Tauli Ch. 02

"Been asleep." He grunted to the siren, "Have heard any dragon news? Challenge?"

The siren blinked her eyes, a pale yellow with green pupils, "Hmm? Oh. I think there was a challenge, twenty years back. I think most ignored it? Too far to go. No one has united the draconids since Irrlichdan. You cuties always want to go your own way."

"Hunk." One of the other sirens said breathlessly, "He's a hunk. And if you're not mounting his rod, Terhi, get out of the way."

The siren rolled her eyes, "So enthusiastic. It's up to him, Fo. Don't act out. He might not even want us."

The third laughed, grabbing his hand and planting it at her entrance, "Impossible. Everyone wants some loving, Terhi. They just need a little bit of encouragement."

Treichnor refused to be distracted, "Few months. Heart winter. Something woke me up. Voice of woman."

"Sorry, sweetie. Nothing like that." Terhi shook her head.

Fo kissed his cheek, rubbing her womanhood aggressively against his scales. She moaned and whispered, "Could be the divorce day."

"Divorce?" He was unperturbed, used to being worshipped.

The third sighed, "It was weird. A few months ago, a bunch of bad marriages all fell apart on the same day. Nothing big or unexpected. Just... A little bit odd. No signs of magic or voices or anything. Just a weird thing."

The gods, then. He had been awoken by the doings of the divine. There was no guarantee that his awakening was even intentional, but he would have to watch and see. He had not outlived most empires just to be drawn into the politics of the world.

With that small irritation no longer bugging him, the salamander turned his full attention to the sirens. Particularly the one hovering right over him. He grasped her hips and pulled her gently downwards.

"Oh, damn it." Fo pouted as Terhi let out a blissful moan.

The cloaca was small, and Treichnor was not. Even he could tell that the woman was playing up her part as she tried to push herself down his rod. There are some things in this world that just aren't naturally compatible.

Treichnor's hands could almost reach around the lightweight woman's waist, but he knew that when it came to the most beautiful of exotics, that appearances were deceiving. Nature, became questionable.

Not in the same way that a succubus might be able to glamour themselves, to hide the truth of things. Rather, with a little effort, a siren could transform herself to her own desire. Mostly. There were limits to the transformation. However, if she was this tight, then she was choosing to remain this tight.

Terhi panted breathlessly, cheeks bright red, as she tried to force a fit. He lifted her chin gently, and whispered to her, "Natural unnecessary. Show me your magic."

The siren smiled, and her green pupils gave a tiny flash of colour, before she seemed to adjust to his girth. She slipped down around him, leaning into his chest with her head, just as quietly whispering, "Thankyou."

The third grabbed and pushed his hand inside her, and nipped at one of his ears, "Don't forget about me, sweetie."

Fo pouted, "Just let Terhi have her moment, Kyst. She won, this one. Don't be a distraction."

Terhi moaned quietly, "He's better than... Rho en Lytara."

"Pff." Kyst laughed, "Are you still on about that? Nobody believes you ever had him, Terhi. Just shut up and get fucked."

Treichnor's eyes sparked at the reference, as the siren lying against his chest began to move her hips, sliding her soft and supple form up and down him. "Rhoen is... Still alive?"

Fo went incredibly still, no longer humping his side, "You know... The Ancestral Dragon?"

"We hatchlings, with Irrlichdan." He shrugged, closing his eyes to enjoy the siren's efforts, "Not br... Brothers. But... Rel... Shit. Related."

The terrified siren beside him slipped out of the water, grabbing a nearby towel. Fo spoke with a trembling voice, "I am sorry, m'lord. I'll give your refund to the front desk. But... I'm out."

Kyst snorted derisively, "Oh, just go with it, Fo. You're such a little bitch."

"He wasn't lying!" Fo gave a strangled cry, "You know I'm a sooth, Kyst. He. Wasn't. Lying."

The second siren burst out of the water with a kick of her legs, falling over in a scramble to get to her own towel. Treichnor opened a single eye lazily, and saw the two terrified women looking back at their compatriot, still rising and falling against him, expecting her to follow them.

Terhi smiled and kissed at his chin, "More for me."

"You're insane." Fo shook her head, and the two left the room.

He cupped the cheek of the one who remained, and kissed her nose gently, "Rhoen was unkind?"

She gave a weak smile and nod, "You... Aren't. Even if... I'm just a... Whore."

"No one is just." Treichnor shook his head, "You will empty... My purse... If I not... Careful."

She giggled, "Flirting with a paid siren. You have an adorable... Ooh. Adorable side, to you."

"Other side?" He grunted.

She traced one of his scars, "Mysterious, m'lord."

He stood up, grasping her around the waist, turning so that she was sitting on the edge of the pool as he began to pound into her. Making her moan and yip as he ploughed into her.

The black salamander leaned forward and whispered into her webbed ear, "Treichnor is... Treich no Keillian."

She gave a tiny ragged gasp, staring up at him half in fright, and half in desire, "Treichnokeillian..."

He chuckled, and brushed his teeth against her cheek, "You speak draconid. Most insult name."

Her silken hands pulled at his back, "Rhoenlytara taught... Me. He once wanted... Me as his... Bride."

Treichnor groaned into her, pulling her in tight as he gave vent to his need with hard and deliberate movements. His solid body striking against her softness and fragility. The idea of stealing something that had once belonged to his elder pushing him towards his edge.

"I was... Too delicate..." She moaned weakly.

His teeth raked over the edge of her neck, "Adore... Going to..."

"Face. Please." She begged weakly.

He groaned and pulled back, and the siren slipped silently into the water, opening her mouth wide. He grunted as she took him in her hands, pumping furiously, her fingers slipping in her own slickness.

He felt a dull roar rumble up and out of his chest as his seed burst free. Coating the woman's face, her hair, and running down in twisted and thick strands over her breasts.

She gave a nervous laugh, "Ooh. I forgot how much a salamander cums."

As she dunked herself beneath the water to clean off, Treichnor's ears flicked into sharp points. He reached down, grabbing the woman and roughly holding her to his chest. As she started to issue a nervous protest, every window of the building rattled with a distant cry.

The water churned around them, and the building teetered back and forth. The nearby towels slid sideways, as the earth gave sympathy to a pained and angry roar.

Terhi whispered in terror, "Challenge..."

"Worse." Treichnor replied, looking out at the disturbed clouds outside as they burst and flooded down rain, "War declared."

---

The kitseko thumbed through the battered papers carefully. Reports gathered from every corner of the Three Kingdoms. Many of the reports would seem superfluous to an eye less practised than her own.

She relied upon the market reports from a grocer as much as she relied upon the eye witness accounts of gate guards. When the quantity of fish in the north dipped, and the bribes in the east became less effective, you could be certain you were tracing the presence of an intimidating individual.

On that assumption, she'd sent a dragon worshipper to the edge of the desert. Sure enough, he had found traces of an individual, now staying in one of the more expensive guesthouses.

A black salamander from Tammy's own homeland.

Was this doing, Toofy's? The neko was unlikely to let Tammy live forever. She would come for her, sooner or later. Goddess or not, Tammy had slept with the husband of a woman so terrifying that even the divines had developed a caution when interacting or manipulating the vicious catgirl.

The birth of a black salamander tended to be a rare event. The breeding practices of all salamanders was unsustainable. Each only carried a singular egg. They might be as long lived as a kitsune, but the species was doomed to eventual extinction, if they did not evolve.

Meerakeillian could have been that next step, had she not died. Neither red nor black, she had been something new. Though, the north had their own hybrid as well. The granddaughter of Rhoenlytara, a pretty little thing that preferred to be called Tauli. Strong and possessive, she was something Tammy had considered playing with, despite the goddess' warning to stay away, those two decades past.

The rareness of the black, meant that Tammy was fairly certain that she had discovered the name of the newcomer to the competing kingdom. She missed having access to the human empire's libraries, but from what she could recall, Irrlichdan himself had sentenced this one to death, and buried it beneath a mountain.

Treichnokeillian had been part of the uprising at the Golden Mountain, but he had met Irrlichdan's challenge. The former dragon had fought on behalf of humanity and the status quo. Agreeing that all exotics should be slaves beneath humanity.

Tammy had met the kind before. She'd assassinated a number of them, just for fun.

People fighting for the world that they knew, unwilling to pay an uncertain price for an uncertain future. Believing the world they knew was a better one than the world that they could not know. Fools who thought the pain that they knew was better than ever fighting for a better world. Idiots who took the gods at their word, not understanding the separate scales of reality that the deathless and the mortal lived within.

Even Toofy destroying magically-enforced slavery worldwide simply wasn't an event large enough to cross the radar of most gods. Tomorrow for a god might be a world devoid of all life. Mortal creatures lived and died so frequently that for the ancient, they may as well never have existed.

The brief lives of the various species were single-use cannons, the gods taking small pistol shots at each other.

Tammy, wondered how much of a threat this new salamander would be to her. Her king had sided with her, when she convinced him that slavery must remain a thing of the past. She hadn't actually cared, one way or the other. The goal had simply been to keep the crown on his head, so that she could use him to govern her kingdom.

He was replaceable, but it would be frustrating and delicate. Much nicer just to manipulate him and his court, then to have to train a new upstart.

All three of the kingdoms were on the verge of war, a constant state of being. She had defended against a few plagues, and one or two famines, resulting from that fear. Middling lords indulging in greed and corruption, believing their lives at risk from the neighbours.

She'd ordered them replaced, and kept the fragile peace intact. The introduction of a possible new dragonking would bring a chaos she could use, but did not desire. The timing... Irritated her.

Her desk suddenly began to shake.

---

"Wait up, wake up." The catgirl sung lightly, slowly. She moved from post to post in the tavern, sliding her back up and down whilst making eyes at her audience, "Paradise is waiting, a new world is waking! All I know is life upon the throne. You look up at me, but I want... More! Give it up, kitten. I'll never do what you say. Look up at me, before falling at my feet. All I know is life upon the throne."

Nearby her succugirl was trying to get plastered, jealous red eyes locked on her. Kaia shared her catgirl with an entire harem, revelling in the thought of being punished. Enjoying jealousy, but enjoying it didn't mean she didn't feel it.

Bubbles smirked to herself, crossing to the woman and sitting across Kaia's lap, one finger raising her chin as the neko continued to sing, "Wait up, wake up. Tomorrow's a new day, and your heart belongs to me. All I know is life upon the throne. You're going to fuck me, but I want... More! Give it up, girl. I'll never do what you say."

She kissed Kaia briefly as she stood, one hand sliding along her tail as she stepped away from her, "Look up at me, before falling at my feet. All I know is life upon the thro-"

The musical number was interrupted as the doors of the tavern burst open. Guards charged in, circling and drawing their weapons. The owner glared over at them, "Da fuck is this? We're paid up."

The captain waved his sword, "Execute the nekos."

Bubbles squealed and ran up a nearby wall, diving onto the upper balcony, where her foot caught the edge of the carpet and she went straight down. Her jaw cracked loudly against the floor, her teeth crunching as they snapped together.

Leather booted feet landed in front of her.

The neko's pale yellow eyes grew wide with horror as the guard's axe swung down towards her. The axe snapped sideways into the wall as Kaia appeared. The succubus punched him in the throat, before tossing him with her shoulder and over and down into the tavern.

Red eyes flashed, "Run!"

Bubbles stumbled upright, hesitating and looking at Kaia painfully. Her hands flew to her mouth and she screamed as steel ripped through her girlfriend. The succubus eyes lit up and shadows gathered in around her.

The magic hit the neko, and she found herself tumbling head-over-heels in the outside street. She hit the cobblestone, cracking one of her ribs. She hissed between her teeth and launched upright. Bubbles clung at her side as she limped away as quickly as she could.

Hot tears flooded down her cheeks as she made for a nearby alley. Her girlfriend was gone. A weekend that was supposed to be nothing but fun had evaporated in front of her eyes, turning into a horror that she would never forget.

All the nekos.

The empress had been deposed. It was the only thing that made sense to Bubbles, and the threat it carried with it was immense. Not only had someone managed to seize power from Toofy, they were likely an asshole looking to enslave everything that wasn't human. A racist fucker who probably thought he was just setting things right.

As if Bubbles had been intentionally antagonising them by daring to work the same kinds of jobs as humans. Equality wasn't something these bastards really understood.

She sniffed, and spun with a claw raised, relaxing as she saw another neko cowering in the doorway. She smiled at the catgirl in a maid's outfit, "You in one piece, kitten?"

"S-Sana." The woman replied, throat bobbing, "She... She was trying to go that way. Escape into undercity."

She shook her head grimly, "Guards swarming. Bubbles is trying to get to the overcut. She has a friend with the Coiner's. She neko, too. We could get out, that way."

Sana nodded grimly, "Bubbles is hurt?"

"Th-they killed her girlfriend." She warbled, bottom lip shaking, "I... I can't! Running comes first. Can't stay strong. Have to not think. No thinking."

The blonde nodded, sniffling, "Vixi... Tish... She's the only one that escaped. She was in the VIP room. Only reason that she not dead... You sure friend escaped?"

"Ninaein survived an ivyk with her. Helped her pull the Rock Den Heist." Bubbles tried to sound confident, "If there one kitty that not get dead, then it will be her Nina."

The two catgirls slunk through the darker places of the capital city. Moving quickly and quietly whilst they both pretended that the world wasn't caving in on their heads. As if they had a chance of getting out of this alive, whatever it was.

Unfortunately, as they arrived at the overcut, a small cliff overlooking the poorest section of the city, they found the headquarters of the Coiner's Guild on fire. Even without approaching, Bubbles spotted the prone form of a leather-clothed neko. A knife still in either hand where she'd fallen.

"Fuck." Bubbles cursed.

A firm hand grabbed the back of her neck, and she squealed as she felt like she was repeatedly slammed face-first into an invisible black wall. Bubbles was crying in pain when they arrived and she collapsed to the ground.

"Sharhalla?" She groaned, half-expecting to see the salamander. Instead, a bloodied succubus stood over her, lightly tossing a knife and eyeing off the city wall in front of them. It wasn't Kaia. This one had nothing playful about her. She stank of death and a deep rage that made the neko feel like her life was getting shorter just by proximity.

The red-eyed woman winced, "We need a distraction if we're going to get you out of here. The ports are shut down. The underground tunnels were collapsed on the first nekos trying to scatter. Even blocked out the sewers. This is the only way out. Open to ideas."

Sana sat up slowly, "She... She's a whore. She might be able to be a distraction."

"Don't be boring. You'll just die." The succubus sneered.

Bubbles cocked her head, picking up a distant sound, "She thinks..."

The roar hit them.

The succubus snagged the two of them, taking advantage of the moment and flashing thrice in and out of reality to get them over the wall, as the voice of rage shook the ground. Breaking the leather straps holding the armour in place around the guards. Cracking the city wall beneath them. Entire houses behind them vanished into dust at the voice.

Bubbles held onto her ears, trying to protect them, as the ground around them turned into a churning mass. A reflection of the wrath of the voice. The concept of solidity vanished as the cry continued outwards, and parts of the city wall began to crumble and give way. Swallowed by the angry ground beneath it.

The neko whispered, awe in her terrified voice, "Irrlichdan?"

"Worse." The succubus yelled, "A new king. Go, whilst you still have a chance. Make your way north. I'm going back to search for more survivors."

Sana swallowed, "Want to thank her. What is her name?"

"Saia. Crown Princess, and wife, to Toofy." The succubus sneered, "Keep your thanks. I owe these bastards."

---

"Karliah's a good fook, ain'tn she?" Tauli said idly, leaning her chair backwards onto two feet, and lifting a clay jug of ale that was half as tall as she was, and downing a skinful.

Skip coughed, turning crimson, "I... I didn't."

"Eh. Yas was wantin' to. What made ya t'ink twice?" Tauli said in surprise.

He sighed heavily, "I was fairly certain that if I did... Bed her... That your disappointment in me would be immeasurable. And that her less circumspect coworkers would rob me blind."

"I... Would mind. Be a bitch 'n all." Tauli admitted and sipped again, "Buts I wouldnae be blamin' ya. She's a cute thang. And ya be wantin' o' her. But ya probs right. People round here would lift ya copper, if dey didnae know ya me friend."

He glanced around, "I was... Surprised, to hear that you're a regular here. Regius told me to stay away from the Briney. Too many villains for even a beggar lord to tolerate."

"Villains jus' be folks 'n shit. Dey be the ones dat not wantin' da society dey find themselves in, 'n be willing ta try 'n change it." Tauli said forlornly, feeling philosophical after seeing Aetauin after so long. As a deserter, the woman's life was forfeit. It made the axomander think that maybe some laws should have a limit to how long between the crime and punishment there could be. Convincing her advisers... That would be difficult.

Skip smiled in amusement, "Are you a villain, Tauli?"

"Noaw." She laughed, "I be much worse, 'n shit. I be one of them that ain't fightin' ta change t'ings, but not fightin' ta keep 'em, neither. I'm a girl who just not give a shit."

He sipped at his fist-sized mug, and spoke quietly, "Thankyou. For saving me."