In Service Of...
#4 of Shades of Grey
"How did we come to this? A gallant White Knight, sent as an assassin to slay me in my own tower?" Lord Kerris leaned forward across his desk, fingers steepled with claw-tips touching. Across from him, Sir Garik sat motionless, arms and legs tied tightly together. Also still was his tongue, as it had been during the entire "interrogation."
Lord Kerris sighed. "I have no wish to harm you, Sir Knight. Simply give me your name, and your vow that you'll convey my message, and we will see you safely back to your white tower."
"Or we could send you back in pieces. I'd send your left foot first, that way they'd..."
"Lir, please!" Lord Kerris sighed again, and the bulky lizardman turned away, disdain written clearly across his wrinkled snout.
"As I was saying, we ask nothing of you other than to bring a message back to your White Tower, a few words, and you and your squire go home untouched." The gryphon clicked his claws together, and moments stretched into uncomfortable silence.
"You will ANSWER Lord Kerris, dog!" Without warning, Lir turned and swiped at the wolf's head from behind. Sir Garik let out a startled yip as he felt himself lifted from his seat by the strength of the blow. He landed heavily, unable to soften his landing on the cold stone floor with his arms and legs bound.
"Lir! Leave the chamber. I'll call for you when I'm done."
"Your lackey betrays your kind's true nature, monster. I'll bring none of your poison back to my order. For better or worse, my saga ends here." Blood began to seep down Sir Garik's fur from claw marks on the side of his head, staining the white around his muzzle in thin red streaks.
"Sspeak to our lord respectfully or do not sspeak, pup!" Lir's voice echoed darkly, the lizardman's anger adding hissing sibilance to his normally perfect accent.
"LIR!" Lord Kerris' yell echoed high into the Black Tower's arched apex, then travelled back down to their ears like a roll of thunder. The lizardman lapsed into silence, then bowed his head.
"I apologize, my lord."
"I am done with the prisoner for now, my friend. Perhaps you'd prefer someone else perform your duties while the knight is here at the tower?" The gryphon massaged his nares carefully, trying to stave off the coming headache.
"No my lord. I will not make the same mistake again. Would you like me to see the prisoner back to his cell?"
"Safely. Safely, Lir. I know you're mind, but you must trust my word on this."
The lizardman bristled for a moment, but after a moment, nodded. Without another word, he bent and lifted Sir Garik by his bound wrists and bore him effortlessly from the chamber.
My paws were were sore, my breath was shallow, and my tail ached. The first two were because of the countless stairs I'd climbed, the winding corridors I'd traversed, and the switchbacks that we'd mistakenly caught ourselves in over the last few hours. The third, my sore tail, was because not ten minutes ago, Rrassis had closed a door on it.
Tired and anxious, my view of my makeshift companion had quickly soured. "Rrassis, I thought you said you knew the way to the top of this blasted tower?"
"Well, I've been there a couple of times. Hrral usually leads, she knows the place better than I do."
I stopped dead in my tracks, and after a few paces, the displacer beast stopped and turned to me. Frustration must have been apparent on my face, because Rrassis quailed a little, his ears dipping.
"Look, I'm sorry, but you really didn't give me a chance to consult with the experts..."
I sighed. It was true, but it still meant I was losing time. "Fine, then here's your chance. Know anyone who lives on this floor who would know the way?"
Rrassis nose wrinkled in concentration, then his expression visibly brightened. "As a matter of fact, I think I do. Follow me!"
"Do you know where you're going this time?"
"Yes, yes. You can't miss the way to Rain's chamber."
"Rain? That's a bit... I don't know... Generic." I tried to imagine what kind of creature would pick a name like that, but drew a blank.
"Yes, but are you going to tell a dragon that she picked a bad name?"
I stopped dead again, this time in shock. "A... I'm sorry, did you just say dragon?"
Rrassis turned his head back and gave me a funny look. "Of course I said dragon. Did you think there weren't any here? This IS the one and only fortress stronghold of monsters on..."
"Fine, a dragon." I interrupted. "But are you sure we should just walk in and say hi?"
"How else would you suggest doing it?" Rrassis turned a corner, and I dashed forward to keep up.
In front of us, the corridor widened, then ended as it opened into a cavernous lair. For the first time in what felt like days, I tasted fresh air and a breeze. The floor on the far side of the cavern dropped away, and I smelled the pungent scent of jungle creeping up into the expansive room. Between us and there, however, piles of riches sat in unsteady heaps strewn across the floor. Unlike what I was expecting, though, each and every one of the vast fortune that littered the floor in drifts was silvery in color.
"Rain! Are you home?" Rrassis called out as he entered the room. His voice echoed off of the distant walls and ceiling. Now that I could see it, the roof towered many stories above us. This lair must have carved a huge niche out of the side of the tower.
A long form detached itself from the dunes of coins. Its hide was silver, matching the coins almost as a vain, draconic camouflage.
"Ah, the crass six-legged cat who is there, yet not there, returns. Have you come for a rematch, little kitten?" The dragon's head was spade-like in shape, like a snake's. Long, thin horns sprouted in a crest along each side of it's head and neck, leading down to body not far removed from that of the lizards I'd seen basking in the sun on the side of the jungle rivers. It was large, at least three times my own formidable size, and its wingspan was twice its body length. Behind it, a whippy tail, flicked about, like an elegant, living silver chain.
"Sorry, not today Rain. I've got a friend with me."
I stepped forward boldly. I'd never seen a dragon outside of books, but the texts said they were prickly and temperamental. I guarded my tongue, ready for a verbal tug of war.
"Good morning, friend of Rrassis." The dragon's voice rumbled like distant thunder. I felt, more than heard, what it said. "And what, exactly, has found its way to my door?"
"My name is Rezik, Sir Rain, and I'm..."
"He's a tiger." Rrassis gave me a steely glare.
"Ah. I see. So, friend of Rrassis, who is a tiger, yet isn't a tiger, and who speaks with the gallantry of a knight, I bid you welcome to my lair." I gulped. The books hadn't mentioned how perceptive dragons were as well. "Do you know how to play Hawks and Wolves?"
The dragon leaned in towards me. Its breath smelled mildly of charcoal, though not offensively so. Its eyes focused on me, two dinner-plate sized silver orbs with wrinkled textures like crumpled foil.
"I have been taught, yes." I knew it better than just having been taught. I was quite proficient at it, my one claim to fame while I trained at the White Tower. Sir Garik had never beaten me (and quickly stopped playing against me at all.) Once a week, I had climbed to the top of the White Tower and played against the grand master. By the time my knight and I had left for our quest, I had improved so much I'd won maybe one out of every four games.
The game had its own honoraries and culture, though, at least it did at the White Tower. One must never claim to be skilled, or better than any other player. The only appropriate response is to say that you have been taught to play.
Immediately as I answered, I saw an earnest grin spread across the silver dragon's broad snout. "Not one monster yet has given that response. You are a mystery, friend of Rrassis. Will you play me?"
"We are somewhat in a rush, Sir Rain. We need to get upstairs, and Rrassis has told me that you would know the way." The displacer beast seemed content to let me talk. He'd sat some few paces away, and was watching me with rapt attention.
"You come to a dragon's lair in search of assistance, yet bring nothing to trade. We will play, Rezik who is a tiger. That is the price."
"The price of you telling us how to find our way upstairs?" I asked hopefully.
"No. The price of my good humor for being woken from my slumber by two loud felines invading my lair." The dragon gave me a tooth-filled smile. "We will discuss the cost of your directions after the game." Before I could answer, the dragon reached to the side. From behind a mound of silver coins not far from the entrance, Rain produced a diamond-shaped Hawks and Wolves playing board. The board was shaped to represent a long valley, narrow at the ends and broad at the middle. With it, Rain unearthed a silver enamelled box that had been half-buried beneath the coins. Flipping its top open, the dragon began to fill the board with silver plated and filigreed hawk and wolf pieces.
I sighed, but sat on my haunches in front of the board. Rrassis had led us into a time-sink, but I wasn't foolish enough to disagree with the dragon. As was customary, I, as the challenged, took the first move, moving one of my hawks into the left end of the "canyon." Matching my opening move with his own standard response, the game was truly begun.
"What the HELL is Kerris thinking? That wolf bastard doesn't deserve to live past the next sunset, let alone set free."
Lir lazed back against a resilient cushion, its surface scarred by regular exposure to the lizardman's dorsal spines. His arms were raised, hands clasped behind the spiked crown of his fused head scales. His form lay straight, thick tail continuing on where his body ended, and legs spread in a lewd sprawl to either side of it.
"You can't show mercy to a knight and expect it to learn. They're just unthinking killing machines." Lir gave another sigh, then a subtle intake of breath marked a lapse of concentration.
From Lir's crotch came an expressive slurping sound. A skinny skink, only half the size of the reclining lizardman warrior, lifted his snout from the jutting member he'd been suckling. "Latch think you spend too much time fretting about knights, and not enough time enjoying life." A long, fleshy tongue flicked from between the skink's bony lips and traced slowly up Lir's length.
"Ah, latch, that's easy for you to say. You've never seen... Oooh, keep that up... You've never seen what they can do first hand." Lir's legs tensed. First his thighs, then calves clenched, then toes splayed and curled until the long sharp talons at their end touched. A cool splash of bitter liquid coated Latch's snout, then splashed across the lounging lizard's smooth belly scales. The little skink continued his ministrations, spending only a moment to let his long tongue lick his face clean.
"Lir assumes much; maybe assumes wrong." The skink lifted his head and dropped his snout over the lizard warrior's weapon again, letting out a gurgle as the long spear nestled into his throat.
"Maybe you're right, Latch. You never talk about where you came from, so you tell me: have you seen what the wolf knights can do?" Lir gazed down at the skink and grasped with his hands at the cushion, the claws on his hands adding new scars to the material.
Latch lifted his hands again and glanced sideways at Lir, expression stern and annoyed. "Latch think it's not a good idea to interrogate the skink who's lips are around your cock."
The two lizards were silent for a moment, then a gruff chuckle broke the moment as Lir's hands dropped from behind his head. "Is that so, little lizard? Maybe I should find some place to put it that doesn't have teeth, then, eh?" Broad scaled hands closed around Latch's midsection, and the little skink squealed in glee as he was lifted.
"Lir got a good idea for once." Lir spun the skink away from him, and Latch's whippy tail snapped against the warrior's thick, plated chest scales as he flicked it out of the way. The skink lifted his legs as the fat and drooling tip was fitted to his slit. He let out a low hiss as Lir loosened his grip, letting gravity do its work.
Slowly, Latch's slit spread around the blunt knob. His tail held still, while his hands held on to Lir's clawed fingers to keep his balance. While the skink slid lower and lower, Lir laid his head back and closed his eyes. He blocked out the background noise and smell of the tower, an focused solely on the feeling of smooth, cold blooded flesh splitting around his own. The movement was slick, the liquid having reduced friction to just a hint of motion.
Finally, the skink stretched wide enough to admit Lir's smooth tip, and the small reptilian body accelerated quickly as the rest of the thick member slid deep. Latch gave a pleased chirp as he rubbed the scales of his rump against the smooth plates of Lir's crotch, while the larger lizard simply sat and revelled in the feel of the cool slickness hugging tight around him.
"Lir forget about stupid knights. Just think about latch for a bit." The skink planted his feet against Lir's spread thighs, and leaning on his long tail for balance, lifted his hips. The thick length pulled from the skink's insides with a soft slurp, but before the drooling head slipped free, Latch dropped his hips again.
Lir lifted his hands behind his head again, crossing his fingers and reclining while he let his enthusiastic servant work. The cool tunnel lifted and dropped around his length, so smooth that he could barely feel the friction. With effort, he kept his hips still, only the tip of the large reptile's tail flicking anxiously between his legs.
With some effort, Lir cleared his mind of everything but the here and now. His liaisons with Latch had turned into a bit of a game of endurance, with the skink trying to coax him to a quick peak, while Lir tried to last and endure. Every moment was its own reward, as the skilled body slid itself lewdly over his shaft.
He was so engrossed in the mental exercise of enjoying the sensations, while avoiding his peak, that the touch of small, agile fingers on his exposed tail. He glanced down with interest, and under his watchful eyes, Latch's fingers played over the base of his length. The deft digits teased where Lir's own smoothly scaled slit lips were spread around his thickly engorged member, then pulled them apart so the fingers could dive inside. With skilled expertise, Latch's fingertips explored the tight groove where Lir's length hid when it wasn't buried deep in needy little skinks.
"Latch! Ssss, that's cheating!" Lir complained, squeezing his eyes shut at the intense sensation of digits exploring inside his fore slit. The skink simply cocked his head backwards with a grin, then slid his hips back down until he sat on his own fingers. Lir's breath came short as the tide he'd been holding back broke over his tightly controlled endurance. The muscles of his belly and thighs spasmed, and his tail slapped loudly between his legs.
Latch smiled in pride as he felt the thick length throb in his slit. He clenched, just as he felt the first gush of seed splatter across his insides. The skink was familiar with the results of the larger lizard's pleasure, and a few seconds after the first gout, the second filled him completely, the excess spraying from his slit and coating Lir's crotch. With the third, and forth, the liquid pooled and ran in rivulets down the smooth scales of Lir's tail, soaking into the ruined comforter.
Lir's head was thrown back in the throes of passion, his entire body still as he sprayed his exuberance into the enthusiastic little lizard astride his shaft. As the pulses slowed, then ceased, he drew in a long, shuddering breath. With his lungs full (but loins empty) he let his breath out in a single, gusty groan.
"Latch think you have too much life to enjoy to bother worrying about wolves." The little lizard stood quickly, and Lir's length, glistening with his own juices, slid slickly from the skink's rear. It slapped against Lir's belly scales, leaving a wet splatter mark, before it started to shrink and deflate, pulling back to its own protective slit.
"You give sage advice, little skink. That said, you know I can't follow it." Lir wiped at his crotch and legs, but there was too much of a mess. With offhanded annoyance, he realized he'd need a bath.
"I know. Big warriors are too stubborn to listen to logic." Latch spun and faced his scaled lover, the same wearied frown he'd worn earlier on his face.
Lir didn't respond. He knew that Latch was right, but he'd already made his decision. It was only a matter of time, now, and a matter of opportunity.
Latch flicked his tail, flinging away some liquid that remained on his own scaly hide. He crawled carefully up Lir's stomach, kneeling snout to snout with the warrior for a moment. "Latch understand, but not agree. That not Latch's fight, though. Latch not let you hurt his Lord Kerris, though, so steer your plans wide of him. Latch not fight for wolf, but Latch fight to death for the gryphon lord."
Lir was suddenly struck by the skink's aggressive stance, and even with the vast difference in size and muscle between them, he felt cowed. With that stormy warning said, though, Latch gave the warrior a brilliant smile, and licked Lir's pointed snout. The skink stood, and without another word between them, skipped drippily from Lir's chambers.
"Wolves take aerie." Rain carefully manoeuvred a stylized wolf knight to the far side of the board. The cunning move drove through a weak spot in hawk defences and took a valuable resource.
I surveyed the board, careful to hide any emotions from my face. The dragon was a textbook opponent. It played with the tactics that had been written down by masters hundreds of years ago, and whose thoughts were recorded on the brittle pages of the oldest Hawks and Wolves book in the White Tower's Library.
As all things must, though, the game had changed in the centuries since those books had been written. The old tactics, though they'd been functional in their time, had been codified and countered a hundred time by a thousand players better than I. With each move, I saw the dragon edging into old, tired strategies. If he hadn't been a gargantuan, scaled behemoth, I might have even felt sorry for him.
"Hawks take the river bend." I slipped reserves into the breach, and the gallant charge of the wolf knights was cut off from support, now surrounded and outnumbered. I gazed up at the dragon's features, trying in vain to divine its move.
"Leaving my flank undefended, while cutting my templar off from support. I see that my teachings are woefully inadequate. I ask you, friend of Rrassis, is my battle lost?" The dragon's voice echoed mournfully. It shifted, silver jangling as it dug one flank into a bed of coins.
My eyes skimmed the board, viewing the challenge from the opposite side. The dragon was at a disadvantage, but not all was bad. There was still a mage in place to recall the templar, and the knights still held a firm front. "No, Rain, not all is lost." I answered carefully.
"Then I have decided." The dragon reached down and spun the board. The pieces wobbled uncertainly, then steadied as he stopped the board, the dragon's side now facing me. "If you show me how to win, even from this disadvantage, I will take you both upstairs by the expeditious route."
"I'm sorry, which route is that?" I glanced up.
"I'll fly you there." The dragon gave a smug smile, settling again in front of the board.
Flight to the top? That would save time, maybe even hours! If it wouldn't have broken my concentration, I could have kissed Rrassis for leading me here. We'd make up the time I'd lost while being... Well... Lost... All of that rested on just a few, deft moves.
I stared down at the board again with renewed purpose. Even though I was supposed to stay impassive by the precepts of the game, I knew my tail was giving away my mood. In a moment a clarity, I felt the dragon smiling kindly at me, and I felt kinship with the large, scaled beast. Sometime over the last hour, the dragon had become less "it", and more "she". I smiled at her and bowed back towards the pieces. Bound by the game we both loved, I reached towards the board and took my first move towards victory.
A knock interrupted Lord Kerris from his foul mood. He'd been pacing like a trapped animal in his chamber. Never before had he felt the urge to simply take wing and fly away. He had in his grasp one of the very creatures that plagued his kind so keenly, and if he played his cards right, there might be a chance to stop their advance. Just a message, carried by someone friendly, that the monsters wished peace, that's all he needed to start. But every moment that knight stayed alive in the tower was a risk. The denizens here would never agree to letting the knight leave alive. Kerris doubted he'd stay the "Dark Lord" for long once word of what he'd done got out, but by then, he may have had just enough time.
The first knock brought his head up, but it didn't register until the second knock that someone required his attention. "Come in, already."
The door to the lord's chamber opened, and a short reptile entered. The skink was carrying a small bundle, and had a quizzical look on his face. "Latch greets his lo..."
"Latch, don't you dare bow to me." The gryphon rushed over to the door and shut it, then bent to the diminutive lizard. "You know I don't like it when old friends act formal."
"Latch happy to see you too, feather-brain." The lizard glared up at the gryphon, his scaled features set into a look of concern. "But latch think that his help is needed."
"I assume you know, then?" The gryphon stood, arms crossed defensively across his front.
"Latch know, and Latch know what you think. Latch not sure if he agree, but also trust you. Perhaps assistance is needed?" The skink's strange accent and mannerism forced the gryphon to focus on each thing Latch said.
After a moment, Lord Kerris responded. "Maybe, but what can you help with? We're stuck with a wolf that won't talk, and a tower of creatures that'd see him dead if they knew." Lines of worry showed in the gryphon's features. His shoulders were slumped, and he rubbed his eyes every few moments to try and assuage his headache.
"Latch have cousin that is mind-bender. Not nice, but would work."
Kerris pondered for a moment. "It's a thought. I need the wolf just to deliver a message, then be free. Can the mind-bender do that?"
"That and more" Latch responded. "But Latch make sure that 'more' doesn't happen."
"Fine. Where do we find this cousin of yours? I suppose it's too much to ask that he's here in the tower already?"
Latch let out a hissing laugh. "You is right. Cousin is south and east, where river bends before lake."
"Right. I can't trust any other flyers here with this, so I'll go myself. How do I find him once I'm there."
The skink slapped his scaled chest. "You bring Latch is how. Cousin not let hunting gryphon find him if he smart, and cousin is smart."
Lord Kerris was silent for a moment, a vague frown forming on his face. "Latch, I can't just..."
"Can and will." Latch interrupted. "Kerris used to fly with Latch before there was Lord Kerris, and Kerris can carry him now."
The frown on the gryphon's face softened. "Too right, old friend. I assume your cousin is, well..."
"Quarter-sized like Latch. Yup. Latch is ready to go, too." The skink dropped the bundle and bound towards the gryphon.
"Latch, you can't just climb me like you used to."
"Just watch Latch climb the great Lord Kerris, scion of Black Tower, Master of monsters..."
"Fine, fine!" Kerris finally threw his arms into the air. The skink bounded towards the gryphon and leapt, catching ahold of the wound strips of cloth that served as the gryphon's garments. The reptile climbed in short bounds, his light frame only tugging a few of the ribbons out of place. Latch settled against Kerris' back, squarely between the wings, and plastered himself to the gryphon's back.
Kerris shook his frame, settling his passenger, then bent to take a leap to the window. His wings shot out as his legs compacted, and an explosion of air sent papers from the desk fluttering. A single wing beat propelled him up to the window, where he crouched at the rim for a moment. Far below him, he saw the tower widen, though the perspective still made it look deceptively small. Far below, he could see the blotches where the tops of trees basked in the jungle sunlight. The air was crisp, cold enough that his breath clouded in front of him. The window he sat perched in marked the edge of the tower's magics, where the warm inner keep met the harsh, high altitude air. He leaned forward a bit, then as the lizard clenched tightly to his back, he noticed something odd.
"Latch, are you not wearing any clothes?"
The lizard's snout nestled in between his shoulder blades. "Latch not like flappy clothes for flying."
Kerris shook his head in amused consternation, then launched himself into the air.
The huge lizard warrior slowly paced in front of Sir Garik's cell. Inside, the wolf stood quietly, as he had since he'd found himself imprisoned. Lir's duty kept him standing guard in front of his lord's secret prisoner, but every time he glanced through the barred door at the wolf standing petulantly inside, he saw instead the face that had stalked his dreams since he was a hatchling.
As he passed again, he kept his eyes from straying to the captive canid. Iron will forged through countless years of ignoring the nightmares forced the face from his mind. He stood, back to the cell, and waited patiently. Any moment now, Lord Kerris would come to his senses, and have the wolf executed. Publicly, for the benefit for the tower's creatures. Any moment now.
Moments came and went, with only the gentle sussuration of the tower's distant inhabitants to keep Lir company. The longer he stayed still, the more the urge to move, to prowl, to hunt and kill, pervaded his mind. The impetus grew and built until the lizard felt it burn his calves as an almost physical pain. After another moment came and went, he began to pace again.
Lir knew the trouble Lord Kerris would face if the rest of the tower discovered the identity of their "guest." On his honor as the personal attendant of the Lord himself, and as a fervent patriot of the Black Tower, Lir couldn't let that happen. The monsters here trusted Lord Kerris. The gryphon was the only thing holding back the white tide, carving this little sanctuary from an otherwise wolf-filled world.
Yet even through the discipline of his faith in Lord Kerris, the nightmares kept intruding. In the cell stood not just a wolf knight, but the antithesis of all monsters, the reaper of lives and communities and villages. Even he, a stalwart protector of Lord Kerris' honor, was insulted that the abomination in the prison had been allowed to live.
Thoughts bubbled through Lir's concentration, until his will to resist finally snapped. His snarl of frustration pulled the standing wolf from his reverie, and Sir Garik's ears flicked to the source of the noise. There, at the entrance to the cell, Lir stood, letting his eyes drink in the sight of the wolf knight, standing bound, disarmed, and veritably naked. It'd be so easy to just open the door, reach in, and...
And he needed to consult with Lord Kerris. This wasn't his to decide. Lir spun and walked away from the closed cell door.
He ran, sprinting from stair to stair as he ascended to the last cavernous room that topped the apex of the Black Tower's vast spire. Without knocking, he thrust the door open.
"Lord Kerris, the wolf must die."
The words echoed hollowly around the empty room. Lir expected a disagreement, or a shout. Maybe a debate or a lecture. If he was lucky, maybe he'd expected to hear assent, but the last thing he expected to that declaration was silence.
Lord Kerris' chambers stood in disarray. All of the papers on the Lord's desk, usually so carefully organized, had been scattered. Dust flew in the air, and all the candles and lamps had been extinguished.
Lir's mind flew, options and ideas flicking through his imagination like flickers of an image only illuminated by lightning on a stormy night. The gryphon was gone. Flown away? Why would Lord Kerris abandon them now? Captured? Possible, with the wolf Knight here, there might be more they hadn't caught. Magic? The Black Tower was immune to outside influence, but what if there were fox mages that'd infiltrated with the knights, and they were already within the tower?
The only one that would know was the wolf.
Lir spun and sprinted back the way he'd come. He took the stairs in twos, then threes, his large taloned feet finding purchase on the broad steps as his heart hammered in his chest. Left at the four-way intersection, then left again under the stairwell. Right down the passage, and a last left into the prison. It was empty, except for the one barred cell where the wolf stood impassively, right where he'd been when the lizard left.
"You." Lir's voice hissed with sibilance, the emotions rushing to his accent. "Sspeak what you know, canid, or die." The door to Sir Garik's door was locked, and even though Lir had the key hanging from his makeshift belt, he grabbed the bars of the cell door and pushed. Metal ground against old mortar, and a snap echoed in the small prison explosively.
Holding the orphaned door, Lir approached the confused and terrified wolf. He threw the door aside, the metal clanging as it struck the side of the cell, and the lizard's hand flashed to Sir Garik's throat. Lifted by the neck, Sir Garik was lifted from his feet, kicking and wriggling his bound arms and legs futilely. The wall rushed from behind him and smacked his head as Lir thrust the wolf back. Dazed and confused, Sir Garik hung limply.
"I ssaid, SPEAK!"
Wind whipped through Kerris' half-furled wings. He fell, hundreds of meters per second, in a tightly controlled spin. Between his shoulder blades, he felt his rider lean into the wind, and a thin sheet of air tickled across his back as Latch let the breeze encompass his form completely. Facing away from the tower, he tilted his wings a fraction of a degree, and the spin stopped. With an explosive bang, he jutted his wings out, pulling out of the dive and shooting forward so fast that the trees below (much closer now) were just a blur.
"Latch miss flying with gryphons." Kerris tugged himself up just a little bit, and started to glide, his wings stretched to their extent as he caught thermals rising off of the hot jungle below.
"I missed flying with you too. Seems I'm missing a lot of things these days."
"Then fly more. Tower survive without you once in a while." The lizard crawled forward on his back, and fingers rubbed behind the gryphon's ear tufts.
"If we live through this, I just might." Kerris was sincere. The short flights that his time afforded him in between the little emergencies of the tower never seemed to fully satisfy him.
"Did Lord and Master forget how to live? Latch never see you any more. Had to convince sylphs that you even still alive." The reptile stood, claws of his long toes entwined in the ribbons of Lord Kerris' garb. The gryphon felt air resistance tug at his back a bit, and he altered his flight to compensate. The thermals took him higher, and soon, the air began to regain the cool bite of altitude, low-hanging wispy clouds his constant companions.
"No, Latch, I'm just busy. There's always something going wrong..."
"So make other monsters fix it! You is ruler. So rule!" Kerris felt a foot step lightly on his head, and he remembered back through the years, when he and the little lizard flew together every day.
"Latch, not today, don't..." Ignoring the complaining gryphon, the little lizard hopped off of the gryphon's head, spreading all of his limbs to the sides, and dropped. "You crazy little..." Kerris muttered to himself, then stooped.
Years back, when the two had been constant companions, Latch had loved the feeling of free-fall, leaping from the gryphon's flight, and trusting with every ounce of being that Kerris would catch him again on the way down. Latch opened his mouth, the rushing air forcing wind into his lungs, and felt the wind swirl through his outstretched arms, legs, fingers, and toes.
True to form, he felt the slight disruption as a furred and feathered form shot past him, then just seconds later, taloned hands caught him. Not seconds after that, the gryphon's angry tone drifted to him through the rushing wind. Music to his ears.
"Drakes be damned, Latch, you must be insane! I'm not as young as I was then, you know? Never mind the fact that we're both in danger if we don't get back with your mind-bender soon!"
Latch lay in the gryphons arms, eyes closed and body still as he felt the increased tug of gravity as Lord Kerris pulled out of his dive. Closer now, he heard the faint chirping of birds from the treetops below them.
"Latch sure now that gryphon has forgotten how to live. Slow down. Enjoy moment." The reptile opened his eyes and gazed up at the gryphon, a wide, tolerant smile on his lips. Kerris settled back into his long glide, adjusting his path back to the lake he knew lay in the distance. He was tempted to keep ahold of his anger and frustration, but with the air streaming past his nares, he simply couldn't stay upset.
"I hope I'm never too slow, Latch." The gryphon sighed softly, the last of his anxiety draining from him.
"HAH!" The lizard sat up in the gryphon's hands. "Now Latch KNOW that you need relaxing! Worry gryphon, worry worry!" He grasped the closest of the gryphon's wound apparel and swung beneath him, catching ahold of more of the ribbons as he went.
Kerris faltered in the air momentarily as the weight swung beneath him. He gave a mighty beat with his wings, keeping himself in a steady glide. "Latch, what are you doing?"
"Relaxing gryphon, of course. You fly. Latch do his job too." The gryphon returned his eyes to the path. Nothing was more dangerous than flying blind, even if there didn't seem to be anything in their way for miles around. Kerris held his arms to his front, tucking them in to improve his balance. He felt the lizard's hands tug at the ribbons here and there, and just as he remembered from years before, Latch's dexterous hands slipped beneath the wound layers of his makeshift clothes and caressed bare fur.
Lord Kerris locked his wings into the glide, a soft smile spreading across his face. It'd been so long since he'd felt those cool scaled digits running through his hide that it felt strange, almost unnatural. As the wind filled his ears with white noise, the skilled fingers widened the gap between his wound ribbons, leaving a large expanse of stomach to caress.
Latch shifted, and Kerris angled his flight to compensate. Against his will, a soft purr built beneath his breath, and the lizard rewarded the rumbling with a long stroke through the gryphon's creamy white belly fur. As the hands reached the end of their path through the soft fuzz, Kerris gave a little jump as he felt fingers prod between the sides of his sheath and his thighs. Even though Latches fingers were cool to the touch, the sensation of the scaled skin against Kerris' most intimate parts was almost electric.
It'd been so long for the gryphon that the first rough sensation across his sensitive flesh was a shock. Then, with an embarrassed glance, he realized that the lizard's sensual caress had caused his first hints of arousal to peek out, where it rubbed against the gryphon's cloth wrap. Returning his eyes to the terrain ahead, he simply focused on the feeling of air flicking past his nares, hot thermals giving rise beneath his wings, sunlight warming his black feathers, and the lizard's hands caressing his swollen sheath.
Kerris gave a squawk as the fingers touched him with clear intent. His wings flapped, and he glanced quickly down at the mischievous skink. Latch had teased more of the gryphon's length from between the cloth strips, and Kerris' excitement now throbbed in the air, free of entangling ribbons. Scaled hands closed around its girth, and as the gryphon levelled off his path, fingers coaxed and squeezed him towards full arousal.
The gryphon gave a bouncing beat of his wings, and Latch held on with hind claws wound through cloth. Kerris steadied again, and he felt the strips of linen around his midsection tugging upwards, uncovering his bulge to the high altitude air. Smooth scaled hide rubbed against his exposed fur as Latch pulled himself flush to the gryphon's belly. Trapped between the two bodies, the gryphon's member throbbed fitfully.
"Latch missed this." The reptile stated simply, rocking his body back and forth against the slippery length. Lord Kerris glanced down, then stroked a talon carefully over Latch's frilled head. He let out a sigh, angling his wings every few moments to keep balance on the fickle currents. With a blissful sigh, he settled into the long glide, his destination still hours away, and let the small lizard control the pace.
Latch let his forearms disengage from the gryphon's wrapped clothes, catching instead the thick length that rubbed hotly against his front. It was as thick around as his wrist, and almost as long as he remembered it from years ago. He rolled his hips, grinding his own crotch against the shaft. From years ago, he remembered just how to pleasure the gryphon, and unlike his earlier liaison with the reptilian warrior, he felt no guilt over pleasuring himself as well. Latch slipped fingers into his foreslit, rubbing in slow circles, until he felt his own length start to rise against the gryphons.
Kerris glanced down from the flight, splitting his attention between the wind's eddies and watching the industrious lizard. He felt, rather than saw, the smaller creatures own excitement rub against his, and a rumble of contentment built in his throat. His hips gave an encouraging wriggle, and he heard Latch give a gasp of pleasure beneath him as his orbs smacked teasing against the skink's tail.
With eyes closed, Kerris wriggled his hips. The smooth feeling of supple scales caressing his skin caused his entire hindquarters feel warm, even though the air around them was chill. "Latch, do you want to..."
"Latch already ahead of you." True to his word, the lizard cantilevered, and Kerris felt the tip of his shaft press against something for a moment. After a few seconds of increasing pressure, he felt a slight pop, and a wet, squeezing slit engulfed the head of his shaft. The gryphon teetered a bit in the air, the sudden sensation pulling him from his reverie, but a moment of adjustment steadied his glide.
Second by second, what felt like a tightly gripped finger slid slowly down his exposed length. On one side, air whispered by, cold and unforgiving. On the other side of the grip, cool slickness squeezed around him silkily. The lizard's hips rocked a little, teasing over the inches of throbbing gryphon arousal they engulfed. Kerris gave a stifled squawk, slitting his eyes as he endured the lizard's teasing, but his hands scrambled in the air. Instinct tried to pull his arms down to grasp the creature perched on his spear and thrust himself deep, while his care for Latch kept him from hurting the little lizard.
Kerris' worries soon proved to be unfounded, though. With all of his limbs firmly entwined in the gryphon's cloth strips, Latch let out a low, stuttering hiss, and slapped his hips back against the gryphon's crotch. The tight ring slid slickly over the rest of Kerris' arousal, kissing his thinly furred sheath as the diminutive reptile took his entire length. In surprise, Lord Kerris looked down, eyes wide and staring at his impaled passenger.
"Latch, you never used to..."
"Latch had lots of practice." The lizard let out a low hiss, then leaned away from the gryphon. Kerris caught a glimpse of the reptile's mottled shaft as it rubbed through his belly fur. Before long, though, his flight instincts tore his gaze back to the terrain.
Latch wriggled around the long shaft invading his backside. He felt it nudging something deep inside him, and he twisted a bit until the uncomfortable poke went away. Content and wonderfully filled, he leaned back, clenching around the thickness. Each motion rubbed his own eager length against the gryphon's soft belly fur. Kerris gave a wing beat to retain altitude, and the length invading Latch's backside retreated and thrust in response. The little lizard let his wrists free of the cloth and dangled, gazing down at the trees flit past in a blur far beneath him. Each time Kerris changed angle or beat his wings, the long shaft twitched, wriggled, and thrust in Latch's slit.
Kerris' mind buzzed with tingling pleasure, each and every motion causing that slippery lizard slit to twist blissfully around his excitement. His beak parted, and air filled his mouth, gusting around his tongue as he panted out his pleasure. It'd been years since he'd last had this treatment, and the long wait had left him a short fuse.
The gryphon beat his wings again, but on the down stroke, his hips circled down and thrust into Latch. Velvety walls clenched around his shaft, and time seemed to slow at the top of his stroke. His wings furled, and both Latch and Kerris rode a moment of giddy weightlessness, before the wings flicked out for another beat, and another hard thrust.
Latch hissed loudly in pleasure. The deep thrusts were on the verge of painful, but never over the border of uncomfortable or wrong. His long, agile fingers clenched around his own excitement, and stroked swiftly. After another beat, he gasped, and ground his hips back against the thrusting shaft. With another, the lizard spasmed and clenched. A long arc of seed shot from Latch's thin length, travelling in a milky stream past the lizard's head. The stiff wind quickly drove some of the moisture back onto the reptile's face, while the rest disappeared and sprinkled down onto the jungle below.
Kerris let out his own gasp as the tunnel around his thrusting spear clenched like a fist. He felt droplets of liquid splatter his fur, and the intense sensations quickly drove the gryphon lord to his peak. He held his wings spread as his hips curled, thrusting deep into the lizard, while his dangling orbs contracted. The first gout of runny gryphon seed overflowed the lizard, splashing into the high altitude air and raining down into the distance.
As he started to wriggle his way down from his own peak, Latch felt his flight companion buck and throb, and was ready for the first splash of liquid that coated his tail end in musky semen. Before Kerris could flood him, though, the lizard tugged upwards, pulling off of the throbbing shaft. The second eruption drenched his hips and legs, wetting down the gryphon's cloth coverings as it splashed.
Kerris grunted and shivered, the peak causing his flight to wobble. With the small part of his mind not overloaded by the intense pleasure, he steadied his wings and slipped again into the comfortable glide. Liquid started to seep into his fur from his linen wrap.
Huffing and hissing in pleasure, Latch squirmed in the gouts of seed like a child playing under a waterfall. As the throbbing faded, and the gryphon's shaft slowly started to retreat, he caught his fingers in the gryphon's sopping cloth wrap. "Gryphon relaxed now?"
Kerris glanced down kindly and cradled Latch against his crotch. "Yes, Latch. Thank you. I'd missed that too."
"Latch happy then. Is good."
Lord Kerris smiled and turned his beak to the wind. He held his oldest friend in the tower close to him as he set his eyes on the horizon, destination slowly creeping into view.
"Step in here, little cats, and you will find yourself in the presence of the Lord of the Tower."
Rain was clasped to the side of the Black Tower, the air so thin that I found it difficult to breathe. Ignoring the whipping wind, I crawled carefully along the dragon's outstretched hand, balancing on her wrist as I edged towards the high window.
I felt the dragon's arm bend for a moment as Rrassis climbed behind me. I hopped the last few feet to the window ledge and turned back. "Rrassis, you shouldn't come with me." I'd debated this for a while, and I didn't want to see the beast come to harm.
The dark purple creature stopped, all six legs balancing precariously. "Rezik? What are you talking about? I still need to introduce you to Lord Kerris."
I stood implacably in the window and shook my head. "No. You don't." I turned my head and addressed the dragon. "Rain, would you be so kind as to bring our friend back down?"
The dragon's eyes flashed, the irises of the silver orbs contracting momentarily. She was silent for a moment, but then spoke. "I think I understand, though this saddens me. You play with a strategy I have never seen before." Her words spoke of the game we'd finished, but I knew she wasn't speaking about the game. Whether by my actions or not, I had the feeling she understood who I was more clearly than any other monster I'd met.
"Then you understand that Rrassis must not come with me." The dragon nodded silently. "Thank you, Rain. I hope, some day in the future, to play you again." That last line was the formal end to a game of Hawks and Wolves, and it was the final move in our strange, codified relationship.
The wind picked up, and I turned from her. Before I could leap, though, the dragon's rumbling voice drifted to me again. "Keep your eyes open, tiger friend of Rrassis named Rezik. Let us all hope that your decisions are as wise as your tactics."
I turned my head back to her, glancing at her sinuous silver form through the darkened window. "I think I have already decided, Lady Rain. I only hope I can see it through."
I glanced down into the room I now overlooked. Twenty feet below me, the floor spread into another expansive chamber, though this one was furnished and decorated much more sumptuously than Rain's lair. I judged the leap, then dropped. Air whizzed past my ears, and I braced myself for a hard landing.
My paws caught the floor, and bent like taut springs. Yet again, my body surprised me, landing as gracefully as if it had been a little hop, even though I'd fallen three body-lengths down. Around me, the room stood in disarray. Now that I was amongst them, chairs were scattered. Some were knocked over. There was a faint stain of blood on a carpet near a large oak desk. The desk itself was cluttered with papers, though it looked like they'd been thrown around, as most of them covered the floor around the desk like a miniature explosion. I prowled into the room, muscles tense and ready at any moment for attack.
But no attack came. The room was deserted. My nose caught scents leading to and from, mixed and confused, but it was clear that, unless they used magic to hide, there was no one here right now.
I stood in confused indecision for a moment, but no more, as a faint echoing cry caught my attention. It sounded like a bark, hasty and terrified.
The timbre of the voice caught my attention like nothing else could. "Sir Garik?"
I dashed to the entrance to the room, putting my shoulder against the door as I ran. The door smacked into the wall as I ploughed through, and found myself sprinting head-long down a flight of stairs. I struggled to keep my feet beneath me as I ran.
"Garik?!" I shouted, my voice echoing in a roar off of the twisting ebon walls of the tower. I heard an echoing bark, from ahead and to the left, and I careened past an intersection. My claws dragged painfully on the stone as I back-pedalled heading back to the intersection and turning left. "Garik!"
I heard shouting ahead, and I followed the sound. At each tunnel entrance, I stopped and listened, and the voices became clearer. As I closed, I began to smell the foetid stench of fear, mixed with a tang that I could only identify as reptilian. Spurred and angry, I charged.
I barged into another door, and it flew wide. Inside, the lizardman leader I'd seen so many floors below stood over Sir Garik. The wolf had been stripped to just his underclothes, and blood spattered his fur from muzzle to tail. Just the sight of him drove a frenzied roar from my maw, but it was answered in kind by the surprised lizardman.
The hulking reptile turned to me, his eyes flashing dangerously. "Stay away! He's mine to kill..."
As Lord Kerris flew, he let the wind and sun slowly dry his feathers. The day was gorgeous, especially deep in the jungle where rain clouds so frequently stalked across the sky. The gryphon played on eddies and currents, angling slightly every few moments to keep himself aimed at the horizon. It'd only been a few minutes since he'd disengaged from the lizard, and lingered hazily in the afterglow.
Latch had crawled over the gryphon's side and was now perched between his wings, leaving wet trails in the gryphon's garments as he went. He held himself steady, enjoying the wind for a moment before he opened his mouth.
"Latch must apologize to Lord Kerris."
Kerris leaned into the wind and smiled dreamily. "Apologize? Latch, that was gorgeous, you've got nothing to be sorry for."
"No, Latch must apologize because he lied."
The gryphon took a few moments to respond, a faint hint of suspicion creeping into his afterglow-induced bliss. "Wait... Lied about what?"
The lizard let out a hissing sight. "Lied about having cousin."
The grin faded then died on Kerris' face. "Wait, if you don't have a cousin, then why are we out here?"
"Latch know that if Kerris stay in tower, things go wrong."
The gryphon's brain whirled, trying to creep through the post-orgasmic haze. "If I... That doesn't make sense. Even if we travelled all the way out, I'd be gone only a few hours. If there's trouble, it's going to last a lot longer than that."
"Not if trouble is named Lir."
That brought Kerris into a mid-air stall. His wings angled up sharply, and a moment of free-fall set Latch's head spinning for a moment. The gryphon spun and flapped hard, wing beats taking him back towards the tower.
"You murderous traitor! Lir's going to kill him!" Kerris powered himself forward. The tower was still a blot on the horizon. If he hurried, he could be there soon enough.
"Lir going to kill wolf no matter whether Kerris at tower or not."
"But then I could stop him!" Kerris bucked, and he felt the lizard's hands claw a hold at his wrapped bindings. In rage, Kerris put a claw to his wet and sodden wrap, tearing it cleanly with a single stroke of a talon. Another buck sent the lizard forward, just feet in front of the gryphon, where Kerris' ready claws caught him. "I could stop him!"
"Then Lir hurt. Or you hurt. One of you hurt. Maybe one of you dead. And tower know secret, and hurt both. Or kill both." The lizard sat submissively in Kerris' claws. The moment of Kerris' rage had passed, though, and dull dread made his limbs cold like the chill air never could.
"He's our only chance, Lir! Don't you see that? We need him!"
"No. Monsters need Kerris. Kerris need Lir. Lir and Kerris worth a hundred wolves. Thousand. More." The lizard's arms were crossed.
"But there are thousands, Latch." Kerris held the skink to his chest as his wings thundered his way back to the tower. Even though they'd spent nearly half an hour in the air, the trip had been lazy. With his speed and the wind behind him, the tower was already starting to come back into focus. "We can't fight them. We need another way."
Latch was silent. He had no answers for Lord Kerris, but he hugged himself to the gryphon's chest unrepentantly. Around him, the gryphon's ripped garb slowly unwound, falling away to the wind and leaving the gryphon naked.
"Latch, I don't know what's happened, but you need to be my friend, now more than ever. I need your wisdom to sort this out." Kerris' voice was almost a whisper.
"Latch here for Kerris. Always has been."
"Thank you, old friend." Kerris angled, and soared towards the tower, dread in his heart.
Lir held the wolf high against the wall, heart beating in his ears so hard that he couldn't hear the knight's pathetic whimpering. The wolf's claws pried uselessly at his scale-armored wrist, trying to tear the choking grip away.
"I said, SPEAK!" Lir roared, and his grip tightened again, the wolf's mouth opened and closed, but no words came out. Disgusted, he threw Sir Garik to the side, eyes locked on the canid's form. Sir Garik coughed and hacked, trying to pull air in through his bruised throat. With a gasp, he tried to respond, but no words came out. Again, he opened his mouth, and this time, his voice was no more than a squeak.
"Speak of... *cough* of what? You asked no questions!" Sir Garik put his hand on the discarded door, laying lengthwise on the floor next to him. He tried to stand to his feet to face the monster, but his head spun, knocking him back to his knees.
"Lord Kerris! The gryphon! What have you done with him? WHERE IS HE?" Lir's voice was a snarl, and his tail snapped menacingly behind him. Sir Garik stood defiantly, wobbling a bit on his feet, but before he could raise his eyes to Lir, the lizardman struck. Cruelly sharp claws dug into the wolf's front and tore his tunic away, leaving bloody gouges behind. The wolf dropped to his knees, a sharp intake of breath his only reaction to the wound.
"I've done nothing, monster, while I stood here in your cell. How could I?"
"Then where has he gone?"
Both opponents stood silently, the sound of blood rushing in Lir's ears, and blood seeping through the claw marks on Sir Garik's chest. Suddenly, even with his bruised throat and gouged chest, Sir Garik began to laugh. His voice was thin and reedy, a relic of the lizardman's crushing grip around his neck. Lir bristled, and a clenched, scaled fist knocked Sir Garik backwards against the side wall of the cell. "Stop your laughing! Tell me!"
"Your lord abandoned you! Precious, after all this work, he just flies the coop!" Sir Garik's voice laugh became hysterical, and tears stained the fur beneath his eyes. "He's gone! There's our quest, fled through the window!"
"NO!" Lir's foot caught the discarded door, and it flew towards the crouched knight. Sir Garik dodged to the side, the heavy wooden frame crashing into the wall where he'd been. "Lord Kerris wouldn't abandon us. He's been our Lord for years. He lives for the Black Tower! He lives for US!"
"Then you tell me, where is your lord now? Have you searched the skies?" Sir Garik couldn't control the laughter, and he collapsed to his knees.
Lir surged forward, and no amount of agility could have saved the wolf knight from the lizardman's tight grip. Sir Garik felt himself lifted against the wall again, and when the tears cleared from his eyes, he found the brave Lizardman Warrior glaring up at him, eyes confused and fearful like a hatchling's. "WHY?" The lizard's cry startled Sir Garik through his mirth.
"Why what?" The wolf held the arm that pinned him to the wall, confusion showing through the hysterical smile that was plastered on his face.
"Why me? Why leave me, when you slaughtered the rest?" The lizard's voice was thick, hissing around every other word. His tail smacked the wayward door, sounding like an explosion in the enclosed cell.
"I... I haven't killed..."
"ALL OF THEM! My clan! You came one morning, and left when every single one was dead, except me! My mother and father. Chief Zoka. He was a second father to me. Irlya and Nasya! I had brothers. Sisters. All of them, slain for your bloody crusade! WHY?" The lizard railed, and Garik felt the hand holding him to the wall convulse. Sharp claws dug against his stomach, and he gasped. Blood welled around the lizard's talons and began to drip down his brown scales, gathering and dropping from his bent elbow.
"I di... Oh, drakes, it hurts..." Sir Garik wailed, convulsing around the claws.
"One of you is paltry justice for my family, but if one of you is all I have..." The lizard stopped, and Garik opened his eyes. He heard a roar, foreign and feline, and the claws in his stomach retracted. He dropped to the ground and held his wounds, his head buzzing with pain.
"Stay away! He is mine to kill!" The lizardman roared back, but then, Garik experienced the most peculiar thing.
Around him, he felt more than saw a flash of light. The ground stood in a stark silhouette of the lizardman, but where shadows fell, gangly creatures crawled free. They cavorted and gambolled out of corners and crevices. Even the lizardman's shadow spawned the shadow-beings, and to his horror, he had the prickling feeling that even more were prancing into the light from behind his own body.
Sir Garik fell still, holding his seeping wounds as the creatures began to circle. The lizardman backed up, and Sir Garik just barely ducked in time to dodge the thick tail as it swept over his head. "Stay away. Whatever you are, keep them away!"
"Get away from him." The feline snarled, and Sir Garik jerked his head up at the sound.
"Rezik?"
"MOVE!" The feline growled, but the lizardman stood firm. The swirling creatures ducked and weaved with all the grace of puppets falling down stairs. One ducked towards the Lir, and he kicked at it. Sir Garik heard a hiss as loud as a steam explosion, and scrambled back as the lizard fell towards him. In horror, he saw the lizard's leg had shrivelled and withered, little more than papery, brittle scales covering decrepit bones.
As the lizardman touched the ground, the creatures swarmed. Shadows covered the fallen warrior, and only a whisper of stolen breath marked Lir's passing. After a moment of clumsy, skittering bodies obscuring the lizard from sight, the shadows vanished, evaporating like so much smoke on a windy day. Where Lir had fallen, only discarded scales and bones remained.
Sir Garik lifted his head, and found Rezik standing opposite him. The tiger's white stripes were glowing fitfully, almost as if Garik were viewing him through frosted glass. A horrified look was plastered on his squire's face, and after a moment, the light winked out.
"Rezik, is that you?" The voice, gentle and concerned, broke my reverie. I had become so angry, and without laying tooth or claw on him, the lizard had died. Only bones remained. I remembered Rrassis' words, calling them 'best friends and worst enemies', and suddenly the meaning struck home. I had promised to myself that no one else would die for this misbegotten quest, but my first actions on finding my knight alive was to slay his captor without notice or reason. He'd never had a chance.
"Rezik?"
I lifted my eyes, and there crouched Sir Garik, arms clenched around his stomach, and blood staining his fur. Immediately, and without conscious thought, my training kicked into action. I found the torn tunic and tore it into strips with my claws. I picked them up in my muzzle and carried them to the wounded wolf.
"Sir? I'm sorry it took me so long."
Instead of taking the cloth from me, he latched his arms around my neck. "Rezik, thank you for coming at all. That was about to be my end."
"It still may be if we can't get you out of here, sir." I lifted my head, helping him to his feet. He took the strips of cloth from me and began to bandage his waist. The cloth quickly grew red, but as he wounds it around and around, the makeshift bandages at least staunched the bleeding.
"We're not done here yet, Rezik, where is my gear?"
Before I could answer, I heard footsteps behind me, claws clicking quickly on stone. I spun, posture taught and ready to defend my knight. A gryphon careened into the prison, followed quickly by Rrassis. On Rrassis' back sat a small skink, maybe even the one I'd seen downstairs when Sir Garik had been captured. The gryphon skidded to a halt, and Rrassis quickly averted his eyes from the dessicated remains scattered on the floor.
"I'm too late." The gryphon's voice rumbled deeply, and his ear tufts fell. The skink hopped off of Rrassis' back, creeping forward towards what was left of the larger lizardman. It picked up a scale, holding it in front of his eyes. I couldn't gauge emotion from the reptilian face, but the message was clear enough.
"I'm sorry." I answered weakly. I felt Sir Garik's hand clench in surprise at the ruff of my neck.
"You." The gryphon glared balefully at me, his eyes blazing. "You infiltrate my tower, leading our enemy through our door. You slay your fellow beasts, clearing the way for this knight to our very hearts, and now, you slay my friend. Why? You are one of us. What is this knight to you?" Tears welled in the gryphon's eyes, and I felt the raw wound that the lizardman's death had left.
Now, though, the time for games was over. "I was his squire." I stated simply.
Garik bent, holding my neck. "Rezik, call those creatures! We may complete our mission after all!" He was excited, his hand shaking through my fur.
But as the lord of the tower and his friends gazed at me, I turned to Sir Garik and shook my head. "No."
The entire room was silent for moments that seemed to drag into minutes. Finally, Sir Garik broke the silence. "What do you mean, no? You can't call the..."
"I mean no, I won't." I shook my head. He was not going to take this well. "I won't kill the tower lord. I won't slay another monster. I won't raise my hand... paw... to them again."
Sir Garik's hand clenched at my neck, and I felt his claws start to dig into my pelt. His elation quickly turned to anger. "After all this, you betray me now, cat?"
"Stop it, sir! I'm still Rezik. But I can't do this!"
"This? This is what we came for! This is what you've trained your whole life for! It's you, not me, you! You hold the sword, and the darkness lies right behind you! Swing! For drakes sake, swing!" His voice was choked and husky.
"This isn't a war, this is slaughter!" I shook my head. How could I make him see?
"This is a war, Rezik. Don't you remember Springvale? Sunheim? You walked among the corpses! You saw the slain! The killers are in the room right now, and you're too blind to see it!"
"And when were those, sir?" I asked. I'd already worked it out in my head. "Ten years ago? You remember the battle of Rill Creek? We WON, sir! The war was over! The dark lord was defeated, and monsters fled to their lairs! You remember?"
"Of course I remember, but you think that was it? There's still monsters in the world, Rezik."
"So if there's still monsters, when the last time they attacked us, huh?"
I saw his mind work, the same pain in his expression that I'd felt when I began to work it out.
"But we're still not SAFE, Rezik. They're still monsters!"
"And what are we, then?" I closed my eyes, remembering the unease I'd felt when I was fifteen, when the then-young Garik (at that age a squire himself) had lead us against a small warren of goblins found in the Sleeping Mountains. There'd been a few armed warriors there to defend them, sure, but it was mostly just goblins. Males and females, children, pets, trying to eke out a life from the land.
"We're the knights, Rezik, we protect..."
"Protect? We go into THEIR homes and slay them. We wipe them out to the last one. WE'RE the monsters, sir!"
"You're wrong." Sir Garik's refutation was weak, and he leaned back against the wall. "You're WRONG!" He shouted, though his voice was still reedy with pain. "You're lost to me, Rezik. You're not my squire."
"I'm the same Rezik you walked into this tower with, Garik! I'm the same boy you claimed from the apprentices ranks. I'm the same..."
"NO!" He pushed away from the wall and rushed at me, claws bared. He swiped my face, and I felt blood spray my whiskers. I shrank back, face stinging. But with a growl that rose into a roar, I launched myself forward. Sir Garik fell beneath me, and I closed my eyes, squeezing. Around me, I felt the silent explosion of light, and the creatures I dreaded so waltzed around us.
"Garik, open your eyes."
"They ARE open. Beast! Monster! Traitor! You've sided with the killers. You are not my squire." He reached up and clawed at me again, and I fell back. The shadows closed in around him, a circle of cavorting hellions that formed a deadly, contracting ring.
"Go ahead! Do it! We've failed. No, you've failed me, and I'd rather die than see you become one of them." Rage welled up in my vision, a misty red tint to the edges of my sight. I glared at Garik, and his offhanded, insulting manners came back to me. Each and every time he'd slighted me, dismissed me, refused me built like a crashing wave in my mind.
I glared at the knight, and closed my eyes. I willed it so. I wished Sir Garik dead. I wished my knight, who'd trained by my side for years, to expire. My lover and greatest enemy, standing there with his wounds weighing him down, I wished him to dust.
And then I opened my eyes. The creatures danced for seconds more, then disappeared into smoke.
Standing beyond the ring of dissipated shadows, looking scared and weak, was Sir Garik, still alive and hale.
"I can't do it. I can't kill you, Garik."
The wolf was silent. He stood, head downcast, arms around the reddened bandages. After a moment that dragged into uncomfortable silence passed, Sir Garik spoke. "We can't go home, Rezik."
"You're wrong." For the first time, I glanced back, where the gryphon and his silent retinue stood watching our exchange. I suddenly felt very self-conscious, having just shed my heart in front of strangers. But as the gryphon spoke, I quickly regained my composure. "I can send you both home. The tower has that ability."
I heard a hiss of protest, and both Rrassis and the skink began to talk. Before they could get a word in edgewise, though, Sir Garik's bark cut them both off. "We failed. We were sent to kill the Lord of the Tower, and we can't. Rezik, you will not, and I can not. We are dishonored."
I sighed, ready to share my final decision, now that Garik had chosen to be rational. "You will go home a champion, Sir Garik. Sadly, your squire fell in battle. You bring with you a message from the new Lord of monsters." I glanced up at the gryphon, seeking his assent.
The gryphon's eyes blinked for a moment, then a smile spread to his face, the first I'd seen from him. "The "monsters" promise they will stay to the swamp and lands east. We will not cross into wolf lands without permission, and ask only to be left in peace."
"The templar won't accept that." Sir Garik's face was a mask of stone. Sadly, I knew he was right.
"But we..." I interrupted him, and shook my head.
"Sir, your return will be a public event. The crowds will hear your message, and will rejoice. The war has been won. You return victorious." At that, Sir Garik nodded momentarily. "The order will try to maintain their cause, but they won't have the support of the people. There won't be an army. There will only be the knights."
The gryphon behind me paused for a moment, then gave an interrupting cough. "But there are thousands of them, we still can't..."
I turned to the gryphon and gazed directly into his eyes. "There are exactly a hundred and one, never more, and never less. The other wolves you've seen were just commanders in the army. When they go back to their towns, they are butchers, and bakers, and weavers. They aren't knights."
Garik behind me let out a shocked gasp. "Rezik! Shut your mouth! Our crusade relies on that!"
"And that crusade stops being successful here." I turned back to the knight. "Garik, I won't be returning with you, because I belong here. These people need protection more than the wolves ever have. If the templar turns his decrepit gaze to the jungle again, I'll be here waiting for him. I know his secrets, and I can beat him at his own games. I won't be going home with you, because I already am home."
Sir Garik stood straight, his wounds still leaking. "So you are betraying me."
"Stop and THINK Garik!" My voice raised almost to a roar again. "You know we were wrong. Maybe it was for all the best causes, but we were wrong to come here."
The fight went out of the wolf, and his ears fell. "When did you stop calling me 'sir', Rezik?"
The words caught in my throat. "When I stopped being your squire."
Sir Garik stood a moment more, then slowly, carefully with his wounds, started to walk towards the door. We followed, while the gryphon silently pointed the way. Right, then left, then up a flight of stairs, and we confronted another room I'd yet to see. The room was small, compared to the chambers I'd witnessed in the tower before, but as I entered, it felt as if my fur stood on end. As Sir Garik walked, the gryphon explained, though I wasn't really paying attention.
"The towers are linked. They always have been. Perhaps your templar does not know, because his guardian refuses to tell him."
I nodded half-heartedly, but my eyes were on the knight. Across the room from us, a replica of the portal downstairs stood against the wall, the runes on its perimeter glowing. The gryphon stepped forward and gestured grandly, drawing a circle in the air with his claws. After two revolutions his claws began to glow, and the portal in front of us caught the light. After a moment, there was a flash, and through the portal, I saw the alabaster walls of the white tower.
Sir Garik walked forward stiffly, but stopped a few feet away from the opened portal. "I will miss you, Rezik. I doubt I will have another apprentice like you."
I closed my eyes, capturing the sight of Sir Garik in profile against the bright portal, his back turned to me. "You were my knight, sir."
"And I loved you." He stated, before he walked through the portal. I closed my eyes as the bright disk flickered, then closed.
To my side, the gryphon lord panted, fatigued from the magic. He turned to me, his wings mantling slightly. I turned to him and sat on my haunches. We stood there for moments that stretched into minutes, simply judging each other by our own, biased views. He was the ruler of everything I had been raised to hate, while I was the enemy that had infiltrated his home and slain his friends.
Moments stretched on, and I heard the skink and displacer beast that had followed us grow restless. I gazed into the gryphon's eyes, then dropped my head in a bow. My lips moved, and only a few words seemed appropriate:
"I am at your service, my lord."
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(Fin! Rezik, Sir Garik, and all the monster's they slew are (c) Kandrel. Any resemblance to other characters is only incedental and unintentional. Reposting is permissable, however, all reposts must be in original form, and must contain the author's name unaltered.)
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