by Aaron Crash
Then it hit me. Did I have wives back on Earth? Did I have an Escort, in the language of the Dragonsouls? If so, why hadn’t they gone with Jared and me to Azrack? Or maybe they had been there, and I just couldn’t remember. I hummed my birth song and touched the concentration ink on my arm. I wasn’t sure why I was so fixated on Azrack, but I knew that mystery would be solved eventually.
For the time being, we needed to find some place private so Dryx and I could have sex again. Now I knew why she’d scooped me up on that morning to bang my brains out. She’d been trying to ration her nuna seeds.
While standing there, looking at the waterfall, an idea dawned on me.
“The Gurgaloids only come out at night,” I said.
“Aye, so?” Rhee looked worried, and I knew why. She’d fallen for Broom. That pirate elf loved quick and she loved deep.
I playfully booped the elf on the nose. “I think I have a plan.”
“It better be good,” Figg said, arms crossed.
I smiled. “Hey, it’s me. I’m going to kill the bad guys, save the day, and get back to Foulwater to build walls. It’s what I do.”
Dryx sighed in misery. “Please, Axel, you promised!”
I’d promised her sex. Too bad there wasn’t a Motel 6 nearby.
Chapter Twenty-Five
I LEFT THE GIRLS AND went out into the cavern, moving quickly. The cave was big enough I could easily turn into my True Form. I sailed upward, toward the small square of light above. It felt good to fly in my True Form without a broken atma torching my belly. I shot past the top of the waterfall and kept going. The chiseled cave stone gave way to a brick chimney. I had to adjust my wings, but I soon burst out into the sky.
I flew into the ash cloud, looking for the stone square that was supposedly floating above the city. Visibility was nil. My eyes burned from all the pollution. Even if I’d found it, I wasn’t with my Escort—Figg, Rhee, and maybe Dryx. Whatever wives I had back on Earth I couldn’t think about. Hell, I couldn’t remember them. That was troubling.
I flew over the reservoir and the Mazes until I found the fountain in front of Cash’s Feed, Fuel, and Fighting. I noticed another place behind it, a fancy looking flophouse with pink facades, black iron railings, and a sign proclaiming it to be the Crazy Flower. There was the brothel, right behind Cash’s bar, separated by the alley where we’d first fought the Gurgaloids.
Well, we needed a room, and maybe Cash could help us make that happen.
I flew back into the top layer of smog, to hide myself and to think about Dryx’s biology. The wings must be tied to puberty and sex hormones. No wonder she wasn’t attracted to Figg. At least with Rhee, there was something oddly alien about her. With me? I had wings, and I had my dragon love magic. Wasn’t that a Prince song?
Back over the now defunct Lore Factory, I shifted into my partial form and let myself fall through the big chimney and down to the cave. I then spread my wings and was back in the waterfall room. After collecting my Escort, I got us all flying up the cave. Carrying all three women wasn’t as challenging as I first thought. Dryx didn’t have monkey bones, but even with her normal skeleton, she didn’t weigh that much. It seemed to me she’d lost muscle tone since the last time I’d seen her. She’d need the Quickening, obviously, to keep up her strength.
Working my wings, I brought us into the skies and back to Cash’s. We waited in the alley. Rhee went inside to talk with the fat centaur. While the Dawn Coast Hellion was in there, hopefully sweet-talking Cash, Figg and I went to the canal. She used her water powers to pull back the black water. I retrieved the Calcifax staff from the scummy bottom. The stone staff was so heavy, even that oozing sludge couldn’t move it.
I retrieved my favorite ancient artifact. We returned to the alley and to Dryx, who was in even worse shape.
The smashed back room windows were boarded up.
A huge hunk of wall came loose, and a secret door creaked open. Hannek Cash came clopping out into the back alley. Rhee followed him out. I watched as she secreted a little bag of something into her satchel.
The big spotted centaur had changed into a more reserved skirt and a new vest that still didn’t cover the swell of his belly. He gave us a smile. “I don’t know who you are, but the Stallion King hates you. The Gurgaloids hate you. Seems everyone hates you except for me, and I should hate you and your stinky destiny. I don’t. Me and your big, dumb city guard both like you. Probably bad news for both of us.”
Rhee nodded. “Broom’s arrest has hit the gossipmongers. Her trial is tonight in the Stallion King’s throne room.”
“So we have to get the brand before then,” I said. “Hey, Cash, can we rent a room by the hour at the Crazy Flower?”
Rhee sighed, brokenhearted. “Only an hour. There better be wine.”
Cash chuckled. “Most people rent rooms at the Flower in ten-minute increments. With these three, you’ll be lucky to last half that.” The centaur clip-clopped across the alley and appraised the wall there. He then touched a stone. There was a click and a doorway, made of the bricks, swung open. Both of the secret doors had looked exactly like the stone walls. That was some good Ksu magic.
“Nice,” I said.
Cash nodded. “In you go. When you get to the end of the hallway, knock on the door. That’s Filly Goose’s office. She runs the place. Tell her I sent you, she needs to keep it quiet, and that I owe her some xoca and a favor.”
“Xoca?” I asked.
The fat centaur nodded. “Xoca. It’s candy. Rare as fuck. Well, not that a fuck is very rare here in the Mazes. Now, go!”
We eased our way into a secret passageway. Rhee went first, then Figg holding Dryx, and I went last in my human form, covered by Rhee’s cloak. I turned. “Thanks, Johnny.”
The big centaur grinned. “Someday you’ll have to play me some of that music. And if you find your nachos and martinis, promise that we’ll eat them and drink them together.”
“You got it.”
Cash closed the brick door. The seam sealed.
Figg’s concentration ink gave us light. At a dusty door, we knocked. Above us, a bed creaked. Somewhere else, a horse gave out a lusty neigh. I didn’t want to consider that noise too much.
Rhee knocked. There was some shuffling, but the door opened after a minute. This was a small door, comparatively. The woman who opened it would have had to crawl through the narrow corridor on her hands and knees.
The office was full of lacy pink material, gauzy curtains, and fuzzy pink wallpaper. There was a desk for a giantess near the back and a big rose-colored couch in front of it.
The giantess stepped back from the door. This had to be Filly Goose. She had a big mane of black hair, coiffed perfectly, though the color didn’t match her white eyebrows. Either she was wearing a wig or that was one bad dye job.
She was big, wrinkled, and saggy, and she’d layered on the makeup with a concrete trowel. When she smiled, you could see the cracks. Her lips were bright red, and her eyeshadow was a neon blue. She was wearing a comfortable pink dressing gown and some kind of lingerie underneath it. When her tail came into view, I saw it was dyed black. Pink ribbons dangled from the tufts.
Rhee gave her a big pirate-y smile. “Hello, Filly Goose, I’m Rheesee Helleen. We have a mutual friend who sent us here, but we ask that you keep it hushed up, since we’re on the run from the law. Hannek Cash says that he’ll owe you xoca and a favor if you help us. I’d do it more for the xoca than the favor. I’ve only had that creamy candy once, and I’ve never forgot the taste.”
Xoca sounded a lot like cocoa. I figured it must be this world’s version of chocolate.
Filly Goose grinned. “Yes, yes, come in. The Dawn Coast Hellion in my place? Why, this is a great day indeed. If you ever need money, I could make you rich.”
Rhee grinned. “I’d make myself rich, Mrs. Goose. This is Axel, Figg, and Dryx.”
Filly put her hands in front of her face. “I don’t want to see any of you too clearly, and I do
n’t need names. The less I know the better. The Mazes is a nice place because we write our own laws and then police them ourselves. Cashcow and I have each other’s backs.”
Her eyes went to Dryx. “That poor dear is going to lose her wings if you’re not quick. Ha, pun intended. I know how much she costs. I also know what she needs. Get her up to the penthouse and get busy before she loses any more feathers.”
Rhee sighed. “I love to be around smart criminals. You’d be surprised at how many dumb villains there are out there.”
Filly came over to me and leaned in close. Her perfume was very light, and rather erotic, which was wild given her appearance. I thought about how old she might be—maybe a hundred and seventy-five. She was playing the back nine, that was for sure. “As for you—you’re the dragon. I can sense it. And it turns me the fuck on.”
She laughed and smacked my ass, which was naked under my cloak.
“You don’t happen to have a pair of pants, do you?” I asked.
“I don’t want you in pants. I want your pinga out where I can see it.” Her eyes were so young in her face, and suddenly, I could look past all the makeup, wrinkles, and dyed hair. There was a part of Filly Goose that would forever be young.
She looked at Finniwigg for a long time. “From your skin and your hair, you’re from the Dawn Coast. And rumor has it you’re from Foulwater. You know, there was a good brothel there called the Scarlet Baths.”
Figg raised her chin proudly. “We’d rather be known for our college, or our fish, or our markets.”
Filly Goose laughed. “Yoni is part of the marketplace. Always has been. Always will be. You, yourself, are pretty enough to buy a palace if you worked for me.”
Figg’s eyes blazed with indignant fury.
Rhee stepped in before the yelling started. “Aye, Mrs. Goose, we know about the brothel. It’s in ruins now, but Axel lives at the top.”
“No names!” the madam said with a wave of her big hands, which were marked with age, but had long red fingernails. Each nail could have been used as a butter knife. “Have fun with your feathery girl. Play with her wings. She should like that.”
We left Filly Goose’s office, and the madam took us up an oversized central iron staircase. We were ushered into a vast room with polished wood, carpets, and couches that faced a window that showed the dark, fiery sky.
Filly Goose left us, and she wasn’t going to charge us, it seemed. It was quiet for a beat.
Then Rhee marched over to a bottle of wine chilling in a magically cold bucket, the outsides frosty. She poured two crystal goblets. She took one, gulped down half of it, and brought the other to me. I sipped it.
Dryx was passed out on the bed, resting on her side, with a limp wing hanging over her body. She was thin, almost scrawny, not the fierce muscled warrior that I’d seen before. She really did need the Quickening every day.
Figg paced around the room, frowning. Through an expansive bathroom was a balcony with a wrought iron railing. “I can wait out there.”
Rhee filled up her glass and took it to my summoner. “You can, Finniwigg, but before, in the waterfall room, I didn’t get a turn with you. We kissed a little, but I’d like to do more.”
Figg sipped the wine. She then had an armful of Rhee. The elf sighed and took both of Figg’s ass cheeks in her hands.
I wanted to join them, but I had a duty to the sky warrior. I had promised.
I went to the bed. It was a big canopied affair, red and gold and lush. Though we were in a brothel, the whole place had a nice smell to it, scented candles and fresh sheets. Both the smells and the wine were relaxing me.
Dryx opened one of her striking aquamarine eyes. I set my glass on the table. I then let the cloak drop.
The sky warrior’s eyes went to my sex, then up my strong body, until they found my face. I touched her wing and kissed her lips. The musk of her feathers mixed with the sweet fragrance of her body. I traced the top of her wings, lightly caressing them, and she sighed and murmured. Touching her wings was turning her on.
She slid her fingers into my hair and held me with strong hands. Her tongue found mine. Her lips were soft. She tasted sweet. Her hand went to my back, and I knew what she was feeling for. All of her lovers had wings.
I could change into my partial form, and I’d shifted my arms, but could I create wings only? That would take my focus and power. However, Figg said that my concentration ink might help me. I had to focus my attention there. I did, feeling my left arm tingle as my atma responded to my magic. My black tattoos leaked black smoke as I kissed Dryx. Then I felt the power, and I leaned back. The feathers on Dryx’s wings thickened. Her white hair took on a fresh hue. Even her skin wasn’t so gray.
Already, the power of our kiss was giving me shakti and giving her what she needed. I focused and forced my own dark wings to sprout out of my back, adjusting the muscle and bone until they fanned out behind me. They weren’t the feathered kind, but more of a supple membrane like pure black soft leather.
Dryx sucked in air. I could see her get more turned on. Her mouth hung open, and she was nearly drooling. She grabbed her tunic and drew it up and over her hips. She then got herself under me so she could rub her furry slit against my shaft. Her white pubic hair was soaked. “Yes, Axel, your wings are strange, but I like them. I like the feel of them.” She gripped them and kissed me, lying on her own wings.
Figg let out a moan.
I had to look. Across the room, Figg was naked, standing and watching us, as Rhee, equally naked, knelt and licked my summoner between her legs. The sorceress had her hands on Rhee’s head as she worked her hips. My eyes went to Rhee’s dangling breasts, so big on her slender frame.
Figg toyed with one nipple while she watched me grinding on the winged woman beneath me.
Dryx wasn’t looking at them. She was only looking at me. “I’m wet enough for you, Axel. I want you inside me. You can save me. You can restore me.”
“But first I want to taste you,” I said. I went down and sucked on a nipple, first one then the other. She pushed her pussy up at me, trying to get contact with my skin. I kissed down her muscled stomach, giving her belly button a lick. Going further, I kissed through the soft white pubic hair until I found her clit, which was a thick knot of flesh at the top of her thick lips. Her lips grew smaller the further down they went until they all but disappeared. She smelled wonderful, hot and ready. Her taste was pure sex.
I licked her pearl before lightly sucking on it. She let out a gasp. Her eyes glowed. Her body thickened as new muscles appeared. So it wasn’t just her wings, her whole body needed the sex.
I peeked at her face. Her brow was covered in sweat. Her whole body glistened. When she got hot, she perspired, and that turned me on.
She pulled me up to her, and I let myself be pulled, until my cock was between Dryx’s legs. A subtle shift of my hips and I was up inside her, feeling every inch of her clinging to me, gripping me, even as I stretched her out.
Rhee crawled onto the bed, kissed my arm, and then wormed her way in between us. Rhee went from sucking on the sky warrior’s tit to sucking on her tongue. I rested my weight on my arms as I watched the two women kiss.
Rhee broke the kiss to growl at Figg, who knelt behind the elf’s shapely ass. “Eat me, Figg. Finger me, too. Lick my hole and finger me until I come.”
Figg had her face buried in Rhee’s sex.
Dryx’s hand went to pull on one of Rhee’s puffy pink nipples.
Rhee’s face was over the sky warrior’s.
They were looking into each other’s eyes.
The elf whimpered. “Oh, her tongue, her fingers, she knows, Lalindryx. Pretty, pretty Figg knows just what I like.”
Then the two were kissing again, a sloppy kiss, uninhibited and wet.
I’d slowed my movements to watch. The sky warrior, though, was moving her body up and down, working me in and out of her hot, glistening body.
Figg gave Rhee an extra little slap.
&nbs
p; “I’m coming,” the elf whined. “I’m coming on her fingers, and I still feel her tongue. I feel her tongue on me, and it feels too good.”
Rhee whimpered through her orgasm.
That was too much for me. Rhee had buried her face in the sheets next to us. Which meant I could kiss Dryx now, kiss her and fuck her hard.
I pounded the winged woman for all I was worth. I watched her tits bounce, I watched the sweat drip down her face, and I saw how bright her eyes were, alive and glowing with lust.
Then I pushed myself into her as far as I could go. Her body felt like greased velvet around me. I felt myself fill her even as the magical energy filled my atma.
“Yes, I feel you coming!” Dryx screamed. “I feel it, you, your power. I love it, Axel. I need this. Every day. I need this.”
I wasn’t going to disagree. But first, we had to get up to the stone square hanging somewhere in the vast smoky sky above the city. Daylight was waning.
The Gurgaloids came out at night. I wanted to deal with them before that happened. If they were true gargoyles, and if they only came out at night, they might spend their days trapped in stone. That was my plan: find the rocky cocksuckers and smash their skulls in while they were sleeping.
Our Lalindryx was back to being a badass, we were all powered up, and we were going to find the demon king’s brand, rescue Broom, and then get back home.
Chapter Twenty-Six
WE DIDN’T TELL FILLY Goose we were done with her penthouse. We didn’t have a second to waste. She’d get the picture soon enough. Rhee did leave her a few rupas for the wine, and a note telling her we appreciated her help, the room, and her discretion. I’m sure with her decades of running a brothel, Filly knew to keep her mouth shut about who visited her rooms. I just hoped the Stallion King didn’t find out about how much she and Cash had helped us.
We went to the balcony, and the sky warrior launched herself into the sky. She didn’t have her twin short swords. However, she wore a sash of throwing daggers Rhee had donated, now that the sea elf had the chakram. She’d been toying with it a little bit and was working on unlocking some of its secrets. Broom had mentioned the item was far more powerful than it first seemed.