by Eric Vall
An army had been mobilized without the king being warned of it, and that alone was enough of a red flag. Then take into consideration the sole heir to the throne had also managed to run away, and the king hadn’t been told of it either.
Well, that was just simple math.
Laika strutted down the hallway toward me in the distance, and then she stopped with her arms crossed over her chest.
“Hey, how did things go at the mine?” I asked.
“Good,” the wolf replied with a nod. “We have almost fifty guards stationed there now. Anton and I gave them their orders, and we’ve implemented a rotating schedule so the guards are always fresh. I just got back because I wanted to see how the meeting went.”
“It went great,” I grinned, “and I’ll tell you all about it later, but right now I need something from you.”
“Yes, Daya said you had need of an airship?” Laika asked as she motioned for me to follow her with a small smile. “What would you need one for?”
“A small scouting mission,” I replied as I shoved my hands into my sleeves.
“Perhaps one of the smaller airships would work,” Laika mused, and her fluffy ears twitched to and fro as she walked beside me. “There should be something in the fleet that would do.”
“Wait, how many do you have?” I asked as I stopped walking and glanced over at the wolf Demi-Human.
“We usually have around a hundred different airships docked here.” Laika shrugged carelessly and glanced up at me. “We still have some adventurers completing requests throughout Rahma, so currently there’s about another fifty ships outside of the docks.”
“How many people can they carry?” I questioned excitedly. The airships could be just the solution I was looking for.
“Depends on the size.” One of Laika’s ears twitched as she tilted her head in thought. “The smallest ship can carry around ten or so, twenty if you jam everyone in. The largest can fit around two hundred. Can you explain more of what you require for this scouting mission?”
“I want to find out where in the mountains the harpies came from,” I explained as we started walking again, “I could fly over them, but I wouldn’t be able to bring any back up with me except for whoever could fit on my back. Not to mention, that would be playing all my cards at once if I travel there in my dragon form.”
“A fair point,” Laika agreed as she hummed in thought, “traveling silently would allow us to have the upper hand.”
“They wouldn’t know what hit them,” I laughed. “If it comes to fighting, we’ll strike like lightning.”
“Is that supposed to be a reference to your power?” Laika laughed lightly as she pointed at a different corridor. “We’re heading this way.”
Laika led me to a pair of enormous mahogany doors. A strange, almost leaflike pattern was carved all over the wood, and the pattern shifted as the light of the crystal wall lamps flickered. It was almost like the carved pattern was alive, a slithering serpent in the wooden doors that never stopped moving.
“Here we are.” Laika pushed open the large carved doors in front of us. “Welcome to the dry docks of the Blue Tree Guild.”
The doors swung open to reveal an enormous chamber, easily twice the size of the main atrium in the underground library. I couldn’t help but wonder if there was some sort of magic involved in the creation of the room and of the Blue Tree Guild airship. Even though I knew the airship was enormous, it was like it was even larger on the inside.
Rows and rows of airships, all different sizes and shapes, lined one half of the room. The other half of the room, the part along the hull of the airship, was completely empty, and there was a large glowing circle on the wall that reminded me of Alyona’s portals. I figured that was from where the smaller airships launched out of since there was no other opening I could see for them to exit.
“This is amazing!” I exclaimed in awe as I walked into the enormous room, and then a flash of silver caught my eye. “What are those ships over there?”
There was a line of sleek silver airships, as if they were made out of molten metal that hadn’t become fully solid. But they were also tarnished and mottled, as if they had been exposed to the elements and left to suffer for it.
“Those are relics,” Laika explained as she followed lazily behind me, “pretty much derelict. They haven’t been used in centuries. Supposedly, they can outrun even a wind dragon outright, at least that’s how the legends go.”
“So, it’s never been proven?” I turned around sharply and glanced back at the sleek ships.
There was something about the ships that called me to them. Like they were just begging to be used and adored again. They hadn’t been created so they could rust away like they were right now.
“Evan, no one’s used them in centuries.” Laika shook her head in amusement and gently nudged me away from the ancient ships. “No one even knows if the claim is true. Though, perhaps the fact they haven’t been smashed to bits is proof enough they are capable of it.”
“So?” I grinned excitedly at the thought of flying faster than even I could in my dragon form. “That just means we have to test them out.”
“Evan,” Laika sighed as she covered her face with her palm, “we don’t have time for that. Not to mention the fact that they’ve never been repaired. It would take ages to fix them up again.”
“Well, maybe when the workers arrive,” I replied as I crossed my arms over my chest, “there might be someone who knows how to fix them.”
“We shall see.” Laika rolled her eyes at me before she sashayed over to the nearest airship. “This one might work for what you have in mind. It’s fast, and it’s a quiet one.”
The ship was nearly the size of a school bus back on Earth, but it looked nothing like the rectangular vehicles. This looked more like a yacht, but it obviously wasn’t meant to cross the waves. This ship was for sailing the sky and drifting among the clouds. There were no sails on the main deck of the ship, but sleek wings came out along its side like an airplane. Each wing was easily fifteen feet long, maybe a little more, and came to a minimum wingspan of thirty feet combined.
“Yeah?” I walked over to Laika and stood behind her. “What’s it called?”
“Blue Willow,” Laika replied as her tail swished softly side to side. “It can fit twenty people inside of it. And, like I said, it’s one of the fastest we have and is perfect for reconnaissance, like the type you have in mind.”
“Let’s take a look.” I grinned as I jumped over the railing of the airship’s deck.
Now that I was on the deck, I could see it looked a lot like polished mahogany. There was a cabin, just like a boat would have, but it seemed to lead further down into the ship. I knew magic had to be involved since, once again, it seemed to be bigger on the inside. It was definitely going to be large enough for twenty people to live and sleep inside of it.
“So?” Laika asked as she joined me on the deck. “What do you think of the Blue Willow?”
“It’s gorgeous,” I admitted and turned to face her.
“As the ship should be.” Laika leaned on the railing with a smirk on her face. “The Blue Tree Guild has an appreciation for beauty, even if most of us look rather haggard for the majority of the time.”
“I can see another beautiful work in front of me,” I murmured and let my gaze trail down the exposed planes of Laika’s body.
“Oh?” Laika purred back as she walked toward me. “Well, if I recall correctly, I believe I owe you something from earlier. Do you want to collect on that debt now?”
I didn’t answer verbally, but I did tug her closer to me and slanted my mouth over hers. My hands trailed down her body, and I undid the laces of her leather clothing and let it fall to the ground.
Laika did the same for my own clothes, and she tugged my shirt desperately off my shoulders as she gasped into my mouth. Then she bucked her hips against me unexpectedly and shuddered against me.
I raised an eyebrow at that reaction,
but only moved faster to match her desperation. If my warrior wanted me this badly, then I’d give her exactly what she wanted.
We’d already begun to learn each other’s bodies, and the cool touch of the mahogany deck against our bare backs only heightened the thrill. There was nothing tame or boring about Laika and the way her body slithered along mine.
I quickly flipped the two of us so I was hovering over her on the deck. Laika bit her lip seductively and arched her back so her bare breasts pressed into my chest. I growled as I felt her pert nipples scrape against me, and I ducked my head to take one in my mouth as my hand slid past her stomach and hips.
My fingers found her wet and warm entrance, and I painted slow circles over her clit as I bit down on one of her nipples.
“Evan!” Laika gasped as she writhed beneath me.
A feral growl slipped past my lips, and I adjusted my wrist to plunge two fingers into her dripping pussy. The wolf Demi-Human moaned loudly, and her sharp claws raked at my shoulders, but that just spurred me on.
I settled into a fast rhythm and pistoned my fingers in and out of her with my thumb pressed firmly down on her clit. Laika thrashed and hissed, and when I slid a third finger into her as I clamped my teeth over her breast, she gave a shout of ecstasy and arched clean off the deck.
The dragon part of me snarled in desire as I felt Laika climax on my fingers, and I knew I had to have her now.
I pulled my hand from between her trembling legs and latched onto her hips to drag her toward me.
But Laika had different plans.
The wolf glanced up at me from beneath hooded eyes, and she licked her lips as her gaze traveled down my torso.
“My turn,” she growled, and before I could say a word, the lithe warrior flipped us over. She straddled my thighs and dipped down to trail kisses all the way to the base of my cock.
A throaty snarl echoed in my throat, and I ran my claws through her hair as her hot breath ghosted over my pulsing erection.
“Are you just going to stare at it?” I teased as I flicked one of her ears.
Laika smirked up at me. “I only wanted to get a look. I’ve been thinking about this since the stairwell.”
“You and me both,” I grunted, and then a gasp was torn from my throat as Laika dipped her head and ran her tongue over my shaft.
“Mmmm,” the wolf purred, and then she took me in her hand as she wrapped her plump lips over my head.
Pleasure spiraled through my veins, and my head fell back onto the deck with a thunk. I buried both my hands in Laika’s hair, and then I just held on for the ride as she attempted to suck me dry.
The wolf’s mouth was hot and oh so wet, and I chanced a peek down to see her eyes closed in rapture and her cheeks hollowed out as she slurped on my cock. I tightened my grip on her hair and bucked my hips upward, and Laika moaned in ecstasy as her throat fluttered around the head of my dick. We set up a quick rhythm, but all too soon, I felt the coil of an orgasm tighten in my gut.
Laika must have sensed it too, because she pulled off me with a wet pop, and leveled me with her hooded, lustful eyes.
“More,” she purred, and I was only happy to oblige her.
I flipped the two of us again with ease, and Laika growled as I settled in the cradle of her pelvis. My cock slipped past her swollen lips and into her deepest place, and she gasped and keened as she wrapped her legs around my waist.
“Mine,” I snarled in her ear as I set a punishing rhythm.
“Y-yours,” Laika gasped and met my hips thrust for thrust.
I latched onto the juncture between her neck and shoulder with my teeth, and I pounded into her as I chased my own release.
Then my mind blanked, and all I knew was the taste of Laika’s supple flesh and toned body as we fucked each other into oblivion.
“E-Evan,” the wolf Demi-Human moaned as she threw back her head and clutched at my shoulders. “I-I’m--”
I lifted her legs up, folded her in half, and fucked into her even harder as I felt the coil wind tight in my gut.
Laika gasped and shuddered, and a moment later, she screamed as she orgasmed for the second time.
I felt the splash of her intense climax drip down my thighs, and I growled deep in my chest as I yanked her hips tight against me and poured my load deep inside her.
The two of us froze like that as I filled her pussy up with my hot seed, and then Laika moaned weakly as she flopped back onto the deck, relaxed and satiated.
I rolled over on the wooden deck of the airship and groaned. The smell of sex hung heavy in the air, and when I glanced over at the wolf Demi-Human beside me, I could see my seed gleaming on her thighs and dripping onto the deck.
My cock throbbed, but as much as I wanted to stay here with Laika, and maybe go for round two, we really needed to figure out just where exactly that damned fortress was.
“Come on,” I sighed as I glanced over at Laika, “we should get going.”
“Why don’t we go one more time?” Laika slyly lifted one eyebrow as she trailed her hand up my thigh. “I owe you for that morning in the stairwell.”
All my critical reasoning went out the window at her touch.
“Well,” I smirked back at her, “one more time wouldn’t hurt anyone.”
“Less talking,” Laika swiftly climbed on top of me once more and pushed me down until I was flat on the deck, “more fucking.”
“As the Guild Leader commands,” I replied as I thrust into her wet folds with one motion, “so I shall obey.”
Laika was unable to reply coherently as a strangled gasp left her mouth. Her pussy squeezed me tightly as it attempted to keep me from slipping out of her body, and I grasped her hips tightly as I thrust up into her.
By the time we finally were able to keep our hands off each other, it was late in the day, and we had cleaned ourselves up as best as we could. Laika used a charm from her storage to wipe away any smells that would have given away what we’d been up to for the past several hours. Even so, I was still planning on heading out to the bath houses eventually.
“We should get going,” Laika muttered as she slipped back into her leathers and tightened the laces of her bracers.
“Probably a good idea,” I replied with a sigh. “As much as I want to keep exploring these airships with you, duty before pleasure.”
“I feel there is a bit of irony in that statement.” Laika shook her head as she tied her hair up in a high ponytail.
“You didn’t complain earlier.” I waggled my eyebrows at her and was pleased when she blushed an attractive pink.
The two of us left the Blue Tree Guild airship and made our way to the temporary palace of Hatra. Granted, it was more of a multistoried building, but it served its purpose well.
Once there, we poured for hours over all of the maps in the room. Some of them were ancient, easily a thousand or two thousand years old and only kept together by the strength of the preservation magic cast on them. Even so, there was nothing on any of them so far that hinted at a fortress in the mountains to the east of Hatra. There wasn’t even a mention of a single ruin.
“I don’t understand,” I grumbled as I clenched my hands on the table, “Asher and the others remember there being a fortress there. How come it’s not showing up on any of these maps?”
“Perhaps it was built secretly?” Laika suggested with a sigh and rolled up a map. “It also might have even been built recently, which means no one would have noticed it with how dense the miasma has been in the area. Besides, those mountains are treacherous.”
“No,” I disagreed with a shake of my head. “There’s no way that fortress was a recent build. It’s been there for a long time, maybe even before Hatra fell a thousand years ago.”
“Why do you say that?” Laika asked as she glanced over at me and leaned back in her chair.
“Well,” I began to explain my hunch, “Hatra’s been targeted for far longer than we realized, and if I was going to spend that much time and energy
in destroying a city, I’d make sure I had a base nearby.”
“But why wouldn’t it be on any of our maps?” Laika frowned, and her ears flicked backward. “Not that I disagree with your logic, it makes complete sense considering the amount of attacks on the city. But no one could have a fortress up there that wasn’t on any single map.”
“Maybe it was only on local maps?” I suggested as I stood up and paced. “There’s a possibility it could have been there and just not been that important, or even ignored. I mean, Olivier did come to Hatra under the presence of studying ruins over the kingdom, so maybe there is one nearby. The best lie has a seed of truth to it, after all. And maybe, just maybe, it’s not a fortress but a former guard tower of Hatra? Maybe from when the city was first constructed by the Moon Princess?”
“There is a chance it could be so,” Laika sighed as she rubbed at her sore eyes. “So, what now? We move to search in the library? We still have all of these other maps to go through.”
Laika motioned to the rest of the maps littering the tables in front of us, and I frowned. We were going to need more help in this matter. My first choice would be Leon, but he was busy creating the structural plans I’d asked of him. So, that would leave my new page, Dagen.
I pooled my power into my hand and concentrated so it would take the form of a tiny dragon. Once it sparked to life, the small, magical creature shimmered as if it were carved out of a piece of diamond.
“Bring me Dagen,” I commanded the tiny dragon and watched as it flew away.
Dagen bounded into the room a few minutes later, and he bounced with excitement in front of us.
“You called for me, sir?” Dagen asked cheerfully as his tail wagged slightly behind him.
Laika’s lips twitched upward in a slight smile, but she turned her attention back to the maps in front of her.
“I need you to find something for me,” I instructed the boy. I tried to keep a stoic face as well, but his excitement was contagious, and I couldn’t help my own smile. “This is very important, okay?”
“I can do it!” Dagen’s ears perked up even higher. “What is it?”