The feeling of his fingers playing at her joy bud sent Leanne over the top of ecstasy even as her body sat over the top of him. She threw back her head and exulted in yet another orgasm. The pulsing of her inner walls did the job for Coram as well. His rocket shot its slick and copious payload up into her. In a second, his shaft and her mound were coated with the flow of his seed out of her passage.
He bucked on beneath her and kept driving himself up into her until he softened again and slipped out, and Leanne collapsed atop him. For a while, they were still again, Leanne lying on him and Coram wrapping his arms around her and holding her there. Their breathing slowed, and they became a warm unity of flesh.
Stroking her buttocks, squeezing them as he had done her breasts, Coram said, “Let’s climb under the covers. I want to screw you under the sheets for the rest of the night.” Leanne called to the room computer to dim the lights, and in a post-coital daze, they pulled down the bedspread and sheets and slipped into bed.
With the lights reduced to just enough of a golden glow to make out each other’s face, they drew together beneath the sheets, and Coram kissed her, his long, hot kisses feeding his tongue into her mouth. He did it to her twice more that night. Once, he climbed on top of her and banged her urgently that way, and pumped her full of a further load of his cream. Next, as they lay with her back to his front like spoons, he lifted her thigh and moved his hard-on into her from behind, and the bed shook with the drilling and pounding of his meat inside her while he reached around and played again with the pulpy little toy in her folds.
One more orgasm blossomed inside Leanne, and one more long, thick burst of white custard poured from Coram’s long spigot into her womb. At some point, he grew soft and slipped out of her, and a sleep of infinite satisfaction wrapped itself around them.
When Leanne stirred awake, lying on her side with Coram on his side facing her, the
subtle change of the lighting in the room told her that dawn was coming. One corner of her mouth turned up in a smile at the thought of anything else beside the two of them “coming.” She looked at Coram’s slumbering handsomeness, the tousle of the thick waves of his hair over his face, the shadow of stubble that now appeared over his upper lip and jaw.
She took him in and remembered every kiss from those lips and every lap of his tongue, every second of the experience of his rapturous body and the more than ample maleness he had under the sheets. She lifted the covers and peered down into the dimness, and could just make out the contours of his body and the swelling of his beautiful, perfect wood. Were dreams of being
inside her as he had been so many times during the night making that erection wake up down there while the rest of him was asleep? She hoped that was the case.
It was then she noticed the scent in the sheets, on their skin, in the air all around them. Everything smelled of Coram’s semen. She was delightfully sticky between her legs, and the sheet under her was moist from everything that had gone on in this bed. She softly murmured, “Mmm…”
Soon, they would have to awaken. Would they have time for more sex, which Coram would
certainly want and Leanne would certainly want to give him, before it was time to resume their mission? How ironic was it that she had at first tried to use duty to hold him off? Duty had been all but forgotten in the hours of sucking and mounting, thrashing and humping, that they’d had before they’d fallen asleep. In a little while, they would not be able to forget the actual reason that Leanne was on Lacerta and they were together.
In the fullness of the morning, they would likely be pressed for time; they would likely have to forgo a full bath and sponge and towel each other off to freshen up. No doubt that would make Coram furiously hard again, and they might even have to steal a quickie before returning to duty. Leanne knew letting him have sex with her would be a distraction. And yet, she was not sorry for it.
Coram’s eyes lifted open and focused on her; his face lit up with a truly lascivious expression. “Were you watching me sleep?” he asked huskily.
Leanne did not answer. She only grinned back at him.
“I cannot believe you’d lie there watching me sleep instead of waking me for another round.” He slid closer to her and pulled her to him at the same time, planting his mouth firmly and wetly on hers. She thrilled at the feeling of his hand moving down her body and his fingers passing through her pubic hair to find her womanly folds once more. “You know I want this,” he said with pure, delightful lust, referring to what his fingers were teasing in a way that made her tingle electrically. “Let me have some more of this.”
He wrested Leanne onto her back and eased his morning wood into her, and she reflexively tightened her inner womanhood, her arms, and her legs around him to greet him. With
another round of hard, brisk thrusting and another shuddering climax, Coram got the day started early.
_____________
There was a sudden sound of stone cracking in the cavern. Cadoq was transfixed. He watched incredulously as the crumbling began. A tingle of disbelief crawled through his body at the feeling of the subtle shaking in the walls around him and the floor beneath him. The thick stone filaments attaching to the cocoon jewel and arching into the geothermal pit were breaking up with a snapping and crackling of rock, their fragments raining down onto the floor and into the pit.
Accompanying this was the sound of what was happening to the jewel itself. Long, deep cracks began to creep and gouge their way up and down the mass of the crystal. In minutes, the gem he had tended would go the way of the columns of stone that had fed power into it from deep inside the pit. Cadoq blinked slowly, but his heartbeat quickened and his mollusk skin grew ever moister. He could not move. He braced himself.
The cracks in the jewel became splits. Pieces of translucent crystal broke off from the huge mineral shape, some falling and rolling onto the floor, some flying and spinning away as if catapulted by some awful force within. The gem broke open from top to bottom, shedding its pieces and exposing the figure that it had enclosed.
Cadoq clasped a hand to his neck as a human might have put a hand to his heart. Breathlessly he said, “Mighty one…it is time. It is time…”
Enough of the crystal broke and fell away to expose fully the being that it contained. The entity stood two and a half meters tall. It was humanoid, but not at all human. Its leathery skin was a dull, waxy yellow-grey color, and its body was grooved and striated as if it wore its
muscles on the outside. It had blackish eyes with yellowish pupils.
The being was tall and gaunt and had a face on which a smile would have looked unnatural. It stood still for a moment in the rear and side parts that were all that remained of the jewel that had contained it, and gazed out with its dark, dark eyes on its surroundings—until its gaze came to rest on Cadoq.
The smaller being who had tended the gem crossed his arms, putting one hand on each opposite shoulder, and said aloud, “O’ Highest One, you are born once again. You are reborn to unite the galaxy in your supreme consciousness. Welcome to life, o’ High Chimerian.”
Not in words but in thoughts that blew their way like a stiff, hot breeze into Cadoq’s mind, the High Chimerian responded, Reborn…?
“Yes, o’ Highest One,” replied Cadoq. “Your predecessor fell at the moment of the
fulfillment of his vision for all life in the galaxy, struck down by aggressors and unbelievers. His plan against the possibility of his destruction went into effect, and has progressed from that time to now—the moment of your emergence.”
The High Chimerian thought in answer, The plan. His plan…preceded.
“His plan, now your plan,” said Cadoq. “His glory, now your glory. It all begins again.”
Where is this place?
“A cavern, Milord. A cavern in the very bosom of the enemies who struck down the
original High Chimerian and undid his works. We are beneath the surface of the planet Lacerta.
The entity boomed forth a
thought that sounded like thunder in Cadoq’s mind and almost made the Visanian shrink and recoil—but he dared not flinch from the presence of his master. Lacerta—planet of the dragon Knights. Planet of Sir Rawn Ullery.
“Yes, Milord. Lacerta, the planet of the ones who desecrated and destroyed the vision of the Chimerians, the murderers of him from whom your cells were taken. There was a plan against his destruction. It was encoded in those cells. You have only to remember.”
The regenerating cells of the original High Chimerian were kept hidden on a remote planet, outside the space of the Lacertans and their allies. They were cared for…by Sabian. The High Chimerian’s Prime Servant, the human Sewall Sabian.
“Yes, Milord—Sabian, who had followers. It was his task to watch over your cells, to prepare them for your regeneration in a place with sufficient energy to power their accelerated growth and maturation. Sabian trusted them to his follower, a metamorph who took the guise of a young Lacertan Knight. He brought your cells here, grew the hollow jewel around them, and began the process of your rebirth.”
Where is Sabian? Again, that gale-like blast of thought against which Cadoq stood his ground and resisted the urge to flinch and tremble.
“He was prepared to follow the plan to its completion. But he learned that after the final battle in which the original High Chimerian perished, somehow, Sir Rawn Ullery survived. And he set out for revenge.”
He sought revenge—before his service to me?
Cadoq bowed his head slightly. “He did, Milord. And in his confrontation with Ullery, he perished. His follower was exposed, and dissolved himself. With them gone, the role of your Prime Servant fell to me. I am Cadoq of Visan, and I hail you as my Lord.”
And the fate of the Chimerians…?
“The Chimerians have gone the way of nature, Milord. Natural evolution drives living things to seek their own niche in the environment. Without your predecessor’s unifying thoughts, the Chimerians followed their own paths once more. They left this space and retreated to distant corners of the galaxy to find niches without competition for food and resources. They reverted to what they were before your predecessor’s sublime thoughts brought them together.
But the plan for the return of the Chimerians was always in place. This moment is its fulfillment. Now, you live in place of the Highest One who came before you. And on this planet of the ones who destroyed him, you may begin a new unity against which nothing will stand.”
I see in your thoughts what you have done, Cadoq. You have roused the dragon beings and their human allies against us.
Cadoq explained, “Milord must see in my thoughts that I have maneuvered them into
position for conquest. By striking at them with Chimerian-mutated beasts, I have brought them to alert, made them ready to strike. They will find this cavern, and they will come in force. But they will not be prepared for you. They will not be prepared to face your power. And when they face you, they will be yours.”
The cavern fell silent. Cadoq faced his Lord, feeling the touch of the alien giant’s mind in his own—awaiting the High Chimerian’s approval, dreading his displeasure and wrath. Then, the High Chimerian boomed forth his thoughts again:
It is fitting that the planet of the ones who defied the Unity should be the place of its rebirth. It is fitting that the ones who defied and slew the High Chimerian should be the first to join the Unity. We will add the might of the Lacertan Knights to our own. All the galaxy will fall beneath their wings. And they will unite all that lives…under my supreme will.
“That is your glory, Milord. The Unity shall rise again.” The fervor in Cadoq’s voice was almost as palpable as the stone walls around him.
Leave me now, thought the new High Chimerian. I must gather strength for the glory that is soon to be.
Cadoq uncrossed his arms and bowed humbly. He started on his way out of the cavern and into an adjoining, smaller cave. The High Chimerian stepped down and forward from the remnants of the regenerating jewel and walked through shards of crystal and rock to the rim of the geothermal pit. He raised his hands over the pit, and a glow from red-hot to white-hot arose from it with thicker clouds of steam. The glow cast itself on the leathery flesh of the cloned
being, who absorbed the heat and power of the pit into himself in increasing amounts, until a reddish hue came over his skin.
At the mouth of the cavern, Cadoq turned and looked over his shoulder at his Lord assimilating the energy from the depths of the planet, and knew that the power of the one he had brought to life grew greater with every passing minute. Soon, perhaps by the end of this day, the planet Lacerta would belong to the High Chimerian. And with the pleasure of that knowledge, Cadoq of Visan withdrew and left his Lord alone to build his might.
CHAPTER TEN
The mood in the city of Silverwing might aptly have been described as one of complete shell-shock. This latest upheaval came right in the wake of the incursion of other alien forces, the armada of the mad Scodax, who had spread destruction and terror not only across Silverwing but over the entire planet Lacerta. The attack of the mutated grass dragons had not caused the kind of wholesale carnage and devastation, nor resulted in anything like the kind of death toll, that the Scodax had brought.
But it was a shocking, mind-reeling horror nonetheless, and the reactions to it spread in a matter of hours across the planet and began to make their way out into space and into the quadrant at large. Some feared there would be no end to the nightmares plaguing the proud world of the weredragons.
The conference through special hyperspace channels with the heads of the Interstar Fleet on Earth was held in a large room at the Fleet Headquarters on Lacerta. The room had a broad, massive round table over which holograms of the faces of the Fleet leaders hovered. Around it sat Leanne, Coram, Kesta, Willem, Tarik, the other Fleet personnel and Knights who had taken part in the installation of the sensor gargoyles, and other high-ranking Fleet members and
Mentors of the Knights. The findings of the research on the mutated grass dragons were not in dispute; the presentation of them seemed almost a formality.
Someone had genetically altered thousands of grass dragons by switching on dormant genes in the animals, genes held over from prehistoric times when dragons on Lacerta were huge and breathed fire. These were the same genes that had been used to empower Sir Rawn Ullery and might have been used to create other super Knights like him if the Mythos Project had not been sabotaged and destroyed and Dr. Jacques Phifer, its originator, murdered. Which raised the ominous question of who had performed the modifications.
Prior dealings with the Chimerians were noted, as a pattern had been detected. The
Chimerians had previously worked with individuals who were not fully assimilated into their
genetic collective but had just enough autonomy to work for the interstellar Commonwealth while secretly serving the High Chimerian. These agents, whoever or whatever they may be, were selectively mutated with powers to serve their master. The human Dr. Sewall Sabian was secretly a shape-changer with the power to assume a number of different non-human traits.
The treacherous young Knight who helped Sabian abduct Sir Rawn’s lover, Joanna Way, was an interspecies telepath who could control grass dragons and tap their memories. Somewhere out there, Leanne and the others attending the conference reasoned, there must be another altered Chimerian agent, human or otherwise, who had mutated the grass dragons and was even now plotting some further assault on Lacerta. To identify and neutralize that agent was agreed upon as a top priority.
The status of the detection devices in Silverwing was checked. The attack of the fire breathers had done them only minimal damage that could be swiftly repaired, and the detection satellite in orbit had not been attacked—yet. The conference quickly arrived at a plan to track down the Chimerian agent through the grass dragons. Basic knowledge of the wildlife of Lacerta had it that some grass dragons, adapted for urban life, kept nests in cities and parks in settled
areas, where they were accepted as part of the developed environment. Other, wilder grass
dragons kept to the fields and forests and made their homes in caves like bats on Earth.
They were often seen swarming out of the caves on feeding and mating flights. It was resolved to train the detection satellite on the wilderness areas surrounding Silverwing and use them to probe the caves for the genetic signatures of the mutated animals. It stood to reason that any other
anomaly the satellite found would lead the Fleet and the Knighthood to the agent they were
seeking. Once they determined the location and species of their foe, they could move swiftly against him and quell this assault by the Chimerians, and with luck, they could catch the enemy before the assault went any further.
No sooner was the plan agreed upon than the conference room rang with the shocking sound of a combined Fleet, Corps, and Spires alert signal. Something was happening outside the city: an enormous discharge of energy, emanating from deep inside a forest in an area known for its geothermal vents. Whatever was happening, it was tapping power from the interior of the planet Lacerta itself—and it was getting stronger by the minute. Fleet, Corps, and Knightly
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