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The night air was cold and without stars, The clouds shifty with the pace of the wind which did not yield that evening. The light of the moon itself clambered in futility against this setting and what of it could find it's way down to the earth below, grew all the more obscured by the twisted branches of winter crested trees. Here where the natural world of such destinies and purpose came to be collectively silenced and those with them that brought such concepts. The earth was smooth, cold to touch and certainly so by a boot's steps that trodden it. A stranger whose balance were uneasy and governed by the senses of their fatigue. A wanderer beneath cloak and hood who dismissed the gravity of their arrangements beneath the cold night sky, the branches and all the creatures that inhabited them. The cloak had not been enough for such elements, nor the banding soles for the boot's heels.

There had been no snow but the natural givings of the world around them seemed to beg a difference in temperature. They looked to the uneven paths, wandered the rocks and dirt of roads long before and many to come ahead in this place. A forest, which one, it may not have mattered. It made little difference to the woods who cared little for titleship, and no more did it hold regard for the stranger who rested themselves to it's trees. They sunk to their knees upon a collecting of leaves, feeling the snagging of a queer branch catching at the hood of their cloak as they fell. Perhaps it had been doing far greater good than they reconciled for the bracing of winds, no matter how gentle they were, brought the seizing of the skin on their cheeks as they bowed half to the ground and air in a most awkward way.

Darious, a young man, most young indeed, had found himself in a stark position far more weighing than inconvenience of poor depthful sight or attire complications. Days away, many roads and places, twists and turns, villages and towns, there had been a kingdom where Darious had fled from on foot. Not all on foot of course; charity and indifference got him some of the way by travel on shared horse. Bargaining and trade had led him more on quieter ways. His eyes always kept to the West, the direction he carried his steps from, for in the West in that kingdom he dare not look back to, he was once a prince. There is little comfort in titleship, and there is much to be said of cowards who flee their imposed destinies. Yes, Darious had been a coward, young, naive and frightened of his mother and father.

He feared the powers of a crown and what responsibilities they destined for the souls that afforded on it's price. He feared the exhaustion of his mind and course of his life, born an only son who stood as a sentinel to peer out into the horizons with only the intent taught to him. Eventually he might hold sway over those ideals; forge them and shine the metal to his reflection. Or...he might have lost them, forgone intention, become lost from his dreams as he had now been lost in those woods. It frightened him and pursued his restless days; it peeled upon his mind in the wake of his studies. It quieted his stomach and curved his hunger in the dining chambers for fear has a way of doing that to the strongest of souls. He feared his kingdom, Aldurnet, and all that it entailed for only him.

Aldurnet had been of beautiful lands and people with beautiful hearts. They prospered with little conquest and were a capital of trade. The kingdom itself had been of many miles where farmlands took in bounty with little disturbance and smokes rose quietly in the winds to the mountains. Their banners had been of lavender and gold, shining in the days and sometimes in the light of the moon. Darious had loved of Aldurnet as much he feared it but beneath the lives of many below him he had been swept in the hold of duties his very birth demanded. His reclusion kept him in the private studies and tutoring that may be instilled in his character. He had learned of great prides and clever tongues yet did not have often the company to keep it in. He was reminded of the expectations in his early years as soft whispers that bothered him little for it was his world. With each year proceeding they grew just a little bit more loud but his world wasn't remaining small. It grew outside the boundaries of their borders to places further where difference in eyes and minds gathered aloft.

He yearned for the differences and the freedoms, and his wants lead him to indulge of his free times in the libraries so that he might know more and he did. In time his persistence outdrew his father's insistence but the man still loved his son even if he were kept away from showing it in his unflinching form. He allowed of Darious to take leave now and then to the markets and settlements within the kingdom's walls. Many places, many men and women of lives kept inside and those who came from the outside in. He would forget his place at times and although his carers would accompany him for such reminders, he had a way of forgetting all the same.

Might have been infectious for they too found an open candidness in the bubbly wake of the boy. His favorite had been Drebbin, this older man who had far too great a liking for silks. Could not find him in anything but the wear. He was never one to speak unless spoken too and it was the shame for although his face showed a stiffness that reflected all advancements, he had a sense of humor that he would often remind and beg at the prince not to go about repeating. " Lord help me, your father would send me to a place unruly to many a soul if he knew. I just could not face the imagined tortures, I might enjoy them too much." and Darious would laugh for Drebbin taught him a great assortment of humor and smiles. He missed the man and many more like and unalike him now.

The thin branch had given way with a soft crack, braking away from the whole of it's barer. The grey hood came around Darious's head once more to hide away his pale cheeks and blackened hair. Yes, he was in a most stark position indeed for young Darious had lost his way. When, he could not be so certain for many roads can end and start as they choose. His lead further and further towards places his world knew nothing of yet gave even a fool's eyes the warning of dangers and unnatural cruelties. Darious did not see for his eyes kept behind himself, kept to the West where even then in this lost place, his thoughts imagined his father and mother's sorrows, the rage they would feel upon the impudence of his choice. How far might the men have been sent to search himself, where might they go and how long?

He'd known many would be sent out on the roads to find him and not stop for some time. Maybe that is why he had taken to less common roads where foot hardly traveled. He had hidden well within his short travels but what he had taken on him for passage did little to last himself. His forgetting of a season's time reminded him of the naive disregard he held in the brashness of his unheard leave. As he sat into the leaves, felt just the small ounce of warmth on the skin of his legs, Darious breathed a sigh to watch a sort of fog escape his lips to vanish before his eyes in the moonlight. It would have been enough for the man to accept himself there for the evening, but even the exhaustion, thirst and hunger could not sway his imaginings of the beasts that came out in the night. Ones whose teeth favored flesh and the things not quick enough or cunning enough to evade them. If such hungry or naturally violent beasts wanted for him in their ways, he would face that grotesque gnawing with his legs standing and arms proving a moment's fury at least.

No, this had not been a place for resting where dead branches reached out to cling at the sky and fallen leaves subdued the weary. The path had been far more obscured in this place, wherever this place had been. The clouded light vanished in patches beneath the clouds so far above and vigilant remainders of foliage that held determined to the wood. A fire would have been rather nice; the warmth of the flame and the light to stave off even the stubborn things that wandered with curiosity. The gratuity of such knowledge had been reserved away from Darious from his tutors. Some actions and ways, those that might as well dirty the hands of such blood, were highly frowned upon as even a motivated concept. A prince might be lead on such things as a merry hunt for sport, but even an arrow that would be lodged within the poor beast it met would not be claimed by the same hand that cast it.

Hardly alone and wanting for not, but also learning for not if it served little purpose. The commendation could prove fatal if a man found himself at the beckoning whim of nature itself for all man is a stranger and guest to the forests, no matter how accustomed they may believe themselves to it. Gods how a fine cut of meat might be on a flame but the very art of cutlery and culinary distinguishment hid from his knowledge too. What food the man had brought with him had been well taken of, if only leaving a few crackers in his pockets. He longed to bite of those crackers but his mouth forebode the notion. His tongue had been dry enough and to exhaust it further might have been an additional torment all it's own.

The life that had driven to this point had been of little consequence for Darious. The luxuries of his time within the countless stone hallways, the meals he would indulge with his mother, father and guests plenty kept him dulled to the progress of his eventual tasks at times. There however had been those moments of the recollections, the strictness and formalities that chased at the man. He was expected of his associations with gentlemen of afar. Acquaintances as they were of the throne and of their own. Trade agreements and the forging of new bonds that might exceed the lives of their mothers and fathers to their children. Some were bearable, others were not. Darious preferred of his times out more and more often though his mother especially detested of the notions.

She had been a great woman who cared little for people of less. She found the grounds dirty and without the need to be stepped upon. She was also impressively precise with her choice of words and had a cunning to them that patienced Darious in their course. His tongue may very well have been her own but his mind hadn't. In her own way she cared for her son but the abstract setting in her life disturbed him. It was so very right for her, however not for him. Some nights he might find himself wandering outside, could persuade a guard who favored his word and knew better and let him find himself on the way. Darious wanted more with time and that was all he had for his years. He wanted more than a throne offered him and it only quickened the resolve with the considered arrangements of marriage.

His hand was held in open as if wanting but it had not been. He found the appalling nature of the restraint even with his learned knowledge of the reasoning. So soon did they consider the extension of their blood line for time did have a way of fleeting. Darious relented and bowed to the expectations and met of such many young women, some older and some younger. Some were kind and Darious took fancy of their conversations, the keen wit of the far away places that they spoke of. Some had been taken aback by his less ideal form of company. Darious after all had known well of the cordial permission so expected but he embraced the less common conversations and musings he better desired from his carers and keepers.

Not all maidens found amusement in the approach and some very well felt an offence to his less than ideal conversing. His mother and father found a patience but it was not infinite. They wanted what seemed best not just for himself but for the security of so many others as well. He'd understood the consequence but the weight it carried exhausted, even exasperated the boy that he might withdraw further and further and find to taking ill.

The years were finally catching up with him and his freedoms were becoming lost. His choices were losing the power of response and he felt the true burdens he otherwise wished non existent. It terrified him greatly for the mistakes he might make, the struggles he would endure and the grasp of a crown would seal his responsibilities to so many places and so many things. Overwhelming that a misery would creep into his heart and further bind him to his sheets. He would find little to talk about and little to see yet the insistence remained and the angers of his bearers grew with their bewilderments. Darious had grown to deeply dislike, even taste a hate for his parents and for himself.

He wandered on the lines of what they wanted, what he wanted, what everyone wanted, what they needed and he needed. Darious wanted for travels and to see far beyond. To meet many souls, find the sunsets and oceans in different places, discover romance he wanted and live a life aside a kingdom. He didn't want to think of months and years, he wanted to think of the moments but he could not. That was when the fears truly took hold of him more and more. It bred the scared dreams of his leaving and never being found; he might run into the distance and never look back, feeling the regret and shame of his cowardice. He could not do this. It would be as asking fish to fly. He had the knowledge inside him but he did not have the heart or soul that wanted the same.

The rivers and flowing waters of the places he went were elusive even to his ears. He would need of it soon or he might not have the life left to need of anything beyond it much longer. A fine thick mist had met with his steps as Darious ventured on into the night and further into the forest. The air had grown more damp, cold to softly sting at the edges of his eyes. He might have turned another way were it not the fleeting notion there might be water nearby. In winter the air would grow quite stiff as if all the warmth in the world had died and those that coveted it. The birds would flee the skies and journey the horizons, perhaps to return some day and perhaps not. One could feel the winds grow lost and sharp, and if they knew little more, could very well feel the dampness of streams.

At the very least Darious had learned of such senses man's body possessed. The grey cloak swayed, lurching in smaller weaves as the grounds grew more steady, more tread and smoothed for passage. Perhaps it might have been a route of it's own without the entrances or exits of his path prior. There may have been a chance at pardoned graces yet; imagine, perhaps a village of some size scattered amongst the trees. Hope founds it's way into the man's thoughts and he did well to deny more of it lest the fates, who favor none, prove otherwise. Less obstructions had hindered his path in time of his tired wandering; fewer roots from the dirt had spread to meet, silently play with his steps and mischievously lose him balance. He could feel the sensation of wetness on his nose and while the air pinched at just the tip of it, he welcomed the compromise.

It had grown near impossible to see his own foot at the ground for even with the relenting of the winds and departing clouds, the moon could not pierce through the coating shroud of mists which ever more threatened to rise further and perhaps caress Darious by the knee. His ears listened further and heard no water in the darkness. It could hear the distant embarks of brushes folded and branches giving to all the things that belonged there, bird, beast and insect. The signs of life deeper inside than out this seeming forest. So vastly peculiar that the branches who often bore the colors of the dirt, or grey of salted stone, instead were a distinct hue of black far more consuming than the shadows of night as if they had been burnt, and yet they were thriving collectively. There is much of the world man has yet to see collectively, and far be it to say otherwise Darious had seen hardly of it at all. These trees were Enchanting in a haunting way and such visions turned his thoughts to the stories he heard upon the years.

Words have a way of travel unlike any way of form. Quick like wildfire, and ever changing. Stories too, flowing from the mouths of many and burning into the minds of those patient enough to hear their tales. When he were younger, often times Darious would be met with many stories from his keeper and chambermaid when the sun had far drawn and strength left him. Alone in the solitude of his room he would lay beneath the silken sheets of his bed and listen intently to such tales she spoke of. Her name had been Elsen; her voice was pleasant and her skin olden. She never spoke to Darious in any company but he had been most fond of her in ways that exceeded many, even his own Mother. She was grey about the ends of her hair, and her eyes were nearly just the same in the centers; those same eyes had seen many things before she had serviced for the kingdom.

They held a lifetime of experience, watched tales and sprung them from her mouth to him speaking of myths and fables, glories and betrayal, Beauties and monsters. He mourned the loss of her, and it had been inevitable. She had been old. She had been old when he was born and age as it were, does not head in reverse. A larger part of the fantasy and mysticisms vanished with her into the ground but age is all too common a keeper that collects all just the same. He can recall a tale of hers that once frightened Darious, brought unease and curiosity to his heart. A story of towns many undone by beasts whom hid amongst them. A monster who blended along the wood of a forests whose oak were black and hid in the cracking of the branches to be stolen away into the night with whatever it chose to fancy.

Such trifles as spoons aloft might go missing, or perhaps a drunkard might wander into the unknowns of the evening to not be accounted ever again. Valuables vanish without trace and small fires rise. Soon enough children and women, might be heard crying in the night, carried off into the darkness from their homes and who be clear enough of sight to see the thing taking them. These were not beasts of rushing malice or loud callings. They were quiet creatures or resource and patience that struck in the cords of doubt and unreasoning. Came calling when little could hear them and left when little was left. Where there should have been skin, there was instead eternal armor. Where they were eyes, there was instead fire; they were dragons. Sizeable winged reptiles of shapes many and the persistence that exceeded all. They coveted things that would shine or feed them; they came with the rain and fled with storms. Most of all, they hid in the darkness and crept with one's steps.

They were clever... " And oh my how I might suggest you cover that window, young sir, for dragons do enjoy the taste of men especially." Elsen had pointed to the glass, assaulted by the rains outside that evening. " You tease me! Tell me, Elsen, tell me that is a story!" he could not be bothered with fleeing from his sheets. They protected him from the cold and the fear. " I would not truly know, young sir. I have been many places long before yourself came to be. I've heard many things; some as they are, are nothing more than distractions and fancy. " she had drawn from her chair and his side, strode to the blackness upon the window and watch. " Perhaps I do tease you, young sir, but if there is one thing I have learned..." her hand felt upon the pulley to draw the heavy curtains over " One must remember some stories...they might some day find that they're true. Do keep best out of the dark and the places where the wood is blackest." and she drew the cover over the night.

" You may have well been right, Elsen. However some things of this world truly would be worse than such death." His thoughts found him. He had little the choice for even turning back now, he may have found nowhere to truly wander. The trees were an unguided silent maze without direction. The only certainty had been in front of himself. Time did not pass onward long before Darious's eye had caught a new light, an unnatural light almost, behind the weaving foliage. It may have been a fire, perhaps another individual or more! His hands had reached beyond the leaves, pushed them aside to peer beyond. There had been no village, no town or others.

What lay before the way of Darious had been an open field, sloping in many odd ends. No trees had been here but they surrounded such a place as a grove of mists. Off not so far in the distance such a tall structure pierced above the trees and into the open air. Made of dark stone and unevenly constructed. The right lower portion appeared displaced in a seemingly impossible way that the very top of it seemed to slouch as if it were about to fall. A series of disproportionately fixed windows were set amongst the stone. Some had been circular, others of a more rectangular nature. Near the middle portion an eerily bright orange light glowed through a vertically slanted glass. What a curious sight indeed; perhaps it may have belonged to a hermit of some sort, but while the arrangement had been rather poor, it had still been most massive for it's size.

He had began his steps into the strange grove of mists. It felt almost otherworldly as he neared the structure. He could feel the moistness of the earth below him wander passed the fabrics of his soles to pierce his flesh with a painful chill. In a way the tall stone structure appeared as a castle, distorted and poorly maintained. The grounds where it met were untouched by the obscuring moistures, revealing patches of blackened grass blades amongst mud. Waters had surrounded such a castle and it may have been that it were slowly sinking into the still surfaces. No matter his thirst, those waters in no way looked appealing to him. Just as the windows, Bricks of many kind, shape and size had made the whole of the structure. It were as if made in a frenzy for such a way it appeared in disrepair.

Whoever may have remained here must have been profoundly certain of their keep, or at a loss of their senses. The orange glow had seemed all the more bright above him, almost like a fire that pulsated and eerily crept amongst the outside bricks as fingers of light to vanish not far from the glass. A metal door that may have very well been made of brass, stood slightly crooked amongst cracked stone steps. Darious had hesitated; what man would not do such a thing in a den of uncertainty and perhaps danger? " Gods protect my foolishness." he whispered aloud as he delicately tread amongst the steps and avoided the various cracks.

Parts of the door had been a peculiar color between blue and green; it very well could have been rust. A rounded knob with a square end jutted out from it's corner. Darious delayed himself a moment more with reservation and brought his hand to the metal frame. Though it had appeared most durable even with the rust, the door had been far more thinned and fragile on touch. It rattled and screeched sharply, echoing into the night. The very noise had arisen the contained worry from inside him. He had braced his hand shakily at his side for a dagger he had managed himself on the second night of his fleeing.

Though it had been a fine and sharp thing of silver which came with a most modest trade, he did not know what to account of it's successful use in such a matter as now. His hand remained to clutch upon it were something beastly to come and meet with him. Only silence came to greet him as he waited within the dark, only his troubled breath for company. For a time he considered trying for the knob but his thoughts were troubled still. He had rasped upon the metal once more and grimaced from that horrid noise it gave. Still, only silence persisted for him.

He had cleared his dry throat, felt it pain him for doing so as he stared above to the glowing window once more. " Sir or Madame, I come to your door at a loss for I have forgotten my way! I would not wish to trouble you but I am desperate in such a state! I seek shelter for the night and no more! I have little to offer but..." and the light had vanished from the glass. Perhaps he had been heard, and perhaps his grip on the blade had grown a bit tighter in apprehension. A voice crept from behind the brass, deeply like stone itself and yet soft as a whisper " Is it a man...? " it had sent shivers down Darious's back just hearing it but he did not relent.

" Kind sir, I apologize for my imposing, for you see I am lost in these woods. I came to your door, for the night's wind chills me to the bone and bites at my skin. " there had been a pause after these words, and the voice returned not long after. " Clever or foolish? I cannot say...go away from this place. Step South and you will find a river among great rocks. A day's travel will bring you to Reldin. Find your stay there, not here." the very metal seemed to hum with their gravely words.

Darious could feel his heart sink at the very thought. More travel may not have been possible were it a day longer. Would he last? He did not know. " I would be at your mercy, sir. My body is made weary by the elements, tired by the cold. The night may long have me before the sun would rise. " but there had been no sympathy in return. " I care little for the foolish. You invited fate upon you. You are a fool for being knocking at my door...leave for my patience has boundaries...you can offer me nothing." A soft scratching had came from the other side of the door. All that Darious had left of him was the last thing he dared wish use, and with it came a danger far more gripping than any other thing in the world. " Sir... somewhere through all those trees, days and more away I once was a prince.

My line is of the Aldurnet...if you would have me for this night and no more...perhaps we might have a arrangement to compensate yourself?" His heart beat erratic within his chest, for some of his word had been of truth, the others of lies. There could be no proof of his lineage nor could he imagine that much of barter on himself. He dare not return to his home. He was a man of a cloak, a dagger, and crackers; no more. There had been no reply to his words and so Darious believed this the conclusion. He would wander once more and pray to the gods they would smile on his foolishness. As he turned away, a hollowed clicking from the door's knob drew his stare. With the scraping of metal upon stone, it drew open to him. As if a breath, warmth brushed upon his body, pushing passed his cloak.

The boy had taken a step within yet there had been no face upon the other side for his gratitude. The floors had been set in a darkly red wood, square spotting of stone pressed down a hallway of dimly lit candles far from the doorway. Many things had littered the walls and floors with disregard as if a hoard of most random objects. Such things as rolled up scrolls of paper, bits of dyed fabrics, children's toys of wood and many more such things. They had appeared untouched with a fine layering of dust cast over them all. Even with the knowledge that a man had lived here, it remained the look of being abandoned many years. The idle thought had crossed his mind in morbid wonderment if perhaps he had wandered into the abode of a wraith. " Do not allow the warmth of this place out. Shut the door. I shall come to yourself soon enough."

the voice had seemed so distant now behind walls and more. He struggled with the grip of the metal frame, grunted as he tugged it with a loud screech shut. He had turned back to the hall and tread with absolute care. His feet had stepped aside many things that had found their way to the floor below. He could smell the musty warmth in the air; The smell of iron. It drew a coughing fit from him with the exposure. Would be best that he did not take so deeply and richly the air of this dwelling. Here it was warm however and he could remove his hood, which is what he had done.

The flames upon the candles danced in the wax, placed uncaring where they might stand. It was detestable to see things in such a state. The walls themselves had appeared patched together in various material of woods, metal and other things beyond Darious's recollection. Portions had been polished and properly cut, others rough and ill fitted as if the entire place had been a single puzzle of sorts. Nearing the end of the hall, a set of two wooden doors of peeling white had been pulled open. It surprised him to draw into such a place as tall and widely a room. The floor itself had been an elaborate arrangement of tiles, the reflecting lights of the surrounding candle flames struck at Darious with wonder.

At the very center of the floor had been a pattern that much like a circle with a star yielding to all directions. A dual set of stair cases on either side had drawn around the star in perfect symmetry. Among every wall had been curved shelves, filled without gaps of bound books. He honestly had little to truly make of such a bizarre place that confounded his very reasoning of purpose and abode. The soft sound of clicking started from far above him " I welcome you, foolish prince, into my keep." Descending the stairs had been an unearthly tall figure cloaked in a long flowing robe of white. With each step the cloth seemed to sway as if in water and unbound by weight itself. A hood had been cast over their head, an odd mask of sorts hiding their face behind.

Such a morbid mask, discolored and olden looking; an expression of a wide smile spread from ear to ear. It might have been a jester's mask but it were far from amusing here. With each step the soft sound of clicking that much like a rain drop hitting glass, sounded. As they had reached the bottom, they stood before Darious, heaving silently above Darious in their size. Darious had been stricken into silence at the very scene before him, as if a dark dream were playing out within his wake. His composure was forcefully brought to him as he bowed his form before the man. " I am greatly humbled by your hospitality, sir. You have my sincere gratitude." he had paused and kept his head down, when his eyes had drawn back to that mask, they stood quietly still.

" I care little for gratitude. You are here to bargain, foolish prince. Come, come with me to my tables...there we shall bargain." the man's words were vastly more piercing now without the door hindering their travel. The very tone seemed to vibrate in Darious's ears. There had been nothing to say, not there as the man turned back up the stairs and lead the way up the ascending steps. All the while in his following, Darious could not help but find his eyes drawn to the strange movements of the man, watching the robes hypnotic like sway in the candlelight.

Passed the curving stair steps, passed an open door and down a darkened hallway, the man paused before a reddened door whose frame had slightly been bent inward. " Tell me of your name, Prince." their mask twisted to face him "...My name is Darious Hunade." he could not help but speak out with uncertainty for that very mask brought out a quiet fear inside himself from a host that cared little to share what had been behind it. " Such odd names you creatures find. Darious...does your stomach hunger as your throat dry with thirst?" of course it had. Such a state of being had followed at Darious's side for days now. " It...would sir." and the door had opened to them. " Indulge yourself in my silent court. Our discussions can settle in the course of these walls. "

strange scents had drawn in the air guided to the boy. His hazel eyes widened to the aromas of meats and more. A court had indeed not been a figure of reference for that is what the room had been. Rows of empty seats only sat shadows in many their keep. A great fire sat above and upon the furthest wall, suspended in a metal dish excessed in cut wood. Olden white sheets layered the tables that scaled such a room, and at it's center table had a gorgeous display of such foods been lain. Such exotic aromas and a sight of meats and stock by dishes. Cut greens and vandid vegetables so decoratively set amongst breads and reddened glass bottles. A banquet of a sizing that befit an audience and no less, yet here it had been looking as if made not a moment prior.

Everything of this place felt both wrong and fantastical to Darious in the same breath. Astounding and disproving of a reality he had known for. Might there have been others to prepare such dishes? There certainly must have been yet there no other soul had been glimpsed to wander these halls. " ...There would be others that join us?" Darious could only whisper in humbling as he stared upon the display. His question was met with a soft chuckling that if he hadn't know better, might have sounded as growling." A silent court. Take what you will...I permit it. " The man strode alongside the table, trailing a hand along the linen, obscured by the series of such tempting things. If only for a moment Darious could have sworn to see only darkness of their skin.

A deformity and thickness of sorts that no human skin would bare, or it may have been the shifting light and shadows of the flames that played trick on his eyes. He did not know and the inability to ascertain such knowledges and worries were quickly fleeing his mind. His hunger and thirst betrayed his doubts, denying him the flight of concerns. He had wandered to the tables, purveyed the offerings and found such hardships to deny any to a plate of clay he had studied near the elongated table's edge. He did not take a taste of any single thing he touched, felt the weight of man's true nature at his throat and stomach as he exercised the willpower of one's final tolerance.

His eyes had drawn from the plate, staring across the table and it's ways to the very end of the room where the masked man sat within a stone like chair that even it's own size dwarfed him. Beneath the large dish of metal, chains and fire. A chalice of light whose orange glow persisted passed a window aside it. It had been the very light that guided himself there. Beneath the light, the man sat in their own shadow, lurched over the table, quietly watching, arms purposefully set at rest. He pondered the reluctance of distance and what may have afforded himself the more agreeable distance between himself and his host. Such quandaries of thought stalled himself. " Find your seat be it near or far. I care little. If you would stand and eat then so be it." Darious had known of such customary prudence in his father's court. Those of discussion would be most near for they shared an ear from others. Here there were none but himself and the man. He acknowledged perhaps the relativity of their distancing being nearer may yield progressive favor. He crossed the center, drew to the right side of the table not so far the man and sat.

Even in the shadows from the chair, Darious could see far more clearly now, and saw in vivid detail of the man's arms. Thick and black as the very night outside, perhaps more. A faint glimmer of light reflecting off the surfaces of his skin showed a series of many grooves and worn flesh. Darious held back the surprise in his heart as he stared upon the hands whose fine sharpened nails were that of an animals in design. Curved and yellowed claws upon four fingers that rested on the linens with a delicate impatience. Had this truly been a man of grotesque misfortune or something else altogether?

His eyes did not stray long, they were quick enough to return to his plate. Those hands had vanished from the table, their master drawing near as to show the worn cracks in the mask. " You surprise me, Prince Darious. Sitting so very near without forced inclination." his eyes had drawn to the wide grin and tried hard to see behind the eye holes that only showed him darkness. The voice had almost a sadness to it. A depth of such a tired soul even. " You have shown me grate hospitality, sir. Compassion that warms my senses. Tell me...should I fear as to being in such a distance?" " Perhaps you should, I would not know yet. You do well to intrigue myself so far. Tell me, do you know who I am?" the question had struck Darious oddly, filled him with curiosities but most of all bafflement.

" I do not sir, but you do hide your face from me, and a voice can be many things when a face can only belong to one." they had straightened once more at the answer and for a moment it had seemed they were in thought; Darious could not know. " It matters little of course, prince Darious...do eat what you will." Indeed Darious did hunger and yet he worried for there had been no plate aside the man at all. Their mask had turned to him once more in silence. " It would matter to me, sir, and though you may wish otherwise, I would want to give gratitude to the man who gave myself stead for the night and nary less may have preserved my life." a chuckle had creased the mask once more; Darious could feel it travel along the tables, almost animal in a way.

The very light of the flame seemed to darken with his words " I am Valnosh, the overseer of all you see in this domicile. Collector and trader of many things that please me...king of this silent court you sit in. " and still Darious held onto hesitation as he looked upon his plate, and how it truly tortured him in the resistance. " Then I thank you all too kindly, Lord Valnosh, for your hospitality." " You hesitate to take of such offerings when they are given. Cast worry from your heart, prince...I would not waste the meat to poison you. No...if I so wanted, we may have met upon a different road and you would know full well of my intent." the words in their context were cruel in ways, and yet the tone had been not so abrasive. It almost came to Darious as inviting.

He had indeed taken of a thin cut of red meat, drawn it to his lips and tasted the fine juices of the cooked tenderness. He wanted to be so very hasty then, wanted to disregard the disciplines instilled upon him from all his years, and yet he remained resolute in the course of his experiences. Though his eyes remained upon the food, he had known from the sides of his vision that he were watched ever so intently. " So then... what ever is a prince of so many ways doing in such a place as this? Lost your way, do tell...I would savor the intent of your foolish ambition. " There had been a near lightness in the voice now, a curiosity and formal tone that Darious had been long accustomed to.

It eased him further, even in the troubling terms the question posed. He hid his thinking behind the slow drawing of his jaw as he continued to indulge in taste of the meat. " It had begun of sport, really. A round of seven as well myself fancied an attendance of hunt. Our lands are quite known for their bounty at times, even during the winter months. " he had paused to look upon Valnosh once more who remained hunched over toward him. " I see, I see...this kingdom of yours, this..Aldurnet. I have once seen of it. A marvel you would survive the terrain. Beautiful...quite deathly." " Yes, Lord Valnosh. Although the air had been a tad stifled in it's way, the winds did favor our direction. Had found a beast not long during our running of the trails. A quick thing I do admit, Debenese Short Horn. We had given chase for miles on horse. Had very well had it near these falls. Could see it frantic in the waters against the tide as it tried to cross. We may have had it were it not... "

He'd felt a reservation of this fantastical tale, contemplated his next words in the instance of an eye's blink. His word were of lies really for he rode with no one, had no horse and left in the shroud of night when little could see. He fled away from all man that served beneath his inevitable crown. " ...Tell me lord Valnosh...might you have heard such tales of creatures that of a...dragon?" He could hear the creaking of the wood beneath the white sheets, enduring the weight of Valnosh's elbows. Their arms had drawn to the table once more, the blackened hands resting beneath the chin of the mask. With a heavy breath, his robe seemed to expand as if a frog's throat and retreat to normality. " I would have, yes." the very scene disturbed Darious in his precise eating.

" We had not believed of such a thing to exist ourselves. It had came upon us, hidden by the sounds of the rushing waters. I had little of the effort to even react on it's existence for when it came, it travelled as darkness in the day with great wings of night. With it came fire from it's eyes. My horse had drawn back, knocking myself from the straddle and into the current. I could not reclaim myself so easily, nor my men had the notice of my undoing in design amongst their thrashing and yelling. I do not know what happened to them. The waters took me over the falls away from such a monster as that dragon and my men. I'd considered myself finished by the fall but awoke to the shores of mud, caught upon a queer jutting branch. I have been lost ever since, sir."

Valnosh sat as a stone, clicking that yellow claw against their chin in idling. " You do amuse me, Darious...such a wondrous tale, indeed. Tell me, does your palette accept of wines?" In honesty, Darious had been holed against the partaking of such drinks, save in the face of merriments and honoring. The taste by what grapes or worse may have been kept in it, did more upsetting than pleasing. This however had been a time of honoring and of merriment, no matter the intricate queer senses of it all. Any liquid that may hit his throat would bless his gullet. " It would, Lord Valnosh." One of many empty glass goblets that littered the tables had been taken of, as if without decisive favor and yet every so delicately. As he watched the fine red sifting of the liquid fall to the glass to swirl and collect, he could not further help himself in the capacity of his comforts. " Lord Valnosh if I may ask... why is it that you would not eat nor drink, yourself?" the vocal musing elicited little response as the glass were drawn Darious's way and set near his plate. " I only do when it would please myself so." Such a cryptic force this man had hidden behind and it mystified Darious with an intrigue that would not relinquish it's grasp. He had taken a modest sip, felt the bitter taste and done well to hide his displeasure of it. Wines, they were truly not of his favor, not at all.

" You would enjoy that?" his host had chuckled greatly " I would advise yourself to strengthen your hold. Such a drink as this comes from my own hand. Most intoxicating and strong." indeed, the bitterness had well numbed the back of Darious's throat to his discomforts. Gods know what it did to his belly when it had reached so far into it. They had sat there in silence for some time, only the crackling of the fire and the sounds of Darious's bothered stomach that only he could very well hear. For a moment's time he could feel the cold upon his forehead but it had cleared to return in warmth. " Most potent indeed, sir. " had been the best he could suffice for the time.

" You do so well as to please my company, Prince Darious...yet you do deceive me. Your tale is wonderous and filled with errors. Really now... a prince so lost from home. Many a soul can recollect the heart of their very establishments, they need only point and that would be enough for it. I both admire and detest liars, but mainly would attest against those with little effort on their tongue. You are uniformed with social graces, Prince. It shows in your mannerisms and dining. You are also pathetic with a tongue that is more bronze about you." every word had been precise and cutting; they seized upon Darious and indeed, he was not in the habits of deceit for he had little the reason or inclination. " You hide beneath grey cloaks with little about you, one might even believe you were not wishing to draw attention. Is that the truth to you, Darious? You do not wish to be found so easily or at all? Do go on about your stories..." " You have me at a disadvantage sir, and you would well be right... I had been lost, truly, but not from my kingdom. I apologize for my deceit, I cannot wear it well for it is not my business to lead others so astray." his head had felt most weighted down with every word he spoke, his arms a buzz as if insects may have been within them.

" I had fled of my heritage for a fear I might not be the man I aspired to be. I have little more business with being a king as I would a liar, but my life has been of such comforts and less of travel. I wandered where I could, slept where I felt permitted and have only wished distance between myself and the throne." the answer seemed to placate Valnosh who eased their back once more into the great chair. " Always on about destinies and fates for yourselves. Truly man does enjoy making a fit of their souls, of all this travel...such a foolish man you are indeed. Foolish to hide away from power and wealth. Foolish to come knocking in the darkest of night at a beast's door." the words deeply troubled Darious who by then had felt most preoccupied by the feeling of being outside himself, lulled in a way that denied himself the full flight of reflex. Truly the potency of what he had partaken was most above hims. " Sir if I may...might I ask as to why you wear such a mask?" his host had known full well of the intent concerning the question. Had known Darious were perhaps even fully understanding the gravity of such a situation. " It is what I wear for comfort." but that had not been enough for Darious who was losing the restraint of his faculties " Why does it comfort you to hide behind such things? You well brought out the confessions of my character... perhaps we may find even grounds?"

The laughter behind the mask shook at the very walls around them; tugged upon the light of the flame which had been growing smaller. " There are no common grounds for ourselves, Darious. Here I am most powerful, a king and his empty court. I am befitted with luxuries that could please men a thousand lifetimes. They do not please myself however. There are no common grounds for ourselves but perhaps you need see more to know the finality of that truth." Darious watched in his shaken, needful observations as those black hands felt upon the cracked mask and with a swift tug, pulled it away to lower onto the table with a soft click. Where skin should have been, an thickened armor sat black as eternal night. Where eyes should have been, narrowed slits almost as fire stared into his own. A great snout had snapped upward, having been displaced by the mask that so hid it. The company Darious had shared and referred as lord had been a dragon. " You understand now, foolish prince. Now let us discuss our bargaining."

The very thing shocked him so to the point of disbelief and yet there and not so far sat a very creature of myth and once his nightmares. His mouth may have been agape, he could not tell for the wine had dizzied his senses as it did his fears. He may very well have fainted a fright were it not the strength of that fowl drink. He might have preferred the fainting. The creature shrugged at their own hood, revealing the entirety of their head to show great folded spines that swiftly sprung. Their very neck had contorted in such a fashion that it had kept the head so low, now unwinding as if a serpent to allow it's excess once more and only tower the thing above Darious further. " What ever could such a prince so lost on purpose offer a creature like myself? You appear ragged for wear and I do not hear the sounds of gold in your pockets. Not that I am taken with gold these days...too much of it to count; how I do tire."

the surreal nature of the scene twisted upon Darious's heart, evoked a deeper fear in himself cast away by the intoxication. He struggled for the right words yet felt troubled. A dragon, an actual creature from those stories, what wonders and terror it held. " jewelry would not be upon your fingers...no silvers or stones that might shine and fancy. I still do wonder what to do with yourself. " and Valnosh had been right, for Darious had little to offer from the start. All things of value that would remain on him were his wear, his dagger and his crackers, and he very much doubted a dragon settling for crackers. " I know I've close to nothing to give you in goods...perhaps I may serve you for whatever purpose you might propose. A day's labor or more. I am at your mercy, sir but I would speak that I am a man of his word that does not tire in ambition."

The snout curled once more on Valnosh's face, the scales tightly closing as it's eyes narrowed. They reflected a bitterness and then softening as if some of the offer took hold. They studied and examined him across the table and perhaps the beast had been contemplating the extent of the offering. " You do amuse me, Darious of Aldurnet. So bothered not by my appearance you would still your tongue even now...I have little use of hands for I pride in my solitude and work...though you do indulge a certain...curiosity I have born for many the years. A want as I have desired without. You would so honor your word and be bound by it? For whatever purpose I would ask of yourself and no less on the pains of your shame and more so apparent death..?" Darious swallowed at the last part especially.

What the dragon could indeed want of him, he did not fathom but if it may have served the purpose of his eventual leave in relatively retained spirit then he could not turn away. " I do so, lord Valnosh." the bright white robe seemed to quiver and shake as a great grin creased the serpent's maw in a near terrifying spectacle. Darious could see the series of teeth just below the grey lips; Valnosh held an expression that spoke of many thoughts, all which were pleasing. " Are your needs met? Your hands no longer reach for this bounty or lips desire the drink?" Darious had indeed felt no longer the wishing for any food, for he was far more desiring to end the shivers down his back. He worried what he might have indeed brought upon himself with such an agreement. " They are, lord Valnosh, I thank you for your generosity."

" Thank me none of it, for this would be my dealing in our exchange. Prince, confide myself to satisfy curiosity. I would imagine such a young man of your standing to be certainly ambitious of relations and their conquest. Do tell me, you would hold the experience of intimacy with another?" the question had struck upon Darious, made him recollect of his quieter days where he might have been flirting of such beauties that did pass his way and he theirs. Commoners as they were, that did little to dull their beauty or form. Of course he had given way to pursuit now and again for passion had this thing in the lips of a maiden and how they tempted Darious without fail. He had partaken of the carnal with such a ferocity but only once where eyes might not peer so easily, although in admittance such a place as the stables might have been poor in choice scenery.

It had not been so long ago and he had known of the young woman whose hair were like fire and eyes the spark. The ride keeper's daughter who was so full of light in her pale form, Murdeleene. She had been about his age if only a year older, that of her twenty third year but she had a silent invitation to him found in those eyes of hers whenever they might meet and he met them without reservation. It had been his first time, and such pleasures that came with the act were indescribable. The recollections caused a stirring within his mind and elsewhere, drawing his heart to excite and just as quickly be dismissed. Though enjoyable, there had been a certain shame to the animal act but he gave up such a ghost. " I have had...some experience, yes." his voice had withdrawn in the discomforts of the revelation.

" Marvelous, then such experience might serve to help in my purposes." Purposes? Darious's mind had slowly begun to filter the understanding of such words, reaching into the back of his mind to comprehend the need of such knowledge and then it had begun to surface to his realizations. " Lord Valnosh I do apologize if I may misunderstand but might you be suggesting...?" A gleam rose on the dragon's eyes as it stared ever so intently on the boy, yet there had been a certainty within them as well. " I do not suggest at this time, I well expect within the arrangement of our agreements. The human body, such a fascinating thing. Such fearful and shrill creatures you are and yet I am touched by a fever that draws me to look upon those forms of yours. There is little you can offer myself, Prince...but you could very well offer that body of yours so that I may finally indulge of my own curiosities and know such intimacy man may possess."

Darious could not believe the request and he held admittance that his stomach turned in an instance of repulse. To touch of such a creature may very well have gone against all his reasoning no matter what trespasses he may have done prior. To lay with a beast that frightened young and old together and vanished in chaos. His words however bound him and he faced a dilemma of the honor that he may have only had left. To turn away from them especially now in the face of such rumoured dangers would have been fool hearty. He averted his gaze from Valnosh, kept to the near empty plate he had partaken and oh how he had a silent wish that such a request from the thing might been more in jest than truth. The wood creaked as if in a great sigh; Valnosh had withdrawn their claws from the table and left from it's heading chair to leave it an empty throne once more.

He had seen of the robe's foot ends drag against the floor as it drew beside him and then behind. He felt those very claws upon both his shoulders to feel them delicately rest, and how even in such gesture they still felt piercing to his skin beyond all his layering. The grip had been very well strong enough to be possessive and yet only firm in it's entirety. He felt the hot breath of the serpent's maw nearest his right ear " You would turn away from our agreements and deny myself as well your word?" He had shifted with the uncomfortable humid breath upon him but the grip did not release. " I...would not, lord Valnosh. I would honor our agreement and...fulfil that which you desire. I am yours..sir. " the words left his mouth with reluctance and a dread.

He had felt something hot to the distant point of burning press upon the side of his neck. Something wet and viscus that trailed down a small sum to press into the collar of his cloak. Such a sensation had made Darious nearly bolt upright from his chair but the claws held him ever so securely to it. He had seen such a small portion of a bright red texture, he had realized it to be a rather prehensile tongue. The thought brought Darious shudders in dismay as it trailed just beneath his chin and then away once more to the maw of it's master. " Such a curious taste all you humans would share...I have not had the pleasure of dining on royalty in my travels. You may prove a distracting course." It whispered into his ear so directly that he might feel the hot breath on it flow into his head. The words unnerved Darious more than the tongue and he gasped aloud as he felt a sudden baring upon his right ear. Valnosh had brought the tip of his maw to delicately gnaw at the lobe with a inhuman precision.

The sensation had been enough to draw Darious's heart back into a fever, and he had known the odd sensations of his lower regions to not be so distanced from the attentions. " I have watched many the years of your kind's way. Seen all the things men and women both would submit to in the qualities of touch. I can bring yourself to submit, Darious. " The full grace of the wine had been upon Darious by then and while a vast majority of himself crept away from the indulgence to find refuge in his mind, he had known the parts that considered further the more intimate functions of such a forbidden union. The exotic wonderments of a monster, man itself fabled in horror. Now it beseeched him for the commonality of touch, a ground of two distant worlds.

His heart had been of women without the strays of men. His eyes had no fancy for that venturing. Yet even the knowledge of this thing as being otherwise did little to detour the sentiment of his lustful intent for those words it whispered in his ears intrigued him in a shamefully enticing and power drawing way that he felt helpless to them. " You have my word sir...I have already submitted." he murmured in between his restless and uncomfortable breathes. The chair had been drawn back, scratching upon the floor as to suddenly break Darious from where he had been so lost in thought. The momentum carried as he felt the legs swerve so that his eyes would meet that same set of fiery slits belonging to the dragon. They examined his, stared into the clouded reflections of his confusions, shames and weariness. Those yellowed claws had been at his chest, toying at the fabrics and it's buttons to relieve their encasement of his garments beneath. They very well could pierce his skin with ease no sword could possess but their sharpness sought out only his clothes. All the while the great black neck of Valnosh bent in a proud display of sharpened spines and opened scales.

" you are creatures of such passions. Share them, give them to me, Darious. Give all that would so please me." He could see every fine detail of the dragon's scales on it's face now. Could see every shined end of the hard surfaces. Could see the reddened ducts of it's impressive eyes that burned into his own with their never blinking staring. He had known little to counter the advances nor warrant them. The very essence of the situation baffled his steps. The dragon had been so very close to him then, it's face examining every reaction and every purpose about him for Dragons were highly insightful creatures that watched and learned ever so quickly. Darious however had been no scholar of romances and even perhaps contrary. His only experience had been that of awkward giggles and laughter, strange pleasures even still alien to himself in a bale pile of straws. Things of the moment and no more that he could understand but perhaps such human concepts were indeed what the dragon demanded of.

Perhaps all such pleasantries began with the exchange of lips, a kiss. Could he kiss such a creature however? The odd design of their face, this outward and great nose that unlike a beak almost. Had dragons even the concept or considerations for romances and behaviours such as that act? More so than that, Darious found difficulty in the resolve to attempt the affection. It's eyes kept on him, waited while the rest of it's body continued on to disrobe at the man. It's expression had been a mixture of many things, curiosity, caution and amorous. The likelihood of his eventual leave hinged well on the quality of his displays. He would start such things with a kiss and pray all the while it might not anger the thing. He drew closer as the dragon made away with his cloak, dragged it's claws on the grey fabric to yank it to the boy's sides, curious at his own growing proximity. His maw appeared all the same as the rest of his face, hardened and cracked like stone, yet a softly darkening to coal like color at it's lips. Darious would not hesitate any further; with an arm free from the tugged cloak, he brought it to rest at it's hardened cheek and steady his course. He inched closer, terrified and in a bizarre way, excited, he brought his lips to the very tip of his snout. To his surprise they had not been so dried and rough as they appeared but rather soft if not folded and wrinkled in texture.

The action intrigued and humored Valnosh whose throat relinquished a fettered growl deep within in response. The sensation excited the creature who brought it's lips to stay against the man's. Such a curious feeling indeed for both. It's maw had begun to part, pressing it's broad and thick tongue to Darious's lips which had received of it and too with minor reluctance parted. It had met with his own, tasted of him as it's claw reached upon his dagger. Darious could taste the strange realm of the dragon's own prehensile tongue. He could taste the odd tell of iron or copper. The tongue had retreated as Valnosh pulled away. " Such a fine sharp blade you would carry...perhaps not." he eyed the dagger in his claws having snatched it away. " No... such a thing would snap so easily. What a waste of metal. "

Darious watched in an instant as it's claws gripped the dagger and bent it so effortlessly until it did snap, and tossed it away to slide beneath a table's curtain. " You would not need such a thing here nor anywhere else." The dragon's attentions had returned once more to him as it found about his belt and undid it with candid ease. The eagerness of the motions and odd sensations had followed Darious and as his trousers too came to be tugged upon, there had been little surprise for either party that his most vulnerable of flesh had been stiffened from the attention. Valnosh peered with a relishing pride at such a view and admired the little effort he played part of the act for the affect. It's eyes further examined such a pride as the prince's which stood at his mercy now.

" Such an abnormal human you must be. So ready and eager at the touch of a dragon. Your desires must be so very perverse, one might wonder the tolerances of their prince. " Valnosh teased the man, looked into his hazel eyes which reflected the baring of those words. It had lowered it's gaze once more, brought it's head down with it. Valnosh had been right because Darious had been so easily adjusted and brought in eagerness at the simple intimate touches. Had he been so twisted in the heart? He had tensed as he felt the familiar nearly burning hot and wet sensation grip upon his loins. He had known that prehensile tongue to taste of his most sensitive area and embrace the girth of his penis. He had taken sharply of a deep breath and could not help but watch, finding the long red tongue to effortlessly curl along it as a fleshy vice.

It had truly felt so very enticing and unnaturally sensual. The pressure of that tongue had seized Darious and brought a great shuddering of distinct pleasure in the exotic element. Soon enough it's grip had loosened, unwinding from him and back between the black maw. " The taste of royalty, how savory indeed." that stone like voice had been hypnotic and deliberate now. " I could very well enjoy the taste more. How I would enjoy that...However... you would request permission of myself for such indulgence." his burning eyes looked to Darious who sat in throws of many such confusions and erotic senses it may very well have overwhelmed him.

It had not been enough for him to give his self to the dragon. It wanted more than simply just that; it wished Darious to want his self givings, even permit, beg for such a privilege of carnal commune both kinds were separate of. They were rulers of patience and cunning things. Desirers of that which only pleased them. For Valnosh, the willingness of a human was such the temptation and desire, it grew as the symbolic drooling on his maw and stabbing in his heart. The greatest of prizes to claim the senses of a man without the repulse or rejection. So he waited with his breath upon his lap, the digits of it's claws idled to grip on Darious's shaft and tease upon it with intricate squeezes. How odd they felt on him. How thick and tough, hard and barring, and yet so soft at the center nearly as silk.

The incentive gripping had weakened the man's thoughts which flowed and eased with such quandaries he could not ignore but his lusts begged the contrary. He was fully expected to vocalize his want, and his response to it's disciplined touch spoke so well of that want without the need. Their eyes met once more, the man's breaths growing with every tender stroke of himself. " Lord Valnosh... I would..." his body shivered and denied him a moment's speaking " ..I would...ask your permissions for your care..." A delighted growl had escape the dragon's throat with such a triumph that excited him and stirred his blood. " Then I would grant it." Valnosh hissed as he bent his snout once more and took hold of the man in his tongue. His claws had shifted, reaching to grip firmly at Darious's sides as he wormed his prehensile tongue to ensnare the human once more. A sigh of utter relief and pleasure escaped Darious's lips, feeling the unnatural squeezes; he could feel himself worked up, introduced to an abnormal enjoyment as the thick saliva of the dragon coated it's prize.

The tongue had unwound, Valnosh's snout ever so close with it's lips to meet at the very tip of his Manhood. His tongue curled just beneath the head of it as his eyes stared up to the human with a silent demand. Darious had been timid and unknowing of what to do, what the black dragon might have wanted of him. The heat of it's nose warmed his crotch as it sat in a terrible silence. With an uncertainty he had brought his hand to it's head, felt the great beasts scales which felt of stone that would not yield. So very hard yet smoothed in small patches. The touching had not been lost on Valnosh who drew his lips further on the tip with the notion. An odd sort of sound came from his long curled throat, almost as if he were purring as a cat. Had this been what the dragon wanted in such a course...? This exchange of powers and dominance, of taking and receiving?

The sight alarmed him, it's mouth so close to his most vulnerable of places. It also excited him in such a profound way as well. Did it expect him to take reign and even lead...? Darious with a great caution had softly pressed his hip forward from the chair, kept his hand at the creatures head to grip upon the scales and encourage it ever closer. His purrs had grown louder as Darious's penis pressed into the maw, slipped passed the coal lips and into the intense warmth of the creature's mouth. Those fiery eyes flickered and lulled to a close in the sensations, the erotic flavor of the man's taste; he too brought his lips to close, the tongue guarding the prize from his teeth. The human had indeed given his senses and passion to him, and it was a process unlike any meeting their kind would have. Where dragons were so direct, so vicious and so pure in the need, there was a much more elaborate process to humans. It intrigued Valnosh and heated his arousal for the many years he had wandered and collected, studied and watched their ways.

Dragons cared little in the form of their own lusts and release. They found indifference in gender so far as it served the purpose. They were however at the core of their natures, often reserved for dominance. Even the act itself credited a barbaric exercise of their strength for there is a pride to a dragon's nature. A pride that bore violence and claws, teeth and force. Valnosh did not need any such things here; humans were such frail things, they required comforts otherwise they might break so easily. There had been more however. The impossible to be certain, but it had been such an desire that drove at him. Valnosh felt the desire to be dominated by a human, to relinquish and be wanted by such a creature; it stood against their reasoning, pride or other. It had not been so simple for Valnosh to treat his urges. They demanded more intricacies and a particular element that tilted on the edges of undeniable fetish. Perhaps his heart had been the one of a most perverse nature among the two now...perhaps.

He felt the hip pull back, the thickness retreat from his tongue and lips. His eyes opened to a midway, staring at the prince with half lids as nearly all the length had left his maw but the tip once more. Darious found the warm and wet mouth of the creature to be an unaccountable feeling that shared no peer. The roof of it had been of many ridges and tough bulges, pockets of tough flesh that were not in the habit of this habit. As he pulled from that mouth he could feel ever bump and groove, pocket and more trace upon him. It enveloped him in a fury of lust that betrayed the regard it were inhuman at all but so much more. Imagine, a man, a prince of all sorts who betrayed his crown might also betray the sanctity of their kind and give in to such temptations a myth might offer which is what Darious did in his lost experience. He sighed once more, pressing into that mouth which tempted him, felt the lips accommodate him as the maw fully took of his length so that the snout very well pressed into the man's crotch.

Valnosh accepted him with a quiet eagerness and bore down a great suckling that arched the man in doing so. His claws braced down at the hips, feeling the sudden buck of the man and releasing a deepened grunt in return with each thrust. The man had a rhythm in his movements, and his grip had only grown firmer at the back of his head, finding their way around his proud and sharp spines which especially flared now. He gulped down, salivated as he flexed his tongue beneath the girth and gave a truly animalistic suckling. His head bobbed in the human lap, steadied it's coiling neck and listened to the needful pants and exertions of the prince and the scratching of the chair's wooden legs against the floor. They had carried on this course for some time in the exchange until with a wet pop, Valnosh had pulled off and away from Darious as if in an instant.

A strand of saliva had trailed from his lips, breaking away into the shadows and light. The dragons eyes fully open once more, they stared upon Darious with an excitement and deep hunger. " You would endure such stimulations, prince and you are so distinctively appetizing but I do want more. Much more indeed. " Darious sat in a near stupor from the assaults of the dragon. He may have been far more drunk on the urges of the encounter than the wine itself. " You would take follow of me to my chambers. There we might find less obstructions." There had been tinges of seduction in the voice, eagerness for a far more intimate experience. The serpent had such an air of finality to it's words, it may have very well hinted an absolute over the man who sat a moment in the chair.

The guilt had a hand on Darious's shoulder. A moment's reflection yielded a clarity to strike at his heart. A unique shame had swollen inside his chest, of a forbidden acceptance he endured. The suddenness of the intensities, the forwardness of that dragon's touch on him and all the powers it influenced over the parts of his body...those hands were no longer on him however and his thoughts were not so silenced. Could he will himself to follow? His mind doubted but his body still remained attentive, even longing for the touch once more, even the touch of the beast. His breathing had dulled but his heart remained excited for he battled the predicament. Every part of the act had been wrong, an offence even perhaps to gods, and yet the idea had been far less intruding with every moment. Could he truly follow and uphold his words to the dragon? It's eyes kept to him but they appeared somehow softened.

Their robe shifted and shook, turning towards the door from Darious, Valnosh had drawn away with the soft clicking of heel against the wood. Darious's hands found trouble with his belt, the darkening aura about his eyes troubled him in the haste and by the point he had managed a loop, the tall figure stood at the doorway of the great room. " Of course...if you would rather remain for what is left of this night..." A widened grin remained on the dragon's maw as his words seemed to hiss out and it turned away to vanish passed the frame. Of course Valnosh had teased Darious and tested the boy's resolve but a certainty had already given in his mind. The human had been allowed a deliverance in the course of that play, and the toying like many things of a dragon, had been well founded and deliberate to entice even the most guarded.

The great flame had given out with a dieing sizzle. The room itself gave to night and all that it entailed, including Darious whom had been left in the darkness and with little inclination left to account objection. " Gods forgive me for my trespasses." he whispered in relent as he left the chair, hurried out of the dark to the flickering candle light of the hallway. The dragon had hold of him. He had found at the very ends of the twisting way, another set of stairs ascending. Valnosh drew up them in a such an estranged way apart of any natural life. He watched in an odd fascination as the scaled beast roamed from his sight, and could have sworn to see a black tail slither out from the bottom of the robe to trace upon the steps. Darious might have found the means to take leave then. He could have gone the very other way, taken flight down the stairs, passed the tiles with the star and out the doorway into the night where he might never again look back to such a place and it's master.

Any other man in their right mind may have done just that and not looked back. Any other man would not have considered such sensual intrigue but that mouth and lords the pleasure that it had brought. His fate had already been sealed when he had given his word. It may have been all that were left to Darious in spirit. He followed the distance of the dragon, feeling the uneven padding of his steps. His head felt so light. His arms still buzzed with invisible insects and the weight of his legs became most apparent from his previous exertions only moments prior. When he had reached those same steps, he found it to wind in a series of loops. Here it had returned to the masters of the outside cold. He shivered and gripped upon his cloak as he began them. The mishmash of architecture truly turned Darious on his head. only an uncommon eye could have made such a design. Like many other parts, the steps too were not all as one but a mixture of different colors, coarseness and firmness. He had worried along the way his foot might fall through one which had rotted partially as wood.

Such a manor of odds and ends where elegance and manic craftsmanship were set by a lone king who watched over it all. The step had ended, and an overarching door with shining handles met Darious at the very top. A pale light of green reached out from beneath the base, swirling almost and beckoning. He mused to knock or to simply reach for the rather thick knob. " Why would you hesitate now, prince..? I can smell you behind the door." Valnosh's voice too reached beyond the door to him , following a growl. He had braced the door and pushed at it to open way to a most shadowed room. The walls and floor cast in stone and of many carpets and felts. A series of glass in a varied state of shapes and sizes elaborately filled the tops of many furniture. Strange liquids and stones seemed to occupy their hold. Another place of grand hoarding where the banners of many lands hung upon the walls cast by a bright green light.

At the far edges of the room, the dragon stood before a black cabinet, his back to Darious who had drawn the door closed. He watched with such fascination as the white robe was shuddered free, draping to the floor to reveal the intricate series of body and scales beneath it. In a way from the broad shoulders of the dragon toward the upper hips, it may very well have appeared human were it not the discolorations, the protruding blades of darkened bone and shimmering wings, folded so closely to it's body. The legs had been bent inward, forced back in an unnatural fashion; they were of a thick muscle, in a way not all that different than an avians own structure. A loud crack sounded from each as they straightened to full erection. A loud hollowed sigh flowed from Valnosh's maw from the very satisfaction.

A long tail with a most sharpened end curled about the fallen robe, taken of the wear and brought it once more into the air to be grasped and vanished into the cabinets. " Come Darious, rest upon my sheets and we may very well learn the extent of our conduct. " it's muscled arm extended as to gesture at the room's center. the span of it's wing unfolded in full, stretching to reveal the velvet like textures of the wing itself. The unnatural green light of this chamber nearly passed it's translucent thickness; where it arose from, Darious could not know. In a way it had been almost calming with a pulsating intensity. He had seen the room's center in his eye's travels where Valnosh had directed him. A twisting set of wooden frames, four pillars as if many serpents intertwined reached from the floor and into darkness. A throwing of many sheets and textures swirled in disarray and the rest appeared a massive Divan of such impressive build. Such stuffed throws without the care of quality, some even leaking of feathers, had been disturbed and lain about. Like all other things in this place, it had a near manic display and yet a subtle charm that felt otherworldly. The cloak had left the boy's grip; he'd set it down and drawn to such a bed with a timid anticipation of the unexpected and worrying unknown. It's sizing had been so abnormally large, it clearly had not been of human design in mind for it well could have fit twelve, maybe thirteen souls.

Darious had taken a seat at it's edge, uncertain and perhaps even awkward of what might transpire. It had truly dawned on him, the full extent of what might come to be. The thought he might truly touch of a dragon's form and it of his in a strange eroticism unknowing even to his true understanding. It worried him greatly and drew his heart once more in a frenzy. He listened to the hollowness of the room, felt the odd sensation almost as if the air had been moving and it raised the hair on his arms. The light's hue had begun to shift, change into a bright blue that filled the room. The soft scraping of paws that drew at the rugs and revealed floor brought Darious once more from his thoughts. " You do well to follow direction and order, Darious. Is your word so important to you or had the touch of a dragon simply been too challenging for you to ignore?" Surprisingly, Valnosh had been far greater in size than earlier portrayed. They indeed had been their own master of hidden quality for they very well towered above Darious by many feet even without the assistance of an elongated throat. Their wings had outstretched as if in a great set of two black hands reaching aside with a thick film between each. It had been a marvel of display, a proud showing of the dragon's full body without the hiding of any cloak to shield it's potential. Valnosh drew closer, stretched his neck and flicked his long red tongue passed his lips as his body relaxed and expanded.

Darious had no words to speak as he took rest at edge of his lay. He had no answer for the dragon. That had not been true, he had but it remained inside his mouth with little reason to leave. Yes it had been his word but damn how he had been so tempted and could not shrug off his instincts. " You would be the first human to lay eyes upon this place and with my consent no less. You should feel well honored for I am a most gracious king. " he watched the swaying of it's thickened hips, it's body bend as the reptilian claws dragged upon the opposite side of the divan. Those eyes seemed to glow of a light all their own as the tall blackened form took upon the bed on all fours. It encircled the sheets and dispersed the pillows, some vanishing off the very sides as it took of the bed, curling along the edges so that from it's head to the very end of it's tail. The divan had all become a single entanglement and invitation with it's only opening now within the center.

" Lay with me, Darious." Valnosh seemed to croon, his claws spread with a contentment and Darious did obey the command. He had found his silent way between the creeping tail, careful of the sharpened spines and protruding scales to rest his back to the soft textures below. It had been an awkward gesture of a journey for the man whose only accommodation could be found between the chest, stomach and linens the creature had domain. The thing oozed of warmth from the great cracks in it's hardened skin. Where the scales split an arid heat arose both intense and inviting from the otherwise withdrawn warmth in the air.

" So quiet now, has the voice lost itself from you or perhaps a more directness takes hold?" Darious had felt those powerful claws at him once more. A single firm grip that tugged at the fabrics of his laced shoulders in an agony of deliberately slow pace. " Or...would you be so awestruck with fear at my impressive form? Is it not divinely made from the worst of this world? These hands have spared no metal or fools that brought them. These eyes have seen endless nights and brightest fires. This tail..." The weighted appendage stirred from it's curl and arranged itself closely. It dragged upon his pants leg with a tugging of it's ridges that too felt so powerful a heat. It's sharpened tip whose edge had been more honed than his own dagger came to rest at his crotch.

" ...this tail has slain more men than my hands. So impressive and terrifying is it not...? " the weight of Valnosh's snout bared on Darious's other shoulder, vibrating with a soft growl. " I am..not afraid of death, sir. I have seen dreams of it and felt it in my wake. I fear...having died and not even knowing it for the remainder of my days." the dragon rumbled with a delighted chuckle " How poetic you things seem to find in your words. You do not answer my question however. I do wish to know what ever may be on that human brain of yours. How it does intrigue me;Is this not a satisfaction? You came and obeyed, listened to my wishes as good men might with their...word. Why are you here? Is it honor, is it your fear, or is it your desires to lay with such a grand creature as myself? An answer, Darious; I would expect no less."

He had felt the lace loosen at his shoulders and with it the hold of his wear. The motions of those digits even in the most simple of acts lured a realm of possible indulgences and touch. When Darious could feel the softness of the center brush at his shoulder, it brought a shivering to him. In the instance he had known his purposes that brought him to that very moment then. Why he had not torn into the night but instead followed. His mouth had been dry once more for there was a guilt in his admittance. " I would not undo my words... no matter your request that would be given for I am of my word and would not turn. I do fear you, Lord Valnosh. I fear what you are and the magnitude of your very existence..I fear that even with this knowledge I am unable to resist your cares or hands and that frightens me most. "

He'd felt a wetness beneath his chin and at his throat, found the dragons tongue to be curling along his skin and tasting him once more. He'd gasped as the tail in a fury stabbed at his belt to undo and disband. It had twisted, revealing a smoothed section where cracks had ceased and a near fleshy like patch shown. It came down to grind into his fabrics and at the stirrings of his loins. " And that excites you, being touched by these hands?" it whispered to him, it's eyes drawn to it's own work as the tail ground further into his pants to slip through and rub the very hot skin against Darious's own. He had tensed, arched at the odd sensations and squirmed against it.

" You desire of this touch? Truly would you so?" Valnosh hissed, turning his gaze to Darious who could not look away from it. " I...would, sir." he shuddered once more " You would so beg for it even?" it had drawn it's scaled face so near and Darious felt the awe sense of humiliation " Yes I would..please, Lord Valnosh." the words pleased the dragon without end and flared his own heat. Deep in his chest he felt a relief that reminded of days long passed and such a unique self conciousness that might have given warmth to his cheeks in the rush. His other claw had came to the man's chin, held it as his face neared further and once more indulged their lips meeting. The sensation stimulated Valnosh far more greatly than many other things had in such a proceeding of time.

A pleasured grunt had escaped Darious's lips with the constant rubbing motion all the while. His wear far loosened now by the threads, hung at his side, tugged at by claw and their affections had departed as the dragon disrobed the man and unceremoniously flung his over wear from their sights. The tail had halted, instead coming to a curl to yank at the undone trousers and pull at them until they well near took the boots with them. Darious had no longer an ounce more of clothes to him than Valnosh did, and the creature enjoyed the sights of the young masculine body. The natural extent of themselves so bare to one another to show every inch. Such a pale creamy skin, smooth and easily damaged. Darious felt an arm around his chest, staying him closely against the heat of the creature, it's other claw to grip at his length and reward it strokes.

He could only brace against the dragon's hold and allow it's seasoned grip, not that he wished against the attention. A relief of sorts came over Darious that fluttered his heart and swamped his senses in the passions of the motion that dragon knew so well as to provide. Indeed, Valnosh knew the human to have fully given himself and the reinforcement of his words served a greater needing at the whims of the scaled king. He could feel the arching element of lusts in his own thoughts and in his blood which too stirred himself many ways. His head reclined, it's focus on the very stiffened thing he toyed with and the scaled neck of the creature wormed it's way down to meet with it. Darious watched his snout hover, Valnosh's eyes staring up to his with a certainty and almost mischievous tease in them.

His mouth had opened well enough to display the rows upon rows of sharpened teeth that glinted in the blue light and he was all too slow to spread his maw further open and invite Darious's stiffened length in. He'd studied the human's expressions, his reactions to the earlier acts. Valnosh knew him to be excitable at the prospect of the animal like mouth and Valnosh had been more than willing to taste again of the delight. He'd further brought his maw over it, blanketing the bottom with his strong tongue and lowered his coal grey lips to vanish the length between it once more.

Here Darious was again in the familiar and yet so blatantly unfamiliar terms with a monster of nightmares and fires. The majesty of reflective dark scales and mass baring in the ex-prince's lap with a bobbing of the head. Darious's breath had grown in the excitement of the strange sensations such an unexplored place could yield and felt the intense heat of Valnosh's suckling. The dragon enjoyed the human's now and then spasms and bucks to press further between the roof of his mouth and tongue. He'd tasted the bitterness of that excitement for his effort, found such an odd yet erotic taste to it that grew a far deeper stirring in his own nethers. Valnosh had worked up the human, brought the words from his mouth to beg and need for the dragon's enticement.

The many years he had kept eye to such vices and studied them wore a fantasy of luxuries aside the many odd and beautiful items that came to be hoarded throughout his great halls. A knowledge so utterly pointless to their kind it had no place in their world. To now have that want in the moment cast a welling and even pleasant anxiety to his heart that had been so distanced it might be thought lost. Why had he been so consumed by the need and pursuit for such things that normally escaped a dragon? He could not know the full extent of such inclinations for his world had been of isolations and distant watching, always watching.

Allies were few and far for a dragon and even in their cleverness there was always the threat of many things including themselves. For Valnosh, there had been no allies at all. He had been born of an ill body whose sleekness did not thicken, horns grow or size compare with those he'd met in his travels. There had been a repulse to his presence when seen and a profound fascination in the abnormalities his kind would find. He found hardships in flight, difficulties in feeding and burdened by the vantages of other's size and strength. They were keepers of mountains and their very tops where air was thin and cold; where wings found little resistance and inner fire kept them warm. This too had been lost on Valnosh whose heat even failed to keep tolerance of the environment.

Still, there were others that would descend the mountains and vanish beneath the clouds to worlds below. Many places beyond belief that some did not come back. Little reason kept the dragon to stay and little was needed to keep him from going and so he too leapt from the thin air and kingdom's of dragons. The years were unkind in the unfamiliarity of such varied and odd worlds below. Wonders and many dangers that both excited and terrified him in travel. They were clever things, you know. Cleverness hid Valnosh as did his size.

He'd seen of the humans and watched their ways with puzzlement in the days. In night he had stolen of their valuables and such things as books, so uncommon as written tomes of their thoughts. They fascinated him and challenged his mind of the purpose. Always careful he was but it were not enough for a strange fascination gripped him to understand these humans, these men and women and all the little ones they bore. He would spend years in a township of an isolated wilderness. Uncommon paths where even in vein routes, were less in the grips of greater peering eyes. Stowing away in many odd places, he would further study them, examine their tongue and dialect and then pale in mimicry.

The dragon would find an uncomfortable air following himself, baring down on his back, a feeling that pressed him on from village to township, even once a kingdom's keep. He had learned his kind to be known but in stories and fears that were swallowed by hate. A dragon was known for the suddenness of it's arrival, a darkening of it's shadows that very well consumed a street. The interactions were uncommon or at least seen by so few who lived through it, the entirety of the truth remained clouded below rumors but such things are dangers of their own.

He was not so huge a size, not in comparisons to another of his race. He'd learned ways to hide himself away in the wake of a crowd; could fold his elongated neck and bend his knees in such an odd way. He wore heavied cloaks and robes, things to disfigure and discredit him in form or obscure his face. Even found the sort of natural walk to his steps that kept prying eyes from the wonderment. Some places he went had vast accessible buildings of tomes and the knowledge further pleased his tongue. He'd found of curiosities as the lands distant and near, it's people. His mind grew understanding of the stars and affections, ocean and war, dirt and politics.

No matter such knowledge however, Valnosh still felt apart from the streets and of man. To speak their language and know their ways did not bring them any further close to the world but reminded them of that separation. He found troubling thoughts belonging to nowhere and with nothing. He had vanished for a time, leaving to the heavens once more where the sky is most open and forever but not to his home. He had found others in many places but just as below, he was as much a stranger who even more so found a lesser life to which he was born.

In his aging he felt the silent calls of his inner needs. They may very well played the part in his return to such places. The need as it were, tempted him in the courting of another but contrary to the urges, he was all too inferior in both his strength and physical prowess. The very concept of courting itself belonged outside the realm where the purity of aggression and one's strong will carried on one's bloodline. Valnosh had experienced the agony of such pursuits and found the unequivocal determination of retaliation to his advancements. Male or female, he had been overpowered and unable to find release. It clouded him and drew a final line between the places in the sky and the valleys below. He did not belong in either since the start. He returned to the places of man, filling a heat of anger and unbridled lustful needs which would remain untouched.

It had been the only life he could understand at the least. He continued to roam and at times thieve of small trifles. It was then in such a small village as Nariun one year that in the wanderings of the night, Valnosh discovered such an odd sight through a half opened window. He had peered from his perch, examined and intruded through the glass to find of a man and woman laying in throws upon their room's sheets. Their whispers to one another were of such intimate secrets between themselves but it did not escape the dragon's ears. He hid upon the tiles and further blended with such an awe and curiosity to see their closeness, listen to their gentle laughter and watch their hands intertwine as well their bodies without wear.

The imagery had both been ugly and yet somehow so deliberate, intricate. Their kinds way of mating that astounded and intrigued Valnosh. He hadn't seen much further and turned away into the nights with a confusion. In the years beyond, his form had continued to grow and Valnosh found it that much harder to cloak himself in the crowds. He'd found a distinct pain in his contortions but his wonderment denied him the rest otherwise. He'd spoken so perfectly of their tongue and even found those distanced enough from his identity that he could indulge conversation now and again. He'd learned of a man who dreamed beyond a farm hand and wanted to see an ocean for the first time. Listened to a barmaid who spoke of the day she had found marriage from her husband thought to have not returned from a war years before.

His embrace and their words so warm it contented her daily businesses. Valnosh had been of many places and taken of many things. He had seen of oceans and great heights beyond the scopes of even a human's imagination. He was bothered however for in that woman's words, a distant desire tugged at the dragon. Perhaps the lusts had never left indeed but he fantasized of too being embraced. He thought of the man and woman in the night's window and felt a flaring. He wanted to be touched as that too, and to be affectioned, whispered of such intimacies and touch in return. The thoughts that bothered him so were that he wanted it especially from a human and he did not know why.

Could a man and dragon even commit such a union let alone be mated? Such odd thoughts and flights of fantasy and wonderments. Their bodies so far different and their lives. There had been a loneliness for Valnosh and that loneliness grew to an unbearable way that it brought his ventures to peer at other such intimate sights from afar. He partook as an unknown spectator to the nightly secrets of others and saw the many ways of their motions in many places. With each viewing he felt more disturbed by his wandering thoughts that he might so wish to feel that passion too. He did, he wanted so very much of it but with another.

It had been his undoing for the ambition. The distancing of repercussion dulled the true dangers of man to Valnosh but he persisted with the fantasy of exploring that closeness more and more in his mind. He admitted a particular delight to the male form; perhaps it had been often times more in similarity to his own that comforted or the very nature of their interactions. He found a boldness and distinct posture most would carry. There was a charm to it and while a woman too caught his glances, he found lesser intrigue in their likeness.

He'd taken to prowl in the wakes of pubs and places for a minds purposeful delusions and gently prodded those that were so taken of their senses they might be suggested away to more private matters and care. However most did not enjoy the premise of those suggestions, some even felt an alarm to it and perhaps even insult but very often enough Valnosh simply found the care to leave and find places anew for the troubles. More than once had he been threatened for the pursuit albeit most just played with their words with little more to reckon or uphold of them.

There had been one however that truly kept a hold on the dragon. This man in a small town's inn, Ernetii's Cove. Unlike the other contacts and targets of his advances, this one had spoken directly to himself first. Oddly enough it had been a night where Valnosh simply wanted the sounds of others and nothing more. The inn had been known for their now and again soft playings of instruments where murmurs kept below the strings if out of a respect for the art. It serenaded him and the man who too played of it had been of a mid aging.

He would take watch among some others, keep to his corner and enjoy the strumming of their hands at the lute they never seemed to be without. His name had been Tal and while he belonged no more to the Inn than Valnosh had, the man would arrive so often on the off nights from down the corners. He had been a trades goodsman who had come in possession of the Lute by chance as he recalled it, from a mermaid's hand on a warm night's eve. Such silly superstitions but they were humoring at the least. Beyond the tale, he only came to play when the nights were off and his shop's doors came to a close. So there he sat as he had many a times, not bothered at all to change of his dust gown. When the music came to finish the hush vanished in a choir of discussions.

The dragon just sat and listened, heard many voices all at once and took in their conversations without invitation. It had not been until a voice requested of himself that he turned to find the very man and his Lute standing at an awkward angle beside his table. " Pardon me, I just must know...are you a Talid percher?" and the question dumbfounded Valnosh. Talid Perchers had been from a further land, far south that it might be months and months to reach in that distance; they were bargainers, sometimes scholars that seeded in towns, found study of it's people. No less man than the next but they were in the habit to perturb. One might have considered them of spying but that in itself were great myth fueled by their allusive attitude in general.

" I would not." it seemed simple enough an exchange. " Ah, a relief. I had my worries, sir. I'd take note of yourself to be a watcher...do tend to stand out... yet seldom are you seen about this town elsewhere. I assumed inappropriately. " he had a soft voice just like the lute and it was calming to him. " I am often kept to travels. Never so far but enough to keep me without roots." Tal had remained a moment and seemed troubled to say further " By chance would you find any room for another? I do enjoy conversation and you appear a man who would have much to say." the words had came out so quickly, almost timid especially for a man of his more filled stature. It intrigued Valnosh and stirred his considerations " Please, take a seat. May my company prove so entertaining."

and he very well did. " My name would be Tal olric, trades and wares." the dragon paused at the introductions " ...Valnosh. Wanderer." Tal had a wit to him and the conversations exchanged between the two were that which Valnosh had no prior experience to compare. His knowledge came from those he dealt with in their travels and sales; informed and kindly worded. His eyes were like water and they were in the habit to be most anywhere than on the dragon. He could not tell, could not see beneath the obscuring hood, but Valnosh saw all too well of his indirect wordings, his tendencies to stumble at times and have a shy character to his phrasings.

The night had ended with the conclusions of themselves parting separate ways out the Inn's doors but the man had a request to indulge their discussions another meeting in the place. Valnosh wished for that as well and for a time he felt less weighted down by the cloak and thought. He would return every now and again, finding the Goodsman to play among quieted souls, and he would take the same seat to watch, enjoying the tranquillity with a silenced eagerness. It felt pleasant to partake, and ever more so to talk of their days. One might have considered it to develop in a routine but the two had the most intricate of converses.

Tal had a great love for the music he played, learned some of it from passer bys in the town. Though he had been little good with the notion, Valnosh even directed of other such tunes he heard along the way. He enjoyed Tal's company, and it even stilled his aggressions at times; those eyes even behind the thickened glass rims made him feel as if he were actually being seen. This had carried on for weeks, months...perhaps a year or more even with time and a greater stirring followed the dragon who felt an air of warmth to the man, comfort and affections with the changing seasons.

He'd stopped his pursuits in the time, carried strange thoughts and distant wants of him but the dangers of a hidden identity plagued confidence. They continued their talks and comforts but the intruding thoughts would not subside. Such a night he felt especially pained by them he had found a surprise in Tal's own forwardness, well, the most forward the man could get by his knowledge. " I know us to go separate ways and meet again with a certainty..however I might ask perhaps if you would...well, what I mean to ask is... " He had removed his glasses to cleanse them, biding time and staving an uncomfortable air.

" I was wondering if you would wish...company this night? " the words excited Valnosh and grew a glee of long withheld desires, some that were born only of the man and nothing else. It also grew a fear and guilt for Tal knew an alternate truth of him. That which he hid behind shadows in the mimicking walk of a human. He wanted to so dearly, to feel that touch but he hesitated. He could not help himself, he wanted to believe that he would reveal himself and maybe be spared the rejections. A fable where affections and romance, intrigue especially win over the mind. It was not meant to be.

They had found a room to their secrecy and there had been a thrill as well terror in all of it. A room in the very same inn where a window might show fully the glories of a moon without the obscuring clouds. The two had been of a curiously enough stiffened approach but quiet laughter and innocent talks stilled the unbearable notions especially in Valnosh. When the door had came to close, he drew near to Tal. He had wished to take of his hands but his were of a different design. There had been no consolation or way to comfort either of themselves and the dragon kept such a distancing as he balanced his fears.

" Olric...there is something I would desperately need to tell you of." even beneath the weight of his cloak he could feel his claws shiver against the inner linen. Val had taken a sitting to the room's bed and looked to him with such curiosity. " I would admit a...deceit to my character. Something I could not ignore and a knowledge I know well you could not either. We have known each other of many interests and traits for some time. You would so find me appealing even in my shadow but it would be revealed to you. "

His hands shakily came over the hood with the hesitations that wished he otherwise resisted the advance but there was little more he could do otherwise. He had drawn it back, allowed his coiled neck to remain so as his spines stretched out in a mess. His face had been always of a dragon's but where there was usually such a fire, there had only been fear in his eyes. The shock had quite taken the man who at once even let out a gasping. " Olric... my deception has been a great one that haunts me. I know you to be of a good man with a gifted heart. I have felt such givings for yourself...You have seen something else of me than...this. Would you so turn me away...? "

his legs had shaken for he did not know what would happen and his fears were met not with screams or with rage but with the worst of all words. " I...could not...lay with such a beast. I...you are a smart creature...you know to speak well but I could not ever partake in such an act. Valnosh...you...I would ask that you leave for I would be alone this evening. I would ask that...you never return to me again." those eyes like water weren't looking at him. They looked anywhere but him with a fear and they never would. The hood had gone over his head once more; the man had spared him the barbarities of others knowing that night and Valnosh left into the dark learning even a dragon could produce tears. He vanished in silence and he would never return.

There are stories to this day that dragons are such clever things. They can hide among humans and silently bring whole villages, towns and larger in ruin. He would not know of that for he stopped indulging his quiet travels. His heart had grown tired and threatened from the isolation and disturbances. The days turned to night faster and Valnosh had grown impatient of all things. The anger returned and the contempt grew, it came out as a great howling might in a creature faced without a purpose and none to share in it. He cursed of his kind and of his birth and turned for a new found existence far lesser than many might know.

He'd taken to snatching of many things that were built, torn of monuments and buildings, ripped apart temples and homesteads for whatever served him. He had as those before him, revealed his existence and as those before him, he was found with fear and retaliation in his cruel greed. He welcomed it and found an emptiness all it's own in the men and women that crossed him. He brought fires and tore into the sky with brick until he would build away and hide away in a place non existent from all eyes. In the swamps where black trees always bare dead leaves and it's home recedes into the waters. Where vast dinners are untouched in the course of the nights.

The hall were of many places, the floors of different times, eras and lands. There were metals and swords, things that shined and had no purpose about them. Books unread and food that spoiled. When the knock came at the door, it surprised Valnosh with a hostility and bitterness that he might greet the soul whom somehow sought him out. He had peered from a window unknowing to the figure at his front door. Contemplated what to do with them and a soft whispering of feelings came back in the sight. It angered and saddened him but his heart would not relent. Would he simply deal with them, creep upon and viciously as swiftly silence them...?

He wanted to but that tongue in him that knew human still, never would forget, it cursed beneath his breath. They would be turned away and that would be that. It had opened a whole different opportunity however that even in his trepidation, it mastered his desires and flights of old romances never to be. This human who called himself a prince had a softness in his weariness and manners, in that voice that stung the dragon's grievance. Everything as it were...happened with a suddenness that came so naturally to Valnosh as if all the years reached out from him and compacted onto this one man in the very instance of that night. Every anger, every sadness, every passion, every desire.

Darious's breathes spoke of those years, and inhibitions. They were both on virgin grounds, one of a never conceived experience and the other without any to begin with. A series of moans had escaped his lips and each one told of Valnosh's approach. However with every nurturing bob, every drawing thrust and feeling of that length slide along his tongue, the dragon grew far more needful to the consideration he might very well be overwhelmed by the tremors in his chest. He'd felt the full rigidity of his own member, pulsating with every beat of his heart. It had been too uncommon a size, perhaps both in thickness and design for a human. Meant for only a dragon which it very well might never know; the knowledge did not stifle the desires coursing through his heated body. There had only been one avenue to settle but the considerations did not dull his enjoyment of such an intrigue.

He'd pulled away, shrugged Darious's hand from his head and receded from those bucking hips. He'd left the man for a second time wanting and in a thoroughly teased state. A certain disappointment had found it's way in to his breath but his attentions were drawn to the dragon's shifting. It's curl had been undone, the dragon's posture came to crane as he drew his black arms in a fold before his chest. The great plated scales of it's back showed their undersides as he'd bent to the human in a display both seductive and proud in nature. It's thighs rose to the air, legs bent in towards one another so that his rump might not ascend too far from the sheets below. The beasts wings unfolded to drape over it's sides and pillows, and it's tail raised to show itself in a most vulnerable of ways.

The sight had been one of majesty and a provocative showing. Where the tail met it's base, a smoothness shown and an opening that flustered Darious with it's invitation. Further down a series of scales had dispersed to reveal the dragon's own pride in a full thickness. It's design had been of a most unique nature and reddened color. A series of greyed spots on it's skin seemed to show, obscuring the series of veins etched within the course skin. The tip had a particular puffed edge so that it might not look so dissimilar to that of a horse's own. Valnosh's head had been lowered, bent between two pillows away so that only one eye might see the man.

A great sighing left it's snout in an anticipation and even sensual fear of the unknown. " Darious..." the dragon had growled into the pillows, even drew them closer as if some protection of their character " Lay myself...mate me as you would any other." the words were demanding as they had been desiring but there had been a distant reluctance in them, perhaps even a softened timid tone. Darious had been at his knees, staring upon such a scene and his own lusts flared with the invite so unique to this thing. He held a moment's detouring from drawing closer with the demand if only to see further of such a guilty admiration.

The eye remained on him, it's body bent further in the display " ...Please." it hissed a whisper in a great need. Darious had come closer, felt the great end of Valnosh's tail follow in a curl behind him as he placed a hand at it's great armored hip. He'd continued to stare for the dragon's eye that stared back and in that moment the human felt less the peering of a creature and that of a lover. He'd rested close so that his hips might meet with the dragon's own; he felt the bracing of the thick tail at his chest, draping over his shoulders to droop down his back and curl further at his feet. With his other arm he held at the tail, felt it's ridges and divides, brought his face near to give a soft kiss to it.

The dragon growled deeply, vibrating with an instance of lightened purring. His hand remained at it's hips, brought them down further with a delicate pushing until he had found his stiffened member at the full heat of it's tail hole. Valnosh's back stiffened at the feeling of it pressing in such an area. His claws easily split at the stuffings he hid so that the feather spill lose. His head further lowered, eyes closing so that no other senses distract the feeling, the closeness. He felt the pressure, the resistance of his physical faculties for although he had been a grander creature as he were tall, the rest of his body had been less so an impressive sizing so that he were on equal terms even with a human still.

His growling persisted at the odd feelings, both alien and in a pain he had not known. The inner walls of the dragon had been a torrent of immense heat that nearly threatened Darious at once upon his intrusions, yet he did little to reverse his course, only pressing his shaft further in with a slow giving. Eventually their hips had met once more and Darious had been fully hilted within the great beast. His motions had rested a moment, taking in the heat, the pressure and tightening of Valnosh who quietly arched. As he pulled back once more he could feel the tugging of those inner walls on him so that he might not escape but he did if only in brief respite and then came once more.

The feeling had been enough a thrill to draw deeply pleasured moans from Darious in the motion. At first it had been a rather uncomfortable feeling, even distressing to Valnosh, and perhaps it still had been, he did not know. In the pain of the accommodation he felt a tinge of sharp pleasures rack upon his hips down to his forepaws and eventually it might press further on still so that a great cloudiness might fill his head. When he'd felt the full shaft of the human to press into his enclosures, it excited him so that he gripped at the very thing with an intimidated want.

With every drawing of the hip, the leave of the hot length from himself only to penetrate once more, Valnosh felt a more vivid pleasuring only heightened by the pains. It welt his deepened breathes of exhilaration which followed in the rhythms of their union, their thrust. When Darious brought his hip closer, the dragon would grind further back in response to feel the depth of that penetration. The sense of the human fully taking of a dragon, dominating and mating it with a lust and passion, filled Valnosh's mind and every thought of the concept made his claws curl. He had allowed himself such a compromise, even wanted it to be so ravaged and desired, held and given up in the throws.

The pacing had only quickened so that he felt his body lurch with each thrust, rebound in return and a fettered moan escape himself to mix with the man's own. However with the quickening, Darious had found the scales to be far more intrusive than considered. With ever a more needful buck in response, every meeting with his self and Valnosh brought a discomfort as the opened scales scraped and prodded at the man's chest and other areas in a painful manner. He had slowed, felt the tender bruising and attempted to curve it without success. " I would..I would beg your pardons, sir." He had found his voice eventually even in the fluster " However I am met with a great opposition from your form. This armor of your own does not like myself." he panted out as he further slowed.

The words had disappointed Valnosh who groaned in the halting and stared once more to Darious. Of course there would be something to obstruct such a passion and of all things it might be his own body still. He thought to himself and wondered, mused in discomfort of a solution to the dilemma but he had been a thing of scales and such armor. They were of his own business as what he were. It troubled him for as much he wished a conclusion even on his terms alone, he still wanted more; he wanted the pleasing of the man as well and to feel his efforts all his own achieve the thrill...but he was still all armored. Would they halt the process there? Would the night simply conclude on the concerns it had been enjoyable while it lasted but pardon your horrid design ruined it all?

" If I may suggest...Lord Valnosh...perhaps you might lay on your back...?" the suggestion left Darious who had at the very least a knowledge of an alternative position more to his understanding. the dragon considered of such, found an intriguing desire in the an odd suggestion and thought of a time seeing such a courted display. There had been an ease in such but it did invite an element which shyed the dragon. It would be that they would face one another in the act. Valnosh had been proud, well built and already so compromised as he were that moment...and yet to face that stare and be unable to hide away from it?

Something about a human's eyes had a strange nature to them that felt at Valnosh. Perhaps he might coil his head away...perhaps not... might have been most odd a display. He yielded in the thoughts, the concerns and humility for the fire in his heart beckoned still. He'd shifted once more, drawn away as he carried himself with keen heed as he drew to his back in a turn as to not tear at the many throws and sheets. He'd positioned in a splaying of his legs, his tail mostly to vanish off the Divan, his arms crossed about his chest and his neck coiled greatly to his shoulders. The fires in his eyes were elsewhere as his sight could not remain upon the boy.

He'd felt truly helpless in a way unlike any other time of his recollections. He'd had control of many things for he had been a king of this place of silence, yet he could not rule a man's word. Perhaps the body but not the word, and showing himself fully brought the subtle fears that his differences might bring the repulse once more. That older words might find their way to his ears. Older words that still would not fade. Darious had crawled upon him, found his ways so that he might rest on his tail and position himself once more. The familiar feel of his hand at the dragon's hip returned, and Valnosh could feel, see his pulsating member pressed near the belly of Darious.

" I am shamed in a way to admit..." Darious had paused once more as he looked to Valnosh " There is an unknown charm to your form, Lord Valnosh. I find it unbearably enticing." the words warmed Valnosh, brought his own shudders of comfort. He had little to say and closed his eyes perhaps to escape the words and their affections. His maw creased open as he felt the prodding once more, felt the pressure as Darious returned to his prior motions as he steadily slipped his hard shaft once more into the baring scales.

He'd moaned and crooned, unfolded his wings beneath himself in a stretching as he arched and felt the man's weight come down on him. His belly and lower had been a smoother set of the body and while it may not have been so perfectly smooth, it had certainly not troubled Darious who worked his way in and out of the creature. He'd grunted, given to the pleasures and carried his thrusts further into Valnosh who returned them. He'd watched the dragon with it's eyes closed, seen it's teeth bare as it hissed and panted, moaned and growled. His sight had found it's stirring shaft still at his stomach and he'd felt a moment's humoring.

Valnosh had arched further, feeling a grip at the very tip of his vulnerability. He's opened an eye half lidded and found Darious to have had his grip on the dragon's shaft. He could not help but whimper at the delight of the sensations; his claws had left his chest to grip and splinter the linens, damn them if he did not. Darious continued his rhythm, his thrusts and all the while trailed that tightened grip along the extent of the dragon's length. The sheer euphoria gnawed at Valnosh so that his only strength left had been in his passioned cries of pleasure and great growling.

Such curious noises of want and seizing surprise were unknown even to Valnosh who rode the stings of great pleasures filling his body as the prince too filled it. Darious had felt the winds around him quickened and seen the velvet like wings fan as they drew up and down; the dragon chirred helplessly and pleaded for his speeding and voraciousness. The human had given such in the wake of his hastened thrusts and there had been little resistance as he ground against the tail hole and pushed as deep he could without the limitations even a human would inevitably yield. His hand neared a blurring as it stroked without cease across the beast's shaft.

Darious had been close to his release, could feel the swelling in the back of his throat that he could make no uttering in the blindness of great pleasure. He'd felt a tightened clamping of the inner walls on him, felt the full body shudders of the dragon whose back arched greatly. It's darkened wing had arisen, draped over and clung at Darious's back to still him. Valnosh's neck had uncoiled and with a near animal howling, his hips bucked deeply, his legs ground into the bedding as his shaft pulsated in Darious's hand and erupted a fine, thickened load of it's essence in such a volume that it spilled over the man's hand and it's stomach.

It's inner walls spasmed in such a series of grips so tight and drawing that Darious too had lost his moaning beneath the howls. Valnosh could feel him release and felt the viscous fluid pump into him. He welcomed it, greatly shuddered and lowered his form once more. His breath left in a loud panting, his heart pounding as he had never known. The Divan had learned the full fury of his grip for he had damaged it in such a way during the motions, it only dawned on him now. He cared little for his mind swam in a contentment he had never known. His inner grip had released upon Darious, allowed the man to delicately pull out from him and escape the weight of his wing.

He had finally realized his desire, had what he sought for so long and tasted something far more extraordinary than he ever fathomed. The seed of himself had drooped from his scales unable to cling to such a surface, ruined the silks and other beneath his back. Who knows if it ever might come out. He lay there with his eyes closed and felt as if time were nothing again and that eased him so that a subtle grin displayed on his maw. " Lay...with me Darious...prince." he murmured when his voice found him once more and Darious did obey. He too tired and felt such a consuming contentment that less troubled him than he believed in the freedoms of his activity. He'd drawn to a pillow and rest on his side, laid close to the black dragon whose breath began to slow and recede to a normal take.

They lay there in the light no longer blue but a soft red and Valnosh stared into the blackness above them where the posts went to hide. " You pleased myself well, foolish prince." the dragon sighed, found the human with his arms. " Very well..." he'd brought his tongue to once lap at the boy's cheek with an affection, and Darious minded it none in discomfort. " I thank you, Lord Valnosh." he whispered in his exhaustion and he found his gaze drawn with a quiet claw at his chin so that the two were facing one another. " Tell me...was such an experience to be your regrets?" the dragon's words were teasing, pleasant and soft to him.

" Perhaps some day...perhaps not...I do not know what to feel." Darious had taken in deeply of the air " I would admit...they certainly do not now." and the dragon released a deepened chuckle before bringing his lips to the boy's softly. He'd wanted of the physicality and the aggressions only need brought. Now...now all Valnosh wanted was the closeness of two bodies together and the rest. He had been better known for taking such rest in day but now he felt best the need for it in the moment. He'd felt the kiss returned and it pleased him, oh how it did please him. " Sleep, Darious. That is best for you now."

He murmured and lowered his head and Darious did indeed want that. His eyes remained closed in the darkness until a new one found him. One where a different world belonged only to him where strange imagery followed and the pondering of dreams ignited realms beyond any one's grasps. He'd heard the voice of a dragon and felt the beast in a torrent. " an experience to be your regret...?" voices echoed away in shadows. He did not believe he ever might.

His eyes opened to a disturbing light. The air had felt cold as did the ground and as his ears adjusted, Darious could hear the sounds of birds in the distance, the rushing of water. He'd groaned, felt such a weariness that would not escape him as he wrestled from the dry soil beneath him. It had been a forest and the light that found him came from the break in the green foliage of leaves above, so far above him. They were not black, far in contrary for they had been as one might expect a normal tree to be. His grey cloak had protected him from the cold earth and he'd found his dagger heavily bent beside him. Had it been a dream...? A perverse realm of fantasy found in the gratuity of his exhaustions? He wondered as he sat in a hunch and daze. He'd seen of the water flowing in a stream, saw it cascade down the rocks and carry such little things in it whom swam upon their way in the current. Perhaps the night had taken his senses and followed his imaginations, coupled a man's inner fire and mangled that with his fears of the unknown to produce such a...experience.

Darious had found his way to the stream and felt the fog in his head; the dagger had been left, stuck in the ground in it's bent way. He had stayed and tasted of the flowing water, fed on what was left of his crackers and begun again with his tired legs. One did best to follow the currents for such things often found their ways out to sea. Many spend such a likelihood on the venture that he so might find a place of others nearest it. The thoughts still followed him as he traced his steps upon the cast stones and fallen stumps of trees long ago given. The imagery had been so vivid to his senses that it almost pained him to believe otherwise.

He continued the original premise of his worries, his concluded hungers, but the experience in his mind did not grow staved. He was uncertain why it bothered him so, why it warmed his cheeks so that he would remove his hood and allow his blackened hair to fall out and allow the cold to caress away the troubles. Darious heard the waters grow louder and seen of the currents speed grow faster in the hours of his wander. He'd came to peer out over a falls where the water drifted keenly through the air. He stared into the distant valleys and examined them. He watched the stream continue onward and peered smoke.

The climb down had not been so kind for Darious and did little to aid in his exhaustion but he'd managed. He'd returned to his clinging of the stream knowing it would draw him eventually to the smoke which is what it did. He had seen of it overhead the trees and into the sky. When the stream had curved he'd seen the great wooden and tiled structures just along it's banks and further. He'd seen of the constructions and bridges and soon heard it's people. Chance and fortune had favored him. When he had wandered into it's streets and seen of it's people, he sighed in a deep relief and weariness.

He might have looked worn for the worse as he took on a passers-by's shoulder. " Pardon me, sir." he made motion " I might inquire there to be an inn...perhaps work?" the older gentlemen he had called on furrowed his brow but he let out a chuckling that betrayed it " Wandering into town 'eh? Sure there would be an Inn down the way. Probably the tallest of all building in this town. As for work, well that's not the business of my knowledge sir. Best you ask another." the silver on his whiskers tilted with his smile as he wandered along " Do take care now!" he called back " You as well, thank you sir!" Darious had called in return.

The exhaustions still clung to Darious for he had little inclination to rest in his steps but perhaps he needed them. the depth of his notices had been dulled and even in the comfort of the familiar settings, he needed away at them to renew his understandings, even planning. The sign of Dwenersh's Inn hung as an uncommon sight. Not often one might see an invitation of an establishment though there was a more accessible charm to it. The town may have been humble but it also had a thriving air to it. It's people kept to the extent of their trades and carried a quick pace to themselves.

He could see the fine smoke of a smelters establishment no doubt at work. He'd taken note of the stone work on the street's steps. Had this place been Reldin...? His mind discounted the collection from the dream. Inside it had less commotion and hardly a soul to be bothered. The day had not been so passed that there be a greater reasoning for it's use let alone purpose. Like most inns it did bare a tavern of ales but Darious had far the reason away from the need, not that he might afford it in the alternative considerations. He'd been welcomed by it's owner and he took to himself where he might rest a while. When he'd sat in a tired groan, he felt the oddest poking at his side. It had been his left pocket and it drew his hand to reach inside of it.

He'd felt of parchment and it confused him. When it had been drawn out he had found the damaged paper in it's folds and creases. A red wax had sealed at it's bent center, slightly torn now but showing an unknown branding. When he'd opened it a fine thing of silver chains came lose from it's hold to land on the table in front of him but the noise had been lost on nary a soul to be so curious. The writing had been of such intricate penmanship, inked with a steady hand " Follow the stream south and you would eventually find of a place you might understand better. Be on your way and not look back to that which follows you now. A soul can be haunted by the dreams of others and their own ambitions so that a stead might house away all hope and never let an ounce out. You are a foolish prince, young Darious and you might find yourself more lost than you've ever known. Find yourself lost among the trees once more, wear what I would provide and consider my name in your thoughts, Lord Valnosh, king of a silent court. I would hear the calling on the wind someday and we might bargain again. " a far smaller writing had been at the folded paper's very bottom " I would thank you for the experiences I have never known. It may be with myself the remainder of the days." He'd withdrawn the paper, staring at the table at the silver chain.

His cheeks flushing with the realizations of his confirmed belief of a night prior and thought lost. Darious had drawn his hand over it and found an engraved stone, a ruby dark and red as a fire he had seen in the eyes of a monster. The recollections drew a quiet shame, a flustering in his heart and a smile to his tired lips. He'd taken both hands to it, disbanded and brought the loops to connect and hold around his neck. He'd let the stone fall away at his chest and soon tucked it beneath his cloak so that it may better be close. He admitted a fondness and shyness of the action that drew his heart starting again.

He looked out the glass of the inn's window, saw the streets and looked on passed all it's people. He was not looking to his kingdom any more but another. One whose base sinks into water and may never rise. Whose halls are dusty and filled with untouched treasures that would remain forever so. Whose audiences never speak and a lone king that would rule all of it hides away in the days and nights. A dragon who very well may have been staring out and in return as well. Perhaps he would find the black trees that eternally bore no leaves and the fine mists that hid it's grounds. Perhaps he might hear that voice again and learn more of the creature. Perhaps Darious even in his own way longed for the chance again but he would not know then. His travels would continue and his mind would always wonder of myths and legends, stories and tales beyond the woods.