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Alaus left out the Law.

He was very conscious of the hand on his shoulder. Not daring to let himself hesitate, no matter the embarrassment, he described seduction. He didn't bother with the details, but he left no doubt as to the extent of his... actions with Rahamuth. He stuttered helplessly at times; his tale was disjointed, as he recalled bits out of order; he ground his teeth over grievances and the emotions that had harried him the past week, far longer than he should have.

All he left out was the whole mess of this business with the Law and speculation on the history between his father and Rahamuth.

"So that's it. He just used me to get to Jonnor," he concluded. He'd already said as much, but it was a better conclusion than his description of the encounter that had lost him Frisk.

"That's horrible," Demille whispered.

At last he found it within himself to look at her, and instantly he was relieved of a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Right then, he was just grateful she was understanding, and not utterly disgusted. She had every right to be repulsed by what he'd done with a dragon... with a male.

Alaus shrugged. "He's just bitter."

"Doesn't change the fact," she sighed. "What are you going to do about him?"

"I don't know... I guess he really is just out to manipulate me, embarrass me, wind me around his little finger... claw... whatever." He ran his hands over his face and, pressing his fingertips together, tented them before his mouth. "I thought he really did regret it..."

"I... I think he did."

Alaus folded his fingers together and glanced at her.

"No, really. When you were shouting at him, I don't think that was fake." She shook her head. "I don't know for sure but... I think what you said hurt him."

"Good," Alaus snapped before he caught himself. Then he groaned. "I shouldn't mean that..."

"Can't be blamed for it, though."

No more than Rahamuth could be blamed for wanting to get at Father, Alaus thought.

A minute crept by, Demille watching him wring his hands.

"How... would he have behaved before?" She asked at length. "Was he... acting that different from what he would before he... got his revenge and betrayed you?"

"I don't know..." Backhanded wit, callous mirth, brutal candidness. "I guess not."

"Maybe he just wanted it all to go back to the way it was," she suggested. "And maybe he thought you'd want it that way too, if you still wanted to see him after last night."

It seemed like an awfully childish notion. But... could that be it? He doubted it. But this was Rahamuth, and he just didn't understand the dragon. "Can't know for sure."

"Not unless you ask him."

Alaus gave a dead laugh. "Ask? Trying to get him to admit he cares what I think - if that's even true - would be like coaxing water from a rock."

The grip on his shoulder tightened as Demille countered, "You don't want revenge of your own. I can tell you don't. He hurt you, but you don't want to hurt him back. You want to understand. And I get the feeling he wants you to understand, too. Don't you think if he were trying to manipulate you, he'd be doing a better job than getting you to shout at him again so soon?"

"That or he's a social klutz," he decided dryly. Though Alaus realized he himself was not one to talk. "Look, thanks for just... understanding and not... hating..."

"Well," Demille said, chewing her lip. "Not much surprises me anymore, since..."

"Since?"

She shook her head. "Actually, not my story to tell."

Alaus shrugged. "Maybe for the better."

"Probably."

Perking up, though, he added, "On the bright side, now you know what to watch out for if you meet him out here gathering mushrooms for your father's medicine."

"There is that." She spared a grin. With an extra pinch on Alaus' shoulder, she stood. "Anyway, we don't need any of these mushrooms now. I know where they are, so... I can find my way back. You can go talk to-"

Alaus began to protest, rising after her. "I can't let you-"

"You can," she stopped him, "I'll be coming on my own after today. Gentlemanly of you to want to take me back, but you need to talk to your... friend."

"Friend!" Alaus spat.

"Likely the closest he has to one." She looked at him strangely, as if trying to sort out an oddly worded riddle. "I can't tell which of you needs the other more."

"...What?" Where did she get these notions?

Shaking her head, Demille offered not another word, setting across the glade and angling back toward the river.

Alaus' shoulders sank. She was either preternaturally perceptive, or just plain foolish. Either way, she was right about one thing: he was going to talk to Rahamuth again. But not right away. For the moment, he threw himself back on a patch of fluffy-looking grass and worked to disgorge his lingering annoyance at the dragon's behavior.

* * * * *

A patch of pebbles crunched under the sole of Alaus' shoe. Scraping and a thud issued from the mouth of the cave just ahead, almost frantic. His brow furrowed at the sudden noise, and the ensuing quiet. Had he startled Rahamuth? In any case, he took the last eight steps to the cave, peering into the dark within. Maybe it was because the dragon's scales were black, but he couldn't see anything past the stalagmites alongside the entrance.

Alaus strode right into the cave, casting about for the dragon. There he was, off to one side, laying perfectly in a perfectly straight line from snout to rump, his wings tucked tight. His tail curled and swished in laboriously slow, sporadic fits - the only sign he was even awake as Alaus neared. A golden sliver appeared, Rahamuth's eye cracking open. His jaw remained planted on the cold stone floor, however, and he did not speak.

Alaus found himself standing by the very stalagmite he'd slept by and scraped a message into that night... what was it, four, five days ago? He ran his hands over the crude script, 'we need to talk', chuckling at its appropriateness. And his fingers ran over the deep gash in the rock just beneath it, the new mark he'd found a couple days later. Maybe he should ask Rahamuth what that was? Was he trying to destroy Alaus' message, or respond somehow? It didn't seem like the place to start talking, though.

It was, however, as good a place as any to sit, with his back to the scrawled-on stalagmite. Then he met Rahamuth's solely open eye, and tried to find something appropriate to say. He'd thought on it the whole way up to the cave, and hadn't really come up with anything. He seemed to have time, though, unless the dragon decided to instigate conversation. Alaus' only concern was that he would, eventually, get hungry.

Finally he settled on, "Sorry I made you bite your tongue. How is it?"

Rahamuth's head lifted enough to say, "It will heal." The scales of his chin scathed the floor as he set it back down.

Maybe Demille was right, and what Alaus said really had hurt him. "Look, I'm sorry for yelling at you."

The dragon's eye rolled, a brusque "Tch" escaping between his teeth.

"No, really. I just-"

He lifted his head, this time holding it high. "Save your breath. You owe me no explanation."

Alaus sighed. "So you're going to be miserable again? It's just me here, now, you know."

Both of Rahamuth's eyes narrowed upon Alaus. "Very well, I shall be cheerful and mischievous in private, and miserable in public."

"That's not what I meant, and you know it."

"I think not," the dragon said levelly. "What do you want from me?"

Alaus bit back a sharp word and took a deep breath. "Alright... Firstly, no charades. No playacting or behaving different just to appease me or manipulate me or anything."

"And what is it you expect from this?" The dragon's response was utterly flat.

"You... to act like yourself."

"Considering what you have just asked, that is a curious expectation." Rahamuth tossed his head. "I manipulate others to my own ends, as you of all persons aught be aware. Would you deny that is a significant part of who I am?"

"Come on, now you're just being troublesome."

"I could be less so." His tail slashed along the floor. "But, oh yes, you'd not wish me to alter my behavior simply to... How did you say it? 'Appease' you?"

And Jonnor thought Alaus twisted words? He groaned, "I'm just asking you to behave however you want, of your own free will and not under obligation..." Obligation? A thought struck him. "Wait... You're not being compelled by Law or anything, are you? To do everything I say?" It was a horrific thought, the Law forcing Rahamuth to even speak differently than he normally might. Could it even make people think differently, if they were ordered to enjoy something? The notion of such an atrocity sent a shiver down his spine.

And for the life of him, Alaus could not read the change in the gaze Rahamuth fixed him with. "What of it?" The dragon spoke in a lifeless tone.

"Father said my will was an extension of his... or something like that." Alaus shook his head. "And if that means you can't help but act how I want, how am I supposed to learn anything about the real you? Besides, it would be just wrong. I'm really starting to hate this Law business."

"So... you would... free me from this?" Rahamuth questioned haltingly. "Presuming you could, of course."

"Of course I would."

The dragon's deep laugh filled the chamber. "Thank you. I can't tell you how much this means to me."

Alaus blinked. Something wasn't right with the dragon's tone.

"But," the dragon continued, "you shall quickly learn what it means for you." He pushed himself to all four feet, claws clacking as he prowled toward Alaus. "That is to say, prey."

Alaus stood, himself, and pressed his back to the stalagmite. "You... You're joking, right?"

"Come, come. Run, or this shall be no sport at all," he growled.

Alaus froze as the dragon's head shot forward, maw open. For a moment, he could not think, but he saw the mouth rushing toward him, able to make out the ridges of the roof and drips of saliva in sickening detail. He could even see the puffy red spots on his tongue where he'd bitten the muscle earlier.

A wall of teeth slammed together a hand's breadth from Alaus' face. They filled his vision, and he watched his shaky breath fog on the enamel of the three closest teeth.

Rahamuth's head drew back. "You see? I manipulate. Still, surprised you didn't even try to run."

Alaus gasped for breath, cursing before he caught himself. "I thought you were bluffing."

"You were not entirely convinced of that either, though. What gave it away?" He settled himself back down on the floor, about where he'd been laying earlier.

"Not entirely convinced? You'd unnerve a stone statue doing that!" Alaus let his back slide down the stalagmite until he was again in his original sitting position. "Though... what was it you said? 'I can't tell you how much this means to me.' Didn't sound like yourself."

"No? I really must work on my performance." Rahamuth shrugged his wings. "Well, in any case, about the previous matter of the Law: you may put your mind at ease. I will freely admit I do not understand it as Jonnor does, but from you I have never felt the physical compulsion I have from Jonnor's direct orders. Perhaps it is that you lack the desire to control me so, but I rather believe invoking the Law between us would require both willfulness and knowledge from at least one party, which neither of us possess. Though, as I counted upon for my revenge upon Jonnor, your will was able to mitigate even Jonnor's express commands, when you gave voice to it."

"So that's why you made me beg before you took my virginity," Alaus grumbled. "You knew it would hurt."

Rahamuth rumbled an affirmative and cracked a grin. "Not that I didn't enjoy listening to your plea, to be sure."

Alaus shot a glare at him.

"Now, what was it you said, 'behave however you want'?" The dragon cocked his head with one of his grins. "As if I needed permission in the first place. And now you leer at me for speaking my mind after telling me to do exactly as I please?"

Merely shutting his eyes, Alaus focused on taking several deep breaths, swallowing retort after retort that came to his mind. The dragon seemed content to let him be for the moment, for which he was grateful. A small mercy from Rahamuth was almost a miracle in and of itself. In a flash of recollection that brought a chuckle to him, he remembered something Ferce had said: 'Keep your eye on the strange one. The one you find hardest to understand. And believe you me, the hardest ones to befriend are the ones who need it most.'

He glanced up into the nearest golden eye. "Tell me about yourself."

"What do you expect from this persistence? Truly?" Rahamuth shook his head incredulously. "I am well aware my personality is abrasive. And, no, this is no attempt to be difficult, nor am I confessing it as unfortunate; I am what I am. Do not take me for some herd mammal with an instinctual desire for companionship."

"Humor me."

Rahamuth regarded Alaus for several moments while dogged refusal faded from his features. But his gaze shifted. "So my fate is to repay my debt to my former tool by sharing the innermost turmoil of my blackened heart? Had Jonnor known I would get off so easily, he'd have brought his sword last visit."

"You're diverting," Alaus accused, recapturing his attention. "This makes you uncomfortable, doesn't it?"

The same battle was played all over again in the dragon's eyes, but this time he could not bring himself to look away. "It does."

"Father said you weren't heartless," Alaus chuckled. And his thoughts turned to what else he'd said. "And that... dragons that had nothing to lose sacrificed themselves for..." Alaus shrugged. "Something to beat the dragonslayers. What was it? I really am starting to hate this Law."

"A healthy view far too uncommon to those who would dabble in such forces," huffed the dragon.

"So what happened?"

Rahamuth held his tongue for long moments, which he spent focusing his attention on one of his foreclaws. He flexed the digit experimentally. "You must understand, normal men would have poor chances of defeating a dragon in single combat. Hardly impossible, but experienced dragonslayers have ever been rare. Typically, dragons are bested by overwhelming numbers. That said, there is nothing superhuman about the men of..." He broke off, and his claw rapped on stone. "How much has your father told you of Larkhall?"

Alaus shook his head. "Nothing really. His home town, I presumed."

"I doubt that greatly. Larkhall was a place of learning. An... academy, a university of old knowledge. It stood, until the past few decades, as the last place where the Law could be studied. They accepted any student, any race, so long as they could pass some of wisdom. I know little else. There were but a very few who passed, though there was one dragon."

"A dragon who used the Law too?" Alaus cringed. "Scary thought. Still, you speak as if Larkhall weren't there anymore."

Rahamuth hummed, amused. "It isn't. The dragon I spoke of mastered Law, then she burned Larkhall to the ground. Have you heard your father referred to as the last dragonslayer of Larkhall? The last warrior who had the chance to study there known to be living - as far as common knowledge goes - is he. Many of the rest died here in this very vale.

"As I was saying, the dragonslayers who hailed from Larkhall were not gifted extraordinary powers. Yet as surely as a spider preys upon a fly, these men preyed upon the weaknesses of dragons as if born to do so. Which, yes, loathed though we are to admit it, dragons do have weaknesses." He paused, and his tail whipped back and forth. It stilled, however, as his gaze grew distant. "I wondered, at times, if they had suffered losses at the hand of dragons - perhaps that was how they became our predators by Law? I do not know.

"Likely the she-dragon who studied at Larkhall knew. She must have, for she told us how to doom them, despite their instinctual advantage: trick them into destroying helpless life, a dragon's included. No small task. Tch." He bared teeth in a snarl. "She was playing us as surely as the dragonslayers. I suspect she became more interested in balancing the forces. For, as you can see, all that remains is one dragon and one slayer, neither of whom can destroy the other."

Alaus shifted, uncomfortable with his stone seating arrangements. Even standing would be preferable. So that he did, and the dragon's head followed him curiously. He chose to settle himself with his back to the Rahamuth's flank. He stared down the look the dragon gave him. "The most comfortable surface in this cave is you, you know that? And you're all scales." Smooth scales which were definitely better than uneven rock, though.

"Wherever in my humble abode suits your fancy," the dragon replied with a slight chuckle. "Including myself."

"The abode may be humble, but the dragon is not."

"Very true."

Alaus lay his head back. "Father said those dragons who sacrificed themselves had nothing left to lose. So... what did you lose?"

"And Jonnor thinks he knows the half of it, does he? I must be positively pining over emotional bygones." Rahamuth growled.

But Alaus persisted. "Did you ever have a mate?"

"Alaus," he sighed, "nothing can live for centuries as a dragon does with their eyes on the past."

"But your past helps define who you are. And besides," he added, elbowing Rahamuth in the ribs, "you spent, what, twenty years looking for revenge on my father?"

"Do not be a simpleton," the dragon growled again. "That was hardly a unilateral philosophy. It is not a call to forget, but to turn one's attention to actions in the future, in light of what has been done."

"Did he force you fight other dragons?" Alaus persisted.

"If by 'force' you mean present me with an ultimatum as soon as he'd beaten me," jeered the dragon, "Jonnor most certainly tried."

Alaus said nothing. Rahamuth shifted a bit, and Alaus resettled against his side. The dragon inspected his claws, rapped them on the floor, even set his head down for a time.

"You're not going to let me go without saying more, are you?"

"Nope."

"So like your father, sometimes," Rahamuth sighed. "To ensure I was truly helpless, I had to let Jonnor break me. Badly. In truth, once he spared me, my chances of survival on my own were incredibly slim. Here..." A wing descended over Alaus. "Feel the bone."

Hesitantly, and unsure where this was going, he asked, "Where?"

"Any of the phalanges."

He did. Having no idea how sensitive they might be, his touch was light as he felt along the length of one of the narrow, bony ribs supporting the vast membranes of Rahamuth's wing. Alaus wasn't sure how he was supposed to know what might out of the ordinary. The dragon grew impatient, or perhaps uncomfortable; his tail lashed. Spurred to find what he was intended to, Alaus pressed here and there along the narrow bone.

"You do not have a healer's hands, Alaus," Rahamuth's rumble might have been amusement, or annoyance.

"Sorry," Alaus said quickly, "Did I hurt something?"

"No. A healer knows when to be more aggressive. You're not going to hurt anything, Alaus, so be on with it."

Chided yet emboldened, he squeezed the bone near one end and ran his fingers down until he found... "What's this... bump?"

"Mended bone."

"Father broke your wing?"

"Keep going."

He did, and soon encountered another healed break. And another, and another. "Four breaks on just one bone?"

"You would find similar on any bone in either wing," Rahamuth said, allowing Alaus to explore another segment. He laughed hollowly. "I told you dragons had weaknesses. It is also... extremely painful. The wing membrane is sensitive, to inform us of the air current during flight, and every nerve runs alongside the phalanges. Yes," his tone soured, "that was Jonnor's work. So badly were my wings shattered, I am truly fortunate I was ever able to fly again. Of course, a dragon is still a deadly predator on the ground, but by the time your father was through with me..." He shook his head.

Alaus winced. He tapped the edge of the wing, though, to let it be known he was through with the examination and would rather have air than a face full of membrane.

Rahamuth lifted it and furled it upon his back alongside its twin as he muttered, "Of course Jonnor offered to help heal me... on condition I would fight for him."

"He said you were afraid to fight other dragons," Alaus spoke slowly, hoping he wasn't going to anger the dragon.

"Again, Jonnor thinks he knows the half of it?" Rahamuth half-hissed. "For days wolves and carrion birds hounded me from the scent of my blood. A week after my encounter, I nearly died when a nursing bear attacked me, thinking me a threat to her cubs. A common bear!" Alaus felt a tremor of fury wrack the muscles beneath his scales. "It was the others who chose to serve the dragonslayers of Larkhall - they who succumbed to fear. They who, after all their willingness to sacrifice themselves, could not face death with pride. I had seen it happen, and I would not allow the same to befall me. And so I damned Jonnor from afar and secluded myself until the war's end, until the rest of my kind had fallen or fled the vale." He growled so deeply, Alaus felt it through his back. "Is that what you wanted to hear? Or perhaps you think, as your father did, I was a coward for not hiding in the hills? That I could not face my brethren, for I would be the laughingstock of dragonkind? I am what I am."

"You weren't the only one who couldn't trick a dragonslayer into killing him, though," Alaus tried to reassure him.

"Do not presume to know the circumstances."

"Then tell me!"

"I have said enough," the dragon snapped.

Alaus sank a bit lower against the scaly flank. "Sorry. I just want to understand..."

Rahamuth curved his head about to study Alaus, and he bobbed his head a bit. "The past is immutable. If you insist on this game, then let us have eyes for the future. What is it you even hope to gain from pursuing any manner of... relationship with me?"

He shrugged. "Sometimes I'm not even sure. I want to understand... but I'm not here for my gain."

"No? Not even some emotional sustainment? Perhaps you would you like me to coo over you, confess my sudden change of heart, and express my undying love and affection?"

The sarcasm brought a smirk to Alaus. "Do you want to?" He chuckled.

His gaiety faded while the dragon hesitated, though. He expected his quip to be instantaneously denied. Rahamuth wouldn't even be partly inclined to say yes, could he? It had been an idle joke, but the dragon swung his head away and turned his attention elsewhere. "Is that how you think I would express myself, Aaus?" Rahamuth shook his head. "My words have long served as instruments of deception - little more."

"Well, you're being honest now. Maybe it's time for that to change?"

The dragon flexed his claws idly. "Also with the longevity of dragonkind comes an obstinate aversion to change. Given what I have done to you, I hardly understand why would you trust anything I say." He made a curious crooning deep in his throat. "Little fool." His tone did not carry the depreciative value of the final word.

Alaus watched Rahamuth's eye closing. As the dragon was a mystery to him, perhaps too he himself was a mystery to Rahamuth? "I believe you." He reached up to pat the scaly shoulder he rested by. "If it's this hard for you to say it, I believe you. You really do want me to trust you, and I can tell this isn't easy for you."

"Have you been sampling unfamiliar fungi of late?"

"Be serious, please."

"Oh, lend me a reprieve." The dragon sighed. "Surely you can find someone more worthy of the trust you seem so eager to bestow? And no," he added quickly, "this not a diversion. What of that female you brought to the glade? Pay her half this much heed and surely she would fawn over you."

"Demille? She has friends, family, better suited village boys to give her all the attention she deserves. You don't."

"'Deserving', says the once-whelp I betrayed."

Ignoring the flat comment, Alaus asked, "You keep asking me what I want with you, but... Well, what would you want? In a friend? Someone you can be free and honest with?"

"Really, now." Rahamuth shifted his weight slightly away from him. "This is growing far too sensual for the sake of our masculinity."

"'Sensual', says the dragon who kissed me." Alaus began to laugh; the cave echoed with his peals.

Rahamuth growled, rolling away and leaving him to sprawl on the floor in his bouts of mirth. The dragon stood, paced, glared at the entrance and tread the perimeter of the cave.

When he opened his eyes and propped himself up on his elbows, Alaus saw just how upset the dragon seemed. He bit his tongue and fought down his amusement - though it wasn't easy. "Sorry."

"I'll give you this much," the dragon said in stride. "Few and far between are those whose first reaction to betrayal is to seek... understanding of their betrayer. Even if you are ill content with your father, as I sought vengeance upon him." His head swayed, his pacing slowed, and finally he met Alaus' eyes again. "For all my centuries, I do not believe I have encountered anyone else like you." His circuit took him behind Alaus.

"Well, you're definitely unique to my experience," Alaus chuckled, "but then, I haven't got anything on your years. And you're obviously the only dragon I know. Or know of... I can't say I really know you yet."

"In some ways you may not." Rahamuth reappeared on the other side of Alaus, still circling. "But it oft seems as though you know me as well as..." He shook his head. "Better than most, that is."

"Someone you lost?" Alaus guessed.

"We have been over this already," Rahamuth sighed. "Permit me my comfort in this one matter. My life has been long in comparison to yours, and there are many tales I am sure you would enjoy. Just..." His eyes pleaded. "Not yet."

"Alright."

The dragon's head dipped in thanks, and once again he padded behind Alaus.

"Eyes for the future, eh?" Alaus quoted Rahamuth. "So, since my father beat you, all you wanted was revenge. You've had that. What do you want to do with yourself now?"

Rahamuth hung in quiet as he stepped back into Alaus' view, and was on the other side of the room already before he answered. "I do not know. What I wished for before Jonnor defeated me is gone. And all I've found since... is you."

Alaus grinned. "Now you're getting into the 'sensual' spirit."

"Oh yes," the dragon jived. "Just watch. Next I shall burst into tears."

Studying the orbiting dragon, Alaus knew being so open was not something Rahamuth was accustomed to; it palled on him. So Alaus thought it would only be fair to cut him some slack and drive for simpler talk. "So why are you walking in circles?"

"I am weary of laying about. Is it not obvious?" He wore a hint of a grin - perhaps he'd picked up on Alaus' intent and appreciated it.

His eyes tailing the dragon, Alaus caught sight of the stalagmite with his crude message. He indicated the additional gouge. "So what's that?"

"You put it there, did you not?"

"No, the deep, slanted mark by the bottom."

"Ah, that..." Rahamuth paused before nodding, "I shall demonstrate."

Alaus watched him curiously as he turned from his original course back to the stalagmite in question. He pressed the top of his head against the scraped spot.

"I returned once I was absolutely sure you would be gone, and found this," Rahamuth explained. "Though your marks meant nothing to me. I wonder if you can guess why... I did this..." He twisted his head; one of his horns scraped through the groove, revealing what caused it in the first place. He did not stop there though; he twisted his neck, and finally the rest of his body. Pivoting on the stalagmite, he flopped to the cavern flood with a mighty thump.

Alaus frowned. If it had nothing to do with my marks, why there...? Then it hit him: Rahamuth's snout ran parallel to the exact spot he'd slept that night. "You could smell me, couldn't you?" He chuckled.

"Indeed." Rahamuth drew in a deep breath, as though Alaus' scent still lingered. "I slept here and, upon waking, found for the first time my great pleasure in vengeance had been outweighed."

"By regret." It was no question.

"Yes," he replied quietly.

All this coming from Rahamuth, it was a surprising detail he offered, given how difficult it was for him. "You'd still kill him, though, wouldn't you?" Alaus asked, dropping his gaze. "You'd kill my father if you actually could."

"Yes." Even quieter.

A question came to Alaus, but it was several moments before he decided to voice it, as he wasn't entirely sure whether he would like Rahamuth's answer. "Would you still do it if I asked you not to?"

"I cannot, so that is beside the point."

"Not to me. I want to know... could you put aside your vengeance for my sake?"

"You remain so close to him, despite your conflict?" Rahamuth lifted his head, wondering at Alaus. "Familial relationships... I always found it dubious how humans place such value on them. And yet... here you are." Once again he rolled to his feet and resumed his plod. "My... vengeance... It is a hunger, and not one I have ever left to starve when I could help it. I know not whether I could manage - and we never shall, because I cannot touch him - but for your sake, in your hypothetical game, I would try, Alaus."

Alaus discovered the seed of an idea, one so bold, so outrageous it occurred to him as comical. Yet, it lingered.

But before Alaus could brood on it further, his stomach gurgled. With a note of alarm, he glanced at the cave entrance and guessed at the sun's position; they'd been talking for hours.

Rahamuth stepped into the light of the entrance, rumbling a draconic chuckle and unfolding his wings.

"Hey, where are you going?" Alaus hastily leapt off the floor.

"Well, if you wish to return home to sate your hunger, I can fly you as far as you wish." The dragon inclined his head, beckoning Alaus over. "Alternatively, however... I could feed you."

"How... exactly?" His gaze traveled down the dragon's body, with a hasty glance between the dragon's legs; Rahamuth didn't mean that surely? He wasn't erect. But what else did the dragon have...?

"Mind your eyes... and that smirk on your face. I've nothing in mind that would trouble dear Jonnor any more than our exchange of words. Though..." Rahamuth laughed slightly. "I suppose I am the influence to blame that you would even mistake it as such."

"Fine," Alaus shrugged. "I'm not complaining, but I thought you would be."

Rahamuth bared his grin. "No, I prefer to hunt in high spirits. I have not been able to truly enjoy a kill in nigh a fortnight... And now we have spoken at length, I believe I can."

"You, acting totally uninterested?" Alaus shook his head in disbelief. "So the only reason you seduced me was for revenge on my father?"

Again, Rahamuth beckoned, and this time Alaus came. The dragon tossed his head. "You surprise me. I did not think you would be interested in maintaining... that aspect in pursuit of this relationship, whatever it may become. But do not tempt me to evert here; let us deal with one appetite at a time, shall we? I am eager to hunt, and to break from our wordplay. If you are amiable, I shall bring you part of my kill."

"Well, I can't eat meat raw. And I don't have flint to build a fire." Alaus scratched his chin.

"Build a fire? Why build what can be summoned with a mere breath? Forget not what I am, Alaus."

"You have a point," Alaus conceded, a plan forming in his mind. "Alright, meet me by the falls."

With a nod, Rahamuth stepped out of the cave, crouched on the ledge, and prepared to launch into flight.

"Ah... Wait!" Alaus halted him. "I don't think I'll want to watch you eat, so... could you do that before you come back?"

His head bobbed in agreement. "Very well. More's the pity, though. I would take you with me, had I the chance. How do you understand a predator when you cannot watch him hunt?"

Alaus paused, considering the notion. "I already have. I was your weapon."

"Oh? You would call my quest for vengeance a hunt?" Rahamuth seemed gauged Alaus with a new light in his eye. "Interesting. And so you were. By the falls, then, if there is nothing more?"

"Aye."

* * * * *

Reaching the falls, Alaus set himself to finding a suitable rock for what he had in mind. There were a few boulders and lesser stones by the tree line. He settled on one he found in the brush: it was a little over two feet wide, flat, and more or less rounded. As it did him no good without Rahamuth, though, he simply sat by it while he waited.

He sat and turned his thoughts to whether or not he should leave the vale behind, move to the city with Father. By all practical reasoning, it would be for the best. But then, everything he'd done to reach Rahamuth today would have been for nothing. Or, perhaps not nothing, for it was good they'd not have to part on the worst of terms... but it still seemed a waste.

But at the very least, he wanted to enjoy however long he had with the dragon, be it just this one evening or several more days. And despite himself, he wanted to enjoy it in ways which, if he knew of them, would anger his father no end. As much as Alaus would have liked to placate his father, when it came to Rahamuth, his thoughts sounded extreme even to him. In his mind, Rahamuth was all-or-nothing.

He was hungry, but patient, as he had much to think on. It was nearly an hour of waiting, but Alaus only realized this when his eye caught the dragon approaching by sky. He had been perfectly content with his thoughts, and he had gotten more productive thinking done than in the whole of the past ten days. The tiny seed of an idea which came to him in the dragon's cave was now growing into a fully-fledged plan of action. One that would settle the matters of Rahamuth and the move to the city once and for all in his mind; he could hope for the best, and of all the plausible outcomes he could imagine, he could live with the worst knowing he really had tried.

But sharing his plan with Rahamuth could wait. First, he was hungry.

When the dragon alit on the sandy bank by the falls, Alaus called him over, and found Rahamuth had saved him a leg of a doe.

"Right. Set that over there," he directed the dragon to a larger boulder that looked reasonably clean, "and take this," indicating the chosen flat rock.

"Have this all planned out, do you?" Rahamuth tossed his head, but followed instructions.

"I'm no great cook," Alaus admitted, "but I'm pretty sure if you shot fire right at it, there wouldn't be much left I'd call edible."

The dragon hefted the rock in a single claw, looking it over curiously. "And your plan is...?"

"Heat up the rock, then set it over there on the sand, and we'll go from there."

Rahamuth hummed, "Ah, the human propensity for tools."

Mention of tools reminded Alaus of something else he'd need, and he scrounged about the bushes for a longish, straight stick about as thick as his thumb.

Rearing for free use of his foreclaws, Rahamuth cupped the stone in his black-scaled digits and bent his neck into a sharp arch so his snout aimed down at the rock. He drew in a breath like any other he might have drawn, but what exploded from his maw was a jet of raging dragon fire. Tongues of flame darted out between his claws, and vanished when he paused to inhale again. He breathed in from the sides of his mouth, baring his teeth each time, and again and again directed his flame into his clasped claws, and apparently never minded that his claws and scales were awash in flame.

It was the first time Alaus had seen him breathe fire, and then and there he knew he never wanted to make a dragon angry. He mustered his courage, broke off the tip of his stick, and approached. "Excuse me a moment." Having forewarned Rahamuth - who only blinked - he thrust the broken end of his stick between two claws and into the inferno. It instantly crackled, popped, and blackened, and Alaus withdrew it with a yelp as a wave of heat washed over his hand.

Rahamuth halted, glancing at him. "Didn't think you quite fool enough to burn yourself."

"I didn't," Alaus assured him, swashing his stick in the air to extinguish the tip. "Just surprised me, that's all. Now I have another tool, though, as you put it. Here, set the rock down and let's see."

The stone was reddened around the edges. Alaus whistled, and confirmed the center of it was quite hot enough by sprinkling river water on its surface; it sputtered and evaporated instantly.

"That's plenty. Thanks," he told the dragon.

Since he didn't have a cutting instrument, he had Rahamuth use his claws to slice the leg of venison and deposit slabs of it on the rock. From there, Alaus took over with his stick, prodding them around, turning them over, and spearing them in the middle to check if they were done.

Rahamuth suckled on the bones and watched the proceedings, professing some amusement with the process. "I suppose I could liken it to the diversion of watching a colony of ants," he said, "observing the trivialities of the way they operate."

"Or watching clouds?" Alaus offered, perhaps a little put off by how lowly he made it sound.

"No, because watching clouds serves a purpose: it is informative of weather conditions, which affect flying," the dragon explained.

It wasn't what he meant, but Alaus held his tongue. For his part, he enjoyed the experience of eating venison he'd cooked using only a rock, a stick, and a dragon. He didn't let Rahamuth's view detract from it. "At least you're in good company, right?"

The dragon pondered this cocking his head and rapping his claws in an exaggeratedly thoughtful pose, a gnawed-clean bone protruding from the side of his mouth wriggling as he worked his jaw. "If only dear Jonnor could join us..."

At that, Alaus just shook his head and finished his meal.

When he'd had his fill, washed it down with cool river water, and wiped the grease from his chin, he glanced at the the lounging dragon, and then at the sun. They had a few hours of daylight yet, and if Rahamuth was willing to fly him back to the village, Alaus preferred it be under the cover of dusk.

Plenty of time to have some fun with Rahamuth. Strange as it was to find himself lusting after a dragon, and more so a male, he surprised himself still further by admitting it. But he'd never been the instigator before, and found himself at a bit of a loss. Before he could decide how to approach it, a great black mass rushed past him and dove into the river, sending thunderous waves crashing against both banks, and utterly drenching Alaus.

When the water settled and the waves were carried away by the current, the dragon stood in the middle of the river, water up to his flank, grinning at the stupefied look on Alaus' face. Alaus collected himself and smirked back, however. Stripping off his soggy clothes and laying them out to dry well away from the river, he joined Rahamuth in the water.

Wary of the current, he ventured no deeper than his waist, where he could keep his feet on something solid. Mostly sand and an assortment of rocks long since washed smooth of any dangerous points. Rahamuth waded toward him, positioning himself downstream. Briefly, Alaus wondered if that was intentional - perhaps so the dragon could catch him if he lost his footing and the current took him? Either way, when the dragon reached Alaus' depth, he sank onto his side, submerging the majority of his chest. With a devious spark in his eye, his head ducked underwater and drove toward his back legs, one of his haunches lifting out of the river. Alaus could guess what he was doing - 'hygiene' he called it. He waded a bit closer to the dragon his nethers.

Rahamuth's head emerged again, eventually.

Alaus chuckled. "Well you weren't lying when you told Demille you were lecherous... Bit eager, aren't you?"

"Why, you want me to be eager, do you? That still surprises me." Surprised or not, the dragon's coy tone told he was not at all unhappy about it.

"Eager or not," Alaus told him, "last time we did everything your way, and all I did was take it. This time it's going to be my way."

"You have a way?" Rahamuth rumbled, "This should be interesting."

Alaus continued, ignoring the comment. "So this time, you're going to sit back and take it, doing as little as I did."

The dragon considered this, head listing. "Similar as that sounds to a previous encounter of ours, I do hope for a bit of variety. Now, I would call it justice if you were to take me the same way I took you."

"You mean your..." Alaus found the word difficult.

"My anus, yes." All his playful manner dissipated as he added, "The largest difference being, due to our size, you are most unlikely to cause me the kind of pain I inflicted upon you."

Alaus wasn't sure he wanted to take the dragon there. And yet... "You really do want that, don't you?"

"As I have said."

He stepped nearer, reaching to grip one of Rahamuth's horns, and drew his head close. "I would not even want to hurt you."

"You will not. My tail is no stranger to that hole," the dragon promised him. "And I ensured I was clean, specially for you."

"I didn't mean just this." Alaus shook his head. "I never want to hurt you, to exact any kind of revenge for what you've done to me. I'll take you because you want it, because I want both of us to enjoy this."

"Warn me before you go sensual next time," Rahamuth sighed. "You're asking me to live with regret, Alaus..."

"No, I'm not," he shushed the dragon with a finger in his snout. "There's something I want you to do, and you can choose to do it if it's preferable to regret. I warn you, it won't be easy for you, but I don't mean you harm by it."

Rahamuth blinked with concern. "And what is this... recompense?"

"Hush. Let's enjoy each other first."

Sobered, the dragon nodded. At Alaus' direction, he clambered a ways further toward the bank, where he could roll completely on his back with his entire front out of the water. He held his wings out of the way, and the spikes along his spine dug into the sand and pebbles of the shallows as he lay back. He found his head was within reach of the river bank, but for now, he arched his neck to watch Alaus. Splaying his scaly haunches, he presented his most private regions freely, sporting a half-mast erection.

Alaus thought the dragon looked far too subdued to be enjoying anything, and aimed to change that as he clambered between his hind legs. Laying on his side - and trying not to lean hard into his elbow - he roamed the scales around Rahamuth's genital slit with one hand.

His other hand sank toward the clenched orifice lower by the dragon's tail. He still wasn't sure if he wanted to go through with taking that hole as it had been offered, but he wasn't going to back down without exploring it first. He glanced up to meet Rahamuth's gaze, even as his fingers brushed the dip in the scales. He pushed with a finger, parting the fold in the scales before he could balk at exactly where his finger was going; holding those golden eyes reinforced his assurance that, yes, this was what the dragon wanted.

Alaus felt tiny scales give way to incredibly soft flesh, and through it he could feel an incredibly taut ring of muscle. And Rahamuth hadn't been kidding. Every fold of the passage was meticulously clean, as he felt with his probing finger and - when he grew bold - confirmed when he looked down to it. He even spread the furrows of the hole with his fingers, wary of any sign of blemish.

The dragon's head leaned near. "Am I detecting some dissatisfaction?"

"I don't know. I have a hard time imagining I'd give you much pleasure here." Alaus shrugged.

"I am not as deep as you think. Your penis is not much longer than I dare use my tail, for fear of my spines." His tail curled up from the river and into Alaus' view to prove it, raining cold droplets on his bare back in the process. "And it is wider than much of my tongue."

"I don't really want to hear about your tongue going there," Alaus grimaced.

"Nevertheless, better I clean myself than y-Ah!"

Alaus laughed, having caught the dragon completely by surprise by grabbing at the first three of his sensitive penile ridges at once. "I said: I don't want to hear about it."

Rahamuth rumbled, obviously pleased with the touch of human fingers working his dragonhood, which swelled further at the stimulation. His shaft grew, and his tail sank back into the water. "Well if you treat me like this for mentioning it, I must find something you truly hate."

"Then I'd have to find some other use for your mouth," he mused.

"I can think of a few places to put-" The dragon's breath caught, but he suppressed another outburst when Alaus attempted to surprise him with an abrupt stroke. This time, Alaus' fingers didn't stop there. Rahamuth closed his eyes as he was fondled to a full and raging erection. His eyelids only ever opened halfway thereafter.

Alaus was experienced with the dragon's maleness by now, and knew where he liked it without even looking. Applying moderated amounts of pressure to tease and sustain Rahamuth's endowment, he once again turned his attention lower. Despite his reservations, just from what he could ascertain with his finger, he had to admit the dragon's tail hole would feel good.

The dragon produced a small noise in his chest at one of Alaus' more vigorous caresses. "The role of passive recipient is not my predisposition, Alaus. If we are to en_-Ah_!"

Alaus grinned that he could elicit another small yelp of pleasure from Rahamuth, and was especially encouraged that this one had been born of a sharp thrust of the finger buried in the dragon's tail hole. He loved the reactions, but was slightly puzzled by them; he'd never caught Rahamuth so off-guard before. Then again, Rahamuth hadn't tried to talk this much before. "You were fine being passive the first time we did this," he noted, playfully chiding. "You let me experiment with all of this, remember?" He rubbed the tip of the draconic cock to emphasize.

"Contained myself perchance you might have shied before I ever had the chance to- ngh- dear Jonnor. And you are getting better at this."

"Am I?" Alaus chuckled, continuing his ministrations, keeping Rahamuth guessing where he was going to stroke next. As the dragon came to expect these interruptions, Alaus countered by elevating the bursts of stimulation.

"I daresay so," the dragon gasped. "Nor was I anticipating being penetrated before. As I was saying, if we are to enjoy one another, be about it and enjoy me!"

Though he opened his mouth to assure Rahamuth he was, indeed, having fun, something else struck Alaus. "Anticipating? You've never seemed shy from this." He punctuated by twisting his finger in the dragon's hole.

"Only ever my own tail and ton-ngh..."

Alaus didn't even berate him for broaching the off-limits subject. Though he was impressed with Rahamuth's restraint; that one had been a stroke up the whole front of his shaft, with pressure to both sides, in addition to a shove in the backside. These thoughts paled in comparison to the implications of what Rahamuth said... or was trying to say. "No one has ever taken you... No male dragon? Ever?" He would not have thought it strange of any other person - well, dragon - but this was Rahamuth...

"You really think I'd let another dragon top me?" The Rahamuth shook his head with a grunt. "The males that could have overpowered me didn't bother. They preferred larger."

Reasonable enough to believe, but Alaus was still surprised by the realization. "So I'm your... first?"

"You haven't yet."

Rahamuth's willingness to let Alaus take him this way, his invitation - it struck Alaus deeply, though it had been there the whole time. There could be no better time than that very moment, and like a curtain his hesitation was swept aside. His hands darted to the crooks where the dragon's hind legs met his body, and he hoisted himself fully above the scaly nethers, his knees straddling the tail and his ankles dipping into the cold rush of water.

The dragon shifted beneath him, his poise in the river thrown by the movement, and for a moment his lower body rocked like a boat. His golden eyes shut lightly, his snout dipped, and he waited. Alaus, waiting only for the swaying to come to a halt, glanced down between skin and scale to align himself, and pressed his manhood into Rahamuth's anal folds. Long neck laying back, Rahamuth's head hit the riverbank upside-down, and his huff sent a layer of sand flying. Alaus himself held his breath. He had guessed right: it did feel good.

It was easy. Almost comically easy to hilt his length in the dragon, so disproportionate to how hard Rahamuth had had to work getting any measure of his cock into Alaus. But Rahamuth's passage felt hot - almost painfully so - slick, and soft in ways Alaus had never imagined he would experience outside a woman, and maybe not even then. And he began to work and plow in the forbidden embrace of the dragon's tight sphincter - a depth that seemed a pittance to the mighty creature's size. He felt delighted tremors run up from the dragon's tail, swashing in the water behind him. Alaus was nearly too stunned with sensation to do anything else, until instinct forced him to gasp and relieve his neglected lungs of their pent air. His heaving chest brushed the the pulsing draconic meat below him, and even that was enough to milk it of a dribble of Rahamuth's pre-seed. The familiar scent of his salty musk beset Alaus, but if anything that drove him to thrust himself into Rahamuth's passage all the more intently. Warmth crept into his body, whether from the dragon's heat or his effort, and having his heels in the chilling river became a blessing.

Alaus carefully loosened his handholds on the dragon's haunches, until he grew sure enough of his position to bring his right hand to Rahamuth's member. At this touch, Rahamuth murred. He panted, even with his snout digging into the sand, and his neck arched back. His very posture simply begged for more.

A far cry from the dragon who'd betrayed him, Alaus mused, chuckling at seeing Rahamuth so happily needy. Alaus didn't hold back, however, and massaged one of the draconic member's ridges after another from top to bottom. Each of the six received its due, and he slowly stroked his hand back up, twisted it about the very tip, and began to work his way back down again. He amused himself likening the ridges of Rahamuth's penis to a ladder which his fingers stepped down and slipped upon. The orientation wasn't right, but he laughed anyway, not caring whether he was tittering like a girl. When he reached the thick base and gave it a squeeze, Rahamuth's haunches bucked a bit.

Alaus loved the reactions he elicited, and so he leaned forward and brought his other hand to the service of the dragonhood as well. While his right stroked Rahamuth's pre into his shaft, his left hand encircled the base, playing with its contours and brushing the puffed flesh of the reptilian slit. Try as he might, the dragon could not hold back a moan, nor steady his heavy breath. It was music to Alaus' ears, and he daringly sank a finger past the base of Rahamuth's cock and into the space where it typically rested. More hot, wet folds of Rahamuth's body. He wondered whether it was possible to find a dragon's testicles down there...

It dawned on Alaus that he never would have had a curiosity the likes of that before he met Rahamuth, a mere matter of weeks ago. But there again, he didn't care. And he was sorely tempted to investigate that curiosity.

Rahamuth dug his head out of the sand then, however, and cast a desperate look at Alaus. "Stop... Don't make me... finish so... soon..."

Though he couldn't help but grin, Alaus withdrew his hands and stopped the jerking of his hips to give the dragon a break. "You were just asking for it."

For some moments, the only sound was the river's gurgles and Rahamuth's gasps. "Despite all evidence... to the contrary... I would rather prolong this... Alaus... Here." The walls of his anal passage clenched around Alaus' member. "Coninue here... until you are close as well..."

Alaus pumped once into the dragon's hole in response. "I thought we were doing this my way?"

"I thought we were enjoying each other." Rahamuth gulped down a breath, and leaned in to jostle Alaus' forehead with his snout. "Because I am enjoying you."

"Really?" Alaus asked, though he wouldn't doubt the veracity of the dragon's words. Rahamuth seemed more open to Alaus than ever, and more comfortable. Wanting to encourage this, he slid his hands back around the Rahamuth's haunches for a good grip and drove into the depths beneath the scaly folds, working into a new rhythm.

Rahamuth made only a small noise of assent in response and licked Alaus across the neck, blinking his heavy-lidded eyes. His back twisted just slightly, turning his chest to one side and freeing one wing. The limb, with water pouring from its furrowed membranes, reached around Alaus' shoulders and braced him tightly as he thrust his hips. With a savory growl thrumming in his throat, Rahamuth drew Alaus tight against his scales and his throbbing mating tool.

Alaus was stunned briefly by being pressed to the dragon's groin. His arms slipped past their perches and splayed around Rahamuth's middle as far as they would go in an odd, incidental embrace.

"Breed me," the dragon breathed raggedly over him.

The smell of Rahamuth's pre was even stronger, with the tip of the dragonhood level with his collarbone. Though held down by his shoulders, wrapping his arms low around Rahamuth's haunches gave him all the leverage he needed. He reached as far towards the top of the dragon's tail as possible, but his fingertips were barely lapped by the river; Alaus felt tiny, clutched against the mighty dragon who wanted him so badly. Well, if this was how Rahamuth wanted it, Alaus wasn't going to complain.

He thrust, finding the new angle in Rahamuth's passage all the more exciting. And held so close, every time he hilted, his scrotum brushed the base of the dragon's tail; the scales there proved to be an exotic touch. His chest brazenly slid across Rahamuth's cock, but if the new rhythm brought him too close to climax, Alaus was was sure he would be warned about it first. Unless Rahamuth wanted it that badly. As the fresh tempo evened out, the dragon released a jagged sighed. From there, his breathing calmed somewhat, growing controlled, regular once more. Yet his chest still heaved, and he could not dispel the edge of urgency to his exhalations. When he was content Alaus would continue as he was, the wing dropped away, lowered back into the water with a gentle plash.

As if the warmth and feel of the dragon's tailhole were not enough, Rahamuth's passage clamped on Alaus' manhood so tightly, he swore. Not in pain, but in bliss. All the dragon's lowermost muscles cinched - and not just the already solid ring of his sphincter, but those of his tail, gripping the manhood in his most private orifice from every direction. Rumbling his amusement at the response, Rahamuth repeated the act.

"Not bad for a first-timer," Alaus gasped all at once.

This only made the dragon rumble deeper still as his recesses clenched again, setting the pace for a rhythm of his own.

Pumping into Rahamuth's tail hole was already incredible, and the spikes of pleasure from his contracting depths only drove him that much faster toward release. He ached for it, now, but he denied it; this was too good to end so fast. Even so, it was not long at all before Alaus was forced to admit, "I can't hold off like this much longer." Then, with a grin, "We should finish together. We've never done that."

"No? Not even when I mounted you? I thought we did." But he bared his grin as well, silently agreeing.

"Don't think so... but that doesn't count! You finished twice." Alaus propping himself upright again.

"If you insist."

Alaus thrust his hips to stay on the edge, and his hands trailed to Rahamuth's slit and up the sides of his draconic shaft to do the same for him. "How should we end?"

Rahamuth's snout angled close to his ear. "Breed me. I want your seed."

"And you?" Alaus brushed lightly at the highest of the dragon cock's ridges, feeling the hot organ twitch in his hand. "You want to finish in your mouth? I know you've done that..."

"Precisely why I can do it any other time." Rahamuth's snout withdrew a few feet, then dove to the side and under Alaus' left arm.

Alaus gasped, feeling warm wetness slide from his stomach, to his groin, and in a flash it encircled his balls entirely. He blinked at the golden eye with a mischievous spark gazing up at him from his own lap, the dragon licking about his privates. He stared downward, dumbfounded as his sack was worked over several times. Humming at the way Alaus gaped, Rahamuth's tongue slipped down to swipe the scales around his anal hole, then plunged down into the forbidden passage right alongside Alaus' own manhood.

He couldn't help but utter a cry of shock at the rush of new pleasure. Instinctually, he wanted to thrust, and in leu of his previous handholds, he grabbed at the dragon's horns and rocked into the redoubled sensation of Rahamith's tail hole and lapping tongue. The ring of muscle clenched, pressing both intrusions together. When it released, the oral muscle dove in at one angle after another. Rahamuth's wet, nimble, and skillful tongue left nothing within reach untouched. It took everything Alaus had to refrain from spending himself then and there, but he did; he wanted both of them to finish together, but he knew it had better be soon.

The placement of the Rahamuth's head precluded any chance of Alaus' left hand reaching the dragon's woefully unattended maleness, but his right was free to seize it, and seize it he did. Rahamuth growled lustily, burying his snout in Alaus groin and his efforts with his snaking tongue intensified. Though he willed the dragon slow, even a hair, Alaus found no breath - he was panting for it already. But he couldn't blame the dragon: the same yearning for release drove him. As his own needs were tended to, so he turned his full attention to pleasing Rahamuth. Stroking, Alaus found a runnel of pre dripping down the draconic tool. The layer of slick only helped, as he fingered every crevice he knew of and beat the dribbling shaft with fervor. The dragon moaned through his open jaws, his body curling inward tensely, one of his suspended hind legs quivering.

Alaus glanced down, held one of Rahamuth's eyes, and just moments later, watched the golden orb glass over as he passed the point of no return. His anal muscles slammed shut like a vice, and with abandon, Alaus was thrilled to follow him into rapture.

Rahamuth's moan heightened in pitch to a yowl, and if it sounded strange with his snout jammed between Alaus' legs and his tongue down his own tail hole, no one present complained. He came violently, his dragonhood jetting a slew of seed at the surface immediately above it: the scales of his arched neck. By the time of his next barrage, Alaus' hand made its way to the erupting peak to rub and flex the tip, even as Rahamuth spewed more across his chest and body. The sticky, milky essence stark and distinct against his black body. And Alaus, with a groan split between the urges to hold his breath and scream in ecstasy, spilled his own semen into the press of Rahamuth's rough tongue and silky-slick folds. The dragon's tail lashed out of the water and crashed back down again in raw bliss. His orgasm wore on a few ejaculations more, the next of which - at the moment Alaus jerked at his shaft - flung a rope of its excretion at Alaus' chin. The last spat of the dragon's fluids fountained onto the scales of his throat. A few of those final drops trickled down the breadth of his jaw to pool around where Alaus' Alaus' private bits moored amid his own. His sphincter relaxed, freeing his tongue and Alaus' maleness, and Rahamuth went back to lapping around noisily. The extra massaging coaxed a few more spurts from Alaus, who was suddenly utilizing the dragon's horn for support, not leverage.

His tongue slipping free, the dragon withdrew his head and threw it back on the sands with a leisurely, utterly satiated sigh. Similarly, Alaus fell forward into the warm, sloppy goop strewn across the dragon's belly. Why care about getting messy when they were already in the river? Although he realized that wasn't so much funny as it was practical, he still started laughing quietly, in between gulps of air.

"Entertaining, was it?" Rahamuth accused when he noticed the outburst. "For someone who wants not for vengeance, interrupting someone - even with pleasure - is rather demeaning." Though even as he said it, he chuckled as well.

It took Alaus a few moments to recall that particular game, from early in their 'fun'. He closed his eyes and inhaled the strong scent of dragon seed, as potent a scent as it was a flavor. Though he suspected both might be acquirable tastes. And at that thought, he stuck his tongue out for just a touch of it. "We were both tired of being serious." He frowned, though. "But didn't I forbid putting your tongue down there, like you did?"

"You forbade speaking of it, a directive I staunchly ignored."

"Only because I rammed your back end for it."

"I would have rebelled, regardless."

"Right."

Nothing more important in the world to them than simply breathing, they lay there together until, by unspoken consent, it was time to move again. Alaus slipped down from the dragon's chest and washed himself in the shallows, while Rahamuth stirred himself to wade into deeper waters and dive beneath the waves. Both cleansed, they made their way to the bank. Rahamuth found a patch of grass by the tree line and flopped himself down on it. Alaus paced until he was dry, while the dragon's scales soaked in the rays of the receding sun. Though his clothes were still slightly damp, Alaus donned them, and joined Rahamuth, sitting with his back to the warm, scaly flank.

It had to be the most comfortable silence Alaus had ever known. Yet, all good things come to an end.

"I doubt it," Alaus began, "But is there a way to free you from the Law that binds you to my father?"

There was a moment Rahamuth hardly dared to breathe. "Free?" He lifted his head from where he'd draped it across a mossy stone. "No, none that I know of. I am sure there is... A life for a life, perhaps? Even if I knew, I would not pursue it. I am already more deeply entangled in Law than I should like."

"I suppose I don't blame you."

"You surprise me yet again, however, suggesting such a notion."

Alaus shrugged. "I'll take that as a compliment."

Rahamuth growled, "On the contrary, I despise altruism."

He couldn't make heads or tails of the dragon's tone. "Why?"

"Because if naught is extended, naught is duly returned." Heaving a sigh, his neck curled, his chin coming to rest on Alaus' leg. "And yet the altruistic are inexorable, though I am not in the habit of offering anything freely save flippant words."

"Now who's being sensual?" Alaus chuckled, setting a hand on Rahamuth's muzzle. "You feel unworthy of me?"

"That is offset by your physical inferiority," the dragon dismissed. "You would never have been able to force me to submit to being taken beneath the tail."

"And yet you enjoyed it."

"Was that not both our designs?" He grinned in Alaus' lap. "You even enjoyed my tongue in-"

"Shut up." Laughing, he shoved the scaly jaws off his legs. Rahamuth rumbled, but Alaus shushed him. Met with a curious golden eye, Alaus collected his thoughts. "I have a plan."

"Of what nature? If this is about the Law..." Rahamuth shook his head.

"No."

"Then...?"

"Hear me out in full," Alaus insisted, even though he had the dragon's rapt attention.

It only took a minute, but through the succinct explanation, the dragon's features ranged through outrage, wistful musing, rebuttal - with Alaus answering his questions and concerns - and finally deep consideration. At last, Alaus sat back and gave Rahamuth time to absorb the implications.

"This... is what you spoke of in the river, is it not?" Rahamuth asked slowly, "This is my recompense?"

Alaus nodded.

"Do you really think it would work?"

"I don't know." Not quite willing to let Rahamuth see just how deep his uncertainty ran, he closed his eyes. "No, you know what? I don't care. We're doing this right, or not at all. And it's up to you whether or not we try."

The dragon chuckled.

Alaus blinked. "What?"

"I actually expected you to assure me it would work, in no uncertain terms. Again, you surprise me." His head swayed sadly. "I almost wished you would."

Alaus grinned and assuaged, "Well, I wouldn't insist on it unless it would work, now, would I?"

They shared a smirk.

"So, are we doing this?"

"We are, Alaus. Difficult though it shall be..." Rahamuth sighed, and there was a note of contentment in his voice. "I said I would have been willing to try setting aside my hate for Jonnor, for your sake. And so I shall."

* * * * *

The maidservant fussed and fussed, but nothing floored her so much as the claim that even after an entire day spent deep in the forest, Alaus wasn't hungry. But, ingratiated by her concern, he ate a few bites. More to sate her than himself. While he ate, she groused over more sightings of "that horrible, horrible dragon" at sundown. Alaus told her not to worry and, quite content, retired for the night.

He spent the entire following day working for Ferce, first sawing then chopping logs. "A fair sight cheerier than ever I saw ya," the woodcutter described him.

Alaus offered only that he'd made some amends, and come to terms with his troubles.

"Troubles fly you back from the woods at night much, aye?" Alaus froze at the hint, guessing the likelihood that Ferce might have seen Rahamuth bringing him home at some point or another. But the man laughed, "Dragonslayer's son, indeed. Your business be yours, lad, but mind you who notices such things."

Near midday, Alaus noted two women riding horses in a far field - one of the horses was Frisk, he though, and he fancied their riders to be Demille and her sister. If he was right, he was glad to see them well; that meant their father, Cousband, was doing better.

Nigh on evening, when he and Ferce were about to call it a day, Cousband himself approached him. He thanked Alaus for helping Vilda and, with a toothy smirk, said, "Why don't ye come to dinner with us tonight? Elanna's pledged, and I've an inkling Demille's of an eye for you."

"Demille is a fine young lady," Alaus spoke true, "but it wouldn't be proper. I'll not be here much longer; my father and I are moving to the city soon."

"All the more reason to thank ye now."

Alaus had to turn down the invitation as politely as he could. That didn't stop Demille and her mother from dropping by his home later with an offering of fresh-baked sweetbread, which Alaus thoroughly enjoyed. But he knew it would have been far ruder of him to slip away from dinner with Cousband's family at dusk without a bloody good explanation, and that was something he couldn't give.

As the sun sank behind the horizon, he ducked out while the maidservant dozed and headed for a predetermined forest clearing, where he waited not ten minutes before Rahamuth arrived.

"I followed the road," the dragon reported. "Jonnor's caravaners are riding through the night. They should arrive come morn, not an hour after dawn."

"Too bad we don't have another day," sighed, stroking Rahamuth's muzzle. "Thank you. Are you still sure you're up to this?"

"I am."

They went over the plan once more. Brief pleasantries later, they soberly agreed it was best they part ways.

Alaus thought he would be fearful of what might happen in the next few days, but to his surprise, he slept soundly and only woke to the unmistakable stomping of his father's boots on the stairs. When Jonnor was washed and changed, Alaus joined him for a breakfast of porridge.

The first words he said to Alaus: "Have you considered?"

"I have." Alaus nodded. "I've done what I can here for my honor, and I'm satisfied. I'll go with you."

Lines of tension eased from Jonnor's features. "That is good to hear."

"And I had a talk with Rahamuth."

A spoon stopped halfway to Father's mouth as though it had struck a wall.

Alaus continued with an earnest smile, which he was glad to find he wasn't ashamed to wear. "A long talk, and he didn't start anything you wouldn't have liked. I enjoyed myself." The key word there was 'start', but he kept that to himself.

Following that, Jonnor kept the conversation to strictly logistics.

"The wagons are parked just outside, and the drivers are sleeping through the day. I'll hire a few of the local boys to help us pack our things, and with fortune's smile, we shall be away by evening."

Alaus helped willfully, and was quite pleased to find he was able to help with moving even the largest furnishings; a week or so of chopping wood had done well for his arms. As for the young men Father hired, Alaus didn't know them personally, as they were all younger than he. They kept giving him surreptitious glances, which puzzled Alaus until the youngest - who was perhaps fourteen - cornered him in his room.

"Is it true? Is it true?" The boy nearly squealed. "They say you're becoming a dragon tamer! Oh, please tell me it's true."

Alaus laughed, and he laughed until his sides smarted. "I don't know about that," he told the boy. But rather than disappoint him, Alaus promised he knew where Jonnor kept his old armor, and he'd let the kid take a peek before it was packed on the wagons.

Somehow, all the hired boys showed up for that. But Alaus didn't begrudge them; he just admonished them to get the weighty chest from the attic loaded onto the wagons when they were done gaping over burnished steel plates and masterfully crafted chain links. He heard one of them mutter afterward, "I'm gonna be an armorsmith's apprentice and learn to do that."

And another piped up, "I'm gonna buy it from you and tame my own dragon!"

"Youth," Alaus chuckled, though he wasn't one to talk.

Even Magdell was coming, he learned. "Been a maidservant for Jonnor twenty years, under the sun," she professed. "For shame, had I quit now."

And by evening, four canvas-covered wagons - with wheels with spokes half again as long as a man's arm - stood proudly packed and ready. The draft horses were hitched, four to a wagon. Alaus clambered up to the front of one, and was soon flanked by a driver and his father. The drivers nickered and brandished their whips, stirring the horses into motion and getting them underway.

And as they left his home village behind, Alaus kept his eyes skyward.

* * * * *

Alaus groaned. He had a horrific crick in his neck, which he discovered was from dozing with his head hanging back over the edge of the wagon's seat. That's what he got for watching clouds all evening.

Wait... all evening? It wasn't still light out, he realized with a start; he hadn't been dozing, but had slept through the night. It was now early morning; the sky was a rich, deep blue. The sun had not risen, but the horizon had paled to the shade of a robin's egg. Alaus, then, realized what had woken him: the caravan had halted, and both Jonnor and the driver were missing from either side of him. There were voices, too, off the side of the road.

"I tell you I saw something," said an unfamiliar voice - one of the drivers, he supposed. "I tell you, and I'll not be- AAAH!!"

"Hold," came Father's level command. "Hold, and no harm will come to you."

"Praise be we have Jonnor of Larkhall on this of all journeys..." Another driver muttered.

"Yes, that would be ironic," rumbled a voice Alaus knew well. "If only it were mere coincidence. Jonnor, a word?"

Alaus roused himself, twisting his neck to and fro until the cramp died down. He jumped off the wagon seat, passed the stamping pulling team, and walked calmly into the middle of a scene of tension.

Three of the drivers cowered in a loose huddle behind Jonnor. Ten steps further, the fourth driver stood frozen, staring into a shadowy grove where a massive black shape was stirring. Off to the side, Magdell was as pale as the sheets she washed so diligently.

"Explain yourself," Jonnor called into the roadside grove.

Rahamuth emerged from the murk at an amble. "A matter of no concern to these bystanders," he gestured at the quavering drivers with a half-furrowed wing. "Let us step aside for a moment and confer privately. Besides, the last horse I stepped within fifty feet of nearly died of fright, and those look scarcely braver."

Alaus brushed the maidservant's arm. "Don't worry," he told her, "he's harmless. And twice as polite as I am when he wants to be."

He left the stammering maidservant and approached his father, who he saw had retrieved his sword. Alaus suspected this was merely to reassure the drivers that he wasn't defenseless.

"Go on," he told Jonnor. Alaus received a sharp glance for the instruction, but persisted. "He's not going anywhere until he talks to you. Better not do it in front of everyone." He grabbed the driver closest to Rahamuth carefully around the elbow and guided the man stiffly toward the others.

With a displeased grunt, Jonnor indicated a direction with his free hand, and when Rahamuth went, he followed. Alaus reassured the drivers all would be well, got them to go sooth their horses, then jogged after Father and the dragon.

"Now what is this?"

"Now that you are leaving, I wish to leave the vale as well," Rahamuth began.

Jonnor hissed. "You've been free to do so for twenty years."

"You misunderstand. I wish to relocate to the region of the city you are moving to, for reasons I think should be obvious even to you." Rahamuth faced Jonnor and Alaus, and sat on his haunches. "Your son would have none of it, however, unless I first sought your permission, dear Jonnor."

Alaus tried to gauge his father's reaction.

"Didn't I tell you," Father glowered, "that when you came crawling to me for forgiveness, I would not grant it? Begone!"

The dragon's muscles clenched, but Alaus stepped in. "Wait!" He tried not to grin, seeing Rahamuth relax as Jonnor's command was remitted. Alaus bore his father's barefaced glare for that. "Hear him out. Please."

"I am not seeking forgiveness," the dragon countered. "I do not regret causing you the pain I have, and know that I yet loath you. Therein lies the difficulty in what Alaus asks," Rahamuth sighed. "For despite what you must be thinking - that I am even now manipulating Alaus so that he cannot bear to let me go, to the end of causing you all the more pain - this is not so."

"I'm coming with you," Alaus added, "And if you send Rahamuth away, I'll live with that. We're agreed; we won't seek each other out again." And this was the point he feared most: that Jonnor would banish Rahamuth then and there.

To Alaus' great relief, his father hesitated.

"You see, it is just the reverse of your fears," Rahamuth laughed weakly. "For I do regret betraying him. And of all the punishments he could have won from he, be bade me ask you - whom I hate most upon this earth - to permit me the chance of ever speaking with him again."

Jonnor started, snapped from his reverie. "I detest, wyrm, that you would do anything sexual with my son! Swear you will not, under Law, or this ends here!"

Rahamuth hung his head. "That, Jonnor, I cannot."

Alaus' eyes widened. "You said you would if you had to!"

"The choice is mine now, Alaus, and there is a line I will not cross. I still have my pride." The dragon tossed his head. "I will swear to you this, bearing all consequences of Law: I will not suggest or initiate anything of sexual nature with any human, nor so much as pleasure them against their will - for this was one thing you overlooked, dear Jonnor, in the restrictions you placed on me. This includes Alaus. Therefore, I shall defer to him, and not seek it out of my own accord."

Swallowing, Alaus realized Rahamuth had placed the burden on him, then. "Alright, I'll take full responsibility," he told Father. "So from now on, your problem there is with me."

"Jonnor," Rahamuth added in a bare whisper, "can you not see your son yearns for your approval? The worst blow I struck to him was the wedge driven between Alaus and yourself. Though neither of us wishes to part company permanently, I do this for Alaus' sake, to mend this schism now. I could have followed without your knowledge, and we might have continued to meet without your consent, but this rift is tearing your child apart."

That certainly hadn't been anything they'd discussed Rahamuth saying. Alaus' throat tightened. He hadn't even realized it before, but Rahamuth was right.

His father grabbed his arm and drew him aside several paces. He could see conflict in the man's eyes. "Your devotion to this is unsettling me, Alaus."

"Look, he and I both enjoy having sex, but if it bothers you so much, I'll promise we won't, and he might as well have sworn that."

"Being blatant about it is not helping your case." Jonnor shook his head. "And you're not bound by Law." His grip on Alaus' arm tightened.

Alaus strove to swallow the knot in his throat, and despite his attempts at restraint his voice was hoarse. "If you won't trust me when I give my word, what am I doing this for?" He sounded closer to tears than he would have liked.

Jonnor was struck by the outburst. After a moment, his grip loosened. "Alright, alright... I'll trust you, but don't make me regret it... Of all things, I do not wish to raise my son to be a liar." He released Alaus arm, shook his head once more, and sighed, "I'm looking for a reason, Alaus. One good reason."

"Look," Alaus pointed at Rahamuth. "Right there is the one dragon you can't kill anyway. You said it yourself, he's not heartless. Would it hurt you to show a little compassion?"

"Compassion?" Jonnor balked.

"I know him, and there's no trait of his - except maybe quite as much age - that I haven't seen in men. Normal men. Men just like you once 'protected' from dragons. So what's the difference? He's had a few extra centuries to make mistakes? And don't tell me he doesn't deserve a chance."

"A chance for what, Alaus?"

That managed to give him pause. But only for a moment. "Why don't we ask him?"

Rahamuth was watching them, when both faced him. He gave them a nod, to acknowledge he'd heard. "Amends," he said quietly. "And for Alaus' sake. See how he fights for compassion upon the undeserving? He is of good heart, your son, and well worth knowing as a..." He paused uncertainly. "I do not even know what to call him."

Jonnor sighed and began to pace - a habit Alaus hadn't even realized he shared with his father. His eyes lingered on the flash of Father's blade. It flashed gold; the sun was rising.

Shamelessly, Alaus stepped toward Rahamuth, where he touched the dragon on his snout. Their eyes met. Both knew those may well have been their last moments together. Alaus felt Father's eyes upon his back, but he didn't care.

"Rahamuth," Jonnor called the dragon's attention. "These are my terms: you shall not move into the vicinity of the city..."

"Wait!" Alaus cried, hoping perhaps there was some final argument he could make.

His father quieted him with a raised hand. "...instead, you will live at my estate, under supervision."

Alaus gaped.

"You are not to leave without express permission," Jonnor continued, "and will be escorted when possible, except to hunt. Still you will not prey upon the herds of farmers in the area."

"Penned animals are poor sport anyway," Rahamuth interjected.

"...You will strive to conduct yourself amicably and appropriately, deferring to myself or to Alaus," Jonnor continued. "And finally, you will assist in training my apprentice. You have my word, you will not be unduly harmed in training exercises."

"Are you... going to bind him to these?" Alaus swallowed. "By Law, I mean? I think he needs a chance to... to choose to do well, not have it forced on him."

He held his father's eyes, and to his relief, saw Jonnor yield. "So long as he does behave, I'll not bind him to these conditions."

Alaus beamed.

Rahamuth began warily, "One-"

His muzzle was clamped in a hug, stifling whatever he had been about to say. "It's perfect," Alaus proclaimed. "I don't see any reason not to agree... Do you?"

The dragon issued a slight growl, tossing his head and freeing his jaw from Alaus' grip. "One thing I must know before I agree to your terms, Jonnor. Are you Elect, and if not, will you follow the Tenant even with Larkhall destroyed?"

"Elect?" Alaus glanced at his father. "What Tenant?"

"No," Jonnor told the dragon directly. "I was permitted to use the Law, but no, not to teach it. And the Tenant I will keep." His eyes fell upon his son. "These are dead terms, now, Alaus. But what they mean is this: my apprentice is not learning the Law. You know more about it now than, with fortune, he ever will. And I'll thank you to keep it that way."

"Of course," Alaus said at once. He was only too happy to hear it. And he glanced at Rahamuth, who seemed to be pleased to hear this as well, and nodded of his approval.

"And also with fortune," Jonnor added, "my reputation is hopefully sufficient that having a dragon at my estate will not be overly... frightening to the locals. Training my apprentice should be a sufficient reason to pass along, I think."

Alaus dashed over and clasped his father in an even tighter hug than he'd given Rahamuth's snout. "Thank you."

After a moment, the embrace was returned. "Well, I'll not be 'spouting my Law at my apprentice' as you feared."

"Yeah..." Alaus cringed, remembering his harsh words. "I'm sorry for that... For a lot of things, really."

"I know."

"Well..." Alaus withdrew, after a moment. "Better go back to the drivers so they don't think we're dead. And the Magdell's probably worried as a mouse in a cat bed. And warn 'em we'll have a dragon tailing us," he chuckled. "Tell them you captured him."

"Excuse me!" Rahamuth protested.

Jonnor shot identical glances at his son and the dragon, with an exacerbated sigh. "Not to worry, the estate is in the foothills east of the city. It now flies my standard - I think you'll remember it?" He directed this at the Rahamuth.

"Only too well," he growled back.

"Fly there and wait in the courtyard. And..." Jonnor shook his head. "Try not to scare the servants."

"As you will. Before this, however, may I have a moment with Alaus?"

With a grunt of assent and reluctant nod Jonnor left them to return to the caravan.

Alaus watched him go with a profound sense of relief. "We did it," he laughed. "We actually did it."

Rehamuth stepped beside him. "Yes... It will be all the harder for me to live under the shadow of the man I hate, and no doubt he knows it. It was a test, I think..."

"And I'm sure he wants to keep an eye on you, make sure you don't do anything untoward."

"That too." The dragon shook his head. "Dragons... are not so amenable such rapid change, Alaus."

"I know it'll be hard for you. But try your best, and I'll be there for you."

"You had better," Rahamuth growled. "I do not care to spend the remainder of your lifetime in abstinence."

Alaus elbowed him in the foreclaw. "We'll see, depending on how you behave, eh?"

"Incentive is good." He bared his dagger-filled grin.

Although, Alaus promised Father they would not. He didn't want to break his word, but maybe - just maybe - he and Rahamuth could change Jonnor's mind someday. Maybe it wouldn't bother him when he came to terms with the idea of his son being with a dragon, and a male... Doubtful as it seemed, it was something to work toward.

Jonnor's voice rang out as he got the drivers in order, and Rahamuth shuffled his wings. "It is time we be off. And... Alaus?"

"Yes?"

"I..." The dragon froze, then shook his head. "Never mind. I despise long goodbyes, and I shall see you again soon enough."

"Aye."

Rahamuth bounded into the air, beating his great wings and soaring away. As he angled for their new home, Alaus knew just what he had been trying to say. And though he wasn't sure Rahamuth would ever conquer his pride to say it, and Alaus certainly couldn't muster his courage to admit it himself, they didn't need the words for the fact to be true. Nevertheless, he raised two fingers to his lips, as though to shush himself, and in the barest whisper uttered, "I love you too."

Did he? It seemed right, though he couldn't explain why. Now that he'd said it, just how ludicrous it seemed dawned upon him.

Dammit, he hoped that was what Rahamuth had been trying to say.

Regardless, when the burn in his cheeks subsided, he dashed back to the caravan, eager to face the future and whatever it threw at him.