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A Modern Dragon Harem

Chapter 13: Their Moves

Sponsored by GlynWolf

By Draconicon

The tantric magic had definitely had an effect. As soon as Ailsa recovered, she proved that she had ways of warping herself, of giving herself different body types. The stingray treated him and the rest of the group with a show of pulling her breasts in, flattening them out until there was nothing left, looking positively boy-ish if it hadn't been for the fact that she still smelled like she was in heat. Then she would let them out again, growing them to an insane degree, making them almost too big for her body to support, only to shrink them down again.

The way that she enjoyed showing off her transformation powers was rather silly, but at the same time, rather heartwarming. Particularly as he knew the other powers that she wasn't showing them.

She has the strength to start warping the cave, making it into more of a defense. It won't be long until she starts working her way through the caverns, making them into her kind of home. I'll have to keep an eye on her.

If nothing else, so that she made the caverns safe for everyone, and so every room was customized to what people wanted rather than what she felt was best. The last thing that he needed was to see the world warp into something like a kinky 'hell' sort of landscape. And she'd do it, if he took his eyes off of her.

Fun as that would be, it wasn't the vision he had for most of the world. He needed it to stay relatively normal for now. Otherwise, he might not have the chance to build up his magic before the 'other side' started to take steps.

Draconicon leaned back against the wall of the main cavern, looking towards the tunnel that led out to the outside world. Veronica would be back soon with Janet, probably with information on what was going on out there. Considering the car bombing that happened barely forty-eight hours ago, he imagined that there was still an investigation going on, and with the 'other side' that he had encountered with Draconicon...well, they were in the dark in here.

Need to get Engy and the others on building communications. Veronica and Tobias, too, probably, so we can keep touch with them while they're outside the caves. Something secure, too...

Not to mention the whole 'next move' worries. He had no idea when the other side was going to step in, whether he had done enough to qualify as a move, or -

CRACK!

Conversation stopped in the main room at the sound of a gunshot. Tobias was in motion immediately after, the Doberman running for the tunnel out, while Victoria had already grabbed him and pulled him down a side tunnel. He could feel the little kobold-possum in her pouch against his back, while Engy and Ailsa were pulling the rest of the group to safety.

Impressive, he thought just before he was pulled against the rock in the tunnel. Victoria kept him covered, shaking her head.

"Well, ain't gonna say we didn't expect that, but..."

"Can you tell if Veronica's okay?"

"Yeah, she's alright. I can hear her cursing up a storm up here," the Australian guardian said, tapping her forehead. "Ain't happy, but ain't hurt."

"That's something." The dragon raised his voice. "Everyone okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine," Engy said. "I got Anya over here, Ailsa got Zavis."

"Sounded like an echo," Ailsa confirmed. "Probably a shot just outside."

That's what he was afraid of. If there was gunfire out there, there was no telling what was happening until they walked right into it. And Tobias...

If there's anyone that can handle that, it's the Doberman, he reminded himself, but he still didn't like the idea of one of his people running into a situation that they didn't know anything about.

It didn't matter that Veronica, Tobias, Vivian, and Victoria were essentially all bound up together, still. They might be able to communicate, but that didn't mean that it was coming back to him. The only thing that he knew for sure was that nothing had happened to Veronica or Tobias just yet, and that was only because he could tell that Victoria wasn't angry.

Anything else was going to have to wait. Particularly as the kangaroo leaned against his back, pushing him against the rock and keeping him as covered as possible.

"You know I could help."

"Or, ya know, get shot," Victoria pointed out. "Besides, ya think they'd let me live it down if you got hurt?"

"...Probably not."

"There ya go. Besides, they got it handled."

A minute went by before Tobias returned, the Doberman waving an all-clear. Everyone came out of the tunnels again, Anya shaking, the white vixen obviously a bit disturbed by the sudden gun shot. He didn't entirely blame her. It wasn't the sort of thing that you expected to happen out of the blue. Zavis was still a bit surprised-looking, but other than that, the snake was as self-assured as ever.

Ailsa and Engy, on the other hand, looked positively angry. The stingray was seething, the air around her shimmering as if there was a heat haze around her, and Engy was stomping his feet, his fists at his side as he walked up.

"Where's Veronica?" Draconicon asked as Victoria let him up.

"Still outside. She's...questioning the attacker."

"And Janet?"

"Twisted her ankle, but otherwise unharmed." The Doberman smirked. "Apparently, she spotted the shooter before Veronica did. I'm not sure if I am impressed with the human, or disappointed with the Shepherd."

Well, that meant that she was probably going to get teased for that for the rest of eternity, he supposed. The fact that Janet had been able to spot the attacker before Veronica, though...

That shouldn't have happened. Either Veronica was distracted, or something else was going on. Maybe there was a deal, or...

He didn't know. There were plenty of ways to be paranoid about something, though, and he was probably going to hit most of them before he was done. Shaking his head, the dragon stepped away from the fuzzy shield of Victoria and into the main chamber.

"Take me to them."

"No."

"...Pardon?"

The Doberman shook its head.

"We will bring the attacker into the cavern in a moment. You will stay here, and you will not expose yourself."

"So, you'll do that instead?"

"We are trained. You are not."

"..."

"You agreed. You will not be stupid. Do you remember?"

"...Yes, I do. You're right." He rubbed his head. "At least bring them in here quickly. I want to see what's going on."

"We will. Victoria."

The Doberman and kangaroo went back outside, leaving the dragon with the rest of the harem. Anya rushed to him, hugging his arm lightly. She leaned in, her three tails thrashing around behind her in a fury.

"What's going on? Why did someone..."

"I don't know. That's why we have to talk to them."

"I thought we'd be safe here."

"We will be. We just have to make it more secure."

"You can do that, right? You have enough magic?"

"Probably."

It was going to be a trick and a half to make it work, though. While he had managed to figure out the tantric magic, a way for Ailsa to help him, he still didn't have the sort of power to warp the whole place all at once, and he knew that all of his friends would have different plans for what they wanted here. They were going to want different styles to their rooms, different defenses, different protections...

It was going to be a hodge-podge of a thing, and he knew that they'd need somewhere better than this in the future. Once they were able to build things up so that it wasn't just making them a target, they could move out of the underground and into a city again, but until then...

He patted Anya's back, giving her a one-armed hug as she shivered against him. He could feel the fear running through her, the worry for the future. She had always been a bit anxious, and he knew that she was still dreading what might happen to them. It was one thing to be told that there was a danger out there, it was another thing to finally see it.

Hoping that she was getting some reassurance from touching him, he rubbed her back lightly, hoping to give her some of the confidence that he honestly didn't feel.

Finally, Tobias and Victoria returned. The roo helped carry Janet along, the dark-skinned human thankfully able to limp along with the hopping roo. She was obviously favoring one limb, but she wasn't falling over with pain, so it probably wasn't too bad.

Veronica, on the other hand, was dragging someone in by their leg, grumbling under her breath. Even at a distance, he could see that there was more than just the pissed-off feeling about being ambushed. The way that the Shepherd kept looking at Janet, it was clear that there was self-blame building up.

Gonna need to deal with that, he thought, glancing at the intruder.

The attacker had obviously taken a few blunt blows to the face, and he wondered how many of those had come from fists, how many from feet, and how many from headbutts. Veronica carried a rifle that had obviously come off snaps wrapped around the attacker's torso, and there were various points where pistols had been attached, too.

"How many weapons did he have?"

"Too many," the Shepherd muttered. "Thankfully, he was only armed like a one-man army. He couldn't fight like one."

"That's good. Where was he?"

"Partway up the mountain, about twenty feet over the entrance to the cave."

Someone that knew where it was, then, and someone that knew to wait for someone to return.

Veronica and Janet had left already, gone out to scout things before I started doing anything with Engy and Ailsa. That means that either they already knew where we were...

Or they had taken their 'moves' as small ones, things to be done after empowering Engy and empowering Ailsa. One move to narrow down where he was, one move to put a single person in the area. Small moves, but moves that were well-spent. He had to give them credit for that much.

However, it really didn't make him feel better about the possibilities of them being trapped like this.

They went for a gunman right off the bat. That probably means that any chance of backing out of this just went right out the window. If they tried to kill us once, then they're going to try and kill us again.

Draconicon was pretty sure that he could survive that, but the others? Maybe the ones that had been in the military, maybe Zavis, considering how capable he was, but the others...

Anya doesn't have powers, never has. She won't be able to fight back if she gets into a scrap...

And the others...

The black dragon tapped his chin a few times, trying to think through this as a story, as a game, as if he were looking on a strategy map. There were others that he could call in, others that he could empower. He could see Idesin doing well here, pulling off all sorts of crazy things, and Fyacin, with his warrior abilities, would be able to actually put up a fight if something bad happened. Even Nirimer would be good for that.

But there would be more than mere soldiers coming after them. The larger a move he made, the more that the enemy would send after them. This gunman had figured out where they were, and when he didn't report in, the enemy would know exactly where they were without spending a move of their own.

The more he thought about it, the more he realized that the enemy had managed to utilize the two small moves he'd given them to effectively get three. They managed to narrow down where he was to a certain area - how big, he didn't know - then they put a scout inside to narrow it down further, and probably made sure that it was an expendable scout, too. And then they left the scout there, probably with a tracker on him, so that they would see where he last one when he was taken down.

That meant that they still had two more moves to make. One a bit bigger, to correspond to him splitting Veronica, Tobias, Vivian, and Victoria apart, and one bigger than that for summoning and transforming Engy, Ailsa, and Zavis into their new bodies.

Very, very, very smart...three moves for the price of two...Or...four for three...Veronica didn't see them, so that means that there might have been a stealth spell on him...

The ball was back in his court, however, and he could see a few options. They'd expect him to either dig in or move, and either one was a bad idea. They had only just started getting set up here, and running out in the open again would put them under observation as well as potentially under fire. Digging in, on the other hand, would only make it easier for the enemy to catch up with them and send a bigger force next time.

Digging up, on the other hand...

"Drac?"

He blinked. Everyone was staring at him, and he'd obviously missed something. He rubbed his forehead.

"Sorry. I was lost in my own thoughts."

"You okay, man?" Engy asked.

"Well, we nearly had someone get shot, so, not really. But we've got ways to move on from this. Veronica, you know anything about this guy?"

"Yes. He's Force RECON, or at least, he used to be. He's got the tattoo for it."

There was a wince that went through the military members of the group, though everyone else looked rather clueless. As Victoria put Janet on the ground, the dragon rubbed the back of his head.

"Run me through what that means."

"He'll have a partner out there, at least. We'll have to root them out," the Shepherd said.

"Assume that he's just one man for now - I'll explain in a minute - and tell me what that means."

"It means that we're dealing with people in special forces. And Marine special forces, at that."

"Well, at least it's not SEALs," Engy muttered.

"We train the SEALs. This is worse."

He didn't know if she was right or wrong with that, but he knew better than to get in the middle of two military branches. For the moment, it confirmed that they were not facing anything good.

Draconicon looked at the ceiling of the cavern, considering how much power it would take to start ripping the rock out and moving upwards. That would be tricky, at best, considering that he didn't know what waited further up, or what sort of consistency the balance between rock and earth would be the further up the mountain they went.

That said, if they were able to move up, they'd be able to start setting up camp in new caves, caves that the government - and their enemies - didn't know existed. It wouldn't be a permanent fix, but it would be enough to give them a chance to come up with a new plan.

But they also needed weapons to go with their powers...or did they?

"Veronica?"

"What?" she barked, looking like she was on the verge of kicking the unconscious soldier.

"How many supplies does RECON deploy with? Weapons?"

"...Considering they need to be in the field for a while, quite a bit..."

"If a team were deployed, would they have more than this guy did?"

"A lot more."

"More versatility, more -"

"You think he dropped with a crate," Tobias said.

"A crate of supplies and weapons we might be able to use, yes. Think some of you could track that down?"

"Yes."

"Then get on it. I want that back here as soon as possible."

Nodding, the Doberman darted out again. If there were weapons hidden on the mountain, they weren't going to be hidden for long. And it would mean that they'd have some ammo and weapons without him having to spend another move to drag something over.

Then again...

They sent the message before I pulled these three over and transformed them. So far, they've only made two or three moves...

What were the next ones going to be?

"Drones."

Tobias returned just over two hours later with two assault rifles, a sniper rifle, several cases of ammo, and a serious problem with bad news. Draconicon slapped his hand over his face, shaking his head a few times.

"You're kidding me."

"I do not joke."

"No, no, you don't. Fuck."

Drones. That meant that the powers that be knew exactly where they were, and if they did decide to move, then they were going to be spotted leaving. There'd be no chance to get a head-start in the woods, no chance to hide out and make their way to somewhere new to try over again.

Not that he had thought that they'd be able to do that in the first place, but it wasn't a good feeling to have an option taken away.

"Alright. Best judgment. Check Ailsa's accuracy with a weapon, then pass them out as you see fit. Find the best users for the pistols our guy had, too."

The Doberman nodded, then ducked down one of the side tunnels. He imagined that there was going to be a conversation between the dog and the stingray, followed by a quick contest, but that wasn't his business anymore. What he needed to do was open things up down there, and see what he could do to start protecting them.

They know where I am, and they're going to know that the first attack didn't work, he thought. That means that they're going to need to send someone else in to deal with us, and in order to make that move, they'll need me to make one first. Putting the drones up there that quickly means that they used up another thing, and I don't think they're going to be able to put boots on the ground so quick if they still have the minor move left...

Making a mental note to get a notebook for himself - tracking these moves needed to be done more accurately - he turned from the main cavern to the main tunnel. Putting the tunnel upwards through the main cavern was a bad idea, and it basically invited someone to come after them right away. Putting it in at the end of the tunnels, however, meant that there was no way to get out after the enemy got in.

Somewhere in the middle allowed them to use the other chambers for traps, and it meant that, if an attack force missed the way into the hidden parts of the mountain, they could sneak out behind them. Not ideal with the drones around, but if anyone came in with overwhelming numbers, it was good to have a back-up plan.

Not too far back, not too far forward. Give us enough space for traps...

He eventually picked a spot about thirty feet down the main tunnel. Long enough to set a couple of traps before and after the passage upwards, and with a few rooms to divert any invaders into, but without going so far back that they'd have to dodge everyone if they ran out. Draconicon looked up, tapping his chin.

"What are you thinking about, Master?"

He looked over his shoulder. Zavis. He should have known. The dragon smiled a bit at the naked snake as he walked up, gesturing at the stone ceiling.

"I'm just figuring out the best way to do this."

"And what is 'this', Master?"

"Just drilling up to make more rooms further up."

"That is an interesting proposition, Master. I assume you're looking to avoid any entanglements from any other gunmen?"

"Something like that. It'll be easier to have an attic to hide in."

"How far up are you thinking of going?"

"At least thirty feet. Far enough that noise doesn't travel through so easily, and to keep scans from finding us too quickly."

"Ah, I see. And how can we help?"

"Well..."

Cocking his head to the side, the dragon glanced back at the snake again. The muscular, bow-tie-wearing, otherwise naked butler didn't so much as shift his position. His big friend had always been one of those that embodied loyalty, and considering that he seemed to be the only one that wasn't massively busy right then...

"Do you mind if I use you for an experiment?"

"Not at all, sir. What do you have in mind?"

"There's something I came up with a while ago, called connective magic. I want to see if I can try it."

"Certainly." The snake smiled. "How can I do that?"

"Just hold still and...think good thoughts about me, I guess."

"Sexually good, or just generally?"

"Generally, for now."

Zavis nodded, closing his eyes and taking a few deep breaths. He seemed to settle into himself, his hands folded behind his back, and the dragon waited until he seemed as relaxed as he could be.

This is going to be the turning point. If I do this...if I can do this...

Draconicon forced himself to calm down, taking several deep breaths and pushing the worries and slight panic back down into his belly rather than letting it rise up through his chest. If he let that take control, then he was going to make mistakes. He couldn't afford to do that, not with the limited number of people with him, and not when they were putting their lives on the line with him.

I could do this with Anya.

She would want to help, that was for sure. She had been rather sad that she couldn't, feeling a bit useless, and he'd told her to go find something that she felt good about doing. It was a bit rough, but he hadn't had the chance to sit and comfort her when he had to figure out what they needed to do to survive.

But no. Zavis was better. He was here, willing, and he honestly had a bit more strength to deal with fallout if it didn't work. If this went badly, he'd need to be quick to come up with another idea, and he wouldn't have the time to put his 'partner' back together. Zavis could work on that on his own, Anya couldn't.

Just...don't screw up in the first place.

With one more deep breath, he laid one hand on the snake's shoulder. He felt for him, feeling the strong muscle beneath the scales, taking in the feeling of the steady breathing in and out. There was a lot of snake there, a lot of muscle, and a lot of calm.

There was trust there, and he seized on that feeling, holding onto it and putting his own trust back.

He came to me. He wanted to be here, because he trusted me to be in charge, Draconicon thought. He allowed me to take his leash. He allowed me to be in charge. He knew me, knows me, and doesn't fear me.

That was a start, but it wasn't enough. He didn't feel even the sort of bonding that he'd felt from Engy and Ailsa during the tantric sex. Something was missing.

Going deeper. There was more than trust there. Trust was between business partners, between people of the same faith. Connective magic went deeper than that, further than mere trust. It went into friendship, into being bonded together, into being part of one another's lives. There were things that he needed to -

A fight in the ring, the ding of the bell. The dragon and the snake lunged for each other, grins on their faces, gloves on their hands. Punch, crack, puff. The feel of impact, the thud of the gloves, the flattening of scales against the hard muscles beneath as they slammed into each other -

The dragon gasped as the memory of a game that they'd played came out as if it was real. Zavis did the same, though he hid it better, the snake keeping his eyes closed and his head down.

But there was something...something there. A feeling where the images were still real, still powerfully present. The dragon nodded to himself, pushing at that again, pulling on memories, of past experience, of the bond that they'd shared.

Sex. The thud of the snake's body hitting the ground, the scent of musk from a hole slick with sweat, the pressure from underfoot as he ground the snake's head into the ground. He won, and it was time for him to take his prize.

Flicker. The images were side by side, now, one a rough fight, the other rough sex. They were hard, musky thoughts, things that came through like a fight, challenging him, but making him grin for the challenge regardless.

Hiss. WHOOSH. The steam and heat of the kitchen, fire burning, oil hissing, wine flaring into infernos over pots and pans. The snake and the dragon cooking, competing, throwing themselves against one another to see who could be better.

Flicker. The feeling of competition. That was it. That was the thing that they had. A fight, a push, a need to constantly make the other better. That was -

Strength. Scent. Power. Fucking other subs side by side, the snake and the dragon fixing each other with a stare, neither willing to give up while the other was still going. Their dicks were raw, their balls sore, but they weren't stopping.

Flicker. This was their friendship. This was how they worked together. And they -

Trust. Friendship. Care. Seeing himself from the snake's point of view, seeing the snake from his point of view. They were honest and civilized as they recovered from the bruises, from the beatings, from the pushing and the teasing. They were the dutiful ones. They got it done, and they kept moving forward. They were as strong as they needed to be, and they did not stop.

Flicker. It was done.

Draconicon huffed softly, and Zavis leaned against him ever so slightly. Neither of them were entirely willing to show that they had been drained as hard as they had been, but they had definitely pushed hard to make that connection.

But the connection was made, and he could feel it getting more intense with each passing second. Sure, he had to focus on it to remember that it was there, but whenever he did...

"Wow..."

"Sir? What do you - oh. Oh. Wow, indeed."

"Yeah. Wow."

It was like seeing through someone else's eyes, seeing what they saw you as. The trust, the friendship, the affirmations. It was like genuinely seeing yourself from the other side of the mirror, knowing what you looked like to someone else, and...well, it was humbling, to say the least.

Beneath that, though, was a feeling of power. There was energy, magic buried under the care that Zavis had for him, and Draconicon couldn't ignore that. He was going to need it, and he couldn't just let it lay there, no matter how much he would have liked to bask in the unspoken praise that the snake had for him.

He closed his eyes, focusing on that bond, and he followed it back into the snake. He pushed past the feelings that were attached to it, and went to the glowing core that it all came from. It wasn't dissimilar from the feeling of power that he had when he seized on the magic of the will, when he just ordered something to happen. Not as large, but definitely something that could be tapped into.

Hoping to keep it small, he looked at a pebble that was nearby. Rather than focusing on his own energy, he kept his focus on the energy inside the snake. He imagined the rock bigger, shaped rather more...sexually, and pointed at it.

"Erect."

And just like that, he felt the energy inside Zavis decrease. Not tremendously, only by about 5%, but it was enough to turn the pebble into a small dildo of sorts. It was big enough that it might serve as a fancy urethra plug, but no more.

As the snake wobbled slightly, Draconicon held him up with a small smile. He waited for the butler to be back to normal, then patted him on the back.

"Alright. I think we have a shot now. And that wasn't a move, either."

"A move, sir?"

"I'll explain later. For now, get everyone that's not actively starting to prepare a defense. I want to do what we just did."

"Do you think that we can do that with each other, too?"

"Who knows? We'll find out. Now go."

He slapped the big guy on the butt, sending him running off. Despite Zavis disappearing down the tunnels, he could still feel where the snake was, almost as if he had a magical locator on him. It kept moving, and while it wasn't like he had a GPS in his head, he felt like he could spin on the spot and know exactly where to point to mark where his butler had gone.

If he was able to mark everyone with that, if he was able to connect to everyone in the caves that way, then it would make it that much easier to keep track of everyone. He could name one or two that wouldn't like being tagged like that, but tough. They were going to have to deal with it.

And...

Well, if it came down to it, the bond worked both ways. He could find them, they could find him. He could draw on them...

And they could draw on him.

The End