Kingdom Come

by James Osiris Baldwin

  The predatory pressure behind my eyes was back. I growled, drowning in the taste of her skin, the press of her body struggling against mine, and the echoes of the Bond. Karalti shuddered with ecstasy not far away, leaving me hot and trembling with lust I felt behind my eyes, in my teeth and fingers and cock.

  "FUCK!" I snarled against Suri's shoulder with a low, guttural sound, hooked her legs around my arms, and let instinct take over. Suri pushed her throat into my jaws, her breasts against my chest, and pulled me deeper with her ankles. Harder, faster, until she tightened around me with a whimpering cry and I collapsed over her, shuddering through the orgasm, the adrenaline, the thrill of the hunt.

  Shaking, I buried my face against Suri's shoulder and clutched her hair in my fist, fighting to catch my breath. The empathic resonance between Karalti and me ebbed away like the waters of a tsunami, sucking the feral strength from my body and leaving me strangely still and calm. Clear, like glass.

  For several minutes, neither of us spoke. We lay together, still joined, until I slowly picked myself up and gazed down at her. There was a line of deep, dark bruises from neck to sternum. I searched her face for signs of distress, for... disgust, maybe. There was none. Suri's eyes were dark and molten, her lips flushed a deep cinnamon red. Her red wavy curls were tousled, spread out around her like a second corona. She was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.

  "I meant what I said before, just so you know." I brushed her cheek with the back of my hand, tracing the curve back to her ear. "I love you."

  Suri struggled with her reply, her breath catching. “I… love you too. Heaps."

  "Heaps?" I bent down to catch her mouth with mine in a gentle kiss.

  "Yeah." Her voice was a cracked whisper. She wrapped her legs around me and held me close. "Heaps."

  I cracked up with helpless laughter, and so did she. Just like that, the spell was broken.

  “What are you bloody laughing at?” Suri swatted at me, which only made me laugh harder.

  “Heaps, as in ‘heaps of laundry’?” I grinned back at her.

  “Ugh. That’s right, you’re a fuckin’ Yank.” She lolled her head back in surrender.

  Still chuckling, I gathered her into the crook of one arm. Suri balled in against my side with a soft sigh.

  "You know..." I said, eyes closed. "If anything bad ever happens to you. Like, if you die or something... I will drop everything here to go and get you. Fuck the quest. Fuck Myszno. I’m bailing you out."

  "Don’t." Suri stretched contentedly, her hand resting on my chest. "Finish the quest and become the Lord High Vo-Vo of Racsa first, so that we never have to do it again."

  "But-"

  She cracked her eyes open. "Promise me, Hector. I want to come back to a home. A real home, where I know I'll be safe. Finish the damn quest."

  I took a deep breath. Let it out. "Okay. I promise."

  "Thanks. I’ll believe you." She closed her eyes, and nestled down into my armpit. "What d'you think it'll be like?"

  "Hmm?"

  "To have a great big castle to ourselves? I never really had a place I’d call ‘home’."

  "Me either.” I gazed up at the rough stone ceiling overhead. “The closest thing to home for me was the bar where I worked. It was a good place… a lot of civil war vets, a lot of outcasts. They had an upstairs room where they let me crash if I needed it. I knew all the regulars, I loved the staff, they loved me. We'd share a drink after work. Called ourselves a family. I met all my stunt and racing contacts there and was building a career out of that networking, so... yeah. That was home for me, I guess."

  Suri nodded. " I wonder what living in a castle will be like?"

  "Drafty. And if you make noises like that every time we bang, you're going to scandalize all the maids-”

  “Hector.”

  “-and the butler will gossip with all the other Voivodes about our unbelievable, mind-blowing, comet-smashing-into-the-surface of the sun epic-level sex."

  Suri whapped me with a pillow to the face. “There won’t be any more of it if you don’t shut your trap.”

  “Hey now, if you’re going to threaten me, you better be able to back it up.” Grinning, I rolled her over onto her back. “Because I’m pretty sure someone’s up for round two.”

  “I’m pretty sure we are.” Suri pressed her lips to mine, and drew me in.

  Chapter 29

  I woke up to the sound of my dragon crashing into the side of the tower wall.

  "Karalti?" I shot up out of bed as she yelped, her flailing wings driving huge gusts of wind against the windows. I rushed over to see her circling back to touch down on the roof next door, then quickly launch off again as the ancient structure groaned beneath her weight. Tiles scattered everywhere.

  "Eek!" She soared out of sight, heading around the tower this time. "Hectorrrr! I'm too big to land anywhere! And my spell still has like six hours to go before I can use it again!"

  It was barely after four in the morning. The assembly wasn’t for another two hours. I groaned, scrubbing the sleep from my eyes. "I'll meet you downstairs. See if you can find somewhere to land."

  Suri murmured sleepily, pulling the covers up over her face. She was always a late sleeper. I tiptoed over, planted a kiss on her forehead, and resigned myself to an earlier start than usual.

  "I've gotten so used to being able to go into buildings again." In stark contrast to the night before, Karalti's telepathic voice was bright and chipper. She chattered as I locked the door behind me and padded down the cold, damp corridor. "I thought there was a rampart like the one back at Vulkan Keep, but ugh."

  "Human buildings aren't really made for dragons." I yawned.

  "Some of them are! I wish there was still dragons in Vlachia, but Soma told me that the last time dragons lived here was about a thousand years ago. Egbolt Castle should be big enough for me to land where I want, though... he said it's really old, but maybe not as old as Vulkan Keep."

  I emerged out of the gatehouse to find Karalti in the parade ground. Her night-time camouflage caused her body to flex in and out of sight. At Level 10, my dragon was a slender, regal creature, light and graceful for her size, but still not even half as big as the monstrous dragons that had descended on Taltos. I couldn't help but notice that she was still wearing the necklace - it was wrapped around one of her horns, like a ring.

  "You've been talking to Soma, huh?" I went over to her and stopped, fighting the urge to cross my arms and glare at it. "How did that go?"

  Karalti lowered her head to sniff over me. Each nostril was now the size of my palm when I held up my hand. "He's... I dunno. He's okay. He likes me a lot, and he knows a lot about dragons, but he also doesn't know anything about dragons, if you know what I mean."

  "I don't." I reached out to lay a hand on her snout, unable to suppress a shudder of relief. Karalti's breath smelled like hot metal and ozone, as hot as a furnace against the skin of my face. By contrast, her emotions were cool and steady, washing over me like a balm… she was calmer than she’d ever felt.

  "Well, Lorenzo doesn't understand the Bond at all. Or the Trial." Karalti buried the tip of her snout in my hair, huffing in the scents she found there. "He thinks I can Bond with anyone, for one thing and that the idea of going through a Trial is old-fashioned and dangerous. He gave me a nice present, though, and he told me some stuff about the Solonkratsu who used to live in Myszno."

  I willed the knots in my shoulder blades to dissolve, but they didn't. "Be careful with him, Tidbit. Okay? The man's a snake."

  "I know. He’s a bit pushy, but I like the shiny he gave me." Satisfied, Karalti reared back up, her wing membranes rasping softly as she moved. She squatted back on her tail and pubic bone, letting her hands rest between her knees. "And... hey. I wanted to say I'm sorry. For last night. I ended up talking to Suri for a while... she helped me understand some things about how I feel. I’m not mad at you, I swear. I missed you, actually."

  “Thanks. And I’m sorry for not h
elping you more. You can't help it if you're hormonal. I remember what it was like when I was that age." Once she was settled, I wandered over and ran my hand along one of her fingers, stroking the long, steel-hard slashing claw. “Are you… like… in heat?”

  "No. Not yet." She almost sounded embarrassed. “I think I feel like this before it’s the right time because you're always in heat. I don’t blame you or anything… but I would just feel your feelings and get worked up.”

  Oh. Shit. I smacked my face into my palm. "Right, because the Bond goes both ways. Yeah… I held off on having sex for a while. I figured that would be enough to protect you."

  "It's okay! Neither of us knew! Suri helped me figure out that I was feeling your needs like they were mine, but that I don't actually WANT to mate yet. It's hard to explain." She gestured vaguely in the direction of her tail. "I feel better now.”

  A flush crept across my cheeks. “Me too, funnily enough. So… you’re not jealous anymore? For real?”

  “A little,” she admitted. “Because I’m still gonna have to share no matter what. But she’s been very patient with me, even when I was acting like a dumb hatchling… so I’ll be okay. I know you love me. And I think she’s good for you.”

  “Me too.” I closed my eyes and relaxed against her. “Thanks, Tidbit. And look – I’m sorry I never had a proper talk with you about this shit. I should have taken you aside when we were both calm and been proactive about it. I should have gone to the library and researched everything I could about dragons until I was sick of it. But I didn't. I was too embarrassed to even try."

  "It's okay." She crooned, inflating her throat like a bellows. "We just have to learn more, right? Even I don't know everything about me. Soma said there's a library in Karhad where we can learn a lot of stuff. I was thinking that after the war, we could go try to find some other dragons?"

  "Sure. We’ll see if we can find you a boyfriend." Relieved, I patted her on the wrist, and leaned against her leg. It was almost pitch black under the shelter of her wing. Rain pattered on the membrane overhead.

  She giggled. “Or three!”

  “Three boyfriends? Damn, girl.” I grinned. “You won’t have any time for me.”

  "Of course I will. You’re my number one hairless monkey.”

  “Hairless monkey?” I reached around and grabbed my braids. “Do you see these magnificent Tuun braids? Dragozin Hector is NOT hairless, thank you very much.”

  She bared her teeth in a big draconic smile, but then abruptly sobered up. “Seriously though… When the day comes, when my blood tells me it’s time to fly, I have to fly. Do you understand?"

  "Fly, as in, let a bunch of eligible Solonkratsu bachelors chase you until one of them catches you?"

  "Yeah." She nodded. "And when that happens... then you're the one who’s gonna have to deal with how I feel."

  Yikes. I hadn't thought about that. "We'll figure something out. Maybe I can visit a brothel and channel my inner Vash while I do lines of Viagra off the ass of the one of the, like, eight hookers I’m fucking. Just make a grand old time of it.”

  Karalti giggled. "Vash would probably join in if you asked him.”

  “Probably.” I laughed despite myself. "You have no idea how relieved I am to see you and Suri getting along better.”

  "Yeah. She was so nice to me.” Karalti rumbled, a sound that made my teeth buzz like really good bass. “Last night felt… good. I could tell you felt good."

  “I do.” I rubbed one of the scales on her leg, feeling the metal of my gloves click against the smooth, glassy surface. Each scale was like a jewel, inky and glinting with subtle red, orange, and green fire. "I'm glad, seriously. And I want you to know that you're always going to be my number one. You know that, right?"

  "Yeah." She delicately ran her claws over my chest, flexing in just enough to press me against her leg. "And you’re always going to be mine, no matter how many boyfriends I have."

  I was in no way ready to accept that just yet. I’d known, intellectually, that Karalti would eventually court male dragons, but it hadn’t really sunk in. "Want to go see if we’re able to pull off some ridiculously dangerous aerial maneuvers? I want to practice jumping and landing while you’re in the air. "

  "I WANT to sleep more. But I GUESS we can go train."

  "Then we're gonna need a MON-TAGE!" I wiggled out from behind her hand and began to bounce around her feet, pelvic thrusting and-or shadowboxing the whole time. "WOO yeah! Welcome to the limit! Walk along the razors' edge! But don't look down just keep your head! Yeah! Nanananana MONTAGE!"

  "Yeah. That's the other reason me and Suri get along better now. She understands my pain." Karalti groaned, and used the edge of her wing to nudge me out of the way and stand up. “I’m so glad you didn’t become a bard.”

  I jabbed my finger at her a couple of times. "You chose this. You knew, as soon as you looked into my eyes, that you wanted this magnificent hunk of well-marinated, spicy beefcake to cherish you for all of your days."

  Karalti flickered her inner eyelids so hard that for a moment, she looked like she had cataracts. "Ugh. Shut up and get on before I barbecue your fat head."

  ***

  The morning's goal was to fix the biggest problem I'd been having with our aerobatics so far: landing on a moving target. The ‘Jumping off into the abyss’ part of our aerial combat style was getting easier, as was the 'staying in the air' part. Master of Blades, Rain of Glass, and Whirlwind Butcher were all push attacks. On the ground, they pushed enemies away from me. In the air, they pushed me back up into the air between ten and twenty feet. I could dash through the air using Shadow Dance, and if I spammed it with Jump and - strangely enough - Umbra Blast, I could move practically any direction in the air while slowing my descent by several seconds. But landing from all those fancy leaps and attacks onto a flying target going anywhere between fifty and a hundred miles an hour? There was no move for that.

  Karalti circled the Center Bastion as I jumped, dashed and blasted around in the air, trying everything to position myself vertically over her back. I was seemingly able to land on everything else. The tower. Her tail. Her wings, once, which flung me head over heels back into the air like a trampoline. Karalti had been forced to dive and snatch me by one leg before I fell over the Wall and landed headfirst in the mud and broken palisades below.

  "Okay! One more time!" We had about twenty minutes before Soma addressed the troops. The sun was rising, my stamina was iffy, but I was determined to land the maneuver once before we broke for the day. I unequipped my armor and watched my stamina bar jump up slightly. Not great, but every point counted. "Try leveling out really hard, Tidbit. I keep missing the fucking saddle pad."

  "Alright. Be careful." The dragon emitted a piercing cry of encouragement as she wheeled around the bastion. Guardsmen were clustered on the parapet a hundred feet below, shading their eyes to watch us.

  "One! Two! Alley-oop!" My feet left Karalti's back, and the wind tore me back through the air as she soared off ahead, did a wingover, and came right back. She was as straight as a javelin. The lineup was perfect.

  You can do it, man. You’re Hector fucking Park. My eyes widened dizzily as my dragon's gleaming form rushed underneath me. Her head passed, her neck... " Come on, come on, come on... and STICK IT!"

  The landing had three steps: touch down on the back of the saddle, turn it into a safety roll, catch the saddle grips. Just as my feet made contact, a gust of wind caught in her wings and lifted her back like a springboard. I fell into the safety roll, tumbled head over ass and flew off her starboard wing, smacking my jaw into the edge of the membrane on the way past. "OH SHIT OH SHIT oh - oww! - OH FUCK-!

  Karalti tried to wing over to snatch me from the air, but she wasn’t fast enough. I plummeted past her and careened off the edge of the Wall, sailed gracefully through the air, and landed chest-first right on top of a guard’s upright pike. A deep bruising pain ripped through my torso, like a freezing cold punch that went all th
e way through. Too shocked to make a sound, I stared down at my chest. The spear had gone in just under my fourth rib and came out through my collarbone. It didn’t hurt nearly as much as it should have.

  "... Oops." The word bubbled up with the blood that sprayed onto the stunned soldier's face. The last thing I saw was a crowd of hands grabbing us, and then my eyes rolled back and the darkness flowed in.

  [You have taken a Mortal Wound [Heart Strike]!]

  [You have earned a new badge: Hold My Beer and Watch This!]

  [You take 1500 damage!]

  [You are dead.]

  My chest was still aching when I woke up face-down on a cold stone floor.

  "Cock." Naked, shivering, at half HP, I rolled over onto my bare ass and looked around in confusion. This wasn't Vulkan Keep, unless the Keep had suddenly gotten a lot shabbier. The room was hexagonal, with two stone beds. A fire was burning in the fireplace. The air was pleasantly scented with pine smoke and feminine perfumes, like sandalwood and amber and honey. They were familiar, but I couldn't remember why. Where the hell was I?

  A slender, bluish steel glaive lay on the floor beside me. The weapon pulsed with seams of red light, and when I lay a hand over it, the light intensified. When my hand touched it, the energy directly underneath pulsed black as night, then my temples throbbed. I winced, clutching my head as some of my memory returned. The Spear of Nine Spheres: right. The perfumes were… Suri's? This was the bedroom we were sharing with my dragon at Ka... Ko... Fort K-something.

  "Hector?!" A sweet voice broke through the fugue. "Where are you? Are you alright?!"

  I rubbed my fluttering temples and grimaced. "Uhhh... yes? Kind of? What the fuck just happened?"

  "What do you mean, what just happened? You died! I'm at the bastion!”

  “Which bastion?”

  “Bastion Nine! Your stuff is here!"

  "Bastion Nine... okay." With a sigh, I used the Spear to stand and searched for something to cover my privates. I was about to ask my mysterious brain-voice how to get to 'Bastion Nine' when a Head's Up Display popped up, startling me.