “Coyotka” Jotkowska © Coyotek

Darryl D. Dragon © Major Matt Mason

Ladread © White Tiger Hunting

Aldreda © White Tiger Hunting

Magnus © Thwaitesy