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Dragons on the Wall

Ithilwen's eyes narrowed as she stared up at the big blue dragon that stood upon the cliff. Their gazes met as she slowly crouched to her knees and pressed her palms to the ground, channeling her magics to move the soil and rock nearby. Her geomancy powers were strong, but she wasn't sure if they would be strong enough to remotely defend against a dragon standing atop cliffs above her.

As she glanced over, she saw that Ceylon was oddly nonchalant about the whole ordeal. Rather than be in a defensive stance or hissing or flaring her feathers out, she was casually curled up to lick herself clean. She had just passed the dragon egg through her birth canal, and her plump equine lips were still tender and swollen from that, so she was licking up the liquids and fluids that were seeping out of her, completely uninterested in the dragons that were standing tall over the two of them.

This made Ithilwen think that perhaps the dragons weren't a threat. Ceylon had a remarkably good gauge of danger, and if she wasn't concerned, that usually indicated that there was no danger.

Regardless of her pet's indifference to the situation, Ithilwen still couldn't ignore how threatening the two dragons were being towards her. The larger blue dragon was lightly growling at her, baring his fangs and flaring out his wings as he slowly crept down over the rocky cliffs towards her, eyes narrowed while the smaller, black dragon hopped in between the larger one's legs. This was a clear display of a threat, which was contradicting Ceylon's actions that said they were friendly.

Still, she kept her palms to the ground and her fingers coursing with her magic, prepared to conjure vines and roots to snare the dragon if she needed to. She clutched at the egg with her forearm against her side, ready for anything.

The dragon leapt off the rocks of the plateau, flapping once before landing next to Ithilwen with a massive thud. She tried to use her magic to snare him in a burst of energy as he leapt, but the tangle of vines missed his feet and tail, which also weakened her due to how much magic energy she used up. Had she been properly prepared and equipped, she could have perhaps fought this dragon off. As it stood, she was mostly naked aside from her top, which meant that her bow and arrows were still in the cave by the fire, as were her many magical staves she could use to conjure flame or ice.

To her surprise, the dragon stopped short of nipping at her, standing tall in place with his wings partially spread out, as if to block the exits in case she chose to run. What surprised her most was that he began to speak. "I am Azuro. I represent the keeper of the eggs. I see you have acquired one for yourself. I must take you with me to our nest, where you will be-"

"You mustn't do a thing." Ithilwen countered, holding the egg in her hand behind her back. She was defiant, as always, but wasn't about to get into a physical altercation with this drake who called himself Azuro. Fitting, since his scales were the color of an azure gem. She wasn't worried about upsetting him, as Ceylon was still off to the side, licking herself without a care.

The dragon paused and tapped his chin, still trying to be intimidating and dominant while also showing that he was reasonable. "Well, you're right, I don't have to take you back to the nest. I could eat you right here and take the golden egg for myself, if I so chose. But I am honorable and loyal to the drakes of the sea, and I will do their bidding. So, if you don't mind, I need for you to come with me."

She narrowed her eyes and held the egg closer, not sure what to make of this. While she was contemplating her next move, the smaller, black dragon hopped up between Azuro's legs, yipping at her like a dog while his horns started to glow purple. While she may have been distracted by the far larger, far more intimidating blue dragon, she couldn't help but notice that the smaller one had cute fuzzy black fur lining his body, and was more like a chimera than a traditionally scaled dragon.

Ithilwen had to actively subdue her desire to crouch down and pet him, since he was being so very cute. He was about the same size as Ceylon, but seemed far more aggressive and angry. He, unlike the larger of the two dragons, didn't speak but instead chirped and growled, hissing lightly to speak.

After a moment of surveying the situation, Ithilwen held the egg close to her chest and stood defiantly. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm on a quest to find an ancient artifact in the caves to the north along these shores, and I will not be sidetracked by dragons, no matter how big or intimidating they may be." She glanced over to Ceylon, who had finally stopped licking herself and was trying to play with the small black dragon, who in turn hissed and growled at her. "And I know you can't force me into anything as long as I have my gryphon."

Azuro glanced down at Ceylon as well, then raised his eyebrow. "Are you sure a gryphon of that size can protect you? I don't imagine she seems the most violent or aggressive, at least not to me."

"She's very magical." Ithilwen countered with a matter-of-fact tone. "She doesn't look like much, but she'll mess you up if you try to force yourself on me."

"I have no real desire to force myself on you, I'm just here doing my duty. Plus, you said you were heading north, right? Well, our nest is north of here along the coast. Who knows, I might be able to help you in your quest by bringing you closer to your destination. All you have to do is come with me and meet with my dragon lord. He'll assess you and decide what's going to happen next before we let you go. Does that sound like a fair trade, my dear?" Azuro stepped back and lowered his wings to show that he was prepared to relax and let her make her decisions. He wasn't a threat.

His proposition sounded very good to Ithilwen, who paused and sidestepped around him to end up next to the cave's opening. "Let me think about it. But for now, I think I'd like to get dressed first. Seems quite odd to ride a dragon while nude."

Azuro raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? I bet it would feel quite nice."

"I'm sure it would, but I'm not prepared for that. Give me a moment, would you?" She turned and grabbed her stuff, quickly stepping back into her pants and wrapping her satchel around her waist. All the while, Ceylon remained out in the clearing between the cave and the treeline with Azuro and the small black dragon, attempting to play and present to him. Cute, but Ithilwen's mind was a bit more concerned with the sudden apprehension of the dragons that followed her out of the caves.

Once she was completely packed up and ready, she stepped out of the cave and stood tall, tapping her thigh to call Ceylon over. The dragon's egg was wrapped up in her satchel, hidden but close to her body. "So, Azuro, tell me what it is you have planned for me."

"Me? I don't have anything planned for you. Our dragon lord requests your presence, as one who can touch the golden egg without falling under our control." He then leaned down on all fours, with his neck and shoulders near the ground to make it easier for Ithilwen to climb aboard.

But his statement made her pause; she needed more information before she allowed herself to commit. "Say that again? The part about controlling me?"

Azuro stood back up with a chirp. "Oh, the eggs are meant to trick unwary adventurers into trying to steal them. They have been enchanted to make it so that any contact with the shell will alert our lord to your presence while also hypnotizing you into doing our bidding for a week. You touched it, yet you're not under our spell, and that is very interesting. We want to find out why."

"You seem to be knowing more and more with every passing minute. Is there anything else you feel the need to withhold from me before I allow myself to be taken by you to your nest up the coast?"

"I can't think of anything, no. I believe that's it. I apologize if you felt I was holding back information from you, that wasn't my intention." He apologized, then bowed respectfully in a way that was not only meant to calm her, but also to offer his back for her to ride upon.

Ithilwen may have not been fully complacent with Azuro's explanation, but Ceylon was still over there on her back, playfully kicking and pawing at the smaller black dragon, so that made her thing that this wasn't as bad as she had worried. With cautious movements, she hopped up onto Azuro's back and leaned down so that she could speak to him via whisper. "Fine. Take me to your dragon lord, but if you have sinister intent, I will command my gryphon to destroy you. She may be small, but her magic is greater than you could ever imagine."

Azuro chuckled at her. "If you say so, miss. If my lord wishes ill on you, I'll protect you myself. Now, hold on tight." He spread his wings and leapt into the sky, his powerful hindquarters uncoiling like a spring to propel him above the treetops with a single flap. He then angled his wings to ease his way northbound, with Ceylon and the other dragon taking up the tailwind soon thereafter.

The wind whipped at her fur and ears, making it near impossible to hear a thing that Azuro said to her. She could see him turn his head and move his lips, but any noise she heard from him was overcome by a storm's worth of wind blowing past them. There were thick, heavy rain clouds dotting the blue sky, which made her worried that they might end up caught in another flash rain while on Azuro's back. Regardless, she wasn't in the best mood, as she didn't know what to expect from the nest.

Together, she and Azuro made their way up the coast for the better part of an hour, with the dragon doing his best to stay above the clifftop plateaus in order to catch every thermal and spend as much time gliding on the rising hot air as possible. The less he flapped, the easier it was for Ithilwen to hold on and not get exhausted; the last thing she needed was to drop the egg through complacency.

However, the hour long trip did give her plenty of time to think about what had been said, what she could gather, and what Ceylon's behaviour might have meant. Azuro had said that the eggs were enchanted, and that anyone who touched them would be hypnotized into doing the dragon's bidding. If this was true, and Ceylon was the first one to touch the egg, then it might mean that Ceylon was under the spell of the dragons and was submitting to them. Perhaps that was why the gryphoness was so complacent and willing to do as commanded. This was one possible explanation, but Ithilwen knew of no magics that could overcome Ceylon's, not even that of a dragon lord.

The other potential option - and the one that Ithilwen was more confident in - was that Ceylon had been drawn to the egg, combated the enchantment before Ithilwen could get to it, and nullified it to ensure that it didn't have an effect on her. Given the relationship she'd acquired with her pet and the level of magical skill the gryphon had exhibited, she was reasonably certain that this was the case.

Either way, she needed to be very conscientious about what happened next. Azuro had said that the dragon lord wanted her for a week, and that was about how long it would have taken her to walk her way up the coast line as far as the dragon had flown in an hour. Worst case scenario, she was still on track to reach the northern caves to find the Eye of the Cat at the same pace she would have if she'd walked the whole way. As far as she was concerned, there wasn't any reason to resist.

Upon finally arriving on the peninsula that stabbed into the ocean, Ithilwen could see that the 'nest' was actually a whole military fort that had been abandoned and re-purposed for the dragon's purposes. It was quite nice looking, as the four walls of the fort were all serving as a bowl, with a combination of rock, fur, feathers, and various other beddings all making up a more traditional looking nest area inside. Around the edges, dozens of massive dragons perched upon the wall, with smaller ones milling about inside the nest area. Finally, to the northernmost peak of the peninsula was a massive black and red dragon, thrice the size of any of the others and four times the size of Azuro.

This was likely the dragon lord that ran the nest. For a moment, Ithilwen started to get worried.

She didn't have much time to dwell beyond that, though, for Azuro quickly tilted and dove downwards, doing a barrel roll and a flip before landing daintily on the edge of the nest to make a half dozen of the smaller dragons scatter. Two of the nearest full sized saurossins on either side of him gently nipped, playfully growling and chirping to welcome him to the fold.

"This is where we part ways my dear." Azuro instructed as he crept down on the ground to let her hop off his back. "Be truthful, be honest, and be fearless. You'll be fine."

She did as instructed by hopping off and giving his neck a gentle pat while Ceylon glided down onto her from behind, landing daintily on her shoulder. Luckily for her, she remembered to strap on her shoulder pad made of leather and hide to ensure that the gryphon's claws didn't dig into her.

When Ceylon landed, however, something strange happened. Every single dragon stepped back away from her, forming a path between where she and Azuro landed and the northernmost peak where the massive black and red dragon remained. It appeared, to her, as if they were waiting for her and were standing on ceremony to guide her to their leader. This could have been daunting and scary, but Ceylon was gently preening and nuzzling at her neck to calm her. As long as Ceylon was by her side, she knew there was nothing that anyone could to to harm her, not even a dragon the size of a building.

That was, unless the enchantment had worked and Ceylon was under their spell.

No point in worrying about that, though. Ithilwen knew that, with this many dragons both small and large around her, she was either going to be fine or she wasn't. There was no middle ground in there. If Ceylon couldn't save her and the hoard wanted her for a meal, there wasn't much she could do. At this point, her fate was up to the beasts that stood around her on all sides. The comfort in knowing that allowed her to speak and act with the confidence that Azuro had suggested.

She walked through the pathway that the dragons had left for her, stepping over the soft rocks, branches, and fur that made the bed of the nest. Dozens of tiny dragons, each between the size of a large dog or small pony were filling the majority of the nest, with the larger ones farther out. By the time she made it half way through the path and was in the very middle, lowest part of the nest, where she could only look up at the scores of dragons surrounding her. Behind her, the dragons squeezed in together so she couldn't back out.

Ithilwen was starting to get worried, so she looked over at Ceylon to gauge her responses. The gryphon was still casually resting on her shoulder, licking her talons in between nuzzling at Ithilwen's ears. Good, she was still calm, which meant that they weren't in any danger, yet as time went on it was less and less reassuring, for the dragon lord was standing tall over her, his wings blocking out the sun.

In an effort to be confident and to not let her concerns overcome her, Ithilwen spoke up first. "So, lord of dragons, what is it that you need from me? Do you want your egg back or something?"

He huffed and blew a cloud of smoke over her, irritating Ceylon in the process. "The question is not why I summoned you here, but how you were able to do so of your own volition. The enchantment on that dragon's egg gem was quite powerful, and I certainly don't detect great strength within you, wolfess. So tell me, what of your pillaged relics has granted you the ability to remove enchantments? What have you done to resist the power of our collective minds?" While the dragon lord seemed irked by what he perceived as Ithilwen's defiance of him, he seemed more curious than anything else.

That's why she considered confessing that it was Ceylon who protected her. However, as she began to speak to the dragon lord one of the small dragons - a red and gold scaled beast - leapt forward and started clawing at her satchel to try and get at one of her staves. Ceylon turned and hissed, eyes glowing blue before a burst of clear physical magic erupted between them, knocking the dragon back into a gaggle of his companions. Her pet then hunched down and narrowed her gaze while every feather tip and strand of fur sizzled with the light sounds of crackling electricity and tiny blue arcs of lightning bridged between the two of them.

"And there you have it. Ceylon here is the one who ensures that opportunistic dragons such as yourselves don't take advantage of me. I don't know how, but she probably nullified your enchantment one way or another. I'd say take it out on her, but that would almost certainly spell your doom. It seems like you've got a nice thing going on here, and I wouldn't want to disrupt that; I just want to head north to the caverns there, preferably without too many interruptions or distractions." She smugly reached over and rubbed at Ceylon's cheek and neck, preening her pet to show she cared.

In response, Ceylon leaned back into her and ran her beak through Ithilwen's hair before turning her attention back to the dragon lord.

He wasn't at all impressed. "That puny creature? Hah! I won't be fooled by your pathetic ruse. No gryphon of that age could possibly compete with the power of a dragon's enchantment. No gryphon can compete with a dragon for sheer power of magic, for that matter! I will ask you one more time, foolish bitch, how did you-"

"Would you shut up?" She interrupted him knowing exactly where he was going with that.

The dragon lord roared and growled as he lowered his head next to her, blowing a cloud of smoke over her to annoy her as he snarled at her. "Excuse me? What did you say?"

Ithilwen cracked a half grin as she glanced over to Ceylon. "You heard me, mister dragon lord. I told you to shut up, because I can't be bothered listening to your trite display of aggression. I get it, you don't believe me, you want to find out how I did it so you can steal a staff from me or subdue me and force me into servitude or something. I get it, I've met many like you over the past couple of years, and not a single entity has ever come close to conquering me or my gryphon here." She grabbed a bit of jerky from her satchel and fed it to Ceylon as a sort of thanks. "I know that's crazy to you, I know you're going to try your best to force me into an answer you like, but you'll just get hurt. I don't want that unless you do something to hurt me or Ceylon here. If you don't hurt me, I won't hurt you."

His massive red eyes narrowed as he darted his gaze from Ithilwen to Ceylon and back again, flipping between the two with a look of disbelief. "Are you sure you want to gamble your life on this gryphon hatchling? Look at her, she can't be more than a few months old, and I don't feel any power coming from her. Clearly you're bluffing."

With a shrug, Ithilwen shook her head slowly. "If you want to take that risk, you go ahead and attack me. Either I'm remarkably foolish or I'm telling the truth, and considering I managed to override your enchantment, I am pretty sure I'm more likely the latter. So you go ahead, eat me. Crush me underfoot. Bite me in half. You do what you have to do to prove your point, and I'll let Ceylon here decide if you live or not." She was only half convinced of her own words, but was putting forth a strong image in order to perhaps dissuade the dragon lord from taking a risk. For all she knew, the enchantment did work on Ceylon and she was simply playing along. Ithilwen couldn't know for sure.

The dragon lord paused a moment as he contemplated just what he wanted to say or do next. While it was clear he didn't believe her, he was having reservations on calling her bluff because she had somehow managed to nullify the enchantment, and it was clear by the look in his eye that he had full faith in that enchantment, or it wouldn't be an issue to him. If the enchantment was unreliable then he could disregard her evasion of it, but it wasn't unreliable so he had to take that into consideration.

"I call a meeting of the sky council." He bellowed out as he stood tall, his head five times higher off the nest than Ithilwen's. "We shall meet beyond the peninsula in ten mi-"

"Don't bother." Ithilwen called up to him. "I have a better idea."

He growled again. "You dare test me, wolf bitch? I could have you torn into a thousand-"

"Don't bother." She repeated, interrupting him a second time. Part of her was eager to see what would happen if this dragon lord attacked her and what Ceylon would do, since she had the slightest touch of sadism inside her. It wasn't a part of her that came out often, but when someone tested her patience or threatened her, it was hard to not indulge in their imminent suffering. Still, she explained herself. "I am willing to submit myself to whatever slavery you'd intended for two days, just shut up and stop trying to sound dominant and aggressive all the time. It makes you look a fool and I'm growing weary of listening to your brash nonsense."

He cocked his head to the side and flicked his ear frills. "What exactly do you mean?" Oddly enough, he didn't bother chastising her or threatening her over her insult. This showed that she had caught him off guard and that he was likely open to listening, now.

"When your dragon Azuro brought me here, he explained that the egg was enchanted with the purpose of hypnotizing unwary blokes such as myself so that they may be used for a week here at the nest atop the cliffs. I presume, based off the fact that this nest is the apex of a series of tunnels forming a hive in the cliffs beneath us, that the purpose you had for me was with digging those tunnels or making them nicer. I am a geomancer, so such actions would be quite easy for me. Now, I can tell by how you speak and the dilation in your eyes that you believe that I possess the power I claim, but you want to test me or force me into servitude, so I offer a compromise. I'll give you what you want in exchange for the lift you've given me, cutting days off my journey to the northern caves. Deal?"

The incessant chirping and growling of the dragons around her went silent as the dragon lord was caught off guard once again. He opened his vast maw to speak, but sputtered and belched smoke before stopping to stare her in the face, lowering his eyes to her level. "I accept your terms. Now get to work. Azuro and Darkoh will escort you to the tunnels to give you work. Two days. Forty hours, do you understand? Not a second less of work." He huffed angrily and turned away, spreading is legs and leaping out over the sea while using the updraft from the breeze to buoy him.

Ithilwen grinned and nodded, smugly acknowledging that she had won this discussion, and by her calculations had cut three days off the travel time to the northernmost caves where she could expect to finally find the Eye of the Cat: a gem that would allow her to control and read the minds of others.

She did think to ask who Darkoh was, but the dragon lord was long gone towards the horizon by then, leaving her surrounded on all sides by hundreds of dragons of all shapes and sizes. Most would have been worried about being in such a situation, but Ithilwen had handled herself quite well and was confident that she had the upper hand, especially now that Ceylon had so clearly done something to the egg to ensure that she could touch it without consequence.

Or, at least without negative consequence. She would soon find out the truth of Ceylon's counter spell on the golden dragon egg, and what it meant for her adventures.

As expected, she was quite soon introduced to Darkoh, finding out who it was that would be escorting her to the mines and the mazelike paths of the underground nest. Darkoh was actually the cute black furred dragon that had greeted her at the escarpment alongside Azuro, but it was weird because he didn't seem to speak despite being intelligent. Instead, he would chirp and make motions with his glowing purple horns and the long whiskers that sprouted from his cheeks.

Down they went into the tunnels together, exploring the many twists and turns and forks in the underground lair that seemed to spread far south from the shores and under the tropical basin that Filled much of the land. The hive was massive, but that made complete sense given the fact that it was home to what must have been thousands of smaller dragons and hundreds of larger specimens.

Ithilwen was taking inventory on the populace, coming to realize that it was about a ten to one ratio comparing small dragons to large dragons, with ten the size of cats or dogs to one that was larger than a draft stallion all the way up to the black and red scaled dragon lord, larger than any other saurian she'd seen on land. Very interesting, but there was also a distinct difference in features between the two types, with the larger ones being true dragons, with four limbs, two wings, and a tail while the smaller ones were more frequently wyvern-like, with two hind legs, and the wings functioning as front legs.

Few of them bothered to speak to Ithilwen, instead choosing to grunt and hiss and point to where she was to go after having Azuro and Darkoh explain to them what was going on. This was fine and well, because Ithilwen was keeping an eye on Ceylon to see if her pet every seemed worried, only to find Ceylon had pretty much given up and was sleeping while wrapped around her neck. Again, she needed not remind herself that if Ceylon was comfortable and relaxed, she had nothing to fear.

Once she finally made it to the end of the tunnels and was shown her excavation site, she felt like she was already prepared to enjoy her first break. After walking for a solid hour and a half to get there, all while struggling to share air with thousands of dragons, she was physically exhausted. Despite this, she knew that the type of magic she needed to utilize wasn't very taxing on her spirit or body, so she went to work almost immediately.

Her geomancy skills were able to loosen up the dirt and rock, making it much, much easier for the dragons to claw and scrape and chip away at the walls to dig deeper and extend their reach into the underground of the northern regions.

Hours passed with her tending to the tunnels, aiding the excavation while keeping a keen eye out on the dragons who were working with her. She noticed, as time went on, that they were staring at her in longer and longer intervals, their eyes focusing on her rump followed by a lick of their lips. She knew what this meant, and wasn't sure if she was ready to deal with such attention, at least not yet.

She was pretty horny, and the thought of being taken by dozens of dragons one by one was appealing, but the dragon lord's warning made it clear that he expected a full forty hours of work from her before she would be released and let out, a term she had agreed to happily in the interest of keeping the peace and perhaps making allies. However, that also meant that any time spent not digging or carving at the cave walls was wasted, more time put between her and the Eye of the Cat.

So she persisted, not letting up while ensuring to use as little magic as she could on her degradation geomancy spells. This, however, didn't stop her from growing weary over time, weakening her to the point where she needed to take a break.

After a few hours of persistent work, she found a rock to sit on and relaxed a bit, taking some time to herself. Her apparent laziness drew the ire of some of the dragons, who bit at her calves and growled at her until she got up and continued working. She considered using her magic to shock them or freeze some of their scales off, but she was too weak to do that and figured it'd just result in getting bitten again. Instead, she begrudgingly went back to work, weakening the rock of the tunnels.

In those hours, she and the crew of dragons managed to claw their way through an impressive kilometer long tunnel wide enough to fit even the largest of the dragons. She used her spells to soften the rock, while the large dragons clawed and scraped until it crumbled down, then had the tiny dragons take the resulting rubble out in wheelbarrows and trailers hitched to their hips. Azuro told her that this was easily four times the speed they normally went, as her magics made the job substantially easier.

She was of course quite proud, until he made the joke that this would inspire the dragon lord to find an excuse to keep her working here forever, thus using her for slave labor in their underground expanse expedition, sealing her off from the outside world.

"Well, I guess that's enough from me today." She said, throwing her hands up and halting her spell. "I need to eat, and it's getting late. We can start tomorrow."

That's when one of the smaller wyverns, an orange scaled beastie with a particularly long tail, leapt out at her to claw at her face only to be intercepted mid-pounce by Darkoh, who pushed him off and hissed in defiance. He was protecting her, which made her laugh a bit, but then wonder why Ceylon wasn't getting involved.

"I don't get it." She said, raising an eyebrow. "Do these pesky pipsqueaks actually expect me to do forty hours of nonstop magic without sleep, food, or rest?" She asked with a hint of ire in her voice.

Azuro shook his head. "No, but...you know what? I don't know why they're being so annoyed with you. We've had plenty of non-dragons help us with the excavation before, so it's not a race thing. Wait, I think I know what it is, but, uh..." He paused and blushed, looking away.

"What is it, Azuro. Come on, speak up." She had an idea of what he was thinking, but wanted to hear him say it instead of assume.

He hummed and chirped and tried his best to look and act innocent, but was eventually able to speak. "Well, every other slave we've had has been hypnotized and under the spell of the egg, and given their size and stature, few are really expected to actually help with the excavation. I think their slave terms were more about, erm, pleasuring the workers and keeping morale up." It was clear he was uncomfortable talking about this aspect of the agreement, even if it seemed it was a common event.

Ithilwen couldn't help but laugh a bit, lightly patting him on the shoulder. "Oh Azuro, if that was all that was holding them back, you should have told me so! I'm more than happy to indulge them if it means getting out of here faster." She then slipped her hand into her bag, pressing her palm against the egg to half-consciously make sure it was still there and ensure that it hadn't been lifted off her. The cool feel of the golden scales assured her that it was fine and in safe keeping, at least for the moment. At that same time she was thinking about having a big, delicious roast on a bed of greens, glazed with honey, and caramelized on the outside. Her desire was oddly specific, but it still made her drool and smile.

"So, uh, does that mean you will..." Azuro went to ask, only to pause when he realized he may have been a little too forthright with her.

She nodded. "I will, but not until I get something to eat. I'm really not in the mood to be mounted on an empty stomach." She paused to hear her gut growl as she laid her hand upon it. "Though that is probably the best time to do anal, really."

Azuro seemed a little squicked at the thought, but then called Darkoh over to him. He whispered in the smaller dragon's ear before Darkoh dashed off back from the source of the tunnels. "He'll be sure to bring you something good. Well, probably good; dragons will eat just about anything, so you'll be lucky to get something properly cooked. If that happens, I'll ensure one of our workers uses some fire breath on it."

"Sound like a plan." Ithilwen agreed, then sighed as she sat heavy on the rock again. "but I can't do anything until I've got a meal and a drink in me. And no, cum doesn't count as a drink or a meal." She winked playfully as she ran her fingers through her hair, careful to not disturb Ceylon from her shoulders. Her pet was sleeping, and she didn't wish to wake her.

Hours passed before Darkoh returned with a larger dragon carrying a massive platter upon his back. This surprised Ithilwen a bit, as she had been told by Azuro to expect the least when it came to the quality of the meat given to her. Instead, it appeared that she was being treated as royalty with a silver platter covered in a cloche big enough to fit her entire body thrice over. Azuro seemed shocked.

"What's all this?" She asked, groaning a bit as the first whiff of the smell of the food washed over her. She was so very hungry and had been hours prior, so she felt like she was withering away.

Azuro mimicked her curiosity. "Yeah, what's with all this?"

The larger dragon that carried the platter upon his back shrugged. "The dragon lord insisted that we feed our distinguished guest well. No idea why, but I do as I'm told." He reached back and grabbed the cloche, pulling it off to reveal a whole ulokar roast upon a bed of greens, glistening with the glaze of honey that covered its hide.

An oddly specific meal, matching exactly what Ithilwen had been fantasizing about when she cradled the egg earlier. This made her mind start to rush with theories and hypotheses, but at this time her belly was in control so she barely had enough time to contemplate the power of the egg before she indulged herself. She reached out to try and peel off a layer of the succulent, juicy flesh only to have Azuro help her out by using his claw to peel it all back.

Together, the two of them alongside Darkoh and a few others of the more friendly wyverns of the crew enjoyed the roast in its entirety, including the bed of tasty, herb-like greens on which the roast lie. It was a truly delicious feast, especially for her and Ceylon, but it made her feel awkward the entire time she was eating. It was too perfect of a meal for her, and there was no way the dragons would have known to make it this way without her direct influence. She had to figure out why it happened like that.

Were they reading her mind? Did Ceylon's enchantment break the hypnotism spell of the egg but not the mind linking? Was it lucky? Did Ceylon herself broadcast those desires to the dragons on Ithilwen's behalf? That had happened before, where Ithilwen had conjured up the image of her desired meal only to have it made within the hour for her. This only happened when around Ceylon, so it would make sense, given the context and her pet's apparent nap.

The only other explanation she could think of at the time - and the one that made her feel the most empowered - was that perhaps the spell had been reversed, and that she could actually use the egg to control or influence the mind of the dragons instead of the dragon lord doing that to her!

A fantasy, of course, but one worth testing out now that she was done her meal.

She patted her full belly with one hand while slipping her other into her satchel, focusing on the pleasures of having someone come over and massage her back. In her mind, she could clearly see the paws on her shoulders, occasionally reaching up to caress the back of her neck under her hair. She wanted to see if this inspired any of the dragons to help her out and loosen her up a bit.

When nothing happened immediately, she quickly dismissed her fantasy and moved on to steal another bite of the roast, only to have a random wyvern wrap his wings around her back, the hand-like appendage at the crook of said wing wrapped around her neck! She tensed up lightly, shocked at first, but then relaxed as the wyvern started knuckling up and down her back, clearly attempting a massage.

Her eyes went wide as the realization dawned on her. She wasn't entirely sure of what this meant or the extent of how this worked, but it was clear by this that she could at least influence the dragons to do her bidding! With this reverse-enchanted dragon egg, she might not even need to seek out the Eye of the Cat. If she had an egg that could allow her to influence others at will, then she really didn't need to worry about something that only let her see into the minds of others. Sure, the eye of the Cat would have given her special insight into others, allowing her to manipulate and control people by offering their innermost desires or allowing her to perfectly barter and negotiate, but this was different.

Ithilwen possessed an inquisitive mind and a desire for power, so she spent the next half hour or so testing her theories about the golden dragon's egg by conceptualizing a dozen different random and questionable scenarios and desires to see if she could get any of the dragons or wyverns to obey her will and do her bidding. She expressed interest in a specific rock, and the nearest of the wyverns picked it up in his jaws and carried it over to her. She wanted to go for a dragon ride, so a larger dragon came and crouched next to her until she climbed atop his body as she waited to be carried around. She was thirsty, so a dragon brought her a whole barrel of fresh water from the surface.

It didn't matter what she wanted or what she demanded, at least one of the dragons were there to tend to her. As a joke, she wished for her toes to be licked, and two different wyverns leaned in to give each foot of hers a tongue bath, sliding their forked appendages between her toes and coiling around.

This gave her the confidence she needed to boldly decide that it was time to leave, so she commanded the nearest of the larger dragons to take her out of the caverns and back to the nest, a demand that was happily fulfilled by a nice looking dragon with bronze and blue scales that tossed her onto his back before trotting his way backwards through the cavern. The truest test of the will of her enchanted egg was to see if anyone stopped them or chased them out.

When no single dragon or wyvern apprehended them, Ithilwen realized that, at least in theory, she had commanded full control over this hive, at least in one way. She wasn't prepared to test the absolute limits of this theory, such as commanding one to kill another or commit self harm to really see what sort of control she held over others, but she could still tell that there was a good chance it worked.

If it didn't work the way she hypothesized, then it was an interesting mix of mind reading and a hive-wide act of subterfuge to make her think it was working. Either way, she was going to see what she could do to make the best of this situation by leaving this place and hitching a ride on a dragon for the last leg of her journey to the northern caves to acquire the Eye of the Cat.

All the while, Ceylon remained curled up on her shoulder, perched and sleeping with her body wrapped around Ithilwen's neck, comfortable and unconcerned. Perhaps she knew what she did to the egg and how the enchantment would be somehow reversed.

Regardless of what any of that meant, Ithilwen knew it was time to get on with her life.

Normally, Ithilwen would have felt a sense of camaraderie towards those who would help her - even if through unconventional or accidental means - but the dragon lord of this nest seemed pretty intent on expressing command over her and was petulant when he came to realize for certain that he did not possess that control. He also would have eaten her in two bites if not for the fact that Ithilwen had convinced him that Ceylon's magic was strong, and that her conviction was so pure that he didn't feel any insecurities in her.

She seriously considered using this magic to wreak havoc on the dragon lord, but decided instead to keep her escape relatively low key. She wanted to leave on her own terms, not make enemies of an entire hive's worth of dragons big and small.

Eventually - after more than an hour of casual but expedient riding of the bronze and blue dragon - she made it back to the fort that had been repurposed as a nest and entry point for the dragon's tunnels, where she found that she had either not been underground as long as she thought, or had been there much longer. The skies were blue, indicating it was either the next morning, or nightfall hadn't covered the land, yet. Either way, being underground clearly had messed with her perception of time.

There, she reached into her bag to grab the egg, pulling it out of her satchel and holding it up for all to see. "I'm leaving." She said. "It's been a lot of fun, but I have things to do and places to be."

Of the dozens of dragons that were laying around the nest and perched upon the walls of the fort that housed it, not a single one paid her any mind. Odd, considering their hive mind had earlier seemed to let them all know that she was important, so it wasn't like they were unable to realize her status as a temporary slave of the hive. They knew, and she knew they knew, yet none seemed to care.

In a way, this seemed to disappoint her greatly, as she felt she had somehow cheated them out of the affection they had come to expect from their slaves. It didn't feel right to her to find such a loophole by stumbling upon it instead of rigorously testing until she devised a solution. Because of that, she stopped atop one of the walls before hopping down, and turned to face the nest of dragons all laid out before her. Some were walking, some were laying down, many were preening and playing with each other, but none of them were paying attention to her.

She wanted them to pay attention to her. Being ignored was disappointing and she hated it.

Having bolstered her confidence and convinced herself of the effectiveness of the enchantment on the egg as well as her solidarity with Ceylon, she decided it was time to truly test the limits of what she could get away with while also using them for the same sort of pleasure in which they had intended to use her. It was time for her to get naked, and for her so show a bit of fur for these dragons.

Though she was careful to not drop the egg, she was very vigorous in untying her pants, removing her satchel, and shuffling Ceylon and the leather shoulder pad she was on off to the side. This left her clothed on her upper half, but fully exposed from the waist down. She wagged her tail and grinned, glancing across the nest as she began to think about what it was that she wanted these dragons to do to her, but had Ceylon squawk up at her with a look of concern first.

"It's fine, Ceylon, we'll see what happens." She assured her pet, only to look up and see that every single dragon had stopped dead in their tracks to stare at her, eyes glowing golden. "Okay, maybe it's not the best idea to fantasize about that." She said, gulping gently in between thoughts.

Before she had the opportunity to change her mind or alter her subconscious demands, every single dragon and wyvern on the surface of the nest took off running towards her, barreling into her in waves with enough force to knock the egg out of her hand and onto the ground next to her. Despite her having lost contact with it, they continued to leap on her, growling and snarling and snapping at her without actually biting her. Even in her now-panicked state, she knew that the command was locked in and that the only way to undo it was to recapture the egg and command them to leave her be.

Problem was, the weight of a dozen, heavy-bodied dragons and wyverns were all pinning her to the ground on her back, knocking the wind out of her and keeping her from moving. She tried to squirm, to roll onto all fours so she could crawl out of the gnashing, writhing pile of scales and exposed dragon cocks, but every time she moved, one of them would jab at her with their snout to keep her down on the ground. They were so ravenous and so aggressive that she couldn't make out one dragon from the next, as their scales were in the same quadrant of the gradient scale and blended in.

The only things she could see clearly were the exposed, glistening rods of every male dragon's cock stabbing and rubbing against her while they each squirted their own concoction into her fur and on her tunic. She also was able to see through the shifting mass of scales her pet gryphon, laying off to the side and licking herself while casually glancing over at Ithilwen as if to say 'you did this to yourself' while nonchalantly ignoring her plight.

She silently cursed Ceylon for this, but acknowledged that her judging glare spoke the truth. This was her own fault, and she had nobody to blame but herself for so foolishly demanding such attention from the dragons and wyverns of this well populated nest. While in the middle of internally scolding herself, she felt a rough snout force its way through her thighs, parting her legs and lapping vigorously at her cunt, the long forked tongue plunging into her depths and poking at her womb. She tried to look down and get a glimpse of the dragon that was doing it, but saw only the gnashing mass of scales and wings and cocks.

So many cocks.

In fact, the cocks were the only thing she found she could focus on! Knotted cocks, ridges cocks, cocks with barbs, hemipenes, scaled cocks, cocks with wavy veins lining their sides, serpentine cocks with a thicker head than shaft, and even dolphin like tapered tendril cocks! All sorts of cocks, and every one of them was subtly different from the others, boasting a slight difference in size, shape, and features. If she wasn't so terrified of what they could do to her, she'd have been remarkably aroused.

Actually, she was quite aroused in spite of the danger she found herself. The command she'd broadcast to the dragons wasn't one of ravenously raping her, but of mating with her. The vigor in which they'd taken to that command was probably more indicative of their pent up arousal and natural instincts than any violent intent. With that said, she didn't have much time to ponder the nature of her folly before she felt the tongue slurping out of her to leave her empty, followed by a jabbing of a flared cock tip being thrust at her loins.

She could have clenched up, or she could have twisted and closed her legs or made it harder for this dragon to penetrate her, but the truth was that she wanted it. She desired his cock inside her, and was happy to help him make that a reality. As such, she lifted her hips and angled herself just right, resisting the weight of the other dragons all crawling over her and pinning her down to expose her blue-fleshed pussy to the dragon's jerking and precum-squirting member.

His instincts served him well, and he was able to press his flared out cock tip to her lips, the spongy mass of it squishing as it was forced into her with a pop! She gasped as best she could against the writhing mass of bodies that swarmed over her, shuddering in delight as the hot flesh of the dragon's cock filled her and plunged deep. The flared tip touched at her womb and expanded inside her, quickly filling her with a brazen, high temperature load into her depths, the dragon having climaxed already.

Content, the first dragon pulled away, his expanded cock flare tugging at her depths before being sucked out alongside a bunch of the fluids of arousal that her walls had concocted in the minute or less between penetration and his ejaculation. His extraction was smooth and make a sucking, smack sound on the way out as his flare gave her lips one last parting kiss followed by a belch of his seed all over her loins and inner thighs before hopping off and leaving her for the next of the dragons.

Almost instantly, another one leapt into the first one's place and didn't even bother licking up any mess before mounting and thrusting into her. His cock slipped into her with ease, as it was a tapered, relatively texture free member with intense muscle control that allowed it to writhe and wiggle about, pressing against her walls like a corkscrew without thrusting or twisting. Much to Ithilwen's delight, he seemed to know exactly where to press the most pressure and rub from side to side: her anterior wall just beyond her clit pressing up against her abdomen from within.

In a shock to her as much as it likely was to him, she felt a gush emerge from her depths as an explosion of pleasure rocked his body, her opening spraying her own lubricants down his shaft in a juicy female orgasm. Her explosion of delight was so powerful she was even able to push some of the wyverns off her body, at least for a moment, while her loins clenched tight around the dragon's member, which in turn triggered his orgasm to jet his seed deep into her, his more silken mess mixing with the creamy, gummy plug left by the first dragon.

Again, the second one hopped off her and left her entire lower end exposed to the other members of the nest, but that only lasted a few seconds before another dragon pounced on her, jamming his cock into her loosened and soaked cunt within seconds, plunging the entire length into her with such a fluid and powerful motion that she was scuttled across the dirt and errant fur of the nest.

The power in which he'd bucked into her allowed her to glance out from under the pile of dragons to see the egg, with Ceylon curled up around it for safe keeping. While she was adamant that she wanted to more accurately hone and refine her command to mate with her one at a time instead of all at once, she knew Ceylon had her best interests at heart, and trusted her pet with the egg enough to let it go. At least for a short while.

This third dragon was about twice the size as the other two, and his cock had to be twice the diameter and twice the length, which meant only half of it got buried into her depths, the girth of the wavy ridges all moving like a slithering snake against the walls of her pussy to suck out the sperm from the prior two, the resulting mess soaking her tail and rump hole before he bucked again, exploding his seed into her, replacing the first two. He thrust, and he bucked, and he grinded with feral vigor time and time again until he seemed to get bored and wander off, his thick shaft pulling out of her, sucking at her depths like a plunger before leaving her gaping and creampied.

Three down, three dozen more to go. At least that's what she told herself as she struggled to take in a breath, gulping heavily while spreading her legs to better expose herself to the rest of the dragons.

Next in line wasn't a male, but a female. This dragoness was the size of Azura, a true dragon instead of a wyvern. Ithilwen could tell it was female by the girth of her torso, and the strength in her body compared to the males. She stood tall, regal instead of desperate like the males, which made all the dog-sized wyverns scatter away from her, leaving webbed trails of cum splashed over the sticks and fur an feathers of the nest.

She stepped over Ithilwen, standing tall and glaring down at her with a devious grin. The dragoness paused, which gave Ithilwen time to gain her composure and turn to dive towards the egg that Ceylon held, only the dragoness wasn't pausing, she was preparing. The larger female pinned Ithilwen down on her chest with one of her front talons, holding her there with all her weight as her pussy spread and folded outwards, an ovipositor emerging from her depths to curl around and press up under Ithilwen's tail, the tip of it squirming around to find the wolfess' plump, well lubed vulva.

Like a cock, the ovipositor plunged itself deep the moment it felt its mark, squirming and writhing its way deeper until their both of their cervix kissed one another, a thick slime emerging from the dragoness to temporarily fuse them and dilate the opening from one womb to the next.

Before Ithilwen could protest or really do anything about this, she felt her depths tingling and dilating as if she were giving birth or laying a clutch as the first of the eggs were pumped out of the dragoness and into her. The writhing, pulsating tube of ovipositor didn't thrust or squirm, but it did clench and squeeze just right, dilating Ithilwen's passage from vulva to cervix in one gulping motion as her womb opened up and swallowed the first egg, which was about the size of a fist.

Though she had sort of hoped that the dragoness was only depositing one, she wasn't that lucky. Again and again, more eggs were squeezed and pushed into her, only to have her uterus expand and gulp each one down in sequence, dilating and widening with each new orb until she had a dozen inside of her all at once, a distinct, clutch-ridged belly bulge forming in her abdomen. She wasn't in pain, for the numbing and tingling she felt when the dragoness' cervix fused with hers had somehow made her feel more numb the deeper they went. She did, however, still feel everything around her vulva and just deep enough to hit her most sensitive spot just inside.

This meant that she was barely lucid due to how much pleasure she was feeling. Three matings and an egg deposit in less than ten minutes was rather intense, and as she glanced around to see that the males were all standing around her, she knew that she was nowhere near done yet.

The female dragon released her hold on Ithilwen's back as her ovipositor's end released its fused hold on the canine's cervix before it folded itself back up into her cloaca, the length of it slurping back up between the parted ventral scales in one fluid motion, the lubricant being squeezed off the length of it to soak her between the legs. This mess was quickly cleaned up by the many waiting dragons and wyverns, each of which took turns using their tongue to lick at her until she was spotless.

It seemed the dragoness was somehow more dominant than all of the males, without question.

After that, however, much of the rest of Ithilwen's experiences were a blur. Once the female pulled up off her, she didn't even bother trying to scramble for the egg or escape; instead she just laid there with her rump in the air, tail curled up over her lower back, knees parted, and pussy exposed to the dozens of dragons that crowded round her, all waiting to fertilize the eggs inside her.

Within seconds of the dragoness turning to leave - having finished her business quite easily - all of the dragons pounced Ithilwen a second time, only now they were a bit more dignified and a bit more civil in their ravaging of her flesh. Still, that didn't stop them from piling up and pinning her down so they could take her one by one, each pumping their own sample of seed int her depths.

She handled the gauntlet of scales with as much poise as possible, relaxing her pelvic regions enough so that any of the dragons could mount and penetrate her with ease. Most were rather uniform in thickness, with light ridges, ribs, bumps, or scales, but some had knots, some had flares, and some had spines around the head that tugged on her flesh to help trigger the drake's orgasms. She went from one that had an inverse taper - thin at the base, thick at the head - that loosened her up to one with a massive, three lobed knot that tied them together, but then he was in such a rush to dismount that the knot popped out of her and left her gaping as a trail of cummy slime trickled out of her.

Some of them buried their snout in her to taste the seed of the prior drakes, others tried to over stay their welcome by refusing to dismount, which lead to a fight on her back over who got her next, the knot of the reluctant partner tugging and yanking at her before being violently ripped out of her. Then, the next two couldn't decide who went first, so they both went at the same time, their ridged and bulging shafts alternating pumps and thrusts to form suction inside her that sucked out all the cum that hadn't been absorbed by her womb to fertilize her eggs.

One after another, they took turns, mounting and dismounting in quick succession, thrusting into her and penetrating her with such vigorous disregard that she quickly found she could barely clench her muscles or hold in a knot. Some of the dragons near the end would mount, pop in, have their knot inflate inside, then pull out within less than a minute, as her cunt had been completely destroyed by no less than three dozen dragons, probably a lot more. After an hour of being ravaged, she stopped noticing when one left and another began.

By noon, when the sun was in the sky and the clouds were dotting the horizon, the final of the wyverns mounted her, tenderly licking at her cheek as he slowly thrust into her, rhythmically grinding against her loins while the lube of so many others helped make her tender and swollen. She was absolutely wrecked, yet this final dragon seemed so much nicer to her than the others. When she glanced back, she saw it was Azuro who had licked her, not the one who was mounting her, who had been watching the whole time as the pack of wyverns had their way with her - some twice or more.

He quietly licked her again as the black furred dragon finished up inside her, allowing his member to slide out, leaving her sopping wet and coated in dragon cum from the waist down. Though she wasn't a fan of gaping, she couldn't help it. After being taken by that many drakes with every variation on cock formation, every single cell of her pussy was throbbing and swollen, pulsating with her every heartbeat and squishing out the collected concoction of cum from the many drakes.

The final dragon chirped happily as he buried his snout under her tail, tongue lapping at her dilated folds in an attempt to get every last drop of cum out of her and off her flesh. He preened at her fur, rubbed her haunches, nipped at her rump and worked her over until she was completely clean. Only then did she feel like she was prepared to get to her feet and collect her stuff, but every attempt to stand straight had her knees buckling and her falling back into a squatting position.

Hours passed as she groaned and reveled in the lingering orgasmic delight that had overcome her thanks to the dozens of drakes that had their way with her one right after another, some two at a time. She was weak, she was hungry, and she was exhausted, but eventually was able to crawl over to her pants and satchel, dressing up again while Ceylon beak-pushed the golden dragon egg back over.

Though she felt bad about it, she did resent Ceylon for not butting in and doing anything about the systematic, orgiastic decimation of her pussy, but the more she thought about it, the more clear it was that she truly did desire such a violent abuse of her flesh. If she was truly in distress, or if it was truly rape, Ceylon would have interfered. She had before, in the past, so there was no question.

"How do you always know?" She asked her pet, stumbling to her feet. "Teach me some time. For now, I think it's time we be on our way."

The two of them collected their stuff and were finally leaving the dragons nest along the north shore. Ithilwen kept the dragon egg cradled under her hand as she made her way down the staircase and past the wall that housed the nest. Just as she was about to confidently strut away from this ordeal, Darkoh flutter hopped off the top of the wall to land gingerly on her shoulder opposite Ceylon, while Azuro leaned over the wall to offer a massive roar.

Content, she patted Ceylon, rubbed at darkoh, and was off to enjoy the next leg of her quest for the Eye of the Cat. With any luck, this would be the last speed bump she encountered before everlasting power was in her paw.

Of course, that didn't mean she was prepared to have a clutch of dragon eggs inside her. She hadn't considered that it was more than a bonus kink to an orgy. No, she had quite the shock ahead of her once she realized how big dragon eggs could grow in a mammal host.