Kael's Quest

by T. J. Quinn

  Chapter Twelve

  The following day, they left the cave and went up the mountains. With the scanner in his hand, Kael checked the place as they walked up. They found traces of the metal, but not much more.

  “I guess we’ll need to go higher if we want to find something,” she said, taking a seat on a rock, feeling a bit tired.

  They had been walking the whole morning, and she was frustrated with the results.

  “Yes, we need to find a better cave too. The cave we’re staying in is small, so it’s not very useful, but if we find one that goes deeper into the mountain, we might what we’re looking for,” he pointed out.

  “Yes, that’s a good idea.” She stayed in silence for a few moments, trying to remember if she had ever heard of the existence of caves like the ones he was describing, but she didn’t. “Why don’t you fly around and see if you can find a cave like that? I’ll wait for you here,” she suggested.

  “Are you sure? I could take you with me,” he replied, not sure he wanted to leave her all alone.

  “Yes, I’m sure. We’re near the river that comes down this mountain, so I’ll use the time to take a bath, I really need one,” she said, with a scowl.

  He chuckled and leaned over to claim a kiss on her lips. “Very well, I’ll let you have your bath, though I have to admit I wanted to see you bathing again,” he confessed, with a naughty grin.

  She laughed until she realized he had said ‘again.’ “What do you mean ‘again’?” she asked with a frown.

  “I saw you the day we met at the waterfall. I was flying around, to get to know the village and its surroundings when I saw you,” he explained, not a bit sorry for having spied on her.

  “It was you? I could feel someone was watching me, but I couldn’t see anyone, you ruined my bath, you know?” she scolded him.

  “I know, it was never my intention, but you sensed my presence and preferred to leave,” he said, shrugging.

  “Of course, I like to bathe in the waterfall, but I won’t put myself at risk for it. That’s why I left,” she retorted.

  “Well you can have your bath in peace now, while I fly around,” he suggested, with a naughty grin.

  “How magnanimous of you,” she said, oozing sarcasm.

  He kissed her again, this time sliding his tongue into her mouth and stealing her breath away. “I could have suggested for you to wait for me,” he said, winking at her.

  She chuckled, amused.

  “Go find those caves and I’ll go have my bath before you suggest something else,” she demanded, but her tone showed she would have loved to bathe with him.

  “I’ll go as fast as possible, believe me,” he assured her, kissing her one more time before he flew away.

  With a sigh, she got up and walked towards the river. She still remembered where it was, and though the trails were almost gone, she was able to get there in a few minutes.

  The river had a lot of water this time of the year, and though it was still very cold, she didn’t mind. She was used to it.

  At the river bank, after making sure she was alone, she got rid of her clothes and entered the pristine waters. The river in that part formed a small pool, deep enough to allow her to swim. The cold water felt great, and she loved it. Being unable to bathe for a couple of days had been terrible. She hated feeling sweaty and sticky.

  She stood in the water for a long time, making the most of the small pool. The river near the cave was very rocky and shallow, so bathing there wouldn’t be as good as it was here.

  Once out of the water, she took a seat on a rock, to allow the sun to dry her body. She hadn't brought a towel, but the sun would do a good job.

  She was still there when Kael came back.

  He landed in front of her, with a wicked grin. “Did you have fun?” he asked, unzipping his jumpsuit and getting rid of his boots.

  “Oh, yes, the water was fantastic. Were you lucky?” she asked him, smiling. For the first time, she was able to take a good look at his naked body, and she didn’t waste a second. He was so perfectly built she couldn’t understand what he saw in her, and her curvy body.

  Her eyes feasted on him from his neck, traveling slowly down, admiring his sculpted abdomen, loving the total absence of hairs, but when her eyes reached his cock, she was unable to hold back the cry of surprise. It was huge, but the most surprising feature of it was the ridges that ran from the tip to the base, above and below. No wonder she had felt stimulated all over, and the pleasure she had felt had been out of this world.

  “Is there something wrong?” he asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

  She gulped. “No, nothing, last night was dark, I hadn't seen your…” she mumbled, clearing her throat and feeling the heat coloring her cheeks.

  “Is it that different?” he asked, with a naughty grin, caressing his cock that already stood proudly.

  “Yes, it is, human men, they don’t have ridges or the size…” she explained, still feeling a bit flustered discussing his penis.

  Kael chuckled and wondered what she would feel if he showed her his naked body on his drogon form. The second cock would certainly cause some sensation. “Yes, I guess it’s a bit different then. Do you mind?” he asked, closing the distance between them and leaning over to steal a kiss from her luscious lips.

  She shook her head unable to utter a word. She certainly didn’t mind.

  “Can I convince you to join me in the water?” he whispered in her ear, kissing and nibbling her earlobe, sending thrills down her spine.

  “I’m already dry,” she replied, pretending to doubt.

  “I’ll dry you up when we’re done,” he promised her, taking his kisses down her neck.

  “You will? Then, there’s no way I can say no, is there?” she asked, with a wide smile, wrapping her arms around his neck.

  “No, there certainly isn’t.”

  He picked her up in his arms and carried her into the water until it covered their chests. Rhiannon was so focused on him and his body she didn’t even notice the temperature of the water.

  With her still in his arms, Kael kissed her again and again while his hands explored her body, leaving no inch untouched.

  He took her to paradise a few times before he allowed himself to go over the edge, submerged in the depths of her womanhood, feeling the way she convulsed around him in yet another powerful orgasm.

  By the time he lifted her out of the water, she was completely drained.

  “You promised to dry me,” she teased him, with a faint smile, with her eyes closed, as he laid her on the rock she had been sitting before.

  “And I will,” he assured her.

  She leaned back until she was lying on the rock, too tired for anything else. Suddenly, a warm breeze covered her body and a few seconds later, she was as dry as before.

  Puzzled, she opened her eyes and looked at him. “How did you do that?” she asked.

  “I’m a fire creature, Rhiannon.”

  She wasn’t convinced, but when he took her hands in his and warmed them up, she changed her mind. “What else can you do?”

  “A lot of things. I’ll show you in due time,” he assured her.

  She nodded, not wanting to insist. Instead, she picked up her clothes and put them on. He was doing the same. “So, tell me, do you have good news?” she asked him while finishing dressing.

  He smiled, pleased. “Yes, I found a cave not far from here. It seems to run deep into the mountain, so we’ll be able to scan a big part of the mountain,” he explained.

  “That’s great,” she cheered with the good news.

  “Perhaps, we should move our camp to this cave, so that we can dedicate our time to checking it out,” he suggested.

  “Yes, that would be better,” she agreed.

  “Why don’t I fly you there and then come back to get our stuff?” he asked. “That would give you time to find some firewood and start a fire for us. This cave is a lot colder than the one we’re in now.”

  “I
t’s a good plan.”

  “Let’s go, then.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  By the time the sunset on the horizon, they were settled in the new cave. As Kael told her the place was huge and a lot colder. She found a smaller chamber, not far from the entrance, but a bit more protected from the cold. There was even a small spring of fresh water, they would be able to use to drink and cook, not far from the chamber she had chosen.

  Kael had brought everything from the other cave, even the branches he had used to make her a more comfortable bed. After that, he had gone hunting, returning with another rabbit.

  She cooked some vegetables she had taken to accompany the rabbit, and once more he praised her for her cooking.

  That night, she slept in his arms, feeling at home.

  She knew she shouldn’t be indulging herself with such feelings, but she just couldn’t help it. She decided to live in the present and worry about the future when faced with it.

  Yes, she would get hurt, she knew she would, but at this point, she was sure it was a price worth paying. Being in his arms, making love to him and living these days together seemed worth anything, and she wasn’t going to let common sense get in her way. Not this time.

  They woke up the following morning still in each other’s arms. Rhiannon prepared a quick breakfast, and soon they were walking towards the core of the mountain.

  The deeper they went, the better were the readings, and by lunchtime, Kael was sure they would soon find what they were looking for.

  “We can’t go any further,” he warned her. “We wouldn’t be able to return today.”

  “We’ll have to move the camp with us. This way we won’t be limited each day,” she suggested, looking around, anxious to continue their exploration.

  “Yes, but we’ll need to find more food. We won’t find any here,” he pointed out.

  “Yes, you’re right,” she agreed, furrowing her eyebrows. “Perhaps you could hunt a deer, and we would smoke it for a day and a night. That way we would have meat to proceed with our journey.”

  “That sounds like a good idea. I’m sure we’re on to something. My readings show more and more traces of gold, so we shouldn’t be far from a nugget.”

  “Yes, I can feel it too.”

  They returned to their base and spent the following couple of days preparing themselves to go deeper into the mountain. With all the food they could carry, they finally left the cave’s entrance and headed towards the interior of the cave. It took them another couple of days to eventually find what they were looking for, a gold vein.

  Rhiannon was so excited she couldn’t believe it.

  “We’re rich, this is awesome,” she assured him.

  He smiled at her excitement. Being from Zuvrak, he had never been poor, no one in his planet was poor. Everybody worked for the good of the people, and everybody got the appropriate reward. Laziness wasn’t allowed.

  “Do you think this will be enough to take me where I want to go?” he asked, looking at the shining metal.

  “Of course, it will,” she assured him. “What I don’t know is how we’ll get it out of here.”

  “We’ll find a way, don’t worry about that.”

  They started to hit the rock to get the gold and that same day, they were able to mine out a nice amount. A few days later they had more than enough, and Kael started to think of a way to transport the metal out of the cave.

  “We can use your blanket to form a bundle I would fly out of here. I’m sure I could get halfway out the first time.”

  “How many trips do you think you’ll have to make?” she asked, a bit worried. Perhaps they had mined too much gold.

  “Two or three, not more than that,” he calculated.

  “Perhaps, we shouldn’t take it all, you’ll be exhausted by the time we leave this mountain,” she suggested, feeling a bit embarrassed.

  “Not at all, I’m stronger than you think. Don’t worry about that.”

  Still not convinced, she nodded.

  They did as he suggested, and he left the following morning with the first of the cargo.

  Rhiannon had lost track of the days they had been away, but she wasn’t too eager to go back to the village. Once they got there, Kael wouldn’t have any reason to stay any longer, and she wasn’t ready to tell him goodbye. She was starting to think she would never be, but right now the idea was too dreadful.

  It took them four days to get the gold to the cave entrance. It was quite a pile, and Rhiannon couldn’t wait to show it to Gwendolyn. They would be able to do a lot of things with that gold.

  “What now? How are we taking this back to the village?” she asked, looking at the woods beneath them.

  “The same way I brought it here. I’ll take you first, and then I’ll take the gold.”

  “It took us several days to get here,” she reminded him.

  “Yes, because we walked through the woods. It wouldn’t take me more than a few hours to fly you there.”

  She snorted. “You should have told me you could fly and spared us the walk,” she scolded him.

  He cradled her face a stole a kiss from her lips.

  “I didn’t want to scare you. Besides, I loved spending time with you,” he assured her, kissing her again.

  She smiled and wrapped her arms around him, deepening the kiss.

  Kael felt so good in her arms he couldn’t understand how it was possible she hadn't awakened his instinct. He had felt the urge of the drogon inside him, but nothing like what he was supposed to feel, according to his father and the other members of his family.

  Never the less, he wasn’t ready to leave her behind. He wasn't prepared to be without her, and that was tearing him in two. He needed to leave and go find his friends, but he didn’t want to leave her behind.

  He knew it wouldn’t be fair to ask her to leave her whole life and her family to follow him when he wasn’t sure he could offer her a future. He knew no person from his species was able to ignore the call of their instinct.

  That night, he made love to her as if there was no tomorrow, worshiping every inch of her, kissing and nibbling it, making sure to take her to paradise as many times as possible, making the trip with her each time, until they collapsed in each other’s arms, completely drained.

  He flew her to the outskirts of the village the next morning.

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to take you to Gwendolyn’s cabin?” he asked, not happy to leave her so far from it.

  “Yes, I am. We’ve discussed this. I don’t want people seeing you with your wings displayed. They would jump to conclusions, and we don’t want that,” she assured him.

  “Promise me you’ll be careful,” he asked, pulling her into his arms and hugging her.

  “It’s still early, I’ll be fine. Now, go, I don’t want you taking any unnecessary risks,” she asked him.

  “I’ll be back tomorrow early in the morning. Be here with the carriage,” he reminded her.

  “I will be. Just be careful. I don’t want you to run into the demons.”

  “Don’t worry about them, I’ll be fine.”

  He finally left, and she ran to her grandmother’s cabin. Gwendolyn was there, and she was more than happy to see Rhiannon.

  “I’m so happy to see you. How did it go?” the older woman asked, hugging her tight.

  “It was amazing.” She pulled a gold nugget the size of her hand out of her pocket. “This is a small sample of what we got,” she explained.

  Gwendolyn picked it from her hand and examined thoroughly. “Oh, this is amazing. This nugget is worth a small fortune.”

  “I know, and there’s a lot more. Kael will bring it here in several lots,” she explained, with a bright smile.

  “How much did you get?” she asked, amazed.

  “More than you can imagine. It will take him a few days to bring it all.”

  “Why aren’t you helping him?” she asked, a bit surprised.

  “This way is faster. I woul
d only slow him down.”

  Gwendolyn nodded. She suspected Kael was more special than eyes could see.

  “I’m happy you’re back. Your father was becoming more and more grumpy.”

  “He should find himself a wife. I won’t be around forever,” she said, with a sigh.

  “I know, and I guess he’s starting to realize that, and he’s not happy with it,” Gwendolyn stated. “But he knows that’s the law of life, so he’ll end up understanding it.”

  “Yes, I guess you’re right.”

  “You must be tired. Why don’t you get a long shower while I get you something to eat?” Gwendolyn suggested.

  “Yes, I would love that.”

  Once she came out of the shower, she took a seat at the table to enjoy the soup Gwendolyn had prepared for her.

  “Tell me, what happened in our absence,” she asked her grandmother.

  “Well, the demons came to visit us a few times, but they seemed to be looking for something or someone, because they only flew over the villages, without attacking them,” she explained. “They were acting very strange, and that has unsettled the villagers.”

  “Yes, that’s odd, what do you think they were looking for?”

  “I don’t know, last time they attacked, no one saw or heard them fly away. In the nearest village, people found some strange ashes near a wall, that no one was able to explain and they started acting weird ever since then,” she replied. “It’s as if someone had turned them into ashes and now the others are seeking for revenge, but if that’s true, why haven’t this man or men come out and tell us how he managed to get rid of the demons?”

  Rhiannon remained in silence, reminding Kael’s words when he assured her he was a creature of fire. Could it be possible he had vanquished the demons by turning them into ash? That would explain the silence. He hadn't been there to tell anyone anything.

  “Perhaps whoever it has left the village,” she suggested, in a cautious tone, not sure how her grandmother would take it.

  “Yes, I thought of that too,” the shine in her eyes told Rhiannon she was thinking of Kael as well.

  “I guess we’ll have to wait and see,”

  “When will he be back?” she asked, confirming Rhiannon’s suspicions. Her grandmother was a very perceptive woman.