Lori Pathen 2 - Never Disrespect a Griffon
#2 of Lori Pathen
Grion ended the mating flight on the landing ledge outside his mountain cave. After pulling out of his concubine they engaged in some mutual licking, cleaning, petting and kissing. It was a cool spring day down in valley where the city lay. Up here at altitude it was much colder with wind gusts that howled through the peaks of the Skullkill Mountains. The temperature didn't bother either of the rutting beasts.
"Would you like me to come inside?" asked Mika hopefully. She wrapped her leonine tail around the male's leg suggestively.
Grion growled softly and nuzzled the female. "I can't now. Come by later tonight and I should be available. Be here three marks after moonrise. Come hungry for fresh elk." Grion bit the female on the shoulder hard enough to draw blood. She swooned in his talons as he drew her into a tight embrace.
"I'll be here", she whispered into his large pointed ear. Then she bit his cheek and raked his back with her talons leaving large welts.
Grion snarled at her suggestively as he released her from the embrace. Mika returned the snarl and leapt skyward. She climbed over the mountain and disappeared from view. Grion strolled through the force field at the mouth of his cave with a feral grin plastered on his face. He licked the blood from his cheek and reveled in its salty taste.
Mika wanted him as her full time mate. Grion liked things as they were. He enjoyed having many females wanting to mate him, not to mention the males he found just as enjoyable, if incapable of producing offspring. Unlike his father who bread with the opposite sex merely to continue the line and the species, Grion really was not sure which sex he preferred to mate with. He enjoyed both, and interestingly so did most male griffonoids. "Probably his father's tinkering at work", Grion mused.
Grion padded across the bare rock to the part of the cave he called his "living room". It had thick soft furs on the floor that had been tailored into rugs specifically for the purpose. The couches and lounges had been made on the high-tech world of Enterprise, The furniture had been ordered during the final month of his time with the Adventurers Guild. He had purchased the chairs and couches un-upholstered, and specially reinforced. The couches and chairs were covered in mountain elk skins with the fur still on. All were very comfortable and permitted lounging by any manner of creature he would choose to invite to his lair. The tables were of local manufacture, made of hard wood and roughly finished. They were built for tough wear. A magical fire burned in a small pit at the center of the seating area providing both light and heat. The overall effect was one of barbaric luxury.
Grion sat down in the corner of the sectional with his wings draped over the back. He gazed out what should be the sides of the mountain, but instead were large high-vaulted windows sealed only with magic force fields strong enough to keep out the ever present high altitude winds. The Western Range stood out against the cobalt blue sky. The distant Western Sea was barely visible beyond. The golden sun was already approaching the peaks of the Western Range. "Barely a mark till sunset", Grion thought to himself. Not a moment to waste.
"Call Griffon Catering", announced Grion to the seemingly empty room.
"Calling", an anonymous high pitched male voice responded. It was the voice of the imp inside Grion's telestone.
The telestone was one of Grion's inventions he had created to duplicate some of the more useful functions of technology on Enterprise. Rather than pollute his own domain with devices that might or might not function, he had chosen to design his own. The telestone network was local to Lori Pathen, and very secret. If word of it's existence got out the elves and humans would develop their own and the strategic advantage of instant distance communication would be lost.
"Hello, Golden Griffon catering desk", the local imp did a flawless job of reproducing the orc's voice on the other end of the connection.
"This is Lord Grion. I need a full fresh warm elk and a keg of mead delivered by 2 marks past moonrise. Deliver it straight to the Cave of Winds pantry and charge the royal account."
"Yes your majesty. I'll dispatch a hunter at once and send the invoice to the royal accountant."
"Thanks. End call."
"Call ended", the imp announced in his high pitched voice.
"Call Darkmoon", ordered Grion.
"Calling", the imp responded.
"Grion! How are you my friend?" The voice on the telestone sounded husky and a little raspy. Grion guessed he must have caught the chaos mage during one of his random shifts.
"Sorry to bug you with this on short notice. I became aware of a little situation a couple of marks ago that needs immediate attention tonight. Can you and Misty drop by?" Ordering a chaos mage was dangerous and never did much good as far as Grion could tell, but requests were almost always granted with a smile.
"We'd love to", a husky female voice interrupted. It sounded like she was panting. "We haven't seen your cave since you finished it."
Grion smacked his forehead. "Sorry about that. It's been real busy the last few weeks. You two come on over as soon as you can and you can explore the place."
"Ok", a male voice answered directly behind Grion. He leaned back and locked eyes with Darkmoon who had teleported in directly behind him.
Laughter filled Darkmoon's amber eyes. His canine tongue hung out of his black furred face framed by a mane of black hair. A chevron of silver dragon scales graced his chest, and his arms looked like those of a black dragonoid. Even as Grion watched huge draconic claws sprouted from his fingers.
Darkmoon's mate and fellow chaos mage Misty seemed to be going though her own shift as fur and scales fought for domination of her body. She seemed to swell in size as her lupine tail thickened and lengthened into a scaled mass as long as the rest of her body. Scales wrapped her lower body as it grew to draconic proportions. Her upper body inflated slightly but remained lupine in nature. She winked at Grion with amber eyes.
"End call", Darkmoon said in Grion's own voice.
"Call ended", the imp answered. A look of total consternation crossed Grion's face.
Darkmoon broke out in a fit of giggling laughter. "I warned you about that possibility, and don't say I didn't!"
Grion merely growled and shook his head, his leonine mane tickling his chest. "You don't take anything seriously, do you?"
"On the contrary, I take things very seriously, especially security threats I have already brought to your attention. It is royal non-sense and ceremony I don't take seriously....Dude." Darkmoon grinned.
"Touché", Grion responded as he admitted defeat.
Darkmoon's origin was unclear, except for the fact that he was from a technological world. He was not the only Darkmoon Grion had met, a fact which made him wonder about some things. Darkmoon had been sent for magical training at the same time Grion had been sent off to the guild. Rumor had it that Lonewolf, the head of the Adventurer's Guild, and Grion's own father had struck some kind of a deal, but his father would never confirm it.
"I'm going to explore", Misty announced as she lumbered through the room and into the next. An exclamation of "Wow!" was heard in the distance.
Darkmoon vaulted onto the couch and landed in a total pose of relaxation. "I like", he stated as he laid back into the cushions. "Go ahead and tell me what's going on. My mental link with Misty is up, she'll hear everything you say."
Grion explained the events of the day to Darkmoon. A frown crossed Darkmoon's face when he heard what Darus had done.
"Darus dissed you" stated Darkmoon. His eyes seemed to glow with amber fire.
"That's how I take it", agreed Grion.
"That's unacceptable." Darkmoon's voice held no emotions, but his eyes told a different story.
"I want Kithra rescued and transformed so she can be reunited with her mate tonight. I also want a suitable statement made to Darus that we find his behavior unacceptable." Grion fixed Darkmoon with his eyes.
"Do you care what form this statement takes?" inquired Darkmoon.
"You are the professional, I leave it to your discretion." Grion folded his talons.
"Excellent", responded the chaos mage. "I have an idea that I guarantee will get his attention. Misty! Get your tail back here! We have urgent work to do!"
-*-
Ten leagues to the North-East of Lori Pathen City lay a non-descript stone shack backed up to a hillside. It looked for all the world like an old hunter's cabin in very indifferent repair. By all appearances it was lived in, and scruffy creatures were occasionally seen coming and going.
Before the cabin lay a pile of the finest sand in the kingdom. It had arrived in early evening carried in military wagons and had been hurriedly dumped by orcs in military uniforms. That the orcs were ordered to do this made no sense to them, but Lord Grion seldom gave unimportant or foolish orders. The lord's orders were obeyed without question.
The cabin was a false front. When pressed in a certain way the crumbling stone hearth slid aside to reveal a passage back into the hillside. The hill was highly secret as within it lay the living quarters and laboratory of Darkmoon and Misty. Few knew what Darkmoon and Misty really were, and even fewer realized that Grion's half-brother Heya was also a chaos mage.
Under the hill in the hall of the black mirror lay Darkmoon and Misty. Their bodies writhed and changed as they performed amazing and unusual sexual acts. Some of them requiring body parts rarely seen on any species. The lover's bodies ebbed and flowed as they panted, roared, and thrust into each other. They were raising energy for the magic that was to come.
At 5 marks past moonrise Darkmoon pulled out of his mate. They grew quiet as they focused their concentration on the black mirror that comprised the western wall of the room. Flashes and pulses started to warp it's smoky surface. Gradually the fog cleared to reveal a nighttime sky some hundred feet off the ground. The room accelerated and swooped towards the North-East many hundreds of leagues. Mountains, valleys, forests, and rivers flew under Darkmoon and Misty as they sat before the mirror.
Finally a gleaming palace of white with beautiful spires came into view. It was the palace of the elven kingdom.
The guards noticed not as a patch of darker blackness flew overhead in the night sky. The wards designed to defend against conventional magic did not recognize the threat that even now penetrated their defenses.
Darkmoon smiled a feral grin. He had located his target in the East tower on the third level. He zoomed in close, the mirror penetrating the castle wall.
In her room sleeping lay Kithra. As on previous nights her sleep was troubled. She was under no illusions that her husband's mission would succeed. They were both under an effective death sentence. It was only a matter of time before the end would come. She tossed and turned in fitful sleep.
While Darkmoon held the room steady Misty cast a sleep spell to prevent Kithra from waking. Her arms shifted and morphed into long tentacles that reached through the mirror and removed the sleeper from her bed into the hall under the hill
Darkmoon relaxed his grip and allowed the mirror to slide backwards out of the castle wall. He reached through the mirror with a paw and examined the stone. The walls were composed of blocks magically carved from solid granite and placed by rock elementals. It was beautiful workmanship, all of it sheathed in magical wards that were of absolutely no concern. The wards would not even be disturbed by what was about to happen.
Darkmoon surveyed the layout and determined that the tower falling due west would land squarely on the main part of the keep. It should have a good chance of waking his nibs from his royal slumber on impact, assuming it didn't kill him outright.
Darkmoon positioned the mirror to the north of the tower. He reached out with his mind and identified nine adjacent blocks of the right mass on the lower portion of the tower's west side. His mind split and reached for the sand pile outside the cabin. Once he had contact with both, he forced them to substitute for each other. There was a flash, and things got interesting.
The nine stone blocks arrived outside the cabin a few inches off the ground. They landed with a sharp crack followed by a dull thuds as they tumbled to the soft earth.
The East tower of the mighty elven castle crumbled due west as first the sand rained down upon the blocks and roofs below, followed by the mass of the upper part of the now unsupported tower. It looked like a giant hand had ripped it off and swung it at the rest of the building like a great stone mace. The solid warded stone blocks crashed into the solid warded stone roofs and spires with a deafening roar followed by thunderous crashes. Clouds of smoke and dust rose from the stricken castle as a grinning Darkmoon willed the portal closed. The mirror resumed it's normal void like quality. The singularity vanished from the sky above the stricken palace, unnoticed in all the chaos.
-*-
Misty lay the sleeping Kithra down upon the dragon size bed in the living quarters while her mate was dealing with the messaging. Once Kithra was positioned comfortably, Misty went to the lab to grind a preparation of chaos mushroom powder.
The mushrooms were originally discovered by Lord Chaotic growing on another world. There they were ordinary in size an appearance. Once they were planted in Lori Pathen, they reacted with the world's natural magic and grew to incredible size. Their cultivation chamber lay deep under the hill where the mushrooms grew to heights of 20 and 30 feet.
Darkmoon and Misty regularly consumed large quantities of them in order to work chaos magic. It was one reason why their bodies were in an almost constant state of transformation.
Misty ground the mushroom flesh into a soft powder and mixed it with water. She returned to Kithra and used chaos magic to insert the mixture directly into the sleeping elf's stomach. She then removed the elf's nightgown and waited for the mixture to take effect.
Misty concentrated, forcing her own body to become griffonoid. Tentacles were re-absorbed. Scales vanished as feathers took their place. Her features became leonine as her tail shrank. She looked at her talons and nodded with satisfaction, it always helped to be the same form as the transformation you were guiding.
Misty massaged the female elf with her talons. Her body flowed like putty in Misty's claws. A mental link opened between them. Misty activated the chaos to change Kithra in mind and body.
As her body flowed, Kithra's dreams changed. She went from a prisoner awaiting execution to winged beast reveling in her mate and the freedom of the skies. Her self-image changed as she saw herself as a predator, a terror of skies and forest. Her mate was strong, free, and virile. No one could cage them. In her dream she shrieked her dominance to the skies. Thoughts and instincts flowed into Kithra, her memories were not over-written, but it was as if she had lead two lives. The memories of Kithra the griffoness were now in the front of her mind.
Misty withdrew from Kithra's mind satisfied with the changes. Physically she was beautiful. "That male of hers better be happy", Misty thought to herself as she lifted Kithra from her bed, and teleported them both to the cave where Adonu was still sleeping off the effects of his transformation. Misty smiled as the male was a handsome specimen.
Adonu lay on a pile of furs, his wings sprawled atop him. Misty lifted him with a surprising lack of effort and slid Kithra under his wings. She positioned them in each other's talons and quietly leapt from the cave into the sky. She decided it was a beautiful night for a flight as she flew silently through the night back across the kingdom.
-*-
Adonu awoke a tangle of limbs. Everything seemed strange. Where was he? At first his vision was blurry, and he felt like he had a massive hangover. What a strange dream, naked in a bar.
"Hello my mate", a very familiar voice said.
"Kithra...." Suddenly Adonu was fully awake. He recognized the face of the sexy female laying under him. Her scent...it was amazing. She pulled his wing over herself and smiled at Adonu with gleaming fangs. His wing??
Kithra saw his apparent confusion in her mate and laughed. Then she bit him and rolled on her back.
The bite triggered Adonu's bestial sex drive. Before he knew what he was doing his large barbed cock was thrusting into his very willing mate. Kithra snarled and growled in ecstasy. They mated for hours then devoured the fresh meat that had been left for them. Sharp teeth and talons ripped at flesh stripping the bones of the elk carcass clean in very short order.
Finally they lay on the sleeping furs looking into each other's amber eyes.
"I remember this king Darus", Kithra said. "He had me prisoner?" Kithra had considerable confusion in her eyes.
"Don't worry about him. That was in another life. We are free of him. We are creatures of the skies and forest that can't be caged." Adonu bit his mate and she swooned in his talons.