VI-Of dragons and men bickering.

“Aidan, could you get me that bottle of spice? I need it for the sauce.”

“Sure.” I took the bottle she referred at and tossed it to Krissie. She caught it with her tail and popped the cork, putting a pinch of red powder inside the pot with the sizzling meat. “What are we having?”

“It’s marinated pork.”

“Pork? Since when do we have that?”

“Oh, Colin left some for us the other day at the entrance of the forest. I thought I could make something out of it.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Johanna went to take it as she came home after her bath in the river. We didn’t want to trouble you and stop your work. How is it going by the way?”

“Which project? The golem or the automatic ballistae?”

“Weren’t you working on armour the other day? Have you finished already?” I nodded and she didn’t seem all that surprised. She was at first when I showed her the results of some of my experiments, but now she was just accepting that I jumped from one to the other every few days or so. “So, how did it end up? Is it done? Can I wear it?”

“You can.” I opened up a portal to my workshop and took an armour stand in the living room. Krissie let the pot simmer and left the kitchen, tail swaying happily and patting her ever growing belly. The armour was thin, made out of orichalcum chainmail with some leather padding, all enchanted of course. The design was made to enhance her already high strength and also her body, especially her hips, without leaving too much skin out of protection. She had given me some ideas for the design and I had followed them to heart. Her eyes sparkled as I put it on her, being extremely careful when it came to her belly.

“It’s so comfy.”

“I put padding inside, double thick here and here for your safety. There’s a number of spells all over and runes for protection.”

“Do I get a weapon?” She asked with eagerness and I gave her the prototype gun I made. She came to be very good with crossbows and long range weapons on top of cold blades so I gave her something that could keep her as far from the action as possible. “You even put a scope. What is this one?”

“Oh, ehm.” I looked at the engraving on the side of the barrel, just under the housing of the magic stone that powered it. RG-3. “It’s the railgun.”

“The one that shoots iron bullets?”

“Yeah, I’ll teach you how to use this later. Where is Johanna? I wanted to give her something as well. Is she training today as well?”

“When is she not? Aside from when she’s here with us of course.” Krissie scoffed and returned to the kitchen after I took off the armour and helped her put her clothes back on.

The low waist jeans and the large t-shirt complemented her figure in a way that no clothes in this world could do. She’d be a model back at home in my opinion. There was a small hole for her tail to slip in and a lot of skin to show, especially on her legs. At first I thought she’d not want to show that much skin but she had evidently changed her mind. Clothing of this sort would no doubt create an uproar in any human society, as this world’s fashion sense approached the one of the Victorian era crossed with medieval on some areas, mixing tight and covering clothing with mostly dark colours and neck high collars that seemed to be more kinky than fashionable to me. Johanna was more than willing to agree with me on these matters, not that she counted as she was a dragon. Though she found clothing constricting and silly on most occasions, she had to give that humans were not pretty to look at when naked, save for some exceptions, one of which I was staring at.

“Are you going to see her now?”

“Yeah, why? Do you want to come?”

“Yep, I want to give Colin something I made.” She produced a jar of jam and then another one. “It’s strawberry and blueberry, he loves them. Let me finish cooking this and then we can go.”

“Sure.”

After five minutes, she switched of the stove and closed the lid of the pot. I carried her princess style out of the house and jumped off the tree. She loved doing this and never stopped asking me to do it. I would have preferred to teleport over to her but such was the will of the mother of my children as such it was the law.

We flew, well, I flew over the forest and searched for Johanna by following what I called her ‘trail’: the result of her training that usually ended with destruction or animals fleeing in fear all over the place. Today, though, things were a bit different: she was nowhere near her usual spots and instead seemed to have found her way to the village that Krissie came from. We were both rather surprised to her massive purple frame move around the village with ease and surrounded by several humans who, even more surprisingly, were not that upset by her presence.

I landed in the middle of the village, right as she passed through it and immediately caught the attention of most of the human population. Johanna waited very little time before she trotted over and planted a rather sloppy kiss in front of the humans, who seemed to be confused on what to be more interested: the dragon kissing me or Krissie’s very revealing outfit and now visible bulge of her uterus. The bitter old woman that yelled and slapped me last time we came here, roughly last week or so, was again quick to come and hug Krissie.

“Honey, so good to see you here!”

“It’s the same for me, Mrs Fyr. How have you been?” The woman smiled and revealed a rather impressive set of teeth for her age and social standing.

“I am old and cranky, but I am still holding on my life. I can’t let this village run itself. But look at you, hon, you’re…”

“Pregnant, yes.”

“It’s not even been a week, dear, how is it even possible?” Krissie, although usually very proud and somewhat explicit at home, seemed to change into a modest and embarrassed young lady in moments. “Is it him and his magic that did this to you?”

“Well, kind of.”

“Do you want to explain an old woman such as myself? Maybe over some tea? I had a caravan sell me some a few days ago.” Even if this seemed to be an invitation, it was much more likely to be an order, judging by the way the woman had already began to walk towards her home and didn’t wait for an answer at all. Minutes later, we were sitting at her table and waiting for the water to boil. Johanna was outside and waiting for us since the house was way too small for her. “So, what is going on with you?”

“Ok, the thing is this won’t be a normal pregnancy in any way.”

“I can see that by myself, I am not blind… yet.” The woman chuckled and bit on a fruit, tearing off a good chunk of it in one bite. “Are the babies going to be… ehm, human?”

“I think it’s a very complicated question: Aidan told me that two of the… eggs he planted in me.” Mrs Fyr’s eyebrows rose and she looked at me with a very complex gaze. “Yes, he laid eggs in me.” Krissie was outright blushing right now, something I had not seen before, not in this magnitude: her skin was flushed and her scales were glittering as light hit them, tail waving erratically to the side. Cute to the extreme.

“Well, it’s uncommon and definitely weird for me but go on…”

“Ok, well, he told me that two eggs have formed a placenta inside me and have grown more than the third one, which has not yet done that. We are worried something might be wrong but the life signs of the three are all stable and seem healthy enough.”

“Three eggs? Oh, lord, triplets? How wonderful!”

“I am very happy as well, although the thought of birth is very... worrying to say the least. Dates and methods are still unknown and we don’t have any help.” Mrs Fyr put an old and rough hand on Krissie’s soft and young one, stroking it like a grandmother would.

“Oh, honey, I am here to help you, in case you have a more… conventional birth. I hope I at least get to see them, regardless of what they look like.” That last part was said looking straight at me. Come on, woman, was I that ugly? Maybe I was…

“If things go wrong, Aida will be there to perform procedures on me to save my life and the ones of the babies, though I hope it won’t come to that.”

“What kind of procedures?” Krissie looked at me and asked me to explain this in detail. I had watched some documentaries on c-sections back at home as well as some more in depth things that stimulated my curiosity and had accumulated some basic knowledge on birth and other things.

“In case the babies are born too early, I’ll have to make some incubators, basically boxes where they will be able to… experience an extension of the pregnancy but outside the body, mixing spells and medical knowledge from my world. If they have trouble in, well, coming out, I’ll cut her open and take them out.” When I said ‘cut her open’ the poor woman paled and I had to rush and explain to her what a c-section was. “It’s nowhere as bad as it sounds: I’ll merely make a small cut on her belly and take the baby out from there, instead of having it come out of the normal way. It’s a common medical procedure in my world and raises the chances of both the mother and the baby to survive.”

“Oh, lords, how gruesome. Cutting someone open… does, does it work?”

“Unless there are some incredible complications, yes. If the vaginal canal is too small, the baby too big, the mother too weak or other complications, a surgical operation will likely help the woman and the baby. Not a substitute of course, just something that will make things easier.”

“Well, I never heard of anything like this even for nobles. At most some will have a magician come and ease the pain or smooth things out but such a radical procedure is unknown to me. Is that the norm in your world?”

“What? Cutting people open? It kind of is actually, but it works extremely well in the vast majority of cases.”

“Alright, alright, enough with the medical talk.” Krissie slammed her hand on the table, taking our attention to her. “Why is Johanna here?”

“The dragoness? She found one of our boys wandering around the forest, searching for mushrooms and took him back because he had sprained his ankle. I never thought I’d see such a day in my life. A dragon helping a human… what has the world come to?” She sighed but wearing a smile on her old and still grumpy face.

“A better place I hope, else my work would have been for nothing.” The tea was now ready and we were about to drink it when a man rushed into the house, panting and breathing heavily.

“Gordon, what’s happening?”

“The, the royal army is here! The king is here!”

“What?” Worst case scenario achieved. Damn, here I thought that he wouldn’t be such a pain in the ass. “Krissie, I’ll take you back to the house and have Johanna stay there too.”

“No way in hell I’m staying back!” Krissie shouted and took her position. She’d not move or cooperate. I asked Mrs Fyr to help me convince her but the damn woman just smiled.

I groaned and took the armour from the workshop and put it on her. I didn’t give her a weapon in fear that she’s shoot the king if he did anything stupid like antagonising me. Johanna had picked up on what was happening as well and got in the mood to fight. I just hoped that neither of these stubborn females would make a mess worse than what was going to come my way. I made sure by begging to them that they’d not do anything unless I told them to.

We walked calmly outside and followed the noise of the hundreds of soldiers coming our way. When we saw the mass of steel and iron marching towards the village, Krissie swallowed her saliva and Johanna unsheathed her claws, itching to fight. Although she had met some nice humans and seemed to have gotten used to the idea of being near them, so many all at once and so heavily armoured were getting at her instincts and decades worth of war experience.

At the very front of the column I saw a rather familiar suit of armour and a familiar hose at whose top rode a man that I hadn’t had the pleasure to get to know well before he tried to kill me. Maybe this time things would get better for me, though I didn’t really hope in anything as big as an apology or collaboration. We stopped at the entrance of the village and waited for them to come to us.

Roughly five minutes later, the king dismounted and placed his royal feet in front of us.

“King Pembroke, how good of you to come here. What occasion brings you to these mountains?” The man grumbled and scoffed, arm resting on the hilt of his sword.

“Did changing into a monster rot your brain? Be serious for once!”

“Oh, come on! I was serious. I was having a fine day in my life and then you come in, marching with hundreds of men, armed, towards not only me, but a peaceful village. I wonder what you are trying to do here.”

“If you are suggesting that I came to fight you are wrong.”

“Why the soldiers then? You could have come here alone or with a tenth of your forces and still be fine. This is simply a waster of time and money and for what? Prove a point?”

“Listen, monster, I am not here to fight nor to get into the reasons why I do what I do.”

“Then why are you here? You’re wasting time I could be spending in better ways.” Pembroke was flat out fuming. I guess he didn’t receive much opposition in his life. Power is a bad thing when you get used to it.

“Fine, I came to discuss certain things now that your reckless actions have stalled this war. Dragons have not attacked for weeks and people are getting worried something big is up.” He sighed and took off his helmet.

“And that is supposed to be my fault in what way?”

“I… I’m not accusing you or anything of the sort. I am here to…” and that took him a lot of effort, like, lifting a mountain kind of effort. “To say that even though people are nervous and worried, things are getting better, slowly, but they are. Three months ago they were worried of not living another day and now they are worried that this peace is a trap.”

“And you need help with that? Just… tell them that the war is over.”

“I can’t just tell them that as much as I’d like to. I need something more to work with.”

“Let me guess: I need to go to the dragon city and get someone to come over and work through some peace talk, right?” The man nodded weakly, I could have worn the biggest and most nasty grin and smirk in existence but I politely kept my smugness for myself. “Don’t worry, I have already worked that out.” Pembroke’s eyes opened ever so slightly and his forehead furrowed a little. “I have had a small talk with Lord Evan, one of the three lords a week ago, he wants a meeting with you to discuss the peace treaties. I wanted to wait for some time before coming to you but you saved me the hassle.”

“You have met him?”

“Well, it was more like I used a spell to get there and he talked to me through it. Still, he’s willing to come to you and work something out.”

“Only him? What about the other two?”

“I’ll have to ask him about that but I think for the moment he may be alone. It’s a third of the leadership of the dragons though, not to be taken lightly, whereas you are but one of the many leaders, sure, you’re the king, but we know how humans are… just one leader is not good and you are not getting any younger.”

“I don’t like you, I don’t like your attitude and I don’t like your existence, but you are a necessary evil that I will allow to exist in order to have my citizens live a better life.”

“How am I evil?”

“You are a loose weapon, impossible to control, capable of incredible things simply due to the fact that a god has given that ability to you. I had hoped for you to come to our side and win the war, but since you had your own plan, I cannot ever hope to see you under my command and work for the good of mankind. Still, given that you have yet to wage war on my kingdom and cause any trouble at all, mostly, I can give you some face and let you off. Provided that you cooperate of course.”

“Oh, and here I thought that my king would be a noble character and not a stuck up prick.” Krissie stepped forward and stared at the king in the eyes, dead serious. Pembroke was visibly surprised by her.

“And who might you be?”

“Krissie, his mate.”

“Mate? But you’re human!” The king’s reaction drew a lot of attention from all those in earshot and then the rumours moved from there to the lines behind them. Needless to say, it was a mess.

“And? So what? Do you have a problem?” Her tail swayed with energy behind her and he noticed it without a doubt, as did many others around us. “Yes, I’ve got a few extra bits. Perks of being the mate of a godly being.”

“I… have nothing to say about this, what you do with… him, is none of my concern as long as he doesn’t go on a killing spree or tries to convert entire cities like he did with you.”

“It was my choice as it was hers.” She pointed at Johanna who just growled and bared her teeth, scaring several soldiers who were a little bit too close for either sides to feel comfortable in any way at all. “So, are you going to apologize?”

“For what should I do that young lady?”

“For insulting him and calling him a monster and an abomination?”

“But he is one, what, should I be punished for speaking the truth?” That was not the answer Krissie was looking for. Her tail was lashing around and I prepared for the worst.

“Yes, since the one that made him look that way was the same god that answered your plea for help, are you saying that god made a mistake? That he did something wrong? It sure seems like you are trying to do just that.” Oh, snap, she hit him right in the religion. It was true though, how come they thought god didn’t have anything to do with my appearance?

“I am in no position to tell whether my god did something wrong, I am merely stating that he is not something natural in this world and goes beyond anything we have ever seen.”

“And how is that bad?”

“There’s a number of reasons!”

“Ok, tell me one that doesn’t have anything to do with how he looks or his body.” She hit him again and the king seemed to fall deep in thought for a moment.

“He is dangerous and volatile, that is enough to be wary of him.”

“Him? Dangerous? He barely stepped out of his house for food! He’s the definition of a loving husband and a gentle man! If anything I am the dangerous one!” She stepped forward and Johanna did the same. Many soldiers drew swords and took aim with bows and what other weapons they had on them. The king himself drew his enchanted sword at pointed it at Krissie. I rushed and stepped between the three of them.

“Alright girls, calm down, he’s just a bitter old man that fears new things he cannot understand.” I looked at him, obviously wounded in his pride. “And they are females just past their heat, one of which pregnant and very much nervous and overprotective. So, please, do not make me prevent you from killing each other, ok? Am I being clear?” I raised my voice, making sure that everyone heard me well. The king grumbled and sheathed his sword. The soldiers behind him reluctantly did the same after a few tense moments. “Girls, calm down.” They too, grumbled and turned back, still looking at the king like one would look at a fly on their dinner plate. “See, nothing to worry about.”

“You’d better control your females.”

“Yeah, they are not mine, but I’ll make sure that they do not kill any of your men, provided that they are respectful and not total assholes.”

“I’ll see what I can do. And you need to keep your promise with this peace talk.”

“About that… where should you meet? If I were to take a dragon the size of two houses stacked on each other to your capital, which I have no idea where it is from by the way, and if I took you to a den of dragons you all would probably piss your pants, also, no toilets or normal beds.”

“Are you proposing a middle ground?”

“Yeah. How about… this place? I can make it something of a grey area, use it as a stage for future cooperation.”

“Slow down boy, cooperation is not happening, not now and not for years I think. Let’s stick with not killing each other for some time and then we’ll talk about that. Do your job and we’ll do ours.”

“Ok, I understand. So, since I want to move things fast and I want to do it now, how about I go and get Evan here in let’s say… ten minutes?”

“What? You can do that?”

“Well, it depends on whether he is available but yes, I can teleport him here faster than you can get back on your horse.” Pembroke was deep in thought for a good ten minutes, talking with his men and some generals, aides and whatnot he had brought over for this… friendly meeting, let’s call it that. I prepared myself in case he was fine with it and waited for a few minutes without trying to kill me or anyone else.

“I have consulted with my men and we decided that we are willing to take our chances and work something out right now, provided that you can indeed have Evan come here to talk.”

“I’ll have to go there for a moment, so please wait here.”

“What are you worried about us running away? Dream on.” A very young and apparently temperamental man addressed me from behind the king’s back, probably thinking I could not hear him.”

“What was that boy? Did I hear something rude coming from your mouth?” I wanted to talk to him but the king went there first, scolding the young man with a stern tone. Damn, Mrs Fyr would make an excellent wife for him. “Shall I remind you why I took you here? It was because you have one more made a mess and a fool out of yourself at the capital and your father wanted me to teach you what it means to be a soldier. I see that little sleep and little food are not getting into your brain, I’ll have to revise your schedule later. This is not a war anymore, we cannot afford to insult anyone who slights us.”

“M-my king, with all respect, you have insulted the Envoy.”

“Yes and his women almost attacked us and I may have gotten killed. I was not even five metres from one of the most infamous dragoness warriors of this century, she’d have ripped my head off my spine in a heartbeat had he not stopped me.” Wow, for a bitter man with a hatred for me, he sure had his head on his shoulders, for now at least. Johanna smirked when she got mentioned and stared at the young man. “I may have died right here for something stupid I said and by the gods, I won’t let you jeopardize everything for a stupid remark of yours. So shut your mouth and be a man. Talking to someone with rudeness only because you are behind me is not an excuse or worthy of the name your family has earned through generations.”

“Y-yes, my king. I-I’ll be more careful.” Jeez, the lad was trembling. Just for one sentence he said, well, two. He must have pissed a lot of people off to get this kind of rough treatment. Maybe he did deserve it.

Though it was not my business, I felt like I wanted to know what drove him to be here but I didn’t have the time right now. I asked Johanna to watch my back, just in case. I cast the same spell I used last week and went to talk to Evan. He was currently doing nothing aside from chatting with the other lord, Atarax. The two of them noticed me immediately.

Aidan, what brings you here?

I have king Pembroke right outside my home at the moment, he wants to talk. Atarax seemed more than a little surprised. Evan shot me a subtle glance from behind. Wait… he didn’t tell them about his plan? What the hell? Is this a bad moment? I can have him wait a week or so if you want.

No, no, It’s great! We can go and test the waters right now! What do you say about this Atarax?

Hmm, it is indeed a good idea. Aidan, thank you for letting me know about this. Evan, could you go instead of me? You’ve been nagging me for weeks to push this peace talk and I feel like you are the one most suited to be a diplomat among the three of us. Evan nodded vigorously and I breathed in relief. Smooth.

Sure, sure, I’ll go and take a few young ones with me. They need to learn what the future looks like.

Are you sure about that? Young and hot-blooded dragons can be volatile and aggressive.

Oh, come on. Do you think that I cannot handle a few younglings? There’s Aidan with me as well, I’ll be fine. Can I bother you to help me put up a portal? Evan asked me as he got up on his legs and walked slowly to the edge of the cave, ordering a couple of young dragons to come with him. Two bronze coloured males and a red female trotted in. One of the two males, the one on the right and definitely the more muscular of the two, squinted his eyes and looked in my direction. Yes he’s talented and has a great future ahead, maybe just as much as you.

I can’t speak of talent: I have gotten my magic by god and didn’t earn it thought practice.

But it’s the way you apply it that makes a difference. Come on, follow my lead and help me open this portal.

We stood in front of each other and linked. Evan pooled his magic around himself and I did the same on my end. Soon, a rather large hole appeared between us, connecting our two sides of the land. The human soldiers and the dragons were shocked in the same way, seeing the hole in space time. Evan seemed a little tired as he put in most of the effort. He got up and walked on my side. The humans trembled a bit as the two and a half story dragon calmly moved towards them and sat in front of them. Some looked at their swords and shook their heads, giving up on any kind of conflict or confrontation. The dragons on the other hand were much more happy and arrogant.

“Hey, if you have something like this, why didn’t you use it sooner?”

“Oh, believe me, we tried, but very few have this kind of ability. It took me over a hundred years to figure out how to open a portal or even move across a room with spells. Yet, you made a successful attempt instantly. Even with all the power in the world, this kind of talent is nothing to scoff at.”

“Fine, I get it. I’ll let you two work out your stuff and then I’ll help you go back, ok?”

“How eager to have me out of your back… alright, I’ll see how fast we can go, but I cannot promise anything.”

Since I had done my part in this negotiation attempt, I moved to the side and let them talk. After the very awkward introductions and pleasantness, the young dragons sat by Evan’s side and the human generals and the boy by Pembroke’s.

The first couple of hours were spent talking about what not to do anymore, such as raiding, pillaging, slaughtering, destruction of eggs and human settlements, kidnapping or enslavement and how to deal with those that broke the new laws. There were a lot of arguing on these things as the two races talked openly for the first time in several centuries. Next came what I understood to be a very early system that allowed members of either race to walk across the border without being killed on sight. There would be some issues at first but things would get progressively smoother. I offered this place as a grey area for staging cooperation again, Evan took a liking to the idea and Pembroke was beginning to re-evaluate it, given how smooth things were going at the moment.

Soon though, the younger of the dragons and the young man, got into an argument and bared their weapons at each other. Pembroke paled at the sight and rushed to get the boy. Johanna beat him to the punch, dashing with incredible speed. She shifted and grabbed the young dragon in a chokehold and the human with her tail, immobilizing them in a moment. Her change surprised not only the two that had been caught in an instant but also all the others who stared at a dragoness walking upright as a human would but standing at over six metres tall. She was still smaller than Evan but she had a different kind of air. If Evan was a gentle giant, she was a wandering mine.

After the two of them calmed down and promised not to fight again, she dropped them on the ground and sat with her legs crossed next to me.

“How interesting. What was the cause of this… transformation?” Krissie and Johanna wanted to tell them, but I stopped them before they said something stupid and gave a half truth, keeping the… naughtier side of this a secret for the moment.

“It was me. I think I can grant some kind of power to others as long as they submit to me or something like that. We are still working out the details.”

“I see.” Pembroke looked at the man that got in trouble again. “Thomas, come here.” Thomas walked over to the side of the king and stared at the ground. “I have found what kind of punishment to give you: you shall work for the envoy and do everything he asks you to do, until he tells you to get out or you accept that you are his servant.”

“What? You can’t…”

“I can and I will, Thomas, I am your king and as such I order you to serve the envoy.”

“What a nice idea. Hel, you shall do the same. You are the one that started the fight, after all. How about it, Aidan? Will you accept them and give them a lesson?”

“Well…” I turned and looked at my mates, searching for an answer. What I got were two large grins that I learned to be a sign that these two had something in mind. I examined the two young males in front of me and got a hint of their evil plan. “Fine, I will. They’ll stay around the house, clean and work for me, test a few things in my workshop.”

“Good, then I think this is over for now. I will go back to the capital and relay these news to the people.” Pembroke got up from his seat and bowed to Evan. The dragon nodded with his head and got up as well, towering above everyone and everything in the vicinity.

“What about us?” Thomas spoke with a soft voice.

“You’ll stay here with me boy, your service begins immediately.” Thomas sighed as I stared at him and gathered his stuff. Hel chuckled. Johanna slapped his head and scolded him.

“It’s the same with you too, Hel. We just needed someone to carry Krissie back home.”

“Letting a human ride me? Never!” The temperamental dragon ended up in a choke hold again in the span of a few minutes and conceded once more to the larger female on top of him. For a split second I swore I could have seen something poke out between his legs but it may as well been my imagination. “Alright, fine! I’ll do it!”

“Good boy, now, get down.”

Hel complained a whole lot as Krissie climbed on top of him with uncanny agility and tugged on one of his spines. He growled in displeasure but a stare from Johanna made him shut the ‘Hel’ up again. The joke stole a laugh from me. Hel was confused as to why I suddenly laughed at him and turned his attention to Thomas, who was coming over to us with a meagre bag that had a couple of books and some dry food for the road. He sat to the side and waited for us. With one titanic push of his wings he left the ground and the forest Portals needed two people in two different spots and since we were the only two that could, he had to get back the old way. He seemed happy to stretch his wings a little after a while of immobility. The two young dragons left with him and Hel watched in shame as thy returned home whereas he had to stay here..

“Come here, I’ll carry you.” I grabbed him by the waist and drew him to me. Thomas shuddered at being so close to me and tried to get away. A stern look from Pembroke and he was good as new.

“I do not expect you to bother with actually teach him anything. Just make min work his ass off and we’ll be fine with it. He won’t last long.”

“I am not sadistic, but I’ll make him work for his food alright. The same goes for Hel.” I picked Thomas up princess style and he went red as a can of paint. He even tried to cover his face but everyone already saw everything. The best tactic for someone with a little bit too much pride is shame and embarrassment. “Now, with respect, Pembroke, we’ll take our leave. You know the way to get back, don’t you?”

“I do. I hope that I won’t have to see you soon.”

“How rude. Have a nice trip, your highness.” The man scoffed and turned around, ordering his men to help him get back on the horse and then left.

The soldiers seemed, disappointed, almost, like they were expecting something incredible and instead got two old men talking and making pacts and laws. Some understood what happened, but others didn’t get that simply the fact that these two had talked was nothing short of incredible. I could have delved more on this topic but I had a boy to carry home and it was getting dangerously close to dinnertime now. Thomas screamed, a lot. I had to shut him up with a spell else he’d just keep going for all the duration of the flight.

Johanna led the way for Hel and he was being weirdly quiet and stared at her all the while. I could have been very annoyed at that but I had in mind some pretty nice games for later. Once finally at the house, I dropped Thomas on the floor and let him get a feel for the environment. I didn’t know what a noble’s house looked like, but this was probably much better: all the high standards of a modern home from Earth and the magic furniture I could come up with.

“You’ll sleep there, on the couch, until I know where to put you.” He nodded, pressing a hand in the soft cushions. No doubt, he saw this as an improvement on his condition rather than a punishment, though I had no intention of giving him one. He’d learn by other methods. “I expect you to work and not complain, always be clean and well dressed. I don’t like the smell of unwashed bodies, be it human or dragons.” Hel snorted and looked the other way. “The same goes for you, Hel.”

“What should we do then?”

“Now you’ll get in the bathroom and get a bath, get cleaned and come to dinner. We’ll talk about your chores next.”

“Y-yes, sir.”

“I am not doing anything of the sort.” Hel blurted out of the silence. Johanna made to step forward once again but I stopped her.

“And for what reason?”

“I am not taking orders from you, nor from anyone but the three lords.”

“Oh, but he told you to stay with me and receive your punishment, if you keep antagonizing me, that’s what I will do. Am I being clear?”

“I will not submit to any torture and physical pain does not scare me at all. Do your worst.”

“Well, if that’s what you want, that’s what I’ll do. Krissie, take Thomas to the bathroom and show him how to use it. I’ll take little Hel here and see if I can put some sense in him.” Hel snorted and puffed his chest. Krissie shot me a knowing look and Johanna followed me into the bedroom. Hel sniffed around the place and snorted, clearly very displeased.

“What is the meaning of this?”

“If you cannot accept that I am the one that has authority over you, I’ll make you understand through some other method.” Johanna sat on the bed and eyed him with a lusty look, though I knew it wasn’t directed exactly towards him and more at other prospects.

“I’ll not be fazed if you take the female I respect in front of me.”

“Is that what you think I’ll do? You are sorely wrong, Hel.” Johanna slid a hand over my slit and helped me get aroused for the incoming fun time. I was not sure how to proceed but I knew that I was going to have some experimentation to do. Soon, Hel stared at me and at Johanna that was licking my members in front of him, he wasn’t impressed at all. When she stopped and moved to the side he looked confused. “What are you doing? Come here and start licking, Hel.” His face crumpled into an ugly mess and he inched backwards, but a barrier on the door prevented his escape. He seemed a little bit worried now. Good.

“I’ll never submit to a male like this! It’s unnatural!”

“Oh, then you’d like something more like this?” I spread open my legs and let him see my vent between them. He gulped and cleared his throat, fazed by the now spreading scent of my body. He shuffled his hindlegs, obviously feeling uncomfortable. “No? Not even this gets you going? See Hel, either you get here and start licking, or I go between your legs and take you in front of her. Your choice: swallow your pride and well, me, or get ready to lift your tail.”

“Wh-what? No way I’ll bend over for you or any male! I am not a deviant like you.” Johanna chuckled and shook her head.

“This was my idea by the way, not his.” In that moment, his expectations and thoughts crumbled. She lied, just a little bit, as this was Krissie’s idea, as always, but he didn’t know of course. His tail dropped weakly and he swallowed more saliva. “Come on, he tastes good and feels better. Listen to me and lift your tail, just licking is such a waste, though it’s more than just delicious.” As if fuelled by this and reverse psychology, he inched closer and opened his mouth. His tongue lolled out for a moment or two, hesitating to make the first lick. Eventually, he extended it and ever so lightly touched my tip.

Nothing I’d find exciting or pleasurable for me, but he seemed to have another opinion. He spread the taste in his mouth and appeared to savour it. Johanna looked with amusement as the young male inched closer again and gave my cock another quick lick, a longer one this time. The next one was even longer and soon he was dragging his tongue all over it, exploring my ridges and the tips. It was clumsy at best, but he was getting eager and more and more willing to take me in his maw.

After a few minutes of feverish licks, he opened wide and took one of my cocks inside, letting the other rest on his nose and coat the scales in pre. He was a natural at this, sucking and being careful with his teeth, but never stopping for a moment. His eyes seemed clouded and out of focus until something clicked inside his mind and he recoiled back, slamming into the wall behind.

“Wh-what kind of spell is this? I have never heard of such a charm!”

“It’s no charm, Hel, you just like the taste. Nothing to be ashamed of, we all do, even Aidan himself. It’s perfectly normal.”

“How is a male licking another male normal?”

“Why, have you never tasted even yourself when bored or aroused?”

“Never!”

“Don’t be so proud of yourself, females do it all the time, especially when males turn out to be somewhat disappointing.” She scoffed and he blushed. Had he had a similar experience? “Oh, have you seen one of your mates do that? How embarrassing.”

“I-I never disappoint! Females like me and always climax several times!”

“Then come here and prove it to me big boy.” I spread my legs again and hinted at what I wanted to do. “She’s mine but I’ll let you breed her if you satisfy me well enough as you claim to do.” Hel was reluctant to move, having realized that something would happen if he were to comply. “Though you already seem excited enough to jump to the fun part.” He looked between his legs and noticed his erection. Guess that licking me had more of an effect on him that he realized. He was very well endowed, with one rather large tool, maybe around a metre in length and thick enough to seem a bit excessive but overall very well proportionate for a young male.

“I-I… this isn’t what you think! It’s the smell!”

“Sure, sure… so, will you do as I ask and make me spend a good few minutes with me, be it with your tongue or with your member. I’ll be here, at your mercy. I’ll sweeten up the deal: I’ll comply with one of your request, sexual of course…”

“A-anything?”

“Why, of course. I like to spice things up every now and then.”

“W-well then… get on your knees and call me master.” I obeyed the orders and got down. He shuffled forward and his member bobbed up and down. It was almost hypnotic and he smelled really good. “Suck on it.” He was slowly getting his confidence back and spoke with some cockiness. Johanna was looking with great interest, rubbing her vent slowly. I bet that she’d make out with Krissie if she were here.

“Yes, master.” It was very kinky to call someone younger than me master but I was sure he’d capitulate soon.

I licked him and dragged my tongue all over his member, prodding his slit and caressing it on his ridges. His taste was somewhere between smoky and sweet, tangy almost. His pre, which was already beginning to flow, was very sweet and very addicting, not like mine of course, but tasty nonetheless. I put my muzzle in front of it and he humped ever so slightly, indulging me to open my mouth, and that I did. He took very little consideration of me and thrust in wildly, making use of my mouth as if I was nothing more than a commodity. It was nice but that was it, just nice, no technique, no care, just his own pleasure. I was having some fun though, a change of ways from my usual practiced work.

“How’s that? You like it?” He uttered between his teeth, breathing hard. I decided to give him a little blow to his pride and used a trick Johanna taught me. I purred hard and he shuddered, resisting mere moments before spilling seed in my throat. He panted and then removed his softening tool from my mouth. “So? Did you like that, slut?”

“I barely felt a thing, Hel. Sure, you taste nice, but you have no regards for me, no tact, no care for your partner. It’s well, disappointing. I’ll give you another chance, if you’re up to the challenge.” He was shaken but still nodded. “Good, then take me. if you can make me come before you do, whether the method, I’ll honour my previous promise and let you have a go with Johanna. Do you mind dear?”

“Oh, not at all. He’s not going to win anyways.”

“We’ll see about that…” He snorted and prepared himself, his cock stiffening. At least he had endurance and some capacity…

I turned my back to him and lifted my tail, giving him full access to everything I had to offer. He gave a few sniffs to my backside, carefully avoiding my cocks, and reached for my vent with his tongue, sliding it deep. This time he didn’t seem to have any qualms with taste or anything and delved deep and long, enjoying the taste. Only when he accidentally bumped his nose at the base of them he recoiled and stopped in his ministrations. He still had too much focus on how he was feeling and having a good time. If what we understood from his words was correct, he acted this way often and didn’t get his mates more pleasure than what he managed to get as long as he was willing to go. Poor ladies.

He got up on the bed and clumsily tried to hump his way into me, I had to guide him inside. A bit of a let down but his girth made up for the lost interest. He stretched me well and hit a few nice spots that I felt hard to reach sometimes. Not too long and not too wide, pleasantly stuffed I’d say. He was more than surprised at me being able to hilt him in one go but didn’t complain and began rocking back and forth. He put a lot of strength behind each thrust for someone of my size, nothing I couldn’t handle, though it added to an ever growing list of things I was not pleased about him. After a couple of minutes it was getting really good and he had finally found a nice rhythm to his movements and then he just bit my neck and spilled his seed again. He slumped on the ground and panted, satisfied with his actions.

“Disappointing again.”

“What? But… my mates always like it like this!”

“Have you ever stopped to ask or you just assumed that they liked it?” He didn’t say anything and looked away. “I’m sure you mean well, but you are too focused on yourself. I know it feels good, but there is always someone else with you, Hel. Do you understand?” He was very hurt. As expected, when someone with a big ego was hit, they always showed their true colours: Hel was fragile and sweet, under the pretence but never stopped to bother and figure out how others felt.

“How can I… be better?” Oh, how interesting.

“Well, you can make sure that you are making your mate happy as a first thing. You can’t just ram your way into climax and expect that anyone will like it. For example: a minute ago you were getting to the good part, found a nice rhythm but then you came, and that’s a let-down, at least for me. I’m not saying that you should not get something out of it but you can be much better. You are already good, but there is no limit to excellence.”

“O-ok.”

“Do you want me to show you how to make someone really happy?”

“Ehm, I-I don’t know…”

“I can try it on you if you want…” He looked at me and then at Johanna, who was nodding hard and encouraging him to get under my care. He gulped and then nodded as well. “Good, good, now, as a first lesson: learn what makes someone tick.” I put a hand on his slit and dragged it across, slowly, making small twists and turns, coaxing moans from him in instants. “See? Everyone has its own sensitive spot, males generally are more hard to please but some are just as receptive as females, nothing to be ashamed of.” At this point I didn’t know if he was listening anymore and I just went over each of his erogenous zones and got him hard again. Really, this one had some impressive stamina.

I slowly guided my hand towards his tailhole and he didn’t protest when I touched it and bucked his hips against it. Interesting… I inserted one finger and felt him shudder and moan more, his muscles tensing and contracting. If he was this receptive with one finger, I wonder how it would be with more or even with my cock? I had to know.

I fingered his hole and progressively put more fingers inside, applying magic to lessen any future pain that would come and exchange it for pleasure.

“Please…”

“What, Hel?”

“C-can you… fuck me?” Now, this was the kind of thing I wanted to hear him say… he blushed so hard when he mustered the courage as well. How nice…

“Oh…?”

“I wanted to know how it felt, you know, for a while… I was scared it’d hurt but it doesn’t.” He bit his lip. “I like it. Is… is this weird?”

“Not at all honey, everyone has different preferences. Do you want me to do it now?” He nodded again.

I spread some pre on his hole and line myself with him, inserting my cock. He was warm and exceedingly tight, even for a virgin. Marvellous. He suppressed a cute moan as I moved in and out, slowly, as to not give him too much of a shock. Johanna was a bit disappointed that I was not subbing anymore but she enjoyed me take a male nonetheless. Hel’s cock bobbed and swayed to the sides along with my movements, sending small streams of pre all over his belly scales. I leaned over and, still rocking back and forth, licked them off and sucked on him. He moaned and seemed to be on the verge of coming a third time for the day so I used a spell to prevent him. He was surprised but didn’t complain and instead began to thrash and let his tail slap the floor. He was so easy to read it was almost hard to not take pity on him.

Not long after, I felt myself edge increasingly close to climax and picked up my pace. Hel moaned and moaned, his frame shifting ever so slightly, hips getting wider and his muscle mass shrinking bit by bit, leaving him not muscular as before but lean and slender, a masterpiece of grace and charm, instead of brute force and drive. Much more suitable for a magician than a fighter. Funny enough, his cock was way bigger now, and much more sensitive to touch. I felt him contract spasmodically as a dry orgasm rocked his body and allowed myself to come, lifting his spell and letting him join me. His voice was higher, but still his and he howled as he sprayed my mate with his seed, just as I claimed him for myself. After the powerful orgasm, he fell limp on his back, wings twitching ever so often.

“So… so good. How I have missed something like this before?”

“Maybe you just needed a push. I’m happy to have been the one to do it.” He had broken through his shell and nuzzled me with a beaming smile.

“But… I still like girls. Can I like females and like to get someone under my tail at the same time?”

“Why not? I do too. It’s the marvel of life: everyone is different and like different things.”

“Al-alright. Oh, why do I look different now? Why do I feel different?”

“It’s something that happens when I make love to someone: I give powers and change shapes by giving myself to others. You too have changed: you’re stronger albeit not in muscle but in mind.”

“How?”

“You were too stuck in your arrogance and couldn’t break free of your shackles, you thought force and your own body was the true way to reach the top. I cared for you like none could, I taught you how to care for others with your body as the catalyst and now you are better than before.”

“I see… thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Tomorrow I’ll begin teaching you how to use real magic.” Hel’s tail swished happily to the sides and smiled. Now, this was going to be fun to see.