The Colony: Rescue?
~ ~ Nine Years Later ~ ~
Illana stepped into the light, squinting as the sun spilled over her scales and illuminated them so that she stood out in the midst of the creatures that spread around her. They weren't her own kind, but the dragoness had come to accept that they weren't ever going to be, not matter what they propositioned her with. She settled down on her haunches with her wings flicking back on her long back, settling them just enough that they were out of the way, but would open swiftly enough when the time came. She could feel the energy making her haunches tremble while two of the scarab-like T'Rool settled above her on the rocks, their elongated pinchers clicking together a few times nervously. The first time she had seen them she had been exhausted, terrified and ready to give into the weight of exhaustion and despair that had rested heavily over her.
She had thought they were there to kill her or capture her, she had been ready for that, ready to be torn apart or hauled away. Instead, one of them had tapped her with elongated feelers, brushing against her in a manner that had sent her skin crawling, but she hadn't moved. She had waited for her brothers, had huddled down and prayed that their familiar wings would come for her, but they had never shown. She had dared to go back to where they had last been, but they were gone. Not even a trace. And she knew then, she knew they had been killed. How could they have survived? They had been pinned down, they would have certainly not made it, or if they had, they would have found a way to find her again. They would have done something. She had been ready to give up, her grief sucking her under, but they had gathered her up and dragged her away.
It had been the T'Rool who had nursed her back to health, bringing her food and water as much as she needed in a cave system that was astounding. Their clicking tongue had invaded her feverish dreams as her body refused to die. Her body had refused to die, it had continued to live, day by day she had gained strength until she was able to stand up on all fours. Then she had been able to walk and hunt, they had helped her, trying to keep her safe as she recovered. And they had been the ones that had finally explained this horrible land, their voices were short and clattering, strange, but their language was close enough that she was able to grasp who they were, what they were. This land no longer welcomed creatures, or rather, they only welcomed females of any given species, those were always welcome. Because they were at war, they had always been at war for as long as their memory went.
They had been forced to find a way to fight to keep their territory, and in doing so they had formed a practice that the Ta'Chak's had originally formed. They had started out as nearly half the size they were now, the beetles barely large enough to hold their land, let alone conquer their enemy, and so they had started to cross breed. Unlike the Ta'Chak, they did not take females against their will, they seduced and promised them lives where they would be protected and honored. That was the offer Illana had been promised, a promise that she would be fed and cared for, adored and honored, if only she would give them the gift of her eggs. If only she would become a part of them. And she had, she had no family, no hope of crossing the border to her home, she had nothing except these strange creatures.
Illana dropped down onto her haunches, feeling the weight of her clutch straining her stomach wide, almost too tight. It would be a large one, she could already feel the individual orbs straining to outline her belly with their growth. She thrummed softly to herself at the thought of laying a fine heavy clutch, her eyes sliding to the scarab that was perched nearby, the male's blue speckled carapace marking him as unique. A general, a warrior, a powerful being and her mate. Or one of them. She had several of them, but Etan was her favorite. He was passionate and caring, the strange two pronged shaft that he mated her with knew how to hit every spot, knew how to find every sensitive part of it while she writhed and pushed back onto him. Even thinking of him made her tail tip lash back and forth, regretting she was gravid and heavy at the moment.
"You are sure that you saw what you say you saw?" She asked softly, lowering her head slightly to one side to watch Etan settle onto his armored belly. "There was a dragon, not a female?"
"No, not like you, terra-rath." Etan answered with her honorific title. Queen, or as close as they had to it, her ability to bear large clutches and her interest in her offspring had earned her that right after three years. One that she valued. "Small, dark, male. Those are my reports before we were driven back."
"Small? Truly small?" Illana lowered her head. No, her brothers would be large by now, larger than she was, at least twice as big. "Then it could not have been one of my brothers."
Etan shifted, lifting his head up so that the bridge of the horn like ridge on his face caught the light. "They would not feed a male well as a female, they wouldn't be valuable enough to waste food on."
She lowered her head down a little bit, her eyes mostly closing as she tried to imagine after all these years, one of her brothers being alive, perhaps not well, but alive. She could save him, bring him back here where he would be safely held in a Colony that honored those that served it. He would be brother to their queen, able to be protected and kept safe from any and all harm. But it wasn't sure, it could be someone else, something else. It could be nothing, and a raid of that magnitude would send out their elite warriors, her own children. Her eyes slid towards the valley floor where there were several of them sunning now, their midnight blue scaling was coated along their broad carapaces, tails and horns visible and so much larger than an unhybridized insect. They hadn't been tested, not yet, she had held them back. To attack would be to possibly lose them in their first real battle.
"Then it could be one of my brothers." She shifted, feeling the weight of her body while staring nervously out across the valley. She hardly dared hope. "I cannot risk everything just because of a vain hope."
"But, if there is another of your kind, another dragon." Etan shifted up, his eyes glittering brightly. "We might be able to have added dragons to our line, would that not be worth the risk? If it is not your brother, than you would be able to have clutches of pure dragons to fill our ranks, females to bear eggs, to increase our ranks."
And if it is my brother, it would still be worth the risk. Illana ground her teeth together lightly, flaring her wings out behind her with a sparkling of her polished scales.
"Then rouse them, we can try to take their females, their slaves. We can give them freedom." She felt a shiver of anticipation and fear growing in her. "It is too soon to overrun them, but we can strike a blow to halt their army's growth. Bring our children up, they need to be whetted with their first battle." Worry flashed through her as she balanced back on her coiled tail, peering out over the valley.
"They are ready, terra-rath." Etan turned and rubbed his chitin filled horn against her shoulder. "I promise, I will lead them myself. We will free this dragon for you, and pray that it is one of your brothers, perhaps both of them."
Illana folded her wings down along the line of her back again, breathing in the warm spring air so that her chest swelled open wide as she tried to throttle down the hope that she had thought dead long long ago.
~ ~ * ~ ~
<Come! Bring us the entertainment!> The clattering call rose up while Galis tried to huddle down flat against the ground, his forelegs splayed open wide. <Taruun, bring us the female!>
Galis barely stirred, his head remained resting to one side so that he wasn't watching the gathering that was going on, he refused too. He had seen far too many of these when there was a victory over the enemy, the hybridized army came together afterwards to feast and celebrate with loud boasts about how many they had killed. They would feast into the night and sometimes get into fights, recreating great battles together as they made the entire Colony view their prowess as warriors. Sometimes there was even bloodshed when they enjoyed too much thick liquor-like honey, growing over bold and no longer paying attention to their limitations. All this he knew and more, he had seen it countless times, though he wasn't sure how long he had lived here.
He was no longer a young drake, just leaving the nest to find his own territory, he was a drake in his prime. Or he should have been, he should have had a powerful muscled body, his wings should have been broad and strong, he should have been boasting a mate of his own and clutches to his name. And he didn't. He remained the same small size that he had been when he arrived here, the thick honey that he had been forced to take every day stunted him, the lack of food had kept him small. He didn't get enough food that he should have had to grow his limbs, he had nothing that was designed to make him strong. He had only briefly enjoyed a steady supply of red meat in his diet when the females had used him as a breeder. In the span of several months he had bred dozens of females time and again, their pleasure at his performance humiliating... But then the first female had laid a clutch of eggs, sterile eggs, and the second and the third. And his worth had plummeted.
A slave to slaves, but also he had become a toy, the amusement to the army of creatures that held him captive. The hybrid males could not breed, it was forbidden, the females couldn't either, but they rarely felt the urge to do anything about it. The males were hormonal and eager, forcibly controlled by the Colony so they could do nothing to satiate themselves unless they found a submissive male. A rarity in their species. Until Galis. In him, they had seen the hope to relieve their needs and pressures, he was a slave, male and easily controllable. He had no say on his destiny and to that end that adored him. He was their toy, their female, and he could do nothing to stop it. And so he remained, curled into a tight ball against the base of the central stage and tried to ignore the chants that began to rise up in the air, calling for him.
<Bring her up! She has been idle far too long!> They chattered together with short clicks. <Come one, little girl, reward your warriors!>
Not again... Galis squeezed his eyes shut, before he felt a sharp leg tip tap right against the line of his spine, the claw tracing downwards over his thin frame.
<Get up, girl.> The creature loomed over him, mocking him with the wrong pronoun as they always did, making him bristle and curl his lips back in a silent snarl. He hated them, he hated all of them. <Do you not hear your mates calling for you?>
<I am sick.> Galis wheezed the words out, his teeth clicking together roughly as he did so, trying to mimic their speech.
<Sick? She says that she's sick!> The warrior clattered out to the rest of the Colony. <Shall one test her illness? See if she is speaking true?>
The dragon jerked his head up at those last words, a tremor running down him at the mere mention of having his illness tested by them. That only meant one thing, he would be given over to one of the Generals who would test him for 'health'. The examination wasn't about seeing if he felt good, it was more about making him profess he was lying in the most painful way possible. The massive creature would draw the dragon into his mouth, suckling and pulling, curling the tongue around him with the threat of swallowing him down whole if he was so sick that he couldn't service the Colony. Sometimes it almost seemed to be preferable, but today he heaved himself up onto all fours and glared at the feasting creatures who clicked their mandibles together with interest. Their gleaming eyes fixated on him as he stepped onto the broad flat surface that was the stage.
There was a ripple through the gathered creatures, a flicker of wings as he stepped into the middle of the stage and turned his eyes to the group. There were no words that spilled from them, they didn't talk about what would happen, they didn't need to. There was just that ripple before one of the soldiers stepped forward with a click of his thick mandibles. It was Rinot, one of the largest of the males that fought in their army. He was patterned after an ant, the bisected body was held up with thick heavy paws, not pointed legs. And there was no carapace on him, only a coating of stiff hard feathers that would never give him the gift of flight. He had come from a mixture bred from a gryphon hen, the hard protective armor was made from the layered feathers. His head was entirely insect like, and his body was as well, he just had a sheen of being part gryphon over it all. He was also one of several top warriors in the Colony, and one of the ones that most often claimed a 'reward'.
<Master Rinot.> Galis clicked the words out in the foreign tongue, the male turning his faceted eyes towards him with a glint of malice. <How may I serve you?>
<On your back.> The creature responded, already Galis could see the feathers that layered the underside of his body parting, revealing the hint of stiff fur that beneath it. <And beg, little female, beg for a warriors seed.>
The drake trembled, a rush running down along the line of his back while he watched the dark stiff black length starting to push outwards from the vent. Galis hunched his head, but dropped down slowly, his hips shivering in response while he watched the girth pushing into the air. The spiked tip was extending out already, the painful barbs bristling around it as it began to slip outwards inch by slow inch, the wetness spilled outwards as the dragon dropped down onto his belly and rolled over slowly. He knew better now, the despair threatened to swallow him as he rolled onto his back. A proud drake in his prime, forced to bare his stomach to one of these beasts, knowing that the shaft that oozing thick precum was going to violate him as if he were a dragon. His eyes squeezed shut while he felt one of the paws scraping right down along his stomach.
The clatter of the beasts rang around him, clicking and chattering with anticipation of the show that would have him writhing beneath the weight of the beast. The paw slid up along the spread of his stomach, the claws pricking against him while the dragon watched as the shaft kept inching out into the light. The ridges stood out, hard and stiff, splaying the vent open with the alien length that throbbed up and down. The next splatter spilled down along the inner thighs, oozing over his scales as the creature hunched over him, purposefully using one of its six legs to pin his tail down out of the way as the glans began to trail up and down. The short jabs sending a wash of disgust through him as the goopy mess ran downwards.
The drake tried to shove his hind legs up to protect himself, his breathing coming out in hot harsh pants before the sharp tip suddenly pushed right up against his vulnerable vent. He felt the oozing spill run down over his pucker, the merciful strokes that were designed to ensure that he wouldn't feel it tearing through him dry. The tip wedged forward as one of the multiple paws moved up and pinned down firmly right against his lower stomach before Rinot gave a slow jab forward, clattering his mandibles together in pleasure. The walls started to peel open, spreading the taut pucker open as it was forced inwards making him snarl out. He curled his lips back, shuddering as the next hot splatter of precum spilled into his passage. His walls contracted down as the first smear of wetness was pushed in deeper, bringing with it a heat, a tingling heat, it poured through him and brought his back up with a ragged cry.
It wasn't pheromones, it was nothing so kind as that, it was some sort of toxin that worked through him and poured into his bowels making the skin tighten and nerves swell. They grew more sensitive as he felt a tremor of need hit him before the hips rocked down a bit more firmly, another few inches sinking inwards. The wetness spilled out around the girth, a lewd squelching noise as the powerful hips pushed against him, forcing his haunches higher in the air. It didn't make him want it, he never wanted it, but it made his body react, forcing his prostate to grow more sensitive as the shaft suddenly pushed right over it. The barbs, which were pressed down flat, stroked lightly while he clutched around the girth and began to suckle around the creature that continued to splay him open.
It forced him to react, there was a rippling of chittering laughter as his cock tip started to push out from his vent, rising upwards along the line of his stomach before another harsh thrust bucked him forward. The hot thick jet was flung deep inside of him, his walls started to squeeze and ripple as inch by inch his walls were opened up wider and wider. The tight ring wrapped about him, feeling each of the ridges popping into him, one at a time. They stroked over that place inside of him, caressing one by one, sending pleasurable rushes down the line of his back as he let out a short hissing whimper as more of his cock slipped free. Pulsing and swelling by the moment, growing heavier as there was a mingling of laughter and mockery spilling around him. They loved to see him put to this point, loved seeing the way that the precum affected him no matter how he fought against it.
Rinot's face loomed over him, the eyes glittering before there was a sudden sharp drive forward that hammered the powerful thorax down between his haunches. The last few ridges popped into his body as the tip drove as deep as it could possibly get within his passage, the oozing precum spilled deeper, making him feel the throbbing of his heart beat building up. Galis squeezed his eyes shut, shaking despite the need that was threatening to boil over, because he knew what was going to happen. He could feel the barbs starting to lift up before the insect dragged his hips backwards, lifting his elongated lower body backwards in a sudden yank that tore the cock back from her passage. The barbs scraped brutally hard, raking through his overly sensitive passage. A high pitched squeal broke forth from his lips as Rinot nearly pulled his cock all the way free before driving forward again.
The ridges slid back through him, pulling and stroking past the ridge of his prostate so Galis gave a humiliated buck upwards against him. It was coating his inner passage, making it feel warm and too tight, it was spilling around the edges as the beast reseated himself with a squelching noise. The drake scrabbled to either side of the haunches, his claws scrabbled against the hard carapace, but didn't even dent the armor. The base spread him open wide, caressing mockingly as the stiffness pulled the overly sensitive walls. The barbs had made him feel raw, but that only added to what the precum did to him, his cock began to roll against his belly as his hips were forced up higher in the air. And then the drag back, the barbs flared open again, raking through him to drive a squeal from his throat, while his tongue flicked out into the air, curling upwards.
<Yes, beg for it...> Rinot yanked harder, almost popping free again before the lunge forward slammed into his body with a lewd clapping sound. <Horny little girl..>
The next thrust forward sent a tremor of pleasure through his body again, but he snapped his jaws shut, he wasn't going to beg. He wasn't going to say anything. The push forced his haunches higher, his strained muscles contracted greedily and started to suckle around the girth. He pulled, despite the fact he could feel the barbs pushed so deep inside of him. The weight of the legs pinned him down, two more caressed lower so that one agile paw curled right up and around his cock. The toes kneaded, squeezing and pulling from base to tip, the drake whimpered out with his head tucked down closer towards his chest. The next drag backwards, barely went back two inches before the hips plunged forward again. The barbs ran through him, caressing, mocking him with pain and pleasure as the paw pumped along his cock.
<You must beg, pretty girl.> The clattering jaws chirped down at him as the thrusts began to work in and out, the syrupy spill of the precum was flung deeper, making the drake's heart start to pound faster and faster.
The barbs were constantly working through him, pulling and stroking, pain and pleasure working together as the ridges pulled out with wet noises before pushing forward again. Galis pushed harder against the body above him as the paw mockingly drew the wet splatters of precum over him time and again. The powerful pumping movements making him jerk upwards as the barbs started to rise up in the air, any clutching of his muscles made it worse. It made him clamp down around the length, digging them in further, but that didn't stop the pleasure. There was no way to escape that need, or the pain, both of them rolling together as he gaped his jaws open with a higher pitched squeal, his entire body writhing in place. His tail cracked against the ground, hitting and sweeping back and forth.
<PLEASE!> He clicked his jaws together, he just wanted it over with, he needed to stop feeling the scraping of the barbs tearing through him. The next hot splatter of precum was pushed in deeper, so deep he knew he'd be roused for the rest of the evening... if he were lucky.
<Good.... Good little girl...> Rinot mocked him, before the forward pair of legs pushed up against his shoulders and the creature reared up, clattering his pleasure before the lower body drove forward with a short powerful thrust.
The vent rubbed up against him, grinding back and forth, the barbs flared open wide as the insect's cock began to throb within his passage. The short powerful jerks that rubbed him nearly raw so deep within his passage, while Galis started to pant in short shallow bursts. He couldn't stop it, his walls began to ripple and pull, swallowing around the length before the hot thick cum erupted into his passage. The ropes were flung deeper and deeper, coating his bowels with each pulse that hit him. He jerked his hips upwards, grinding and shamelessly crying out in the midst of the gathering. The paw that gripped his cock swept over his tip before the pleasure overrode him. He hated himself, was humiliated, angry, but still his hips shuddered as his cum began to erupt out of his cock tip. The weak spurt nothing compared the thick insect semen being pushed ever deeper into his prone body.
<ATTACK!!! ATTACK!!!!!! ATTACK!!! > Screeching voices tore through the Colony, a wailing sound that broke through the festivities and forced Rinot to stop above him in that strange stillness that only insects seemed to be able to manage. <FOURTH AND THIRD GUARD TO THE ENTRANCES!! ATTACK!!!>
Rinot hissed out in anger, a rush of frustrated rage before the thorax yanked backwards and pulled the cock from his body. The barbs tore out of him leaving a trail of heavy cum leaking from his aching abused passage. The drake huddled and twisted around, curling up in himself as the Colony began to rise to the call to arms.
~ ~ * ~ ~
The attack had been fast and brutal, and Galis had only avoided it by virtue of the fact he had fled to the slave quarters the moment the top of the cavern had been breached by the enemy. He had huddled in the midst of the gravid females, well guarded by a line that were devoted to keeping them safe, but that hadn't protected them. Beasts, insects with horns and scales, so large that they had dwarfed them all as they brought down the guards and took the slaves. The females had been first, gathered up in large powerful forelegs and pulled from the safety of the nesting chambers, he had been last, taken by a beast that was smaller, but fearsome with a massive horn curling above the bridge of his face and splattered with sky blue patches. Galis had been gathered up by the creature, huddled and too terrified to struggle, before he was taken into the darkness of the evening sky.
The buzz of the wings rang in his ears as he kept his eyes squeezed shut and resisted the urge to struggle. The clawed legs were hooked against his wings and sides, clinging to him so he was pressed up against the hard underbelly of the creature. They fled the moment they claimed the females, they didn't remain to fight, after the slaves were taken a sound for retreat had been given. It had been a raid, a slave raid, and he had been grabbed by either a mistake or out of spite. He tried to suppress the fear that was boiling low in his belly, it rose upwards, but it was also mingled with a rush of strange elation. He was in the midst of the wind and sky, the feel of it caressing his body brought him memories of when he had been free and fully flighted. Tearing through the sky with his wings spread open wide and the earth running below him. And it was a bitter sensation, one that didn't bring him any peace as the insects lowered themselves towards the ground.
The hum of their wings was everywhere. Most of the females didn't struggle, but their eyes were bright with fear and desperation. They would die. They would all die. They couldn't survive without the nectar they were fed, in a few hours they would start to go into convulsions and then death throes. It was only a matter of time before they were finally truly free of every worry and Galis would join them. He might even be the last, it had been a while since he had been fed the foul stuff, but it hadn't been that long ago. He would linger on, watching the familiar faces die off one by one because these damned insects had to battle one another. He barely stirred as they were finally dropped in the damp grass in the midst of a valley ringed all around by high cliffs and gaping black holes and the underground. He only sank down and watched one of the females make a run for it, a long limbed harpy that tried to leap to the sky, only to have a chittering form block her escape.
"You have been freed, by the gift of our terra-rath!" The blue speckled male spoke up, in a language that wasn't filled with clicks and chitters only, but truly made up words. "You have suffered at the hands Ta'Chak, but you will be honored in the arms of the T'Rool. We have no reason to harm you, and every reason to give you food and comfort, and freedom if you wish it."
"We are dead!" One of the hippogryph's screeched out. "You kill us in your feud! Is that the freedom you want? To see us die instead of live in your enemies hands!"
"Dead?" The creature clacked again. "You are not dead, only if you wish to die at your own hands. The Ta'Chak are brutal creatures poisoning you, but we have captured such in the past, you will live if you will it. In time, perhaps we will be able to cure what they have done, but if not, it is your choice to leave. It grieves-"
"GALIS!" A trumpet, a bugle, a feminine roar ran over the group and interrupted the beetle's speech as wide dark wings flashed overhead and suddenly Galis was scrambling away as a heavy form crashed against him.
He heard his name, for the first time in nearly a decade his name was sung while a scaled form twisted around him. Coils ran around his chest, his stomach, wings spread open to mantle overhead to block him from sight while a draconic head twisted down to push against his small muzzle. The heat of her breath hit him, it billowed out in a wave that filled him with sweet warm scents, half forgotten, while sapphire eyes watched him intently. A face, a face he had had dreams and nightmares about, a haunting moment where he saw his brother's features in that long familiar muzzle, but it was shaken off with that scent. Female. Even in the night, Illana could not be mistaken for a male. Illana. His sister, who he had last seen fleeing for safety, but had never dared hope that she had still lived.
"Illana..." He swallowed, feeling her wings tighten over him, and realized she had grown, where he had remained the same size. She was nearly twice as large as he was, and not simply because of her swollen belly, she had larger wings, her neck and tail were longer. She had not starved as he had, but been fed well and thoroughly.
"Galis.. You live! YOU LIVE!!" The words were triumphant, almost a bugle, but it was picked up with the chatter of the insects around them, the clicking movement that rose up into the air and faded away again.
"Y-you're alive..." Galis felt almost silly saying those words while his sister rubbed her head against him affectionately, her purr vibrating through her body.
"I didn't dare hope.." Her nose pushed against his cheek firmly. "Ejani? Did he make it as well? Did he get out?" Her excitement made her voice quiver as she searched his face with her bright blue eyes, but the sound of their brother's name made him flinch in the memory of that day so long long ago. "He didn't.." She didn't make him answer.
"What happened to you? Y-you were captured too?" He faltered and looked around, the gathering spilled around them with strange scarab like beasts that were watching them with bright faceted eyes.
"No, I was saved. The T'Rool found me when I couldn't fly anymore, they took me in. When I heard that there was another dragon with the others..." She coiled herself around him, tucking him so close against her scaled body that he almost felt as if he were a hatchling again. The warmth of her purr surrounded him, it didn't matter what she had said, he was found. He had her again. Together they would find a way out of this. Together they would find a home in each other.
~ ~ * ~ ~
The dreams Galis might have had of retreating with Illana to peace and safety had been swiftly shattered as their moment of understanding had been interrupted by the T'Rool. And he had a new grasp of what his sister had meant by being saved, the moment she had stood up he had seen her swollen belly. But she hadn't been subservient or afraid, she had been given way as she called for various guards to be set up around the perimeter. Her words carried weight, there was no doubt about that, and the spotted bug that had brought him here had seemed to carry weight as well. They had escorted the captives into the Colony with full fanfare, his eyes had been filled with creatures that were obviously crossbred with his sister. And Illana seemed completely oblivious to his unease, her excitement at finding him was unabated as he had lagged behind her.
"Come here!" Illana swiveled her head back. "You get pride of place, here beside me." She gestured with her muzzle to a spot that would place him between herself and the strange General.
"Illana, please... I really don't think.." He started to protest, even as he obeyed, hating the panic that his captivity instilled in him at the idea of disagreeing. He tucked his head down and drew in a shuddering breath, trying to stay near his sister's side and away from the insects.
"T'ROOL!" Illana bugled the words out in the gathering hall, an oddly pleasant cavern that was filled with polished jewels pressed in the walls. "Today, my children have tasted their first blood and they have fought a hard won battle. One that brings freedom to those punished and enslaved, and one that has returned to us my long lost brother."
"GALIS! BROTHER TO THE QUEEN!" The chattering words rippled across the gathering and made his wings snap down tight to his back.
His sister, the queen, or rather, a queen. The colony was divided up into four different queens, the female insects that reigned did so on various other levels, designed to run different classes within the Hive. She led the hybrids with her mate.. the word made Galis shiver slightly while shifting back and forth on all fours. The gathering was primarily hybrids of all sorts, but the ones that were the largest and most exotic were the ones that obviously had dragon blood in them. They were still so alien, so strange, and his sister regarded them with fond eyes from her perch beside him.
"Ylna, step forward. Your service was not ignored. Many have recounted your bravery and those that were felled in front of you." One of the hybrids stepped forward, but not a draconic one.
Ylna was oddly lovely and graceful looking for an insect. Her body was longer and thinner than the normal squat looking beetles. Her wings were an iridescent green that had under tones of blue beneath them, coupled with a hint of fine scaling along her long legs. Her head was rounded, with a set of elongated pinchers that were polished white. Her eyes weren't faceted, but a set of copper reptilian eyes with slit pupils. She was shorter than the dragon-hybrids, but longer and broader in other ways. At least the equal in size to his sister.
"It was my duty, my privilege." Ylna chittered to Illana. "I am honored, terra-rath, that you would know my name out of so many."
"You will be rewarded." Illana stepped forward with her wings raised up along her back, while Galis took a step backwards. "You are a powerful warrior, one that has fought time and time again and returned with victory. You are in line to your own throne, and should be honored accordingly. One of the greatest moments in a Queen's life is the day that she takes on a primary mate for the first time. Etan has been beside me since my first clutch, he is strong and carries potent seed. Today, you shall be gifted with your first mate, one that will sire many fine clutches upon you. A proud day for a colony when one of our royals takes a mate. Choose from any of my line and they will be the first of many mates."
"Any of your line? Your family?" Ylna clicked her pinchers together a few times thoughtfully, but Illana nodded her head in approval while the strange hybrid seemed to look around the gathered draconic-insects. "I would have an untainted source, I would ask for your brother to become my first mate and father to my clutch."
Galis jerked, his wings twitched against his back at the request, head coming up high in a rush of panic. He didn't want this bug as his mate! He didn't want any of these creatures to mate him, he wanted to go home, grow strong and into the drake he was meant to be, to find one of his own kind to take as his mate. Illana didn't look upset or taken aback, instead, his sister turned her head to look at him fondly.
"He would do well with such a mate, a guide to the T'Rool and a powerful warrior." The dragoness thrummed softly to herself, while Galis gaped at her in outrage. "You are granted him, Ylna, may you treat him as well as Etan has treated me over these long years."
"N-no, Illana! You can't meant t-to just give me away!" He spoke up, stifling his raw panic while the midnight blue dragoness regarded him levelly.
"You are small, brother." Illana spoke softly, just a gentle murmur that likely couldn't be heard over the general clatter of excitement from the gathering. "You need a guardian, someone to care for you, feed you, nurse you to full strength..."
"You-" He started to protest, but a gentle buffet with her wing stopped the words before they could go any further.
"I am mated, you cannot be my mate. You are of the royal blood now, a valuable male, and you deserve to be protected." Illana murmured softly and brushed her muzzle right along the edge of his neck. "This is for the best, the T'Rool are a good and honorable species, but they will compete for you. They will fight one another to have one of the royal blood as their mate, and now you will be given the best possible protection. And sire many eggs for us all."
"Th-they tried, the others. They tried the same thing! I can't make-" A low rumble ran through her in response before her nose shoved against his shoulder, making him stumble forward a few steps.
"She is a hybrid, not wholly insect and compatible." Illana continued to sound amused, her voice filled with a purr. "Ylna, come and claim your first mate before the Colony. He is under your protection now, may he flourish and the royal blood with him."
Galis didn't know what to do, he was pushed out by his sister's broad muzzle as if he were a fledgling and he found himself being forced nearer to the elongated beetle that watched him with those strange reptilian eyes. He cast a look back to his sister for help, but she only seemed pleased as she settled down on her swollen belly to watch him. Did she not realize that he wanted nothing to do with this? That he wanted to flee? To escape? Was she so blinded about what these insects were that she didn't see how he was trying to scramble away when a leg brushed down along the line of his back. The sharp hooked claw didn't snag on his scales, but caressed over the edges of his wings and Ylna came closer to him, her mandibles clicking lightly.
"I take one of the royal blood to be my mate, to be the sire to my eggs." The tip touched between his shoulder blades and trailed up to the line of his neck. "You will have half of my food, my home, my protection, our clutch will sing your name as their sire, and I will take your family as my own."
The words were spoken as part of a right, the beetle stepped forward and slide right along him as Ylna murmured the words in a chirruping voice. He rolled his eyes up to the peaceful smile on his sister's face as she watched over him. The Colony had claimed her, not as harshly as his former master's, but she was still claimed. He was still in hell, a gentler hell, as the female hybrid ran her touch down along the line of his spine.
"You are safe within my household, Galis Illana," Her so large form brushed over him, a promise of sensual heat that made him tremble.
A gentler hell. He drooped his head down in acceptance. He'd be free, one day. Perhaps. Until then, he could only pray that the protection of his sister would keep him from starvation and the lusts of the males.