Chap.6 Xizo
Imported from SF2 with no description.
After a long hot shower and a warm meal, Karma went back downstairs with an assortment of peace offerings: the living room's dense rug, a soft pillow and dinner. Ximiao, however, was still out and slept through the removal of the restraints and the trip to her chain-corner.
Karma considered waking her up. She herself was wide awake and yearned for a mundane exchange with the dragon before the day ended. When thoughts of binding Ximiao to hand-feed her filtered into her head, however, it was deemed wise to just leave. Tomorrow would be a taxing day. A good night's sleep was needed.
Aside from the basement, the house was normal. It had the usual rooms and commodities a successful merchant could afford. It reminded Karma of her days as a student back in the Capital. When life was normal, and undisturbed. There were no grays in those days. The stench of blood was limited to the butchershop downtown, dragons were cool monsters in fantasy tales, and slaves were just slaves…
The bed upstairs was soft, broad and clean. Solid. The room smelt of wood and flowers. Karma laid in there, smiling as she thought of all the months spent sleeping on the floor, on creaky cots, on piles of mussy hay. And the walls! They were solid, thick…No more tents, no more loud inns, no more clumsily put together cabins and mud-huts…
It was midnight when Karma went back downstairs, dressed and panicked. Outside, the world seemed to have disappeared; swallowed by absolute darkness. The wind howled like a tormented ghost. The cold pierced the skin. The thought of stepping foot out of the house was demoralizing, but Bagual would be worried sick. He might just come himself to find out why she hadn't returned home.
“A storm will start." Shilao's hissing voice creeped up behind her. It startled the living shit out of her. “You will die. I sent Xizo to tell your mate. Stay."
“Thank you, Honored Elder. I will go rest."
She hated it when they dropped his name so casually. It would always spark a wave of hope and relief, like perhaps the poor dragon had reappeared and was well…
…but Xizo was gone. Theoretically…
It was a bit of a conundrum. There was no denying the reality of dragon magic…but what she had seen them do so far had precedence in nature. They could see 'raw energy' or its effects. Science had yet to understand how to harvest it as dragons did, simple as that. Just as birds could fly, but they could not yet fly themselves.
Bioluminescence was a feature in some feral species as well. It was caused by bacteria that lived inside their bodies…as other types were present in Canids. So certain parts of some dragons would glow when they got angry; Canids could digest bread and cheese. Their bacteria strains were more practical, to be honest.
Mind reading and manipulation…Well, dreams were a thing and there was no explanation for them. Another natural phenomena that science had yet to understand…
Even if it offended the good people of Freedom Town, Karma would remain skeptical about the more outlandish claims. Like the dragons' capacity to 'shut off all light' or 'turn fire into blue frigid flames'...or turning a bulky good natured dragon into a deformed dog. There was just no way…
…but Bagual did believe in those things. And if Shilao-or even Ximiao-did something to her, Xizo would have ratted them out without hesitation. It was infuriating, really, because the lone arrival of her feral pet would mean exactly the opposite of what Bagual would think, but that's how things were here.
…the strap-ons turned from rubber to throbbing sentient flesh…
…she hadn't thought of Xizo since all this mess started. The topic just didn't have room to be…properly addressed. Those claims…kinda didn't feel so outlandish anymore. Maybe…they could do all these things. It was truely magic. It existed in all its bending-natural-rules glory. Canid believes were wrong. Once more.
…she had masturbated so many times in front of that dog. She had let it lick her worked cunt and sweaty paws…
Karma found herself back in the basement, a blanket and a pillow in her arms. She watched Ximiao sleep, sprawled out on the rug, pillow flung carelessly on one side. It was as if nothing of importance had ever happened to her. Not a trace of worry or anguish in her face.
Resting next to the door, the oil lamp safely set to one side, Karma closed her eyes, and focused on the dragon's deep breathing. She matched its cadence, and strained to focus only on that soft peaceful sound…
The darkness of her closed eyes became unforgivingly cold. Her body was trembling, stiffly curled up. The blanket was there, but as thick as it was, it could provide no warmth.
With a miserable moan, Karma opened aching eyes. The oil lamp was almost dead. In the fading glimmering light, she saw the dragon in the far corner, still out, snoring softly. With a sigh, she got up and left the basement.
The sun was barely peeking out of the horizon. A layer of frost covered the vast grassland surrounding the House. Karma whistled. From the barn came out Doggo. Legs moving in all directions but forward, the beast still propelled himself towards her at an amazing speed. Ears flapping about, tongue out in a wide grin. He stopped 5 meters away from the House. Always there, never an inch closer…
“Come boy…" Karma called out from the door, kneeling down. “...come on….Please, just come…"
She didn't mean to sound so pitiful, but that's how the words came out. And the dog seemed to take pity on her. He braved a step forward, then another and another, until she could hug him. He was as cold as the frost beneath her paws, but Karma held on for a long while.
“Come. Come inside with me…"
The flames took readily to the dry logs. Their golden light chased away the shadows and brought warmth. Karma sat as closed to the fireplace as she dared. Back resting against a couch, and with Doggo's massive head on her lap, she closed her eyes. She missed the rug…
It took a while, but finally, she could picture home. Safe, clean, predictable home…Her tense muscles relaxed as she found herself on her reading chair, the fireplace in her bedroom crackling, the voice of her parents in the background, the smell of a stew…
Doggo snarled and bolted from her lap, scratching her legs. For a disorientating moment, she thought hours have passed. It was just so cold again, the fireplace must have gone out. But the flames were still there…logs barely chewed on…The fire was weak and shrunken. As if also afraid of the creature that had just entered the room.
“The horse came. I told him off."
“Which horse?" Karma growled, feeling the restless sleep on every bone and neuron.
“The one you fuck…You do not fuck the other, do you?"
“NO?!" That hideous noise again. The laughter. Karma covered her ears and glared sullenly at the shrunken flames. “I raped your kin last night. It has started. When will you go, and wait for news?"
The sound stopped.
“When I see her cower at your feet."
The dragon lingered. It was hard not to turn and take a glance at his face. But he had never lingered before. Karma swallowed.
“...do you…a-are you worried? Is there something you want to ask? Or you really just don't…?" There was no word for 'care' in the dragon language. Or maybe she just didn't know it. “Do you feel anything for her, or is she just…a thing for you?"
Silence. Long and heavy. It sparked hope. And the need to confirm was so powerful that Karma turned and dared to look at the dragon in the face.
It was a mosaic of scars and gashes. The skull was half bare, bone where there should be flesh. The few teeth that remained were long, and thin, slicing past thin parched lips. His eyes were pits of blazing light. Holes of white flames. His ears were gone, shredded off…Only the horns remained intact, and rose long and proud. Twice the usual amount. And black, reddish, like they had soaked up so much blood it was now inside of them…
“If you were kin, I would gauge out your eyes."
It was a threat from a creature that had no consequences to fear. But Karma couldn't look away. It was death itself, a real breathing demon, towering over her. She wanted to scream, but couldn't.
…and then the nightmarish rictus changed. Softened. The pits blinked. The dragon reached out with a gnarly bundle of claws…a mug between them...Her stupid Hello Doggy mug…
“...you fill your mind with issues that have no relevance, dog. That is why you are now sickly and cranky."
Karma grabbed the mug, hand shaking. Trance broken, she jerked her head back to the fireplace and stared at it with wide unblinking eyes. It hiccuped, as if sympathizing with her horror.
“...Ximiao is awake. Do not waste time. I want to go home and wait for news sooner rather than later."
And with that, the dragon left. The cold and the stench of death went off with him. Doggo whined as he emerged from behind the couch. He looked at her dead in the face…looking so worried. Karma's heart skipped a beat and she hugged the beast tightly against her. He sighed, leaning in.
The mug had coffee on it. And it was cold and bitter. It enraged her. She hopped to her feet, and marched into the kitchen to make a proper brew. For herself, for Shilao, for Ximiao, and…for poor Xizo. They would all enjoy a hot properly sugared cup of coffee on this shitty cold gray morning. She would make it so.