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Fates of the Unicorns - Chapter 95 - Spark

This long running Master and slave themed story series continues the journey of dragons, unicorns and the rest of the furry races in a world threatened with extinction by a monstrous threat. The furry races are grateful for the sacrifice dragons make in fighting the war, but would be much happier if the dragons would just stop trying to enslave them all!

_ SPOILER WARNING :_ If you are new to the story, this chapter contains plot and character development spoilers for the over all story. This is an ongoing story, and this chapter assumes you know the story and characters.

Fates of the Unicorns is the cover and a good place to start for new readers.

Rage and Calm - Tahet makes his entrance!

(Thanks to all my long time and new readers.

Don't forget to Fav/Vote for the chapter you like it!

It's a big help and means a lot to me. Thanks!)

Chakal squirmed between the two dragons as she was bounced up and down in a slow rhythm seated in her Master's lap, the dragoness in front of her squeezing her breasts and making her nipples tingle from the rubbing. She groaned a bit, squirming and trying to lean back away from the dragoness seated in the saddle in front of her. Tahet's war saddle wasn't meant to hold three comfortably, made all the worse by Master Rahmor leaning forward to talk with the warrior who was riding along with them.

The only upside was the two dragons weren't molesting her during the trip like they had for much of the previous night. The unicorn mare shivered at memories of some of thing things they had made her do, and did to her. It wasn't as bad as when Rahmor used her like she was a unicorn-shaped sex toy by himself thought Chakal, the purple warrior was quite skilled, and attentive in ways Master Rahmor wasn't, even when Fensha made it very clear that unicorns were far beneath her station. Was Miss Fensha always like that, or did Rahmor just make her feel submissive and willing to pleasure Rahmor and his pet for a change. The unicorn wasn't sure, and was frankly confused by the warrior dragoness, who seemed broken in many ways with her trauma of being, well, she didn't want to think about what those things did to her, but it wasn't pleasant, and Chakal had seen the scars.

But to enjoy having those scars licked, and the thing with Rahmor's teeth around her purple throat and his tail down, below. How could she want to relive those memories? Her own encounter was a blank, and was glad of that. Her horn had healed the damage to her mind, by simply erasing the horrifying memories.

"How much longer" asked Fensha, her head turned to look back at the blue dragon seated behind her, his worried expression matching hers.

"Tahet can make good time when he needs to, so not long. But it will likely be all over by the time we get there at which point we might simply turn around and go back as soon as we land. Unless they require a larger force to deal with what they found when the response team returned" said Rahmor, frowning.

"Having second thoughts?" she asked, the rush of seeing the alert having faded a bit now that she was actually in the air.

Shaking his blue head he replied, "No, it can't hurt to have us there on standby, and I was ordered to put on a show for the troops."

"Just not the sort of demonstration that was expected."

"Tahet isn't a show pony. He's a warrior, bred and born for battle, that's his Place," he said with a growl, eyes hard as he looked forward, seeking out the front line fort, recognizing the terrain leading up to it. "We're close."

Chakal watched the rocky landscape passing by below, occasional patches of forest showing up before vanishing under those large flapping wings. The ground was moving much faster than when they had flown out to their first stop, making her dizzy with the faster motion and the wings flapping harder and higher. She winced at the loud yelling as the two dragons talked over the wind, dragon teeth next to her face making her scrunch down with a prey's reflexive fear of the kind of sharp and pointed teeth both dragons were showing her.

"How far back should we wait then?" asked Fensha, not noticing or simply ignoring the small unicorn squirming behind her.

Rahmor considered, "Reva is currently stationed at the front, not as territorial as a male and hasn't mated with Tahet so we should be able to get fairly close without upsetting her." He looked down at the scrunched down unicorn and explained without being asked, automatically teaching Tahet's pet more about him, "Drakes can be very territorial, especially ones trained for battle. Transport and breeding drakes can be kept in groups but battle drakes are driven to fight and defend. In the capital they can be calmed by nearby presence of their lair, they know where it is and can understand their place. But here, they are uneasy as they know their home is far off, and any other drake they see could be the true owner coming to attack them. We don't keep more than one, sometimes two in the same location for that reason, not in the quiet years at least. Especially at the front, where we can't afford even small distractions or mishaps." He closed his mouth then, becoming aware he was now just talking to distract himself from thinking too much about what he was doing, his actions edging dangerously close to disobedience. He could tell himself otherwise, but that would be lying, and dragons simply didn't do that, even to themselves.

Chakal nodded as she listened to the lecture, daring to ask, "Will this other drake fight us if we get too close?"

"Of course not, front line capable drakes are too well trained to get enraged that easily, but would be distracted and there is always a small risk," he said, feeling forced to admit the risk was real, if small. "Don't forget, what might be a small show of force or posturing to a drake can be rather more dangerous to a smaller dragon if you get stepped on or tail-swatted off a cliff."

The fear of being stepped on by a drake was something Chakal had a lot of experience with, especially early on. She trusted Tahet much more now not to hurt her accidentally. They were not the brightest of creatures, but their lack of intelligence was highly misleading, as well as inconsistent. Whatever had been done to their minds long ago, it didn't affect every aspect of the big creatures, focusing mostly on corrupting their sentience and leaving them dumb animals, but other aspects seemed to be less affected. They were still quite agile and hyper-aware of their surroundings. A drake was still likely to step on anyone getting too close, but she knew now that it wouldn't be by accident. She noted Rahmor didn't say "accidentally tail-swatted" and was sure that was quite deliberate on his part. She gasped as the world suddenly tilted, grabbing Fensha tightly as Tahet angled into a shallow dive. She let out a loud "Eeep!" and retained just enough awareness to be amused at the deeper, but equally surprised noise that came out of Fensha at the sudden sensation of falling.

Rahmor looked out at the fort as it came into view, putting Tahet into a quick dive to give him a better view before pulling him up. "Reva is gone, whatever happened is serious enough to keep her busy out there." He scanned the fort as more came into view as Tahet powered forward. "Troops are massed, it looks like they are preparing to repel an assault? No, they're geared for a march, or a rescue."

Tahet made a sudden lurching motion in the air, his head and attention focused at the horizon, this time making all three of his passengers make various noises of distress as he let our a deep and threating growl, his tail slashing in the air behind him in a mix of excitement and anger. His large eyes focused on a distant spot, a flickering red light. One of the small fires the tiny creatures used when there was DANGER. When there was EVIL. When there were BUGS! He let out another roar, angling in the direction of the distress flare and only holding back as he felt BLUE trying to restrain him.

"What the fuck?" yelled Fensha as she gripped the saddle tight, all the straps that felt so secure before now seeming like they were wholly insufficient to keep her in place with the rough motions of the clearly distressed drake.

"He saw something, in the distance," said Rahmor as he called out, "Easy Tahet! Easy!" Rahmor scanned the horizon, unable to see anything but trusting Tahet's superior vision. Then he caught a flicker, just a momentary glow of red before it fizzled out. A distress flare. His grip on the saddle tightened as he let out a hiss of alarm, matching the tone if not the volume of Tahet. "Trouble, I'm putting you two down now..."

Tahet ROARED, his muzzle scrunched up and teeth bared as he turned his head back to glare at BLUE. His eyes shined with emotion and a single, unmistakable thought. NO.

Rahmor did his best not to flinch, and compared to the squeals and cringes Tahet's other two passengers made, he almost succeed. Not the best time for Tahet to show his spark, thought Rahmor, but perhaps he could convince him. "It's too dangerous..."

ROAR!

"We can't..."

GROWL!

"She's be safer..."

SNARL!

"Damnit, he won't leave her anywhere but his lair. Fensha, I'm going to take you up on your offer, keep Chakal safe at all costs. I can't have Tahet distracted," he said, angry with himself for rushing here in the first place. He was beginning to regret his decision, wanting to see some action, sure it would be nothing or mostly over by the time he got here and certainly not expecting the reaction from Tahet he got. He hadn't thought it through, but they were committed now. He was sure he could hold Tahet back, but a red distress flare was bad, very bad. Worse, if it was the first fort's fast response team stationed here was the one in distress, it was him or the second fort's team. He uttered one more command.

"Go."

...

Sapynier's mind spun among all the confusing stimulus she was receiving. The power flowing through the lands, that energy-web the hive wove that served as communication and the basis for the whole evil presence that was the collective. The fight to supress and consume the mind and soul of the injured and trapped drake. The insidious infiltration of her own mind, slowly turning her into one of them. Last she could feel the fight on the surface, sensing it was going in her direction... no, no not hers, the hives. She was a dragon, it was HER people up there, and they were losing.

Helping the fucking bugs was wrong, and the last thing she WANTED to do. But want had little to do with what she DID now, finding herself directing the insects on the surface, the burrowers beneath. A weakness in the dragons formation, there, they wouldn't expect the insects to move around those trees. She shuddered in pleasure as the insects moved at her command, and one more dragon came down. She tasted his blood in a dozen mouths, stingers, and other appendages and tentacles that stabbed and tore and fed. The pleasure was a mix of everything good from her former life. The taste of the blood, the warm feeling of it flowing over her mouthparts, satisfaction at taking down the enemy, her swollen clit throbbing in orgasmic pleasure. It felt so good. It made her want to vomit.

Her mind focused on the dragon. It was down for good, paralyzed by massive doses of venom, body stimulated and tortured to keep that dangerous creature too distracted to fight off the invasion of it's very soul. She had little to do here, the hive's instinctual desire to consume was dealing with the drake well enough. She could feel it's defenses growing weaker, the barriers around it's mind cracking, it's aura growing patchy. The corrupted dragoness couldn't help itself as she turned her senses to the drake's slowly crumbling defenses, feeling such a hunger for what lay inside. Her minds-eye looked into a crack and she screamed. Her body convulsed in the nest of tentacles and she shuddered, head jerking to one side as if to look away. She had glimpsed the soul of the drake, and it was so powerful, so bright. It had been like looking directly into the sun, a raging inferno of power and will, but helpless to the insidious infestation that was even now beginning to leech off it's power, draining and feeding off the great beast and binding it's very essence like it had trapped it's body.

Her mind's attention was torn away from the drake as her body arched suddenly. The tentacles that were attached to her began to withdraw, detaching themselves with squirming motions and the feeling of the slimy things pulling from her skin with horrifying noises, and even worse sensations. She had a brief moment of elation, of feeling herself freed from the hive. But it was only a false hope, there was still something on her back, something that had grown into it, and into her spine and skull, and brain. She moved her head, feeling small tubes flex at the back of her skull where the thing on her back controlled her from. The feeding and transformation tentacles in the rest of her body were pulling out, but the connection to the hive never flickered, never dimmed. She was connected to it as deeply as her bones were to her flesh, part of her. Part of them all. She fell forward onto all fours, unsteady, her joints in odd positions as she crawled forward. There was a battle, and she needed to see.

Her eyes were hardly needed, not with being able to see through the eyes of all the insects in the area, and many further away. Her vision dimmed the further away she reached, and worse, the insects wouldn't follow her from far away either. The ones nearby that were attached to her queen would obey most of her commands, and knew that any she birthed would be hers completely, linked straight to her, doing whatever she thought or wanted. It gave her a thrill to think of all the loyal, mindless extensions of herself she would soon have, and hated the thought. Her resistance was nearly gone now, and she found herself able to hate what she was, but simply unable to fight it anymore. The hive was too deep within her mind, literally.

She whined and drooled as she moved forward and up, legs moving with their new joints, her tail swollen full of eggs, just needing a few good incubators. Or hundreds.

She continued her climb, and despaired. If only she was coming to help the right side.

...

Chakal trembled as Tahet began beating his wings harder, increasing speed as they neared the site of the battle, her pink nose already smelling the faint odor of smoke and the subtle scent of far worse things. Tahet had been on a beeline course for the source of the fire and smoke, flying just over the treetops until finally pulling up to get a view of what was awaiting them.

She gasped.

The trees were sparse here, a large clearing with scattered rocks, trees along one side of the clearing burning, and long scorch marks along the ground surrounding a caved in section of the clearing. The unicorn closed her eyes and looked away, but the scene was burned into her mind, the drake laying motionless, eyes wide and unstaring as THINGS chewed and slithered around it's face, into the drakes nose and mouth, burrowed into the head. Something big and fleshy was clamped over the drakes crotch, and other tentacles were jabbed into it in dozens of places, and one wing looked mangled and broken. Blood, so much blood. The poor thing was being eaten alive. And they were going to do down there too. She moaned, her legs trying to clench together in a half-remembered flashback to her last encounter with one of the THINGS down there. And there were so many.

"Fuck... is she dead?" asked Fensha.

Rahmor growled an angry response, "No, but too far gone to be saved. Tahet! Circle!" He leaned to the side as Tahet swooped in a wide arc, giving him a quick view of the battlefield. Most of the drake's crew was still alive, having used a section of the burning forest as cover, but they wouldn't last long. That cave in was deeply worrying, that was an established hive, likely having grown into a natural unmapped cave system, heads would roll over having missed this for so long, and it was going to be a serious effort to dislodge it now. Rahmor considered his options. Burning everything and everyone on the surface would be a quick way to end it, and he knew if he was down there he would rather be incinerated quickly rather than be captured and taken below for breeding, or worse, conversion. He could feel Tahet's tension as the big drake looked at the fallen female, knowing he wanted to rescue her, and knowing she was beyond any help. Not even the best healers could fix her now, and who knew what was being done to her from underneath where they couldn't see.

With a snort he snapped out orders, "We're landing to pick up the survivors and bring them back to the fort. Stay strapped in, this is going to get rough when Tahet takes out some of the bigger insects. Chakal, hang on tight."

Chakal was already clutching Fensha tightly, not needing her Master's orders to know what to do, even if the dragon's armor was uncomfortable against her bare fur, protected by nothing but the straps of her riding harness. She breathed hard, watching the ground spin and grow closer and closer, having a hard time picking out the dragon troops and insect attackers. It seemed at times Tahet was heading straight for one group or the other, fire raging on one side, occasionally making her cough as they swooped through a cloud of smoke.

"Hang on!" warned Rahmor, snapping out command words in Dragon, using every means of control and communication he had, focused on getting the big drake to perform one last crucial step before landing.

LAND! FLY! CRUSH! The words registered in Tahet's ears, but the intention behind them came from elsewhere. The big drake didn't understand how he knew things, he just did. Land. Fly. One couldn't do both, the command words made no sense, but whatever lurked deep down inside him knew what BLUE wanted. Knew why. He let out a roar and drooped, slamming his hind-legs into the ground, then flapping his wings to launch back up before coming down again. He hopped, the ground shaking as he hammered into it, ensuring there were no more hollowed out traps, and ready to launch himself out of danger if the ground gave way. His hind-feet slammed down again and again with enough force to crack rock and bend steel, his bones, muscles and tendons taking the abuse as only a creature partially made of magic could. Tahet could feel the strange forces at work, his enormous weight bearing down on feet and legs, slamming up into his very bones, and then being drawn away somewhere else. It still hurt, and even with the assistance of his non-physical strength it was nearly at his limits as the numbing force of the impacts worked their way up his spine and down his tail.

Chakal's teeth clacked together painfully at the first rough landing, and she cried out in terror as she was pressed into the saddle and slammed down again, and again. The whole world was hammering into her as the drake kicked the ground hard, then he was down, and it got worse. The sky spun and her ears hurt as a drake roar echoed out, and then they were down.

...

Sapynier watched the drake dance across the open field as it landed, testing for spots, caving in one small section that had been a planned exit route, but finding no other traps. She had been planning to slowly capture the remaining forces, knowing she should have had plenty of time to drag them into the conversion and breeding pits one by one. Where did Rahmor and Tahet come from? She of course knew all the drake commanders of course, and Tahet had been a fixture on the front for longer than she had been alive.

She had hardly had time to make it to the surface before she spotted the drake coming in for his landing, and she froze as she took in the entirety of the sight. She could see through the eyes of all the insects fighting, but it was a confusing mess, her altered brain still incapable of truly merging with the hive mind. She was just an extension of it, the tip of a finger, able to tap into the hive to some degree, but most of the information and control flowed only in one direction, dominating her mind, controlling her actions. She had little influence on the rest of the queen here, and none at all over the dark, malevolent web of power that covered the continent.

Her eyes widened as she took in the sight with her own eyes. She could see so much more now. The web of power stretched like a red, pulsing network of veins, branching out and recombining as they connected every single insect in every hive. The lines throbbed and writhed, and spun and coiled into thick trunks that extended back into the heart of the corrupted continent, merging into a distant red haze of countless insect bodies. She lifted a hand, seeing that red flowing through her own body, knew it was surging through that thing on her back, right into her brain. It would have made her throw up in disgust an hour ago, but that part of her was being eaten away with every beat of her heart, and pulse of that alien power inside her.

But there was enough of her left to look in wonder with her new vision. The drake was a brilliant, glowing blue, a nimbus of power radiating out from him, a fire burning in his chest. She had to make sure to look away from his head, not wanting to blind herself with the power she had glimpsed in the female. Her eyes were drawn to the three passengers. One had a faint purple shine, but the other two were glorious. The unicorn was like the sun, but without the pain, a golden glow exploring out of her horn. The dragon behind here, that must be Rahmor was encased in green fire. The auras of both the dragon and unicorn were connected to the drakes in thick, flowing bands of light, the blue of Tahet's merging with each of the two riders. She glanced at the pit, seeing it mostly red, the tendrils of power pulsing as they fed on the dragon's soul, slowly dimming that brilliant sun, sipping at it. She could feel the hive working carefully, not getting too close to that core of power.

Her entire body froze and tingled like an electric current had just jolted through her, her head snapping back to Tahet and meeting his eyes. Even as he was coming into a final landing his head had turned to her, eyes locking onto hers with fury and hate, that aura of his flaring into an intense glow in his chest and creeping up his neck.

"Shiiiiiiiit!" she croaked, the first word she spoke since her new life began, and terrified and eager that it very well could be her last.

She threw herself backwards down the way she came, and fire filled her world.

...

"Fuck me, what the hell!" screamed Fensha as the sky exploded in front of her, the dragons' body thundering under her as the saddle became dangerously hot. Even behind the drakes neck armor she could feel the heat of the fire belching out from him.

Rahmor didn't know what Tahet had just loosed his breath weapon at, but was glad to have the drake on his side. If the big beast was concerned enough to let loose on something, whatever he saw was bad news and needed to burn. He took in a breath as he saw with relief that the fire was aimed away from the survivors. Drakes could, and did burn ground troops when enraged. They were powerful weapons, forces of nature but were not the easiest to aim. He only hoped Tahet had hit whatever he aimed at, and there weren't more. Drakes often hurt themselves breathing fire, unable to fully control it with their diminished mental capacity. Tahet had shown himself more capable than most drakes, but it was still a dangerous, and last resort attack.

"Stay alive, board on my command!" shouted Rahmor, standing in the saddle, legs strapped in as he surveyed the battlefield. Several large insects were charging, much larger than anything that should have been this close to the fort. They must have been growing underground for a disturbingly long time. They were out now, no longer holding back, but Tahet was more than a match for a single hive, even as established as this one. As long as he wasn't surprised like poor Reva was, the idea making him feel far less confident as nothing about this situation was normal. Best to deal with the big ones fast, load the survivors, and regroup with the massing troops.

Chakal had felt the heat blast over her, her legs tingling from the now hot back of the dragon. Her view was of being sandwiched between leather armor and purple and blue dragonhide, but as Tahet began to spin and surge she was thrown from side to side, getting glimpses of the action. She grunted as she was pressed forward, feeling her Master rising behind her, pushing her up and against Fensha's back. Her head poked over one of the dragonesses shoulders, getting a better view even as the breath was squeezed out of her. There were things out there, right in front, large beasts with too many legs, too many heads, and far, far too many teeth and claws. They moved jerkily, some lumbering, but others making quick darting motions, alarmingly fast for their size. One suddenly launched into the air as if it were spring loaded, a tentacle lashing at the ground to change it's direction in midflight, others reaching out for Tahet's face, the whole motion a blur to Chakal's wide, terrified eyes trying to track the unnatural speed. So fast!

Tahet was faster.

Chakal didn't even see the paw that swiped out, but the launching insect was suddenly missing half of it's body, the rest a mist of blood and gore as it was batted away by a single swipe of the drake's light blue paw. Her head swam as she was jerked this way and that as Tahet engaged the rest of the larger insects. For the first time in her life, she felt sick, her eyes watching the world spin and jerk but her body not registering the same forces. She was being slammed around hard, but there was a disconnect between what she was seeing and what she was feeling. Dragonrush? Was this what Rahmor and other riders had mentioned in passing? Chakal thought she knew so much about drakes, thought she knew how formidable they were. So big. So strong. She knew nothing. The Tahet she was seeing was nothing like the beast she had known. He moved fast, and with a force that was more than even his bulk should be able to generate. Like a unicorns horn, she thought. Trained warriors could shatter swords and even maces, deflecting or delivering blows that shouldn't be possible. Nothing was harder or more dangerous than a unicorn's horn!

Nothing but a drake. She was sure he could snap her horn clean in half if he wanted to, and not even the best trained warrior would even see it coming. Everyone heard stories of drakes of old, before their intelligence was destroyed, when the only reason they didn't rule or destroy the worlds was that their desire to be left alone was just as strong as their power. She thought many of those stories were just fantasy, but now she was not so sure. If this is what a drake was capable of with only a sliver of their former selves, what were they like in their full glory? It made her shiver in fear. A glimpse of the pit where the female drake was laying dead gave her a harder jolt of fear. For all Tahet's power, it would do them little good if he did something dumb or stumbled into a trap. She had to put her faith in Rahmor directing him, that he could spot any dangers that Tahet could easily miss. Whatever was normally going on inside that big pale blue head of Tahet's was clearly gone now, there was nothing but rage and instinct. She closed her eyes, and held on.

Fensha felt helpless as she watched the drake attacking the larger monsters. Occasionally a smaller one would launch itself at them, but Tahet almost always swatted it out of the sky, and the two that made it were quickly dispatched by Rahmor. She had been a scout, trained to fight but nothing like this. Full scale battles were beyond her experience, making her feel useless, nothing but a shield of leather and bone for the drake's pet behind her. Her head shook in a snarl, so be it. Drakes, especially well trained battle drakes like Tahet were a near irreplaceable resource. If it was her duty to serve as a small part of keeping this one fighting, who was she to complain?

"Tahet! Back!" yelled Rahmor, seeing that the initial wave of larger insects were down. Mostly breeders and corruptors luckily, only two warriors that took Tahet some time to deal with. Now the danger was being swarmed by the smaller insects, but the ground troops were keeping the attention of most of them. His eyes scanned the field as he backed Tahet up closer to the fighting dragon troops. He was disturbed at how much coordination he was seeing, and it implied a local controller. No matter, they wouldn't be staying long enough to get pulled into another trap, and once they returned with an organized force they would wipe this nest out. He winced at the thought of the losses when dragons had to go down there, but it was unavoidable. Yanking on the reins as he saw Tahet reach the besieged group of dragons he yelled, "Everybody get on or hang on, we're leaving!"

Chakal felt suddenly exposed as Rahmor pulled his feet and legs free from the saddle and moved lower down Tahet's back to help several dragons climb aboard. Being squeezed between two dragons was scary and uncomfortable, but had been a comfort to have them between her and the horror running along the ground. She kept herself low, both to hide and to make sure Fensha had plenty of room to work, her sword out as she kept an eye out for any threats. Chakal watched her with wide eyes, seeing nothing but pure warriors instincts in the purple female's motion and expression. There was not even a hint of the friendly, or sexual dragoness she had seen before, and had no doubt anything threatening that got close was going to die.

Several dragons rushed up along the broad blue back of the drake, causing Chakal to press against Fensha as the group crowded her, overwhelming her with the sight, sound, and smell of the warriors. She tried to shy away from one large gruff-looking dragon, but his hand reached out and clamped onto her nose as she tried to stand, yanking her roughly her back down. She nearly screamed in fear as she was grabbed, but when she got a glimpse of his eyes she didn't see anger or malice, but fear and grim determination. The moment she was back down he let go, the dark green dragon helping another up with his free hand, the other clutching a short weapon.

"More of them, watch out!" called out a voice.

"Behind you, keep them off the drake!"

"Grab hold and strap in!"

Chakal looked down with alarm. The three dragons that were surrounding Rahmor's empty saddle just had their feet shoved under straps and were otherwise unsecured. She looked the big green one up and down quickly, and with a stretch reached out and grabbed the leg straps of his harness and clicked them into place. She got a look from the green, but only a moment before he turned his attention back to where the rest were being loaded up, his eyes seeing her own riding harness and accepting her help without a word. It was the same for the other two, helping them all strap in while they stood guard and attended to another dragon she couldn't see that must be in worse shape.

Chakal watched all three dragons stiffen and snaps their heads around as a voice called out in alarm, "Cents!" She wanted, but didn't want to see what had triggered that call, and felt Tahet lurching about, tilting forward and back, and saw a glimpse of his long tail swinging in an arc before feeling more than heading the thud as it slammed into the ground, hearing it land hard against something both wet and crunchy that let out an otherworldly squeal before a series of snapping noise silenced it.

She held on for dear life as Tahet squirmed and shivered, seeming to shake like he was trying to flick water off himself, and one wing snapped out, several small dark red snake-like things clinging to his wing membrane before being shaken off and knocked away.

"Tahet, FLY!" yelled a familiar voice, and Chakal held on as the big drake crouched, wings stretching up to form almost a tent above her, and launched himself upwards with several beats of his wings. When she could see clearly again the ground was at a crazy angle, making her clutch her straps even more, the ground beneath her giving her a gut-wrenching vertigo. Then she saw it. One of the red things was on the green dragon who had seen it at the same moment she did. His long dagger swing up to stab at it, missing as it used countless legs to dart up his shoulder and flow around the dragon's thick neck like it was water. It was formed of small armored segments, with a pair of wicked jaws that clamped onto the dragons throat, and a long barbed stinger jutting from the other end, visible only for a moment before it jabbed into the side of the dragon's neck, the vile thing throbbing as it began to pump it's victim full of venoms and toxins.

The green dragon just made a groaning sound, his eyes wide with fear as they met Chakal's, then rolling up as he shuddered and began to go limp, his jaw slack and tongue sliding from between his teeth. The big dragon gave a visible shudder, his eyes refocusing as he fought the effects of the drugs, both hands empty and scrabbling uselessly at his sides.

By the time Chakal realized what he was doing, it was too late. The dragons hands had found the straps holding him in, and with the last of his strength, released them.

"No..." she gasped out, reaching for the straps that began to quickly slide from the metal rings, but a purple hand pulled her back out of reach as the big green warrior fell back and tumbled into the air end over end, then vanishing as Tahet spun and leveled out.

She never saw him hit the ground.

...

Sapynier groaned as she crawled deeper into the hive, her back a mass of burns and blisters. Even though she had fallen deep into the lair just before the fire hit, she still nearly killed. She could feel the thing on her back oozing blood and ichor, and tentacles were squirming against the back of her head. Her neck crawled, literally as a new control tentacle extended into the large hole in the back of her skull and pushed into her brain, making her stumble and sway as it re-attached in place of it's severed cousin. Moans of despair came from her mouth, almost as if it was from someone else as her body burned and ached. The pain didn't bother her, for her entire body was a mass of pain, and even the burns were little compared to the constant rape of her sex as she was forced to mass produce larvae to fill the egg-sack her tail had been turned into, ready to be hatched when they were mature enough. The sensation of unspeakable things deep inside her womb and the feeling of the hive's spawn crawling inside her would be enough to drive her insane, if she wasn't already there.

The battle was lost. The damn drake was making it's escape, but no matter. The drake that was captured would not have time to become totally consumed and converted, but it would make a good snack for the hive. It was rare to get a drake to feed on, and there would be much death to come when the dragons attacked in force. It would be a good, terrible tight. Good and awful. Horrifying and great.

The corrupted dragoness writhed as she fought off urges, not sure if she was a dragoness fighting off the influence of a terrible evil in her head, or a terrible evil fighting an annoying dragoness who wouldn't leave her alone. She whined in confusion, crying out in anger and fear and knowing that it didn't really matter which is was, it would all end in suffering.

...

Tahet pumped his wings harder, conflicted about escaping the fight. There was more to kill but PET was in danger. He could feel something bad next to her for just a moment before being flung away, and all the little things were hanging on him now. It would be frustrating to fight with them on him, but he wanted to KILL so badly. Kill the BUGS that had tried to hurt PET and BLUE. Burn them! Burn them all! He roared out in frustration, then spotted the other female.

His eyes saw both her form, and her energy, and the BAD that was flowing into her, eating her. His mind was filled with symbols and runes describing exactly what they were doing to the still living drake, the methods they were using to feed on her very soul and the heart of her power. He shook his head to clear if of the confusing images, unable to make sense of any of them, all he knew is what was happening to her was BAD. And he could stop it. He dipped his wings and began to dive.

"No, Tahet! Up! UP!"

He snarled at the command words. BLUE was talking and he wanted to obey, but seeing the drake down there made his entire being quiver in disgust and rage, and worse of all, fear.

"Danger! Up!"

Tahet knew that word. He even knew it was true. It was a bad place down there, he shouldn't go near it. All the BAD might reach up and grab BLUE, or PET, or him. He fought his instincts for a moment, and then decided in the way drakes decided things. He simply did it, and inhaled.

"Fuck! No! Too soon! Tahet!"

Tahet exhaled just before pulling up out of his dive, sending a burst of hot flame down into the pit, engulfing the drake and all the tentacles around, and inside her. At first he saw them burn with satisfaction, and then saw something else that even his dim-witted consciousness recognized as terrifying, and ran!

...

Hope and disappointment fought with each other as Sapynier watched through the eyes of insect drones, seeing Tahet diving to the rescue of the female. The dumb beast was going to fight in there, and get himself and everyone on him caught and killed. Good! Bad!

Her mind spun around and around in her head, and she groaned audibly as both sides of her got whiplash as they both watched the drake inhale, and fill the pit with flames. Happy to see the drake escape. Angry that it was getting away. Frustrated that the insatiable hunger that was being fed by the captured drake began to stutter and die out.

She cried out, not knowing if it was in happiness or anger, and then screamed in pain. Her mind's-eye turned to the trapped dragoness, and she recoiled in terror. The burning sun she saw, the raw power that fueled the drake. It was even brighter, hotter, and clearly out of control. The drake's entire body was as bright as the sun now, the energy beginning to flow along those feeding tendrils, like fire running along dry branches and flicking brown, crumbling leaves to ash as it went, and she was one of those leaves.

The corrupted dragoness felt the entire web of the hive-mind for the first time as it recoiled and began to withdraw from the fire that raged hotter and hotter. There was no panic there, just simple instinct that any creature has when touching something hot that burned. There was little in this world that could hurt the hive, but that fire could, at least in the few moments it lasted. The hive didn't know what it was, or care, it just knew it HURT.

Sapynier suddenly knew several things then. The tentacles in her brain were half burned away. The hive was withdrawing it's own control from this nest, and her. She was free, just a little. Oh, and insane. Quite insane. But it didn't matter. It helped, really, being insane. Made it easier to do insane things. Because she knew now most of all that the hive feared the dragons fire. She knew it was afraid. She knew it could BURN.

The crazed dragoness reached out and sank her mind into that burning mass that was the drake's burning soul, staring into the furious heat and light of the star inside the dragon's soul. She screamed, but didn't care, feeling it get even HOTTER as that furnace fed on the wisps of hive-web-tendril-power that she extended into it. As hot as the dragons source of power was, when it touched the hive-energy it burned more, far more. With her other mental 'hand' she clutched at the withdrawing energies, and grabbed.

"Oh no, you're not going ANYWHERE!" she cackled madly, feeling mental barbs inside her mind and squeezing on them, feeling the queen that had enslaved her squirming deep in her nest, the mindless thing trying to escape.

"Ha! You're so good at enslaving but you suck at letting go! Fuck you!" she said madly, her eyes wide and glowing, wisps of energy drifting from them, quickly beginning to smoke. The rest of the hive-mind was withdrawing now, she could hardly feel anything but the local queen and spawn as it repeatedly tried to work into her mind, and flinched back at the energies burning wherever it touched.

"Haha! HAHAHAH!" she cried out as the hive and with an enormous force of will, pulled the two ends together.

She continued to laugh in glee as she forced the enormous power of both the drake and the hive mind closer and closer.

There was a crackle as the two made contact, a tiny spark, and her last thought was how disappointing it was.

Then the entire world exploded in a single, tremendous CRACK of lightning running through her entire being, so intense that no level of pain could describe the split second she had to experience it. It was beyond any physical sensation. It was pure bliss.

...

"Motherfucker!" screamed Rahmor as he rode an out of control Tahet. He had wanted him to get away from the hive but this was insane, the drake was beating his wings like the entire insect hive was after them. Was it? The biggest challenge with the hive was that fighting it provoked it. There was no intelligence behind it that they could find, but the further they pushed, the harder they pushed back. It's why they had been stalemated for so long, they were at the point where it was NOTICING them as they expanded, and had an entire continent to draw upon. If they pushed too hard, they might swarm. It had happened before, and they nearly lost everything. Was this what Tahet was afraid of?

"Slow down!" he called out for what seemed like the hundredth time, before gripping tight as Tahet suddenly obeyed, diving down and slamming hard into a small clearing. Rahmor grunted, and hoped the few hanging onto the underbelly straps were ok. What the fuck! He held on as Tahet tilted, putting the bulk of his body between them and the hive, and watched in stunned amazement as Tahet literally covered his head with his paws.

"What the hell is he doing?" asked Fensha, blinking in confusion.

"I have no fucking idea" said Rahmor, but something was tickling the back of his mind and a sudden sensation of danger washed over him, powerful enough for him to crouch and cower. "Get down!"

An enormous, thick bolt of lightning smashed down from the sky from where the hive was. That's what most would say afterwards, but many swore it erupted from the ground into the sky. Even though more of the dragons and one unicorn were behind the body of the drake, all could clearly see it, even with closed eyes. The shock wave was instantaneous, blowing the leaves clean off the tops of the trees, only the straps holding everyone to the drake keeping them from being knocked off from the sheer force of the sound. For just an instant they could all see a glowing, red web in the distance, radiating evil and corruption, a dense knot where the hive queen was, and a drake-shaped white outline nearby. Then the entire local hive went up in blue fire, flashing blindingly as multiple booms and explosions sounded in the distance.

It was over in moments, but the stunned dragons just lay there until Tahet finally stirred, peeking with an unusually subdued expression back the way they had came.

Chakal blinked and rubbed at her eyes. For a moment, just a split second she could still see the dim red glow of what must be the hive-mind of the insect invaders, but there was a hole in it now, nothing at all in the area of the local hive they had been fighting at. Whatever happened had wiped it out. Then it was gone, and all she had was her normal vision, covered in a spiderweb of slowly fading lines from the nearly blinding flash.

Rahmor rubbed at his eyes and groaned, then took advantage of the stillness to make his way back to his saddle and strap in as he tried to shake the stunned feeling out of his head.

"Did Reva do that?" asked one of the rescued warriors.

"I saw her... she was glowing."

"We saw something, was it her aura? It had her shape."

"There was something else too..."

"Something worse..."

"Was that the nest? Did she burn it?"

"No, I don't want to think about that. Things... things in the shapes..."

"I saw... something... no. No I didn't."

Rahmor shut out the voices and gave Tahet a quick inspection, glad to see there were no visible injuries, but Tahet sure he would have one hell of a sore throat. Luckily the big brute seemed to be back to normal, probably already having forgotten what just happened. If only HE could talk. It was unlikely the big drake understood any of it all, but if only he could speak. Leaning against Chakal, Rahmor closed his eyes. He wanted to remember everything he had seen so he could make a full report, and suspected they would all be in for a long debriefing. For now, he needed to remember. Later, he needed to forget. It was going to take a lot for that to happen. A whole harem full for starters. Possibly with Tamira and Dana. And a few guards. He perked up at a thought, perhaps it was time for Chakal to meet his harem... she would need to relax as much as him after all, assuming Tahet would let her out of his sight. The big drake deserved her more than him at this point after all. Perhaps Fensha might enjoy a visit to the capital as well.

Rahmor opened his eyes. It was time to go. There was work to be done, and fun, for later.