New Rider 4

His mother looked slightly appalled at the suggestion, but the boy immediately quieted, and she gave me a look like she might allow it, but she really hoped the boy wouldn't notice our return. From the look on the lad's face, I was pretty sure he'd be living at the edge of town for the next week, watching for our arrival. Eryn gave him a little wave - which he returned - and we headed for the cooperage.

When we got to Arden's I found two odd-looking chairs on the porch. Arden stepped out and saw me looking at them.

"Busted barrels," he said. "I put boards in the middle to make a seat. I thought they would be good advertisements for the shop. Oddly enough, two people liked them so much that they've asked me to make them a pair of barrel-chairs for their homes. They don't work so well inside but they're terrific to sit in on the stoop. They're weather-resistant and stay put in a breeze."

I laughed at how the cooper had turned his business into making furniture for people's porches and lawns. Lawn furniture - who would have thought?!

Sunley looked at me, sitting in one of the chairs and then lumbered over to the other one and climbed up to sit in it - looking over at me. Arden and the girls howled in laughter at the bear's silly antics.

I asked the captain if he had any further use for the extra horse that they'd brought home with them. He shook his head. Since it would continue to cost them money to feed it, we decided to go ahead and sell it. That would also put a little more coin in their pockets. I removed the owner's mark from its hoof and the captain said he would take care of it.

I stood and offered Arden the stipend that I'd promised to him and the boys. He shook his head at me.

"You've done enough, my lord," he replied. "I already have a steady business going and the boys are learning their trades and making money. We appreciate all that you've done for us."

"Take it and put it aside for now," I told him. "Get yourself a strongbox and store it away. Let me know when you need more."

"There's a strongbox in the back," he told me. "I'll store it away, but I don't expect to ever come calling with my hat in my hand. You've made sure that we'll succeed."

"Just the same," I told him. "All you have to do is ask. The girls and I - and Sunley I guess - will be back to visit next week and then we'll be traveling for a week or two. Do you need anything brought back when we come?"

"Nothing that I can think of, Lord Striker," he said.

I nodded and shook his hand.

"Come on, Sunley," I called to the bear. "Let's head home."

Arden grinned and shook his head as the bear, the girls, and I stepped into the street and headed for the mountain.

~~~

As we climbed back towards the cave, we found a pair of horses tied to a tree, browsing for grass. Near the mouth of the cave, two young men waited. They were dressed like messengers - but not royal messengers.

"Lord Striker?" one asked as we approached.

"Yes?"

He extended a scroll. I read it and handed it to the girls. Eryn showed it to Tala, but she shook her head. I needed to have the elf teach the orc to read. Eryn looked at me and nodded, smiling.

"I love you," I whispered to the elf.

"I love you, too," she whispered back. "I'll teach her."

Tala wrapped an arm around the elf's waist and squeezed.

I looked at the messengers, "Ride back and tell the mayor that I'm on my way. I'll close things up here and fly there. In all likelihood, I'll beat you back. If I'm not there by the time you return, let him know that I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Thank you, my lord," the messenger said.

The two of them left, giving Sunley a wide berth on their way by.

"Sunley," I told the bear. "Let's get you settled in as watchman over the place. The girls and I are going to be gone for a few days."

He'd been sitting on his butt again, like he was part of the conversation. He dropped back onto all-fours and padded towards me.

For the next hour or so, I worked to make a small den - a dozen feet inside of the entrance to my cave - where Sunley could have a room of his own. I raised some stone slabs, so he'd have a protected sleeping space and made a little area for him to store whatever loot or food he dragged back.

I slipped into the house and gathered several strips of pemmican from my stores of travel food. I had one or two biscuits, so I added those as well. I grabbed a sweet roll out of the pantry stone. Once I was back in the cavern, I shaped a large platter from some stone and took it to the little bear's space. Sunley was already resting in his little cave-bed. I'd made it slightly larger than he needed, to accommodate him as he grew, but I would need to enlarge it if he got a lot bigger.

"Okay, bud," I told him. "I've got some food and some treats for you, but they won't last long. If I were you, I would save the pemmican for later. Go hunt and feed yourself. Drink from the stream. Keep this stuff here for a reserve."

I put the platter down by the cave wall and placed the honeyed sticky roll on it.

"This is a treat for being such a good lad today in town. If you're still guarding the cave when the girls and I return, I'll get you another. Do you understand?"

Sunley looked from me to the roll and back to me again before giving me a bark that I assumed was his consent. He had been very attentive as I'd given him his instructions, but I wasn't really sure how much of it he'd understood. I placed a strip of dried meat next to the sweet roll and then put the rest of the trail food on a little ledge along the wall. He eyeballed the crude "pantry" and then looked at the treats on the stone platter.

"Go ahead," I told him.

He sat down by the platter and picked up the bun. The girls and I laughed at him as he devoured the roll and then lapped the honey from his paws and fur. Once his mitts and his snout had been cleansed of stickiness, he rolled onto his feet and came over and bumped me with his nose. I laughed and scratched him between his ears.

"You can eat the jerky on the platter, you brute," I told him. "Save the rest for later. I'm not sure when we'll be back."

I headed for the house. The girls followed behind me.

"Grab one or two sets of clothes for working or fighting," I warned them. "Grab a nice outfit or two as well - the azure ones. Grab several sets of undergarments. For now, load them into shoulder bags. We'll visit the jeweler first and get you storage rings like mine. Once you have those, we can stop worrying about what you need to carry."

"We're not flying straight to the village?" Eryn asked.

"No," I replied. "You two need to get some battle practice and we need some basic supplies before we can do that. We'll be making a few stops before we go to the village. If we flew straight there, we could probably be there before nightfall. Even with the detour, we still may beat the messengers back to the village."

I stopped in the storeroom, grabbed bags for them, and tossed them to the girls.

"I need you wearing clothes when we fly," I told them, focusing on Tala's eyes.

"Aww," she grumbled.

"We'll be getting you some light armor or something," I told them. "You okay wearing leather?"

"I'll wear as little or as much as you want, my lord," Eryn promised.

Tala nodded.

"I'm thinking a leather corset and chest-covering to protect your vitals, short pants for your groin and thighs, tall boots for your ankles and calves, and maybe greaves for your wrists and forearms? Your shoulders, elbows, and knees would be unprotected but it will maximize mobility. I expect you to avoid getting hit."

They both nodded.

"Helmets?" I asked.

"If we have to," Eryn lamented.

"Maybe we'll see if the jeweler can do some circlet headpieces and I'll enchant them to give your head the protections I want."

"Thank you, my lord," Tala said. "I'd rather not try to fit a helmet over my hair."

"And I love your sexy contrasting looks," I told the girls. "I want you protected but - quite honestly - I want you to look as ravishing and dangerous as I possibly can. Your beauty will distract them while you rend them limb from limb."

I growled appreciatively as my two girls gave me feral grins as they thought about destroying our enemies. I really wanted to throw them on the couch and fuck them right now, but we needed to be moving.

"Grab your things," I told them. "We need to leave soon."

They went to the closets to find the outfits I had described. I headed to my clothing-space and loaded what I thought I'd need into my storage-ring. I wouldn't be traveling incognito this time. There was no reason to pretend like I had to carry my shit in a leather satchel that was covered in road-dust.

A few minutes later, the girls joined me in the front room. They were wearing linen shirts and pants. The pants were too long on Eryn and too short on Tala.

"Take the pants off," I ordered.

"Gladly, my lord," Tala said, giggling.

I laughed at her implied suggestion.

I did a bad job of it, but I pulled a dagger out and sliced the pant-legs off a few inches below the crotch of the pants. I returned Tala's to her and did the same with Eryn's. They slipped them back on. They were covered - and cute.

"I think those will work for flying for now," I told them. "Once we've got your armor, I'd prefer that you wear it when we're flying. Those outfits will be good for fun trips but - whenever we're working - we need to be ready to rumble at a moment's notice. I've never fought another dragon, but I don't want to take any chances that one might decide to go rogue."

The girls nodded, shouldered their bags, and stepped up to give me kisses, taking my hands in theirs as we prepared to leave our home.

"Alright, sexy bitches," I said, as they pranced along beside me. "Let's go kill some shit!"

"But first," Eryn cooed, "shopping!"

Tala laughed and said, "Yes!"

"Could you start on some reading lessons while we're flying?" I asked Eryn.

"Do you have a slate and chalk?" she asked.

I dug around in my storage-ring and found what we needed. I handed them over to her. As I locked the doors to the house, she stored the items in her bag.

As we left the cave, we stopped to give Sunley scratches, hugs, and muzzle-kisses. I laughed at the sad look on his face.

"We'll be back before you know it, mongrel," I told him. "Keep an eye on the place and be a good boy."

He sat on his butt and waved his paw at us.

We headed to the right of the cave entrance, where there was a small clearing that I used for landings and takeoffs. I stripped, stored my clothes, waited for the girls to rub my cock for luck (or whatever) and transformed.

<"See if you can tuck your bags in front of you in your seats,"> I told the girls.

They climbed aboard and I stretched out my wings. As soon as they were in their places, I leapt into the air and started flapping my wings. I turned east and headed for our private innkeeper's house.

<"The bags barely fit,"> Eryn complained.

<"We'll leave them at the stable-boy's house,"> I told them. <"We'll be using that as our base of operations for the next day or two.">

The girls had sent me mental pictures of their memories of the lady who had given up her bed for us to spend the night.

<"We should take her some of Bree's Greedy Bear mead,"> Tala thought to me.

<"Remind me, next time,"> I told her.

She sent me back a mental nod.

I flew a little faster than usual. Eryn complained that she was having trouble messing with the slate because of the turbulence. I gave the girls permission to wait on the lessons. They settled back and watched the terrain fly by beneath us. They threatened me with violence when I did a quick barrel-roll.

<"Why do you do that?!"> Tala complained - even though I could sense a smile on her face.

<"Are you shitting me?"> I asked them. <"When I was first learning to fly, barrel rolls and loops were major milestones in my flying skills.">

<"Loops?!"> Eryn gasped. <"Don't you EVEN ..."> she threatened.

<"Barrel rolls aren't so bad after all, are they?"> I asked, laughing.

<"For you, maybe,"> Tala growled.

<"Just so you know, if we get into any kind of aerial combat, you're going to get a lot worse than that.">

I could feel the girls shudder through both my spine and my mind.

I couldn't help but laugh at them.

The sun was pushing towards the horizon when I landed in the middle of the main street in the town where the stable-boy's mom lived. The girls clambered down, kissed my fanged-maw, and held hands as they skipped down the side street to make our room reservations.

I watched the door open. I knew the woman would ask where I was. When the girls pointed and she looked, I flapped my wings, her hands flew up to her mouth and her heart. A snort of steam escaped my nostrils as I chuckled.

Soon she was nodding, the girls were racing back towards me, and the woman gave me a wave. I flapped my wings again and crouched for the girls to climb back aboard.

<"You keeping the bags?"> I asked.

<"Shit!"> they both gasped.

I laughed as they grabbed their packs and raced back towards the house. Our host laughed too - and then accepted the luggage from the girls and set the bags at her feet to watch the girls run back to me. They climbed aboard, got settled, and I took off. We circled over the town and they waved to the lady. She waved back and then grabbed the bags to duck back inside.

<"Mabel,"> Eryn told me, providing the woman's name.

<"Two nights?"> I asked.

<"Dinner and a bed. I told her we'd be back in about an hour.">

<"I love you,"> I told the girls.

<"We love you, too,"> they both responded.

<"She was excited to see us again, my lord,"> Tala added.

A half-hour later, we landed outside of the town where the jeweler lived. Before I transformed, I tried to grab a beam of sunlight to hide myself, but dusk was falling, and it didn't work. I really wasn't sure it would work in my dragon form, but it would make things easier if I could land as a dragon, hide, transform, dress, and then reappear as a human.

We stepped into the shop and held our breaths, waiting for the master jeweler to appear.

"Oh, gods!" she gasped when she saw us.

She came around the counter and hugged the girls. She looked at the collars and nodded.

"Don't touch it!" Eryn warned her as she reached out.

"Spelled as well?" she asked me.

I nodded and said, "I spelled them first and then decided to put an illusion over them. The girls can still see them. Give me your hand, if you would."

She offered me her hand, and I took it, touching the girls' collars and allowing her to see and touch them.

"You should be able to touch them safely now," I told her.

The girls laughed as the woman gave me a look that said that she wasn't sure she wanted to try it, but she reached out and ran her fingers over each of them, checking her work.

"Any problems?" she asked the girls.

"No, master crafter," Tala replied.

The jeweler smiled and nodded. She turned to me and said, "You've a task for me or just stopped to let me check on my babies?"

I removed the illusion from my ring and showed it to her.

"Theirs don't need to match mine but this is a storage-item," I told her. "I'll handle the enchantment, but I'd like mithril rings that will do the job and look as nice as their collars. I would also like circlet headpieces for each of them - also in mithril and whatever else you think - that will be enchanted to take the place of helmets for when we go into battle."

"Battle, my lord?"

I nodded.

"Do you have the metal?" she asked. "I don't have access to much mithril."

I pulled out two ingots and laid them on the counter.

"Gems?" I asked.

"What color?" she inquired.

I pulled my shirt out of my pack and said, "Leather armor with highlights to match this."

"Lightning mage?" she asked. "Aquamarine or topaz?"

I pulled some stones out of storage and arrayed them on the counter by type. The jeweler and the girls liked the topaz better, so we went with those stones.

"The mithril takes longer to work than the silver," she warned.

"We'll come back tomorrow or the next day - whichever works," I told her.

"I just changed the sheets on my bed," she reported, snickering.

The girls laughed and gave her squeezes.

"We've a room and dinner waiting, my lady," I said. "Thank you, though."

"I should have both rings and circlets done by tomorrow's eve," she said.

"I'm not interrupting other work?" I asked.

She shook her head and said, "It's quiet here and I love it, but I don't have anywhere near the business that I had in the city."

I nodded.

"You need anything else from me?" I asked.

"It looks like you've got it all covered - as usual - my lord," she said, smiling.

"I look forward to seeing your creations," I told her offering her a hug.

She accepted it and said, "I'll see you in about a day. Thank you, my lord."

"We are in your debt, dear woman," I told her. "I assure you."

The girls gave the jeweler hugs and kisses and we let ourselves out. The street was empty, so I stripped and began transforming. I looked over to see the jeweler standing in the door of the shop, shaking her head and smiling.

"Safe travels," she called out as the girls climbed aboard.

"Thank you!" they called back to her.

I launched us into the air, and we headed back to Mabel's for dinner and a soft bed.

As we ate, Eryn told our hostess about how she'd discovered that she could hide herself in a beam of sunlight. Tala told her about finding her magic and about Sunley adopting us. She laughed as we told her the story about how Bree had named his mead. She told us that she would be delighted if we could bring her a taste. I assured her that I wasn't sure when it would be but that the girls had already committed to helping me remember.

At bedtime, I tried to get Mabel to join us in her bed, but she laughed and told me that I'd just give her a heart-attack and then we'd have nowhere to stay when we visited. She accepted a kiss on the cheek before we retired for the night.

The girls licked and sucked me to hardness. Eryn rode my tongue and Tala rode my cock and we all came at the same time. Tala blew out the candle and we snuggled together. I was asleep in seconds.

~~~

Mabel started our day with a hearty breakfast, as usual.

We stepped to the main street, I caught a beam of sunlight and disappeared, I undressed, stored my clothes, and transformed. I tumbled out of the sunbeam as my shape changed but my form was indistinct enough that I decided that was how I would do it from now on.

We momentarily startled a woman who was leaving the house to go empty a chamber pot into the sewers. The girls reassured her that everything was okay. They mounted up and we took off. They gave Mabel a wave and we headed east.

I followed the road until we got to the "T" intersection where we could travel north to pass by Eryn's former home. We turned south and headed for Southtown - the city that was only a few minutes away. It had been a while since I'd been here, but they should still have the things we needed.

I landed in a courtyard, near one of their administrative buildings, and began transforming. As soon as I could, I grabbed a sunbeam and disappeared. I got dressed and reappeared.

I made my way back to the leatherworker's shop that I had visited a century before. The man that I had dealt with the last time was no longer there. His son was near retirement and was training the grandson in their craft.

I got permission from the pair to project my thoughts into their minds and gave them a mental image of what I had described to the girls. I shared the images among all five of us. The girls had a couple minor practical tweaks to suggest. I added those to the images. The older leatherworker agreed that those changes would work better for the girls if they were going to be fighting.