The Missing Dragon Ch. 03

The markings left Valise able to do a number of other things for him and, more importantly, allowed her an insight into his body. Janette and Algra were both trying to balance being slightly terrified and impressed all at once in reaction to the display of the woman's abilities. Emmet seemed troubled, though he made no issue of the matter. He seemed almost familiar with the act and didn't like the performance one little bit.

It did, however, get results. Ten days after Gregory had fallen at the hands of the Berserkers, his mind finally awoke shortly after the sunrise. The constant stillness made every muscle inside him ache for movement and yet he still felt somewhat weak and disoriented as the sounds of the world were poured into his ears and the feel of air on his skin made him tingle all over.

Then he heard the noises beside him and a distant yet pleasant warmth lifted up from deep inside his belly.

Soft little feminine moans seemed to caress his ears, harmonised by the sounds of wet, gentle suckling. He felt the softness of the bed beneath him and the warmth radiating beside him before taking that final step and opening his eyes. The canopy above passed aside as he turned his head to look upon the partner beside him and saw Janette laid on her back, her head resting on a soft pillow with her gorgeous red hair spilled across the casing. Eyes were shut tight and her mouth hung slightly open, releasing those breathy little noises.

It was the nicest sight he could think of awakening to.

As his gaze slid down the nude girl's shapely body, he saw those plump breasts and peaked nipples. Down beneath, across that wonderful flat stomach and between her raised knees was Algra. The orc had her eyes closed, her gorgeous emerald features were glistening around her cheeks with Janette's sweet nectar as she hungrily lapped at that delicate, pink flesh.

"D'yohugh." Gregory tried to speak and failed spectacularly, his words failing to rise up from his dry throat and parched lips.

The noise startled Algra and Janette so much that the human girl almost kneed Algra in the face. If it wasn't for a lifetime of fast reflexes, the orc would likely have had one of her tusks snapped off. As it was, she dodged out of the way and they both looked to Gregory with wide eyes. Janette looked downright cute with her mouth hanging open and those big blue eyes conveying her dumbfounded shock before it slowly shifted to glimmering glee.

Algra, on the other hand, looked downright hilarious. Largely because the look of genuine all-out surprise was so out of character for the normally reserved female. Gregory saw her regain her senses and break out in a rather large grin. He closed his mouth and tried to force some moisture back in his throat so that using his vocal cords didn't feel quite so much like rubbing sandpaper together. Then he rallied himself and tried to speak again.

"Do you two have no shame?" His voice emerged croaky but strong.

"Greg!" Janette flung herself against his chest and hugged him tight.

It hurt like hell.

"Ow! Nice to see you too, Jan." He privately thanked Algra as she pried off the redhead and then enjoyed her as she leaned over gently and placed a slow kiss upon his lips. She tasted great.

After their little kiss was over, Gregory looked over to Janette who was smiling broadly as fresh, happy tears spilled down her cheeks.

"Come here, no squeezing," he ordered.

Janette happily obliged and leaned over to kiss him properly. The touch of her cherry lips was slow, intimate, and deeply thankful. He kissed her lovingly as Algra robed herself in her small fur garments and slipped out of the tent to summon Valise.

"Don't you ever do that to me again." Janette sniffled a little after releasing his lips from her own.

"Believe me, I won't." Greg began to recall the painful memories of just how he'd ended up laid out unconscious in a bed for over a week.

"Good, now- Eek!" The little abrupt squeak Janette made was the result of four people suddenly making their way into the tent to see her laid there in the buff.

Janette quickly bounced backwards behind the bed and they all watched the top of her head scramble over to the edge before an arm popped up to snag her robe from its post and tug it downwards. A moment later she stood up, fully dressed and sporting a pair of fiery pink cheeks.

"Can't you guys learn to knock!?"

Algra turned around from where she'd entered and gave a pointed look towards tent's entrance. It was little more than two sheets of thick material that parted in the centre.

"Oh, uh I guess not." Janette looked a little sheepish after her outburst. "Well at least clear your throat or something!"

Algra rolled her eyes. She was in the company of Emmet, Valise, and Talina. All of the new trio were looking at Gregory with smiles and relief on their faces. Valise quickly stepped up beside the bed and he was made to follow her finger before his nose with his gaze as well as perform a few other tests. He seemed to ace every one of them.

"Well then, I suppose I should pronounce you in good health, considering the circumstances." Valise finished her examination of her patient and rested her hand upon his chest in a way that spoke of a deeper affection.

After all the kissing and the touching, Gregory was suddenly very glad that he'd been dressed in a pair of linen pants. He decided to take his momentary pulse of carnal energy as a good sign. Everything was at least still working down there.

"Great, well that's good because-" He was quickly interrupted by a sharp stabbing pain in his chest as he tried to rise from the bed.

"Easy there," Valise gently chided him. "You will need to spend time resting before you go anywhere. Your mind has returned but your body still needs more time. Bones were broken. I can help them heal but I have my limits, yes?"

It was a testament to how gentle and sweet Valise was that Gregory didn't argue. He felt a sudden, raw burst of frustration. Stillness and rest were not what his muscles wanted.

"Alright." He winced as the pain flared again before subsiding. "I do have one pretty urgent question though."

Everyone suddenly looked very attentive.

"Why the hell am I covered in doodles?"

- - - - -

Emmet went off to announce that Gregory had woken to the camp. The women stayed and helped wash away the alchemical concoction that Valise had patterned across the young man's body. He was stripped out of his pants and quite quickly had four pairs of female hands all over him. It didn't take much of that before he was sporting a rather prominent mast between them. As it lifted and Greg tried desperately to think about cold showers and naked senior citizens to try and calm himself down, the women started to notice. Eventually, the stifled giggles lifted up to outright laughter as Janette lightly poked the jutting tip of his cock with her finger and wiggled her eyebrows.

"Looks like someone else has woken up." She teased and made everyone but Gregory burst out laughing.

"So, this whole 'me being bedridden' thing. It's not going to be too heavy on dignity, is it?" He felt his ears almost sizzling with embarrassment.

"Would it help if we were naked too?" Talina suggested whilst sporting quite the Cheshire Cat grin.

"Now, now," Valise lifted her hand from rinsing Greg's shoulder, "we must not put him through anything remotely strenuous. I don't want him tensing up or exerting himself." She gave a pointed look to each of the three sex-hungry females in her presence. Then, upon thinking about it, she gave the same look to Greg too. It was not a look to trifle with.

"Hey, don't mind me." Gregory innocently raised his hands as if he wouldn't dare even think such a thing. It wouldn't have been remotely convincing even if he wasn't sporting quite the prominent prow between them all.

"It's awfully tempting though." Janette looked at his member and absently licked her lips until she realised what she was doing and quickly shut her lips together tightly.

"We could stick a flower on top of it and just treat it as part of the flora," Talina suggested.

"Talina, for fuck sake, laughing hurts," Greg managed to eke out between flashes of pain and insistent chuckles.

"Yes, master." She batted her eyelashes at him.

So, on alchemist's orders, Gregory set about doing as little as humanly possible for the next few days. Algra and Janette took mercy upon him and refrained from teasing him too much. Talina, on the other hand, was enjoying herself immensely by wearing her tiny little garments every time she stepped into his tent. It seemed like if she didn't leave him every time sporting a flag pole then she would consider the day a waste.

One evening Gregory found himself sat up in bed with Algra laid beside him. She had been his green guardian angel throughout the entire unpleasant experience. It had been her who had kept others at bay and let him rest. Several orcs had also tried to challenge Bolut again, seeing an easy target to get their hands on his wares. Algra had put a stop to that. Painfully.

Now the brutal orcish warrior was laid there beside her lover in mutually contented silence. They had been there like that for over an hour, the only movement being when Gregory shifted his good arm to stroke his fingers through her hair.

"Did you dream?" Algra eventually shifted her head to look up at him.

"Hm?"

"Orcs get hit on head often. My father once did and did not wake up for a day. When he opened eyes, he spoke of a long dream. He say he dream of my mother cooking. She always cook when scared."

It was an insight into Algra that Gregory found himself oddly surprised by. He tended to think of her as more of a force of nature than someone who'd had a mother and father. After considering the question, he remembered that he had, in fact, had dreams.

"Yes. I did. I remember dreaming of you and Janette a lot."

Algra smiled and lifted her hand to rest over his where it had come to rest against her cheek. "Nice dreams?"

Gregory's expression seemed a little bit distant and slightly troubled. "No. I was running towards you but the world was moving me away. I ran faster and faster and you both disappeared further into the distance."

"We are here now." Algra settled her lips upon his shoulder and snuggled a little closer without hurting him.

"I know. I'm glad." Her warmth felt so good beside him and she smelled of the surrounding forest. Sweet and spicy. "There was another. A dream that started as a nightmare." He looked up to the canopy overhead as he recalled the sparse details. "There was white fire everywhere. Like the whole world was set alight and I was right there at the centre of it all. Everything around me burned with fire, but I didn't. Then I saw the fire wasn't doing what fire usually does. Instead of destroying what it touched, the things in the fire were remade whole again. The flames went out over newly reforged forests and mountains. Then, overhead, I saw a huge black dragon flying away, lighting up the darkness ahead with that white fire."

As Gregory fell silent, Algra lifted herself up. He felt her long black hair spilling across the muscles of his chest to create a pleasant, silky, tickling sensation across his skin. She looked down upon him, suddenly serious.

"You heard my story."

"Story?" Gregory was pretty sure he hadn't heard anything.

"The tale of The First. It is old tale of orcs. Perhaps oldest tale ever. The First Dragon was creator of all. Born of night. He flew out to the sunlight and claimed part of it for his own. That light was his fire and he use that fire to make our world. Then, after ages past, the sun began to die. It turn from yellow to red. The First flew up from the world to give sun back the power he had taken in the beginning. He gave it over and the sun burned yellow again, but the First fell from the sky and died, along with all his kin. I told you this story as you slept."

"Wow, sounds pretty epic." Gregory lifted his head and lightly kissed the tip of her chin. "Thanks for keeping me company."

Algra's troubled expression faded into a far more contented little smile and she settled back down against him.

Yet despite their comfort in each other's arms, neither of them fell asleep for quite some time.

- - - - -

As Gregory and Algra talked of ancient dragons, Torren the smith was busying himself with putting the final edge on a newly forged knife. He carefully dragged the blade along the simple honing rod and tested its edge by lightly running his thumb across its length.

So, when he realised that Talina had appeared very suddenly and silently at the entrance of his tent, he quickly jolted upright and sliced open his thumb. It was a small miracle that he hadn't cut the digit clean off. He barely even noticed the injury as he gawked rather gormlessly at the lovely woman. He'd adored the stunning, slender courtesan from afar ever since she'd arrived in the camp. In all that time, he couldn't recall her ever appearing at his tent at night.

Talina quirked a brow at Torren as she saw the blood spilling onto his lap and heard the audible gulp rising from his throat. With a quick roll of her eyes, she shook her head and advanced upon him.

"You know, it's a miracle you haven't killed yourself. The gods only know what Emmet was thinking, putting you in range of sharp objects." Talina grabbed a clean cloth from one of Torren's shelves and dipped it in water. "Come here."

Torren stared at her with a dreamy sort of confusion as she crouched before his seat and snatched his hand.

"Bloody hell!" He yelped as he finally saw the stream of blood he was spilling across himself.

"Bloody hell, indeed! Now hold it out for me so I can clean it up." Talina offered.

Part of Torren's mind jumped for joy and suggested that he cut himself more often before his common sense stomped on the idea rather harshly. Perhaps a light self-bludgeoning might still get her attention?

Torren shook his head and offered up a broad smile that was perhaps a little too big for his heavy-set, youthful features. He reminded Talina of a rather dopey and overgrown puppy.

"H-hello Talina, I'm sorry about-" His voice caught in his throat. He gulped again. "Is there something you wanted?"

"Yes, and it doesn't include you bleeding out. So sit still." She continued cleaning his thumb and Torren sat patiently as she worked. Once the wound was clean, she examined the cut and decided it would heal easily enough before applying a torn piece of cloth as a makeshift bandage. "There, now don't go ripping it open or getting it dirty. Understand?"

As her pointed finger was thrust mere millimetres from the tip of his nose, he nodded a little too quickly and then remembered to start breathing again.

"Good. Now, I came here to try to find out what, in all the dark realms, happened on the day when Freddie managed to get free."

"Freddie?" Torren looked puzzled yet attentive.

"Freddie." Talina nodded before elaborating. "You know, the imbecile that my master had chained to a post out there who somehow got free of his bonds and almost burned the camp down around our heads?"

"Oh! Him!" A light emerged in Torren's eyes before it faded away to be stifled altogether by a frown. "I'm sorry. I don't know what help I can be. I didn't even really see what happened until it was over."

"You saw the corrosion of the prisoner's bonds."

Torren nodded.

"Good," Talina continued, "then that is a good place to begin."

"Well, as I said, I didn't see what happened, but when I figured out that he'd escaped I ran to the post we'd chained him to. I wondered how he could have gotten free of it. I buried the thing deep into the earth and it was solid iron. Good iron too."

"And then you discovered it had withered."

"Aye. The thing looked like it had been bathed in acid and after being set out to rust for ten years. I remembered a potion that Valise had given me and I told of it. I didn't mean to get anyone in trouble."

"You did what you were asked by those who you respect. There is no fault in all this for you." Talina patted his injured hand gently. Her touch made his skin tingle.

"Thank you, but I feel bad about it all the same."

"As do many of us. Do you know of any others who use Valise's potions to make their crafts?"

"I know the smith in the human diplomat's camp sometimes comes to her for help like I do if he gets stuck. Orcs don't usually bother though unless they've tried everything they can and come up short. You should ask her though. I don't like speaking another's business."

Talina smiled openly at that. "Then you have an honest soul. Such a rarity."

"Not too rare amongst orcs," Torren chuckled softly. The orcs were indeed a rather straightforward people. "But thank you."

Talina stood up before him and his eyes followed hers rather than settling on the appealing, smooth curves of her mostly-bared body. She noticed it and let out a little, enigmatic laugh of her own.

"Torren, why do you never visit me? Do you have a woman hidden away?"

He suddenly felt his face taking on the temperature of a small sun once again.

"N-no! I am too busy here. With my work." He felt the need to add that it was his work that kept him from her rather than anything else he might be doing alone in his tent at night.

"Then you work too hard." She rested a hand on her hip and Torren had to really concentrate in order to not look over her delectable bikini-clad body. "You know, we thought you only had an interest in men. That's not true though, is it?"

"What!?" Torren's eyes popped wide open. "No! I just-"

"I think," Talina leaned forwards and placed a finger upon his babbling lips to silence him, "that there's another reason you never come to see us."

Torren blinked questioningly.

"You like me, don't you? More than you think you should."

Torren started to shake his head but Talina kept her finger pressed firmly to his lips in order to silence him and he fell still. A bead of sweat trickled down from his brow.

"Don't lie to me, Torren. You've kept your eyes on mine this whole time. Even your father looks over my body occasionally when we talk. It is why I wear this, after all." She lifted her other hand and hooked her thumb beneath the golden strap of her little top where it was pulled over her shoulder. The material was lightly flicked back upon her smooth, creamy skin to highlight her point. "But you? You think you can't look. You think it's indecent, don't you? You don't want me to think you're being a letch because you care what I think about you. So you always look into my eyes. And you never come to visit me because you don't want to be a customer. You want to be more than that."

She lifted her touch from his lips and gently traced her fingertips along his cheek in a way that almost made him melt into a puddle of very happy goo right there and then.

"I... I just think your eyes are pretty." Torren said in a somewhat dreamy whisper.

The admission made Talina's catlike smile widen and her eyes brightened with a beautiful grassy-green shine.

"Torren, you know who I am. You know what I do. You know who my master is. My master, who I am very happy with." The words poured from Talina's lips like tiny chisels that etched their way into the man's heart. Then, just before that fragile muscle shattered on the spot, Talina slipped her hand around his head to interlace her fingers through his hair and pulled him into a gentle kiss. In all his years longing for the woman, he'd never imagined that she tasted so delicious or that the moment would be sweeter than he'd hoped. The kiss was slow and she lingered until she could taste his passion for her rising when instinct guided him to deepen that delightfully intimate touch.