VIII-A grand feast

When Thomas and Hel woke up the following morning, Thomas was back to a more human form. He had gained a few centimetres of height and put on some serious muscle but other than that, oh, and a pair of curled horns, he was pretty much the same. Hel expressed all of his sadness for this ‘downgrade’ because his new found friend had lost his more… attractive look, but a quick examination told us that his change took him more on the direction that Johanna had taken, though with some rather interesting differences. Just like a superhero, he could shapeshift and assume a draconic form at will. Unfortunately he was quite bad at it and needed a lot of training but Johanna was more than willing to help him as she was the strongest out of us, on a mere physical standpoint.

Hel received more of my training and got better with each passing day, absorbing knowledge like a sponge. The two of them had gotten very close and took to sleep together and fool around, more the latter than the former but no one minded at all. The occasions where I found them going down on each other were getting more and more frequent, adding to the general trend of perversion of the house. I wondered why was this a thing, whether I was the cause or the change itself pushed people past their old conceptions of what was proper and socially acceptable.

After a lot of consideration, I came to the conclusion that it was definitely me that caused their spike in libido, as the only way I knew to change someone was to thoroughly breed them and leave their minds in a state of bliss. Had I found some other way, maybe I wouldn’t be now seeing a mass of bodies, all naked, me included of course, going around the house and minding their business, bits giggling in the air without a care in the world. For example, Thomas was reading a book while transformed, Krissie was cooking and when she bent over to get a fallen fork her vent was bared for my eyes to see while Johanna and Hel talked outside on the porch. The two former humans were much more comfortable naked, or so they said, feeling better and free with their scales out in the open, something about the weird feeling of clothes mixing on skin and scale. In this regard, I was more on Johanna’s lines than anything else, naked all the time because I could, but I understood their feelings all the same.

Weeks passed since the meeting of the king and Evan in this region and the news of a ceremony and feast between the two races was spreading throughout the land. Colin, who was now a recurrent guest in the house, had been the one to tell us of this interesting and refreshing event. Of course, we had been sent a letter of invitation from Pembroke the next day but that was different. I would have gone there anyways, taking all of us in the process. Thomas was very scared of meeting his family again as he had changed and the boy’s nervousness had jumped over to Hel and made him incredibly embarrassed of his more… feminine appearance.

“Come on, nothing will happen, I promise! I’ll be there for you all the while.” Hel rested his massive head on top of Thomas’ legs, the human barely noticing the hefty weight on his limbs and absentmindedly caressing the dragon’s snout. Hel, like Jo, was a basically a giant cat when the right pressure was applied, something all of us smaller beings loved beyond any conscious measure.

“But… you won’t be there forever!”

“You know you’ll always be welcome here, you can just press the emergency button and I will get you here. If you want to take guests it will be fine of course.” I patted his back and he sighed, again.

“Listen to him, Thomas, you have gotten much stronger and a few words won’t kill you. We talked about this for hours, remember?” The boy nodded. Hel jumped behind him and licked his face, leaving a long strand of saliva to connect the two. Thomas smiled and

rubbed his forehead on the dragon’.

“Thank you, Hel.”

“You’re welcome.” Colin, who was by the side of the table, coughed and made his presence known to us again. He was well dressed and perfumed since today of all days, we had to go to the feast.

“So, I never quite understood what you two are: friends? Mates? Buddies? I am rather confused.” Didn’t we explain that to him already? I think we did… Oh, well.

“I can understand. To be blunt: we are friends, we enjoy talking, playing, fighting and doing what friends do, but we also like to spend some time together as partners. Aidan used the term ‘friends with benefits’, so, no emotional involvements and a lot of fun times.” Colin nodded, not entirely convinced by Hel’s words.

“I still cannot wrap my head around all of… this but you are you and you can do whatever you please.”

“We all appreciate your words Colin, I think you are the most broad minded human that has yet to know Aidan’s touch around here.” Colin blushed, as he knew what Thomas meant: all of them had tried multiple times to get him under my wings, mostly literally than figuratively, but he refused each time, maybe due to fear or just due to his desire to remain human. “As always, no pressure, we enjoy having someone more normal around, so to speak.”

“Well, you’re welcome guys.” He tapped his foot on the floor. “When are we leaving? The capital is quite far off and the feast will be held at noon.”

“Don’t worry, Colin, I’ll use magic to speed things up. Hel, are your ready to try out the supersonic flight spell?” The head of the bronze dragon snapped towards me, eyes glittering with excitement and anticipation. “I’ll take that as a yes. Do be careful though.”

“I will!”

“Good. Then we are leaving now. Pack your stuff if you have something to pack.”

Colin’s face paled at the thought of leaving now. He had been preparing mentally for this for the whole morning when I invited him as well and he had not yet stopped being nervous. I reassured him as the other prepared themselves for the flight, especially Hel. He practiced casting the spell I taught him and repeated the process until I stopped him because he’d be dead tired before we even left at this rate. Krissie put on her clothes, for the first time in days and waited outside with Johanna who passed and rubbed her belly. As the pregnancy neared its first month, things were getting hard for her and she had grown out quite a lot. When I put my head on top of her I could hear the three heartbeats and their bodies move inside her. Some nights I just spent like that, waiting for her to wake up, she was always making fun of me for how concerned I was for her health and the wellbeing of the triplets but I couldn’t help myself. In this cases Johanna was always willing to side with me.

But today we didn’t have time to bask in the miracle that was life and needed to look pretty for a bunch of old fools that would gather in the capital to celebrate the end of that goddamn war: I had polished my scales and helped Johanna and Hel to do the same, Krissie had taken the best clothes I made for her and had Colin choose from an array I had prepared. The one that was most comfortable with this, on a merely practical point was Thomas, used to parties of the nobility, though he was very nervous about his appearance.

He kept fearing that his family would shun him for his changes and hate him for it, but I didn’t think that that was going to happen, not as long as I had a good reason for it. Well, I did have one but I don’t think being extremely horny after both my mates got in the mood after seeing a man and a dragon pleasure each other, was a good one for them. I even had a speech prepared though I knew it was going to go down the drain real fucking fast as soon as things would get awkward.

Seeing as we were all primed and ready to go, I ordered the whole crew to get in line on the landing pad and cast the spell for our flight. I coated Johanna’s body with magic and infused a necklace I made specifically for her out of some of the most precious metals in this world, with the energy necessary to support it for hours. Hel did the same and tapped in his soul to cast it on himself as Thomas got on top of him and Colin joined Krissie on Johanna’s back.

After the final preparations and one last prayer from Colin, who made sure to ask for protection to several gods just in case, we lifted off and departed for the capital. Thomas was guiding us and had Hel stay at the front of the flock to make sure we’d not miss it. As soon as we picked up speed, the spells activated and formed a bubble of air all around us, with Johanna’s being the biggest. The bubbles protected us from the cutting wind when the second effect of the spell kicked in and raised our speed by several times, pushing our cruising velocity at well over mach-1. It took me days to develop this spell and roughly a week before Hel could practice it, but it was well worth the hardships I went through. With that kind of speed, getting to the capital in a little under an hour was no issue as if flying there wouldn’t have dramatically cut the time already. As predicted, we arrived there in about fifty minutes and saw the mass of people wandering in the area: hundreds if not a thousand or more tents, big and small in a giant tapestry of colours, had been erected all across the fields out of the capital’s walls, housing many thousands of people. No dragons to be seen at the moment unfortunately, but I knew from Evan that he was going to take the best of the best in Aerym over for the feast.

We spotted a very, very large tent to the centre of the mass of visitors and figured that it would have either been the king’s tent or that someone there would have known where he was. We landed in front of the flabbergasted crowd and the king himself as he just now came out of the tent.

I wanted to say that he was pleasantly surprised but he was just… expressionless as we came over to say hello.

“You came after all.” Pembroke wore something else beside his armour today, a silk and cotton mix, mostly black and yellow with the signs of this household weaved into the shoulders and chest and even his mood seemed… joyful, rather than pissed and grumpy. Truly an amazing event…

“Why wouldn’t I? It’s a feast and you invited me, plus I needed to hand you one Thomas Bardur after his training.” Hel nudged the man in question forward and I noticed him giving a good look at his firm buttocks with an appreciating gaze for the tight pants I made. Truth be told, Thomas had an amazing ass and I made sure to show it to everyone. “Here you go.”

“You majesty, it’s been a while.” Thomas bowed deep but most of the king’s attention, as well as the one of the other onlookers, was drawn to his stunning physique when the muscles rippled under the skin and his elegant horns.

“I see you look… different, both in mind and body.”

“Yes, my king, Aidan has been thorough in his training.” He blushed weakly and we all knew why, but no one saw this which, all things considered, was good enough. “He taught me a good deal of things.”

“I take that you have grown then, good. Had you not, I would have sent you to some fief on the other side of the continent and left you there to rot.” The king was serious obviously, he rarely made jokes and when he did, they were notoriously dark and almost not even jokes at all. Thomas felt grateful for having met us and grown up to be a better person. “Your family is here as well.” The king looked around and craned his neck, his face lighting up a few moments later. “Speak of the devil. Isaac! Come here, your son’s back!”

“What? Thomas is back?” After the king yelled, a man in his late fifties rushed towards us, pushing more than a few people aside who were standing in his path. He was fit for his age and sported a very, very luscious beard the same colour as his receding hair, black as the night. The man called Isaac looked at his son with a flabbergasted expression. “Thomas… how much you’ve changed in one month!” Thomas blushed and tried to shrink a little, a feat no longer possible in his conditions.

“All due to the Envoy and his guidance. He made me see my mistakes and trained me.”

“Well, he trained you alright and that I can see… but, the horns… how?”

“It seems to be a side effect of living around him. I have taken a liking to them. Do you… ehm like them? I have been taken care of my looks but I can’t seem to find a good haircut to go with these things.” Thomas muttered about some of his now daily problems which only confused his father even more. Sure, before he did look shabby and took little care of his appearance but to shock his old man like that, how bad must it have been in private? “Father? Is something wrong?”

“By the gods I hope not! Your lordship Aidan, thank you for making my son grow up to learn from his mistakes.” The old man bowed and shocked the spectators no doubt about that.

“You don’t need to be grateful for, I have not done much. I just took these two youngsters and tossed them in a cave for a couple of days, the rest is their work and the fruit of their cooperation.”

“My son and a dragon? Together in the same room?” He looked at Hel who smiled weakly, scratching his neck with a talon casually.

“He gave me quite the headache for the first two days but when I came back wounded from an attack, he patched me up and fed me. We talked a lot and came to an agreement of sorts.”

“My, my… how incredible. Just a few weeks ago he wanted to slay the first dragon he saw and now I learn that he lived with one… what has the world come to these days…”

“Something good I hope, your lordship. I hope that the work I have done, which is not that much actually, will help both races to overcome their differences, just as these two did.” Both him and the king nodded in agreement.

“Excellent, truly excellent.” King Pembroke clapped his hand and took our attention back to himself and spoke with a grave and serious tone. “I hope that the new position I give you will suit you well then, Thomas Bardur: I hereby, by the authority given to me by the people of this great nation, make you the supervisor to Dragon affairs.”

“Ehm, what?” Needless to say, we were all stunned.

“I know you are young but this world will change fast and old people will not be able to keep up. I am entrusting you with the security of this capital with dragon related matters. I take that since you have spent some time with one, which is still better than any of us in this entire kingdom, you have better ideas and knowledge on how to deal with them.” Thomas looked at us and Hel nodded his head. “I know for sure that the first few years will be troubling and you will have little rest, but one day, things will be better and you will see the fruit of your work. Most likely we will either be dead or with a foot and a half in the grave, but your children will be able to see the future we hope to accomplish with our efforts.” Thomas bowed again, his head almost touching the ground.

“I will not disappoint you!” He made a short pause and then lifted his head, eyes staring straight into Pembroke’s. “I have only one request.”

“Sure go ahead.”

“I ask that Hel will be able to help me. Please grant him a job as well.” This request that had no precedent in the world, left the king speechless. He helplessly looked at the peaceful dragon that was standing by the side and at the young man that was bowing in front of himself.

“I don’t know what to say… this is unprecedented. I may as well be the first king to stand in front of two dragons and live for all I know!” He sighed and shook his head. “Just give me some time to discuss this with the nobles, I really need some help with this.”

“Oh, no worries. He’ll stay with us for the foreseeable future, you can take it easy.” I looked up in the sky and smiled as hundreds of shadows came closer to us. “And it seems that we have some visitors.” I gathered magic in my hands and shot it up in the sky, clearing the sea of clouds above.

The free sky revealed the hundreds of dragons in the sky, blotting out the sun. The humans screamed and ran to cover while the soldiers took their weapons in hand. The king hurried to order everyone to be calm and stand down. Among the many dragons now landing all over the place, Evan was obviously the one who stood out the most, taking up all the space that could be taken in between the tents near us. His stomach scales touched the very top of the tents and his claws dug deep in the ground. The king was ready for this but the rest of the humans, not really: some had seen dragons before, as they attacked and killed or passed over their heads, some had fought them, but none had been up close and survived, generally. Evan’s own size was nothing to scoff at either and, if anything, made things worse for everyone involved. He stared at the humans below him and noticed Hel among them.

“Oh, would you look at that. Hel, you’ve gotten yourself a nice new look.” Evan craned his neck and leaned in to see the newly changed protégé of his and Hel shifted nervously in his spot.

“Yes, my lord. All thanks to Aidan.”

“Of course it was him, I just hope that it wasn’t painful.”

“On the contrary, I rather enjoyed the process.”

“Good, good. Oh, Pembroke, there you are… shall we begin this feast? We have brought some food ourselves.” He called for someone and a few dragons arrived, dragging large nets and crates with unholy amounts of food and veggies. There were some humans who had never seen so much food together at once in all of their lives. “Just don’t hope for a feast like this every month. We have tapped into our own reserves for this.”

“We have done the same. Out best cooks will get to work on the food immediately.”

“Oh, could I join as well? I have a few recipes that I want to try.” The king was perplexed. Did he perhaps not expect me to be able to cook? “If possible of course.”

“Sure, why not? We’ll see what the cuisine of another world tastes like, but before, could I ask one favour of you?” I agreed of course. “I want my voice to be able to reach everyone in this place.”

“No problem.” With a wave of my hand I put a stereo spell on his body. He cleared his throat and the sound boomed and echoed all over the place. He seemed surprised as well by the effectiveness, while many humans and dragons raised their heads to the sky where the voice appeared to come from. Once the audience was silent enough, the king took another deep breath and steeled himself.

“People of the kingdom of mankind and dragons, I welcome you all in this day to celebrate the end of a war that lasted more than a thousand years. We all had friends and family killed, dragons and humans alike, burned in a fire than kept dividing us because we were the ones that fuelled it, but one person, the Envoy, came to us and threw a bucket of cold water on the fire and showed us that indeed, humans and dragons can be together as one. He became the very embodiment of that, using his own body as the canvas, he showed us something that we never thought would exist. I have personally witnessed his acts, his strength and although I had shunned him, branded him as a monstrosity, he forgave me in the name of peace, just as he forgave the dragons. I personally saw him take care of two young men from both races and two women as well and these four showed us that not only cooperation and mutual understanding is possible but love too.” His eyes held a flurry of complex emotion as they roamed on the crowd, lingering a moment or two longer on us. “I know many still feel the pain of loss and grief, and I ask of you but one thing: do not forget… but forgive. We were all wrong, every single one of us was wrong. We had no reason to kill but revenge and, as someone told me once, when you take out revenge, what is left to hate but the shadow of an enemy?” He paused again and looked at us, standing behind him. “I know some won’t be able to forgive as their pain is too much and runs too deep, but I hope that peace will be able to help us move on a path that is yet unseen. If you do not want to do it for me, do it so that our kids, be they born of eggs of womb, let them see a world in peace. Things will be hard and complicated but with the help of the Envoy, I hope that one day, we’ll be able to look behind and see only a bunch of foolish people that were confused by anger and never go back to that time.” There was silence for a long time, no one talked and absorbed these words into their mind and soul. The king, had not called for complete forgiveness nor asked his subjects to blindly accept something, he pulled at the weakest string of everyone’s hearts: children. No matter how sad and full of grief one could be, the very hope that no one else would be able to feel what they felt, lose what they lost, was enough to drive millions of people all around the world. “I am old and tired, I just want to rest. The young ones will take over one day, let them live in peace, love who they want to love and not be burdened by old fools who spent too much time on the battlefield like me.” The crowd burst into cheers and chanted in happiness. Many cried as the realization that everything was finally over and life would be better, mothers hugged their children, knowing that war would not take them away, fathers wept for their lost sons and daughters, soldiers cried for their lost comrades and dragons silently prayed for the countless eggs and hatchlings that had not yet learned to fly before they were killed. Evan was moved by all of this and shed on tear himself, remembering centuries of death and war. The kind cleared his throat once again, wiping one lone tear on that wrinkled face. “Now, enjoy this feast!”

The crowd, incredibly enough, became even more loud as hundreds of people began to set up tables and cooking stations, chatting, opening up barrels of wine, ale, beer and whatnot. The king searched for a chair and sat down, his hands were trembling and his breath was ragged, like he had went through a marathon. The stress piled up in decades washed away in that speech, leaving but an old man with lots of regrets. A woman, grey hair and wearing a silk dress and a ring of the same style that the king had, rushed and helped him sit down. Pembroke was happy when she came and left himself in her care.

All around us nobles and commoners went about preparing the feast. The dragons, on the other hand, sat in their position quietly and waited. Soon, a brave woman, approached one of them, an emerald green male, small but still a few times her size and timidly handed him a large mug of what must have been beer. The dragon took it with his tail and chugged the whole thing down in one go, the taste must have been very pleasant because he asked her for more and followed the woman to a barrel where she submerged the mug and gave him what he asked for.

Slowly, whether it was humans or dragons, some brave and intrepid souls, broke through their fear and excitement took over as they mingled with each other. Some of the vegetarian dragons went for the cooks and helped by giving recipes on how to properly grill vegetables or make them tastier as carnivores helped the humans gut boars, deer, goats and the occasional horse. Some used magic to help, some, especially the smaller males and females, went and joined cooks and workers in setting up tables. The humans were shocked at first, probably not ever having imagined that dragons had tables and much less cooked but accepted the help with goodwill.

“This is a scene out of the wildest of dreams I had.” Evan muttered, shifting a paw to let a human group pass, holding fresh cuts of prime rib. “Never actually thought it would come to life as I still breathed.”

“No one did, lord Evan.” Pembroke stood beside him and munched on a plate of grilled vegetables and meat. “And it’s thanks to a special someone.” He looked at me and smiled. “I don’t have words to thank you enough.”

“It’s fine, I am not one to like being thanked. I did my job and I will keep going until there is nothing more to be done.” I shrugged, that was what I had done and planned to do. “I am just grateful that this worked as well as it did. So many things could have gone wrong but in the end I am just satisfied with this.”

“What will you do in the future then?”

“No fucking clue… things will be messy in the next few weeks and even messier as more dragons get here. I’ll try and be around but I cannot be everywhere, especially when Krissie will give birth.” She leaned in closer and stifled a murmur from the humans who didn’t know about us. “We could start by making sure that there are places for dragons to sleep and live here, as well as conventional housing for humans in Aerym or the vicinity of it. I suggest not putting houses at the very top of the mountains and put some provisional shelter and homes at the bottom. Dragons are more resilient so we could put that off for a few more days.”

“Oh, housing… I had forgotten about that… where will we put them? What about food and customs?”

“One thing at a time Pembroke, now, let’s enjoy the party.” The king sighed as I wilfully ignore these pressing matters for a much more pressing party.

I took the liberty of joining a cook and his equipe, stealing a small section of their portable kitchen and switched if for my set-up. The cooks were rather impressed by the induction burners and the copper pans. I did the basic preparations as best as I could and attracted quite a few people who looked at me work and prepare the dishes, mostly nobles since we were basically right to the king’s tent and because he was quite literally standing in front of me.

“How interesting. Never though you could put pepper and eggs together… what was this dish called?”

“Carbonara, one of my favourites. Not too fat and not too thin, adding bacon makes it better, grated chees goes also well. One egg per person is the best ratio, if anyone is taking notes.” I said that for those that were indeed behind me and took notes of the recipes I was trying.

Krissie was by my side as well, doing her own stuff. We made meal worth of, well, kings, for several nobles and received invitations to their estates or homes all throughout the afternoon. By five we had done and stopped working and enjoyed some time. We could have stopped sooner but we both liked cooking and we both were insufferable show offs.

I found Johanna drinking in the company of three other dragons, a large male, jet black and two smaller ones, male and female, both of a dark violet, which resembled the first quite a bit and looked rather embarrassed at the actions of the dragoness in front of them, especially the younger male who tried his best not to look at her as she showed off her opposable thumbs and all the other nifty abilites she had gotten after becoming mine. A quick look was more than enough to tell me she had gotten quite drunk, swaying around with wobbling steps and a couple of large barrels of wine tossed to her side. I closed in and tapped her flanks to warn her of my presence. She dropped another barrel of wine on the floor and not so silently burped and directed her drunken gaze towards me.

“Aidan! Come here!” I presumed she wanted to present me to her friends but I clearly made a mistake. She, as per usual, kissed me with all the strength she could pull in her body. “Why do you always taste so fucking good?” I felt her paw drift towards my lower body and, though it was certainly pleasurable, I could not put on a show.

“Ehm, Jo? This is not the place for that.” She huffed and pouted but didn’t push her luck, for now.

“So, you two are really mates…” The male looked at me with a gaze that revealed some complex emotion bubbling deep within himself.

“Yes, I’m sorry, you are?”

“Oh, Karassus, her old mate. These are Shia and Nara, her children.” I’m sorry, what? She had kids already? Now, that was new. Johanna blushed and looked away. The two deep violet dragons bowed their heads to me.

“I take she didn’t inform you of us.”

“Well, not really, no.”

“Are you angry, Aidan?” Johanna looked at me with a face full of shame, eyes round like a puppy. Even if I wanted I could not be angry at her for more than a second. She understood this and purred. Wow, she was drunk as hell. “Sorry… It was just weird for me.”

“Mother, could you please don’t, ehm, do that?” Nara spoke, seemingly embarrassed by Johanna’s behaviour. “It’s unbefitting of you.”

“Come on kids, mom has been fighting her whole life, she deserves to unwind.” Karassus swatted her head lightly.

“Dad, we can smell it you know? She has been more than unwinding lately.” Shia smirked at looked at his mother like he didn’t even know her, almost smug and arrogant. “I understand she’s happy but she cannot go around and behave like she’s in heat all year long. That is human stuff, not dragons’.” Johanna’s eyes widened as her son talked about her like some kind of slut. Karassus snarled in anger but stopped at that. They were not my children but I was really inclined to slap their faces, Krissie, on the other hand, was not as calm as me. She walked over to Shia and slapped the shit out of him, slamming his head on the grass, scaring him and everyone around.

“Listen here you ungrateful brat: she’s my mate too, and hell will freeze over before I let you insult her like that. She has given you life and defended your sorry asses for all of it until now. Show some gratitude or I’ll see that you experience some serious pain.” I wasn't sure whether they were more surprised at the idea that Johanna was also bedding a female human or by the fact that said human was grabbing a dragon by his horns and toying with him. Still, Shia looked scared and was quick to make a 180° turn.

“Alright, alright… I’m sorry mother.” He may have not been that sorry but it worked enough for Johanna. Karassus was shocked and a bit scared, as was Nara.

“I’ll be damned. You’re one strong lady.” The jet black dragon stared at her with some manner of nervousness, trying to find a way not to incur in her anger at any time.

“I need to be but thank you.”

“Do you mind if I asked you how did you… ehm, get like this?” Krissie stared at me for a while and then smiled, whispering how in the older dragon’s ears. He stared at me with his jaw open and kept looking at Krissie and Johanna. “Oh, oh, alright, I, ehm, I see…”

“Why? Interested in trying? You don’t have to be the one to be receiving. He likes it both ways.” She smirked, fooling around a bit but the dragon wasn’t really aware of her joke.

“Ehm, well, no thank you, I’m… fine, really. Just curious and happy for the two of you…” He smiled awkwardly and shuffled in his position. Johanna wore a devilish smile and stared at him with hunger.

“Are you sure about that, hon? Are you really sure?” Jo chimed in and made the situation worse for him and I wasn’t going to get between them and the poor dragon, since the idea was not that bad.

“I… I am, don’t worry.”

“As you wish, just know that we are all available, now that the kids are big enough to take care of themselves…”

“I know, I know, I just… like being a dad.” More proud than embarrassed, how rare.

“You can be one again, you know.” Johanna eyed him and then me. Karassus sniffed the air and picked up on the clue. “Just ask.”

“Oh, hells no… no way, no.”

“Dad, what’s wrong?” Luckily for everyone involved, their kids had not paid attention to our conversation, too busy being afraid of Krissie. Karassus smiled weakly and told them to go and have fun on their own.

“Really? You could… lay, if you wanted?”

“Well, I have not yet found a male… willing to do it.”

“Oh, come on Aidan, we know you just don’t want to get knocked up. Stop being so high and mighty and raise your tail some more.” Jo poked me with a claw and I scoffed.

“Sorry for having some standards! I guess I’ll go and find someone on the streets and come back bursting with eggs, are you fine with that?” I was joking but Karassus didn’t seem to get the joke as well as my mates, again.

“Do you really want me to…?”

“Oh, we were just fooling around. I mean, the idea sure is nice but I am in no hurry. If you feel like we could maybe spend some time together though… just ask. I know that you must be a good guy if Jo has chosen you.” He was flattered by my words and was about to say something when we heard the sound of commotion and fighting not far from us.

We rushed over. Karassus in tow, and saw two dragons bickering, both drunk as sponges and yelling at each other. The humans were scared of what might happen and took their distance. The king and Evan came as well, worried that these two could hurt someone. Thomas, in virtue of his new job, marched in front of the two dragons in question. They ignored him and kept arguing.

Thomas was pissed off and grabbed the horns of both, slamming their heads together. The impact knocked some people off their feet and onto the ground. The dragons around were scared of the man but the two that had been hit were not and snarled at him, lashing out and biting his legs. Many humans screamed and ran in fear of the incoming blood… which didn’t come.

Under the eyes of many, Thomas pried the jaws of the dragons from his legs with ease, almost as if nothing had happened, proceeding to smack each one until they fainted, tossing their bodies in a small stream to cool them down. Everyone was shocked beyond belief and still kept their distance from him.

“Thomas… how…? Mere training cannot do that… is there something you have to tell us that you have kept secret?”

“It’s complicated.”

“Try and make it simple then.” The king spoke with a grave tone, clear that whatever Thomas meant with ‘complicated’. He sighed and tore open the pants he had where the legs had been bitten, revealing an intact set of scales. The crowd, be it human or not, gasped as the scales spread over his whole body, muscle growing and hardening, his entire face shifting to a muzzle, tongue elongating and splitting in the middle. In a minute, nothing of his old self was left and in front of the crowd and the two races, stood a perfect amalgamation of human and dragon, well, not as perfect as me of course. His father looked at him with a complex expression, worried and scared, but didn’t insult him or berate at him like he feared he would, merely running a hand on the bronze scales and feeling his strength trying to burst out.

“This is why I thought of keeping it a secret for as long as possible.”

“Why?”

“I… I don’t know, I guess I was scared of your reaction father, this is nothing like you have ever seen after all.”

“Thomas, look behind you… the envoy is basically the same. I know it’s weird and you must have been self-conscious but look at it this way: you and him are now closer in body and mind. Sure, you may not be completely human anymore but… and this pains me a little to say, I don’t care how you look. You are my son and regardless of your mistakes and stupid actions, I still love and support you.”

“Father…”

“It’s fine son, if anything, I think that your job will be easier…” The man, though worried for his son and for his changes, had not let the appearance fool him like the king before him. Maybe I had been something of a vaccine and gave this man a thicker skin when dealing with… extreme shifting in appearance. Thomas reverted to human form and his father put a hand on his shoulder, ‘father going to give a speech’ style. “I know the world is changing, I know you have changed and… I know I have to change as well. This may not be easy and it may as well bring us to something we cannot imagine, but we’ll see only by moving forward. Sure, you may have scales that pop out of nothing, horns and who knows what else, but you are still my son and that won’t change ever, no matter what you look like.”

“I won’t disappoint you like I did before.”

“Oh, Thomas, you have never disappointed me, angry, sad, irritated but never disappointed. I knew you’d come around, you just needed more time.” Thomas shed a tear and wiped it away immediately. I tossed him a new pair of pants as he was now without one and looked at him go with his father, probably to work out some stuff together.

“Now, that was interesting. I never thought he’d be so willing to accept how much Thomas changed in so little time.” Krissie said as the boy disappeared behind a tent.

“Isaac is a man of strength, mostly mental. He made an excellent general, the one that made us win in Arakas decades ago.” Pembroke popped out of nowhere and chimed in the conversation, now holding a mug of beer in hand.

“Arakas? The city that fell to the hands of a thousand men? It was him that did it?” The king nodded and Johanna began to look at the old man in a different way. “No wonder.”

“Ehm, mind explaining to me what exactly happened in Arakas?” I didn’t know of course and Karassus coughed, drawing my attention to himself and then began to speak.

“Let’s say that that man, young and wounded, won over a city from us with little more than one thousand men, dressed in red and covered in blood to make us think they were dead, only to attack when we lowered our guard. In all of our anger we had to give that to whoever came up with that plan, was someone of incredible wit and strength. Since Isaac is that man, it’s no surprise he didn’t break down in anger or anything like that. He must have thought things over and realized that even if he did get angry, he’d lose his son. Sure, he may not be as fine as he claims to be, but I think he really does love his son.” The black dragon had a point, speaking from a father’s point of view, but Pembroke shook his head and made things clear for us.

“I have known him since forever, he may as well have made a cost to benefit chart in his mind and decided it was not worth the energy to berate at Thomas. With his strength, he’ll lead the family to new heights, controlling the law between two races and the security in the capital. I have given the boy that position not only because of the relationship he has with you, Envoy, but also because his father is clever and resourceful, not to mention will do anything to keep his son alive and make the family stronger.” The king cut the chase and revealed the other side of that loving father like it was nothing, baring secrets and thought Isaac would have wanted to stay secret. “Don’t misunderstand why I am telling you this: it’s so that you won’t trust that man unconditionally. He’s shrewd as hell, and with his son so strong and in a favourable position, I am sure he has some plans boiling already.”

“Was that a wise decision then?” I mean, if he knew that his father was such a pain in the ass, why give Thomas such power?

“Who else would have accepted that position? The other nobles? Isaac himself? No, Thomas was the better choice by far. Why do you think I let him stay with you? It wasn’t just punishment. You, Aidan, made me change my mind, me of all people. Getting a boy in the right track would have not been hard for you. How did you do that by the way?”

“It’s a secret…” I couldn’t afford to tell this man the truth, though I was sure that he’d not make too much of a fuss about it. “But I promise that it wasn’t painful, at first.”

“It’s alright, I know plenty already. Although what you didn’t tell me makes me wonder whether if it was him or the dragon that you bed first.”

“I’m sorry… what?” We all looked at him like he was some kind of demon. Was he a peeper or something? I was pretty sure he didn’t use spells to look at us…

“Oh, I know that you must have done something to him, I am not dumb. You took these two as mates and they not only got stronger but got a different look, then Thomas not only comes back with horns and muscle, but also the other one looks different and acts different. So, either you brainwashed them and experimented on their bodies, or you bedded them. It’s as was as easy as adding two and two.” He smirked and stared at me with his aged eyes. “You must become a monster worse than your enemy to win over men like Isaac and keep this kingdom alive against insurmountable odds. This is nothing. By the way, dragon, you should stop staring at Thomas’ buttocks like you want to plunge that tongue of yours inside, I think it makes Isaac uncomfortable.”

As if he had just told us how the weather was, Pembroke walked off and joined some other nobles who were discussing about the man in question. A chill ran through my spine to the tip of my tail, thinking about how this man had calmly understood everything about us, opening our ‘secrets’ like a book without a lock. I thought I was being secretive and careful and yet, despite of everything, he had seen through me.

“I’ll be damned. This was what we were up against all this time? No wonder we were losing. That man’s a monster worse than Kirion.”

“Kirion may as well take lessons from them.”

“I think so too. Well, now that all of our little dirty secrets have been bared and we have not to worry anymore… who wants to get drunk and eat like there’s no tomorrow?” Between me, Krissie, Johanna and Hel, no one refused.

Hours later, we had taken five barrels of wine, snatched from a noble’s tent, lambs and pork and devoured most of that. Johanna was already wasted and Krissie didn’t miss on the opportunity to have some drunken make-out, whereas Hel was brooding over to the side of our camp, set a bit further from the rest of the feast. We had lost the mood to be in the middle of so many people and took some time for ourselves.

Hel sighed, again, and took another sip from the wine barrel, scraping what was left his with his tongue. I went through the remains of the pork and veggies, filling my plate to the brim and then a little over.

“Stop being so sad, Hel. You’re spoiling the fun.”

“I’m sorry. It’s just that I feel weird without Thomas around.”

“It’s been what, a few hours since he went inside the king’s tent and you miss him already? Jeez, why don’t you tell him that you love him already?” Hel didn’t respond and sucked on a bone lying on the ground. “Really?”

“No, I don’t love him. It’s because he’ll be so busy in the future we won’t be able to spend time together. I want to be with him as much as possible.”

“Hel, I know you two are close, but you can’t just stay with him for the rest of your life, find some girl, make her happy. You two will live long enough to fuck around for a good while. Speaking of which…” It may have been the alcohol or the two making out behind us, but Hel seemed awfully excited, a hint of red peeking between his legs.

“Oh, didn’t even notice.”

“Come on, get on you back and I’ll take care of that for you.” Hel purred and complied eagerly, laying on his back, wings folded and legs spread.

After his changes, he was considerably more sensitive and receptive and in certain moments, turning his whole body in one big button to press. I moved two hands to caress his inner thighs and two to his metre long tool member that was already leaking pre in large, tasty droplets. Johanna saw us get moving and hurried over to join in, stepping over Hel’s stomach and taking him in her muzzle, purring softly. I moved a little lower and licked at the bottom ridges, coaxing more pre that she was quick to take in, tasting it.

She collected some and then passed it to me with a kiss, her body shaking as Hel forced her hindlegs open and exchanging the favour he was getting from her. She purred and resumed her task, sucking on the hard member with all her skill, tongue lashing out and massaging those top ridges he had.

Seeing that his most delicious part had been taken, I had to settle with the second best but by far the muskiest, burying my nose right under his tail. Being so close, I could smell Thomas’ seed and scent around him, subtle and almost impossible to perceive unless one went ass far as me. I prodded his hole with my tongue and wandered at the soft edges of it, collecting all the scent and beads of sweat accumulated there during the day. He moaned and shook but didn’t stop licking my mate’s vent with fervour.

Krissie, being the one left out, masturbated by the side, pumping her tail inside and out of her, fluids glistening under the rising moon. She could have tried to find a spot and join us, but she always like to stand by and watch. I returned to my treasure and dug inside, nose buried so close to his ring that I could touch it and smell the pure unadulterated musk permeating his being. Gods, he was a beauty, thrashing and moaning like a female, filling Johanna’s mouth with his pre. Unfortunately for us, he was drunker than he could stand and came sooner than we wanted.

He purred one last time, humping weakly and then fell asleep under Johanna who, after getting some attention back there, was itchy and a bit swollen. I was thinking of waking him up when someone decided to pop in and add some powder to an already explosive mix.

“Ehm, guys? Could I ask you… oh, hells.” Karassus wandered in the camp, head handing low as he followed our scents and stumbled on Krissie pumping herself and his previous mate with her legs spread over another male and me with my muzzle deep into that same male’s ass. “Oh, s-sorry, I-I should go.” He accidentally sniffed the air one more time and sneezed, our combined pheromones taking effect on his already tipsy brain.

“Just in time, hon, I am feeling extremely horny and I really need a large dragon tongue on my vent, this boy passed out. I’d ask Aidan but I think he’ll be busy with something else. Do you mind providing me with yours?” Karassus was way past the stage where he had words to say and Johanna wiggling her hips didn’t help the affected dragon. He followed each sway with his eyes, focused at her dripping vent.

Between his legs, his cock sprang to life, a massive spear that went well over the metre that Hel possessed and thick, dripping with the fluids of his slit. He inched closer, sniffing at the mingling scents and spent seed, member bobbing up and down as he moved. Krissie found something to look forward to and waited for Karassus to begin tending to his old mate’s needs to jumped below him and suckle on the tip, massaging every inch her small hands could afford to. The dragon yelped in surprise and stopped licking to get a look of the human woman taking an increasing portion of cock in her throat.

“Oh, gods, how is this even…”

“Less talking, more licking, dear.” Johanna used her tail to drag his head back where it belonged and moved the passed out Hel to the side. He kept snoring and curled his tail over to his body, sucking on the tip like a hatchling.

At the same time, I dragged her attention to me and let her take my members inside her. It had been a long couple of days since she last took me and it had been driving me wild with need, the fact that she had somehow coaxed Krissie in not giving herself to me made everything much worse.

She locked her head and let me take charge oh, so graciously, in all of her glory, so I began thrusting inside her maw, her tongue coiled itself on my cocks and squished them together.

Behind her, Karassus was erratically servicing her vent, dizzy and distracted by the woman between his legs. In a few minutes, Johanna started sucking harder on me, just as Karassus showed the signs of an impending orgasm, bucking his hips and claws digging in the ground. I relaxed myself and tried to time my own with hers.

She moaned and purred around my members as the dragon desperately dug his tongue inside her, hips slamming themselves right in Krissie’s face, slit pushed up on her and came directly in her stomach. She seemed to be revelling in the novel feeling of being filled from inside rather than the usual stream down her throat. Johanna had managed to come with him and hurried me to finish as well with a pleading look, mouth hungering for my seed. I gave her what she needed, filling her maw up with pump after pump of seed and the old pre. Two days had taken their toll on me and I didn’t stop coming until her cheeks were bloating with fluids.

I stepped back and fell on my ass, exhausted while she sloshed around her tongue and gulped the contents of her mouth in one big lewd gulp. Karassus had also finished expanding Krissie’s belly beyond her pregnancy and slumped to his side, tongue lolling out in the bliss after a good rut.

“Oh, stars, this was the best fuck I had in years.” He managed to utter between breaths, moving his large frame to a more comfortable position. “I cannot believe this woman took me in full.”

“Perks of being Aidan’s mate. I bet I could take you with my other hole, but I won’t risk hurting the babies for a few minutes of pleasure.” Krissie smiled, proud of herself.

“Alright, alright, I get it. Though I never meant for this to happen, I found it surprisingly kinky. We never tried anything so bold back then eh, Johanna? Only good fashioned mating.”

“Yeah, I always loved how you filled me till it hurt. Too bad I chose to fight over a life of happiness and hatchlings.”

“I never resented you for that, although the kids are not that happy. They were always scared you’d die.” Johanna felt guilty at the thought. She had been a working mother for all her children’s lives and lost most of their childhood. “They know that you had to, but they are still young and don’t understand how to tell you that well. Shia may have come across as rude and bad mouthed, but he’s a good boy, earnest. He wanted to fight with you and I am happy that that will never come to be.”

“They must be of age now, Karassus, won’t you let them leave their home at this point?”

“Yeah, it was this that I wanted to come to talk to you.”

“Do you want us to take them in? Let them live with us?” The dragon blushed and smiled awkwardly. So, he had something else in mind…

“No, I was more on the line of asking you to, well, let me live with you.”

Two shabbily dressed figures, a man and a woman, stood behind a stack of crates and stared at the group of oddballs that was Aidan and the other, putting a special amount of interest and attention to Krissie. They seemed to loather her appearance but their smiles told more about their intentions.

“What should we do with her? She has run from her home and gave up on our son-in-law for that thing over there.”

“It’s better this way: what could have Colin given us that the Envoy couldn’t? Imagine what we’ll be able to do now that she had bedded that thing! Money and power won’t be an issue, lords will come begging for us to talk to them and let them meet the Envoy! Oh, blessed be the day that wench escaped from home!”

“Edward, you are a genius! I didn’t think of that!”

“Of course you didn’t, Monika. It was my idea to sell her to those guys months ago because you had to go and gamble everything away.” The man scoffed and the woman flipped a finger at him. For a married couple they had the responsibility and moral standing of a wet sponge in a piss bucket.

“Should we go and ask her to let us talk with the Envoy? We are her parents after all.”

“No way you two pieces of crap are getting anywhere near her.” The two snapped their heads at the voice that popped out from behind them. Colin looked at the two with contempt and hate.

“Colin, dear son, how have you been? We were worried about you!” The woman put on a blatantly fake face and tried to hug him.

“Do not touch me, you bitch. Hell will freeze twice over before you put those hands on me, especially after last time when you stole my watch.” He scoffed and Edward remembered the event, glaring at his wife. “I’ll tell you this one thing, for your own sake Monika: leave her alone. She’s had a rough life with you as parents and you won’t use her as a stepping stone for your hunger for power. She’s happy now, and I’ll make sure that nothing will happen to her.” Edward pulled a knife from his coat, pointing it at Colin, who raised an eyebrow. The man lunged and tried to stab him, but Colin, being the son of a wealthy family, had taken lessons from a knight before and grabbed the hand that was holding the knife and broke the arm with a knee strike. Edward screamed in pain and clutched his useless arm. “Now, you have two choices: one, I call the guards and have you arrested and two: you disappear from existence and never let me or my ex-wife see you again.” The two looked worried when he said that he was not married anymore. “Oh, right, I almost forgot. I have just received from the king a divorce permit, which means that your debt is now open again. The pact was that either she gave me a child, in which case it would be extinguished, or didn’t run or disobey the family until she did give birth, right? I had a hard time convincing father not to go after her or you immediately after she left since I understood why she did that. Luckily for you, he agreed to let me go after her. Now that I am not married anymore and that she not only ran and got pregnant with another man’s child, no… eggs, but also refused to come back, your debt is, again, open. Better run now or things will get hard, especially since I heard that you used our family’s money to buy some expensive jewellery that you have lost not long ago.”

Colin smiled as he saw the sorry couple scramble and steal some food for the inevitable trip to the end of the world to escape the debt collectors. He had done his part for his ex-wife one again and was now free. Krissie had promised not to forget about him and his family and Colin’s father had decided to close an eye on his… particular tastes in men. He was not going to complain about him and the stable boy but he still asked of his son to sire an heir to the family business. Maybe Colin was going to go and adopt an orphan down the way but in the meantime, he had seen a particularly drunk and muscular knight chatting loudly over to the sides.