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Episode
II Return of the Dragon
Brother Almornos roused himself from his sleep
of despair. A light was moving
outside in the corridor and there was the unmistakable sound of feet shuffling
toward him. A gruff voice sounded
in the darkness. “Move you
bitches. I’d take the bunch
of you right here, but the wizard has ordered you be saved for
later.” The words were followed
by the unmistakable sound of a blow and a cry of pain.
Almornos pushed himself against the bars of
his cell. Revealed in the dim
light of the flickering torch he saw a long procession of women, their necks
connected by a length of rope, being marched down the dripping corridor of
the dungeon. Dispirited and
frightened, they cowered before the guards that escorted
them. Almornos saw that most
of them were dressed in the fashion of men, with padded garments as if they
had been wearing armour that had been stripped from their
bodies.
“Seems like a waste to me,” said
a second guard. “What say
we have some fun with one of them right
here? The wizard will never
know.”
There was a moment of silence and then a
reply. “Let’s put these
bitches away first. Then we’ll
have some fun with the leader – the stupid bitch who fancies herself
a warrior.”
Almornos watched fascinated and horrified
as the women were herded deeper into the dungeon – all except
one. The exception was a tall
blonde. There was something a
little different about her. Unlike
the others she did not bow her head in fearful submission, but stared each
of her captors in the eye. Despite
the bruises on her face and the ropes that bound her wrists she stood tall
and defiant, her beauty evident despite her disheveled
appearance.
A clanging of cells doors signaled the
imprisonment of the other women and a trampling of feet announced the return
of the other guards. There were
six of them in all and as they returned they surrounded their helpless
prisoner.
“So you think you’re a soldier?”
sneered the guard who had suggested the
rape. “you’re going
to find out what happens to women who try to act like
men.”
“I see no men here,” the tall blonde
replied. “Just cowards who
would not dare face me in battle.”
In answer the man who had spoken drove his
fist into her stomach. The blow
doubled her up and while she retched the men moved in and ripped what was
left of her clothing from her body.
Horrified, Almornos watched the brutal
rape. In spite of the overwhelming
odds and the cowardly blow to her mid-section, the blonde attempted to resist
her attackers, but it was a one-sided
contest. Four men held her, one
on each limb while the other two men violated
her. She screamed as the man
between her thighs entered her, twisting her body in a desperate attempt
to escape and then her screams were cut short as the remaining guard forced
his member into her mouth.
Horror engulfed Saphora as she was
raped. The pain and fear brought
back memories of her violation at the hands of the Sea Warrior who had taken
her virginity. Surrounded by
sweating, taunting men, and brutally fondled as she was ravaged, she continued
to struggle as hands clawed at her breasts and
thighs.
Almornos forgot his
pain. Consumed with rage he watched
helplessly through the bars of his cell, his anger filling his mind and
body. His fingers tightened on
the bars of the cell door and suddenly with a strength that was not his own
he ripped the door from its hinges.
The crash of splintering wood and shrieking iron caused the guards
to turn, alarm wiping the looks of lust from their
faces. Almornos was oblivious
to the splinters of wood that tore his
skin. Raising his hands he focused
his powers and sent a wave of energy into the six
men. Shrieks erupted from their
lips as their clothing burst into flame.
Saphora rolled away from the writhing bodies
of her former tormentors. Flames
leaped from their bodies with an intensity that evaporated the moisture that
coated the dungeon walls and singed Saphora’s
hair. Horrified, she crawled
up the tunnel and huddled against the
wall.
Almornos surveyed the wreckage that had once
been six men. Slowly he sank
to his knees, sick at what he had been forced to do and exhausted almost
to the point of oblivion. Closing
his eyes he slumped forward and lay like one
dead.
Saphora regarded the man who had saved
her. How had a wizard with such
powers been imprisoned in the first
place? She motioned to the women
she had freed from the crowded cell they had been forced
into.
“Come. We will take
him with us. We cannot leave
him here after what he did for us.”
Enara stepped
forward. The sixteen-year-old
that the Red Dragon had ridden leagues to save had matured into one of the
most able of the female warriors.
“Where will we go?”
She asked. “We are
deep in the dungeons and the way out is heavily
guarded. And then there is Noric
and his terrible women”
Saphora did not answer
immediately. Enara had a
point. They had descended level
after level when the guards had brought them into the dungeons and every
level had been guarded.
“We’ll just have to find a way,” she answered
finally. “There must be
some way out that the guards don’t know
about.”
“There is,” said a voice from out
of the blackness. “And I
know where it is.”
Brixta led the
She had almost been captured the day the castle
fell. Creeping through the secret
passage that led to the outside she had just missed the ambush that had taken
Queen Tersahi prisoner. Retreating
into the dungeons she had found a place that was dry and safe – or so
she had hoped. Then Saphora and
her followers had been marched into the very area where she was
hiding. She had been terrified,
supposing herself discovered, but had managed to remain hidden while the
young women were locked into a single overcrowded cell and Sophora was
raped. Horrified she had watched
the entire brutal ordeal helpless to do anything to help Sophora, but shamed
that she had made so little effort to help her
princess. Now she had emerged
from her hideaway and was leading her charges through the underground maze
that was the castle’s system of dungeons and subsurface
passages.
Learning that their princess and the former
queen were prisoners in the castle, Sophora had asked Brixta to show her
where they were being held. It
was a mission fraught with danger, but one that Brixta was well suited to
carry out. As a servant she knew
of the warren of passages used by the castle servants as they went about
the business of serving their lords and
ladies. Even with the frequent
change of ownership the castle had experienced there was still a need for
the subculture that operated the castle. It was this intimate knowledge of
the hidden corridors that had enabled Brixta to stay alive during her long
months of hiding, even if she had not dared to venture beyond them in order
to help her mistress. She intended
to do that now, but first the poorly armed band of women needed the weapons
to face the enemy.
Saphora cradled one of the pikes taken from
the guards who had raped her.
Between them her twenty-three companions had only five
weapons. It was not much to stage
a rescue and that is why she had requested that Brixta first lead her to
the armoury. Brixta led them
through what Saphora supposed was a ground level
corridor. Light shone through
high bared windows and she found herself hoping that they were not discovered
in such tight surrounding. There
would be little chance of escape if Noric’s soldiers found them, but
she put her trust in Brixta and followed.
The situation was desperate and desperate times called for desperate
gambles.
“There,” Brixta said, pointing toward
a stone building that was tight against the castle
wall. She had opened the door
at the end of the corridor just wide enough that Saphora could see into the
courtyard.
A single guard stood in front of the
door. A quick rush would overpower
him before he had a chance to escape, but not before he had a chance to give
the alarm. Saphora turned to
Brixta. “I need your
help. It may be dangerous, but
it is better that you do it than one of
us.”
Brixta
nodded. “I have hidden too
long, my lady. Just tell me how
I may help.”
Rolf yawned and looked at the
sun. Surely his shift must be
over by now. Probably that bastard,
Hanno was late. He thought about
going in search of him, but he didn’t
dare. Noric was an unforgiving
master. If he caught him away
from his post…
A movement to his left caught his
eye. He partially lowered his
halberd as an elderly, raggedly dressed woman limped toward the gate
tower. “You,” he called
out. “Where are you
going?”
The crone ignored him, looking neither left
not right. It was almost as if
she did not know he existed. “Old woman,” he called
again. “Stop when I tell
you.”
The woman shuffled past him, her head bent
and her eyes fastened on the ground.
Stepping forward he reached out and seized the ragged shawl that covered
her shoulders. “Are you
deaf? I ordered you to
stop.”
The crone turned and looked into his
eyes. It was the last face he
ever saw.
Saphora wiped her bloody halberd on the cloak
of the guard she had cut down.
Motioning her companions forward she moved to the door of the
armoury. Brixta’s distraction
had worked perfectly. In a few
minutes, if all went well, she and her companions would be as well equipped
as any soldier in the castle. Then
they could go after the princess and her mother.
Queen Tersahi started at the sound in the
corridor. Had Noric sent for
her at last? She had hoped that
the departure of Zirhan Khan would bring some sort of relief from the sexual
subservience she had been forced to endure, but the word from her servants
was that Noric was to be even more feared that the Sea Warrior
chieftain. Had she dared she
would have killed herself, but Zirhan Khan had promised that her daughter
would be given to the castle guards for their amusement if she
did. She expected Noric would
do the same and so had remained alive, jumping at every strange noise outside
her door.
Suddenly there was an explosion of sound from
the corridor. Shouts and screams
filled the air accompanied by the sound of metal clashing on metal and then
the door to her room burst open.
A tall blonde woman, fully armoured swept
in, her bloody halberd held at the ready.
When she spotted Tersahi she went to her
knees. “My queen,”
she muttered, bowing her head. A
heartbeat later several other heavily armed young women swarmed into the
room. Seeing her they immediately
emulated the first woman, dropping to their knees.
Tersahi recovered quickly from her
shock. “Get up,” she
ordered. “Who are
you? Is the castle
taken?” The last question
she realized seemed ridiculous.
Surely she would have heard the clash of arms long before if the castle
had been assaulted. At that moment
a bedraggled but familiar figure entered the room.
“Brixta!
I thought you dead!”
“My queen,” Brixta said, not following
the standard procedure and going to her
knees. “There is no time
to explain. You have been
rescued. Come quickly before
Noric’s soldiers arrive.”
Tersahi shook her
head. I cannot
go. Not without my
daughter. I will not leave her
at the mercy of Noric or his hirelings.”
Brixta looked at Saphora, her eyes pleading.
“We must help the princess,” she said agreeing with the
queen.
Saphora bit her
lip. At any instant she expected
to hear the sound of Noric’s soldiers rushing toward her badly outnumbered
band, but she could not just leave the queen to the mercy of the
wizard. “Where is
she?”
“Noric placed her in the tower,”
Tersahi answered.
Even Saphora in her distant fishing village
had heard of the tower. It was
reserved for prisoners of special
importance. Unlike the dungeons
it offered a view of the surrounding city and
countryside. It was also the
highest point in the castle and therefore the most difficult to
reach. Saphora licked her
lips. “We will try,”
she said. Turning to Brixta she
nodded her appreciation.
“Thank you. You have
done your part. Find somewhere
safe to hide and hope that we succeed.”
Brixta
nodded. “Good luck,”
she said. They were going to
need it.
“What is happening?” Noric
snarled. He had heard the screams
and shouts echoing through the castle corridors and was most
displeased. He had firm orders
never to be interrupted when he was in the chamber and was most disturbed
that they had been ignored. The
man who stood before him knew that and stood with head
bowed.
“Captain Lanos,” Noric said, recognizing
the captain of his small garrison. “Has the attack
begun?”
“No lord,” the captain
said. “The female prisoners
we captured yesterday have escaped.
Somehow they obtained weapons and rescued the
queen. They are now at the tower
attempting to rescue the princess.”
“You interrupt me to bring me such
news?” Noric fumed. “Why
have you not simply killed them?”
“My lord,” stammered Lanos, “the
priest you imprisoned is with them.
He uses his magic to aid them.”
Noric
sighed. He would have to deal
with this personally. He turned
to his disciples.
“Come,” he ordered.
“Let us see what this is about.”
.
Saphora held her pike at the
ready. On one side stood Brother
Almornos, the priest of the Goddess of
Death. On the other side stood
Queen Tersahi, incongruous in her long
dress. In her right hand the
queen held a sword she had picked up in the bloody corridor outside her
quarters. She had already shown
that she knew how to use it, as was witnessed by the blood that splattered
her face and shoulders. She had
taken off the sword arm of the Sea Warrior who had attempted to bar her way
to her daughter. Now she and
Saphora stood before the barred door of the tower and wondered why there
had been so few Sea Warriors to stop
them.
“It’s too easy,” muttered Saphora
uneasily. “Where is the
rest of the garrison?”
Tersahi shook her
head. She had been thinking the
same thing. Behind them two of
Saphora’s warriors worked at the lock on the door with the blades of
their halberds. The way to the
tower had been only lightly guarded.
It seemed impossible that Noric’s men did not know what was going
on and yet the desperate gamble she and Saphora had taken seemed about to
pay off. In just a few seconds
her daughter would be freed and then with Brixta’s help they could make
her escape.
The lock broke free with a
clang. The door swung open and
Princess Vanora stepped free.
“Mother!” she gasped as she beheld
Tersahi. She ran forward, her
arms spread wide to engulf her mother.
“Touching scene,” a sneering voice
announced. Vanora
whirled. In the courtyard below
the tower stood a tall, dark-robed man.
“Noric!” Tersahi
gasped. She raised her sword
as if she feared immediate attack.
“It was so good of you to bring this
fine collection of potential initiates to my attention,” the wizard
replied. He waved his hand and
behind him six raven-haired women stepped into
view. “Will you throw down
your weapons and come quietly or do you need another demonstration of my
power?”
Almornos moved
forward. “Stand back,”
he warned. “I protect these
women.”
“You are becoming troublesome, priest,”
Noric replied. “I should
have had you killed for your treachery.”
Almornos
laughed. “You wrote the
book on treachery, wizard. I
do not fear you. Your power cannot
harm me.”
“It is not my power you should fear,”
Noric sneered. He gestured and
more than a dozen Sea Warrior bowmen stepped
forward. “Surrender now,”
Noric commanded and I may still let you
live. Resist and you, the queen,
and the princess will die.”
Almornos cast a despairing look toward the
queen. She gripped her sword
more tightly. “Then let
us die,” she said to Vanora.
Her daughter nodded, picking up a heavy metal torch bracket from its
place beside the door of the tower.
“No,” said
Almornos. “I will not allow
it.” He stepped forward
moving down the tower steps toward Noric, his arms spread
wide. “I will surrender
if you promise not to harm any of the
women.”
Suddenly Almornos froze, beads of sweat forming
on his brow. From behind Noric
stepped the Black Dragon. She
licked her lips lasciviously.
“Surrender to me, priest and I will let you take me as you did
before.”
Almornos stepped back, visibly
shaken. “I cannot,”
he gasped. “Not unless you
promise not to harm the queen or any of her
companions.”
“What is the matter, priest?” the
Black Dragon asked, stepping closer.
“Did you not enjoy slipping between my
thighs? Your grunts of pleasure
certainly gave me that impression.”
She was now only an arm’s length away
from Almornos. “I offer
myself to you, priest. Would
you use your powers against me?”
Almornos sank to his
knees. “I cannot,”
he moaned.
“Take them,” Noric
thundered.
Noric’s followers moved
in. Several of the women resisted,
but without Almornos to shield them, his other female disciples quickly disarmed
them. Tersahi and Vanora offered
one last desperate act of defiance, attempting to reach the battlements in
order to throw themselves off, but a gesture from the Black Dragon froze
them in their tracks. Weeping
with terror the female warriors were rounded up and led away to the dungeons
once again. All except for three
of them. Noric had other plans
for them.
Saphora stifled a sob as she was chained to
the wall of the chamber. She
could not let anyone see her fear.
Beside her Princess Vanora trembled, her lower lip quivering as she
too fought to hold back her fear.
Queen Tersahi was next to her daughter, her arms already chained over
her head. Like every other woman
she had been stripped of her clothing and her high, full breasts quivered
as she struggled with her chains.
Next to them Brother Almornos, his body similarly bereft of clothes
hung limply in his chains, seemingly overcome by the horror of the ordeal
and his failure to prevent it.
There were three other young women in the
chamber and despite her almost abject terror, Sophora’s eyes were drawn
toward them. They were arched
brutally across a heavy horizontal beam, their wrists chained to their ankles
so that their bodies were open to whatever Noric and his gruesome cast of
females might want to do to them.
They were unlike any women Sophora had ever
seen. The hair of two of the
girls shone like spun silver and the overstretched body of the third gleamed
golden in the light of the torches.
But it was Noric who now caught her
attention. She knew little about
the wizard, but he dominated the chamber, his eyes gleaming with some inner
fire as he surveyed his prizes. His
eyes fell on her and Saphora had to bite back a cry of pure
terror. She had never seen a
look like that, not even on the brutish faces of the men who had raped
her. What foul plan did the evil
sorcerer have for her and the others?
Noric surveyed his terrified
captives. So many brave young
women. He had not planned to
convert the princess and her mother, but things had
changed. Rohvan and Zirhan Khan
were building siege equipment and the magic users they had gathered to their
cause would negate any advantage his disciples gave
him. In a day or so they would
move against him. It was time
to begin the ritual.
The Black Dragon moved sinuously around the
fire, her naked body dripping sweat.
Serpent-like the five other ghoulish females moved beside her, twisting
their bodies in a ghoulish parody of dance, the light of the flames highlighting
their gleaming white bodies and reflecting off the body ornaments that pierced
their breasts and nether regions.
As they danced their voices were raised in a dirge-like chant that
they repeated endlessly. The
rhythm of the funereal tune beat into the brains of the five helpless women
arousing even Brother Almornos from his
stupor. The monk watched, his
eyes wide with horror at what he saw, but helpless to stop any of it.
The heat was intense, so great that the sweat
evaporated from the bodies of the captured women almost
immediately. Only Noric and his
six demonic disciples seemed unaffected by
it. Now, however, the evil wizard
proceeded with another part of the bizarre
ritual. From the flames he took
a long needle, its point heated cherry
red. He went first to
Vanora. She bit back a scream
as he made the first piercing, but like all women he had decorated she shrieked
like a banshee as he completed the last, her clitoris exploding with pain
as the last item of gold jewellery was forced into the tiny
bud.
The wizard went to Tersahi next and then Saphora,
and finally to other captives bent over the heavy wooden
beam. He spared only one, the
younger silver-haired girl. Even
in her agony Saphora wondered about this, but no answers came to her and
then Noric’s disciples began to attach the
chains.
Saphora whimpered in fear and pain as she
was adorned with chain after chain.
She was weighted down with enough precious metal to feed everyone
in her village for more than a year.
But far beyond the immediate terror was the knowledge that the ritual
Noric was forcing on his captives must be leading to something far more
horrible.
Her grim prediction came true as Noric joined
his chanting disciples, standing before the fire and beginning a guttural
chant in a language she had never heard.
The flames leaped high, the fire reaching an intensity that she knew
was impossible and then her heart stopped as something huge and unbelievably
frightening materialized within the
flames. “A demon,”
Saphora thought. “Noric
has summoned a demon to destroy
us.” But it turned out to
be far worse than that.
The Black Dragon stopped her chant as the
fire elemental appeared. The
heat coming off the monster was so intense that it singed her hair, but she
ignored it, baring her teeth in anticipation of the scene to
come. Her breathing quickened
as she remembered what it had been like when the fire elemental had purified
her. The pain and fear had been
exquisite. The mere thought of
it sent an erotic shudder through her
loins. And after the elemental
would come the mating, when Noric made the purified females one of his willing
slaves. She played her tongue
over her teeth and smiled wickedly.
Almornos hung
helplessly. His arms were chained
over his head and try at he might he could not break the
shackles. It should have
been an easy matter for one of his magical skills, but Nordic must have placed
some sort of spell on the manacles, a spell he could not
break. He could only watch in
horror as Noric and his dark disciples continued with their demonic
ritual. His eyes went constantly
to the Black Dragon, devouring her gyrating
body. Her malevolent beauty drew
him like a hummingbird to nectar.
Only with the greatest of effort was he able to tear his eyes away
from her and note the other horrors that were taking
place.
Other than Noric and his followers, he was
probably the only one in the room who understood what the beast was that
emerged from the fire. It was
neither demon nor spirit, but a creature formed of the most destructive of
magical properties, a fire elemental; bound to do the bidding of the one
who had summoned it. His eyes
widened as it approached the young blonde woman he had rescued in the
dungeons. This time he knew,
he could not save her.
Saphora’s scream of agony almost tore
out her vocal cords. Engulfed
by the fire elemental she suffered the ultimate in pain and
horror. An agony so intense it
should have killed her flowed through her body, but she was engulfed by magic
- magic that would not let her die, but did allow her to experience the most
hideous pain. Fire consumed her,
burning into her innermost recesses.
The end, when it came, left her hanging limply from the
chains. She was barely conscious,
but the horror was not about to end so
quietly. The fire elemental was
just beginning its horrific business.
Noric smiled in
satisfaction. One female had
been purified; now it was the turn of the
next. His smile widened as Queen
Tersahi’s ear-splitting scream tore apart the
air. Beside him the Black Dragon
grinned like some great cat, her needle teeth glittering in the light of
the fire. She was
unique. Never again would he
be so lucky as to recruit a disciple such as her, but several of the women
in the room had promise. Just
how much promise he would begin to discover as soon as the elemental finished
its work.
Vayasha strained to escape her
chains. Terror gave her renewed
strength. In the centre of the
room the fire that had raged was now burning down, but the heat of the fire
demon filled the stone chamber, turning it into a giant
oven. It was, however, the horror
of what the fiery monster was doing to the other women in the room that had
her on the verge of illness. Her
strength, however, was almost gone.
She had been chained in the painful position for hours, her body bent
cruelly backward over the beam.
Exhausted both physically and emotionally, she could do little more
than struggle weakly against the iron links that held
her.
“Fight little one,” a voice
hissed.
“Fight. It will be
so much more pleasurable when I take
you.” Vayasha gasped in
fear and turned her head in the direction of the
voice. She knew who it was even
before she gazed into Noric’s eyes.
“Do not worry,” the demon wizard said, “I will free
you when the time comes. But
first your companions must be
purified.”
Vayasha tried to control her trembling as
Noric, ignoring the shrieks of the women being violated by the fire elemental,
began to stroke her body.
A short distance away the Black Dragon watched
Noric. A strange light flickered
briefly in her dead eyes. A memory
came to her, a memory buried so deep in her mind that she had forgotten such
a place existed. With a slow
shake of her head she forced the memory back
down. The memory was from a past
that she was no longer part of. Her
gaze went back to the spectacle of the fire elemental as it ravished
Saphora. Soon it would be the
turn of the older silver-haired girl.
And then the golden-skinned
beauty. She could hardly wait
to hear them scream.
The horror seemed never
ending. The burning beast ravaged
woman after woman leaving them limp, but strangely seemingly
unharmed. It was hard to believe
considering the terrible screams that had come from each of their
lips. But now the fire demon
was gone. It had disappeared
as soon as it had finished its brutal
task. Only Vayasha had been left
untouched; a fact that mystified her, but which became all too clear a few
moments later.
“Release her,” Noric
commanded. “I promised her
that when the time came she would face me
unchained.”
As Noric’s disciples rushed to do his
bidding, Vayasha swayed unsteadily on legs that would not longer support
her. Her lithe body was covered
with gleaming beads of sweat and her breath came in ragged
gasps. She saw the demon’s
eyes sweep across her. Her gut
clenched in terror as she thought of what might happen to
her. Her eyes went to the ghoulish
figure walking beside him. Surely
that was
Sha
Zhu. Even the cruel twist
of her lips and her changed colouring could not hide that noble
bearing. Her eyes, however, were
an entirely different matter.
Obsidian orbs gleamed from a chalk white face whose only emotions
were those of hate or contempt.
As Vayasha’s stared at what had once
been her friend and mentor, her heart
sank. How could anything that
looked like that retain even a trace of what it had once been? The noblest
women she had ever met had been turned into a soulless
monster. She could expect no
help from such a creature.
But she had to try.
“Sha
Zhu,” she
gasped.
“Sha
Zhu, don’t you remember us?
We were your friends, your
companions. You saved our
lives.”
The woman she spoke to turned to face her.
Her eyes flickered strangely,
but there was no hint of recognition.
Instead she smiled and turned to
Noric. “This is the one
lord. The only one virtuous enough
to serve you.”
Vayasha swallowed, her intestines seeming
to knot within her. The look
Noric gave her turned her blood to water.
She looked desperately at the pale-skinned woman who stood beside
him.
“Sha Zhu,”
she
gasped. “Please help
us.”
The white-skinned woman curled her
lip. “Take her,
lord. Make her one of
us.”
Noric
smiled. His hand went to the
fastenings of his robe. As it
fell away from him he moved toward.
“Now silver-hair; you will be
mine.” His body began to
change.
Vayasha’s eyes went wide with horror,
suddenly understanding why Noric was called the demon
wizard. He was not human, but
some monster from beyond the natural
realm. She understood also what
had happened to
Sha
Zhu and what was about to happen to
her. She screamed and tried to
flee as Noric reached for her.
The demon wizard was too
fast. In one great bound he crossed
the room, cutting off her escape and then he caught her wrists and forced
her against the heavy beam that she had been chained
across. He was now immense, his
body contorting into something from a nightmare – a great winged and
fanged beast the size of four men.
Vayasha screamed again as his clawed hands gripped her thighs, spreading
her easily. He bent forward and
took one of her tender nipples into his
mouth. Then releasing her swollen
bud, he probed the soft lips of her virginal love
canal. Her eyes wide with terror,
Vayasha almost fainted. The glans
of the demon’s phallus was as large as a ripe apple and the huge organ
was lined with hook-like barbs.
Struggling desperately she tried to twist her body away, but the demon
simple leaned into her, and pinning her writhing body against the heavy beam,
he forced his way into her.
The girl’s scream of agony was pure music
to the demon’s ears. He
would savour this one, drawing out her torment for as long as possible before
shooting his seed into her womb.
Slowly he penetrated her, while at the same time using his clawed
fingers to torment her soft,
firm breasts. She screamed again,
a long wail of anguish and despair, her body heaving in a vain attempt to
escape. The demon gloried in
her struggles, feeling the power in her body and delighting in the fact that
she would soon be his.
The Black Dragon smiled as her demon lord
penetrated the silver-haired girl, exulting in her shrieks of pain and
horror. Soon she would have another
sister. Another demonic
companion. Somehow that thought
was strangely disturbing. Again
the distant memory surfaced. She
had known the girl from somewhere before.
The thought bubbled through her mind, pushing and straining to force
its way to the forefront of her consciousness.
“No,” she
thought.
“No!” she could
not be having these thoughts. Noric
was her master now. She was the
Black Dragon, mistress of evil.
With grim determination she forced the thoughts into the back of her
brain, forcing them behind the locked doors of her
mind. Then the girl screamed
again, a shrill cry of hopeless despair.
Almornos forced himself to watch the hideous
ordeal. Never had he seen such
brutality and horror, but he had also seen something
else. He had caught the look
that had flickered across the Black Dragon’s
face. Now he fully understood
what had happened. Slowly he
focused his powers. He would
have just this one chance. The
healing power rose within him. He
let it build and then released enveloping the Black Dragon in a sheet of
blue fire.
The magical energy broke through the barriers
the Black Dragon had erected, flooding her mind with a sea of thoughts and
images. With a cry she fell to
her knees, her body suddenly convulsing with the horrific realization of
what she had become.
“Nnnnnooohhh!
NOOOOOOOHH!!”
The Black Dragon’s
wail drew the attention of everyone in the room, everyone except
Noric. The demon wizard was too
obsessed with his conquest.
Thus it was that he did not see his demon
queen gripped by convulsions as the Black Dragon tattoo that swept from her
lower back to the center of her chest flamed crimson, and then seemed to
expand flowing over every inch of her
body. Gripped by a power beyond
her control, the Black Dragon’s persona was blasted into nonexistence
replaced by that of the women she had once been.
With a roar that shook Noric from his violation
of the silver-haired warrior, Melissa’s body metamorphosed, her arms
and legs elongating; her back rippling as it sprouted great wings; and her
mane of red hair absorbed into her skull to be replaced by gleaming
scales. The Red Dragon had
returned!
The demon lord turned, his baleful yellow
eyes flickering with hatred as they focused on the great red beast that now
dominated the chamber. The dragon
was huge, its horned head rising three times the height of a man above the
floor. It measured at least twenty
body lengths from its fanged mouth to its whip-like tail.
With a hiss like steam escaping from the vent
of a volcano the dragon turned its jade green eyes on the demon
wizard. Noric stepped
back. Still in demon form, his
still swollen phallus dripped Vayasha’s virgin
blood. Rage twisted his lips
into a hideous snarl. “You
are mine,” he screamed at the dragon
“Mine to command. Obey
me or be destroyed.”
“Vehan Noric,” the dragon replied,
“you command me no longer. You
have committed evil beyond measure and now it is you who will be
destroyed.” Although amplified,
the dragon’s voice was unmistakably that of the Red
Dragon.
The demon raised its
hands. “Die then,”
it screamed. From its fingers
a stream of blue fire enveloped the dragon, the intense heat causing the
already charred roof beams to burst into flame.
“Fool,” the dragon
replied. “Know you not that
a dragon is immune to fire?”
“As am I,” the Demon
replied. “I shall just have
to find other way to destroy you.”
Rising on his great wings, the demon seized a pike from a weapons
rack and with incredible force hurled it toward the dragon's
breast.
What effect the long spear would have had
on the dragon the demon never discovered.
Almost disdainfully the dragon picked the pike out of the air with
its taloned hand and tossed it aside.
“Demon,” the dragon,
hissed. “You have murdered,
desecrated, raped, and destroyed.
It is now time for you to be returned to your demon
hell.”
With a movement almost too fast to be followed
the great clawed hands flashed out.
The demon shrieked as talons the length of scythe blades pierced his
body and swept him off his feet and lifted him from the
floor. Struggling as helplessly
as an insect seized by a praying mantis the hideous demon screamed his rage
and pain. And then the
dragon’s great mouth yawned
wide, displaying row upon row of razor edged
fangs. With a snap of the massive
jaws the teeth came together, the screeching demon wizard between them and
then with a gulp he was gone.
The entire confrontation had lasted barely
sixty heartbeats. During that
time all others in the room had watched as if frozen, seemingly afraid to
move for fear of catching either the demon or the dragon’s
attention. Now Noric’s terrible
disciples did move, but it was not to
attack. They fell upon the stone
floor of the chamber, their bodies writhing as if in the most terrible pain,
and then suddenly they were still.
The dragon moved to
Vayasha. Lowering its gigantic
head it breathed upon her. “I
restore you, Vayasha, I restore you to what you were before.”
Vayasha felt as if a euphoric wave moved through
her. The terrible agony that
Noric had inflicted upon her disappeared to be replaced by a feeling of complete
well-being and tranquility. As
she slowly got to her feet the dragon moved to her companions, repeating
the words it had spoken and breathing on Shasara and Che
Sha.
The chains fell away from the two captive
women and Vayasha moved to catch them before they fell, but to her delighted
relief both women stood without aid.
They appeared somewhat disoriented, but physically
rejuvenated. Then the dragon
moved to the last three captives in the room and repeated the actions it
had performed on the fist three.
Finally, the dragon moved to the still bodies
of Noric’s five disciples.
“Are you going to destroy them?” Vayasha
asked. Horrible as the five women
had been, she felt that it was the demon’s
fault.
“No need,” the dragon
replied. She turned her gigantic
head toward Vanora. “My
lady, what are their names?”
“I… I…
She…” Vanora could
only stammer. Not surprisingly she had never been in the presence of a dragon
before.
“I know them,” Queen Tersahi
interrupted. Quickly she named
each of the sleeping disciples and the Red Dragon repeated her
ritual.
Each of the young women awoke and as they
did the dragon explained.
“Each of you will retain a full memory of what happened to you,
but will preserve none of the harmful effects of your
ordeal. You are whole once again,
body and soul, but I cannot remove the memories without taking everything
that is there. You will remember,
but retain no harmful emotions of your ordeal.”
Vayasha searched her memory and found that
what the Red Dragon had said was true.
All of the events of the last few months were indelibly imprinted
on her mind, but she viewed them dispassionately, almost as if they had happened
to someone else. She could see
from the expressions on the faces of the other women that they were experiencing
the same thing.
“Now,” the dragon
continued. “I have one or
two other things to take care of.
If you will please excuse me…”
“Wait!” Vanora
cried. She
blushed. She had never thought
of the consequences of speaking in such a manner to a
dragon.
“Yes?” the dragon asked, turning
its cartwheel-sized eyes on the princess.
“Take me with
you. I would like to be there
when you confront Zirhan Khan.”
“I too would like to be there,”
Tersahi said. Her eyes were like
flint.
The other women stepped forward as did Brother
Almornos. “All of you?”
the dragon asked. It will be
a bit of a rough ride.”
No one stepped back and the dragon gave the
equivalent of a nod. “Stand
back then. I need a bit of room
to work.” We will deal with
the garrison first. Then I think
you might want to get some
clothing.” The dragon
turned. Even in a room as large
as the chamber, she had very little space to move
about. She faced the main door
and carefully so as not to bring the roof down pushed her massive head through
the wall. Almornos and the women
stepped back as the great timbers of the roof and wall, mixed with stone
crashed down in a great cloud of dust.
Ranek Lanos waited nervously in the courtyard
outside the chamber. His orders
to never enter the chamber had strained him to the limit, but he wanted no
further confrontations with Noric.
However, it was with trepidation that he and a number of his Sea Warrior
garrison assembled outside the building.
The screams that had issued from the building had been horrendous;
beyond anything he had ever heard before even in the most brutal sacking
of a seaside town. And then there
had been the flames. Noric had
said nothing about them. He was
sure something had gone wrong when great gouts of smoke had billowed out
of its upper windows, but when he had approached he could hear the rhythmic
chanting Noric’s dark disciples.
But now the chanting and screams had been replaced by complete
silence. It was almost worse
than the hideous cacophony that he had heard
before. But Noric’s orders
still held and so he waited for his lord to appear and wondered what the
cruel wizard had done to the female captives he had taken into the
chamber.
He snapped back to attention as something
began to happen to the building.
The roof and wall began to
collapse. That was not surprising,
considering the heat that had emanated from the building, but what emerged
from the aperture created had him almost wetting
himself. He staggered back, drawing
his sword, but knowing just how useless it was in the face of so large a
creature. Behind him his men
shouted in alarm. Several of
them did not wait but broke and ran
immediately.
Others, however, did not,
drawing their swords and readying their
bows.
Lanos waited
uncertainly. Was this another
manifestation of Noric’s powers or something entirely
different? He stepped back as
the side of the chamber completely fell away and the dragon was revealed
in its entirety. He
paled. The beast was
enormous. How was he supposed
to stand up to that? Gathering
his courage he opened his mouth.
“Noric?” he croaked.
“Your master is dead,” the dragon
hissed. “As you soon will
be if you do not do exactly as I say.”
Lanos
blanched. Just as surprising
as the fact that the dragon could speak was the fact that it spoke in a
woman’s voice; one that was strangely familiar.
An arrow sped past Lanos’
shoulder. It struck the dragon
just above its breastbone and bounced off as if it had hit an iron
wall. “So foolish,”
the dragon sighed. It raised
its head and a jet of flame leaped from its
mouth. The heat was so intense
that Lanos’ cloak smoldered as the jet passed above
him. Behind him there was a single
high-pitched shriek and then screams of fear as the rest of the Sea Warriors
took to their heels.
Lanos remained where he
was. He knew it would do no good
to run, and in any case, he could not make his legs move.
The dragon turned its eyes toward
him. They glittered like the
most brilliant of emeralds.
“Now listen to me.”
You will take what is left of your garrison and return to your
ships. Any treasure you have
stolen will be left behind and any prisoners you hold will be
released. You will sail back
to the Black Isles and for the rest of your life you and your shipmates will
make sure that no one threatens the
Lanos nodded his head
frantically. He now recognized
the voice as that of the Black Dragon, the most feared of Noric’s
disciples. He had no idea what
had become of Noric, but looking at the mighty beast before him, he could
well guess. However, there was
just one problem with what the dragon had ordered him to
do. “My lady,” he quavered,
wondering all the while if “my lady” was an appropriate way to
address a dragon. “I can’t
do as you say. “The rest
of the Sea Warriors are not mine to
command. Zirhan Khan still leads
them.”
The dragon twisted its lips in what may or
may not have been a dragon smile.
“I think I can persuade the rest of your countrymen to change
their allegiance. “Go now
and do as I say.”
Lanos did not need a second
order. He didn’t even bother
to change his underwear. He was
halfway to the now open castle gate even as the dragon rose behind
him.
Rohvan stood beside Zirhan Khan; like him
the Sea Warrior chieftain’s eyes were wide with
surprise. The hill on which they
stood gave them an excellent view of their own camps and the city of
Rohvan shook his
head. A disorganized stream of
men was pouring out of the gates of the
city. If it was a sortie to attack
the siege engines his men had rolled close to the walls it was most poorly
organized. Already his men were
moving to hem in the attackers.
“They are handing us the city,” he
observed. “Noric will have
no men left to defend it.”
“By the gods, what is
that!” Rohvan’s blood
ran cold as the huge crimson shape rose from the castle
battlements.
Zirhan Khan’s eyes followed
Rohvan’s. “A dragon,”
he gasped. “I did not think
such things existed. This is
Noric’s doing.”
“Sound the alarm,” Rohvan shouted
to one of his lieutenants.
He needn’t have
bothered. Almost very man in
the camp was gazing at the gigantic shape of the dragon as it swooped lazily
over the camp. “Sea
Warriors,” the dragon called.
Its voice was surprisingly feminine and the sound of it made Rohvan
pale. “Zirhan Khan has misled
you. Leave Sandor now or face
death.”
“That bastard, Noric,” Zirhan Khan
growled. Running to the very
top of the hill he cupped his hands.
“Destroy the dragon!” he screamed.
Arrows rose into the air, but most of them
fell short as did a few balls of fire thrown by the
magicians. The few arrows that
made it the dragon caught contemptuously and tossed back to the
ground. The fireballs it simply
ignored. “You have been
warned,” the dragon roared.
Gaining altitude it suddenly turned and swooped toward the Sea Warrior
camp. A sheet of fire swept the
ground as it soared over the neat rows of
tents. Within seconds the entire
camp was in flames.
The remaining Sea Warriors did not need a
second demonstration. Abandoning
their camp they headed toward the beach shouting, “To the
ships. To the
ships.”
Zirhan Khan stood
aghast. Within seconds his entire
army had been turned into a mob of madly fleeing
men. He looked at Rohvan helplessly
at the same time noting that the dragon had avoided attacking Rohvan’s
army. “This is your
doing,” he said, drawing his sword.
“You are in league with
Noric.”
Rohvan looked at Khan
calmly. Or at least as calmly
as he could with a dragon flying
overhead. “Don’t be
a fool. Why would I destroy the
army of my ally?”
“So that you can have it
all. You plotted with Noric from
the start.”
As if to prove Khan right, the dragon broke
off its attack and climbing rapidly flew back to the walls of the city,
disappearing behind the ramparts.
“You will die for your treachery,” Khan
raged. “I may be killed,
but you will not live to enjoy your
victory.” He lunged toward
Rohvan.
Although on the defensive, Rohvan was not
unprepared. It did not pay to
become too relaxed when around Zirhan
Khan. He stepped back, his own
blade easily deflecting that of the enraged Sea
Warrior. At that point the duel
was interrupted by a commotion as several of Rohvan’s men came up the
hill. They were escorting a very
frightened looking Sea Warrior.
Khan lowered his
blade.
“Lanos. You betrayed
me for Noric.”
Lanos shook with fear as he stood before his
former leader. “My lord,”
he quavered. “I had no
choice. But now Noric is gone,
killed by the dragon. You must
flee or be destroyed also.”
“You lie,” Khan raged, raising his
blade as if to strike of the head of the man who had betrayed
him. But his action was interrupted
by a shout from one of Rohvan’s men.
“The dragon
returns!”
All attention switched to the city walls where
the dragon rose magnificently. All
attention except for that of Lanos.
As the others stared at the huge beast he slipped away from his guards,
his feet carrying him rapidly toward the beach.
Zirhan Khan’s eyes
narrowed. “The beast carries
something,” he exclaimed.
“Someone rides between its shoulders.”
Rohvan could see that the Sea Warrior
leader’s observation was correct, but it was not just
someone. Several riders could
be clearly seen clinging to the back of the huge
beast. As before the dragon gained
altitude and then swooping once more toward the ground it spread its wings,
slowing its descent before sinking to the ground in a small copse of
evergreens.
Rohvan and Khan looked at one
another. This was a surprising
development. Rohvan was still
trying to understand why the dragon had attacked only the camp of the Sea
Warriors, leaving his untouched.
Apprehensively they watched the grove of trees where the dragon had
disappeared. But what emerged
from those trees shocked both men more than the appearance of the
dragon.
“Princess Vanora, Queen Tersahi!”
Rohvan exclaimed. He stared stupidly
at the two women as they strolled calmly toward
him. To his even greater surprise
both the queen and her daughter were dressed in
armour.
“Do you not know your sovereign?”
Tersahi asked angrily. “Why
do you stand before us?”
Rohvan watched in consternation as the men
about him went to their knees before Vanora and her
mother. They were all loyal knights
of the realm and had joined him only because of his pretense at rescuing
the princess and the queen from their Sea Warrior
captors. Suddenly all of his
support had evaporated. Slowly
he emulated the other men sinking to his feet before the two
women.
Not so Zirhan
Khan. Like Rohvan all of his
support had vanished, but now he was surrounded by men who were his potential
enemies. Slowly, taking advantage
of the distraction created by the arrival of the princess and the queen he
began to sedge toward his horse.
“Hold,
murderer. You have to answer
for your crimes.”
The voice was that of Princess
Vanora. Even as Khan made a desperate
run for his horse, his retreat was cut
off. Men with drawn swords faced
him on all sides. “Do not
kill him,” Vanora cautioned.
“I want the pleasure of making him pay for his
crimes.”
Rohvan tried to make the best of
it. “Your highness,”
he said, “allow me to deal with him.”
Vanora looked at Rohvan with a look of mild
surprise on her face. “My
lord, I am well aware of your treason.
I would execute you myself, but I believe that there is someone that
has first claim on you.”
“Your majesty, I only sided with Khan
to help free you from Noric. I
never intended to betray you.”
Vanora
laughed. “My lord, I doubt
that I have ever been told so blatant a
lie. In any case it is not I
who will punish you. There is
someone else who wants that privilege.”
Rohvan opened his mouth to protest his innocence,
but the words caught in his throat as another woman stepped out of the
trees. “You,” he
gasped. “I thought you
…”
“Dead?” the Red Dragon
finished. “What you did
to me was worse than death.
However, I have come to settle the score.”
Rohvan slowly nodded his
head. Drawing his sword he prepared
to defend himself.
“I think, my lord,” the Red Dragon
said. “I think that blade
belongs to me.”
Rohvan hefted the
sword. It was the one he had
taken from her when he had betrayed her to
Noric. He had never held so fine
a weapon. “I think not,
my lady,” he replied.
“If you want the blade then take it from
me.”
“As you wish, my lord,” the Red
Dragon replied. To Rohvan’s
surprise she came right at him, but she was without a
weapon.
Rohvan hesitated for the briefest instant,
but that slight hesitation was his
undoing. The red-headed warrior
crossed the space between them in two quick strides, ducked beneath
Rohvan’s belated swing and drove her fingers into his
chest. Rohvan was aware of a
pain so intense that he could not even
scream. In indescribably agony
he stared unbelieving at his chest.
“No,” he croaked.
“No,” as he beheld the Red Dragon’s arm buried wrist-deep
within his chest. He swayed and
fell to his knees, the sword that had been forged by the Red Dragon’s
father falling from his nerveless
fingers. “How…?”
he gasped.
The Red Dragon’s eyes blazed, but her
face was emotionless. She stood
with her fingers around the heart of the man who had betrayed
her. “As you broke my heart,
my lord, so I break yours.”
She tensed her muscles.
Rohvan, his eyes bulging from his head, jerked
convulsively. Blood spurted from
his mouth and he toppled sideways onto the grass.
Zirhan Khan watched in
horror. What he had just seen
was impossible. The red-headed
warrior had just punched her fingers through Rohvan’s chain mail armour
and torn out his heart. What
sort of woman could do such a thing?
Even as he gaped in disbelief, a voice jerked him back to
reality.
“Now, you piece of excrement it is your
turn to pay for your crimes.”
Khan’s eyes went to the
princess. She had drawn her sword
and was advancing on him.
“You seek to punish me?” Khan asked
incredulously. A small smile
played about his lips. He was
doomed, but at least he would have the satisfaction of killing the royal
bitch who had given him so much trouble.
He raised his sword.
“It will be my pleasure,
princess. But I do not think
it is you who can punish me.”
“We shall see,” the princess replied
calmly. “Defend
yourself.”
“Hold daughter,” Queen Tersahi called
out. “I have the stronger
claim. I will avenge the horror
this vile dog brought upon me and my family.”
Vanora looked at her
mother. “You are the
heir. You should not endanger
your life for the sake of avenging yourself upon this
scum. It, therefore, falls to
me.”
Vanora lowered her
blade. She was seething with
the desire for vengeance, but her mother too had been dishonoured by Khan
and forced to be his whore.
Khan
grinned. This was getting better
. Before he died he would deprive
the bitch that had defied him of her
mother. Without warning he
attacked.
Tersahi deflected Khan’s blow with
ease. In spite of her warrior
heritage, in size, strength, and skill Khan should have overmatched her,
but something about her had changed.
She was no longer the same person she had been before the dragon breathed
its healing breath into her body.
Somehow the dragon had passed onto her knowledge of the military arts
that would have been attainable only through years of
training.
Khan stepped back, surprise and consternation
written all over his face. That
blow should have finished the queen, but she had handled it with ease and
her counterattack had nearly taken his head
off. He suddenly felt fear, not
fear of death, for he knew that was almost certain, but fear that he might
be beaten by a woman he had easily subjugated and forced to be his
whore.
“Bitch,” he exclaimed, “you
showed no such skills when I was between your
thighs.” He attacked again
and once again barely escaped the return
blow. The queen was quick, much
quicker than it was possible for a woman who had not held a sword in
years.
“What trickery is this?” he
asked. “Did you spread your
legs for Noric as well and steal some of his
magic?”
Tersahi did not
answer. She knew that Khan now
feared the humiliation of being defeated by a woman and was trying to lure
her into a premature attack through coarse
insults. She watched for her
opening, growing more confident of her ability the longer she held the
blade. A strange force seemed
to be flowing through her. She
had never felt like this before. It
was as if the knowledge of an expert swordsman had somehow been passed onto
her. The sword felt like part
of her body and as she became one with the steel she
attacked.
Zirhan Khan fought with desperation, but it
was not enough to save him from all the blows that the queen’s arm
delivered. In a few seconds he
was bleeding from a cut to the face and several rents had been made in his
armour. “Whore,” he
raged. “You use dark
magic. How many times did you
have to lie with Noric to earn such a
gift?” Tersahi smiled and
calmly ripped the tip of her blade across the
Saphora watched in
satisfaction. She would have
liked to share in the punishment of the Sea Warrior leader, but was content
to allow the queen to be the instrument of her
revenge. Like Tersahi and Vanora,
she had accompanied the Red Dragon when the magical beast had taken flight
from the castle. The other women
and Brother Almornos had remained behind, the dragon convincing them that
little purpose would be served by having to ferry all of her companions from
the castle. That ride on the
dragon’s back had been wildly exhilarating; an event that Saphora would
remember for the rest of her life and delight in telling to her
grandchildren. She had never
dreamed that a simple fisherman’s daughter would ever experience what
she had seen and done.
Almost as amazing as the dragon itself was
what had happened when the dragon had settled into the shelter of the
evergreens. As soon as its four
passengers had dismounted the dragon’s image had shifted and then before
anyone realized what was happening the dragon was gone, replaced by the nude
figure of the woman Saphora knew as the Red
Dragon. She seemed quite unaffected
by her lack of clothing, but now Saphora knew why the dragon had asked her
to bring an extra set of clothes with
her.
It took the Red Dragon only a few minutes
to dress and then they had set off for the spot where they knew Rohvan and
Zirhan Khan waited. Rohvan’s
death had been most sweet. He
had died as he deserved and now Saphora waited for the end of Zirhan Khan,
a grim smile playing about her lips as Queen Tersahi toyed with
him.
Bleeding from a dozen wounds Zirhan Khan’s
breath came in ragged gasps. His
attacks were more and more desperate as his smaller opponent dodged nimbly
away from his increasingly clumsy
assaults. His taunts had failed
to elicit a single error in his
adversary. With a slight smile
playing about her lips Queen Tersahi gave him a lesson in swordsmanship,
a lesson he knew would be his last.
Finally, in desperation, he seized
the hilt of sword with both hands and sought to break through the queen’s
defences by sheer brute strength.
The deadly blow caught only
air. Overbalanced and wide open
Zirhan Khan could not avoid Trash’s
lethal return. He screamed
as her blade disemboweled him.
Staggering back he attempted frantically to stuff his guts back into
the gaping wound in his abdomen.
His eyes pleaded for mercy as he went to his
knees. “No, please,”
he shrieked and then his voice was cut off as Tersahi’s blade took off
his head.
Epilogue
“Rise lady
Saphora.”
Saphora got to her feet, blushing and smiling
at her family and friends. She
was Countess Sahpora now, holder of a dozen towns and fifty
villages. And she held them as
a free woman. Even when she married
title would not pass to her husband but to her
children. It was the greatest
honour the crown could bestow and one she had never imagined even in her
wildest dreams.
Queen Vanora smiled at the newest member of
her nobility. There had been
quite a few changes in the peerage since the defeat of the Sea Warriors and
the capitulation of Rohvan’s forces.
Those who had sided with the Sea Warriors or had taken advantage of
the invasion and civil war to improve their power had been dispossessed of
their lands. That had given the
new queen the means to reward those who had remained loyal throughout the
turmoil. It also helped to have
a dragon to make things clear to any who wavered in their devotion to the
new queen.
Vanora had also thought to reward the woman
who called herself the Red Dragon, but that had created a bit of a
problem. What could she give
a dragon that it couldn’t take if it so
wished? Fortunately, the Red
Dragon had professed no interest in any reward as had her
companions. A more altruistic
bunch Vanora had never encountered even among the holy
orders.
The Red Dragon surveyed the scene before
her. Beside the new queen was
the old queen, their thrones equal in elevation symbolizing their joint rule
of Sandor. It was a unique
arrangement, but one the two rulers were determined to make
work. In front of them were the
five young women that had once been her fiendish companions.
Fully recovered they now served
in their former capacity as Vanora’s ladies in
waiting. One woman, just to the
side of the throne, caught her attention.
Their eyes met and Melissa winked.
Lady Brixta smiled. She
looked very comfortable in her fine new
clothing.
Melissa had agreed to stay on for a few months
to help stabilize Queen Vanora’s regime, something that she did not
mind doing, as she really had no place else to
go. She and her companions were
treated like members of the royal family and enjoyed absolute
freedom. And there was one other
reason why she lingered. Smiling
at that thought she excused herself and bowed her way out of the throne
room. Vanora and Tersahi were
joint rulers now. Let them handle
the tedium of court ceremony.
Her companions saw her go, but made no effort
to follow. They either knew or
guessed where she was going. It
was but a short distance to the apartments that had been set aside for
her. She opened the door and
stepped inside. He was waiting
as always and rose as she entered, going to his knees before
her. “My lady,” he
murmured.
“Get up, you fool,” she
laughed. “You know I don’t
hold with that nonsense.”
Almornos
smiled. He was no longer part
of the brotherhood, his resignation a decision that pleased both himself
and the former members of his order.
Now he was free do seek a new life and the one he had chosen was to
be as close as possible to the strange women who had captivated him in all
her forms. He pulled her to him,
his lips seeking hers and his arms encircling her narrow
waist. They held the kiss for
several heartbeats, the sensation of tongue on tongue
unbreakable.
Melissa led Almornos to the bed, not that
he was unfamiliar with its location, and allowed him to undress
her. She had never made love
with a man who was so patient and gentle, two qualities that made him very
different from her former lovers. A
low moan of pure pleasure escaped her lips as she guided him within
her. A magical sensation surged
through her as Almornos used his powers to enhance her
pleasure. Arching her back, she
cried out in ecstasy as he penetrated
her. In the back of her mind
she wondered if the door was thick enough to deaden the sounds of their passion
and then Almornos sucked on her nipples, filling her with sexual
enchantment. Lost in magical
passion she screamed in delight, ignoring the fact that her impassioned shrieks
echoed down the castle corridors.
Later she lay quietly with her lover, the
sweat cooling their overheated bodies.
Almornos kissed her left nipple while his arm cradled her
head. Melissa let out a satisfied
sigh.
Almornos smiled down at
her. “You know,” he
teased. “I think you are
even better as a woman than you were as a demon.”
“Really?” she replied, running her
hand over his chest.
“I have been wondering
about that. What was it that
attracted you to me when I was Noric’s pawn?”
“Your sparkling personality,” Almornos
laughed. Then his face became
serious. He seemed to be
thinking. Tell me,” he said
at last. “What happened
to Noric? I did not know that
demons could be destroyed.”
“They can’t,” Melissa replied,
“but their bodies can be. Once
their corporeal being is destroyed they cease to exist in the real
world.”
“Then what happens to
them?”
“I don’t know,” Melissa
replied. “I expect that
they go back to wherever they came
from.” She smiled and arched
her body into her lover. Almornos
forgot his next question as he cupped her breasts and moved to kiss
her. A few minutes later their
impassioned groans once again filled the room.
Noric bowed before his
lord. His trembling body was
loaded with chains and bore the marks of the numerous floggings he had
received. “Please mighty
lord,” He begged.
“Forgive me, it was not my fault.”
“I care not,” the demon king
returned. “You were given
great powers and you failed to use them
properly. Now you will please
me in another way.” He gestured
and a dozen imps leaped forward.
“He is yours,” the demon king
said. “Amuse yourself with
him. He who gives him the greatest
pain will rise in my esteem.”
The imps needed no second
bidding. Surging forward they
surround the terrified wizard, their whips cracking as they struck at whatever
part of his body they could reach.
Noric screamed and kept on
screaming.
The demon king leaned
back. Watching the demon wizard
as he shrieked in pain was highly
amusing. There was nothing like
a good old-fashioned flogging. And
if that became a little jaded he would think of some other way to torment
his failed subordinate; and another way after
that. After all, he had
eternity.
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