FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 10.

Miles looked up as Aspenall entered the dining room for breakfast, "Sleep well?"

"I did...But where are Dante and Rena?" the otter asked.

"Not surfaced yet...They had a quieter night...or should I say a shorter one. They may just be taking advantage of the castle's security." Miles replied, shrugging his wings.

Aspenall glanced down the hallway at the stairs, "No...something must be wrong. Rena has too much to do, and you know people of her profession...They do not oversleep. I feel I am still bound though, so they must be still alive. Can a borrow a couple of guards?"

"How about borrowing me? I still think we will find them asleep. She is no longer a maiden if my hearing did not betray me last evening. And that can take some recovering from, especially with a consort his size," Miles chuckled.

"From seeing his...hidden asset on the night of the attack, it is a miracle she isn't dead! They could be unconscious though from an attack we didn't hear," Aspenall pointed out, his face slightly flushed.

"Better check then...though it couldn't be a magical attack. The castle mages would have detected that. You can go in first though. Wake an assassin from a deep sleep, and you may end up with a flying blade before their eyes register!" Miles joked, signalling with his beak for two of the dining room guards to accompany them, Aspenall nodding as they fell in behind.

Aspenall chuckled, "We will knock first then, I think!" he replied as they climbed the stairs.

~~~~

After several attempts, including using the pommel of Aspenall's dagger to knock resulted in no answer; Miles reached into his pouch and produced one of the castle master keys, turning it quietly in the huge lock on the suite's door, before gesturing for Aspenall to enter.

The otter stuck his head around the door cautiously, ready in an instant to drop and roll...but instead just stepped inside rapidly, letting the door swing open so Miles and the two guards could see what lay on the bed. There was a strong smell of dry blood in the air, and from the carmine stain that was spread upon the sheets around the two somnolent occupants of the bed, no small amount of the precious fluid had been shed.

Aspenall was just about to rush over when Miles's paw landed heavily on his shoulder, "Wait mentor...It is not only blood and sex this chamber stinks of...There is magic in here, the air crackles with it!" The gryphon turned to the guards, "Fetch Ammy and one of the healers... Now!"

"Yes' Sir!" the guards both saluted and ran off down the stairs at a jog trot.

It only took a few minutes before there was a clopping of hooves, and a very elegantly dressed unicorn mare ascended the stairs...She wore a low cut, green dress, that skimmed along the stone floors just above her hooves. A huge piece of Amethyst, mounted in a gold filigree setting was cupped between her deep chestnut haired breasts while a stunning, platinum blond mane cascaded from just behind her horn, down her back, merging with the fantastically arched plume of her tail.

"Good morning Ammy, dear. We appear to have a problem that you didn't detect," Miles said, standing to one side while the silent unicorn closed her eyes muttered something under her breath.

They snapped open again almost immediately, "That is not normal magic...Not dangerous magic...in fact, it is like no magic I have ever touched before in my two hundred years."

Aspenall's eyes finally broke away from her breasts, "Two hundred years?" he asked... "And a unicorn? I have only heard rumours of your species before..."

Miles chuckled, "Ammy, meet Aspenall...my mentor. Aspenall, meet Ammy."

"Charmed...if you will drag your eyes away from my breasts. So you are the old codger who rescued this ball of feathers?" Ammy asked, making a quick gesture in the air, before stepping past them both and walking towards the bed.

"That I am..." Aspenall answered.

"You did Gilensia a good service then...he has been a good Lord to serve next to, and will no doubt be so again. As for my age and species...Being creatures of magic, we live longer than the furs around us, but not as long as the dragons. My species is not rare...but like the dragons, we were subject to purges, and chose mainly to leave society. My magic was not considered strong enough for the herd, and therefore as my foals were likely to also suffer the same weakness, I was exiled to the fur society. I am one of the strongest Mages in this kingdom and have been serving Gilensia's affairs for around 150 years, but am still no more than apprentice to the dragon and fellow 'corn magic wielders. Does this dragon possess the ability to do magic?" Ammy asked, never stopping her visual examination of Dante and Rena.

"He has not demonstrated more than an ability to channel it while in my presence," Aspenall answered as he and Giles approached.

"Channel it how?" Ammy asked, lifting Rena's tail from where it was hanging limp, as she was still on Dante's belly, the scent of blood and sex overpowering Miles and Aspenall for a second, but not seeming to effect the mare, "No need for a healer...the wound was of the type expected, but has been healed fully."

"They are bound by blood. Rena is the Mage, and Dante leant her his power reserves by merging their bloods when she was casting past her own capacity."

Ammy raised an eye-ridge. "Interesting...not unheard of, but unusual..." She reached out and touched the green bracelet that encircled, Rena's thigh, "NEEEEIIIIGHHH!!!!" she screamed, flying back across the room and smashing into the dressing table.

Miles rushed over to her side, helping her to stand as she brushed her dress off, "You alright?" he asked.

"Ouch!" Ammy replied, staggering back over to Rena and Dante with Miles' help. Two pinpricks of diamond light were still just visible on the green band that had just Mage shocked her...one of them winked, before they both vanished completely again. "Mmm," she mused to herself.

"I don't know if it helps, but only Dante had a green band before...And it was that band that was responsible for resurrecting them both after the blood magic attack," Aspenall ventured, from here he had joined them both.

Ammy glanced at him sharply, and then urged them both to step backwards without a word. She closed her eyes again, this time drawing some power from her amethyst chest piece into her hands, before stretching it out like a blanket of phantasmagorical lace over both Rena and Dante, whispering a stream of words that just tickled the back of the observing otter and gryphon's minds, without them ever actually registering any of them. She gasped, eyes flashing open as her stone flared blindingly, and then shattered, splinters of the purest purple raining down in all directions, some just nicking the flesh between her breasts, as ever last erg of magic was drawn into the lacings. The now dual bracelets added their own light, the glows mixing and producing an almost twister of blackish colour which ghosted in their visions, never quite leaving the impression that it was there for certain, before the whole swirling mass sunk into Rena and Dante's bodies with a clash of silent thunder that shattered every piece of pot or porcelain in the room under its concussion.

Ammy collapsed, head thunking against the rugged floor as Aspenall's head swam. He staggering weakly for a chair as all four legs folded underneath Miles, and he landed in a heap of displaced feathers. Rena gasped suddenly, and Dante groaned, their eyes flickering open slowly together.

"By Accipitridaes! What just happened?" Miles breathed, unable to stand. He glanced across at both the guards and the healer who had appeared while Ammy was working. They were all asleep in in undignified heaps where they had fallen near the door.

Rena blinked slowly, "Oh not again..." she whispered, glancing at the still lightly glowing bracelets.

'Apologiesssss...Your unicorn Mage will recover. We usssssed her assssessssing ssssspell to tap her ressssserve ssssstone in order to replenisssssh and awaken our chargesssss after our sssssplitting lassssst night drained them. It wasssss protected againssssst exsssssesssssive usssssage, and our powersssss pulled in life and magic ressssservesssss from you othersssss. All will be well again in a few marksssss.'

The words filled the minds of every being, conscious or unconscious in the room, but none could determine their source, bar Rena. "The bracelets," she said as Aspenall and Miles looked around disorientated, "They are not what they appear to be, but I am not allowed to reveal exactly what they are. Your Mage there is likely to realise once she awakens," her stomach rumbled loudly, disturbing the peace, "And bugger me, am I hungry?!"

Dante's belly joined hers then, adding to the gastronomic cacophony, the deeper rumbling seeming to vibrate the air, "I think we need to both rebuild our reserves again," he commented, "You will all need to as well Miles. Is it possible to call for service up here, rather than us all tackle the stairs?"

Miles nodded, his head spinning still, as his stomach also added its own notes of protest, "I wish you had pre-warned me that this would happen," he grumbled, "Ammy is going to kill me!"

"I did not know...and trust me," she gestured at her stickily matted thigh where the bracelet now resided, "This is not something I particularly welcome," she winced in pain as the bracelet contracted slightly upon her, "But it is something that could be both beneficial and useful in the continuation of my quest." She finished through gritted teeth, and the pressure was retracted.

Aspenall staggered to his feet, "I will go and call for some food...and some maids. You Ma'am need to clean up before you can present publically," he said, heading for the door, in a zigzagging fashion.

Rena flushed, looking down her own body for the first real time, "He does make a point... you Dante do not exactly make an easy mess to clean up."

Dante chuckled, "I did warn you...but you still insisted," he leaned forward and gently picked her up from where she still lay, belly down on his. She winced a little as her gooey fur stuck to his scales and then pulled free with a tearing noise. He placed her on the floor, her feet a little shaky, before rolling onto all fours again himself, and stepping off the bed, "I shall join you in the bathing room, to perform our toilettes together."

Rena nodded, leaning heavily on him as they walked past the still unable to stand Miles, not bothering to cover up in any way, quite enjoying the way his eyes tracked her naked body across the room, not leaving her until Dante closed the door behind them with his tail.

Miles glanced across at Ammy where she still lay, totally silent bar the faintest of breaths escaping her lungs. He tried to stand again, this time succeeding in gathering his legs under himself with a grunt, heaving himself upright finally, before staggering over to the ruined bed, and grabbing all the pillows off it, scooping them onto the floor into a makeshift nest for himself, and slipping one under the Mage's head, careful not to touch her horn which he knew to be poisonous to all but the corn's themselves while still growing. He then collapsed again, and awaited the arrival of the back-up that Aspenall was somehow finding the energy to summon.

~~~~

The two red faced cheetah maids emerged from the bathing room, giggling to one another as they headed over to strip the ruined sheets from the bed.

"Something I should know about?" Miles asked between bites of a steaming joint that had been brought up rare from the kitchens for him.

The twin cheetahs looked over at him sideways, "I am glad you are the Lord, as I am afraid that to be his consort on occasional nights would be too much," one commented, nodding towards the bathing room, "I admire the Princess' ability...But he don't half stink when the aftermath is allowed to go stale in his belly pouch, sheaths are better!"

Miles chuckled, "Well if you feel like it tonight, you may both tend to me in my chambers. Helena is a little tired out by herself."

"We would be honoured, Sir," the cheetahs replied with curtseys, before bundling all the sticky cotton and silk together in a bundle and hauling it out of the chamber.

The two guards, and the healer were all awake now and propped up against the wall, eating what a stream of porters were bringing up from the kitchens. Aspenall was in the chair by the bed again, but Ammy was still unconscious on the floor where she had fallen. Rena emerged from the bathing room first, a towel now covering her modesty, wrapped toga style so that the odd flash of thigh showed if she turned too quickly. She took a seat on the chaise, tucking her feet up under herself as Dante followed her and crouched on the rug.

"My apologies again, Lord," Rena said, graciously taking an offered tray of meat slices from the polecat offering it to her, rolling them into a heated roll of fresh bread, before biting at it voraciously.

"You cannot apologise for something you could not predict was going to happen. I am sure that you would rather have spent the day in the city, than disabled up here in the suite." Miles replied, with a nod to the porters who had brought up half a roast Ox for Dante.

"Thank you," Dante said, taking the offering, before tearing a leg off and eating it with far less decorum, the crunching of bones making even Miles wince a little.

"Is there anything we can do for her?" Miles asked, tilting his head towards Ammy.

Rena shook her head, "Mage shock...all her power is gone, just like ours was. She will need a few days to recharge and recover before she can cast magic again, and a new focus stone. We will buy her that, it is the least we can do."

Dante nodded, standing and walking over to the still form of the Unicorn, "I have never seen one before, but despite not knowing who I am, or where I come from, my memories from the egg tell me great stories of the times when the 'Corn's graced and tended the grassy plains, while we ruled the air with you Gryphons...Memories that are ten millennia or more old, from before the days of the furs." He held his paw-hand out, palm down over her head.

"Don't!" Miles screamed, but it was too late.

Dante dropped the centre of his palm down onto the tip of Ammy's horn, hissing slightly in pain as there was a flushing glow of light. Blood began to run freely, channelled by the spirals in the keratin until it contacted her forelock, not staining it, but instead seeming to vanish into her skull without displacing a hair. Lifting his hand again gently, he breathed upon it, healing the puncture mark, before going over and starting to eat again.

"Do not worry Miles...We dragons are immune to the magic that 'Corns use to kill with. I have just given back some of the gift that she gave us," Dante explained between mouthfuls.

Ammy sighed then, opening her eyes slowly, "I have got the mother of all headaches!" she grumbled, as Miles abandoned his position in the cushions and helped her to sit up. She gracefully reached for the salver of salad she was presented with, chewing on a few leaves as she felt her horn with her free hand, noting the blood on her fingers and staring at Dante, "So you can do it then?" she queried.

"Share power by blood, yes. But only with another Mage," Dante replied.

"Thank you," Ammy replied, tilting her horn to him.

"No need...you were drained in your aiding of us. This green bracelet is a fucking nuisance at times, not delineating between friend and foe..." Dante started.

"Bracelets now love..." Rena pointed out, "Or have your hearing and eyes been registering, but not noting the fact that yours is now thinner, and my thigh has a new guest?"

"I had been trying to ignore that point until we had privacy...I am not sure I want to know what that means," Dante replied quietly.

"I can guess," Ammy said around a bite of a whole cucumber. All the males were trying to avert their eyes as she slipped half the length of the vegetable into her mouth, before biting it clean off and chewing.

"Go on..." Dante prompted, "I know so little about myself because of the memory losses of my life so far..."

Ammy swallowed, sending her tongue out to seek the errant juices that were beaded on her velvety lips, "You Dante are an unmated clan leader, or at least you were. Which one, I do not know..."

"Draconis..." Rena interrupted quietly.

"Say what?" Ammy queried.

"He is a member of the Draconis clan according to the bracelets."

"Shit...You are the head of the Draconis clan? The dragons may have stopped consorting and mixing with us unicorns way before I was a glint in my parent's eyes...but my histories as a filly spoke of the missing, and presumed dead Draconis brothers. You were hidden by your parents, and thought dead when they were killed over four hundred years ago...But that is bye the bye now...What you wore alone, and you both now wear, are demi-sibs. Magic beings that pre-date the histories and clan memories...although both the main dragon clans and the old unicorn herd leaders wear them. They were created...well we do not know when they were created exactly, but it was at least ten to fifteen millennia ago, maybe even longer ago than that...Nor do we know how or who first forged them from the Mage energies. We know they are alive, in a sense...or at least sentient. We know what they do as well, but not what they are capable of..." She placed the rest of the cucumber in her mouth and chewed thoughtfully for a few moments.

"Life preservation from attack, injury or disease is their primary function...They can do nothing for age. Limitations are being severed from the one they protect before they can heal, and brain death...In other words, decapitation. If either occur, they will detach and slither across to the next in the bloodline, wherever they may be, as long as they are male...If a clan has no male bloodline left, they dissipate. In the wars, or case of feud, it was known for the enemies of clans to start at the bottom of a line and destroy every unprotected male member of a bloodline until only their leader remained...and thus an old clan died. They can wield magic when needs be...as we all found out this morning, but only in a defensive fashion in order to serve their wards. As for the memory loss issue that you Dante are suffering, I have no idea. That is contrary to their normal function, and self-defeating." Ammy finished.

"They have been corrupted by a geis." Rena stated.

"That should be impossible," Ammy replied.

"The female sib told me this as she bound herself to me last night. The one we seek, Kalaw... who is Dante's nest-mate, placed it...but it will be gone upon his death like all spells cast," Rena explained.

"What does the geis do?" Dante asked, "I do not know myself for the obvious reason."

"She did not tell me...though through the sib's link, your short term memories will no longer be wiped every-time they are activated, be that through injury or..." she flushed for a second.

"Intercourse?" Ammy completed for her.

"Yes," Rena whispered back, "I think it has something to do with his heart-rate from observing it happen up close and personally, so to speak."

Ammy nodded, "What I cannot understand is why you are now wearing the female sib...they bind only to the Mate of the clan leader, for the purposes of assuring life long enough for reproduction. That I am sure is impossible between the two of you..."

"It is...and I am a temporary ward. I was told that firmly of that. She is on me now only because if I die while we are blood bound, Dante will too...And it is easier to protect me this way. I must share him if a suitable dragoness comes on the scene before our binding is over, or she will kill me as soon as our binding expires."

Dante looked down at her shocked, "Then I should tear this thing off me now!" he declared.

"DON'T!" Ammy shouted, as he reached for his bracelet.

"Why not?" Dante asked, "I want only her, for as long as she lives. That much I have decided now, unless she comes to her senses and breaks the relationship up."

Rena flushed at that comment, a warm feeling spreading through her body.

"Because if you do, you will both die. Suicide is not a singular option when wearing demi-sibs...You could bite your own hand off to sever the connection, but the backlash will kill the Princess as well. It is written of in the histories of Unicorn leaders' suiciding, and their consort/mate dropping dead at the same time. You are stuck with it until the demi-sib leaves of its own free will...which will not happen until you breed with a dragoness, and that dragoness lays a male egg, from what the Princess just said."

Dante looked down at Rena, "Your thoughts on this?" he asked her.

"I was not given a choice as I mentioned before. I dislike the conditions, and I would have never accepted the sib's presence voluntarily..." she winced again, "Stop doing that!" she screeched as it contracted around her thigh.

_"Then acsssssept usssss..."_hissed in her mind.

"I had no fucking choice! Give that choice next time you magical bitch! I am too free spirited to be shackled by a magic that I do not understand!" Rena shouted, "Get out of my mind!"

"Hssss ss sss ss sssss,"_chuckled in her consciousness, _"No...Next time, don't ssssshag and then ensssssare the heart of an unmated sssssib-bearer..."

"So I am being punished now? For having a soul?" Rena questioned.

"We would call it a benefit, not a punisssssment...asssssasssssin. Maybe we will dissssscover if you have a sssssoul worth sssssaving while my sssssissssster callsssss your thigh home..."

Rena swallowed hard, "I hope so," she whispered, "Not that I cared before this last couple of weeks..."

"I am guessing the demi-sib is talking to you?" Ammy asked.

"Yes, both of them actually," Rena replied.

"I was never spoken to before this morning...in fact I thought they were just a bracelet..." Dante started.

"We ssssspoke to you on many occasssssionsssss, ward...but you alwaysssss forgot. You will not forget new memoriesssss now though, asssss we can ussssse Rena'sssss to ressssstore yoursssss. We cannot give you your old memoriesssss back though, until the geisssss isssss lifted."

Dante nodded, "Then we had better complete this quest as soon as it is feasibly possible."

"True...And then you mussssst produssssse a male offssssspring...or we will die with you..."

"Ha!" Rena exclaimed, "I knew there was something else to this! You do not want to die, do you?"

There was nothing but silence in response, before a twinge of magic power caused her thigh muscle to contract slightly, "Would you?" came the unanswerable question back.

"Let us get Kalaw out of the way first," Dante said after a few minutes silence.

Rena nodded, glancing towards the window in order to gauge the time roughly, "We have lost most of today already, so will have to stay on longer than I wanted, unless I drop lucky on the remainder of our requirements. What luck did you have on your hunting yesterday, Captain?" she asked, turning towards Aspenall.

"I paid the deposits on a full company. Forty strong with good references, some of whom are already mounted...Horse market is at first light tomorrow. They have granted discount in return for keeping the mounts that we purchase in order to return them to full strength. They have been riding double since their last skirmish." Aspenall reported.

"And the other things?" Rena queried with a nod.

"I have more meetings later, so will not be dining with you tonight. And there are several ships who are lying at anchor who sail south with passengers, rather than a full cargo..."

Rena smiled, "Well take the cleanest, and reserve it for sail in two dawns. Make sure the Merc's are ready for then."

"Yes Ma'am," Aspenall replied, standing and testing his balance now his energy had returned a little, "I will get right to it. Do you have the funds?"

Rena stood herself and walked over to the chests, unlocking one and pulling out sufficient coin for his purposes, her eyes flickering towards and meeting Ammy's as the mare's grew wide at the glinting from within, "Treat your lads as well...Let them have a good night on the city, my treat before we go rough again. I am sure that the taverns and brothels will take my coin. We will not be stopping again until this is over."

Aspenall grinned, "Will do Ma'am."

Rena smiled, "Well I will get dressed then and try and salvage some of the daylight. Ammy, if you wish to accompany us, I will postpone my trip to the metal smiths until tomorrow, and instead try and acquire my focus stone today...and replace yours, as the sibs cost you it."

Ammy nodded, "I would not be averse to spending more time in your company, Princess, Dante...And the offer is much appreciated."

"Good...well we will meet you in the front hall in half a mark." Rena stated, heading towards her leather clothes.

"Ahem...will you be dining here tonight?" Miles asked, having remained silent as everyone talked around or over him?

"What? Hmm...Oh...I can't see any reason why not. My apologies for sort of forgetting you were here Lord," Rena said, flushing a little.

Miles gryph-grinned, "To be honest, I stayed silent as it was all so far above me, I might as well have been ground-bound. I do not know the histories...I must have been kidnapped to young. We gryphons are not inimically magical creatures like the dragons, unicorns, elven, and dryads...so we have no blood memories, or longer lifespans than normal furs. We learn after we have been born the normal way."

"You detected the old magic before we entered the suite," Aspenall pointed out.

"Ah...but that is because I have enough training to do party tricks. Nothing like the gift needed to actually work any impressive spells, but enough to know when spells have been worked before me," Miles pointed out.

Aspenall nodded, his eyes drawn to Rena as she dropped her towel and brushed out her tail without bothering to cover up, "Ahem," he cleared his throat, "Well that explains it...but I will be heading off now..."

Rena grinned, "When I said treat the men...You were included, Captain. When your business is complete of course..."

Aspenall nodded, "I am sure that I can come up with a suitable gift to myself..."

"Try the seamstress I was talking to yesterday...I am sure that Flaughten can give you the address, and a bit of copper for her boss will gain you her after work location, I am sure. That is if you think you are capable of handling a lithe young sea otter?" Rena suggested.

Aspenall swallowed hard, "I will consider it..."

"Do so...If she is the otter I think Rena is talking about, you will not regret it. One of the best and most flexible cock pockets to have graced my room..." Miles interjected.

"So uncouth Lord," Ammy commented, "If you are going to start talking whoring, I am leaving. You wonder why I have never accepted your invite..." She stood and walked out of the suite in a huff.

Rena chuckled, "We were laying it on a little thick, weren't we?"

Aspenall nodded, along with Dante, "I do not think a Lady like her, is used to a Lady like you...Or at least one like you in your position," Aspenall commented, staring at her.

Rena shrugged, "I will just have to watch my mouth then. I cannot help that I have been hardened by my role in life, my profession, and the road. If you don't talk like the ones you are forced to mix with, you quickly get shunned." She stepped into a pair of panties, before belting her pleated skirt on, "Now shoo...The men will be laid tonight, the Lord will be laid tonight...And I know that I and Dante will be laid again tonight. So make sure you are as well!"

Aspenall just shook his head with a grin, "You are irrepressible," he remarked, before turning and leaving the room.

Miles just let his eyes caress her as she put the final touches to her outfit, observing as both the concealed, and visible weapons were slid into their respective positions... "I know about Polomavit," he announced after a few seconds, "And I know you are no Princess. Learn quickly to hide your commonness Rena...I did. I don't care by the way, so lift your paw from that hilt 'Princess.' I like you...you are a breath of fresh air to the stuffiness of the power circles I dance in, and sometimes, not very often, I wish I had stayed in the guard so I could come across people like you more often, even if it was only to exchange last words as I order the trap to be dropped from under their feet... Sail out of my port on the ship, though I know full well you will be jumping it a few hundred leagues down the coast and heading back inland. Complete your quest...and then settle. Maybe you will become the Princess you are posing as. Juliperiowunus across the border is struggling. The royals there are out money, their castles are in disrepair, and their people despondent. They are not worth the hassle of invading, as they have nothing anyone wants, not even a pass through the mountains they back onto for a trade route, since Liominus peak collapsed and filled it. With what you have in those chests alone, even without changing anymore, you could buy the throne and lands, and make them your own together... And I have a suspicion that that is only the tiniest portion of your horde...Dante."

Rena and Dante just stared at him in disbelief, "Why?" Dante asked after a few seconds, Rena unable to form an answer.

Miles just shrugged his shoulders with a feather fluff, and started walking towards the suite's door, "For you Rena, retirement, and the right to live your life as you wish with Dante. For you Dante...Well, would it not be a perfect way to say build bridges again with the furs...if you were to aid in the resurrection of an ailing fur kingdom? You already have your Guard leader...if you all survive. Just a thought like...And if you are a powerful Mage, it wouldn't be too difficult to open the pass again or a new cutting through those mountains, therefore saving around eight months off the trading routes... Juliperiowunus would become a whole lot more interesting and important again I think...And the Luperlines from up North would probably send a couple of their superfluous, younger Princes down to court you for the position of the token King..." He turned and left them then, without another word.

Rena looked across at Dante, before walking over and placing her paw on his front shoulder, "Do you ever get the feeling that our lives are maybe not our own anymore?" she asked.

Dante looked down at her, "It is a rather disturbing thought, but he has made some reasonable points. I would hate to hear of your death, if you left me for your old life and the guard caught up with you...Not after what we have shared. It would give you a certain amount of immunity...to be a Queen."

Rena just stood there and mused for a time, "I think...I think that we must make the decision when Kalaw lies breathless at our feet." With that she walked out of the room, Dante following in her wake.

~~~~

The last light faded from the Western horizon, as the full moon's glow finally won, the wavelets lapping against the upmarket Inn on the virtually still harbour, changing from shades of orange to silver...Only the calls from the stevedores humping cargo from the late arrival vessels broke through the low murmurs of the more distinguished patrons behind the glass framed doors of the establishment disturbed Rena, Dante and Ammy as they finished off a chocolate pastry confection, that Rena swore should have only graced the table of a royal castle, and yet Ammy declared was only passable.

A single, flawless piece of Amethyst, larger by a third than the one it was replacing, fought for position in the unicorn's bodice as the apricot silk she had chosen to wear, slowly lost it's battle against the shifting chestnut mounds that it was endeavouring to contain. Tucked underneath the leather jerkin, and not fighting the far less impressive constraints, a carefully crafted teardrop of Amber nearly ten inches long, and three thick, hung on a triple weave, gold and palladium, serpent scale chain on Rena's breastbone. The shopping had been successful, and the company polite throughout the fading afternoon, and so a meal away from the confines of the castle had been decided upon. Dante had of course been politely asked not to dine inside, and so a table normally used for six had been hastily moved and set outside on the decked front that was normally used from dancing, smoking and smooching, those evening's activities being confined to the sides of the building, for at least the time the unusual diners occupied it. Ammy had persuaded Rena to split a few of bottles of wine between them, while the landlord had parted with a full tunn of a Southern import for Dante, at least he had been when the platinum coin had crossed his palm. As the last silver spoon dropped into the fine china dishes of the dessert, the unicorn sighed and leaned back into her chair.

"I am guessing that you enjoyed that?" Dante asked.

Ammy giggled, "Not eaten out like that in over fifty years. Being head Mage for the castle does not exactly invite polite company very often."

Rena giggled too, "I can see that being an issue...after all, looking like someone who is as likely to murder you, as hold conversation with you has not exactly trained my dinner habits either."

Ammy nodded, "But we get on...yes?"

"I would say that we do," Rena noted, "Why do you ask?"

The unicorn leaned forward suddenly, "You are walking with a limp...you have been trying to hide it, but despite the demi-sib's healing, I would place this focus stone on the fact that you are very sore where it counts still...and that you will not be taking your Mate to bed tonight..."

"Now hang on a minute..." Dante started as Rena flushed slightly, her hand closing on a dagger hilt.

"No...And you hold your tongue as well Dante," Ammy grumbled in her chest. "Listen to what I say, and then you can decide if I am to be extra desert."

Dante nodded, watching Rena carefully until she too capitulated.

"Was I right?" Ammy asked.

"Yes," Rena breathed "My intention was to ask for a repeat of our first consummation...by tongue only."

"Thought so...Well I mentioned that I was considered not fit for breeding by the herd and exiled because of it...I also mentioned that I am a magical creature, just like dragons are. Miles is not by the way...Gryphons live no longer than the average fur. Well, I want a foal...And no unicorn stallion will give that to me...and no fur stallion can. However...have you ever heard of a Dralicorn?" Ammy asked pointedly.

"They are a myth that I read of once in my Master's library," Rena answered hesitantly.

Ammy snorted, "They are not a myth...rare yes, but they existed...in fact there were at least three alive still when I was ejected from the herd, but very old," she swallowed the last drops from her glass, "Dragons and unicorns can interbreed, and the result is a Dralicorn... You Princess, will have to accept a polyamourous relationship with whichever dragoness bears Dante's heir...If you choose to stay with him. What I am asking is...lend him to me tonight...I will spell myself into heat, and he will gift me with what I want. You may be with us, and you can have his tongue all you wish at the same time...I only want one part of him."

"What if the offspring is male?" Dante asked, getting a sharp glance from Rena.

"No difference...Dragon is dragon to the sib. Clan succession line will mean nothing if I bear a colt."

Rena was swallowing hard repeatedly, "I do not like this..."

"She has made a reasonable point, and this costs us nothing..." Dante noted.

"Costs you nothing maybe...I am not a whore to be laid aside when a new bit of..." Her rant was cut off as he pulled her fighting to his lips, the tongue she sort tearing her argument from her throat, "If I want you, I am going to have to accept this..." she stated as he broke his hold.

"I fear so. As you said earlier, we do not have complete control over our destinies. Think of this as a favour for a friend if you will..." Dante whispered quietly.

Rena sighed, before turning back to the silent unicorn, "Join us in our suite in one hour...Get your spell right mare, as you will not have him again after tonight." She stood, smoothing her leather down, before spilling more than the adequate coinage into the dessert bowl in front of her, and then turning, stalking off up the hill towards the castle, stiff backed, without another word.

"You sure on this?" Dante asked Ammy, as he stood and began to follow.

The unicorn leant back into her chair again, her eyes half closed, "As sure as any middle aged female who is seeing the last chance of happiness sitting in front of her."

Dante nodded, "Don't be late then..."