Lord Of Dragons (Book 2)

by John Forrester

  As they separated and studied each other's eyes, the girl kissed Sebine on the lips, enough for her to taste the wine and feel the exhalations from the girl's nostrils landing softly on her skin. The sound of drums and the lyre wafted into the air and caused the girl to raise her hands and wiggle her hips seductively. She squealed in delight and drifted over towards the musicians, following the crowd as they pressed together and moved as if a flock of seabirds towards a school of fish.

  Tael gave Sebine a teasing look as he took her hand and led her over towards the music. He leaned in and whispered in her ear. "Emeraldia really seems to like you."

  Sebine wagged a finger at Tael in a gesture of disapproval. "Don't get any ideas into that perverted head of yours. What about the priest's admonition to pay devout attention to my physical needs?" She leaned in and kissed him for a long time, but the memory of the girl's lips was still strong in her mind.

  More wine flowed as many men and girls carried many beautiful painted earthen jugs and poured the silky liquid into empty glasses. A pleasant euphoria from the wine and food filled Sebine with merriment and love. She danced with Tael and remembered the first time they had met at the festival. When they had danced around the bonfire she had been wary and uncertain, yet filled with the excitement and newness of their unexpected encounter. Now her heart felt open and oozed heat and affection towards him, especially since he had made his apology on the ship. She wrapped her arms around him and found a wild frenzy of lust surge along her chest and stomach at the feeling of him pressed against her.

  They danced and twirled and drank and laughed, and the musicians played and the people often song along in a strong chorus that filled the fragrant forest. Sebine had never remembered a time in her life when she was this happy. Her heart was free and almost overflowing with love for Tael and love for the people around her and this place. If this was what it meant to be a fanatic, then Sebine wanted to count herself as one. She felt safe here, in Tael's arms and around these people, a warm kind of familiarity and trust that had always eluded her in the past. In her life in Trikar, in the palace, around the constant latent threat of violence...

  Here the music ebbed and flowed as the movement of seasons across the fabric of time. Still surrounded by familiar faces, Sebine embraced Tael and lavished kisses on his neck and hands and lips. Emeraldia, Jani, and Reese smiled at their affection.

  "Where is my kiss?" Emeraldia complained, and winked at Sebine. She leaned in and offered both cheeks to Sebine, and much to her surprise, the girl wrapped her long arm around Sebine's neck and pulled her into a passionate kiss.

  Sebine laughed and separated from the girl, grinning slyly in a mock look of horror.

  "I'm feeling hot and flustered," Emeraldia said, and waved air at her face. "Why don't we go swimming and cool off?" Her suggestion caught the approving nods of Jani and Reese, and Sebine found herself agreeing as the night was very warm and humid. Tael shrugged and grinned like a mischievous little boy who's just discovered his favorite treat.

  They stole a jug of wine and filtered their way through the throng of people laughing, dancing, chatting, and singing songs together in small groups. At the edge of the clearing where the festivities were held, Sebine followed Emeraldia as they pressed into a forest of camphor trees and shrubs growing in a wild disarray. Reese and Tael had each procured a torch, and the light sent long, eerie shadows dancing across the tree trunks and lush undergrowth. They followed a meandering trail through the fragrant forest, until Sebine could hear the sound of a bubbling spring.

  Set against a sheer cliff face were several pools of water illuminated by the moon's soft light. Emeraldia and Jani shrieked in excitement and ran to dip their hands in the pool, and they playfully giggled and splashed each other. The water felt cool to Sebine's touch, refreshingly so, and she drank from the bubbling pool and enjoyed the coolness as it slid down her throat.

  "What is this place?" Sebine said, and looked over as Emeraldia untied the cords that held up her robe. The Princess stared in fascination as her clothes slid off and fell to the ground, revealing the long, lean lines of her alluring figure. The girl paid no attention to the stares of the others, and slipped into the pool with a squeal of pleasure.

  "Heavens this feels amazing!" Emeraldia said, and cast a drunken stare at Sebine. "What are you just standing there for? Come in and join me." Jani was the first to respond, and she quickly cast off her robe and revealed a flash of tiny pink nipples and small breasts as she jumped into the pool. The girls giggled and played together, and Tael and Reese fixed the torches in between several rocks, and cast uncertain glances at the girls.

  "Go ahead and undress." Sebine wrinkled up her nose and gave Tael an expectant look. "Girls shouldn't be the only one to give the show."

  "What about you?" Tael said, and started to untie his white robe.

  "Don't worry about me, I'll go inside once you both go." Sebine allowed a curious smile to flourish on her face as she watched Tael's robe slide away from his muscular body. The scars still lined his chest and arms, but they were thinner now, as if he had tangled with a wildcat. He moved his body with slow and deliberate motions, allowing Sebine to stare in amazement at the beauty of his physique. She scanned down and smiled at what she saw.

  At the last splash of Tael jumping into the pool, Sebine wriggled her hips and earned herself giggles from the girls and expectant smiles from the boys.

  "Didn't I tell you the rules of this little game?" Emeraldia said, and chewed on her lip as wonderment danced in her eyes. "The last one to enter the pool needs to give us a little show...and it has to be convincing."

  Sebine poured herself another glass of wine, and in one gulp drank the whole glass. She needed bravery to do this. Everyone stared at her in fascination as she began to move her body in a smooth, sensual movement like a cobra undulating and writhing to the tune of the snake charmer. But her eyes locked on Tael's and her lips parted in a moan as she remembered their kiss. This dance was completely for him.

  Chapter Seventeen

  TAEL STARED IN silent fascination as the torchlight illuminated the long lean lines of Princess Sebine's writhing, seductive figure. His heart hammered in his chest as she teased him and hiked her robe higher and revealed her toned legs and sensual thighs. She stopped and cast him a flirtatious look, and he felt himself growing stiff after he had caught the briefest glimpse of the small space between her legs.

  Emeraldia and Jani kneeled on either side of him, as they were all pressed up against the edge of the mineral pool watching Sebine's dance. He glanced over at Reese, and caught the mesmerized look on the boy's face. Tael didn't mind, Sebine was beautiful and he had grown used to the stares of men captivated by her natural sensuality. After he drank the remaining contents of his glass, he leaned forward to retrieve the wine jug, and noticed that Jani had spotted his erection as he'd briefly left the pool.

  He kept his eyes fixed on Sebine's slow, seductive dance, and on her narrow hips that bobbed in suggestive moves. But Jani's hand reached surreptitiously under the water and felt around and soon began to stroke the stiffness of his shaft. He tried desperately to keep his mind focused on Sebine, but Jani's slow, firm strokes and a low moan escaping from Emeraldia's mouth distracted him. He glanced over to the left and noticed that Reese's fingers were caressing Emeraldia's nipples. A look of pleasure washed over his face as he stared at Sebine loosening the cords tied across her chest, revealing a perfectly round breast and a candy-sized nipple.

  His mouth opened in a gape and he kept his eyes fixed on Sebine, and he couldn't help but whisper the words, You are so beautiful. And he meant it. She was like a radiant nymphet in a magical forest, with a golden light bathing her silky skin. Tael drank another glass of wine and found himself going dizzy with excitement and the expectation of kissing Sebine and caressing her skin. Jani added to his desire by squeezing his erection and releasing a low, throaty groan. Out of the corner of his eye he could see that her other hand was pressed bet
ween her legs.

  Sebine let the robe slip down to her waist, and she crawled over the ground towards Tael, her firm breasts bobbing, and she gave him a long, intense kiss that left him breathless. He reached out and tried to hold her, but she wriggled away, stealing the wine jug in the process. She filled her glass again and arched her head back and drank until the wine spilled over her beautiful lips and down her long neck, tracing in multi-fingered rivers down her breasts. Noticing the stain of the red liquid on her body, she poured more wine onto her chest, and rubbed and caressed until her nipples went hard in stimulation.

  Jani moaned and let out an erotic pant as she fixed her eyes on Sebine and cried in a release of pleasure. As if following Jani's lead, Emeraldia groaned and her body trembled as she screamed babbling words that sounded like homage to a god. Sebine ignored them both and kept her eyes locked on Tael's, and again she crawled over to him, allowing the robe to fall off her body. She slid into the pool and Jani moved away to make room for her, and Sebine stood and pressed an erect nipple into Tael's eager mouth.

  He sucked and stimulated Sebine's nipple with his tongue, while his hand caressed her other breast. He ran the fingers of his other hand over her toned stomach, and reached around to feel the curve of her hips. Instead of meeting only Sebine's soft skin, Tael was surprised to find feminine hands stroking Sebine from behind, and what had to be Jani's lips kissing along the spine of her back. In the haze of wine and sensuality, Sebine didn't seem to mind, as she parted her mouth and sighed in ecstasy.

  As Tael stood to kiss Sebine, he leaned in towards her and felt her nipples trace over his chest. Her hand reached down and cautiously slid her fingers over his erection as if inspecting its contours. Jani lifted herself up as well, and Tael could see that the petite girl had pressed herself against Sebine's back and licked and kissed her passionately on the neck and shoulders. Sebine sucked harder while she kissed Tael, her tongue earnest and wild as she probed his mouth and exhaled in quick pants of pleasure.

  One of Jani's hands went around to cup the mounds of Sebine's breasts, which she played with only briefly, then reached down and glanced over Tael's erection briefly until Tael could tell her hand had plunged between Sebine's legs. As Tael kissed Sebine even deeper, they were lost in a tangled world of arms and legs intertwined in erotic movements. Jani's fingers rubbed and rubbed and he found himself even more aroused at the quick flicking of Jani's wrist chancing to touch his rigidity, and Sebine's hand now squeezed and rubbed from the tip and down the shaft.

  He thought he would go crazy and explode in ecstatic delight.

  "I want you inside of me," Sebine whispered, and he shivered as her lips glanced along his ear. "You're driving me mad."

  Tael swallowed and stared into Sebine's eyes, and her open mouth said the words again, and he knew he wanted her also. She guided him underneath her wetness, and with eyes widening in pain, she eased herself down onto him. Her eyes clenched shut and her mouth opened in a growling moan as she bit her lips and twisted up her face in agony. She took several panting breaths as she lifted herself up and again pressed herself down over him. With the terrific pressure of her squeezing him, he inhaled a deep breath of night air and tried to look away and keep himself from coming. She felt so incredible he could barely stand it.

  But when he looked aside he glimpsed Jani's longing eyes as she watched Sebine rising and lowering herself onto him. Tael shifted his gaze away and spied Emeraldia straddling Reese, their bodies grinding into each other and sloshing the water as they moved. It was all far too stimulating, so he stared at the stars cradling the moon high in the sky, doing his best to contain the feeling of pleasure surging through his body at the tight feeling of Sebine squeezing him.

  As he gazed at the stars and put his mind away from the sensation of Sebine grinding against his hips, he saw the stars shake and shimmer, and in a slow shock of hazy understanding he realized that the earth itself was moving. He glanced around and noticed that Jani's eyes had turned alert and devout as she stared at the water sloshing and spilling out of the pool.

  "The god of the earth wakes from his slumber?" Jani said, her speech slurred and sleepy as she watched in drunken fascination as the trees swayed along the skyline. Tael could hear the cracking sound of rocks separating from the cliff, and in a wild panic he heard the splintering and tumbling sound of rocks along the mountain face.

  "We have to go!" Tael stood and lifted Sebine out of the pool, causing her to complain and whimper in disappointment. But the ground shook so strong now that stumbled as he carried Sebine away from the pool, ignoring the complaining cries and shouts of religious joy expressed by their newfound friends. The mountain was crumbling, and though Tael felt dizzy from the drink, his mind sharpened in alarm at the threat. He had to protect Sebine, no matter what the cost.

  Sebine seemed to sober now, and she shrieked in alarm as rocks rumbled and crashed behind them and a towering tree fell over on the path in front of them. Shouts and cries of alarm were heard across the temple complex, and the screams of Jani and Emeraldia were silenced as the mountain buried them in a tumble of earth and stone. But Tael didn't stop, and he asked Sebine to run with him, and to light up their way with a spell, for the forest was dark and the path now difficult with a tangle of swaying and fallen trees and twisted branches.

  But still the earthquake was unceasing in its relentless violence.

  They avoid the heavily wooded areas and the places where buildings were collapsing and being wrecked by the earth's shaking. The whole temple complex had denigrated into a cacophony of cries and pleas for help and the frenzied screams of the horribly injured. After what seemed like an eternity of fast jolts and long swaths of shaking, the earth god slumbered and the silent night sky seemed to cool his fury.

  But to Tael's amazement, the chaos of voices simmered to whimpers and murmurs and words of reassurance, and as Tael and Sebine rested in a clearing, they heard the low, grateful sound of a strengthening chorus spread across the temple grounds.

  "They're singing praises to the earth god?" Sebine whispered, her voice a shudder of astonishment.

  Tael caught her eyes in the soft light of the moon, and raised her fingers to his lips and kissed them. "This is a strange and wondrous place, Princess. But I feel so sorry for our new friends..."

  "They lived and died in the ecstasy of their god, don't feel sorry for them. I have a feeling that is simply the way of their beliefs." She sidled closer to him and kissed him tenderly on the lips. "I know I ought to feel confused and angry at the gods for what has happened, but listen to that, listen to the beauty of their voices singing praises to their god. How am I supposed to feel anything but awe and admiration?"

  "I feel still sadness for the loss of lives and the destruction of this place of beauty, though I doubt they will be anything but diligent in the rebuilding of their city."

  Sebine stood, a fierce determination in her eyes. "We should help them, help those who are in need."

  Tael nodded and seized her hands. "We will help as long as we can, but we must reach Shaar'el before the end of the next moon. I made a vow to my grandfather, a vow I know he will keep."

  "Then we will do what we can here, and learn from them the ways of their society," Sebine said. "I feel there is much to learn here amongst these people. Though their way is considered madness and fanaticism by others, I still want to know more of their knowledge..."

  Chapter Eighteen

  WITH THE DEFEAT of the dwarves in Magrad, Master Vhelan and his allies fled east with their dragons and retreated to the elven kingdom of Drazal'tan. The sorcerer had little reason to believe that the other dwarven cities would fare any better against King Braxion and his army. And with the dwarven forges crafting armor and warded blades for the draenyx, Master Vhelan shuddered to think how much more powerful a foe they would become as they undoubtedly marched towards the elven cities.

  When the dwarves had fought with the elves, it was more like extended border skirmishes that
infringed little on the Kingdom of Drazal'tan. The elves possessed a vastly more powerful magic and wielded ancient blades and armor originally crafted by powerful dwarves from an ancient kingdom. Lost arts, as modern dwarves knew nothing of the old ways of working metal that created legendary weapons and armor.

  How would the elves defend their kingdom against the draenyx army? Master Vhelan knew it wouldn't be an easy battle, but he questioned whether the elves had the will to combat such a vast and powerful foe. He knew the elves were fragmenting more and more each day, with many elves joining the ranks of the dark elves, especially with rumors of the high elves leaving Drazal'tan for the east. Their enlightened pursuits in poetry and art and music led them far away from thoughts of war. And that made them vulnerable.

  Master Vhelan didn't like dealing with the dark elves; he could never be sure about their true loyalties. Even now, when interacting with Jolrath, he found himself questioning his motives. The sorcerer noticed that his mood had turned morbid the deeper he'd gone into the dark elf subterranean city of Raukris. He still didn't trust them. They seemed to have too much in common with the Princes of Naverstrom. And who were the old gods that the dark elves worshipped?

  "You have been quiet for a long time, Hakkadian." Jolrath turned away from gazing at the fire burning low at the hearth. "I sense you don't like dealing with me and my people? Perhaps you prefer interacting with my half-human daughter? You know I've sent the wizard after her and that boy. And I sense your desire to follow them as well? You have ever so often babbled about one day seeking out your people's lost city. Where was it now, in the lands north of the Malathian Kingdom? An ancient kingdom where our gods led armies of my people ten thousand years ago to conquer and destroy."