by Dante King
The brawny, blue warrior reached into a pouch at her waist and pulled forth an old-looking, very worn scroll of parchment. I took it from Renji’s hand, unfurled it, and began to read.
If one spills the blood of the dragon, then said person would best be wise to take care. For a dragon’s blood is filled with a potent charm which you do not yet fully understand.
Coequal in the midst of the hurlyburly, at which hour the blood of the gentle beasts were spilled in the heat of the square, all sorts of strange horrors befell. The very countryside has changed whither the magical liquid touched the ground. There has been recorded instances of battlegrounds becoming susceptible to the spawning of monsters of all varieties, most wondrous treasure troves appearing and disappearing by fate, and crazed weather patterns unleashing their madness on land, sea, and sky.
I read over the cracked and weathered parchment a couple more times, trying to get my head around some of the curly wording.
“So, basically, what this is saying, is that you can’t be splashing dragon blood all over the place like a drunken Tijuana coed with her tequila slushy?” I said. “It says that places where lots of dragon blood is spilled—battlegrounds and the like—have all sorts of crazy shit happen to them. Pots of gold spontaneously popping in and out of existence, insane weather, and monsters coming out of the woodwork.”
Elenari nodded. “That would probably be the most simplistic translation that I have ever heard,” she said, “but, in essence, correct.”
I sighed. “Things are never that easy, are they?”
“If they were, everyone would be doing it, and I guarantee that we would have a lot less dragons,” Renji said.
“You’re probably right,” I said.
“Well, I must get back to my auditing.” The djinn smiled warmly at the two of us. “The shields are two rows down and one to the right. Will you be able to find your way back to the entrance?”
“Yeah,” I said, “no worries.” A life roaming the streets had imprinted on me an almost infallible sense of direction.
“Very well, I shall leave you to it,” Renji said, and she took her leave.
“Come,” Elenari said, “let’s get this done.”
She brushed past me, her ass grazing my crotch as she walked past. I didn’t need to be Hercule Poirot to notice that she had touched me intentionally. After all, it wasn’t like we were competing for space in this behemoth of an armory. My cock gave a little sigh of longing, and I followed after her.
Chapter Eighteen
There are some things, some memories that I will take to my grave with me, but the tedious hours Elenari and I spent cleaning those fucking shields in the Drako Academy armory will not be one of them.
We started off chatting; swapping stories about this and that, things we had done and things that we wished we hadn’t done and things that we still hoped to do. I told Elenari a little about my life in Los Angeles and how I had taken up fighting as a means of self-defense and discipline. For her part, Elenari regaled me with tales of her youth and how she and her people had known from the moment of her birth that she would end up bonding with a dragon.
After a while, the talk died out and we lost ourselves in the steady, constant polishing of the shields. They were bucklers, these shields. The small, round shields used by the infantry units of the Mystocean Empire in hand-to-hand combat. The bosses on the shields—the strongest central points forged from quality steel—had to be free of rust and then polished to a high sheen.
Eventually, it was over, and we threw down our rags and polish. The two of us were filthy, covered in sweat, polish, and the grease used to keep the leather arm loops on the back of the buckler supple.
We trooped back through the aisles, the despondent exhaustion we both felt quickly replaced by a feeling of unbridled joy at the thought that we wouldn’t—fingers crossed—have to do that again.
I picked up my gear from the waiting area, and we both bid Renji goodbye.
“If you have any questions when it comes to gear, or need any advice when it comes to upgrading or purchasing new equipment,” the djinn said to me, “don’t hesitate to come and see me, Michael.”
“I won’t,” I assured her. “And call me Mike!”
Elenari and I walked slowly back to our quarters, where I leaned my new spear against the wall and dumped the rest of my armor on the bed. Saya was nowhere to be seen, but her bed was made. No doubt she was off somewhere, making the most of her last day of weekend freedom before she got back into training.
“We’ll store your gear properly later,” Elenari said, rubbing at a smudge of grease on the end of her nose. “First though, let’s get cleaned up.”
We started toward the private showers adjacent to our quarters, but found that the door was locked. I nudged it, attempting to get it open, but it wouldn’t budge.
“It appears to be closed for maintenance,” Elenari said.
“I guess we’ll just have to wait then,” I said with a shrug.
“Maybe not,” Elenari said. “We can always attend the bathhouse.”
“Bathhouse?” I asked, my mind filled with images of those Roman bath houses filled with naked geriatric dudes.
“It’s open only to dragonmancers,” I said.
Then my mental image suddenly shifted to one that was far more pleasant.
“What are we waiting for? Let’s go!” I grinned at the beautiful elf.
Elenari led me back into the main corridor of the exclusive lodgings of the dragonmancers and toward a simple wooden door studded with iron rivets, an ornate dragon carved into its center.
“There are towels and everything inside,” Elenari explained. She pushed the door open, and the both of us were engulfed in fragrant steam, the rush of water, and the babble of female voices.
When I stepped into the white-marble bathhouse, I was confronted by half a dozen gorgeous women dressed only in their birthday suits as they soaked in a grand, central bath.
“Uh,” I said, freezing in the doorway for a second.
My initial reaction was to turn around and get out of there. It was a reaction that had been ingrained in me all through school—until I dropped out—and beyond. However, I quickly rewired my thinking, especially when the naked women gave me a few interested glances.
Elenari led me to an adjacent room arrayed in clock-shaped formation. The room was ringed by a wooden walkway, which encircled twelve showers, which were centered around a single draining point. There were no partitions between the showers, only low, waist-high walls. On these walls clustered various bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and the zillion other products that ladies seem to need to keep clean.
Elenari stripped off her dirty clothes with as little self-consciousness as she would show had she been changing her shoes. I walked around the edge of the shower room until I came to an empty stall. As I passed the occasionally filled cubicles, I was greeted by the distracting sight of a soaped up ass or a flash of nipple. One woman I passed—a petite, red-skinned dragonmancer whom I had not been introduced to as of yet—rubbed a hand over her bald vagina, washing away the suds and held my gaze until I had passed.
Is it hot in here? Or is it just that I’ve walked into every dream that I ever had as a horny teenager?
Once I found my empty nook, I flicked on the shower, undressed, and stepped into the powerful spray. As I was scrubbing at my long hair with some lotion, someone slapped my naked ass. Spitting bubbles, I turned around and saw Elenari looking at me.
She was buck naked. Pale skin gleamed like porcelain and misted with the spray from the other showers. Her breasts were perfectly sized, pert and bouncy, tipped with nipples that stood to attention despite the humidity of the room. She was as toned and as subtly muscled as you might expect an elf to be, the outer line of her stomach muscles leading down to…
I swallowed.
Shaven haven, my struggling brain fired out. Seems to be a recurring theme here.
“I’m one to your left,�
� she said, her eyes lingering on my chest and stomach. “I have some stuff that will get the grease off your hands and face.”
Her eyes flicked south, just for a moment, and her eyes widened, almost as if she’d never seen a cock before. Then, almost embarrassed, she quickly ducked beneath the head of her shower, and the jet burst into life.
Needless to say, I spared little attention on cleansing the dirt and grime from my body. I might have shampooed my head twice and conditioned my body—I really couldn’t say.
Inevitably, my cock started to stir and come to life. It was completely vulnerable to the room full of beautiful naked women, who kept casting interested and not-so-covert glances in my direction, flashing titties, asses, and vaginas in my direction in the way that a fly fisherman flicks out his fly.
“Here, try some of this,” Elenari said. She offered me a bottle of bright pink liquid. “It’ll get every last bit of grease off your…”
She trailed off, her eyes on the semi I was now sporting between my legs. She froze, like some helpless adventurer caught by a gorgon’s gaze.
“You guys have got me at a slight advantage,” I muttered to her. “I’ll meet you back at the room before we’re having to deal with a full-on boner here, okay?”
Without waiting for her reply, I scooped up a towel, wrapped it around myself, grabbed my things, and made a fairly hasty departure. Usually, I wouldn’t have given a shit—if this was a one-off scenario—but I didn’t want any of these women to be uncomfortable with having me about, not if I was going to be seeing them every day.
As I opened the door, I heard one of the girls let loose a wolf-whistle, and a couple of others giggled.
I made it back across the hall to my shared quarters without incident. I had just ripped off my towel when the door opened and Elenari walked in. She was wrapped in a towel too.
I looked down at my erection. There was no getting around or disguising the fact that I was sporting some serious wood—you could have anchored an airship to that thing.
“I have never seen… that before,” Elenari said, while my mind buzzed unhelpfully, like a radio that’s out of reception. “Its size has increased exponentially. Is that. . . is that normal?”
“Well, it’s a pretty standard operating procedure when a guy is surrounded by a bunch of naked women,” I replied.
“You know,” Elenari said, almost as if she was talking to herself, “growing up, I was always consumed by the idea that I would bond with a dragon. I was never given any time to take an interest in anything else. My life was controlled by others, so that I might fulfill this destiny.” She reached up and pulled her towel away. It fell to the floor. “Perhaps, Mike, you might show me what I missed?”
She padded across the large room to me, past the firepit and the comfy sofas, and stopped within a hand’s breadth of me.
“Show me,” she urged. With the unflinching confidence of the warrior, she reached out and took my throbbing cock in one of her small, strong hands.
I gave a little involuntary groan of longing. I had thought about fucking this woman since the moment I’d clapped eyes on her—well, maybe not from the exact moment I clapped eyes on her. It was tricky to get turned on by someone you’d just met, no matter how fucking hot they were, when the first thing you see them do is eviscerate someone who’d just stolen your phone.
Still, it would have been a gross trivialization to say that I wasn’t pleased to find myself in this situation.
I stepped in close, my cock rubbing up against Elenari’s stomach. I bent down and kissed my way gently down her collar bone and ran my fingertips delicately down her back.
Then, I continued to kiss my way downward, bending my head so that I could nuzzle at her perfect, nubile breasts. Elenari groaned as I began tonguing her nipples, moving with deliberate slowness from one to the other. Meanwhile, she continued to rub my shaft up and down, mirroring the same, steady, slow rhythm that my tongue was working on her.
After a while, Elenari and I stepped down into the sunken lounge area. I brought my head back up, and we kissed, still standing, while our hands explored each other’s bodies. The elf woman groaned as one of my hands ran down her torso, skirted around her hips, and slipped down to rub at her sex.
Since this was apparently Elenari’s first time, I resolved to be slow and gentle. I didn’t want to ruin this for her by being too hasty.
I needn’t have worried.
The elf suddenly shoved me down onto the velvet sofa and threw herself on top of me. The feeling of her still wet and slippery body against my own damp skin drove me wild with lust. I pulled her face down and kissed her deeply while she grabbed my cock and went to guide it, instinctively, into her wet and eager box.
“Wait, wait,” I managed to get out, even though our lips were pressed hard together.
“What?” Elenari growled.
“I want to do something for you—to you,” I said.
With a deft twist, I flipped the elf off me so that she landed spread-eagle on the sofa beside me. Then, before she knew what was going on, I had knelt on the ground between her legs and began running my tongue up and down her soaking wet slot.
“Goooodness!” Elenari cried, opening her legs wider and gripping her ankles.
I slid a finger into her tight hole and began thrusting it slowly in and out of her while my tongue ran circles around her clit, teasing it. Teasing her.
When I could feel her vagina starting to contract, and knew that she was getting close to climaxing, I hopped up and sat back on the sofa. Without a word of encouragement, Elenari swung her leg over me and sat down on my rock-hard cock.
With a growl of longing, I thrust up to meet her, and the elf cried out in delight. I clamped a hand over her mouth. I didn’t want any of the other girls to hear her, come through the door, and break the sexual spell that we were weaving together.
Elenari ground herself against me, the combination of our sweat, the last of the shower water, and her own juices squelching as we bucked and writhed.
We continued like this for who knew how long. The world dissolved into the sound of our ragged breathing, the taste of each other’s mouths, and movement of our bodies. Elenari was crazily tight and gripped onto my shaft like an anaconda taking down a capybara.
Then, abruptly, Elenari let out a cry, and her back arched. Her nails ripped into my shoulders where she clutched them, and her thighs quivered and shook as she came.
Following her lead, I let myself go. The rush of our joint climax, as well as Elenari’s guttural noises, sent us both rigid. With a soft, simultaneous sigh, we collapsed into each other.
After a couple of minutes, Elenari slid off me, flopped onto her back, and lay stretched out on the velvet sofa.
As I sat back, I caught sight of the strangest thing—or, at least, it might have been strange if I had not experienced the same thing twice before. A brief pinkish-golden glow flared just under Elenari’s navel. The milky skin of her stomach brightened before my eyes. The elf was lying back with a contented smile and her jade eyes closed and so didn’t notice this bizarre phenomenon.
What the fuck is going on? I thought. Is that lightning cider from this morning playing havoc with my jizz or something? Have I got phosphorescent swimmers all of a sudden?
“Oh… gods, that was incredible!” Elenari panted. Her pale skin was flushed, and her chest rose and fell. I could see her pulse pounding in her throat. She propped herself up on one elbow. “We must do that again.”
I laughed. “Well, you won’t have a hard job convincing me,” I said.
I turned my head and looked at the angular woman; at her perfect body, at the way that her bright green eyes were running hungrily over my own naked body, the way that they lingered on my cock.
A quote from the ancient philosophical teachings of Billy Crystal had always stuck with me. He had once said, “Women need a reason to have sex. Men just need a place.”
I do not think that applies with Elenari, I thoug
ht. I have a feeling I’ve just introduced her to her new favorite hobby.
“Perhaps, next time, we can see if Saya would like to join us?” she asked unabashedly, reaching out and tracing a line of sweat over the ridges of my abdominals.
“You know,” I said, stretching to run a hand down her side and cup her firm asscheek, “I think that’s a really great idea.”
Chapter Nineteen
I awoke the next morning to the smell of Lightning Cider brewing in the silver contraption over on the sideboard. I wasn’t hungover today—far from it, I was feeling as fit as a fiddle—but there couldn’t be any harm in partaking in a cup of the fragrant liquor. There was no way to know what the day would hold, but facing it with licorice-colored nectar sitting warm in my stomach could only be a good thing.
I opened my eyes and let out a contented sigh. I let the memory of yesterday’s escapades with Elenari wash over me. The hiss of skin on skin, the feel of her ass cheeks under my hands, the soft moan and gasp as we writhed against one another.
Not too shabby for being three days in, I thought to myself. Not too shabby at all.
Idly, I wondered if we had time before class, training or whatever else, to jump on the good foot and do the bad thing. With another relaxed exhalation of breath, I rolled over onto my other side.
And saw Saya on the side of my bed, standing over me, hands on hips. She was looking a little pissed off about something, but no less pretty for that. Her ash-blonde hair cascaded around her shoulders like sunlight made solid, and her ice-blue eyes glittered in the early morning sunshine coming through the window. She wore the same outfit that I had been given after my squad selection fight. Loose black fighting pants were tucked into serviceable leather riding boots while a long crimson shirt fell to her knees and was cinched with a leather sword belt.