FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Bella laughed as she piloted the little flyer recklessly low over the forest of Aurelheart. It had always struck her that there was something fundamentally disappointing about flying: that however fast you were going, however furiously your engines thrust you forwards through the air, the actual experience inside the cockpit was paradoxically tranquil. The ground and sky were simply too far away to allow any impression of real speed. But down here with the treetops ripping past just below the plane’s belly, proximity warnings shrieking in horror, she could really feel every metre per second.

This was her therapy. Whenever her glamorous, claustrophobic life became too much for her to bear - whenever she tired of Eddie and his passionless love - she’d borrow one of the company flyers and take it away from the light and noise of Davis, away from civilisation completely, out over the vast green wilderness of Aurelheart. Out where no-one but the lizardmen were likely to see when she broke every rule in the pilot’s handbook.

The speed, the danger, it made her feel alive. And it was addictive. Faster, something shouted at the back of her brain. Lower.

She edged the plane lower, lower than she’d ever dared go before. Last night had been a really bad night. She heard the topmost leaves clatter and smack against the underbelly, her wake ploughing a v-shaped ripple behind her in the green sea of foliage. Her knuckles were white as they gripped the controls. A single sturdy branch would be enough to tear the lightweight flyer end to end. Her heart raced and she laughed until there were tears in her eyes.

She was just about to pull back up when something shuddered into the plane and she felt it lurch unhealthily to one side. New, more urgent sirens blared in her ears; reflexively she jabbed at a button just as the forest came up to meet her...

* * *

The first thing to intrude back into her awareness was sunlight stabbing at her eyelids. The second thing was pain.

‘Uuuuuuurgh’, she groaned almost out loud. Her skin screamed all over.

She forced her eyes open slowly, blinking in the harsh light. A gnarled tree root arched up from the mud just centimetres in front of her nose, heavy with green moss and a few brown-orange mushrooms. Her mind spinning incoherently, she struggled to piece together what it meant.

Root... tree root... tree... trees... forest... ... ...Aurelheart. I remember! I was flying. I crashed... but I survived. I’m in Aurelheart. I’m OK. I think I’m OK. Am I OK?

She risked a glance at her arm where it lay sprawled beside her head and almost fainted at the sight: gross, swollen, lurid pink...

Impact foam, she remembered suddenly. Bright pink emergency impact foam. The cockpit would have cocooned her in the stuff moments before impact. It had probably saved her life.

Slowly, cautiously, she eased herself up into a sitting position. Fighting back nausea she started to run her hands methodically up and down her body, checking for real damage under the swaddling layer of foam. Nothing broken: just a few scratches and more bruises than she could count.

Something creaked above her. She looked up. Her flyer hung suspended in a great forest tree. Or rather, the remains of her flyer hung suspended in the remains of a great forest tree. Shattered silver metal had been ground so deeply into the splintered wood that it was hard to pick out the dividing line between the two. A gaping hole in the cockpit window showed the trajectory of her exit.

Wow. Impact foam or no impact foam, I’m lucky to get out of that alive, let alone practically uninjured. But if I’m going to make it home I need this newfound luck to hold out a while longer. Long enough to get me out of this forest before the lizardmen find me. OK. First thing’s first: on your feet, girl...

Gingerly she staggered to her feet, feeling dizzy and unbalanced. For a moment she felt self-conscious, tottering drunkenly around under a ridiculous coat of thick pink foam like an uncoordinated and effeminate yeti, before remembering with relief that there was no-one around to witness the unfortunate spectacle. Now, which way led back home, towards Davis? She turned around...

...and for the first time saw the lizardman leaning casually against a tree, watching her. Her heart skidded; she tried to take a step backwards and landed hard on her bottom in the mud.

She’d seen lizardmen before. A few of them lived in Davis. Eddie had even invited a group to one of his parties once, as a novelty. They’d looked awkward and slightly ridiculous, standing rigidly in the middle of all the glitz and gowns and gossip, dressed in their simple animal-skin clothes, huddled closely together as though afraid of the strange world around them. Living anachronisms.

This one was different. He stood completely at his ease, his back against a tree trunk, his forest-green scales almost merging into the thick undergrowth around him. Two fiery orange eyes looked down at her with a hint of amusement, as though waiting to see what she was going to do next. Bella was acutely aware that it was she - not the lizardman - who was the anachronism here.

Struggling to stay calm, she forced herself to take a few deep breaths. She knew a very little of the lizardfolk’s language, Rootsong, from books, but she’d never needed to actually use it before, and the right words were slow to surface in her turbulent mind. ‘Please... don’t... kill... me?’ she said carefully, stumbling over each word, desperately hoping she’d be understood.

‘If I wanted to kill you I’d have done it already,’ the lizardman replied in perfect English. His voice was thick with the rich throaty rumble of Rootsong, but his words were crisp and clear.

She let out the breath she’d been holding, and took another look at the stranger. He was short, for a lizardman if not for a human, standing a little under two metres tall. His only clothing was a simple knee-length skirt of brown pelt knotted around his hips to protect his modesty, leaving the scales of his chest, arms, legs, tail and face on display: a rich mosaic of greens in subtle mottled patterns, giving him a kind of natural camouflage. The scales on his back and head were knobbly and rough, while those on his chest and face were smooth and soft-looking, like tight-fitting quiltwork, and paler green than the rest.

Everything about him suggested “warrior”. His scales bore more than a few old scars of battle as well as one or two which weren’t so old. Muscles lurked beneath those scales: not showy, bulging muscles like those of a dozen pampered gym boys she knew, but rather the lean, understated layer of raw animal strength which comes from a lifetime of hard living. And of course he was armed. A large bow and numerous arrows were strung over his shoulder, and a knife sat in a leather strap round his thigh. A long, slender spear was propped up against a tree within easy reach. Back in Davis, safely hidden behind the veneer of civilisation, she remembered thinking the lizardfolk’s primitive weapons quaint and harmless. Here in the deep forest, she was painfully conscious that they could kill her just as easily as could a machine gun.

While she’d been eying him over, he’d also been studying her.

‘You must be the single most preposterous-looking creature I’ve ever seen, human,’ he said at last.

Bella glared up at him from the mud. ‘It’s impact foam. Maybe it looks preposterous to you, but it just saved my life. And it’s this colour so that it stands out. To help people find me.’

‘Ingenious!’ The lizardman fell silent, leaving the last word hanging pointedly in the air, a slight smile curling the corners of his mouth.

‘OK. Fine. Point taken. You found me. I’ll tell them to make it camouflage green next time.’

‘Next time? You’re in Aurelheart. You’re unarmed. You’re alone. And here you are chatting to a big, bad, dangerous lizardman. Whatever makes you think you’ll get a next time?’

‘Only the fact that I’ll break both your scaly arms if you so much as touch me.’

‘Ha! Well said. You’ve got quite a spine, for a wormskin. What do I call you, human?’

‘Bella,’ she replied automatically and then mentally kicked herself.

You idiot, Bella! What do you think will happen if he finds out you’re Isabella Dessinger? If he knows you’re Eddie’s wife? That you’re married to the man cutting down his precious forest? Don’t you think he might change his mind about not killing you?

‘_Ara_bella. Arabella Greenholme. I’m... umm... I’m a pilot.’

‘Call me Arrek. Now, it’s time to get on your feet, Arabella Greenholme.’ He took two long strides towards her and stretched down a hand towards where she sat. Bella eyed the hand with distaste. Pointedly refusing his help, she tried to protect what little dignity she had left by standing up on her own. She made it barely half-way upright before her shaky legs slipped out from under her and she landed back in the mud with a wet squelch.

The lizardman, to her relief, didn’t laugh. His hand remained motionless, three green fingers and a thumb outspread in offer of assistance. This time she swallowed her pride and grabbed it - his thick scaled fingers feeling rough and warm as they clasped tightly around her own - and she found herself hauled non-too-gently to her feet.

‘Thanks... I think.’ Her tender muscles winced from the sudden upheaval.

Arrek grunted dismissively and glanced up over her head to where her wrecked flyer sat embedded in its tree. ‘So were you trying to kill yourself, or are you just a very bad pilot?’

She shrugged, feeling a little less tense now she was satisfied the lizardman wasn’t immediately about to murder her. ‘A bit of both, I guess. But ending up in that tree was an accident, not a suicide attempt.’

‘You’re wrong there.’ Leaning back against another tree, he pulled out an arrow and began to straighten the fletching, frowning in concentration as he worked.

‘Excuse me?’

Bright blue feathers flashed between his fingers, falling obediently into perfect shape and order with a single deft twist of his fingertips. ‘You’re wrong about it being an accident,’ he clarified, and nodded upwards towards the crashed flyer. ‘Look.’

Bella frowned at the wreckage, struggling to see what she was supposed to be looking for. And then she saw it. A blue-feathered arrow sat half-buried in the flyer, piercing straight through the thin aluminium casing that protected the delicate microjet engine.

‘You shot me down?’ She could scarcely believe it. Was it even possible? Surely no-one could hit a target travelling at such a speed? She stared at the evidence for a few more seconds before wonder turned to anger.

‘You shot me down!’ It wasn’t a question this time: it was an accusation. She glared at the lizardman, who carried on tending to his arrows as calmly as though she wasn’t there. ‘How dare you? I could have been killed!’ She shouted this in the most imperious voice she could muster, every word edged with steel. It was the voice she used when she wanted to make Eddie flinch. Arrek, however, didn’t even look up from his work.

‘Why did you shoot me down?’ she tried in a softer tone, swallowing her rage with some difficulty. In response he glanced up at the wreck.

‘Do I really need to answer that?’

This time, Bella didn’t need to look at the wreck to know what he meant. She knew she’d see the Dessinger Corporation logo emblazoned proudly over the fuselage.

‘I don’t work for the Dessinger Corporation,’ she said quickly. Very technically, it wasn’t a lie.

‘And yet you fly a Dessinger Corporation aeroplane over the sacred forest of Aurelheart. The forest which is at war with the Dessinger Corporation. You must be very brave... or extremely stupid.’

She ran the words over in her head.

“The forest which is at war with the Dessinger Corporation”. Funny how different people use different words to describe the lizardman chief Eskarog and his fighters, isn’t it? Back in Davis, Eddie called them “saboteurs”. Politicians went one step further than the truth, as usual, and called them “terrorists”, while ordinary people seemed to be happy enough with “savages”. But here, they think of themselves as soldiers fighting a “war”. And not their war, oh no: it’s the forest which is at war.

‘And who do you work for, Arrek? Are you one of Eskarog’s merry men?’

‘I work and live and fight for the forest.’

‘I’ll take that as a yes.’ Bella decided it was time to make an exit. She knew exactly how many Dessinger Corporation contractors had lost their lives at the hands of Eskarog’s bloodthirsty gang in the last few years - a figure which Eddie had so far managed to keep secret only at enormous expense - and she had no desire to personally add to that number.

‘It was... um... a pleasure to meet you Arrek, but I think I’d better get going now.’ She smiled at him sweetly. ‘Do pass my compliments on to Eskarog when you see him next, won’t you?’

‘Why not wait until you meet him yourself?’

Her smile faded. ‘Meet him? Me? No. No no no. I’m going home. Which way is Davis from here?’

‘That way.’ His tail flicked up to point vaguely into the trees, as his hands were still occupied with his arrows. ‘But we’re going that way.’ The tail flicked round to point in almost exactly the opposite direction.

‘You can go that way if you like. I’m going home, thank you very much.’

‘What did you imagine? That you could exchange a few pleasantries and then walk away? You are my prisoner. You go where I go, and I’m going back to my camp.’

He said it matter-of-factly and without obvious malice - Bella even thought she caught a slight hint of regret in his voice - but in a tone that made it clear that this arrangement was not open to compromise.

You’re in a bad situation here, girl. What do you think’s going to happen to you when you arrive at Lizardman Central? A nice fluffy bed and an escort home? Nobody’s ever met Eskarog and then made it back home to laugh about it afterwards. Or at least, not in one piece.

She took a moment to think through her options. And then she started running.

She ran in the direction that Arrek had indicated Davis was to be found, blindly hoping he’d been telling the truth. She ran full-pelt, as fast as her shaky muscles would carry her, her feet splashing and sliding through streams and mud, bushes scratching at the foam swaddling her legs and then - when that had been torn away in chunks - at her skin. She didn’t dare look behind her. How fast could a lizardman move? Her muscles screamed but still she ran, on and on, leaves and wind whipping at her face, until finally she couldn’t run any more. She gasped for breath, her legs trembling and her heart pounding.

She turned to look behind her. Trees, trees and more trees, but there was no lizardman to be seen. She laughed exultantly, but then broke down wheezing.

Ha! Some forest warrior you were, Arrek! Couldn’t be bothered to chase me, could you? I’ll bet you’re still back where I left you, pruning your precious arrows. God help Eskarog if the rest of his thugs are as lazy as you are.

Now what? If I could just sit down for a minute or two, catch my breath, then I could start trying to find my way back towards...

Suddenly green-scaled arms closed around her from behind.

Bella screamed in shock and tried to squirm free, but she might as well have been trying to break steel bars. Arrek’s muscular arms held her tightly pressed against his sturdy chest, and the more she wriggled and hit and strained the tighter they held her. Eventually she gave up and slumped in surrender.

‘Are you finished trying to escape?’ She could feel the words echoing in his chest.

She nodded, shaking in impotent fury.

‘Good. I need you to know that if it proves necessary, I’m quite capable of carrying you back to our camp by force, kicking and screaming if you so desire. But it’s a long journey from here, and I feel this could soon become a wearisome arrangement for us both. So perhaps it would be preferable if you agreed to follow me quietly?’

It wasn’t much of a choice. ‘Deal’, she said, and he released her from his iron grip.

Bella took a few steps away, unsteady on her feet. It felt good to be able to breathe freely again. ‘So just to be clear. If I try and run again, you’re going to just pick me up and drag me all the way to your camp?’

‘Yes. After I shoot you in the leg.’

‘...OK. Thanks for clearing that up.’

She looked up into the lizardman’s eyes and he looked back down at her. He had bright orange eyes, like two rings of fire.

Oh god, no human has eyes like those. There’s nothing gentle about those eyes - they’re like two burning coals: hot with passion and mercilessly hard. I didn’t think he had the manner of a fanatic, but he has the eyes of one. They frighten me. I can imagine seeing dancing flames reflected in those eyes as a city burns to ashes. I can imagine them blaze in exultation as they watch a man die. I can imagine losing myself in the infinite blackness of those pupils as we make wild, brutal love...

...Whoah. Where did that come from? Down, girl.

‘So what’s going to happen to me?’

‘That is for Eskarog to decide.’

He walked a few paces into the undergrowth and stopped, looking back at Bella expectantly. ‘Follow me. Do as I do. Step where I step. And make haste. We have a long way to go.’

Bella sighed. ‘I’m right behind you,’ she said wearily and followed her captor deeper into the forest.

* * *

Back in Davis, Bella’s suite had looked out towards Aurelheart. She felt she could stare at it for hours. Out past the gleaming lifeless blocks of glass and concrete, out past the neat chequerboard of green and golden fields, it appeared as a vivid green haze stretching out to the horizon, framed by the blue mountains, and something about it drew the eye irresistibly.

‘Staring at the forest again?’ sniffed Miranda, coming to join her at the window. ‘It looks rather lovely from here, doesn’t it?’

‘It is quite pretty from a distance,’ agreed Jane from the sofa. ‘Say Bella, you should ask Eddie to leave us a little bit to look at. Maybe even to visit, if he put in some nice paths and benches and cleared out all the insects and things.’

Bella sighed. Eddie had somehow got it into his head that Jane and Miranda were her very good friends, and took it upon himself to invite them round to “entertain” her whenever he noticed she was planning to enjoy a day at home on her own.

‘It’s not pretty,’ she contradicted. ‘And it’s not lovely either. It’s beautiful. Rose gardens are pretty. Aurelheart... it’s wild and free and somehow... I don’t know... pure. It’s the only thing I can see from this window we haven’t been able to tame or control yet. The only thing we haven’t managed to turn into something dreary.’

Miranda chuckled: a sound that resembled someone quietly choking to death. ‘Honestly, you do say some terribly naïve things sometimes, Bella! Aurelheart is dreary. Just miles and miles of trees, really. And mud, and poisonous plants, and biting things that carry disease. Pretty from a distance, oh my yes, but frankly I shan’t be very sad when Eddie pulls down the last nasty tree and we can begin using that land for something productive.’

‘And those horrible lizardmen sent packing,’ contributed Jane.

‘Sent packing to where, exactly? It’s their home. Always has been. They’ve been there since before we even knew this planet existed.’

Jane looked flustered. ‘Bella! You cannot possibly have sympathy with those bloodthirsty primitives! Father says Eskarog and his gang have killed a dozen of our men already!’

‘More than a dozen,’ Bella corrected. ‘But do you honestly think we wouldn’t retaliate if they tried to tear down Davis?’

‘What a grisly imagination you have!’

‘Oh my! You don’t think they could, do you?’

Bella sighed again. The point had gone clean over their heads.

Poor Jane and Miranda. I feel sorry for them. They live in such a very small world. Perhaps I should break it to Eddie that I can’t stand them, so he stops inviting them? But no, they’re far too much fun. Let’s see how they react to this...

‘Don’t you think,’ she said carefully, ‘that it would be a little bit exciting to meet a lizardman?’

Miranda gave her a curious look. Jane gasped out loud. ‘Exciting? Isabella, it would be terrifying! How can you think such things?’

‘Oh I don’t know. Big, strong, forest warrior... might be just the thing to keep the bed warm while Eddie’s away, if you know what I mean?’

‘Isabella Dessinger!’ admonished Miranda, whose cheeks had visibly coloured, while Jane’s had turned even paler than usual. ‘You’re out of control! Don’t make jokes about things like that!’

Bella laughed. The other two quickly turned the conversation back to safe, mundane matters while she stared out through the window towards distant, inviting Aurelheart.

* * *

After an hour trailing behind Arrek, Bella had decided she hated the forest.

It looks so attractive from far away, doesn’t it? And then you’re in it and it’s all spiky and sticky and smelly and full of unpleasant little biting things. And there’s no paths. None! One minute I’m scratching my legs to pieces pushing through some bushes, the next I’m sinking into the mud! How do you make it look so easy, Arrek? OK so scales probably help stop your legs getting shredded, but how do you manage to stroll across a bog like it’s solid ground?

Bella was having difficulty with the bog. A comprehensive carpet of grass and moss and other green things she couldn’t put a name to covered the waterlogged ground between the trees. There seemed to be no way of knowing, before she put her foot down, whether it would find solid earth underneath, or whether (as quite often proved the case) it would sink half a metre into unthinkable ooze.

‘How do you do this?’ she exclaimed in frustration as she pulled her sopping leg out of a stagnant pool for the thirteenth time in ten minutes. Arrek had barely spoken a word to her since they began. He walked with the air of a man absorbed in his own thoughts, occasionally pausing to examine some tree or other closely, giving her time to catch up. When she spoke he turned to look back over his shoulder as though surprised to see she was still behind him. For a moment Bella was sure that he was going to ignore her and walk on - or even worse, tell her to “make haste” again - but instead he loped easily towards her and squatted down on the ground, gesturing for her to do the same.

‘I’m going to share a secret of the forest, simple enough for even a human to understand.’

‘Thanks,’ she said drily.

‘Look at this piece of ground in front of you. What do you see?’

‘I see a lot of green growing things. And a couple of disgusting slugs.’

His bright eyes met hers briefly; she thought she detected a slight twinkle of amusement. ‘You have the true refined eye of a city dweller, Bella.’

‘Thank you.’

‘This is called arythryx.’ He gently patted a patch of green mossy-looking stuff. ‘And this is bakarraka.’ He indicated another, identical-looking patch of green moss.

She stared, wondering where this was going. ‘...And?’

‘Arythryx enjoys firm soil.’ He punched the patch of arythryx with his fist. It made a thud sound and didn’t sink in. ‘Bakarraka loves deep mud and open water.’ He slid his other hand through the patch of bakarraka and it slid in down to his elbow. ‘Step on arythryx, don’t step on bakarraka, and you keep your feet dry.’

‘But... but they look the same!’

‘Not at all. To an accustomed eye, Arythryx looks as unlike Bakarraka as you look to me.’

Back on the move, Bella tried out the trick of the two mosses. She couldn’t make it work. As hard as she tried, she simply couldn’t differentiate the two plants. She glared at Arrek, who continued to stroll easily across the bog as though it were paved in concrete, his eyes fixed on the ground in front of him. What must it be like to understand the things which live and grow in the forest as easily as she could understand the markings on a road? What else could he see that was invisible to her? The lizardman glanced behind him, now and again, and she couldn’t tell if it was silent laughter or deep pity that lit up his eyes as he watched her stumble and sink into the quagmire time and time again. As time went by she found herself disappearing less and less frequently into the bog, not because she’d learned to differentiate Arythryx and Bakarraka but because she’d learned a different trick: she put her feet exactly where Arrek’s footprints showed that he’d put his.

By the time they reached the end of the bog, almost an hour after they’d entered it, she was in extremely low spirits. Her shoes, not designed for this sort of treatment, were ruined and uncomfortable. And she was far too hot. Although the water had washed the last of the impact foam from her legs, there was still almost a full coat of the stuff from the waist up, and it was like trying to walk under a thick woolly jumper. (Arrek had raised objections when she began tearing the stuff off piece by piece as she went along; apparently he didn’t want her leaving a trail of pink breadcrumbs behind them.) Increasingly weary and sweating profusely, she trailed Arrek in a grumpy silence which he made no attempt to break.

At last they reached a river. The forest here was so thick that it took Bella by surprise; she’d suspected its existence neither from sight nor sound before her captor pushed a path through some thick undergrowth and there it was at their feet: a wide and winding flow of clear water cutting a shimmering path through the trees.

The lizardman paused on the bank, looking cautiously both upstream and downstream, his forked tongue flicking out to taste the air.

‘Which way now?’ she asked, looking thirstily at the inviting water.

‘Across.’

Bella looked doubtfully over to the opposite bank. The river was wide, and it looked deep and fast towards the centre. And she could see a fair way along in each direction, and there was no sign of either bridge or ford.

‘I can’t get across this...’

‘You can. But take a wash and refreshment here in the water first.’

‘Oh thank goodness. That’s exactly what I need. Thank you, Arrek.’ She gave him a small smile. He frowned in return.

‘You are too pink. As you pointed out earlier, that colour stands out in the forest. Dessinger has many aerial spies - as you well know - and it would be better if one didn’t see you.’ He sniffed. ‘Or smell you.’

She scowled.

As he bent down to cup water in his hands and drink, Bella stepped cautiously into the water until it was up to her knees. The chill current nudged deliciously at her weary legs. An urge came upon her to rip her stinking clothes off and plunge her whole body under the cool water.

She turned to face Arrek, who stood a few metres away, watching her. ‘Be a gentlemen and give a girl a little privacy?’

‘I’m not a gentleman, thank the roots. And as my prisoner, I cannot afford you an opportunity to escape, just to pander to your perverse human modesty.’ With that he sat himself down on a thick jutting branch, facing squarely towards her, a challenge in his eyes.

Bella fumed for a moment, but realised it would be futile to argue. She simply turned her back and tried - unsuccessfully - to forget he was there. Without wasting any more time, she pulled off her pink-fouled, torn and hated clothes with relish, and when she was down to just her underpants - there was no way she was going to remove those while he was watching - she plunged into the river, letting the cool and fresh water flow wonderfully over every part of her body, cleansing her, refreshing her. When she stood back upright, her hair and breasts dripping in the late afternoon sunlight, she felt like a new person.

It feels as though the water has washed away all my tiredness along with the mud. All my fear along with the sweat. All that wretched hopelessness along with that dratted pink foam. The sun is shining, and the birds are singing in the trees. It’s a beautiful day, and a beautiful place, and this river must flow home to Davis. I don’t know how, but somehow, for the first time, I feel I’m going to make it through this. And won’t I have a good story to tell when I get back? I’m ready to face whatever stands in my way: Arrek, Eskarog, a hundred miles of forest, anything. But first I need something clean to wear.

She hummed a tune to herself as she rubbed the pink foam from her clothes; it disintegrated easily in the water. Her shoes were worse than useless, and she threw them along with her socks into the river without regrets. She’d just have to walk barefoot from now on. The legs of her trousers were in tatters, so she tore them off and wore the remainder as a serviceable pair of shorts. Her shirt at least was in good condition...

Bella froze as she looked at the shirt in her hands. The pink foam she’d just washed off had perhaps saved her life in more than one way: it had neatly concealed the Dessinger Corporation logo emblazoned on one breast, with the name “Isabella Dessinger” written proudly underneath. She tried turning it inside out, but both name and logo were still clearly legible.

Swearing out loud, she threw the shirt into the river after the shoes, before Arrek got a chance to see it.

Perhaps someone down in Davis will find it. It could help them find me, when they come to rescue me. I wonder... is there already a search party being organised? Do they even know I’m missing yet? Is Eddie pacing back and forth right now, wondering why I’ve not come home?

But what am I supposed to do without a shirt? What a fine day to choose not to wear a bra! Oh well, I guess there’s nothing for it; I’m just going to have to walk around with my tits out like some kind of Amazon princess. It’s warm enough, after all. Arrek you lucky devil, there’s men back home who’d pay good money to be in your place right now. Here goes...

Pushing her self-consciousness to the back of her mind, Bella turned around to face him. She was astonished to find him sitting with his back to her, gazing upstream in the opposite direction.

‘You know,’ she said, ‘where I’m from, most men would say they won’t peek and then peek anyway. You’ve just done the exact opposite, and I’m really not sure which one annoys me more.’

‘Your nudity or otherwise is of little consequence to me, Bella.’ And then he turned around and saw her, and his face gave lie to his words. It was a little thing - a look of hunger as his eyes glanced up and down her nearly-naked body - and then he caught himself and the expression was gone. But it was enough. Bella knew then that she had yet another reason to be careful around Arrek: apparently he had a taste for human women.

‘This is a big improvement, Bella. You dress almost like a lizardwoman.’

‘Oh shut up, you big pervert. Now how are we going to get across this river?’

‘Climb on my back and I’ll carry you.’

‘Be serious.’

He gave her a look which told her very clearly that he was being entirely serious.

‘No! If you can walk across it, I can walk across it too, thank you very much.’

He laughed. It was the first time she’d heard him laugh: a quiet but rich rasp that came straight from the chest.

‘You’re a proud woman, Bella, and I respect that. It’s a shame you had the bad luck to be born a human. You would have made a fine lizardwoman. Here, take my spear; it’ll help you keep your feet against the current.’

He solemnly pressed his spear into her hands: a two-metre wooden shaft ending in a gleaming and lethal bronze tip. She blinked in surprise.

‘Do you really think it’s a good idea to hand your prisoner a lethal weapon?’ she inquired.

‘Why, are you planning to kill me with it? I’d find it entertaining if you tried.’

‘Not until I get a good opportunity.’

‘Good thinking. Let’s go. Step where I step. Try not to drown.’

Arrek splashed into the river and she followed behind him, cautiously. He paused when the water was up to his knees, unslinging the bow and quiver from his back, unwrapping his fur skirt from around his hips and draping it over his shoulders, safely out of reach of getting soaked. Then he continued forwards into deeper water. Bella had only a few seconds to admire the weirdly intriguing view of his two full and rounded green-scaled buttocks, swaying in perfect rhythm with his swinging tail, before they were swallowed beneath the waterline. And then, as the water got deeper and faster, she had too much to worry about keeping her own footing to spare time for ogling the lizardman anyway.

The spear helped. She felt sure she would have been swept away without it. She used it to dig deeply into the river floor, bracing herself against the shaft as she shuffled forwards, then digging it in again, a little further along. The water was up above her waist, almost lapping at her breasts. She was just starting to feel confident in her technique, and was congratulating herself on besting the river, when the accident happened.

She tugged the spear out of the mud and her feet slipped out from under her. She panicked, flung the spear forwards to try and save herself, and lost her grip on it. The current tugged at her, pulling her over, taking control, dragging her away...

Bella screamed, and felt a strong hand close around her wrist, reeling her back, pulling her onto her feet. She shuddered, gasping in shock, and without thinking about it found herself clutching tightly onto the one solid thing within reach: Arrek. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. They stood silently in the very middle of the river, holding each other, watching the spear disappear downstream.

Once she’d recovered her nerves enough to move, she crossed the remainder of the river on Arrek’s back, with her legs wrapped around his hips and her arms around his shoulders, her bare breasts pressed against his knobbly scaled back. It was less uncomfortable than she might have imagined, and he felt reassuringly large and strong: an immovable object to stand against the current. She rested her chin on the fur still wrapped around his shoulders and let her thoughts wander to pleasant places.

Look at me! Riding bare-breasted on a lizardman warrior - a naked lizardman warrior, I might add - half-way across a river in the middle of Aurelheart! Oh, how I wish Eddie could see me now! And better yet, those stuck-up dolls Jane and Miranda. Just imagine the looks on their faces...

* * *

Jane and Miranda had been at the party the week before, shimmering and simpering in yet another pair of new, fashionable dresses. Bella was there too, dressed up in the finest clothes Eddie’s money could buy, and Eddie had a lot of it to spend. She could tell from Jane’s occasional jealous glances that she outshone everyone else in the room. This was only fitting. It was, after all, her birthday party.

When Eddie stood up and rung a glass, everyone fell silent very quickly; quicker than they would have for anybody else. There was a certain presence about Eddie. He was a smallish and slight man - wispy, sandy hair; mousy features behind big glasses - but he assumed people’s respect and he received it.

‘Good ladies and fine gentlemen. It’s a pleasure to see you all, every one of you, it really is. A pleasure. I mean it. Well, for most of you at least. For the rest of you I’m lying for politeness’ sake.’ There was a low murmur of forced laughter.

‘But if it’s a mere pleasure to see most of you, then I must honestly admit to the most exquisite delight at laying eyes on the woman we’re all here to see. May I give you the apple of my eye, the light of my life, the one and only, Mrs Isabella Dessinger!’

Bella walked over and took her husband’s hand, and smiled, and bowed, while the crowd clapped. She looked over the sea of faces. Glittering, handsome, smiling faces. All the powerful and wealthy of Davis seemed to have gathered to celebrate her birthday. The room was awash with glitz and glamour and gaiety.

There can’t be many girls who get a party like this. Imagine if life had worked out differently, and all I could hope for was a few friends round for a quiet night in?

I’d give anything for a life like that.

Never mind. Just smile and wave, and it’ll all be over soon.

Eddie gave a speech. It was quite a long speech, ostensibly about Bella but also, inevitably, drifting onto the subject of Aurelheart. There were, she noticed without much surprise, a fair number of journalists and investors in the room.

Damn you, Eddie! This isn’t a party, it’s a press conference! It’s not for me at all, it’s all for you! And what else did you get me for my birthday? Jewellery. Flowers. Chocolates. Money, plenty of it, to spend as I choose. Lots of expense but not a moment’s thought, as usual. I’d hoped you might have made a bit more effort, for my fortieth. Still, you did hint that there was something else you were giving me tonight. Something special. Let’s wait and see.

Eddie reached the point eventually. ‘Bella, in honour of this very special day, I have a very special surprise for you.’ He nodded towards a nearby table, where two stewards pulled a white sheet from on top of something large and round. She let Eddie draw her closer, curious, as the crowd pressed close behind them to see what the fuss was about.

It was a model. One of Eddie’s countless scale models he used to publicise new parts of the planned Aurelheart development. This one looked to be a shopping centre. A perfect miniature of a building, with card and plastic doing an admirable impression of shining steel and glass and artful curves of white concrete. And surrounding it was a sprawling car park complete with tiny cars, and well-groomed parkland with miniature manicured trees.

I admit it: I like these models. So intricate. And they make everything look so clean and classy when the reality will probably be so grubby and tacky. But what the hell does this have to do with me?

Eddie took both her hands, looked into her eyes and beamed. ‘My darling, it is my great pleasure to officially unveil the Isabella Dessinger Shopping Centre!’

A shopping centre, Eddie? Seriously? A shopping centre?! Do you not know me at all? You want to build this monstrosity over a wild and beautiful forest and then put my name on it? And you expect me to be what: delighted? Oh but look at you, that’s exactly what you expect, isn’t it? You honestly think you’re giving me the most wonderful honour. Well I’m not going to make a scene and embarrass you in front of this mob, Eddie. I’m going to smile and gush and say ‘how wonderful!’ and pose for the cameras and hold your hand. But inside, Eddie: inside I’m crying.

* * *

After they crossed the river, Bella started to enjoy herself.

She’d always wanted a chance to explore Aurelheart. Perhaps it was the lure of the unknown and the forbidden. Back in the bog, the walking had been so hard-going she hadn’t had time to admire much more than the space immediately in front of her feet. But here the ground was dry and clear, and the two walked at a brisk but comfortable speed between the trees. She gazed up in wonder. This part of the forest looked exactly like she’d always imagined it. Huge trunks rose up like columns in a never-ending cathedral, supporting a thick roof of rustling green. Beams and chinks of sunlight filtered through to illuminate the leaves and flowers of the forest floor in ever-shifting patterns of light and colour, as diverse and beautiful as a sunset seen through a stained glass window. It wasn’t hard to appreciate why the lizardmen called the forest sacred. There was something about it that made her want to drop to her knees and pray.

Arrek also matched up fairly well with her expectations of what a lizardman warrior should be like. Upright, proud and taciturn. The only major difference between him and the mental image she held of what he should look like, was that she felt he should be wearing war paint. In the pictures she saw in Davis, lizardmen were always daubed in brightly coloured war paint. She tried to imagine Arrek with his scales decorated in garish colours, and couldn’t quite picture it.

He walked at an easy stride with his shoulders very slightly hunched and his hands clasped behind his back. Every now and again he would suddenly stop dead, his eyes darting about and his tongue flickering out, his tail twitching in agitation, and would move again only once he was sure that whatever unseen danger he’d seen or heard or smelt was no threat. At other times he would bend down to examine some random-looking leaf or stick with great interest. Once or twice he even took out his knife and scratched a small, near-invisible mark onto the bark of a nearby tree. Bella was given the continual impression that there was a whole language of the forest she didn’t understand, as obvious as street signs to the fluent eye.

It was a pleasant summer evening, cool and fresh. Insects buzzed contentedly through the air or chirped excitedly from the bushes. There was no other sound in the world, except the murmur of trees in the breeze and the crunch of dry leaves beneath their feet. Bella found she could easily put her own mortal danger to the back of her mind, and consider the whole journey as the kind of adventure she’d always longed for.

Do you know what I like best about this? I’m wandering around with my tits out and no-one gives a hoot. No gawpers. No scandal. No little parasites rushing to take photos to sell to the local scandal rag.

I’ve never met anyone like you, Arrek. And I don’t mean the trivial differences: the scales and the tail and so forth. I’ve never met anyone so... straight-forward_. That’s supposed to be a compliment. I come from a world built around the values of insincerity and constant reinvention. You need a twisty little mind to survive in Davis’ high society. But your mind seems to run in mercilessly straight lines. You know who you are and you don’t pretend to be anyone else. You stand for what you love and you love what you stand for, and you’ll fight anyone who stands against that._

Conversation with Arrek tended to be one-sided. She’d ask a question and he’d answer it, tersely but not impolitely; or quite often he wouldn’t answer at all. Then she’d have to ask something else, or he’d let things relapse into silence. And yet somehow, she got the impression that her company was far from unappreciated. As the evening drew on, and her legs grew more weary beneath her, she felt she’d exhausted the possibilities of small talk and decided to shoot straight for a question that was decidedly large and hard to swallow. It was something she’d been working up the courage to ask for some time.

‘Have you ever killed anyone, Arrek?’

He stopped sharply and she saw his hands clench and his shoulders slump slightly forwards. ‘Yes,’ he said simply.

‘Humans?’

‘Yes.’

‘How many?’

‘Too many.’ He started walking again, clearly displeased with the line of questioning, but Bella persisted.

‘Why? What did they do to deserve it?’

He stopped again, and said something under his breath in Rootsong that sounded like an oath. Then he turned round to face her. His easy manner of late had evaporated, replaced with a dangerous fire in his eyes, of the kind she hadn’t seen there since she’d first looked into them.

‘Are you sure you want to question my morals, Bella?’ His voice carried a hissing undertone, as though the words were edged in poison.

She crossed her arms and stared him down, trying not to show that his anger frightened her. ‘I’m sure. What gives you the right to take people’s lives?’

He glared. But then he closed his eyes for a second, took a deep breath, and when he answered his voice had returned to its usual calm and measured state.

‘A long time ago, I swore my life to protect this forest. I didn’t swear it lightly; it was complete surrender. I surrendered my personal ambitions. I surrendered all my expectations of comfort and safety. And I had to surrender the things which made me weak: mercy; guilt; love. These are luxuries I can afford only when they don’t come between me and my duty.’

His voice was dull and leaden, his eyes looked tired. ‘I don’t kill if there’s an alternative, Bella. But if to protect the forest I have to take a life now and again, then I don’t hesitate, and neither do I apologise for it. And if the forest ever required me to do something even worse - to torture, or rape, or mutilate an innocent - then that’s exactly what I’d do. If the forest required me to give my own life, I’d die willingly. If the only way to save it was to sacrifice the person I loved the most, then I’d throw them into the flames myself.

‘So no, I have no right to take anyone’s life. And no, probably they didn’t all deserve it. But I’ve always followed my duty, and I’m at peace with my conscience. Can you say the same?’

That was a nice speech, Arrek. You even look like you meant all that. I really truly believe you’re capable of doing any of those awful things you said. But for someone who’s at peace with his conscience, you’re awfully touchy on the subject, aren’t you? Well don’t expect any consolation from me.

‘I think you’re just trying to excuse the inexcusable, Arrek. Back home, they say you’re all savages. Monsters. Murderers. I used to question that. But you know what? After meeting you, I’m not so sure they’re wrong.’

‘Oh?’ The fire had returned to his eyes. ‘Do you care to share any more thoughts about me and my people?’

I should stop baiting him now. He’s angry. Properly angry. But so am I. And there’s that part of me, the part that comes out when I’m flying, urging me on. ‘Just fly a little lower. Just push a little further. Go on.’ I never could resist it. As he said right at the start, if he was going to kill me, he would have done it already, right?

‘Do you know why we humans call you “lizardmen”? The first pioneers couldn’t pronounce your people’s name in Rootsong. But you reminded them of the lizards they knew from back on Earth. Little green scaly creatures. It’s quite fitting. You see, you and them, you’re both cold-blooded animals.’

The lizardman growled at her - a low, threatening throb from deep in his throat - his eyes steady but blazing, his fists clenched at his sides. Bella realised with a sinking stomach that she might just have provoked him too far. She watched in horrified disbelief as he pulled his bow from his shoulders, strung an arrow and pulled it back, aiming straight towards her from three metres distance. She closed her eyes, praying he wouldn’t fire...

There was a twang, and the whoosh of an arrow cutting through the air. Bella shuddered reflexively, expecting to die... but it never came. Cautiously, she opened her eyes and looked around. A dead furbeast lay on the forest floor some distance behind her, with a blue-feathered arrow sticking out of its corpse. Arrek slung the bow back over his shoulder, his calm demeanour returned.

‘Dinner,’ he stated matter-of-factly. ‘We’ll make camp nearby and finish our journey in the morning.’

* * *

Eddie kissed her.

‘What was that for?’ she asked, raising a quizzical eyebrow.

‘Can’t a man kiss his beautiful wife without being interrogated for it?’

‘Well it’s just that it’s such a rare occurrence these days...’

‘Sssh love, I’m in no mood to argue with you now.’ He kissed her again more tenderly and pushed her gently towards the bed in a way that left her in no doubt as to what he was in a mood for.

Really, Eddie, I’m not sure I’m quite in the mood tonight. But as this is such a rare opportunity, I’m going to go along with this and make the best of it; it could be weeks until you’re next feeling intimate.

Eddie checked his watch as she lay down invitingly. ‘It’s going to have to be a quick one, my love. I’ve got a shareholders’ meeting in twenty minutes.’

‘Oh for goodness’ sake!’ she said indignantly. ‘Can’t you postpone it? For me?’

‘Sorry, but you know I can’t.’ He began to unbuckle his trousers.

Making love to Eddie was like tasting a very small piece of fine chocolate: sweet and enjoyable while it lasted, but ultimately doing little to satisfy her deeper hunger for something more satisfying and substantial. His small, boyish fingers undressed her carefully and roved cautiously over her naked body, as though she were something delicate and likely to shatter at a firmer touch. Even after nearly twenty years of marriage, Eddie still had the hesitant, nervous manner of a shy young man encountering the naked female form for the very first time. Bella quite liked it. The soft, feather touch of his fingers was not without a certain stimulating art, and his face carried a little frown of concentration as though he were completely absorbed in the act of pleasing her.

And then he’d spoil the magic completely by speaking.

‘Mmm, that’s good,’ he said as she touched him in just the way he liked best. ‘Hey guess what? Oooh, don’t stop! The Lentimans just offered to invest five million in the Springside housing development! Ouch! Careful love, that hurt!’

‘Whoops! Clumsy me! You know I don’t like you talking about work during sex.’

‘Sorry love, I’ll be quiet.’

Frustrated, Bella clasped both her hands around his soft, fuzzy buttocks and pulled him firmly towards her.

Once he got down to the actual fuck, Eddie stayed blessedly quiet. It was, she considered, a promising start. He began cautiously, easing himself in and out of her like a man dipping his toe into a lake to test the water. Apparently finding it to his liking he began to draw himself in and out of her in slow, flowing pulses which sent waves of sensation rippling agreeably through her body. Bella laid back and moaned softly, enjoying the building pleasure seeping through her, enjoying the soft kisses he landed on her neck and cheeks.

Damn this feels good. Why can’t you do this more often, Eddie?

But, as ever, she knew she was destined for disappointment. What should have been merely the apéritif to whet the appetite before a more substantial fuck to come was, for Eddie, the starter, main course and pudding. Soon - far, far too soon for Bella, who was only just starting to really get into it - she saw his eyes flicker shut and a look of tranquil joy wash across his face as he reached his conclusion. His lips parted and a soft, wordless sigh of pleasure spilt into the air.

With his attentions petering out, she knew it was time to fake an orgasm. She was extremely good at them, having had lots of practice from years of being married to Eddie. Feeling annoyed with him, she decided to go for one which was particularly over-the-top - a series of wild gasps and moans that made it sound like her insides were melting from uncontainable pleasure - so very obviously faked that she dearly hoped he would notice and be offended.

He didn’t. He never did.

Instead he slumped down on top of her, exhausted and satisfied, and Bella heard him murmur the words “five million investment” to himself contentedly under his breath.

* * *

Roast furbeast wouldn’t have been Bella’s first choice back in the exclusive restaurants she and Eddie frequented in Davis. But she had to admit, after tearing the last piece of meat from the bone with her teeth, that it was quite possible she had never enjoyed a meal more.

Arrek had built a small fire, and skinned and cooked the creature in a grumpy silence, resisting all efforts at conversation. Bella had soon given up trying to talk to him and had sat letting the smell of roasting meat fuel her ever-growing hunger.

After they’d both finished eating and he’d stamped the fire into ashes, he sat down beside her and finally broke his silence.

‘Do you know where we are, Bella?’

She looked around her again. It was a particularly attractive spot, by the side of a little stream babbling over rocks beneath ancient, gnarled and moss-shrouded trees.

‘Aurelheart. Deep Aurelheart. Beyond that, I really haven’t a clue.’

‘Our name for this area translates roughly as “the wood which eases the soul”. It’s a sacred place. People come here when they are troubled or uncertain, to put their minds at rest.’

She could understand that. There was a heavy, pervasive aura of peace about the place. Birds sang softly in the failing light as they prepared for the night, and there was a pleasant trace of earthy perfume in the air.

‘The trees here are said to be some of the oldest in Aurelheart. That tree in particular - we call him Vzekkt Grighkt, “The Old Man” - has stood for over a thousand years.’

The tree he pointed to was colossal; five lizardmen together couldn’t have joined hands around its trunk. She hadn’t noticed it before, possibly because its trunk was so encrusted with mosses and lichens that its wood was almost completely hidden under a coat of camouflaging green. There was a gnarled, tortured look to its stubby branches, but at the same time it gave a strange impression of indomitable pride. It had the look of a tree which could well stand for another thousand years yet, and possibly another thousand after that. There was space around it on all sides, as though the other trees kept their distance to show respect.

‘It is customary, when we pass this place, to make a prayer to Vzekkt Grighkt, to ask for safe passage. Excuse me.’

The lizardman got to his feet and approached the tree; looking up into its canopy, he dropped to his knees. The tree towered over him, making him look unnaturally small. He touched its moss-covered bark with both hands, palms outspread, softly, reverentially, as though in deference to a superior being. And then, leaning forwards, he touched his forehead to the tree’s bark. For perhaps thirty seconds he remained in that position, muttering soft words which only he could hear, before he rose to his feet and returned to sit besides Bella. They sat there together for several minutes, neither of them speaking, listening to the birds call sweetly to one another above their heads.

‘In three years,’ he said suddenly, ‘this area will be cleared to make way for the car park of the Isabella Dessinger Shopping Centre.’

Bella blinked. Suddenly, she couldn’t help it, there were tears in her eyes. For this awe-inspiring place to be ground into sawdust and tarmacked over... it was more than she could bear. For her own name to be hung over it was just an added insult. It made her feel as though, somehow, the whole thing were her fault.

‘I see your tears, Bella. I think you understand, now, why we have to fight.’

But you don’t understand, do you? You don’t know who I am. But I don’t think Eskarog is likely to be fooled. If the lizardmen are well-connected enough to Davis to know about the shopping centre plans already, then chances are that one of them will recognise Isabella Dessinger when they see her. And probably my life won’t be a very long one once that happens.

If I go back with you to your camp, Arrek, I think I’m going to die.

Damn you! It’s so easy to forget that I’m your prisoner and you’re my guard, when you do so little to act the part. All this time I should have been looking for an opportunity to escape and I didn’t even try. And why? Because I was having too much fun! It felt like some kind of adventure. I felt more free than I have done in years.

Enough games. I need to get out of here. I’m a resourceful woman, I’m sure I can outwit one lizardman. I tried running, and that didn’t work. Let’s try negotiation...

‘Arrek?’

‘Yes?’

‘Do you respect me?’

‘Yes.’

‘And do you trust me?’

He paused to consider it. ‘In some regards, yes. In others, no.’

‘But do you trust that I wouldn’t do anything to harm the forest, now that you’ve shown it to me?’

‘I trust that you wouldn’t do anything to intentionally harm the forest. It isn’t quite the same thing.’

‘I respect you, Arrek. And I think I trust you, too. In some regards, at least.’

‘And which regards would those be?’

‘I trust you not to lead someone you respect to their death when there’s nothing to be gained by it.’

Arrek leaned back against a trunk and sighed, gazing up into the canopy. ‘You think that you’ll be killed after you meet Eskarog.’

‘Won’t I?’

‘I wish I could say no, but I honestly don’t know.’

‘Couldn’t you...’

‘No,’ he interrupted firmly. ‘I know what you’re about to ask, and the answer is no. I cannot look the other way while you make your escape. My duty is to bring you back to our camp and that is exactly what I intend to do. I’m sorry.’

She knew from his voice that he was sincere. Both about his unwillingness to let her go, and about being sorry. She’d known that he’d refuse, but she’d had to try. Just as she had to try the even more hopeless Plan B to persuade him to breach his duty.

‘How about if I gave you... a gift? To say thank you, for your hospitality? If you understand me?’

‘What could you possibly have to give me?’

Bella had never bribed anyone before. She’d never had to: that was Eddie’s job. And she only had one thing to offer. She pulled her wedding ring from her finger.

‘Would you like this?’ She held it out to him.

He took it and held it up to the dying light between green-scaled thumb and finger, squinting. The ring was almost pure gold, with an intricate spiral of platinum inlaid around the outside. It had cost Eddie a fortune, she was sure.

‘I accept your gift.’

Bella blinked in surprise. She hadn’t for a moment seriously expected the proud warrior to respond so easily to bribery. But there he was, sliding the ring onto his little finger, where it fit snugly around the middle joint but would go no further. ‘I shall treasure this. Thank you.’

‘So... I can go?’ she asked uncertainly.

‘No. You are still my prisoner.’

‘What?! Then give me back my ring!’

‘We have a saying amongst the lizardfolk. “A gift, freely given, may not be taken back.”’ He held his hand up to admire it.

‘But I thought you understood...’

‘I understood that you were offering me a gift. In thanks for my hospitality.’

‘I know I said that but I clearly meant...’

‘Here in the forest we assume that what people say is also what they mean. It avoids a great deal of confusion.’

She scowled and fell silent, sensing defeat. She had nothing left to offer him.

Wait. Hang on. I do have one thing that you might be interested in. I know you have an eye for me. And I guess lizardmen have the same desires as anyone else, right?

But this is a big thing. A huge thing. Worse than just handing over my wedding ring. But it’s the one thing that, maybe, you might not be able to refuse. It’s not such a great price to pay for my freedom, when you think about it, is it?

But dare I offer it? Do I really have the guts to give a lizardman free rein over my body? To submit to his brutal attentions? I know I should be repulsed by the idea, but in fact I find myself strangely drawn to it. It gives me a fluttering feeling in my stomach which isn’t at all unpleasant. And it’ll make a nice change from Eddie, after all.

Alright, I’ve decided. I’m going for it. I... I’m actually going to do this! Arrek, this is your lucky night...

The lizardman sat cross-legged beside her, his back against a trunk. Bella moved her hand over very slightly to rest on top of his. A simple gesture that carried such worlds of suggestion. She found her slender fingers entwining between his unresisting thick scaled ones. Nothing about it felt in any way wrong; in fact it felt like the easiest, most natural thing in the world. Looking up, she saw him staring down at their joined hands in surprise, and there again was the hungry look she’d seen in his eyes before. Suddenly he seemed to catch himself, blinked, and pulled his hand away sharply.

‘Bella, what...’

‘Sssh.’

I’m not letting you get away from me that easily, Arrek.

She placed her hand on his knee. When he didn’t respond, she began to rasp her fingers backwards and forwards over the rough green scales of his thigh, in a slow but unmistakeably intimate rhythm.

‘Bella. What do you imagine is going to happen here?’

‘What’s going to happen? It’s dark. It’s quiet. We’re all alone. Anything we like could happen.’

‘But...’

‘Sssh. There’s no-one here to watch but the trees. And the trees don’t mind if two little creatures nuzzle up together under their boughs, to touch and comfort each other through the warm summer’s night.’

She snuggled up to him, sliding an arm around his waist, all while her fingers kept up their incessant, skillful fondling of his thigh. Resting her head against his muscular breast, she looked up at him with an expression - half invitation, half challenge - that she knew could melt men’s souls. She could feel his heart pounding faster in his chest, so that even though his face remained impassive, she knew he understood exactly what she was offering, and she knew he wanted it badly.

‘Bella. I urge you to reconsider your intentions...’

‘Why? Is the big bad lizardman afraid of a little... animal pleasure?’ Her fingers stepped up their teasing of his thigh.

‘I assure you I’m no stranger to the intimate arts, but this is a serious thing you’re offering. Even more precious and more desirable than the last thing you gave away.’

Her hand traversed further up his leg, sliding up the smooth scales of his inner thigh, her fingertips slipping provocatively under the edge of his pelt skirt, making him twitch almost imperceptibly.

‘It’s mine to give, and mine to choose who I give it to. And I’m thinking I might enjoy a performance of those “intimate arts” you mentioned.’

Why does this feel so... right_? I thought this might be something I could potentially enjoy, but now I’ve started to touch you, I don’t feel as though I could stop. I want this. No: I_ need this. I’ve needed this all day, since I first set eyes on you, I just didn’t know it. No; I’ve needed this for years, since the passion died between Eddie and me. My god, look at you, you’re gorgeous! And just feel those muscles. So warm and strong and soft, under all those hard scales.

I wonder how this will go? Will you pin me to the ground and ravish me? Will you thrust yourself into me in savage fury and animal lust, until our screams of ecstasy wake the birds from their nests? Or will you be tender? Will it be a slow, sumptuous affair of hands and lips and moans and sighs and finally an easy, merciful fuck to finish us off while you gaze at me with those divine orange eyes? I don’t even know which I want most.

Perhaps both. We’ve got all night.

His eyes roved hungrily up and down her body. ‘And is this another gift freely given, or does this come with conditions attached?’

‘Very much with conditions attached. But I can promise you: the prize is well worth the price.’

Before he had time to object, she swung herself on top of him - her hands on his shoulders, her knees straddling his hips - trapping him between her and the tree trunk.

‘Just let me go and I promise I’ll make every one of your forbidden fantasies come true.’ She leant forwards to kiss him on the chest, feeling the urgent thumping of his heart as her lips lingered briefly on his scales.

‘Just promise me my freedom and I’ll give you one night so good you’ll be masturbating over the memory of it for years.’ She took his hand and guided it to rest on her breast - without resistance - and his powerful fingers closed delicately around her tender flesh, her own wedding ring feeling cool as it nudged against her sensitive nipple.

‘Just tell me you’ll look the other way and I’ll take you to heights of pleasure you never even knew existed.’ Her free hand touched his firm belly and slid down - down under the top of his skirt, the scales of his groin rasping under her fingertips - until she found herself grasping the most sensitive part of him. Arrek’s eyes snapped shut and he inhaled sharply as she felt the prodigious length of his broad cock twitching to life between her fingers.

‘What do you say, Arrek; do we have a deal?’ She shifted her hand to cup his balls: always the most advantageous position when asking a man to make a decision. They were scaled, and pleasingly full and round. She squeezed softly, toying with them between her fingers, making him groan quietly.

‘No deal,’ he replied in a strained voice. ‘You’re tempting me, Bella... by the roots, you’re tempting me, but you could tempt me a thousand times more and I wouldn’t betray my duty.’

I suppose I was expecting this. But I had to try. And now I’m here, with my hand around your balls - my god, just feel those balls! - I find I don’t want to let you go. I can feel the adrenalin throbbing through the back of my brain, urging me on. It’s that same feeling as when I’m flying again. The urge to push things further than I’ve ever pushed things before. The desperate need to cross one more line, to break one more rule, even if it’s putting me one step closer to destruction. I can’t resist it.

I might die tomorrow, but who cares, if I can have you inside me tonight?

‘Then how about as a gift freely given?’

His orange eyes burned brightly and he flashed her a predatory smile. ‘That might be a different matter...’

Suddenly he shot forwards, knocking Bella backwards onto the soft ground, and by the time she recovered her breath he was kneeling over her, one knee either side of her waist, looking down at her with hungry intent, his tail twitching eagerly.

‘You understand that a gift, freely given, may not be taken back?’

‘I understand. And I give... everything.’ She reached up to unknot the length of fur around his hips and pulled it away. His cock stood erect and eager, thick and straight and glistening green - bigger than any human’s - its smooth scaleless skin contrasting with the twin armoured swells of his balls. Bella couldn’t resist touching it again, feeling it twitch as she stroked the shaft, noticing the slick ready wetness of the wide head as she rubbed it with her thumb.

Arrek leaned forwards, one hand resting on the forest floor as the other deftly unfastened the button of her shorts. His face was ten centimetres from hers, his eyes gazing down needily. Bella closed her eyes and raised her head to bring her lips towards his own, ready to kiss him at last, ready above all things to lose herself to his touch, to surrender the night to intimate acts of pleasure beneath the ancient trees...

But there was no kiss. She felt him move away from her and when she opened her eyes she found him kneeling upright, looking down at her with a strange mix of hunger and fear.

‘You are beautiful, Bella. So soft. So graceful. So skillful with your words and fingers. Desire for you sears through my veins like fire. There is nothing - know that, nothing - I yearn for more than to kiss you and touch you and sate myself on your strange, exotic, beautiful body, over and over again, until the sun rises and casts light on our weary, satisfied forms entwined together under the trees.’

‘Then let’s get started.’ She stared up at his naked body, desperate to pull him close to her.

‘No. I decline your gift,’ he said with some difficulty.

‘But...’ she began in bitter confusion and disappointment.

‘You tempt me sorely. More sorely, perhaps, than I have ever been tempted before. But you are a human, you are my prisoner, and you are an enemy. It is three times forbidden for us to become intimate. Now that I know I can resist you when the heat of passion is upon me, and you are lying so invitingly beneath me, I know that I am a true master of my own base desires. I advise you not to try to arouse me again. I cannot supply what you need.’

His penis still stood stiffly erect, but she saw with a sinking stomach that his determination was absolute. She argued and teased anyway, for quite a while, but Arrek proved unresponsive, and rigidly set on his decision. At last Bella was forced to concede that she had lost this fight.

It was dark, and she suddenly felt immensely tired. Arrek laid his pelt folded on the ground for her to use as a pillow and she settled down on the forest floor, lying on her side atop a bed of leaves. The lizardman lay down close behind and looped an arm over her: this was, he explained only half convincingly, a precaution to ensure that she couldn’t slip away in the night without waking him.

All in all, this isn’t the worst arrangement I’ve ever slept in. The bed is strangely comfortable, the night isn’t cold, and I can hear the forest rustling all around me. I can feel the warmth of your breath on my neck, Arrek, and it’s a long way from displeasing. Neither is feeling your cock press gently against my thigh.

Why do you have to have so much damn self control?

* * *

‘You need me to go to what?’

‘The Lentimans are having a ball.’

‘A ball? What is this, the eighteenth century? Can’t they just have a party like normal people?’

‘The Lentimans aren’t normal people, Bella. They’re the people who’re investing five million in...’

‘Yes, thank you, I remember you telling me last night.’

‘...and they’ve invited both of us and it would look bad if I turned up without my wife.’

‘OK. Fine. I shall go to the ball. Anything else you’ve booked for me tomorrow?’

‘Yes. Emergency ballroom dancing lessons. At ten and again at four.’

‘But I had plans to...’

‘And I need you at a press conference at six - you always make such a dazzle in front of the cameras - and then of course I’m sure you won’t mind entertaining the mayor’s wife for an hour or two while we talk business afterwards.’

‘Oh no. Not her. I told you, never again...’

‘Oh, and there’s a man coming to measure up the east bedroom for the nursery at midday, I said you’d be happy to have a chat.’

‘A chat? A chat about what? What exactly are you planning to do with a nursery?’

‘For the child. We talked about this.’

‘That would be the conversation where I told you that there was absolutely no chance in hell that I was having a baby for you?’

‘Bella, my love, please be reasonable...’

‘No! This is too much! You don’t listen to me. You never listen to me, or think about what I might want. Do you want to know how I feel, Eddie? I feel like I’m a prisoner. I feel like I’m a prisoner, and this is my prison, and you’re my guard.’

‘You know that’s not true. I love you, baby...’

‘No you don’t. You think you love me, but you don’t even know me. You’re in love with Mrs Dessinger, a purely imaginary figure who loves press conferences and balls and dresses and babies and thinks you’re a little slice of perfection.’

‘I do love you Bella, you know I do, I just want you to be happy...’

‘Well I’m not happy, Eddie! I can’t stand being stuck in this soulless house until called upon, like a performing animal in a cage! I can’t abide Jane or Miranda or the mayor’s wife or the Lentimans! I think the Dessinger Corporation is abhorrent, and I hope Eskarog bankrupts you!’

‘You know I’d give it all up for you, darling.’

‘Pff. Sure.’

‘Is there anything else you’d like to get off your chest?’

‘Yes. You’re pathetic in bed and you never satisfy me.’

‘You sounded well satisfied last night...’

‘That was me faking it, Eddie. I thought you’d know me well enough by now to know when I’m faking an orgasm. Here’s a hint: if you’re involved, I’m faking it.’

‘Now you’re just being crass. Bella, I think you should sleep somewhere else tonight, and we’ll discuss this in the morning when you’ve calmed down.’

‘I’m going flying in the morning.’

‘You have a ballroom dancing lesson at...’

‘I said I’m going flying in the morning!’

‘OK. Fine. But please be careful, darling. I love you...’

* * *

On the morning of her second day in Aurelheart, Bella arrived with Arrek at the lizardmen’s camp. She’d tried to reason. She’d tried to plead. She’d even tried to seduce him again, but he’d shrugged off all her attempts icily, perhaps feeling embarrassed about how easily he’d nearly fallen into her arms the night before.

She almost walked right into the centre of the camp without realising it was there. Dozens and dozens of conical tents - canvas woven from forest materials supported from a central wooden pole and camouflaged with branches and pieces of foliage - were interspersed amongst a stand of giant and widely-spaced trees. As they reached a clear space in the centre she became aware of other lizardmen; they all had green dapple-patterned scales much like Arrek, and blended in so well with the forest that she hadn’t immediately noticed them. And then there were more lizardmen, and then even more. Lizardmen - and some lizardwomen too, just as heavily armed as the men - emerged from tents and from the forest, their orange eyes flicking between Bella and her captor with curiosity.

Arrek lifted her hand high into the air and shouted something out in Rootsong. She didn’t understand the words, but it sounded somehow triumphant. The orange eyes all around looked at her with more curiosity now, and many she noticed carried expressions tinged with hatred and disgust, although they looked strangely excited as well.

What is this? What is going on? I wish I could understand more of their language. I can only pick out one word in all that babble: “Eskarog”. So where is he? Where is the famous Eskarog?

Wait. Hang on. They’re saying “Eskarog” when they’re addressing...

Bella reeled back, stunned.

‘You’re Eskarog?’ she said to Arrek.

‘Yes. I am the humble leader of these good people.’

‘You liar! You told me your name was Arrek!’

‘Do not question my honesty!’ he shouted, his eyes flashing dangerously. ‘My name is Arrek. Eskarog is a name I inherited. It means “guardian”, roughly translated. And even if I did mislead you, I hardly think you are in a position to judge, Mrs Dessinger.’

Bella felt the bottom drop out of her stomach. ‘You knew...’

‘Of course I knew. If I hadn’t recognised you, you would have been dead before you regained consciousness. You are much too precious to waste, Bella.’

‘So what are you going to do with me?’

‘You will remain here, as hostage, while I send a message to Edwin Dessinger. Along with some evidence that we possess you.’

‘...Are you going to chop my finger off, or something?’ asked Bella, fearful.

‘No. Believe it or not, Bella, we are not inclined towards unnecessary cruelty.’ He pulled the wedding ring off his little finger. ‘I think this will suffice just as well.’

‘And what’s your price? What does Eddie have to pay to get me back?’

‘Fifty-one percent of the Dessinger Corporation.’

She swallowed. Eddie had told her he’d give everything up for her. Would he follow through on his words?

‘And if he doesn’t agree?’

Arrek looked at her sadly. ‘Then your life is forfeit.’ He turned away from her, as though she were too painful to look at, and wandered in the opposite direction, dishing out orders in Rootsong.

Bella felt two lizardmen grab her roughly by the shoulders, pinning her securely. She let herself slump into their arms, feeling suddenly immensely weary. Her life was now in her husband’s hands.