Dragoness of Mars
Story by fawkesish on SoFurry
This is a beast of a story, but is broken into 3 parts. It's a tale of a dragoness in ancient rome and the issues she overcomes. It is still set in the drag'n'drop universe and was great fun to write. Big thanks to
for being my labderg on this one and helped to edit and make this story what it is.
“Once upon a time, in a land not too far from here….
== Preamble ==
“When the war-drum shudders through your bones,
and the horns split the sky with iron thunder,
you break your wings to the dive,
Remember.
He is your voice, not your soul.
He may guide you, his cry may steady your fire,
but it is your wings that cut the storm,
and your fire that scorches Rome’s enemies.
Look to him, and you will not see the spear before you.
Turn for him, and the foe will pierce you both.
Your eyes are not for love, nor loyalty,
but for the kill alone.
Forget the warmth at your neck,
forget the heartbeat pressed to your scales,
forget the voice that calls your name in the din.
In battle, you have no bond but the strike.
For the warrior who looks back is already ash,
and the dragon who shields another
is the first to fall into Orcus.
Forward, always look forward,
To fight, to win, to live.
Your mind is the cut of Rome’s talons, Dragoness of Mars. Don't waste it on your company.”
–Gaaret, of house Julii
~Circa 300AD
== Act 1==
“Leesiana, I’m sorry,” murmured the girl as she stood at the entrance to the stable, holding an oil lantern out beside her. Standing between the thick timber beams that rose up to support the terracotta-shingled roof, she looked so incredibly small compared to the warriors that filled the garrison. “Imperator Marcus Julius has passed,” she added softly, lowering her gaze towards the cobblestone ground that led to the resting dragons.
The stale straw was a luxury amongst the cavalry and had been distributed in accordance with the rank of the creatures’ riders. At the girl’s announcement, many of the weary dragons shifted, lifting their heads to look with narrow eyes. Their tails twitched at the disruption and turned to look toward one of their own who lay apart from the group. With the overwhelming majority of the straw tucked under her crimson-scaled hide to form a thin padding, the dragoness stared toward the entrance and made no indication she had even heard the messenger’s words. Her unblinking yellow eyes caught the lantern light as she stared straight through the girl with an unreadable expression. A heavy silence hung in the air, broken only by the rasp of claws against stone or the faint rustle of wings as the flight absorbed the news. Outside, a few soldiers moved about the estate they had captured. Despite their victory, there were no sounds of merriment or celebration. The battle had been hard won and at great cost.
The girl’s lips pursed slightly before she dipped her head in an unnecessary farewell and turned to leave, but a long inhale from the dragoness gave her pause.
“What is your name, girl?” inquired Leesiana, her voice oddly calm despite the news.
Turning back, the lantern in the girl’s hand trembled slightly as she looked toward the resting dragoness. The flickering light cast across the dragon’s golden horns, giving her an almost unworldly appearance as she fixed her stare on the messenger. “My—my name? Elettra,” she stammered, placing her hand on her chest in a formal greeting. It wasn’t custom to offer such reverence towards a dragon, but the girl’s tattered skirt and mismatched sandals betrayed how low-born she was. Judging by her age, she was likely just old enough to be married, should a prospective family stoop so low. She had probably been chosen to deliver the news because she was expendable, and the noblemen hadn’t spent enough time with Leesiana to predict her reaction.
Looking intently at the young woman, the dragoness’ jaw clenched and unclenched as though chewing on the name before she finally lowered her head back to the ground and resumed staring through the messenger. Elettra’s eyes remained fixed on the floor before she placed her palm on her chest once more in an untrained salute. No doubt nervous to be in the company of dragons, the girl still managed composure and waited a beat before dipping her head and turning again.
“Thank you, Elettra. You have delivered your message well,” called out the dragoness in a warmer tone that made the girl pause, look back, and smile in relief.
Elettra left quickly, and Leesiana listened to the sound of the girl’s leather sandals on the ground until she reached the main homestead where her late rider had been taken. When the door opened, she caught a fragment of conversation from someone asking how she had taken the news before it closed again. They feared her, and Leesiana knew it.
Movement beside her tugged at her attention, and with a quick glance she confirmed it was Ciivrus, a young, yellow drake with only one season of battles under his wings. He lay on his front, his neck curled back in an alert ‘S’ as he looked between her and the door, clearly wanting to speak but unsure if he was welcome. A few others stirred at the same time: a blue-scaled she-drake shifting her weight to lean against a post, a copper male blowing dust from his nostrils in irritation, a pale-winged veteran letting out a slow sigh. Their eyes glinted in the lantern light, silent witnesses to the exchange.
“What is it, Ciivrus?” she asked, closing her eyes as she rested her head on the thin straw bed.
“Did that girl just… salute you?” the drake asked, and Leesiana heard the others in the stable shift again, claws scraping faintly against stone as they listened. Ciivrus was a curious one, hatched on a noble estate on the outskirts of Rome. He had been trained privately by the family and was the mount of one of the noble sons. While lacking the rigid training of the army, he had been transferred to the unit as a pair with his rider. A vile man, more likely to be found inviting himself into other noblemen’s estates than offering tactical insight. Ciivrus, thankfully, wasn’t as vain, but without the regimented training he was often the last to rise and the least experienced in battle.
Pulling his head back into a tight ‘S,’ the young drake looked amongst the rest of the flight before explaining his question. “I’ve never gotten a salute—”
“You're not the Imperator’s dragon,” growled the deep, rumbling voice of Gaaret, a heavy-set brute of a drake who hadn’t dignified the young one with opening his eyes. In the night, his dull, slate-colored scales seemed to absorb what little moonlight found its way into the stable, giving him an even more ominous appearance. “Likewise, it’s her rider’s family colors stitched into your banners, not your house’s,” he said in a low, gravelly voice that, like the rest of him, had been worn down through countless battles. “You also aren’t ‘blessed by Mars himself,’ like she is,” he added, before breathing in deeply and slowly exhaling. “Nor… did you just lose your rider,” he finished tiredly.
“I’ve lost a rider before,” chimed in another drake, Kaanak, dull in every sense of the word, green-scaled with a broken horn and a deep scar running down his neck. “Three, actually, and I didn’t get a salute then. In fact, they forgot to feed me for a week before bringing me a new rider,” he added with a hint of annoyance in his voice.
“Could it be the fact that you’ve managed to get three riders killed that you don’t get a salute?” grumbled Gaaret. Leesiana heard the sound of scales against stone as the old drake lifted his head and glared back at the group. “Besides, Imperator Marcus Julius was a good man. An honest man. He actually treated us like soldiers, not mindless animals, and he and Leesiana have done more for Rome than you ever will. Hell, two seasons ago at the battle of Rubra Vallis, just their presence alone broke the enemy’s lines and made them lay down their arms. Then at Mons Ferox, the pair of them outmaneuvered the western flank and won us the battle,” Gaaret added, looking toward the resting dragoness. “Without them, many men would have been slain by their war machines. So yeah, she gets a salute. Pray that one day you achieve something half as worthy.”
“She was just nervous,” remarked Leesiana without lifting her head, flicking one eye toward Ciivrus. “And low-born. Don’t get your hopes up. A foot soldier may thank you one day for saving his life, but you’d have to capture the enemy general to get a second look from the noble houses,” she mused before looking forward again.
“You undersell yourself, Leesiana,” Gaaret started, lowering his head onto the cobblestone floor to rest. “The soldiers need heroes, even if they are dragons. The stories speak of ‘The Imperator and the Dragon of Mars,’ not just ‘The Imperator.’ You are just as important to the stories as Marcus is,” he added, making Leesiana scoff. “Oh, don’t lie to yourself, Leesiana. When you are in camp, the men do not see just another dragoness of House Julii. They see that Mars himself is with them. It gives them courage, gives them something to fight for. They see your colors and twisted horns and know that the gods themselves favor their cause! Also, probably half of Rome knows someone who would have been slain if it weren’t for your actions on the battlefield. And that’s just because of your prowess. Your presence alone during negotiations is formidable, when Marcus and yourself make a bid for peace, they listen. The nobles know that you are more than just one of us, and you aren’t expendable.”
“Stop trying to get under my tail, Gaaret. You’re not my type. Hell, you’re old enough to be my sire,” Leesiana mused, rolling her eyes. Her deflection earned her a small chuckle from the flight, but the drake’s words were the truth. She wasn’t like the others, which irked her whenever she and her rider received commendations for the efforts of their unit. The accomplishments of her rider had earned them countless accolades and songs about their exploits, but neither she nor Marcus had cared for them. They both knew that one rogue spear could end their tale at any moment. Or, as had happened in the final stages of the battle, a stray arrow could find its way between Marcus’ helm and chest plate. All that had mattered to them was the mission and ending the battle swiftly, to stop the needless bloodshed of their fellow soldiers. Neither Leesiana nor her rider had taken any great pleasure in fighting, but the man had been loyal to his family’s name and to the empire, values that had become ingrained in the dragoness’ own ethic.
“So… with Imperator Marcus gone… what happens to you?” Ciivrus asked, and Leesiana knew exactly what he meant. She had risen to a curious position within the army, and officially she shouldn’t have had any special treatment. After all, to the men she was a tool, like a sword, spear, or warhorse, and it was completely normal for soldiers to go through sets of equipment throughout a campaign. Yet Gaaret was right, her reputation and gifts had elevated her above the others, and now she was also considering what her future would hold.
Stretching her sore hind legs backward along her tail and letting her wings sprawl limply across the ground, Leesiana didn’t reply straight away. Instead, she took the moment to ease the pain that had accrued over the harsh battle. “The war is over, job done. Winter will be here soon. There won’t be any movements for a few months,” she said matter-of-factly. However, she knew she was being optimistic. While they had successfully ended one war and pruned a noble house who thought themselves bigger than the empire, there would be other battles.
There always were. When under threat, or if the empire deemed expansion necessary, all of the noble houses would unite to accomplish whatever was required. However, left with no clear enemy, the houses were known to bicker and squabble among one another for influence and power. Many of the disagreements would be resolved behind closed doors, or through marriages and trades, but it wasn’t uncommon for them to resort to violence to settle their issues.
“There are only two honourable options for a ’ness like Leesiana, Ciivrus, you know that,” Gaaret rumbled, and the atmosphere in the stable turned cold. “One of her blood, reputation, and gifts won’t be idle for long. They will make sure of that,” he added, and Leesiana hummed in acknowledgement.
“And either one has me dying while being ridden,” Leesiana mused, lifting her head to look back at Gaaret with a wry smile. He dipped his head in acknowledgement. Seeing that, Ciivrus’ head flicked between the pair. She rolled her eyes and explained, “They will either get me a new rider, probably some noble prick who barely knows one end of a spear from the other. Who will likely get me killed in the next battle, trying to outdo Marcus in some heroic act of stupidity… or they will have me at the breeding pens, pumping out eggs for the same uptight families to give to their little ones as pets.”
Ciivrus recoiled as if stung and looked toward Gaaret for validation, but the old drake simply nodded. “Well… it’s probably not that bad,” the young drake started in a valiant attempt to reassure her. “I’ve heard the breeding pens aren’t that bad—” he began, but was silenced by a glare from Leesiana. “I mean… never mind…” he muttered, though as Leesiana looked away he couldn’t help himself. “What would be your choice then, if you got to pick?”
The younger drake’s question hung in the air, and it was clear the rest of the flight were curious too. Truthfully, Leesiana didn’t know herself. Marcus had been a decent man and had purchased her with his own money from the fighting pits of Rome when she was no larger than a dog. She had seen the horrors of the underworld’s breeding pens firsthand and doubted the empire’s would be much more accommodating. The idea of being used by whichever drake some human deemed suitable, again and again until she had to be supported with chains, made her stomach turn and bile rise in her throat. But the thought of going into battle with an uppity noble who would issue reckless commands in a grasp for glory sent a shiver down her spine.
What she really wanted was peace and to not wake each day wondering if it would be her last. To sink her claws into the fertile ground of a farm instead of the bloodied bodies of her enemies.
“Maybe there will be peace,” she mused, her tone softening. “Maybe if the dragoness of war doesn’t go into battle, there won’t be one. Maybe it’s time that Mars sows seeds rather than bodies. I would rather spend my time staving off wolves than the barbarians on the northern front,” she added, knowing full well she was being childish.
They’d never let her relax and be at peace.
“Leesiana,” came Gaaret’s voice, oddly sincere, making her slowly turn to look back at him. “What you have done for Rome, for us…” he began, glancing toward the others before nodding toward the open stable door. His eyes returned to hers, and she saw a flicker of pity within them. “We wouldn’t find you. Even if they ordered us to,” he added, and Leesiana saw the others stiffen. All the dragons in the unit were now staring at her, curious to see her reaction to Gaaret’s traitorous suggestion.
It would be possible to escape, of course. While younger dragons would need special permission to fly unburdened by a rider, no one in the legion would stop a dragon of her status from stretching her wings after such a battle, and she likely wouldn’t be reported missing until daybreak. By then, she could be halfway across the country, if it weren’t for the ache in her wings and chest from a day of fighting. In her current state, she would likely last only a few hours before needing to land, and if the flight left at dawn, they would easily catch up with her by midday. However, what Gaaret was suggesting was different, and when she looked across the rest of the flight, she could see the same loyalty reflected in their eyes.
They wouldn’t find her, not because they couldn’t, but because they would actively try not to.
They would be punished if their insubordination was discovered, but she would be free. Free to live without orders, without battles, and without war. The thought was as tempting as a cool spring on a scorching hot day, but the more she considered the reality, the more she resisted. The idea of her flight being punished for her selfish actions made her sick, and she knew that as a figurehead of the Roman Empire, there would be no peace in running. She would forever be looking over her shoulder, watching for Romans or their countless enemies who would try to capture or kill her for their own gain.
“No,” she said flatly, whipping her head back toward the exit. “And don’t let me hear anything like that come from you again, Gaaret,” she barked, more for her own sake than his. Snapping her head around once more, she rose to all fours, the crimson dragoness stalking toward the prone drake with her wings folded but raised from her sides. “I’ve fought tooth and claw for this empire. I won’t have my reputation tarnished by desertion— nor Marcus’s!” she hissed, her eyes narrowing to slits as tendrils of smoke coiled from the edges of her snarling maw. Deep in her core, she felt her gift flaring like waves colliding, surging through her mind and begging for release. Even after the battle, she still had enough strength to unleash her magic in a dozen creative ways, any of which could carve another scar into the weathered drake’s hide. Yet she withheld it, forcing herself to remain composed as she stared him down.
Dipping his head in submission, Gaaret looked away and murmured his acknowledgement. Leesiana held his gaze for a moment longer, then gnashed her teeth and turned sharply, returning to her straw bed. Without so much as a glance, the loose bedding she had displaced with her movements began to shift across the cobblestones, reforming into a nest as she lay back down with her back to the flight. Her gifts didn’t make her unique, as it wasn't uncommon for some dragons to possess a grasp of the arcane. Unlike some others, she hadn’t been blessed with the luxury of squandering her talents on the arts, like those who had been purchased by nobles. She had honed hers for survival, first in the fighting pits, before she caught the attention of Marcus.
The moment of her discovery had come when she was paired against a young bear for the amusement of the faceless crowd. The creature had been terrified, just as she had been when she was small. However, after years of blood and survival, the bone-splitting crack of the cub’s neck as it charged her had become a distant memory. In the days that followed, she was pitted against beasts from across the land, and she quickly learned to wield her gift as she did her claws, fangs, or fire. Yet, the pits were not like the army, where a swift kill meant survival. Instead the crowd wanted spectacle, suffering, a drawn-out dance of blood. She had been forced to hold back, to prolong the carnage for their amusement. It had been bloody, cruel, and necessary to survive, and she took no pleasure in reliving those memories.
Lying down, Leesiana inhaled deeply and hissed in frustration when Ciivrus cleared his throat. “So… what do you want to do?” he asked, before Gaaret snapped his jaws at him with a loud clack, and the young drake quickly fell silent. With a shuffle of wings, Ciivrus and the others settled back down and made themselves comfortable for the night.
What she wanted was partially irrelevant, though Leesiana mused that it might be possible to carve out some semblance of a new life depending on how she behaved. One thing was certain: The death of her rider would mean a new chapter in her life, but her usefulness to the empire hadn’t ended.
“I just want to find peace.”
“What the fuck do you mean she still isn’t laying?” barked Gaius Cassius as he stormed along the gravel path between the stud paddocks, his polished boots crunching loudly. Despite never having set foot on a battlefield, the portly noble wore a gleaming chest plate that looked as though it had been hammered out for a warhorse rather than a man. The late spring sun reflected off its surface in dazzling flashes, while sweat ran freely down his red cheeks.
Keeping pace beside him was Vilicus, the wiry, grey-haired chief warden of the breeding pens. He clutched his robes to keep them from brushing the muck of the path, bowing his head even as he hurried to match Cassius’ stride. Behind them trailed four of the praetor’s personal guards in black-and-gold armor, their faces set in stony disinterest as they carried their spears leisurely, while their other arm looped through their shields. The smell of straw, blood, and dragon musk rolled thick through the air.
“It’s been three years. What’s wrong with her?” Cassius pressed, his voice rising above the din of the farm.
All around, dragons shifted in their pens at the sound of his bellowing. Wings rustled. Tails scraped against the low timber dividers. A young bronze-scaled drake snapped at the air, irritated by the noise, while a heavy blue broodmare rumbled low in her chest and sank deeper into her pool.
Vilicus swallowed, voice trembling under the noble’s glare. “It’s not her, Cassius. We have tried to pair her with all of our studs, but none will… do the job.”
Cassius stopped long enough to wheel on him, his bulk nearly knocking the warden off the path.
“There isn’t anything wrong with them,” Vilicus added hastily. “They cover the other broodmares just fine, but none will go near her—”
“Are you telling me then, what?” Cassius roared. “Out of all my drakes, none have the courage to mount the Dragoness of Mars?” His shout carried over the farm, silencing a dozen roars and leaving only the shrill cries of the starlings startled out of the olive trees.
“She is the dragoness of the Imperator, for fuck’s sake. They’d be lucky to sire her eggs!” Cassius continued, spittle flying as he gestured wildly with a meaty hand. “I’ve been around these beasts my whole life, Vilicus. The challenge is keeping them off a hen in season. Even when they aren’t, half the males will still rut like stags. Have you lost your touch?”
Vilicus flinched. “No, Cassius! It’s hard to say.” He gestured desperately toward one of the larger paddocks, where a noble drake had just spread his wings to catch the sun. The dragon’s scales gleamed the color of sand, threaded with veins of orange and red that flickered like embers whenever he moved. “Reekan, here. He is the only drake she will tolerate. Gifted with fire, can fly for two days without rest, and our best candidate by far. She’ll keep company with him, close even, but only out of season. Once her season begins, neither he nor any of the others will approach her.”
Cassius opened his mouth, but Vilicus, perhaps suicidally bold, raised a finger to halt him. “And don’t think we haven’t tried bindings. She undoes them with her magic faster than we can tie them. We drugged her food, secured her with chains thicker than a man’s leg and still no drake would have a go.”
Cassius faltered, his tirade caught in his throat. He slowed, turning his gaze not only on Reekan but on the full expanse of the farm.
The estate had cost him dearly. Three dozen paddocks stretched across the valley, each one stocked with dragons of bloodlines hand-picked from the noble estates of Rome. Not a single low-bred runt fouled his fields. The air was thick with the mingling smells of musk, salt, and the coppery tang of fresh kills delivered daily. Pools dug into the earth reflected the midday sun, each one muddied by claw marks and scale. Wooden shelters squatted at the edges of the pens, where the beasts could retreat during rainstorms.
The low fences were not to hold the dragons in as any of the creatures could easily vault them, but instead they were erected to mark invisible boundaries. The drakes respected the divisions, knowing instinctively where their territory ended. It reduced the risk of confusion as to who was being paired with who. Although, it did nothing for the endless growls and posturing whenever a female came into heat. The farm reeked of it now. Musk and pheromone clung to every breath, heavy as the dust. Even Cassius’ guards shifted uneasily under the weight of the scent.
As for the dragoness, the young and the unbroken would have their wings hobbled with leather bindings, and iron chains the thickness of a man’s thigh dragged from their necks to posts sunk deep in the earth. Their struggles had gouged long trenches into the soil, paths of futility carved with every lunge for freedom. Those who had proven themselves docile, or were already gravid, lay unbound in the shade of their shelters, resting heavy-bellied until they laid. Above, the sky was alive with the shadows of free males wheeling overhead, their liberty a lure and a promise for the females still in chains.
“Well, look, one way or another we need her gravid. She ain’t much use to us as she is,” Cassius remarked, stroking his fingers through his trimmed hair. His chestplate creaked as his bulk shifted, the polished metal catching the sun with each step. “The beast almost killed the dozen riders we tried to pair her with, and I’m not going to explain to another of the houses why their son is missing his sword arm.”
His voice carried across the paddocks, drawing the eyes of more than one drake. A scarred black male snorted and pawed at the dirt as though he’d understood, while a broodmare in the next pen gave a low rumble of unease. The guards trailed close, their faces impassive, though one cast a wary glance toward the shifting shapes beyond the fences.
Cassius looked the caretaker in the eye, his expression hard, and after a few paces he suddenly stopped. The larger man almost jolted in realization and gripped Vilicus by the shoulder, thick fingers pressing deep into the bony frame.
“House Fabii! Lucius Fabius Maximus, he’s always going on about a stud in their stables. He said he isn’t the kind to ask for permission, and is allegedly equipped with a battering ram of a cock, if you know what I mean.”
Vilicus stiffened under the hand but managed a strained smile, nodding quickly as though the praetor had made a clever point. “Oh, I am aware of his brute. He’s always wanting to send him here to give his ’nesses a break,” the caretaker mused, shaking his head slowly. His eyes flicked to one of the paddocks, where another male had raised his head at the commotion, and tracked them as they walked. “We had one with the same disposition. He showed promise, except he failed to come to attention in the moment.”
He inhaled deeply, the memory clearly unpleasant. “At first we thought it was stage fright or something, given her status. Then things went bad… real bad.” Vilicus added while Cassius continued to stare, clearly expecting details.
Vilicus’ voice dropped lower, as though the dragons themselves might be listening. “Some of the more superstitious men believed one of the gods cursed the drake, as his spear went a sickly shade of black. The beast was in terrible pain, roaring and whining in agony for hours before we managed to convince Leesiana to stop whatever she was doing.” The man swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing nervously. “But the damage was done. He ain’t any use to us anymore. Not at this facility.”
A silence hung between them for a moment, filled only by the distant rush of wings overhead and the faint tang of smoke from a nearby dung fire.
Vilicus finally risked a glance back at the praetor. “Also, Praetor, you made it clear that she was only to be paired with your stock. Is that not still the case?” he asked, but was answered with a dismissive shake of Cassius’ hand.
“That was my intention, but some eggs are better than none. Perhaps she needs to be reminded why she is here, and that she doesn't have any other options.” Cassius growled and released his grip on the caretaker's shoulder. “You can't be letting her call the shots. If we want her gravid, then it happens. Get the clippers and make sure she knows we mean business. Although, don't actually use them—”
“Oh, I know. But more importantly, she understands. She's got some smarts between those twisted horns. We can't clip her, and she knows it,” the caretaker said, shrugging his shoulders. “Besides, the men ain't that keen on coming at her with a blade. Her gifts are no circus act, and she has played tricks on a few of them. Harmless ruses, nothing nasty. Still, the men know she isn't to be messed with.”
“Perhaps that's why the drakes won't get the job done. They're too afraid… or not given appropriate motivation,” Cassius mused as they came close enough to Leesiana’s pen to see the crimson dragoness. To the man’s surprise, she didn't wear wing bindings despite being so uncooperative. He was about to complain but remembered the caretaker's warning about her undoing restraints and recognised it would be pointless. However, given that she hadn't chosen to leave, Cassius wondered if there was something here the dragoness wanted, and he began to think how he could leverage it against her.
The caretaker scratched his chin, shook his head, and said, “I don't know what else motivates a drake more than a hen in heat. The closest we got to a covering was when she was drugged and we bound her up over a mount we use to test the males. We even put another ‘ness in as a teaser to mask her scent and blindfolded the male so he wouldn't know it was her, but once he was on her he backed out and almost took out one of the grooms in the process. We tried another, but his reaction was the same. Afterwards neither of the males would even look at her—”
“Cut their food then. Make ’em starve.”
“It won't work, Cassius. If the females aren't well fed, they don't cycle—”
“I meant the males,” Cassius said, looking through the low timber fence at the large crimson dragoness lounging across the paddock. He had only seen her in person on a few occasions, but had seen her depictions in scrolls countless times. The images, however, always failed to capture the intimidating presence the dragoness exuded so effortlessly. Even lying on the soft grass with her head on the ground, powerful muscles showed beneath her blood-red hide. Judging by the way her scales gleamed under the warm, Mediterranean sun, and how relaxed she appeared with her wings spread across the ground, Cassius couldn't help feeling the dragoness was mocking him, as if she had grown fond of the free meals and board and had worked out a way to avoid holding up her end of the deal.
“Next time she comes into cycle, cut all food to the males. First one to fuck her gets a feast,” he added, looking toward the caretaker, who winced at the idea. “There are only three ways to motivate a drake: pain, pleasure, and food. You should know this,” he said it with an air of superiority. “You are being too soft on the beasts. If we don't get eggs from her this season, then… well… it will be on your head. I will get eggs, one way or another.”
“No, you won't,” came a low voice from across the paddock. Looking at them with a half-lidded eye, Leesiana regarded both men with a sleepy expression before slowly lifting her head. Without any sense of urgency, the dragoness stretched her forelegs out in front of her and extended both wings to their full length in a long, luxurious stretch. “Nor is it Vilicus’ fault, although I wouldn't stop you from harming him,” stated the dragoness in a confident tone. “I am here because I want to be here, not because I want to have eggs that you will take away and–”
“You will lay a clutch, many clutches! And I will do what I please with them as I please,” snarled the Praetor before hooking both of his thumbs under his breastplate to straighten it against his chest. “And, you will address me correctly, beast,” spat Cassius as he stepped up to the fence. “I am Praetor Gaius Cassius of the—”
“Oh, I know who you are,” Leesiana interrupted, folding her wings against her sides before slowly rising to all fours. Her voice was smooth, but edged like a blade. “Praetor Gaius Cassius of the august House of Claudii, heir to stern Appius himself. Marcus didn’t speak very highly of you. Something about your performance at the battle of Rubra Vallis,” she spoke with more confidence than any of the beasts Cassius had ever encountered, her tone dripping with disdain.
Stalking forward, Leesiana’s claws carved deep furrows into the soft earth with every measured step. Each talon sank effortlessly into the soil, and Cassius could see the raw power in her stride, the way her muscles coiled beneath her scales like drawn bowstrings. Despite not having seen combat for years, the dragoness looked no less lethal and there was no softness about her figure, nor was any movements of her body wasted. She moved like one of the great cats of the African plains, only magnified into something vast, ancient, and terrible.
At full height, Leesiana was a spectacle. Her shoulders rose level with a man’s, but her long, corded neck lifted her skull far above even the tallest of soldiers. Her crimson scales, burnished and gleaming in the sun, bore only the faintest traces of old battles. A few silvery scars lingered along her flank and the ridge of one wing, but rather than marring her, they served to highlight the perfect health she now carried. She had shed the grime of war, and in the pampered conditions of the stud farm her body had only grown more elegant, her scales polished, her muscles honed. Cassius could not deny it: she was magnificent. As she drew closer, Cassius forced himself to stand firm, his neck prickling with the instinctive terror every man felt in the face of such a predator. Her piercing yellow eyes locked onto him, unblinking, hard as cut amber, and he had to remind himself not to look away.
Then there were the horns. Unlike the common shapes he had grown used to, the swept-back spines or curling ram’s horns of other dragons, Leesiana’s were otherworldly. Four in total, they sprouted in staggered pairs from the back of her skull. Instead of running parallel or fanning wide, they coiled around each other, two perfect helical spirals that rose into tapered points like spears twisted by a god’s hand. They gave her silhouette a savage elegance, a natural crown that marked her apart from every other beast Cassius had laid eyes upon.
And yet one bore a story. On her left side, the lower horn had cracked long ago, shattering in some battle that had nearly taken it from her. In its place gleamed a replacement: a masterwork of the smith’s art, cast in gold and engraved with fine whorls and runes that caught the sunlight. The golden horn traced the same spiral as the original, curving with perfect fidelity, and it gleamed like a warning. Far from lessening her, it lent her the appearance of something half-divine, as though she had been remade rather than healed, marked by war and worshipped in equal measure.
Cassius realized, in that long moment, that the stories had not been exaggerated. Leesiana was not like the common broodmares that Vilicus wrangled. Instead, she was a legend clothed in living flesh, a creature of fire and blood who had once broken armies and still carried herself as if she could do so again.
“The battle of Rubra Vallis?” Cassius asked in confusion, frowning deeply before shaking his head. “I wasn't at the battle of—”
“Ah, that’s right,” Leesiana snapped, her voice edged with an almost playful smirk. She strode closer to the cluster of men, her claws crunching over the gravel path, tail swaying lazily behind her like a predator testing the air. Her eyes flicked briefly toward the armed guards as they instinctively shifted their weight, shields pressing tighter to their sides, spears trembling faintly as they angled them forward. She could smell their unease, the sharp tang of sweat rising under their armor, the shallow breaths they tried to steady.
“You weren’t there… were you?” she added, halting just outside their spear range. She knew the measure of their courage, or lack thereof. Not that there was any real chance of them raising a weapon against her. Every one of them had grown up hearing stories of the crimson dragoness of Mars. Tales of her torching entire armies in a single fiery sweep might have been exaggerated, but they knew enough truth to understand how little hope four soldiers with spears had against her. Especially in an open field where they had no cover.
Cassius lifted his chin, puffing himself up in defiance though the flicker in his eyes betrayed the crack of fear. “I had other, more pressing duties to attend to,” he replied, each word sharpened by pride. Leesiana answered this with a faint rise of her eye ridges, as though mocking his excuse without speaking.
“We all have duties,” he pressed, trying to force steadiness into his tone. “You, of all, should know that. What would the Imperator have to say if he could see your antics here?” His lip curled into a tight smile, thin and joyless. “He performed his duty valiantly. It’s a shame to see he didn’t impart that drive onto his mount before you got him—”
The sound that came from Leesiana’s chest was primal, a low, rolling growl that vibrated the earth beneath their feet and silenced his words in an instant. Cassius’ smug expression faltered, his eyes widening as her lips peeled back in a snarl, ivory fangs catching the light. The guards stumbled a half-step backward, shields shifting clumsily, spears wobbling as their training wrestled with instinct.
With one deliberate stride, Leesiana closed the distance further, her shadow falling across them. Her eyes never left Cassius, molten yellow burning into him as if daring him to test her. A thin tendril of oily black smoke slithered from the corners of her maw, curling upward into the still air.
“Be careful, Praetor,” she warned, her voice low, rumbling, deadly calm. “Your next words may cost you more than your dignity.”
“And your next actions may be your last,” spat Cassius, refusing to break the dragon’s gaze. “You might have swindled your way to the top of the pack here, but the empire will not tolerate you attacking a nobleman. You’d be branded as possessed and put down publicly.” Whether it was a bluff or not was hard to say. Her status would make violence complicated, but Cassius was confident powerful minds would avenge him. He watched her eyes flick between his, as if weighing whether to escalate, until at last her lips shut and she stepped back.
“That’s what I thought,” Cassius said as calmly as he could muster, though his heart hammered in his chest.
Drawing a deep breath, Cassius waited, making sure the dragon had no final barbs to throw before tugging at his armor straps, shifting the weight until it sat more evenly across his shoulders. “Now, this nonsense ends today. You are a dragon of the empire, and as such, you have a duty to perform. Compounded by your gifts and… accomplishments.” He let the last word hang like an open wound. “Your brethren are doing their duty and fighting for Rome, and as such, we need replenishments.” He continued, watching her lip twitch in disgust.
“We are at peace. There is no fighting,” Leesiana said flatly, lifting her head to avoid his stare. “The fighters that come here bring me news. They say there hasn’t been a decent battle since Marcus died. No one is threatening us, none of the houses are causing trouble,” she added confidently, though her wings shifted uneasily against her sides. “The number of pairings happening here are a byproduct of peace, as they aren’t needed. So don’t tell me the war needs replenishments when we both know you just want eggs to trade for favors and boons. Maybe even to earn you the title of Consul.”
“Then I regret to inform you that you are gravely mistaken,” Cassius mused with a smug smile. “I have no intentions of rising to consul, nor would eggs from you gain me any favor within the senate,” he lied smoothly, holding her gaze when she glanced back down at him, “Likewise, war is coming.”
He gave a short, cocky laugh and gestured toward the paddocks with an open hand. “These pairings you’ve been seeing? The reason why you are here? It isn’t because of peace. Do you know how much it costs to raise a dragon to fighting age? Do you really think we would do all of this for peace? You stupid creature.” He spat the words and stepped up to the fence, his breastplate clanking against the rail with a dull thud. “We are bolstering our numbers for the coming war. House Julii, your old master’s family, they have grown arrogant, lazy and need to be corrected, firmly.” He smiled as the dragoness’ eyes searched his face for any sign of deception.
It wasn’t entirely a lie, although the truth ran far deeper and fouler. His hatred for house Julii had been festering beneath the veneer of civility for decades. They had the glory, the songs and the adoration of the legions while he and his family had the burden of administration, record keeping and upholding the registries of history. While men shouted the victories of the Imperator, Cassius’s own victories had been forgotten in a month. Every triumph of House Julii was a reminder that he would never be remembered for anything more than documenting their victories and preserving his legacy.
When Marcus died, the praetor had seen an opening. The dragoness and her flight, the symbol of house Julii’s prestige, were no longer warriors of the empire, but spoils of bureaucracy. Buying them had cost him greatly, and other than the dragoness of Mars, the rest held very little value other than the symbolic poetry of them being used to dismantle the noble house.
“Good luck,” Leesiana said flatly, sitting back on her haunches with a smug smile. Clearly the dragoness held some loyalty to her late master’s house and didn’t believe him. “You march on Julii, you won’t last a week. My old flight could probably mop up that limp-wristed militia you have in two passes,” she added, drawing a deep, throated chuckle from Cassius.
“Your flight?” retorted the man with an ugly, knowing smile. “No one told you, did they? Your little friends who come here with talk of the world never told you what happened to them?” He watched her expression darken with relish. “They were a package deal with you, ‘Dragoness of Mars’” he spat, sarcasm dripping from every syllable. “Why do you think you are at this farm, my farm, out of all of the noble houses?” He let the question hang as he leaned over the fence railing. “I own you, Leesiana. You, your eggs, and that flight of beasts.” He smirked as the dragoness curled her tail around her paws defensively. “I’d say you lot weren’t cheap, but once certain documents showed how unruly House Julii had become, they were happy to let you go.”
The dragoness’s silence spoke volumes, and it clicked in his mind that perhaps she felt loyalty toward her former squad. He quickly devised a way to leverage that loyalty to force her compliance. “They will be taking point when we storm the estate. It’s poetic, don’t you think? Maybe we’ll have artisans sketch them marching alongside the legionaries. It’s not easy for them to be part of a phalanx, but I’m sure I’ll work it out.”
“You know nothing of war,” Leesiana hissed through clenched jaws. “You don’t use us as shield-bearers. We are the tip of the spear, a flanking tool. Our speed would be wasted—” Her words died as Cassius nodded, and the beast’s meaning settled on her.
Whether he would actually employ them in such a futile way was inconsequential to his plans. After all, they were a bonus in the deal he’d made to secure the dragoness, expendable like any other unit. Her reaction, however, revealed weakness, and he couldn’t help pressing the advantage. “Quite possibly,” he said, “but between you and me, you were the one doing most of the heavy lifting,” he continued with a compliment that she felt was a hidden blade. “Without you, they just aren’t what the stories make them out to be. I’d even go as far to say that some of them are getting slow. That old bastard, Garnet, or whatever its name is, probably has only one good fight left in him. Then I’ll have to get rid of him. After all, he’s too old for a place like this and the big fucker costs as much to feed as the two others—”
“Leave them out of this,” Leesiana said, the venom Cassius had come to expect absent from her voice. “They are good dragons, good soldiers,” she added in defeat, and looked down at Cassius with a hint of pleading in her eyes.
Smug satisfaction swelled in Cassius’s chest as he looked at the fierce beast, knowing that now he had beaten her. “Oh, they are, but I bought you all for your talents. It seems I've wasted my time on a barren dragoness who won’t take a rider. So it’s only reasonable then, that I'm going to get my worth out of the others,” he said, watching the muscles in the dragoness’s body stiffen. He paused, not out of fear, but to emphasise his power over her. She remained motionless, staring at him with those powerful yellow eyes. In a silent contest of wills, she tried to dominate him with her stare, but he would not relent; only when she looked away did he continue. “Your next clutch will decide their fate,” he said firmly, and when she did not look back at him, he knew she understood. He stepped back from the fence and turned to Vilicus, his tone equally as firm as he addressed the caretaker.
“I want a report with me in three weeks. I want dates, which one she is paired with, how often and how long. If she moans, if she cries, tell me. Get the males used to taking her, and the moment her cycle starts I want every one of them stepping up. You understand? I don’t care if they are from my house or not, if they get the job done, they get bought. Even if you have to get runts from the markets. No more excuses,” Cassius ordered, and nodded when the man pressed his palm to his chest in acknowledgement, “Good.” He turned back to his guards; with a clatter of shields the group parted so he could walk through them, yet he paused while surrounded by them.
Cassius looked over his shoulder and up at the dragoness’s dipped head, and waited until her eyes met his. “House Julii has three weeks, that is how long your friends have and how long you have to change my mind, beast. Pray to Ceres that your season starts by then, for their sake,” he growled, and left. Once he had emerged from his bodyguards, they stepped into formation and followed in his wake, leaving the dragoness and the caretaker at the edge of her paddock.
“Well…” Vilicus started, and looked up at the crimson dragoness with a half-hearted attempt at reassurance. Tapping his hand on the railing of the fence, he scanned the fields at the various dragons lounging in their paddocks. Between the dragons’ keen hearing and the lack of trees to dampen voices, Vilicus guessed that the creatures in the neighbouring paddocks would have heard most of the exchange. Having worked with them for so long, he suspected that by the time Cassius had left the farm the entire flight would be well aware of what had been promised. “Let's get to work then, you heard the man.”
“Any drake that tries to ‘practise’ on me against my will won't see another sunrise,” Leesiana said in a low growl that sounded like boulders grinding together. Her head tracked the departing praetor with a venomous look and her wings tightened against her sides. “The sire of my first clutch will be my decision. And Vilicus… If you drug my food again, I'll show you what the inside of your skull looks like,” she hissed as she rose to her feet and began a stiff walk back from the fence line. Her long, muscular tail lashed from side to side with each step, striking the ground in obvious frustration.
Vilicus continued to watch her go, his throat dry as the crimson dragoness prowled away in a huff. Each step sent little tremors through the packed soil, her claws leaving grooves in the earth that no groom would dare try to fill. He forced himself not to look towards Cassius and his guards, afraid that the praetor might catch even the smallest trace of the fear he felt rising in his chest. His eyes stayed fixed on her as she moved toward the pool at the center of her paddock.
She paused at the edge, head tilted slightly as though studying her own reflection. For a heartbeat she was utterly still, her heaving sides the only sign of life. The surface of the pool quivered, disturbed by the faint ripple of her breath. Vilicus found himself holding his own, hoping that was the end of it, that she would simply lower herself into the water and let the moment pass.
Then she lashed out.
Not with claws or wings, but with the briefest undulation of her serpentine neck. Her jaws parted, and a roar of blistering fire tore free. The flame raced across the pool’s surface in a straight, unbroken sheet of orange and white heat. In an instant, the water boiled violently, exploding upward in a curtain of skin-melting steam. The vapor caught the firelight, glowing like molten metal and magnifying the horror of the display. Vilicus recoiled back, one arm rising instinctively to shield his face. Even with the distance between them, he could still feel the radiating heat from her fury against his skin and staggered back a half step.
The blast carried all the way across the pool, the jet of fire nearly three times her length. Fence posts on the far side shrieked as the iron nails within them warped, and the timber styles singed and charred. Then, mercifully, it ended. Leesiana snapped her jaws shut with a sharp clack that rang like a hammer strike. The silence that followed was absolute. Every drake and hen in the neighboring paddocks froze, their wings half-mantled and eyes fixed on her. The oily chemicals she had expelled clung stubbornly to the pool’s surface, hissing and burning in iridescent streaks long after her fire had ceased. They writhed and danced atop the water, miniature flames licking at the steam before sputtering out one by one. Slowly, the glow faded and the air cleared, leaving only the acrid stink of scorched earth and charred wood.
Leesiana stepped forward, the muscles in her shoulders bunching as she clenched her paws against the soft earth. Without sparing so much as a glance at the men who had witnessed her display, she slipped into the steaming water. The pool shivered around her, still bubbling faintly as she lowered herself with deliberate calm. Finally she settled, sinking until only her horns and the line of her back broke the surface. She turned, lying with her spine angled away from them all, a wall of crimson scale and golden horn that dismissed them as completely as if they no longer existed.
Vilicus exhaled shakily, realizing only then that he had been holding his breath. The silence stretched, oppressive and heavy, and he prayed Cassius’ warning would make her more compliant over the coming days.
== Act 2==
Leesiana's eyes tracked the sandy-coloured male and the groom tasked with bringing him to her paddock. Her expression was firm and guarded as she shuffled her wings tight to her sides while lying unmoving on her bedding. Despite Cassius’s orders, the drakes brought to her had either respected or feared her enough not to force themselves on her, and for that she was thankful. The looming threat against her flight hadn’t been forgotten, but she hoped Vilicus wouldn’t hastily report that she had still not taken a male, and prayed that he would hold off for as long as possible. Her reluctance wasn’t completely selfish; she had needed time to think and plan her next course of action without being exhausted by mating. Only after she had finally formulated a plan did she send for the sandy-coloured drake, Reekan, one of the few whose company she enjoyed.
“Leave us,” barked Leesiana to the groom once the pair had entered her designated area. Other than briefly pausing, however, the man continued to approach with Reekan. “I am doing what is asked of me. I do not need an audience.”
The drake walked calmly, without haste or urgency in his steps. He knew why he had been summoned, yet he showed respectful restraint as they halted just outside her sheltered sleeping area. With the afternoon sun dipping low on the horizon, his scales caught the dying orange light, the intricate veins of crimson and amber across his hide glowing as if with magical energy. His smooth, swept-back horns gave him the look of speed even while standing still, and his bright, intelligent eyes regarded her with reverence.
“I—I can’t leave. Master Vilicus made it clear that I have to record… everything. In his absence,” the young man said, clutching a small pouch Leesiana assumed held writing instruments. He looked anything but eager for his assignment, shrinking back when Leesiana let out a low, rumbling growl of disapproval.
Taking one step to the side, Reekan moved between the pair and lowered his head closer toward the groom so he could address him more quietly. “Perhaps I can recount it to you in the morning. Would that satisfy your master's needs?” the drake offered diplomatically, with a warmth in his voice that worked to disarm the man. “Surely he doesn’t actually demand that you watch us? He only wants a record of events, does he not?” he added calmly, his words smooth and gentle, like silk sliding over scale. Leesiana watched and raised her lips in a threatening snarl as the man gripped his pouch and looked between the two. “I'm sure you have more pressing matters to attend to, and I have no doubt you will hear us from your quarters,” Reekan said with finality, the subtle lift of one wing emphasizing his direction for the groom to leave.
Pursing his lips, the man hesitated before finally nodding and clutching his pouch against his chest. “Vilicus isn't due back until noon—”
“Then I will be sure to find you by then and tell you all about it. Thank you, you are an honorable man,” Reekan said politely and dipped his head in a reverent bow. Holding the pose until the man had left, the drake finally lifted his head before slowly turning around to give Leesiana his full attention. “Thank the gods,” he huffed, flashing her an infectious, relieved smile that Leesiana matched while she lay on her bed of straw. “They always pull the most discouraging faces when they watch. Although the ones that smile and laugh are by far worse,” he added, earning a snort of amusement from her. Taking a step toward her, he reset his wings against his sides before lying down on the ground beside her bedding.
The way he kept himself respectful, and the confident calmness in his disposition, were aspects of the drake she found herself drawn to. Unlike many of the other drakes at the facility, Reekan wasn’t a fighter, despite his ability to breathe fire and fly long distances. Instead, the drake had served his masters as a personal messenger, until it was discovered that Leesiana had taken a fondness for him. Since then, he had been permanently stationed at the breeding farms in the hope that he’d be successful with her. It was a fact not missed on the drake, and he had shown his gratitude for his new lifestyle by helping ensure the others knew of her plight. Whenever a new drake arrived at the stud, it was almost always Reekan who briefed the newcomers on the dragoness’s wish not to be mated and who made sure they understood what would happen to them if they obeyed the humans.
Leesiana looked at him and studied his features as she lay, and after a minute, slowly let her wings relax onto the ground. She was hesitant to talk, and instead offered the drake a content smile. Guessing that the groom would have told Reekan why she had sent for him, she appreciated that he was in no rush to press the subject. Instead, he lay one forepaw over the other and began to groom them with dedicated licks of his tongue. “Any news from outside?” she asked softly as she rested her eyes.
Pausing his grooming, the drake lifted his head and looked around to make sure no one was within earshot. “Only fragments. Could just be smoke in the air, though.” His hushed voice made Leesiana open her eyes and focus on him. “The crew that delivered today’s food wasn’t the usual crew, much younger and less tight-lipped. Apparently the usuals have been called up and were sent marching with orders to muster near Flumen Molini.”
Leesiana growled softly in anger, as she knew the area well. Situated just outside House Julii’s estate, the small river had once been quite beautiful, and between battles Marcus would often take her there to recover. Framed on all sides by tall pines, the shallow river wound its way through the hills, making it quite secluded. Her jaw clenched at the thought of the nestled haven being trampled by Cassius’s rallying forces, but she took solace in the knowledge that it would indeed be a good staging area for an attack and, more importantly, where her prey would be. She knew her time was running out, and until now she had been reluctant to leave, knowing she would only get one chance to save them, and even then it was going to be risky.
“Do you think Cassius will be there?” she asked, looking the drake in the eye as he dipped his head.
“If what he told you is true, and he plans to storm House Julii, he would be there with the main force,” Reekan said before tilting his head. “I don't know much about what's involved in assaulting a fortified estate, but he would be there to gloat, that much I know,” he added with quiet conviction in his voice, “He’s a prick like that.”
“I can see him doing that,” Leesiana said, her mind piecing together the logistics of getting there in time. She had been counting the days until Vilicus’s report would need to be sent, and although her heat should be due any day, she wasn’t confident that good news could be given to the vile man before the battle. “Anything else?”
“Nothing else of note, or at least not from outside,” Reekan said, chewing on the inside of his lip in a rare display of uneasiness. “...Kaaniah laid a clutch of three last night.” His voice carried a strange detachment that didn’t match the sorrow in his expression. “They took them away at first light and had to get two of the others to keep her from attacking the grooms. Needless to say, she’s not eating now. Word has it that she will be carted out tomorrow and has a long road ahead if she is to return to the north,” he added the last words solemnly.
“So that’s what was going on this morning. It sounded like she was dying,” Leesiana said softly before quickly lifting her head. “Wait, wasn’t she one of yours?” she asked, seeing the look of genuine remorse in the drake’s eyes as he dipped his head in a small nod. Reekan had been kept in the facility on her behalf, but that hadn’t meant that he was exclusive to her and he had been paired with others where the caretakers saw fit. She didn’t blame him, of course. It wasn’t his fault that the eggs were separated, and if he hadn’t bred the ‘ness, another would have. Leesiana was sure that Reekan would have been a good mate to the dragoness and took comfort in the knowledge that he would have been good with her. “How are you going?” she asked, catching a glimpse of pain in his eyes before he dipped his head.
He could have lied to her, comforted her with honeyed words about duty and honor, but instead the drake averted his gaze and focused on his forepaws. “It’s never easy, seeing them take the eggs,” he murmured, picking at a talon with his other paw. His grooming habits were another sign that he hadn’t lived a life on the battlefield, and while he didn’t carry himself with arrogance, he certainly took pride in his appearance. “I understand that it’s more efficient to have a few trained humans tend to the hatcheries so we can get back to work. But it would be nice if they’d let us care for them every once in a while,” he added, rotating his paw to inspect the mottled pink and black pads for any abrasions.
“That would be nice, wouldn’t it,” Leesiana said softly, knowing full well that if she laid, the eggs would be taken from her in a heartbeat. “You’d make a good father, I reckon,” she added gently, studying where the drake’s neck met his shoulders and body. His proportions gave him a sophisticated, handsome look, and it was clear he must have come from a good line. Just by looking at him, it was no wonder the soft-spoken drake had been chosen to deliver messages on behalf of Cassius’s house. Despite him belonging to the house of such a vile individual, she harbored no resentment toward the drake and understood that both he and she were simply tools for whoever had bought them.
“Thank you, Leesiana. I would say the same for you, although I think any hatchlings of yours would be quite manageable,” he paused, flashing her a coy smile when she furrowed her eye ridges in confusion. “Given they’d face the wrath of Mars for misbehaving, I don’t think they would be too much hassle,” Reekan explained with a growing grin that made her smirk back at him as she rolled her eyes.
“I think if people could see me now, they’d say my old title doesn’t really hold much weight anymore,” Leesiana said with a hint of sadness in her voice. “Truth be told, I’m not sure if I would want it to anyway. I never liked that title.” She turned her head away from the drake and laid it down on her bedding.
“I think it’s a good title,” Reekan mused as he watched her, resting with his forepaws crossed, “It’s legendary, and fitting if you ask me.” The drake’s words made Leesiana glare at him with one eye. “Considering everything you’ve done, the accomplishments and battles you’ve fought… if Mars himself were to ride into battle, I would see him in your saddle.”
“All my life, all I’ve ever done is fight. Either to survive or for someone else’s cause. I hadn’t known any different, but now... These last few years have been the closest I’ve ever been to peace, and… I wish there was more,” the dragoness mused before rolling onto her side and curling into a crescent shape that faced the drake. “I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, Reekan, I really do. You’re a good egg,” she added fondly, giving the drake a warm smile as he dipped his head in thanks.
“You deserve better than this place. Honestly, I’m surprised you didn’t just take to the sky and never return, especially after the things they tried to make us do to you,” Reekan said, his eyes filled with shame as she dismissed him with a shake of her head. He had never intentionally tried to breed her while she was in season, and the foggy memory of the time she had been drugged shielded her from the experience she had almost been forced into. “I know the food is pretty good here, but surely you’ve thought of leaving?”
Nodding, the dragoness glanced past the drake and scanned the other paddocks. Those assigned to the neighboring plots had retired to their shelters, and she knew they wouldn't overhear if they kept their voices hushed. “Almost every day,” she mused before refocusing on his face. “But they'd find me, either another house or an enemy of the empire. I would have to travel well past their reach, cross through our enemies’ lands, and then keep going before I could be truly free,” she added while looking into his bright, kind eyes. “Or… stay here with you,” she finished. It wasn’t the whole truth, but she still hadn’t convinced herself of her plan, let alone committed to it.
“I wouldn’t stay here just for me,” the drake replied with a sharpness to his voice that caught her off guard. “Please, don’t tell me you’re putting up with this place, and everything they’ve put you through, on my account.” His neck curled back in shock.
“No, Reekan, it’s not just you,” Leesiana said softly before adjusting her sprawled wings. “The food is really why I’m here, two meals a day, a pool, and a roof over my head. What more could a ’ness ask for?” she mused, though she could tell the drake wasn’t completely convinced. “But I’d be lying if I said your company didn’t make this place much more enjoyable. Besides, it wouldn’t be very fitting if the Dragoness of Mars flew off and went into hiding because she was tired of fighting.” She swept her tail out to bridge the gap and gently nudged it against one of his hind legs.
The drake’s head turned slightly to confirm she had made contact, then he looked her in the eyes. “Well, speaking of my company, I think Cassius is a bit strange, wanting to know the comings and goings of your body. I’d almost say he was into that sort of thing, if it wasn’t for the fact that he’s vile to anything with four legs.” He shuffled his wings and straightened up. “I suggest we should probably get our stories straight. I’m happy to make up enough details to make that groom blush, but we should probably agree on how we did things tonight, just in case I say I was on top, but then they ask you, and you say it was the other way around.”
The drake’s suggestion warmed Leesiana’s heart and brought a small smile to the corner of her jaw. The fact that he was suggesting they lie about coming together for her sake reaffirmed her opinion of him, and she felt her heartbeat quicken. “Oh? You want to be on top, do you? Like last time?” she teased, grinning as the drake’s eyes widened slightly. “You liked that, didn’t you? Big, fierce Dragoness of Mars under your chest, coiling my tail around yours... Did that make you feel powerful?” she asked, a playful glint in her eyes.
Snorting in amusement, Reekan failed to find his words. After opening and closing his mouth a few times, he broke into laughter at his own expense. “No, it wasn’t completely that,” he finally managed to reply with a horn-to-horn grin. “But hold on… I distinctly remember you inviting me, or did I make a mistake?” He composed himself, but Leesiana saw a flicker of concern in his eyes.
“No mistake, Reekan,” Leesiana said soothingly, giving him a reassuring smile, “I know you wouldn’t do anything I didn’t want.” Her voice carried genuine honesty and a hint of vulnerability. “And it’s not because you’re scared. You’re a good egg, Reekan.”
Reekan's smile deepened as he dipped his head in acknowledgement before lifting it again and rocking it from side to side in thought. “Well, I wouldn't say I'm completely not scared of you,” he joked, causing Leesiana to chuckle softly. “What you did to that prick who didn’t listen… well, that convinced the others not to try that shit on you,” he added, adjusting his hind legs as if feeling a phantom pain in his groin at the memory of what had happened to the drake who had tried to force himself on her.
“I don’t regret that at all,” Leesiana said, tucking her forepaws under her as she twisted her front half upright while keeping her hind legs sprawled to one side. “The vile things he said…” Her words drifted off, her eyes losing focus as she remembered the weight of him on her back, the warmth of his breath ghosting her ear as he spoke of breaking her in and filling her belly with eggs. He had been an ugly brute of a drake who likely needed to be forceful to have any chance of securing a mate. The kind who would sneak up on a sleeping female, pin her with a mating bite, and force himself under her tail.
Movement from Reekan brought her back, and she watched as the drake rose to all fours. Keeping his head and tail low, his wings hanging loosely at his sides, his body language conveyed no hostility as he padded silently around her resting tail. She tracked his movements with a slight turn of her head, tensing when he settled down behind her. He didn’t press against her but left a gap that was closer than friendly, curling his body to match her shape. With a small lift of his wing, he invited her closer and waited for her to take the initiative.
Inhaling deeply to calm herself, Leesiana found comfort in his scent and rolled further onto her side to lean against him. Reekan’s warmth, the smooth texture of his scales against hers, and the way he gently lowered his wing over her drew a soft croon from her throat. He held her with a light yet comforting touch, not the smothering embrace of an overeager stud, nor the timid hovering of an inexperienced male, but a reassuring hold that dissolved her anxiety like a gentle stream washing through reeds.
“You did the right thing,” Reekan said softly, curling his tail around so it pressed against hers. “I get that they want eggs from you, but really? He looked like he was dropped at least four times before he hatched,” he added, curling his neck to meet her gaze. “Hardly worthy of the great Leesiana, goddess of war.”
His artistic license with her title made the dragoness roll her eyes dramatically before turning her head to glare at him playfully.
“Oh, and you think you are?” she asked, a smirk spreading across her snout.
The drake’s eyes flicked between hers as he studied her expression, then he lowered his head closer and gently nuzzled the side of her snout. The pressure, the friction of his scales against hers, and the mingling of his scent with her own all made her heart flutter. Before she could stop herself, she found her snout pressing back, returning his nuzzle.
“You asked for me, remember,” he whispered with a smirk as he slid his snout along hers until the bridge of his snout pressed against the underside of her jaw. “And when the goddess of war asks, who am I to deny her?” he added in a soft voice meant only for her. Her scoff held little weight and was replaced with a gentle whine as he pulled his head back to delicately lap where her angular jaw met her neck. “I am just a humble drake, eager to tend to his goddess' whims,” he murmured while shifting his wing to renew his hug. In doing so, he guided her closer to his side while he continued to devote small licks and nuzzles to the sensitive area between her ears and spiraling horns.
After a moment that she longed would have been longer, Reekan finally pulled his head away and looked at her with a warm expression. “So, what should I tell the groom in the morning?” Reekan asked in a quiet voice. Holding her gaze with a respectful ease that made her feel safe, he let her lead, but with a confidence that instilled trust. Many of the drakes that visited had shown her respect and kindness, some because they’d hoped she would change her mind, others more genuinely, but Reekan felt like a certainty she could rely on. “I can say your cycle started and I did the job. They’d probably send the report early. It might buy your friends some time.” He paused to swallow deeply and clear his throat. “But they’d interrogate you too, to make sure. Cassius isn’t one to swallow lies easily.”
Leesiana’s mind drifted as she contemplated the idea. She knew her time was running out before her squad would be used to take on House Julii. If she hadn’t been bred by then, Cassius might keep his word and use her squad in a way meant to hurt her. Even if they survived the battle, she had no way to be sure his threats about Gaaret weren’t real. Even if she did go into season, and word reached Cassius in time, the man might just as easily end the old drake simply to prove a point. It felt selfish to be enjoying Reekan’s embrace, and her guilt surged as she imagined them marching to war while she lingered here. Mentally mapping the distance from the farm to the marshalling grounds, she knew she had cut things too close and her time of relative peace was coming to an end.
Noticing that the drake was still looking at her for an answer, she blinked quickly and inhaled deeply before turning her head to address him. “Reekan, I…” she began, and saw a flicker of uncertainty flash in his brilliant green eyes. “I’m leaving, tonight.” She dropped her gaze as his concerned look deepened. “I sent for you tonight because I wanted to say goodbye. I can’t protect my flight from here, and it’s only a matter of time before… well.”
“Where will you go?” he said softly, stroking his wing down her side. “Say the word and I’m with you.” The dragoness pulled her head away slightly and looked down at her forepaws. Her chest tightened at the thought, and the silence that followed hung in the air. With her side pressed against his, Leesiana felt the drake’s breath hitch as he finally said what she wouldn’t. “You don’t want me to come with you? Do you—”
“That’s not what I said,” Leesiana replied quickly, forcing herself to look him in the eyes. “I’m going to Cassius, and I’m going to get my flight. It’s not going to be easy. He will have a legion with him, and possibly other dragons more loyal to his cause—”
“I can handle myself,” Reekan retorted stiffly as he retracted his wing from her side and curled his neck back defensively.
His words made Leesiana’s lips tighten, but she didn’t pull away from him. Instead, she looked the drake in the eyes before leaning into his side more, inviting him to hold her as he had been. “I know you can, but… I like you, Reekan. You’re sweet and funny, but I don’t want to see you hurt,” she added, and knew she had offended him as he looked away and clenched his jaw. “More importantly though, I don’t want to see you fight. You’re a good egg, Reekan, and I can’t have you there. Please.” She spoke painfully, knowing she was doing a poor job articulating her reluctance. Without a doubt, he was a strong flier, and perhaps if he had received the same training as others in her flight, he would have become a capable fighter. However it was the very fact that he hadn't become a fighter that she loved so much about the drake. He was soft, but in a way that comforted her and served as a reminder to her that a life of peace wasn’t impossible. Additionally, the quiet truth she wasn’t telling him was that she couldn’t guarantee her own survival, and if she managed to get to Cassius, she couldn’t afford to be thinking of another.
When she had flown with Marcus and their flight, they trained as one cohesive unit, overwhelming their foes with coordinated strikes. Each knew their place and their purpose, but most importantly, they knew the risks and what could go wrong if they faltered. In the heat of the moment, there couldn’t be hesitation. One false move could mean death for themselves, their rider, or another member of the flight. There was no room for weakness, no space for thoughts of loved ones waiting at home, for the consequences stretched far beyond their unit. A poem Gaaret had once told her echoed faintly in her mind before she pulled herself back to the present and looked at the drake beside her.
“Please, don’t take it personally. If… sorry, but it wouldn’t matter if I saved them, or if I killed him… losing you would—” Leesiana’s voice broke, her emotions boiling over, quelled only when Reekan re-extended his wing and pulled her against him more firmly. Whether he agreed with her or not was hard to tell from his troubled expression, but he held her regardless, lowering his head closer to hers. Tilting her head upward, she pressed the bridge of her snout under his jaw in appreciation and whined softly as he nuzzled down in return.
“When will you leave?” Reekan asked softly, his hesitant voice making it clear he wouldn’t like the answer regardless. “If… when you win, where will you go?” he asked again before she could answer and commit herself to a deadline.
“As soon as the sun sets—” Leesiana began, her voice faltering as she felt his wing tighten around her and his head dip lower to deepen their nuzzle. “Once I’ve gotten them out, I… I don’t know where we will go. As far as we can, as fast as we can. If we have to fight again, we will fight. Until we are free.” She spoke with conviction, though part of her hoped he would hear the hesitation in her voice and understand why she couldn’t bring him.
The drake didn’t answer at once. He held her instead, jaw pressed to her snout in a secure, steady embrace. After what felt like minutes, he finally spoke. “West,” Reekan said softly, before gently lifting his head and curling his neck to look at her. Leesiana could see sadness in his green eyes, but also a certainty that made her sure he understood. “You might be fighting a headwind, but so will they, and you are stronger. Trust me, it won’t be easy.” He cleared his throat and forced a weak smile. “Get to Mons Calpe, at the southern tip of hispania, or as far as you can. Then cut south across the strait and keep going until you are safe. But don’t leave tonight—”
“Reekan—”
“If you leave now, they will know you are gone by dawn,” the drake said flatly, his voice hiding his emotions. “Leave at midday—” he continued, lifting a digit on his forepaw to stop her from protesting. “Meridiatio, when we all rest, go for a flight. It will take some convincing, but I'll tell them I’m meeting you somewhere secluded for another go. Then, when I return alone at sunset, I'll tell them you escaped east. That should buy you some extra time.” He dipped his head, as if confirming his own suggestion.
Leesiana wanted to protest, but the more she thought about it, the more she found the drake's logic enticing. Leaving now would mean only an evening of flying before they began to pursue her. With Reekan's plan, she might only get half a day of flight in before her absence was noticed, but by then it would be nightfall, making her harder to spot. If she flew through the night, she could arrive at the mustering well before any messenger could bring word of her escape. “Meridiatio then,” she said softly, mostly to herself, but noticed the drake's lips curl into a sad smile before he nuzzled the length of his snout against hers and brought his tail against hers.
“Do you think you can convince them we’re just nearby? They might suspect something is amiss. If they notice I'm missing before sundown, I might not get very—”
Reekan silenced her with a lick across her lips, then pressed his tongue into her maw while her mouth was still open. It wasn’t rushed or forced, but tender. His tongue rolled across hers as he angled his head and parted his jaws to deepen his affection. The last of her words became a gentle moan into his mouth as she returned the gesture, the tip of her tail sweeping over his to coil around it. Eventually parting, Reekan looked at her with his mouth partially agape in a breathless pant and flashed a small smile.
“You have your mission. This will be mine,” he said before leaning back in, the tip of his snout an inch from hers so she could feel his breath with each exhale. “I think if I sell them a good story in the morning, I can do it. Maybe say we were up all night, going at it like animals. That would explain why you’re resting so much in the morning and why they shouldn’t bother trying to force anything on you. Perhaps I should stay in your paddock for the morning, you know, a dutiful mate protecting his ’ness. The groom said Vilicus will return at noon, maybe that’s when you leave to stretch your wings. It would save you from having to do an encore for him. I, of course, will be too exhausted to follow right away,” he said with a bashful smile. “But I think if you let them overhear you inviting me somewhere, they might believe it. Then I will come find you once I’m rested. It gives you the maximum amount of time to be away before suspicions are raised,” he mused.
Leesiana nodded in understanding. If he left with her, they would be expected back well before sundown. By Reekan staying behind and joining later, his late return would add weight to the story that they were otherwise engaged. It meant, however, that Reekan would be alone for the afternoon, upholding their ruse, and it could all come undone if someone suspicious came looking.
“I would need to invite you somewhere they couldn’t easily come snooping. And what if they insist on you carrying a groom to watch?” she asked, her fear growing as Reekan paused. She wouldn’t be allowed to suggest taking him too far from the farm, and most of the countryside was nothing but rolling hills without a cliff face to make following them difficult.
“The river to the north, pick a hill on the opposite side. The nearest bridge is an hour’s walk upstream. Vilicus took the horses with him, so they should be tired. If they got one of the dragons… well…” Reekan's words drifted off before he shook his head. “We can't mitigate every risk, but if they are convinced you and I are being productive, then they might cut us a break,” he said, rubbing his wing over hers in an attempt to reassure her. “And if they force me to carry a groom, that's fine. I'll just take him on a joy flight for the afternoon and say I got lost trying to find you.”
“They'd see right through that and know you were helping me escape,” Leesiana said, but was met with a small shrug from the drake. “We need them to not want to send a groom.”
“I will make our story detailed, to the point that they don't want to hear more,” Reekan said, giving her a small nod to reassure her. “Maybe I'll suggest that if they want to watch, it's because they want to join in. That will make them uneasy,” he added before shaking his head. “Nah, I'm pretty sure some of the hands here are into that. I'll work it out, but I think the more convincing we can make our story, the better.”
Leesiana nodded in agreement before flashing him a brief smile. “Thank you, Reekan. But… I'm thinking we should probably make it pretty convincing, right?” she said softly, lifting a foreleg to rest her palm on his paw. With one talon extended, she stroked its sharp tip across the thicker scales that crested his knuckles and watched his eyes widen suddenly. Extending her neck, she pressed her snout into the crook of his jawline. “What if it wasn't just a story?” she added in a delicate whisper, feeling the soft scales of his throat bulge slightly as he swallowed.
“You want to do it for real? Are you sure?” he asked, pressing his head down against hers to deepen their embrace. “You are going to need your strength for tomorrow, right?” he added, curling his neck around and tilting his head until he could look her in the eyes with a sincerity that made her heart flutter. Her world narrowed to just him, his reverence and concern compounded with his uncanny ability to see her for who she was, not the fierce warrior of legend.
Looking into his eyes, she felt as if her armored scales were melting away, her soul laid bare to the drake. She tried not to think of how hard it would be to leave him tomorrow, instead focusing on the warm embrace of his wing over hers, his scaled side pressed against her own, and ignoring all else. “Please,” she said softly, her voice layered with restraint and a hint of regret. “I… I want this… I want… you,” she whispered, extending her neck to press her snout under his chin. The sensation of his scales sliding against hers, the warmth of his breath across her cheek as he angled his head to nuzzle her, all made her blood run hot and her breath escape in a soft gasp.
Leaning into him further, she allowed herself to relax and invited him to deepen their affections. With a roll of his shoulders, Reekan lifted a foreleg to wrap over her and gently guided Leesiana onto her side before rolling her further onto her back. Her heart bounded in her chest at the tender, yet assertive gesture. She felt exposed on her back and tucked her forepaws close to her chest, but she trusted the drake and moaned as his lips traveled from her cheek to the underside of her jaw and then onto her exposed throat. Grazing her scales with his teeth, Reekan sent a shiver through her whole body before he began to lap and lick across each of the larger plates that protected her throat. The straw rustled under the drake as he rose from his belly, but instead of standing at full height, he kept himself in a low crouch as he moved over her, slowly working his way down her neck before nuzzling his snout against the curve of her chest. Extending her wings as the drake pressed himself against her flight muscles, Leesiana’s forepaws found his front leg as he bracketed her body with his stance.
His looming figure tested her pride, but the look in his eye made her feel something she hadn’t felt before. It wasn’t the predatory stare of a lust-addled drake whose focus had devolved into nothing but the need to breed. Instead, his eyes were locked onto hers as if making sure she was still okay while desire boiled within him. Nodding in reassurance, Leesiana spread her hind legs further and lifted her neck when she felt his foot brush against her thigh. She had thought he would simply line himself up with her and begin; however, the gentle drake continued to nibble and trace his tongue along the contours of her belly. Each passing stroke sent a ripple deeper through her body, coiling her belly with giddy excitement and making her breath shallow. Her scent hung heavily in the air as he worked, silently signaling to him that she adored his gentle and slow pace toward her groin.
Turning her neck to one side, she kept her head resting on the ground and looked upside down at him to watch his snout begin to delve between her muscular thighs. Her breath hitched as she felt his warm breath against her vent, yet his tongue didn’t touch. Instead of delving in, he stroked his slick tastebuds around the curve of her tail base, bypassing her vent completely and teasing the sensitive areas where her hind legs joined her body. Rolling her hips up into his touch, an undignified whine escaped her lips as he settled down on her tail and hooked his forepaws around her hips. Akin to bracing a large bowl between his paws, the gentle drake cradled her hind end and curled his head down to silence her with a long lick from the bottom of her vent to the top. An explosion shot through her nerves as he slid his tongue across her, pressing just firmly enough to part her vent, but not hard enough to slip inside.
“Reekan, ” her wanton words held no weight as he repeated the motion with his tongue, this time extending it further so the flat of it stroked across her plumpening entrance. Unable to stop herself from gyrating her hips up on his next pass, she felt the drake drag his slick tongue along the edge where her scales met soft flesh before swirling a wide circle and then slipping into her. He didn’t drive in for depth but stayed with only a few inches of his long tongue inside her, pressing up against the apex of her slit.
Unhurried but determined, Reekan’s gaze focused on every quiver and flutter of her sensitive folds as he wormed his tongue into her. Pressing his snout against the peak of her tidy vent, he gently ground in small circles while delving his tongue in and out of her wet slit. Her taste and scent tried to hijack his mind, forcing him to squeeze her hips with his forelegs to anchor himself against her. Her heat was intoxicating, and the gentle whines and delicate shudders wracking her body reaffirmed he was giving her what she needed. Angling his jaws, he focused his tongue against another sensitive area and flicked his eyes up to lock his gaze with hers. The look she gave him caused his pride to soar. Mouth agape in a breathless pant, she gazed back at him with an almost pained expression, her eyes laced with a desire that begged him not to stop.
His instincts told him to redouble his efforts, to plunge his tongue deeper, stroke faster and harder to pleasure her, but instead he held to his slow and sensual pace. Her hips rolling in his grip and pressing against his snout spoke clearer than any words, and he could feel her tail tip squirming beneath him as it tried to thrash. Deep in his core, he felt his shaft straining against his vent, desperate to be freed. The constant stroking of her tail against his underside didn’t help, her scales brushing across his slit as it flicked mindlessly in her arousal. Moaning into her vent, Reekan twisted his head to the other side and continued lapping, searching out every fold and ridge of her velvety passage until it clenched down on his tongue in rhythm with her pounding heart.
“–Fuck, Reekan–” the writhing dragoness whined as he found a particularly sensitive spot. His grip under her hips, paws curled around her thighs, pinned her in place and kept her steady as he continued his ministrations. She felt the mixture of her slick arousal and his saliva beginning to leak down the sides of her vent, the scent of their combined lust hanging thick like a fog she couldn’t escape. Not that she had any intention of stopping him as he dutifully tended to her. She could feel his pace slipping as his instincts battled his self-control, and when she blinked to focus her eyes, she saw him looking up at her with absolute focus.
Scrunching her eyes shut as he curled his tongue up and down inside her, Leesiana felt a tide of pressure swell within. Every stroke of Reekan’s tongue drove the sensation higher and higher until she could feel nothing but his ministrations. His secure grip, his careful touch inside her, and the steady rhythm of his strokes sent her spiraling. Arching her back off the ground, Leesiana lost all agency of her body as her passage clamped down around the slick appendage. Reekan increased his lashing pace to match her frantic heart. His grip tightened as she thrashed, and a long, drawn-out moan escaped her throat. He didn’t relent, swirling his tongue against her walls as they fluttered and spasmed, trying to grip him. Her arousal peaked, flooding her vent with warm, slick fluids that spurred the drake to flick faster and faster, lapping hungrily. Just when she thought she couldn’t climb any higher, his grip tightened further, pulling her back into him, his tongue retracting until it focused solely on her clitoris.
Snapping her eyes open, Leesiana cried out in agonizing bliss as her climax continued to consume her and made stars burst across her vision. Every nerve in her body felt aflame while simultaneously chilled by a rushing wind, as though she were diving through clouds. Her mind was chaos, overloaded with pleasure that made her wings flutter and flap without rhythm. Kicking up straw and rolling her body from side to side, she thrashed uncontrollably in Reekan’s grip as she came undone harder than she had ever known.
Maintaining his pace, Reekan shifted his strokes to prolong her climax until a shrill, keening cry of bliss tore from the dragoness. Only then did he begin to slow, guiding her back to earth. He kept his touches on the delicate folds around her pearl rather than directly against it, lapping instead to clean her slick heat. Yet, every pass of his tongue seemed to draw out more arousal for him to lap away.
“Fuck, ” moaned Leesiana breathlessly, uncontrollably kicking one hind leg into the air as her nerves tried to make sense of what had happened. “That… by Ceres… Reekan…” she tried to say, her words broken up as she fought to catch her breath. Curling her neck, she looked at the drake as he smiled at her with a glistening snout. Stroking his tongue up her vent one last time, Reekan made her whole body tense with pleasure before he began to lick softly along her belly and heaving chest.
“Good?” he asked with a smug smile, nibbling at the back of her ribs. The sensation of his teeth against her scales made her body jolt, but she didn’t complain and instead nodded while trying to breathe. He didn’t rush her, even though she could smell the warm musk of his arousal and feel his firm length beneath her tail. Instead, he continued to nuzzle her belly and sides, devoting small kisses to her scales.
“Reekan?” Leesiana finally managed to say before swallowing and dragging in another lungful of air. Looking down at him, she waited until he ended his kiss and lifted his head to focus on her. A small nod was all it took for the gentle drake to understand, and her breath hitched as he released his grip around her hips. Letting her hind legs fall wide, she straightened her neck as Reekan rose to a crouch and moved over her, all while holding her gaze with a look of desire.
Careful not to step on her wings, Reekan placed a forepaw on each side of her shoulders while setting his hindpaws behind her legs. Dipping his hips down, he let his long length rest across her slit and belly as he kissed and sensually nibbled at the side of her neck. Feeling her neck curl upward, he shifted his weight to one forepaw and used the other to stroke up behind her neck to support her. She had seen him before, and his shape came as no surprise to the dragoness, yet he seemed to enjoy her looking while he continued to show his affection.
Looking down between them, Leesiana’s eyes fixed on the drake’s shaft as it throbbed against her vent. It wasn’t a blunt instrument like many of the other drakes that had tried; instead, it was a sleek, tapered length that twitched slightly on its own. From its slender tip it gradually increased in girth before settling into a long, consistent size, broken only by a medial ring halfway down. At the base of the slick pink shaft rested the thickening of Reekan’s unengorged knot. Feeling the comforting touch of his forepaws steadying her neck while his maw roamed along her throat, Leesiana crooned softly and rolled her hips against his, urging him to continue.
Pausing his kisses to nuzzle affectionately into her, Reekan lifted his hips and angled them so the tip of his shaft slid back along her belly and pressed against her vent. He didn’t thrust forward, but held his position and slowly rocked back and forth, soaking his tip in her fluids and smearing his leaking pre across her slit. The fleshy texture of his shaft gliding through her swollen folds made her heart pound, and watching in anticipation, Leesiana groaned as his prehensile tip curled downward to dip into her vent. The sensation of her walls parting around him made Reekan’s paw grip the back of her neck tightly as he nuzzled against her jawline with a lustful growl.
Lowering his hips and pressing his hard shaft into her sweltering depths, Reekan had no words and instead closed his eyes to focus on the blissful sensations. Her walls quivered in their hypersensitive state, clenching tightly around him with every inch he slid into her. The slick and puffy sides of her entrance yawned wider as he steadily sheathed his shaft, stretching her further and shuddering tighter as the stiff ridge of his medial ring pressed into her.
“Gods, ” cried Leesiana as she leaned backwards, and her lover took the hint, gently lowering her neck back to the straw bedding. Shifting his paw down her spine, he eventually circled it around to her chest and felt it expand and compress with rapid heaves. Pausing his hips, Reekan pulled his head away from hers to look down with concern in his eyes. She didn’t look up, keeping her head upside down on the ground as she breathed through her mouth in ragged gasps. Seeing her throat so exposed, vulnerable and inviting, Reekan couldn’t stop himself from lowering his snout to stroke his tongue up across her neck plates.
“You feel incredible,” he murmured between licks, moving his forepaws down to her sides to evenly distribute his weight. “So fucking wet, and hot. Are you sure your season hasn’t started?” he asked, nuzzling behind her jaw as she nodded. Pressing down further with his hips, he sank the last few inches until his unformed knot met her vent and pressed inside. Her forepaws found his shoulders, claws extending as the lobes of his knot slipped into her and his tip pressed against her inner barrier. Holding the depth, he continued to nibble, alternating between each side of her jaw and stroking his tongue across the softer area beneath her maw. All the while, his tip refused to be idle, twitching from side to side and up and down with every throb of his cock. The constant motion sent shivers through the dragoness’s body and made her breathing uneven.
Resting with his length fully buried inside her, Reekan inhaled deeply. The warm, sultry fragrance of her scent mingled with his, making it difficult to keep his hips from rolling of their own accord. Combined with her rhythmic clenching around his shaft, his instincts begged him to pull back and thrust, to dominate her, to prove his strength and virility, to seed her, to breed her, to latch his jaws around her neck and mark her as his mate forever as he claimed her from within. Instead, he clenched his empty jaws tight and focused on his breathing, keeping his lust at bay for her sake and his emotions under control.
“Reekan?” Leesiana’s voice came, higher pitched than normal, needy and wanting. Humming a low growl in acknowledgement, Reekan lifted his head from hers and looked down as she curled her neck to meet his eyes. “Can we move there…” she said, pointing with a forepaw to the stone wall of her shelter. “I want to see you,” she added softly, and Reekan nodded in understanding. Belly to belly with her head pressed to the ground, it was difficult for her to look into his eyes.
Lowering his chest against hers, he waited until she wrapped her forepaws tightly around his shoulders, groaning as she rotated her hips and hooked her hind legs around his waist. The sensations of her passage tightening and shifting around him with each movement threatened to erode his control, but he held firm for her. Straightening his legs just enough to ease her weight from the ground, Reekan slowly shuffled her closer to the edge of the shelter until her neck curled against the stone wall. Relaxing back on top of her, he lowered his head until his snout hovered a hair’s breadth from hers, staring into her sun-yellow eyes. Their new position felt far more intimate, and he let out a soft whine as his shaft throbbed inside her, pulsing a hot bead of pre into her core.
Tilting his maw to one side, he parted his lips an inch and hummed in glee when she mirrored the gesture. Pressing his snout to hers, his tongue pushed past her teeth and mingled with hers as he pulled his hips back. Clutching at his shoulders in anticipation, Leesiana's talons pressed against his scales as he withdrew until his medial ring slipped out of her, and then Reekan paused to breathe before pressing back in with an audible, wet squelch. Sliding through her, Reekan groaned in bliss as the frictionless pressure of her walls clamped down around him and seemed to beg not to let him go. However, he couldn't help himself from pulling back and then thrusting forward in a steady, controlled pace that pushed her against the stone wall with every surge.
Breaking their kiss, Leesiana’s breathing was ragged as she heaved for air. Her heart raced as Reekan pressed forward with his snout and nuzzled her jawline while applying more pressure to his thrusts, penetrating her deeper. “Yes—like that, just like that!” Leesiana moaned in a failed attempt to keep her voice low. Her words broke in time with his rhythmic drives, and her hind legs bounced as they lost the strength to hold his hips. “Don't stop!” she added, whining as he rolled his hips from side to side at full depth and swept his tail under hers.
Coiling the tip of his tail around hers, the long appendages writhed like snakes, and he used the added pressure to ground her. Driving into her with heavier thrusts, the drake dropped his wings down to their sides to form a sheltering embrace that made her whimper and throw her head back in lust. At the zenith of every thrust, his unformed knot caught on her lips for a heartbeat before forcing past her tight slit with a wet plop. Every withdrawal had her lips clinging to the lobes before they slipped out with an equally lewd sound that was lost beneath their pleasured moans. Each drive dragged his rigid medial ring through her folds, cresting ridges that stretched and rubbed her walls, every thrust stroking sensitive places before being pulled back again.
Their breathing devolved into desperate whines and powerful grunts as he thrust into her. Whenever his tip mashed against the fleshy barrier of her cervix, her noises hitched in pitch and her claws dug into his shoulders. The painful sensation of her razor-sharp talons sinking between his scales was completely overshadowed by the bliss of driving into her quivering body. Dipping his head in a pleasured snarl, Reekan pressed the bridge of his snout under her jaw and forced her back until her horns clattered against the stone. Pulling his wings up from around her until he had them mantled and partially extended, he used them for balance as he ground his slit against hers. The rush of wind between them stirred the moist, humid scent of their passion, and when he pulled back, his cock was subjected to the cool evening air before he quickly sank back into her heavenly heat.
Moaning into her ear, Reekan tried to keep his spiraling lust under control. Between the delightful noises she made with every drive, the way her slick velvet walls accepted him, and how her vent spasmed every time his knot slipped in and out, he was on a hair trigger. Determined to make their last their best, he mouthed at the base of her neck and let his sharp fangs trace over her scales, sending a shudder through her whole body. He knew she was stronger than him and with a twist of her body and a swipe of her paws, she could send him scattered across the floor if she wanted to. However, with every movement, every hilt and brush of his tip against her cervix made the mighty dragoness let out the most delicate and gentle whimper. The sound was like music to his ears, this was still the mighty dragoness of Mars under him, but it was he who was taking her to heights that no other would be allowed. It didn’t make him feel powerful, instead it made him feel trusted, validated and more importantly, honoured. She was letting him, just as much as he was taking her and together their pleasure was soaring as one.
Her vent, warm and slick, embraced his tapered cock unlike any other. She didn’t squirm with the uncertainty of a virgin dragoness, nor was she as unresponsive as others he had been with who had simply accepted their role. Instead, her walls stretched and molded to him, making every thrust feel as though she was made not just to take a drake like him, but that together they were two sides of a key and lock. A perfect fit, just for him and no one else. The feeling stoked a possessive growl from deep in his chest, a low rumble broken by his thrusts. Feeling self-conscious at the display, he snapped his eyes open and took stock of her expression. Instead of being amused or smiling at the sound, she looked back at him with a half-lidded gaze of desire that made his cock throb hard inside her.
Her fierce yellow eyes held a softness as she gazed into him, her mouth agape. With every drive of his hips, she breathed warmly against his cheek before leaning in to nuzzle under his chin. “Please, Reekan, more!” she whined into his neck. The desperate desire lacing her voice riled his loins to new heights. He adjusted his hind legs to get more purchase and set about delivering a series of heavy, driving thrusts.
Judging by the way her head recoiled back and she tilted skyward to yowl in bliss, Reekan knew he was living up to her expectations. Seeing her exposed neck again, he tilted his head to one side and latched onto her throat with enough force to make her flinch. He kept the pressure of his teeth against her scales firm, but not enough to pierce or mark. Grunting into her throat with every heavy hump of his hips, Reekan felt her passage collapsing around him in desperate attempts to keep him locked in. His medial ring raked her folds with every drive, tugging hard at her vent until she wailed, her body convulsing around him, milking his cock in rippling waves that refused to let him go. Behind him, his tail felt crushed in the grip of her coiling tail, and he applied his own pressure in return to reassure her he was with her. Scrunching his eyes shut, he felt his knot tug harder at her folds and tail to seat when he thrust back in. Undeterred, he continued to thrust without forcing his knot in, until she suddenly rolled her hips up to meet him.
“In, please!” she begged between thrusts, and Reekan rewarded her with a firm drive. The lobes of his knot swelled with every thrust, and while his medial ring sent her walls into a frenzy, the dragoness needed more. Speeding up and adding sharp, jerking thrusts of his hips into every stroke, Reekan tried to reseat his knot. Deep in his groin, he felt the finality of their copulation looming closer and closer, his jaws fluttering against her neck. His mind battled with the need to clamp down and force her into submission, while his consciousness demanded his bite remain gentle and secure. It was a war of attrition, every plunge into her wet, clenching depths stripping away more of his resolve, until at last he snarled and tightened his jaw around her throat. Using the full power of his hind legs, he drove down and inward harder, determined to seat his knot.
A pained whine rang out from within the shelter as, with a firm drive of his hips and a side-to-side squirm, Reekan felt Leesiana’s vent yawn wider and start to accept his knot once more. Instead of pulling back, he pressed in with one long thrust that escalated the pitch of her yowl. Between them, the scaled edges of her vent stretched wide to reveal the flesh beneath until they were pulled around the thickest part of his knot. With a final shove, Reekan pressed deeper and the tension of her vent enveloped his knot, pulling him the rest of the way inside. The sensation was glorious. Buried just behind her entrance, the powerful muscles that normally kept her vent looking like nothing more than a tight, discrete line, locking him in place. Without stopping, Reekan continued to thrust, shallower and more frantic now as his knot expanded and fought against her walls. The pressure was intoxicating; every beat of his heart caused it to swell further, pressing against her soft flesh with a firmness that rooted him to her. Deeper still, his tapered tip mashed against her cervix, grinding into her core with every rapid thrust and stretching her passage lengthwise until she gripped his cock like a vice.
Letting go of her throat, Reekan tilted his head skyward as his pleasure skyrocketed. Her scent, her sounds, the spasming grip of her vent, and the way her forepaws clung to him like her life depended on it all sent him spiraling. “I—” he whined, trying to hold back, determined to last as long as he could within the mighty dragoness. Flaring his wings wide and flapping them erratically, Reekan sent straw bedding flying as the tightening inside him reached unbearable levels.
“Reeeekaaahn!” wailed Leesiana in unadulterated bliss, her head tilted skyward, jaws parted. He caught the pained look of desire in her eyes, and a pang of worry struck him before she clawed her talons into his shoulders, tearing into him. “Bite… me…” Leesiana gasped, the words short and breathless, but he understood. Without hesitation, he drove his jaws into the underside of her neck and forced her head back until her skull pressed against the wall. Clamping down with marking force, his teeth sank between her armored scales until he tasted copper on his tongue, her body convulsing violently around him. The rippling, clamp-like pressure from her vent to her core was the last straw. With a powerful grunt into her neck, Reekan surrendered and began his release.
Inside her, his knot ballooned suddenly, locking them together as deep as possible. His length turned to stone, hard and throbbing once… twice… and then the Dragoness of Mars shattered, climaxing again with a sound that was not of this earth. Her mind broke like pottery, her body convulsing as her second peak tore through her. Sinking her talons deep into his shoulders, her sharp tips pierced between his plates, carving crimson rivulets of blood that streamed down his back. He ignored the pain entirely, driving hard and coming undone in her undulating passage. At her inner barrier, his tip forced against its stubborn center, prying a gap for the best possible chance of life. His first jet surged through, a scalding flood that splashed against the back wall of her womb. Her whole body seized and hunched into him as it landed, her walls clenching tight in a tugging ripple to draw more out of him. More came, unrelenting, his second pump erupted in another thick rope, hot and heavy, filling her depths. Each eruption was a flood, searing and potent, pouring in powerful streams that frothed in her womb. The walls of her chamber quivered under the deluge, painted in creamy white as overflow gushed around his shaft and was sealed in by the swelling lock of his knot. His hips wouldn’t stay still, jerking and twitching in time with his release, instinct driving him to bury his seed as deep as possible.
Pulling his jaws away from her neck where he had tugged at her flesh, Reekan snarled and hissed, his jaws clenching tight as he continued to pump his load into her. The jets were weakening now, but her walls still rippled and quivered around his sensitive cock. The burn in his shoulders threatened to tear at his focus, but he pushed the sensation aside and concentrated on the last dying pumps of his release. Exhaling a lungful of air he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, Reekan came to his senses and opened his eyes to look at his mate.
The sight of crimson ribbons of blood running down Leesiana's throat startled him and nearly made his heart leap from his chest, but her wide-eyed, exhilarated expression gave his panic pause. “Fuck…” she gasped, tilting her head down to look at him, her eyes wide. “That… that was…” she started, but the words failed her, lost in a giddy, gasping smile.
Swallowing and tasting her blood in his mouth, Reekan swiftly leaned under her jaw and began lapping at the wounds he had made. Thankfully the punctures weren’t deep, though they would mark her pristine, glossy crimson scales for months to come. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to mark you,” he panted between licks. Alternating between swallowing, licking, and heaving for air, he worked quickly to make sure she was okay.
“Yes… yes you did,” giggled Leesiana, tilting her head up to give him more access. “But it’s okay, that was… that was kinda nice,” she added, rocking her hips against his. The motion made the drake groan in pained bliss, and she felt his shaft quiver deep within her. The tender laps of his tongue on her wounds made her croon, and when his wings lowered and his body slumped heavier across her, she felt incredibly secure in his embrace. Relaxing her tail slightly, she waited until he did the same, then stroked hers steadily against his, enjoying the slide of scales on scales. Looking down the drake’s back, she saw crimson smudges from her talons. She lifted her paws and found them soaked in blood. “Gods, are you okay?”
“Mmmhmmm,” Reekan murmured into her throat before pulling back to eye the cuts and check if the bleeding had slowed. “I’m fine, but I cracked one of your scales. I kind of got carried away,” he said apologetically. The dragoness dismissed it with a small shake of her head, giving him a genuine smile. “You just felt so good. I couldn’t help myself, I just had to hold you.”
“I wanted you to. It’s okay, Reekan,” she said reassuringly, pressing her snout against his. “I wouldn’t have asked you to if I didn’t trust you,” she added softly, crooning when he pressed back against her cheek. Deep in her core, she could still feel him throb and twitch in time with his heart. The rhythm matched her own, and for a moment she wondered if it was her pulse she felt or his.
“Besides…” her voice grew serious, almost sad. “It will help convince them,” she finished, cooing when one of his forepaws slid up the back of her neck to cradle her close. The reassuring gesture needed no words, and her lip trembled at the knowledge that she would be leaving him in less than a day.
In the forefront of her mind, she knew he would be questioned over her escape, possibly even punished for allowing it. It was an inescapable truth, but the knowledge of her squad’s punishment tore at her consciousness. A traitorous thought lingered, she could stay with Reekan at the facility. It would be selfish, and given that her heat had shown no signs of starting yet, it was likely her squad would be put in harm's way. Begging was one option, perhaps taking other males in the farm to prove she was compliant, but the more she thought about it, the more determined she was to leave. Reekan continued to show his affection with gentle licks along her cheeks and neck, pulling her back so her neck no longer rested against the stone wall, and while still tied, rolling them both onto their sides.
Extending his wing over her and pulling her close against his chest with his paws, Leesiana became surrounded by his all-encompassing warmth. She smiled briefly as he licked the bridge of her snout. Between his body pressed around her and his still-hard shaft lodged deep inside, she felt as if she were part of him rather than herself. Yet she had to speak, had to apologize.
“Reekan,” she whispered softly, looking at him with glossy eyes. The drake paused his kisses but didn’t interrupt, gazing back into her very soul with an understanding expression that made her chest tighten.
“Tomorrow, they… they might not believe you–”
“I know,” he said quickly, tightening his grip around her shoulders and hooking a hind leg behind her rump to pull her close. “I know, Leesiana.” His tone softened as he swallowed and gave a small nod. “Pain is temporary. Getting your friends to safety is more important.” He tried to offer a brave, reassuring look, but it faltered, betraying the emotions beneath. “I still have my uses here, they know that. And besides, if you deal with Cassius, maybe another house will take over this place. It could get better.”
“It could get worse.”
Nuzzling the tip of his snout into the bridge of hers, Reekan rumbled a possessive purr that reverberated through her body as she lay pressed against him. “Don’t worry about me, Goddess of Mars…” he murmured, shifting his head to lock eyes with her. Reaching up with a forepaw, he gently stroked the side of her neck in comfort.
“Once you are safe, I’ll find you… I promise.”
==Act 3==
The cool wind of the morning sapped at her body as it raced across her outstretched wings, yet she didn’t allow herself to slow. Beating her wings in heavy strokes to gain altitude and speed before spreading them wide to glide, Leesiana looked ahead and saw smoke rising on the horizon. Not the oily black smoke of dragonfire or destruction, but the light grey of dozens of cooking fires. Fatigue’s heavy chains tugged at her strength, but adrenaline and focus negated their effects, sending her racing through the sky at breakneck speed. For now, everything had gone to plan, or so she thought.
Reekan had played his part brilliantly when the farmhands came to deliver their meals at the start of the day. At first, she had thought him rude as he openly boasted to them of his victory over the Dragoness of Mars, offering them a look at his claim if they were curious. It had been humiliating, but she had trusted him as she lay sprawled on her back with her hind legs parted, revealing the aftermath of their second romp of the night. That second session had been more rushed, a hasty pre-dawn coupling to emphasize her submission, ending with him finishing without tying, leaving a pearly white stream leaking from her vent.
They had believed him, sounded excited even, when he told them he was sure she had gone into heat. Her scent was hard to read now after his claiming, but the glance he gave her as he recited every detail of their markings spoke volumes. He was only acting, and would never have spoken like that if the situation weren’t so dire. She had done her part too, swallowing her pride, even limping around the paddock to ensure the farmhands saw the bite marks on her throat from her supposed stud. When they thought to bring other males to claim her fictitious heat, Reekan had been quick to insist she rest for now, lest she risk harming her future clutch. He had even sounded possessive of her, sounding like only he should be the one to breed her, something that she had found odly sweet at the time. However, she wanted to build on the illusion that she was a compliant, heat stricken hen who had learnt her place, although she continued to insist that she would only breed with studs of her choosing.
By the time the sun reached its zenith, she put on a final show while Reekan rested. Making sure the farmhands overheard them agreeing to a future session, she gave him a brief nuzzle before bidding farewell to the messenger she hoped to see again. Once airborne, she prayed their ruse would hold. She flew casually until dipping out of view of the farm, then tore off at an unsustainable pace. Her wings burned, but every wingbeat carried her further from the farm and closer to her prey, fueling her to push on. Sunset hadn’t slowed her; for as long as the moonlight guided her, she drove herself north towards Flumen Molini, where Cassius would be mustering his troops.
When her wings grew too heavy to continue, she paused, resting a few hours in uneasy slumber before the sun rose and she took to the sky again. She knew the messengers would be heading to the same destination to spread word of her escape, and she constantly glanced over her wing, expecting pursuit. They had the luxury of flying post to post, relaying messages with rested dragons, while she had to power through the entire journey alone. Until now, no pursuers had appeared, and doubt gnawed at her, was she flying the wrong way? Had Reekan’s intel been false? But the smoke on the horizon confirmed his story, and she recognized the telltale signs of a mustering army.
Flying closer, she made out the silhouette of a single dragon circling above the perimeter of the camped forces. Its path followed a lazy glide, riding the thermals from the sun-warmed air to sustain its height until it suddenly began beating its wings. At first, each stroke carried it higher, a standard practice when an unexpected dragon approached. Maintaining her altitude, Leesiana continued to drive her wings in heavy surges to keep her speed. If they were expecting her and meant to confront her with violence, she would have seen others take to the sky. If they thought she was just a messenger, then the patrolling drake’s behavior fit. Scanning the treetops ahead, she saw no telltale signs of others rising, nor did she hear the deep horns of alarm.
Focusing on the patrolling dragon’s wing movements, she tried to read his intentions. Her chest tightened when his wingbeats shifted from a steady climbing rhythm to a sudden, frantic pace. Squinting as the dragon hurtled toward her, a wave of relief washed over her when the sun revealed the bright yellow of his scales. Ciivrus, her squad mate, tore towards her at full speed, wings thrashing as he dove from his position of advantage.
Intercepting her in a rush of wind, Leesiana wondered briefly if she was in danger before she caught the look of joy and excitement on his face.
“Leesiana, you came—!” Ciivrus cried, voice bubbling with delight as he shot past her right wingtip without slowing. Whipping her head to track him, she watched as he flared his wings, converting his horizontal speed into a tight climb that sent him skyward. Rolling in glee, he spiraled up toward the heavens. Leesiana noticed then that he flew without a rider, despite still wearing his saddle and harness. Leather straps and buckles wrapped his waist and shoulders, but across his forelegs and rump she saw crimson lines. He had been whipped, and not with plain leather, iron or bone had likely been sewn into the lengths to tear through scales in punishment.
At the peak of his climb, his speed bled away. Without opening his wings, Ciivrus let himself stall and fall back toward her, only flaring again to spiral neatly down to her altitude and match her pace.
“They didn’t say you were joining us! Did you lay early?” he asked, voice still bubbling as he looked her over. “Gods, you look good! I mean, you always looked good, but you’re shiny!” he added before she could answer and continued to rattle on. “I thought scales went dull when you had eggs, but maybe I heard wrong. Are you strong enough to fight? I mean—what am I saying, of course you are—sorry, it’s just really good to see you. Gaaret said you wouldn’t fight House Julii with us—”
“Ciivrus!” Leesiana snapped, cutting him off. She drew a steadying breath before lowering her voice. “I didn’t have any eggs. And I’m not here to fight House Julii.”
His eyes narrowed in confusion, his mouth opening and closing in a series of comical attempts at follow-up questions. Before he found his voice, Leesiana flicked her gaze toward his empty saddle.
“Where is your rider? Shouldn’t he be patrolling with you?”
“Oh… no. He says I can do that by myself. He brought some friends of his from home and spends most of his time with them.” Ciivrus drifted closer, his wingtip nearly brushing hers. His grin spread wide, sheepish yet proud. “Lady friends!” he added, as if he alone understood the significance.
“Good,” Leesiana said, focusing on the trees below. She could smell the scents of the army now: the sweaty musk of hard work, the smoky aromas of campfires, and the bitter tang of leather. It was a smell she knew well. Her muscles tensed as she fixed her mind on the mission. Amongst the tall trees, she began to see the ivory-white linen tents scattered haphazardly and tried to make a rough estimate. It was difficult with how unevenly they were pitched, but she guessed that almost a full legion was assembled. As she studied the tents, she caught sight of various house colors.
“So… if you're not here to fight with us… why are you here?” Ciivrus asked. Leesiana glanced at him, hearing the edge of concern in his voice. Looking down the length of her wing, she noticed the drake lift slightly so that his own wing sat a foot above hers as they soared. It wasn’t much, but it was a clear sign of distrust, a small step toward gaining an advantage if she turned on him suddenly.
“Where is Cassius? Has he arrived yet?” she asked firmly, ignoring the drake’s posture as she studied the encampment. She was confident he wouldn’t attack her. He might belong to another house than herself, Gaaret, and the rest of her flight, but she knew he held his rider and master in good regard. “Ciivrus? Where is he?” she snapped when the drake didn’t reply, watching him shrink back slightly.
“His tent is upstream… he arrived a week ago. Leesiana… why are you here?” he asked. With a piercing stare, she made it abundantly clear why. “They won’t like that,” he muttered before swallowing hard. “Please, Leesiana. I don’t want to get whipped again. Or… or what they did to Gaaret.”
Panic filled Leesiana’s chest at the look of pure fear in the young drake’s eyes. Ciivrus was no coward and had fought valiantly alongside her more than once, but something had happened that left a hollow cast to his gaze. An icy tendril clawed its way down her spine as she focused on her squadmate and feared the worst when the yellow drake tore his eyes from hers.
“What happened, Ciivrus… what happened to Gaaret? Did they kill him?” Relief flickered briefly through her when the drake shook his head. But still, he didn’t answer. Whatever it was had broken him, and she didn’t have time to counsel him.
“Ciivrus, it’s going to be okay. Get the others and tell them to get airborne. We’re getting out of here,” she said, though her unease grew when the drake looked back at her with glassy eyes. “On my signal, we’re flying out of here and getting safe—”
“But Leesiana, we can’t—”
“We can! All of us, not just me! The whole flight. We will live as free dragons, somewhere warm, somewhere safe!”
“They clipped him,” Ciivrus stammered, cutting Leesiana's words short as if a blade had slipped between her ribs. Her wingbeats faltered at the heavy blow of realization. She was too late. She had indulged in her attempt at a peaceful life for too long, and now her plan was starting to crumble. “When we heard why we were here, his rider gave their allegiance to Cassius and his house. Gaaret, he–he took a swipe at his rider. Leesiana… they took his wings, in front of all of us…” he added, tears briefly streaking his cheek before he dipped his head down and used a forepaw to wipe them clean. “They tried to feed them to him… his wings. Wouldn’t give him anything else. We tried to sneak him some food and, well…” his voice faltered, and Leesiana saw him briefly glance back towards the harsh scars on his rump.
“Is he here?” Leesiana asked, clenching her jaws when the drake nodded.
“He is going to be on a phalanx, but he says he won’t fight. It’s his house, Julii, I mean,” Ciivrus added, and Leesiana understood. Even though they’d been bought by Cassius and forced onto the front line, the old drake was still loyal to his house.
Looking down, she had hoped she could make one quick pass on Cassius’ tent and be on their way. However, most of the tents were nestled tightly around thickets and trees, and it couldn’t be guaranteed that something wouldn’t block a stream of fire. Likewise, she was seeing other dragons of various houses lounging where they could and knew that a pursuit would happen at the first sign of trouble. Worry began to overcome her. She could leave now and abandon Gaaret, even leave Cassius alive and try to escape. However, the idea of letting the vile man live paled in comparison to the thought of abandoning Gaaret. He had been the closest figure she had to a father, and the thought of him being slain felt as if a javelin had peirced her heart.
She and Marcus had taken lead of their flight from the old drake and his rider, but the slate-colored dragon hadn’t harbored any resentment and had remained a mentor to her. Leaving him wasn’t an option. She forced a deep breath into her lungs before looking back along her outstretched wings to Ciivrus. “Take me to him.”
With a nod, the yellow drake banked away from her and beat his wings twice before cropping them slightly and descending to the far side of the camp. Flying behind him, Leesiana could see the drake’s scars in more detail, and her chest tightened to the point that breathing was difficult. Guilt swelled in her mind at the knowledge that while she had been stalling for time, her friends were suffering at the hands of Cassius and his men. Now she didn’t know what she was going to do. They might be able to have Gaaret escape on foot while they led any pursuers away from him. However, deep down she knew it wouldn’t work. Even if they managed to lead any dragons loyal to Cassius away, the soldiers still had horses, and they could run the old drake down with ease.
Approaching a clearing that had been made for their flight, Ciivrus flared his wings for landing and Leesiana mirrored him until her paws touched down. The foot soldiers camping nearby slowly rose to their feet as they saw her, but she paid them little attention. “Mars is with us!” cried one of the legionaries triumphantly, but his celebration was ignored by Leesiana as she brushed her wing against Ciivrus and strode past him. “Get the others, get them ready. No riders,” she ordered quietly between clenched teeth, walking forward with power in her step.
Across the clearing, curled around himself like smoldering forgotten coals, the dark slate shape of Gaaret lay alone. Sinking her claws into the soil with every step, Leesiana’s rage boiled as she saw the blood-soaked wraps knotted around what remained of the dragon’s wings. Gone was their glory, cut short to only a foot of bone from his shoulders and a few inches of tattered membrane. They looked as if they had been hacked with a blunt axe or torn away by claws. The world around her lost focus as she marched quickly across the clearing, ignoring the cheers and cries that rang out from the soldiers throughout the camp. When she was half a dozen paces from her squad mate, her nostrils twitched at the scent. Gaaret’s bandages clearly hadn’t been tended to, either by his riders or their grooms. The wounds had been left to fester and rot while he still drew breath.
A trumpet rang out from somewhere in the camp, its celebratory tone causing the great drake to stir and lift his head towards her. His eyes seemed to take a moment to focus, his head wavering in the air before his lips curled back into a snarl. A low warning growl built in Gaaret’s throat, halting Leesiana in her tracks.
“You! You’re here with us? Now!?” he roared, rolling onto his front. It wasn’t clear if he could stand, but his claws extended and his tail swept behind him as though ready to lunge. “I prayed, to Jupiter and the others, that I would see you at this battle… but facing me, not beside me!” He snarled, and with an undulation of his neck, clear fluids spilled from the corners of his mouth. Long strings of what some would call drool hung down before dripping to the ground. “Against our house? Against the Imperator? Against Marcus—”
“No!” Leesiana cried out, her attention dragged to the liquid that dripped from the drake’s jaws as it pooled together and spontaneously ignited in a flash of oily orange flame. The mixture was inconsistent and the fire faltered like the old dragon’s strength, but it lit the scars that mapped Gaaret’s scales from the countless battles he had fought and won. Refocusing on his eyes, she shook her head and held his gaze.
“I’m here for Praetor Cassius. To end him, and save us,” she said in a low voice for just him to hear, making the drake’s eyes narrow and his lips lower briefly. “You were right. I should have left. We all should have left. But I’m here now, for you! For all of us—”
“You shouldn’t have,” the drake snarled. He gnashed his teeth and broke her stare to look across the clearing at the forces hiding in the forest. “Here to save us?” he asked, and hissed when Leesiana nodded. “You stupid ‘ness. The warrior who looks back is already ash, and the dragon who shields another… You could have had peace! You could have left this life behind you, why throw it all away to come back for us? Have I taught you nothing?” His voice had lost its old bite, the words more weary than sharp.
Stepping forward, Leesiana shuffled her wings and dipped her head low beneath his. Looking up at him as if he still stood at full height, she tried to speak but found her voice tight. Forcing through her rage and regrets, she shook her head slowly.
“No… You taught me everything,” she said softly, ignoring the wet scoffing sound he made. She took another step, rolling her head to one side as she looked at him trying to avoid her gaze. “You are the closest thing I had to a sire, Gaaret. You taught me everything I know.” His jaw clenched as though her words had pierced his armor. “You didn’t just teach me how to fight, Gaaret. You taught me how to survive. How to make an opening, when to flank, and when to hold my ground.”
Leesiana moved closer to the old drake. “Marcus may have taken me from the fighting pits, but it was you who taught me how to be a soldier—”
“Perhaps I shouldn't have. It would have saved you some pain—”
“Because I would be dead,” Leesiana retorted quickly, holding his gaze when his eyes flicked to hers. “I remember our first fight together, how your teachings saved me and Marcus. I also remember your wing over me afterwards, helping me find sleep. So yes, Gaaret, you taught me everything…” Leesiana continued, and when the drake kept staring at her with his piercing, judgmental eyes, she couldn’t stop the smirk from forming in the corner of her lips. “Except how to fight. I could always put you in your place. I only ever went easy on you, you old bastard.” She dipped her head in a nod when his eyes narrowed at her insolence.
“If I had my wings, I’d pin you for that.” He shrugged his broken wing stumps and let out a pained hiss. “But I suspect you could finally beat me now. All it took was four of their finest drakes, and now you have a chance.”
Glancing toward the bloody rags that wrapped what was left of his wings, any attempt at making light of the situation died as the fires of rage built in her chest. “I should have come sooner,” she hissed through clenched teeth and shook her head. “They did this because I wouldn’t give them—”
“No, they didn’t,” Gaaret interrupted firmly, pulling his neck back to elevate his head. For a moment, the drake held a fragment of his former glory and looked down at her as if she were a fledgling once again. “This isn’t your fault, Leesiana. It was their choice! They chose to take on House Julii, they chose to put us here, and it was they who took my wings. Not you, ”
“I could have stopped them—”
“Leesiana…” Gaaret raised a paw to silence her. “Could haves, should haves, and would haves won’t help me now. They made their choice, I made mine, and this is where we are.” The old drake looked around the sprawling camp and drew in a deep lungful of air. Leesiana saw his neck bulge as he swallowed before slowly letting out a long, drawn-out hiss.
“...Did you find it?” Gaaret asked without looking down at her, his voice eerily calm and measured. “Peace,” he clarified before turning his head and focusing on her once more. His expression didn’t make her feel as if she were being quizzed on another lesson he had given her. Instead, he looked at her more like a concerned parent.
“The closest I could, without losing myself,” Leesiana said, angling her head when Gaaret’s eyes lingered on the broken scales around her throat. “I will meet him again, once we are safe. Once we find actual peace.” She stepped closer and lowered herself, pressing her shoulder into his chest. With a firm push she helped the old drake sit up on his haunches, then leaned into him in a rough, friendly embrace. She could still feel his reassuring strength in that old, broken body, and although the drake was not one for affection, she did not feel him pull away.
“What is his name?” Gaaret asked, uncertainty in his voice making him sound like a curious father.
“Reekan…” Leesiana started, then pulled back to sit on her haunches, “You wouldn't like him, far too gentle.” She smiled briefly as the drake grumbled in reluctant approval. “They tried to pair me with fighters, drakes that would put your strength to shame. All to make the next generation of weapons.”
“That is all we are to them,” Gaaret growled, his voice low and rough as he tore his gaze from her to look over the army. “Tools. Weapons. Cudgels. Investments. Nothing more. They use us, drain us, and when we can give no more, they cast us aside like shattered spears. Look at me, Leesiana, they've cut my food. I'm old enough to know what that means. They don't want me surviving this next scrap,” He nodded to himself as if thinking through a plan. “They have already written my ending.”
He shifted, joints grinding, body trembling with the effort of rising. Even broken, he was a mass of muscle and scar, the memory of a warrior carved into his frame. His breath came in slow, deliberate draws, as though each one tasted of ash. “I’ve fought enough years to know the truth: unlike you, we are not cherished. Not even remembered. We fight, we burn, we bleed… and then we are forgotten.”
“I’m getting you out of here, Gaaret. I will kill Cassius and then we leave, all of us.” She began and was cut off by a hiss of disapproval from the old drake. Ignoring him, she rose to all fours and stepped to one side so she was fully in his line of sight. “We will carry you, take turns so we can keep our speed. If they catch us, we will fight, and then keep going. We’ll get somewhere safe, somewhere quiet, where we can find peace—”
“No.” The word cracked from his chest like a breaking bone. His lips peeled back, exposing worn fangs; his snout wrinkled as if the taste of her hope were poison. “No, Leesiana. Do not shame me with pity and dreams. I’m an old drake. My duty is done, done to Rome, done to my masters, done to every rider who ever strapped a saddle on my back. And peace? I’ve burned any chance of finding peace. The ghosts remind me of this every night. But eventually all things must come to an end, even pain.” He flexed the mutilated stumps where wings had once been. Although a hiss tore from his throat, he did not falter; he looked at her with an honest, sincere gaze. “Perhaps I am wrong. Perhaps Orcus will be kind. Perhaps today, at last, peace will find me.” His gaze locked on hers, unblinking and steady. Lowering his head in a slow, deliberate bow, he brought his muzzle beneath hers, not in submission, but in solemn recognition. “I may still have one fight left in me, Dragoness of Mars. Will you honour me by making it a good one? With you by my side?”
Leesiana's jaw clenched and her lips curled back into a fierce snarl. She knew what he was suggesting, and it pained her to know he was right. They'd never get him out, nor could they take on the full army that had assembled. Thoughts of doing a sweeping pass of fire on Cassius and his most loyal forces flickered in her mind like ash taken by the wind, and in their place, one course of action stood as her only choice.
The sound of claws on stone and the rattle of armor broke her thoughts. She turned, muscles tense, and saw the others approaching. Their flight. Her flight. Some still wore their harnesses and saddles, straps hanging loose or buckles clinking with each step. Others came without, bare-backed, the sunlight flashing across their scales. The sight of them twisted her insides. Their strength was in their combined prowess, and Gaaret had been at the heart of it for longer than most of them had lived. Leaving him behind felt like tearing a hole in all of them.
“You stubborn, old, poetic fool!” Leesiana hissed, frustration bleeding into her voice. “You’ve always been the spine of this flight. I came here to save you.”
Gaaret made a rough, short laugh, more smoke than sound, and lifted his head. His eyes locked on hers with the same weight they always had, even now.
“Your mind is the cut of your talons, Leesiana,” he said in a steady voice that resonated in her core. “Don’t waste it on my company.”
Driving through the crowded camp like sharks through a school of sea bream, the flight of dragons walked with purpose in a tight v-shaped formation. The paths worn into the soil by the countless feet of the army were inconsequential as the dragons strode forward, unyielding, cutting their own line toward where Cassius’s tent had been erected. Passing by the countless men, many rose from their cooking fires and gaming boards, cheering in ignorant celebration. Their rough laughter turned to shouts of triumph, voices proclaiming that her presence was a sign that Mars himself had come to fight beside them, that her flight would break the enemy and win glory for Rome. Spears thudded against shields in salute, and some soldiers raised their fists to the sky in celebration.
The more seasoned among them did not join in. Veterans who had seen dragons up close before shifted uneasily, their hands lingering on the grips of their pila, eyes narrowing at the look on Leesiana’s face. Her gaze did not wander, her expression did not soften at the sight of their joy. There was only that steady, predatory intent, a hunter closing on her kill. And behind her walked Gaaret, maimed but unbowed, his rotten, bandaged wing stumps like a banner of defiance. That alone unsettled more than a few hardened men.
Those sensing something amiss snatched up shields and javelins, while some of their dragons rose to all fours and watched with hesitant expressions. Beneath the cheers of the ignorant, a heaviness spread across the camp as the flight prowled toward their target. With the trees so dense, taking off would be difficult and would provide cover for Cassius if they had chosen to strike from the air. Instead, they moved with purpose, giving the men no opportunity to stop them. Every one of Leesiana's steps clawed ruts into the soft soil as her eyes stayed locked ahead. A man tried to intercept her, demanding to know what she was doing, but with the back of her paw she shoved him firmly out of her path and kept walking. The gesture rippled disruption through the men’s cheers, but with so many bodies packed so tightly, most saw nothing and continued shouting about the imminent crushing of House Julii.
Striding forward, Leesiana's neck curled back into a graceful S-shape, coiled like a snake moments from striking. She tipped her head slightly down, keeping a close watch on the men in her periphery while her heavy brow ridges shadowed her venomous yellow eyes. Under the mottled shade of the forest canopy, her crimson scales darkened into a shifting patchwork, every movement of her muscles sliding under her hide like living iron. Drawing in fast, deep breaths of the camp’s air, she fed her blood with oxygen, sharpening her mind and steeling herself for what had to be done. Deep in her soul, a writhing knot of energy and rage tore at her composure, threatening to overwhelm her and lash out on those around her. Focusing, she reined in her gifts and guided the invisible tendrils as they snaked outwards and brushed against the minds and bodies of the legion around her. Those nearest felt it first, a chill that pressed into their skin as she passed, an unnatural cold that cut their smiles short and stifled their voices mid-shout. Around them, the air itself seemed to stiffen, as if the wind had not merely died but ceased to exist, and would never return.
Leesiana could feel their presence around her, like a network of light and energy that encompassed her and her flight. Many fell in behind, curious to see what the mighty Dragoness of Mars was doing, while others retreated to their tents to fetch their equipment. The camp’s noise followed her like a tide of cheers, questions, the ring of iron plates, but beneath it she sensed a different current, a gathering awareness that something was not right and that a storm was about to break.
Ahead of her, she spotted a tent larger than the others, made of cloth in the praetor’s colours. Sea-green banners framed with golden suns hung proudly, the fabric heralding the house’s wealth while the others were plain linen. Beside the structure, a knot of heavily armed soldiers stood in a semicircle with their backs to the river’s shore, accompanied by four large drakes who lifted their heads as Leesiana and her flight approached. Both the men and the dragons wore obsidian-black leather armour trimmed in gold, and the men’s cloaks matched the praetor’s colours. Every eye tracked Leesiana’s approach, pupils narrowing, expressions hardening. Their riders, cloaked in the praetor’s colours, lifted shields ringed with metal and planted their boots, the motion sharp and unified. The loud clatter of bronze edges locking together rang out across the camp like a challenge.
It was clear these were the man’s personal guard, and unlike the nervous troupe that had visited the farm, these men were hardened veterans. Leesiana’s eyes moved past them, over the wall of shields, to the figure standing beyond. The sight struck her like a claw between the ribs. Gaaret’s rider. The grizzled man no longer wore the crimson and gold of House Julii. Instead, robes of Cassius’ house hung from his shoulders, their sea-green folds a mockery of his past. His arm, once steady on Gaaret’s reins, was gone below the elbow, ending in a rough stump bound in cloth, and Leesiana understood now the damage Gaaret had caused.
Passing the edge of the treeline, Leesiana’s flight spread out and turned to face the camp in a defensive square as Cassius' guards brought their shields around in front to form a protective wall with a loud clatter. Their spears didn't immediately drop to aim at the dragons but instead remained at forty-five degrees, a halfway state of readiness. Likewise, the four dragons that flanked the guards stepped slowly outward to give each other space, mantling their wings in preparation for a pounce if it became necessary. They were clearly unsure of Leesiana's presence, glancing between one another while trying to stay alert to any movement from the flight. Their presence tugged at Leesiana's mind, but she paid them little notice and instead looked over the top of the phalanx to see the familiar man bathing in the river she had once enjoyed.
Cassius didn’t react with fear. Instead, he continued to rub his arms with a pale pumice stone to rid himself of the morning’s grime. Leesiana’s ear twitched at the silence that pressed down on them from all sides. It wasn’t natural; a camp at any time of day always carried noise, yet now, surrounded by the legion, there was nothing. Watching the man continue to bathe, Leesiana could even hear the water running down his arms. His calmness and presence only stoked the forge of anger in her chest. Instead, the steady beating of her own heart hammered in her ears, not rapid, but controlled, powerful, like war drums calling her to action. Her eyes remained locked onto the man, unblinking and unwavering, as her gifts flared and swept their tendrils through the soldiers around her. Every one of them felt different under the brush of her consciousness, each one unique, but all harboring the same building fear she had felt in every soldier before battle. Those unarmed began to recognize the danger and silently retreated, allowing others to take their place and surround the flight with javelins and swords.
Without granting her the satisfaction of pause, the praetor scrubbed harder at his arms, dragging the water against his skin with exaggerated vigor. His casual indifference held the attention not just of Leesiana’s flight, but of the soldiers filling the camp behind them. She could feel him as much as she could see him. The river that had once been hers carried his weight, his scent, his arrogance, disturbing the same smooth stones she had rested on between battles. Her mind reached into that flow, her consciousness sliding over him like coils of smoke. Tendrils of thought curled around his waist, invisible but unyielding, and began to climb, wrapping his chest, shoulders, and neck.
Finally, after holding them in silence, the unfeeling man rinsed the volcanic stone before tossing it to shore and turned to face the assembled flight. Looking up at them with a smug smile, he combed his fingers through his slick hair and let out a singular chortle. “My men tell me that you have come to fight alongside us. I must say, after the headaches I went through trying to find you a rider, I’m surprised all it took was your friend’s wings to see the light–”
Leesiana’s head twitched, a serpent’s strike in miniature.
In that instant, the tendrils of her mind pulled taut, and the pressure in her thoughts slammed inward. A sharp, splitting crack echoed across the riverbank as Cassius’ head jerked violently to the side, his spine snapping under the invisible wrench. For a heartbeat, the praetor’s body remained upright, his smile still twisted on his face. Then his legs folded, and he slumped into the shallows like discarded meat, crimson clouding the clear water.The guards had not even turned when the world ignited as a torrent of oily black flame ripped through their ranks. Their shields offered a moment’s reprieve before the pressure of the fluids knocked them off balance and the flesh-melting flame from Gaaret’s throat lashed across their bodies and consumed them. Bronze groaned and buckled, and then Gaaret’s fury carved through man and dragon alike as screams tore the air and armor fused to skin.
With a deafening roar that shook bark from the trees, Ciivrus and the others of their flight launched themselves into the four drakes that lunged towards Leesiana. The thud of bodies colliding cracked like thunder, and the wet shriek of claws and fangs raking through scale filled the air. They smashed together in a storm of muscle and talons, the ground trembling beneath them. One of the smaller drakes reeled backwards, slammed onto his spine, and pinned under the crushing weight of another.
Ciivrus, valiant in his charge, was still too small for the beast he met head-on. He crashed back to the dirt in a tangle of wings, the enemy’s jaws clamping hard into his throat. Their bodies tumbled dangerously close to Leesiana, a rolling knot of snapping jaws and raking claws.
Stepping aside from the crash, Leesiana struck. She clamped her jaws into the wing root of the loyalist drake, teeth sliding past scale and sinking into the meat. Her talons buried deep into his shoulders, and with a brutal jerk of her neck she heaved backwards. She didn’t go for bone, not yet. She bit for tendon, for sinew, for muscle. Flesh tore under her fangs in a wet, ripping explosion, meat and blood shearing loose in strips. The shriek that tore from the drake’s throat was unholy, a scream that rattled in the chest and cut through the air like glass, but it was drowned out as Leesiana wrenched her head free in a spray of gore.
Without clearing her maw, she swung her neck in a wide, violent arc, blood still streaking her jaws, and unleashed a torrent of flame. The blast roared out of her throat in a searing orange lance that lit the camp like a second sun. Soldiers caught in the jet barely had time to scream before they were engulfed, their bodies flailing and blackening as the fire scythed through them. The ground itself seemed to recoil under the heat as she carved her flame across the ranks, sweeping left and right until her throat burned raw and her glands ached with strain. With a final snap of her jaws, she cut the torrent short, smoke pouring from her fangs.
Heat seared against her hindquarters and she twisted to see Gaaret beside her, pouring every ounce of his ruin into the slaughter. His fire hammered the praetor’s guards, his rider, and Cassius' lifeless body alike. The once-cool river boiled and frothed under the onslaught, steam screaming into the air. The stones lining the river, rounded by centuries of water, split and cracked under the heat, glowing red like coals in a forge.
The bodies of soldiers churned in the torrent, armor glowing, shields buckling, flesh and bone feeding the pyre. Cassius and Gaaret's late rider vanished in the blaze, nothing left of them but twisted fragments of bronze and ash dragged into the river’s boiling maw.
Before she could admire the ruin Gaaret was carving, a rush of movement snapped Leesiana’s head toward the treeline. Half a dozen enemy dragons burst through, charging with wings half-mantled and fangs bared, ignoring their dead riders and the carnage in the camp. Bark splintered under their claws as they bounded forward, a wall of scale and muscle bearing down on her flight.
The first, a heavyset bronze with jagged scars running down his neck, lunged high, paws spread wide to crush her. Leesiana recoiled hard to the left, his claws raking nothing but air as she ducked beneath his chest. Soil sprayed behind her as she dug in, then launched herself at the second, a slate-gray drake snapping at her flank.
They collided shoulder to chest, her talons screeching over his scales until they dug deep between his ribs. She felt them tear into the soft muscle, her momentum wrenching him off balance. The gray roared in pain as the two of them crashed to the ground in a tangle of tails and wings, his bulk hammering into the earth. Leesiana rolled with it, twisting over his back, barely snapping her muzzle out of reach as his jaws slammed shut inches from her throat. She vaulted clear, dirt and blood streaking her scales.
Skidding on all fours, she wheeled to face him. The gray drake heaved himself upright, smoke leaking from his nostrils, eyes locked on hers with murderous focus. He was a little larger, broader through the shoulders, and his tail lashed violently at the dirt in anticipation.
The twitch of that tail distracted her just enough that she almost missed the swelling in his throat. By the time his jaws split, Leesiana was already moving. Flame roared after her, searing the edge of her tail as she bolted sideways, the heat chasing her like a furnace blast. Steam rose from the scorched earth where his fire struck.
She cut back sharply, two dashes right and a sudden surge left, slamming into his exposed flank. Her jaws clamped down on the hinge of his jaw, teeth piercing scale and forcing his head up toward the canopy. His fire streamed harmlessly into the branches above, igniting them in a brief explosion of light and ash, clinging to the branches and running down the trunks.
Twisting under him, Leesiana jerked her head down. A horrible, wet rip tore through the air as her fangs crushed and shredded his windpipe. His attempted roar collapsed into a gurgling choke, blood bubbling from his throat. She wrenched free with a spray of gore, spitting the torn mass from her mouth. The drake collapsed into the dirt, convulsing, claws digging trenches as he thrashed in suffocating agony.
Leesiana didn’t linger. Leaving him to flail and die, she bolted toward the melee where the rest of her flight was already locked fang-to-fang with the others. Bronze wings crashed into crimson, the air thick with the sounds of snapping jaws, screams, and the metallic stink of blood turned to steam.
All of them fought for their lives, some pinning their prey beneath claw and fang, others buckling under the weight of stronger foes. The sudden hiss of iron through the air was followed by a javelin burying itself into Gaaret’s side, his roar of agony splitting the din and tearing at Leesiana’s focus.
Tackling another dragon off one of her flightmates, she bit down hard on the back of his neck even as more javelins whistled in from the treeline. Wood and iron tore into her shoulder. She rolled, dragging her prey over with her, and felt the shafts snap against the dirt, but not before the tip had driven deeper into her muscle. The enemy soldiers had found their rhythm now.
Men who had escaped the first blasts of fire, or been clever enough to keep out of range, lurked in the shadows of the trees, appearing only long enough to hurl their weapons. They showed no loyalty to the beasts they fought beside, their volleys skewering Leesiana’s flight just as savagely as their own.
Lifting one wing to shield her flank, she hissed as two more javelins tore straight through the thin membranes. One bounced off her scales, splintering away. The other bit into her hip, sinking deep with a flare of white-hot pain. These soldiers weren’t reckless, they were smart. They hugged the cover of the trees, just far enough that dragonfire couldn’t easily reach them, and they knew any charge into the woods would leave her flight surrounded and trapped beneath the canopy.
Roaring in pain, Leesiana staggered, her hind leg faltering and refusing to take her weight. She forced herself to lurch forward as another of Gaaret’s flames burst across the forest, turning branches and men into shrieking torches. Mid-stream, the old drake was slammed sideways by a brown dragoness with crimson frills, her claws raking savagely at the mutilated stumps of his wings. Gaaret’s roars turned from fury into raw torment as he bucked and thrashed beneath her weight.
Leesiana sprang to help, another javelin buzzing past her skull close enough that she felt the disturbed air of its passage. Her gait was uneven, one hind leg dragging behind, but she gathered herself and hurled her weight forward. She hit the frilled dragoness square, her forepaws driving into the jointed bones of her wings. The sickening crack of membranes tearing and bones giving way echoed as Leesiana’s momentum carried them both into a brutal roll across the dirt.
Rolling over the churned soil, Leesiana kept her weight on the dragoness’s wings, wrenching them against the ground. The brown-scaled beast shrieked, crimson frills flaring wide as she thrashed beneath the pressure. Hooking her claws into the torn wing joints, Leesiana dug in and pulled until the membranes split further with a wet, tearing sound.
Kicking free with her hind legs, the frilled dragoness twisted under her, jaws snapping up toward Leesiana’s throat. Ducking her head back, Leesiana felt the snap of teeth graze the scales of her jawline, hot spittle flinging across her face. She slammed her paw down across the dragoness’s muzzle, forcing her head into the dirt, but the creature bucked her hips and rolled them both sideways.
Crashing onto her back, Leesiana clawed upwards, raking long furrows across the dragoness’s belly. The frilled beast howled and drove her weight down, teeth sinking into Leesiana’s shoulder and crunching into the already wounded flesh. Agony jolted through her body, the pressure forcing the lodged javelin head deeper into her muscle until it ground against bone.
Snapping her jaws up, Leesiana found the base of one crimson frill and clamped down. She wrenched sideways, tearing it half-loose in a spray of blood that streaked her face and chest. The dragoness screamed and released her shoulder, her head jerking back in reflex. Leesiana drove her free forepaw into the gap, claws plunging past soft flesh to hook deep into the side of her enemy’s jaw.
Heaving with all her strength, Leesiana rolled them again, throwing the dragoness hard into the ground. The impact shook the dirt, and Leesiana followed through, pinning her with both foreclaws and driving her hind talons into the softer scales of her gut. The frilled dragoness writhed, tail lashing wildly, but Leesiana held fast, blood gouting between her claws as she ripped downwards.
Roaring into her face, Leesiana twisted her jaws around the dragoness’s throat and bit deep, her teeth grinding together as her enemy’s scales gave way. She felt the frantic hammering of the dragoness’s pulse against her tongue, then crushed down harder until the roars became a muffled gurgle. The crimson frills, once flared in defiance, slackened and twitched as Leesiana wrenched her head sideways and tore the throat open.
The brown dragoness convulsed once, a spray of hot blood misting the air, then collapsed limp under Leesiana’s weight. Panting, jaws slick and burning from the taste of copper, Leesiana lifted her head, her eyes darting back to where Gaaret was dragging himself upright through the chaos.
“What are you doing!” Gaaret snarled, his voice ragged with rage as he forced himself up. His legs trembled, his tail whipped violently to keep him steady. Fresh wounds scored his chest and neck, raw furrows carved into his slate-black hide where scale had been torn away. Each one poured crimson, rivers of blood streaming down his frame and soaking the dirt beneath him.
“Go—” he managed, before his words broke into a roar of pain. A javelin punched into the thick base of his neck, the shaft shuddering as it buried deep. Gaaret’s eyes narrowed to slits, his lips peeling back over his teeth. Spinning, he lashed his tail and hurled himself forward.
Springing to his full extension, the old drake thundered into the treeline, charging headlong at the soldiers hidden there. Men who had been nothing more than flickers in the shadow now had an avalanche bearing down on them. His bulk smashed through the first ranks of trunks, the air alive with their screams as he tore into their line.
Leesiana flinched as though struck herself, the sight cutting into her chest like one of their javelins. She knew what he was doing. They would never survive a prolonged fight, every heartbeat spent here bled them closer to death. Gaaret had chosen, and his choice was to buy them time.
Turning, she saw the other 8 dragons of her flight gathered in a defensive line near the river’s edge. Ciivrus and the others had dragged down another enemy dragon, their claws rending him apart in a frenzy. The beast’s body was being torn to quarters like a carcass fed to starving dogs, blood pooling black in the soil. Two of her flight bled freely from javelins lodged in their hides, and all bore the ragged marks of claws, but still they fought. Still they answered her.
Bounding to them, Leesiana flared her wings wide, mantling them with command. “With me!” she bellowed, her voice splitting the chaos. She sprang into the air, paws leaving the dirt as her wings snapped out in full extension and drove downwards.
Javelins and arrows hissed past her in a deadly hail, one whistling so close it nicked the edge of her wing membrane. She flinched but forced the power into her strokes, beating hard. The missiles whined under her belly and splashed harmlessly into the river.
Her wings hammered the air, dragging her skyward. She broke through the canopy of the far bank, the sunlight striking her scales, and drove herself into a vertical climb. Looking back, she made sure that all had managed to avoid the bite of javelins and counted all except, of course, Gaaret. Ciivrus brought up the rear, his yellow scales streaked red where blood poured from open wounds. Each beat of his wings sent a flinch through his frame, but he forced them on, refusing to falter, refusing to be left behind.
Below, Leesiana caught a last glimpse of the battlefield. A flash of orange roared through the treeline as Gaaret exhaled another stream of fire, the inferno swallowing soldiers and trees alike. The old drake was chaos incarnate, a storm tearing through their ranks, and the mayhem he left behind would delay pursuit.
Leveling out, Leesiana almost buckled midair. Her shoulder throbbed where the javelin still jutted, every wingbeat grinding the shaft deeper into torn muscle. The hole in her hip burned with each stretch of her hindleg, hot blood slicking down her scales and trailing into the air as a fine crimson mist. Her wing membranes stung raw, ragged holes whistling with every beat. Pain lanced through her body in rhythm with her heart, each pulse sharper than the last.
She slowed only enough to keep from stalling, sides heaving, before banking left in a wide, clumsy arc. Her breath rasped in her throat, flames and blood still coating her tongue. She forced her wings down again, dragging the others into line behind her. They formed into a broken V, Leesiana at the point, Ciivrus and the others staggering into place, each one bleeding and battered.
The camp roared beneath them still, men shouting, dragons bellowing, the crackle of fire, but distance dulled the chaos until only the rushing wind remained. Behind them, the black column of oily smoke towered high, marking the ruin Gaaret had made.
“House Julii is the other way,” Ciivrus panted, his voice hitching with each labored breath. His yellow scales were streaked dark, blood dripping from his flanks. He winced mid-wingbeat, a hiss escaping through his fangs. “They’re taking us in, right?”
Leesiana glanced back over her torn wing, the movement pulling fire through her shoulder wound. Ciivrus’s eyes searched hers, desperate and hopeful, but she gave him only a hard shake of her head.
“We aren’t going back,” she growled, her voice hoarse and ragged from smoke. Facing forward again, she stretched her battered wings into a glide. The relief was sharp but brief, gliding only meant more strain when she had to beat them again.
“North and then west,” she said, forcing the word through clenched jaws. “As far as we can. Then south, through Hispania. We keep going until we’re safe.”
The others gave no answer, only the heavy sound of their wings, the grunts and rasps of bodies near breaking. Leesiana’s vision blurred at the edges, pain clawing through every nerve, but she flew on. She prayed silently, fiercely, that their strength would last, that Gaaret’s sacrifice hadn’t been for nothing.
==Bonus scene==
Almost two thousand years had passed since Leesiana had led her flight out of the Roman Empire, when two new commanders stood on a battlefield made entirely of impossibly smooth marble and surveyed their newest expansion. To the dragoness of old, the countless sparkling towers of steel and glass would have been incomprehensible, each one large enough for hundreds of dragons and humans to inhabit in harmony. Between the endless structures, winged dragons soared, dove, and glided, unburdened by chains of servitude or the weight of riders. Instead, both humans and dragons lived and worked together, shackled by the same commitments and responsibilities that kept them toiling each day. Likewise, the mantle of responsibility for this new expansion rested solely between the horns of the two dragons who looked down at it, not some human groom in a hatchery.
“It’s a bit of a mouthful, isn’t it?” remarked one of the dragons, a lithe female with scales the color of an autumn sunset. “Leeee-ssiii-aann-nnaa,” she added, drawing out each syllable in mockery. Her eyes drifted down to the small, freshly hatched dragonet that stumbled between them. No more than a few hours out of its shell, the creature’s body was no larger than the adult dragon’s paw, but its chubby tail and thick neck gave it puppy-like proportions. Its oversized wings dragged across the ground at angles that would make a grown dragon flinch.
Padding unsteadily, the orange hatchling was not yet capable of keeping its floppy wings tucked against its sides, instead it let them drag limply across the marble floor as it took stock of its surroundings. Bobbing its large head with every uncertain step, the little one blinked and squinted, trying to make sense of the world. Turning toward the sound of its mother’s voice, the little dragoness yipped as it stepped on its own inky black wing-arm with a matching dark paw and tumbled head first into the ground. Rolling onto its back, the hatchling became tangled in its wings and let out a mewling sound of panic and frustration.
“You don’t like it?” replied the other dragon, an inky black drake with a white chest and throat. The contrast between colors was sharp and unbroken, his black scales ending where the white began in clean, crisp lines. Without getting up, he reached forward with a forepaw and offered the hatchling a digit to help her right herself. His bright green eyes remained focused exclusively on his child with a critical intensity as the hatchling gripped his toe with both forepaws. Instead of lifting the small dragoness up, he kept a gentle pressure downward to test her strength and felt her push back in frustration. “It’s a strong name, for a strong dragoness,” he mused before relenting and guiding the small dragon onto her side. He studied her movements as she tried to pull herself off her folded wing and waited to see how she would fix her situation. It was important that she knew how to stand for herself, even if he would be there for her for many years to come.
After three false starts to pull herself to her feet, the hatchling finally worked out that she needed to fold the wing under herself so that she could roll over. Using her small nub-like teeth, the tiny dragon gripped her own wing’s wrist and pulled it closer to her body, then managed to roll onto her front. Bouncing up onto her paws as if she had never fallen, the dragoness posed proudly before she looked up at her father for approval, her whole body wobbling with uncertainty. Smiling a proud smile, the drake’s expression seemed to please the hatchling as she puffed out her chest even further at the recognition of her accomplishment. Releasing a small meep-like sound of satisfaction, the hatchling shook her body to rid herself of any residual fear from being stuck on her back and almost toppled over as her wings flailed against the ground again and upset her balance. Curling her neck around, the hatchling focused on the long appendages protruding from her shoulders and tried to reset her wings, as if only now noticing that they were part of her and not some troublesome blanket.
“I just feel that it’s a bit ostentatious, don’t you think?” The sleek orange dragoness retorted while watching the clumsy hatchling lose interest in her wings and begin to bumble around on the floor once again. Apart from their shared orange scales, the two dragonesses looked starkly different. While the hatchling’s body was a mix of large eyes, blunt horns, and floppy wings, her mother wore her scales with the sleek elegance of someone who had spent every waking minute perfecting her appearance. Their child was a mix of their colors, with her orange neck, body, and tail, but it was her sire’s black coloring that absorbed the hatchling’s feet and wing arms, giving her a jumbled appearance compared to her mother’s golden orange sheen.
Despite having laid the egg six months prior, and carried it for just as long before that, the dragoness’s scales showed none of the telltale signs of calcium deficiencies common with pregnancy. Instead, they gleamed with a radiance that spoke of the countless supplements and polishes she used, shimmering under the warm glow of the crystal chandelier’s globes. “I can’t see myself calling that to bring her to the table. Or, god forbid, in public. Can’t we just call her something else?” she added, looking up from the hatchling to focus on her mate.
The lounging black drake didn’t break his concentration as he watched his hatchling fidget with her wings, looking back at them as they moved. It was like a light bulb going off in the small child’s mind when she realized she could control the large flight surfaces and began to experiment by pressing them against her sides. Focusing intently, she let out a small whine as they began to lift from the floor. However, just as soon as she managed to bring one wing up and turned to watch the other, the first fell limp again, causing the hatchling to whip her head around and hiss at the misbehaving limb.
“You won’t need to call her to the table, Seelena…” mused the drake as he reached forward with a digit to support one wing, “I can feel it, she is going to be brilliant.” He smiled when the hatchling managed to fold her other wing so it no longer dragged. Relaxing his support, he chuckled when the hatchling craned her neck from side to side to make sure the wings were behaving before looking up at him with an exuberant expression.
“Kaarak, please. Anything else,” implored the regal, orange ’ness as she leaned to one side and let her hind legs splay out. With a sweep of her tail, she commanded her mate’s attention away from their child and locked eyes with him. “Taarniah has already picked the names for their first, should Laarnic ever actually get her gravid,” Seelena added, making the black drake shuffle his wings and flash her a glare with his green eyes. She knew that if there was ever a way to convince her mate to do something he didn’t like, it was to imply someone else was better at it. It wasn’t something she enjoyed doing, but she knew just how hard to press without drawing his ire.
Her knowledge of his weakness wasn’t lost on the black drake, who shook his head to dismiss her attempt. “Nooran is a horrible name for a drake, and don’t get me started on Teeba… that is a ridiculous name,” he mused before turning his head back to the small dragoness, whose wings were starting to droop despite her best efforts to hike them back up onto her back. “Teeba… that’s a silly name, isn’t it, little Leesiana? Sounds like one of those silly arcade games, and we don’t waste our time with silly distractions, do we? No we don’t!” he added softly, making the hatchling look up with bright eyes and an open mouth.
“I’m not saying it has to be that, but Leesiana just sounds ancient—”
“It’s because it is ancient!” retorted Kaarak with an amused scoff, bringing his head lower until his chin nearly touched the polished marble tiles of their living room. “Hey? Hmm? What do you think, little one? Leesiana? You know, your namesake built a civilization of dragons that outlasted the mighty Roman Empire. But…” He leaned closer until his snout was within the hatchling’s reach.
She bounced, more than lunged, placing both forepaws against the sides of his nose while balancing on her hind legs. Going cross-eyed to focus on her, the large black drake smiled warmly as the hatchling’s head wobbled from side to side. “Just between you and me? I know, if we work together, we can do better,” he added in a playful whisper.
Rearing her head back and opening her maw dramatically, the hatchling looked as if she were yawning before letting out a whine-like growl and crashing her jaws down onto the tip of her father's snout. Her feeble attempt at a bite stood no chance of piercing the dragon’s scaled nose, yet the small hatchling growled in frustration as she tried to sink her teeth into her sire's snout. Chuckling at the pathetic attempt, the black drake lifted his neck and pulled his head away. Try as she might, the tiny creature was unable to gain purchase with her nub-like egg teeth and fell back to the floor in disappointment.
“See, she doesn't like it either,” remarked Seelena with a smirk, angling her head smugly. “How about something short, sweet, and simple? Taari, perhaps? That shouldn't be too hard for a human to say,” she offered, but her mate didn't seem impressed.
“There won't be anything short or simple about my daughter. She will be legendary,” Kaarak remarked, curling his neck so he could rub his snout with a paw. “Nor will we call her Taari. It would only be shortened to Tar, and I won't name my daughter after a building product. That would be silly.”
“And calling her after a Roman goddess isn't?” Seelena countered, looking down to see the small hatchling stumbling towards her. Tucking her large paws under herself defensively, the dragoness lowered her head to inspect the little one. “You’re cute and all, but let's not get ahead of ourselves,” she added with a smirk, which faded as the orange-and-black dragoness padded closer still.
“Nnnaaahh!!” cried the unnamed hatchling in an attempt to join the conversation. Upon hearing her father’s deep-throated chuckle, she whipped her head around and began to trot back towards the black drake. After only three steps, her forepaw lost its purchase on the polished marble tiles and slipped out from under her, sending her crashing to the floor with a dull thump.
“Leesiana wasn’t a goddess, just a very brave ’ness who built great things,” Kaarak mused, lowering his head to watch the hatchling pull herself to her feet again before bouncing towards him with her tongue lolling out the side of her mouth. Catching his mate’s disapproving look from the corner of his eye, he let out a small exhale of defeat just as his daughter collided with his nose and tumbled to the floor again.
“All right, we will shorten it then,” he said, angling his head to nuzzle the hatchling as she squirmed on the ground, giggling at the feel of his snout brushing her neck. Pulling his head back an inch, he widened his eyes comically and flicked his tongue out, making the small dragonet cry out in glee. Composing himself again, he nuzzled her as she writhed on the floor, batting the sides of his snout with her soft paws.
“Leena then,” he stated, gazing at the tiny dragoness. “Your mother can’t complain about that, now can she?” he added in a soft whisper.