Dragon and Unicorn

Dragon quietly removed the bags they were carrying as a disguise and dropped them gently in the corner. "Now what do we do?" He whispered to Unicorn.

"I thought you had a plan."

"You there!" A harsh voice interrupted the couple. "You, dragon, what's in those sacks?" It was the Sorcerer and he was reaching for the staff.

"Er, ah...well you see, sir... Uh..." Dragon's mind had suddenly gone blank just when he needed a cover story the most. He turned to face the Sorcerer.

The Sorcerer raised his arms and spoke a few words in a harsh language that Dragon didn't understand. When nothing happened, he pointed the staff at Dragon.

"You're not one of my slaves. I'll have to fix that." He began chanting in the same language as before, but louder and harsher. Dragon felt a strange tingle as the magic tried to control him.

"Run." He whispered to Unicorn and let a blast of fire loose at the Sorcerer. The evil mage changed his chant and the fire split to swirl around him harmlessly.

Unicorn skidded across the polished wooden floor, trying to reach the door but finding her way blocked by the minions of the Sorcerer. She reared up, slashing out with her hooves but there were too many of them.

"Dragon!" She called out.

Dragon spun around towards Unicorn, using his tail as a lash to knock the Sorcerer sprawling, skidding to a stop under his own table. Another blast of dragon fire chased the servants away from Unicorn, most of them making an escape out the door. Unicorn changed her mind about escaping and slammed the thick oak door shut, dropping the substantial wooden bar in place to prevent the escaping servants from bringing in any help.

The Sorcerer recovered quickly and jumped out from under the table with a fierce expression on his face, made more terrible by the blood streaming from his damaged nose. He formed a ball of lightning in his hand and threw it at Dragon. It hit the scaly beast full on, paralyzing him for a moment and causing all of his nerves to ignite with pain. The Sorcerer hurled another ball of lightning at Dragon, then another in rapid succession. Unable to dodge them fully, they left trails of searing pain down his back and along his wings. His strength was draining rapidly.

Unicorn was unaware of her lover's dangerous situation. She had herded the remaining servants into a pantry off the main hall, poking a few with the sharp point of her horn. She was busy blocking that door as well when she heard Dragon calling to her. She turned to see him snared in a web of solidified red fire streaming from the Sorcerer's hands and trapping the great beast like a fish in a net. Dragon struggled but was unable to break the magical bonds.

"Unicorn, use your magic! I can't last much longer." Dragon cried in desperation, using the unicorn language and hoping that the Sorcerer didn't understand it.

The Sorcerer grinned, unable to understand unicorn speech but sensing the weakness of his opponent. Suddenly the chamber was flooded with a dazzling rainbow of light. The Sorcerer stopped, transfixed by the sight, mouth agape as if hypnotized. Unicorn stood with her head held high, the light emanating from her golden horn. It was almost too bright to look directly at her and she seemed to have grown in stature so that she nearly filled the large room. Dragon had never seen anything so beautiful, but he forced himself to look away. Moving slowly as if in a dream, he dragged himself out of the weakened magical net and over to the Sorcerer, flattening the evil mage with one swipe of his mighty claw. Unicorn staggered and the rainbow light went out.

Limping over to her, Dragon cried out. "Are you hurt? Unicorn, please don't be hurt."

"No, no, I'm all right. It's just that it takes a lot out of me to call the rainbow, especially inside stone walls like this." She shook her head and nudged the Sorcerer's magic staff across the floor towards Dragon. "Is he dead?"

"I don't know, I can't tell with humans. He might still be breathing." Dragon picked up the staff and put it in the bag on his back. As an afterthought, he grabbed the golden wine cup. "Let's get out of here quickly in case he recovers."

Many of the Sorcerer's servants, escapees from the battle, were standing in a large semicircle around the door when Dragon and Unicorn emerged. None of them looked happy and many were clutching swords, clubs or makeshift weapons.

"There they are!" A voice in the crowd shouted. Dragon braced himself for another fight and prepared to blast fire once again. A cheer went up from the minions, startling the couple. Dragon backpedaled, bumping into Unicorn who shoved him back out the door.

"What's going on?"

"You've freed us from the Sorcerer's enslavement!" Someone shouted.

"The dragon shall be our new leader!" Came another shout.

"No, the unicorn will lead us!" Came a contradictory reply. "She cured my cough with her horn."

"You cured him?" Dragon whispered.

"I didn't mean to, some unicorn magic just happens."

There was more shouting and the crowd started to turn angry, pushing, shoving and grappling with each other. Dragon watched in confusion, his mouth hanging open. There were cries of "Dragon!" "Unicorn!" "Ogre!" "Dwarf King!" As each party tried to advance their own opinion on who should lead the freed slaves.

Unicorn tilted her head towards Dragon's ear. "Dragon, I don't like this, let's get out of here."

Unicorn threaded through the angry crowd, careful not to draw any excess attention to herself. Subdued, Dragon followed in her wake, out the castle gate and down the road. The working creatures they had seen in the fields earlier were also turning angry, some of them attacking their Ogre overseers, others trampling crops, overturning carts and generally causing havoc in the Sorcerer's fields. Unicorn picked up her pace, anxious to get away from the rowdy workers. Dragon stayed on the ground with her until they were out of the Sorcerer's lands, hoping to intimidate anyone who got too close. Once past the last of the cultivated fields, he breathed a sigh of relief, letting some steam escape from his nose. Only then he allowed himself to take to the air to hurry their journey along.

For the past few days Dragon had stayed low over the road to be closer to Unicorn. He was worried that her use of magic was somehow still affecting her. In his worry he had forgotten about the human village until they came to the edge of the planted fields. There was a crowd of people there, lining the road but well back from its edges. They were all standing silently with their makeshift weapons in their hands, an air of anticipation hanging over the crowd. Dragon looked up the road and to his horror saw a mounted Knight in full armor, lowering his lance for the charge. Without thinking, he dropped to the road and placed himself between the Knight and Unicorn.

"Unicorn, run!" He shouted in the dragon language, not looking to see if she listened. "Hide yourself."

As the Knight approached, he unleashed his major weapon of dragon's flame for the second time on this journey. As with the Sorcerer, the Knight was barely fazed by the blast of heat, flames licking around his shield and dancing across the armor of both horse and man.

"Oh no, his armor's enchanted." Dragon cried as he leapt out of the path of the lance. His timing was off, probably still affected by the battle with the Sorcerer and the lance scraped down his right side. He had avoided the direct point of the lance, but the Knight still slammed into a major wing spar, tumbling Dragon sideways and spraining his wing. There were cheers from the assembled villagers.

Dragon found that he couldn't completely fold or unfold his wing without severe pain. Robbed of flight, he half-folded his wings as best he could and turned to face the Knight once more. The Knight had wheeled his horse and was charging back at Dragon. Dragon avoided the lance and managed to get his claw on the Knight's shield, leaving deep scratches in its surface and causing the Knight to sway in his saddle.

Dragon turned to face the next charge, trying desperately to think of a plan. The Knight came at him again and Dragon breathed fire once more. This time his target wasn't the heavily armored Knight or the armor on the upper part of the Knight's horse, it was the lightly protected legs of the horse that took the full blast of flame. The horse reared, breaking stride and spoiling the Knight's charge as the lance waved harmlessly in the air. Dragon took this chance to swipe at the horse with his tail, causing it to stumble even more. The Knight fought to control the horse and keep his seat. Dragon attempted to get off the road and hide in the fields while the Knight was distracted.

The Knight stayed in his saddle and recovered too quickly for Dragon to escape. He came at him again. Dragon tried to fry the horse's legs once more and the horse shied away from the heat. The Knight brought his lance sideways and up, trying to slam the shaft down on Dragon's head. He caught Dragon on the snout, spoiling his aim and shutting off the fire. Dragon shook his head to clear it. The Knight was very strong for a human. They faced each other one more time along the hard-packed road. As the Knight charged, Dragon heard another set of hoofbeats behind him.

"Out of the way, Dragon." Unicorn warned him. He moved aside just as she flashed past him in a white blur. Her dangerous horn was leveled at the Knight and she was moving at full speed. She dodged the lance and came up under the Knight's shield with the point of her horn. Golden sparks leapt from her horn and the enchanted armor as Unicorn's horn tore into the Knight's breastplate. The Knight dropped his lance and clawed at the horn, trying to pry it out of his flesh and armor. Unicorn attempted to pull away from the Knight, backpedaling as quick as she could, but unable to get her horn free. When Unicorn didn't withdraw, the Knight reached for his sword. There was panic in Unicorn's golden eyes.

Despite the pain of his badly sprained wing, Dragon threw himself into the air and straight at the Knight, curled into a ball. The sword was only halfway out of its scabbard when Dragon slammed into the Knight at full speed, freeing Unicorn's horn and throwing the Knight off his horse into the stone-lined ditch beside the road. There was a loud snap and the Knight quit moving. Dragon slowly uncurled himself and got up. The Knight lay very still, his head at a peculiar angle. His neck had been broken by one of the stones of the ditch. The crowd of villagers fell completely silent, all of them stunned by the sudden defeat of their champion.

Dragon crawled back onto the road to where Unicorn was still standing. There was a little blood on her horn.

"Dragon, I've never done anything like that. I've never killed anyone. Unicorn horns are supposed to heal, not harm."

"You still haven't killed anyone, dear Unicorn. He broke his neck on one of the rocks. Besides, we wouldn't have been fighting him if he wasn't trying to kill us." Dragon picked up a small, golden-colored pebble off the road and stowed it in his pack.

"What was that?"

"It's a bit of your horn, dear one. The tip must have broken off from the enchanted armor. I'll give it to Wizard as an extra payment." Dragon grimaced in pain. "I'll have to walk the rest of the way, my wing is too hurt to fly."

Unicorn tried to heal him by touching her horn to the dislocated wing joint. It eased the pain somewhat, but Dragon found that he still couldn't fold or unfold his wing completely. It would have to be properly set.

They turned and walked down the road, between the groups of silent villagers and past their simple houses. Dragon could have torched the entire village, but he was too tired and didn't believe in that sort of revenge. The passed the village without touching anything or even a backward glance and kept on going.

They trudged on for several hours, both weary from the fight but unwilling to stop where the villagers might catch up with them. Dragon was hoping to get past the crossroads before they had to rest. Suddenly dragon stopped and cocked his head to one side, looking at a copse of trees just off the road. His ears were extended, trying to hear more of the sounds that had caught his attention.

"What is it?" Unicorn whispered, recognizing his alert stance.

"There's someone hiding over there. Hear it?"

Unicorn pricked up her ears. "It sounds like human speech." She headed off the road, towards the trees.

"Unicorn, wait." Dragon whispered. "It might be a trap, I don't want us to be attacked again. You wait here and I'll see what it is."

"It's taken both of us to defeat the Sorcerer and the Knight. We should stay together." She continued walking silently through the tall grass. Dragon rolled his eyes, realizing that she was right and went along with her.

Moving as stealthy as they could, they managed to get close enough to hear what was being said and to glimpse the human couple through the tall grass. On a thick blanket spread in the shade of a large oak tree sat a human couple. One was a muscular young man, well dressed in a dark tunic and tights with a neatly trimmed mustache and light hair. He had unbuckled his sword-belt and set the weapon aside. The other was a young, shapely woman in a fine gown. Her long dark hair hung down her back, bound into a braid with a colorful ribbon. They had their arms wrapped around each other, often kissing while they spoke.

"But my father won't want to give me to a landowner, even a noble if it's just a small holding. We could lose my dowry." The woman was saying. "Now that I'm of marriageable age, he wants me to marry some old, rich merchant, one of his business partners or something."

"Dowry be hanged, I only want you." The young man emphasized his words with another kiss. "It doesn't matter about a dowry, I'm eighteen now, too. The lands are mine by right. Marry me and they're yours."

"But your noble father won't let you marry a commoner, even a rich merchant's daughter."

"He will if you carry my heir. He's desperate for a grandchild." He kissed her again, deeply, sliding his tongue between her soft, willing lips.

"What are they doing with their mouths?" Dragon whispered to Unicorn.

"It's called kissing. It looks nice." Unicorn whispered back. "I wish we could do that."

They kept watching as the two humans spoke less and less and kissed more and more, noting how their hands roamed along their bodies. The man reached deeply under the woman's gown, causing her to roll her head back and moan. She eased his tunic off over his head, revealing a well muscled, hairy chest. He undid the drawstrings on the woman's gown, opening it enough for her to slip it over her head, revealing her firm young breasts, flat belly and slender legs. His boots and tights were quickly discarded and they both were naked for each other and, unknown to them, naked for Dragon and Unicorn.

"She looks very pretty for a human." Dragon observed.

"Hmm. Look at the way he touches her, kissing her breasts. Oh Dragon, if only we could..."

"Soon, my love, when we get back to Wizard with the staff." Dragon found himself getting excited by watching the human lovers. He wondered if Unicorn were excited, too. "Ah. Look how she touches his cock, stroking it slowly and gently."

"He quit kissing her breasts, why is he kissing her down there? She seems to enjoy it."

The young man was lying sideways to the woman, his head between her legs. He had slid his tongue and fingers into her, gently coaxing her to a shuddering orgasm while she held his head with one hand. She had reached over and was stroking his hardness with the other hand. As she stopped shaking, he raised his head from her dark muff.

"I want you now." He whispered.

"Oh yes, I want you too, I want you inside me." She gasped.

He lowered himself onto her as her hands gently guided him into her wet hole. They moved together, kissing and moaning while Dragon and Unicorn watched with rapt attention. First the young woman cried out with her second orgasm, followed quickly by the gasps of her lover as he filled her with his seed. The man collapsed against the woman, spent from his orgasm. They stayed that way for a while before either one stirred.

"That's very romantic," Unicorn whispered. "Humans mate face-to-face. They can look into each other's eyes and even kiss."

"Uh... Yeah. Very horny, uh, I mean romantic." Dragon gulped.

Unicorn turned towards Dragon. Despite the bruising of the earlier battle, he was visibly aroused. Unicorn looked down at his hardness and sighed.

"Oh Dragon, I wish we could. My hindquarters are wet, too. But we must have patience, my love." She rubbed her muzzle against his scaly neck, teasing the scales with her lips. Dragon sighed, a large dragon sigh with a bit of smoke. The humans heard him, sat up and looked around, the woman grabbing hurriedly at her clothes, the man going for his sword. The young woman spotted Unicorn first.

"A unicorn, how beautiful!" She dropped her gown from in front of her perky breasts, grabbed the man's shoulder and pointed, causing him to drop his sword. "It's a sign, an omen. We're going to have a girl, chaste and beautiful. And... and she'll grow up so beautiful that she'll marry a handsome and rich prince."

The young couple stared, fascinated by the appearance of one magical beast. Then Unicorn moved aside and Dragon was revealed to them.

"It's a dragon, too. A fierce, noble dragon." It was his turn to point as he draped his arm across her bare shoulders. "That means we're also going to have a son, a strong warrior son who will grow up as fierce as a dragon in battle."

"But both at once?" The woman gasped as her hand flew to her mouth. "Oh my, this means that we're going to have twins!"

The young man reached over and cupped her breast, teasing her rosy nipple with his thumb.

"Then we'd better make love again," He grinned, "just to be certain."

"Let's get out of here before they make us stay as foster parents." Dragon whispered to Unicorn as he turned and headed back towards the road.

They spent the night just past the crossroads, lying in a thicket of the common tall grass. Unicorn happily cropped the grasses and had a bit of the grain from Dragon's pack to help rejuvenate her. Dragon managed to catch a wolf, but it was rather stringy and didn't fill him up. He was too tired to hunt any more and curled up in an area that Unicorn had cleared. They both slept till well past noon and woke up stiff and sore. Unicorn tried to heal Dragon's wing again, but it still didn't go back into place.

"I think it's going to take a couple more days to get back than it did getting to the Sorcerer." Dragon lamented as they trudged along the road. "I can't move so fast right now."

"Will a swim in a pond or lake help you to recover?" Unicorn asked. "I smell water ahead, lots of water."

"You can smell that? I usually rely on sight to look for a lake or stream." Dragon flexed his sore wing. "A cool dip would be nice right now. If I'm lucky, I can catch some fish."

"Come on, this way." Unicorn led the Dragon down a side trail and found a medium sized body of water, either a large pond or a small lake just a few hundred yards from the road. "See, I told you there was plenty of water here."

Dragon made a little happy noise in his throat, dropped his bag and dived into the lake. Flexing his wings, he managed to ease some of the stiffness before he dived again, this time going after the fish that he sensed lurking near the bottom. Unicorn watched him, happy that he was able to ease some of his pain. She took a drink from the lake herself, feeling rejuvenated by the cool waters. Finished with his swim, Dragon hauled himself far out of the lake and spread out on top of a slight rise, dozing while drying in the warm sun. Unicorn found herself falling into a half-conscious state as she grazed, working her way around the meadow to the sweeter grasses near the lake's edge. Soon Dragon began snoring softly.