Driving the Last Spike Ch. 03

As he brought Kohaku to her brink so his own body followed suit. He considered his situation, and realized he shouldn't be surprised at all. The energy he was wielding in Kohaku originated from him. It wasn't his essence, but it was his energy. And one thing he'd learned of being a fire dragon, fire loved pleasure. He smiled, and let things run their course.

Kohaku wriggled pleasantly as the energy snaked through her, stroking her from the inside. She fingered and stroked her mound and tunnel relentlessly. Soon, her back arched and with a small yelp, she came, a small pool forming around her hand and soaking into the silks.

Kohaku lay with her eyes closed, enjoying the feeling of her body coming down from the rush of orgasm. The hand massaging her abdomen stopped moving and rested there. The energy died down to the flicker she'd been feeling before Qiang's little demonstration. She came to better understood what he meant by noticing it much. Even when it wasn't engaged, she could feel it inside her, as a comfortably warm, tickling flame flickering and dancing around her solar plexus.

She probed it and sighed. She was a two-tailed kitsune, and quite clever, but she wasn't powerful enough to undo the dragon's magic. She couldn't even change her form back to a woman, or completely to a fox. She would be stuck with his spell for however long he decided to leave it lodged in her. Still, he had been right in two aspects. The little flame wasn't terribly noticeable, it was actually kind of nice in a way, and it could be very pleasurable. That also meant his other statement was most likely very true. He could make it very unpleasant.

Kohaku sat up, still regarding her middle with a mix of her previous euphoria and the coming resignation. "That's quite a stick and carrot you've saddled me with," she said. As she looked up, she saw the spreading liquid staining the silks around his back legs and smiled. "Well, looks like you had quite the time, too."

"Yes, so it would seem. Sorry for any silks I may have damaged."

Kohaku laughed lightly. "You're hardly the first." Her smile turned sultry. "Looks like we may be spending more time in each other's company, though."

Qiang considered this for a moment. He liked physical pleasure, there was no denying that fact. A certain hedonism tended to come with the fire element. Though he tried with a few of the others, the fact that most of them hated what they did dampened any mood he tried to build with them. The fact that he was hiding his nature meant he had to be careful with them. Any magic he did to enhance their experience wouldn't hurt them, but if they realized anything his life in this place could get very difficult. Here, he didn't have that concern and his spell would keep any of her fox tricks at bay.

"I could see where this could be mutually beneficial," he conceded with a quirk of his head. "Just so long as you remember no tricks on me or mine. I'll know any attempt, and I will respond."

Kohaku became suddenly business like. "Yes, I understand that. Now what do you mean, exactly, by you and yours. Clearly, I know no tricks on you, but who, exactly, are yours? Fai, obviously, though he's no trouble. And Owen is equally obviously an open target..."

"No," Qiang said, firmly. "He is not. Leave the man in peace."

She cocked her head. "Leave the man in peace? The man doesn't know the meaning of the word. He leaves no one else in peace."

Qiang bobbed his head, trying to find a way to express the dichotomy that was Owen Connolly and his equally conflicted feelings about the man. Instead, he asked, "Does he bother any of the ladies?" While Qiang could accept that Owen Connolly was a man of uncertain temper, he couldn't look away from him abusing women far weaker then him.

"No, not really. He'll come for a poke occasionally, but tends to prefer drinking and brawling."

"Fine. How's this: no fox tricks on anybody. Leave the men in peace."

Kohaku slowly stood up, the anger welling up in her transmitted to Qiang quite clearly through the spell. "No," she said, low and dangerous. "You can't make me agree to that."

Qiang cocked his head. "Oh, can't I?" he asked.

The flame roused to life within her, the warmth not as comfortable as before. She glared at him.

"Fine," she spat, sitting back down. "Then you'd best find ways to make 'yours' behave."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"You don't really see what goes on amongst the camp followers, do you?"

Qiang shrugged and spread his front claws wide. "No, I must confess my ignorance here. Enlighten me. Bear in mind, I'll know if you're lying." The flickering flame pulsed again.

Kohaku rubbed her fur. "As if I could forget," she muttered. "In truth, some of the men are very nice to them. They speak gently to them, tell them about their homelands and ask the ladies about theirs. They seem as much interested in company and talking as sex. Make no mistake, they still consider them whores. There'll be no marriage beds. But at least to these men they're whores with names and faces. These men I have no issue with. Indeed, I wish there were more of them. Most of the men come for the services provided. They pay their rate, have their roll, then go on their way. These men I also have no problem with. Not as nice as the first ones, but still within the bounds of what's to be expected. But there are those who come for services, but think the services are whatever they want them to be. It is this last group, and they are much more numerous than I would like, that I have a problem with."

Qiang cocked his head. "What do these men do?"

"Whatever they please. You've been in the work details, you know how difficult the work is, how hard these men are driven. How brutal the foremen are. Well, once these men have been beaten and yelled at and made to feel less then human, they take it out on those they can. The women who provide the services. There are evil words, bruised flesh, and broken bones left when these men are done. And these women are considered the lowest of the low. There is no one they can turn to. So I hear their sorrows and make right what I can."

"Is it amongst the Irish that this happens?"

Kohaku barked a harsh laugh. "How can you be a dragon and be that naïve? Open your eyes and you will find men are men, regardless of their skin or country of origin. Some are kind, many are indifferent and many more are worse than animals. It can happen from any of the men who come for the services. I will say your boy Fai is among the better of them. Those who are among the worst, I make myself their consort and then, well, I assure you I have my ways."

Qiang cocked his head as a thought occurred to him. "Then why did you make yourself my consort? I cannot think of any misdeed I may have done towards these women."

"Oh, you were purely for curiosity's sake. I could tell you had magic of some sort about you and wondered what you were and why you were here. Those who come by this line of work, either the men or the women, have nowhere else to go. A man of magic would have somewhere else to go. Now finding you a dragon, I confess I'm even more confused. It would seem to me a servant, no, clearly a minister of Heaven, such as yourself, would be of better use elsewhere. It seems odd to me to find you here at all..." Kohaku trailed off, shrugging with feigned indifference.

"That is still my business. Might I remind you the entire reason you're in your present predicament is prying into my business?"

"Fine," she humphed, crossing her arms. "Keep your secrets. It hardly matters to me at this point."

"And well it shouldn't." Qiang dipped his head, thinking. While he'd been aware of the camp followers for some time, he wasn't aware how badly ill-used they were. In many ways, their situation wasn't all that different from the men he worked with, traded into lives of gross labor by desperate circumstances or indifferent family. His attention was focused more so on the workers, and even if he did focus on the prostitutes, he couldn't really do much for them as he was still under his elder's orders not to get involved. It seemed, even with her fox tricks, her protection of these women was far more effective than anything he could do.

"So be it, then," he said at last. "Keep to this work, but only bedevil those that deserve it, leave the rest alone."

Kohaku spread her arms wide. "Like this?" she asked, gesturing to her fox form.

"Oh, that." Qiang offhandedly gestured and Kohaku felt the flame shift. Her human form was restored.

"Will I be able to shift on my own, or must I seek you out?"

"You will have control of your own magics. Use your fox tricks wisely, though."

Kohaku brought her hands together and bowed to Qiang. "I shall do so," she promised solemnly.

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"Did she keep her promise?" Chang asked.

"Well enough," Qiang hedged.

"Did you visit her again?" Mingzhu asked, her tone holding only curiosity. Qiang was relieved that there appeared to be nothing else.

"We had our dalliances, surely."

"Um, I got a question." Qiang caught a tone in Sebastian's voice that indicated this question may not be one of mere curiosity.

"Yes?"

"How is it you can control whether or not you can knock someone up, but you can't keep the population stable?"

"Ah," Qiang said, understanding the tension in Sebastian's voice. He again looked to Chang, who this time chose to answer.

"We are now back to the mandate of Heaven," Chang explained. Sebastian turned his attention to his elder. "You see, we can decide that we wish to plant seed in a female dragon, and she can be quite willing to carry it. But that does not mean life will come forth. Why this is, I do not know."

"Paradoxically enough," Qiang said, "It's more likely to take with a non-dragon than dragon. But even then, the chances are low. Some have put forth the theory that as creatures of Heaven, we are bound to Heaven's...whims I suppose is too flip a word, but you get what I mean."

"'Whims' is too flip a word," Chang rumbled. He turned his attention back to Sebastian, his tone softening. "Though I do understand your frustration at the situation."

Sebastian dipped his head. "It's not frustration, exactly," he said. "I guess I just wondered."

Chang nodded. "It's a fair question. I simply wish I had a better answer. Though 'whims'", he gave an arch look to Qiang, "is flip, the idea holds water. We are celestial creatures, Sebastian. It is perhaps necessary to the balance that we remain few." He cocked his head in consideration. "And maybe Heaven has wisdom in introducing new blood to us in the way you were made a dragon," he reached his head over and nudged Sebastian, "that we may learn new ways of seeing. While I am sorry that your life as been so completely altered by what has happened, I cannot say I am sorry you came our way."

Sebastian's head remained dipped, but he smiled broadly.

Dakota reached up and stroked Sebastian's jaw, then turned her attention to Qiang, her expression uncomfortable.

"I get Kohaku was prying into your business, and was trying to use magic to do it, but what you did was still kind of a dick move."

"I suppose it was," Qiang conceded. "Truly, I meant no harm by it and only used it to maintain my privacy from her. That there were other ways of using it I will admit, but every other time they were used with her permission. Indeed, with her insistence as often as not. As she often chose the worst of the men, she rather liked a break where her pleasure was guaranteed. Or at least her physical pleasure. I don't doubt she enjoyed bringing low the cruelest of the men."

Sebastian looked over to Qiang. "What did you put there, exactly? Was it like what Dakota and I have?"

Qiang shook his head. "Oh no, no, no. At no point did we have that kind of intimacy or trust. What I placed in Kohaku was energy fashioned into a spell to allow me access to her essence, and limited control over her." He paused. "A dick move, perhaps," he confirmed with a gesture of his claw. "But I will say I wouldn't have done anything to her if she hadn't tried the same trick on me."

Chang's muzzle curled into a smile. "Two wrongs make a right? I assume Zongxian never found out about this?"

"While Zongxian has not now, or ever, had any fondness for tricksters, he most likely would have disagreed with my methods. Though his disagreement would have been keeping any sort of arrangement with her rather than simply forcing her out."

"Are kitsune bad?" Dakota asked.

"Well, that largely depends on the kitsune. Perhaps even more so than humans, kitsune can run the gambit of personality types, though they do mostly tend to be tricksters regardless of their moral character, and possession can be a favorite game. Now Kohaku, she could take a trick too far on occasion, and wasn't always as careful as I would have liked with the fallout of her tricks, but, on the whole, she wasn't as bad as some I've met."

"Did you meet many other spirits?" Mingzhu asked.

Qiang fell silent, considering his answer. "In truth, I did find it remarkable the assortment of spirits I was meeting. And I will say, it got me thinking..."

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