Tears For The Dragon Ch. 02

Petra coughed discreetly. "Um, you haven't ever said what would happen if they did, er, prosecute you."

"I would be subject to trial by combat, against a champion of my people's choosing." Emsari's face was grave...or at least Celia thought it was grave. She was still trying to figure out draconic facial expressions.

Celia nodded. "Well, I guess it will have to be our little secret then. Another question...are we using your lair as our base of operations? It's very nice," and here she gave Emsari a little bow, "But it is a fair distance from Vasalat."

Miklos raised a finger. "Assume part of plan is to use Katona family estate as headquarters?" he asked.

Tibor nodded sheepishly. "I know it's a bit of an imposition, but..."

"No problem! Have plenty of room, yes-yes? Ancestral home is a bit large for one person anyway, will be good to have others there."

Gard and Celia shared a look as they both thought the same thing. "Um, what about your servants?" Gard asked.

The Duke gave another embarrassed look. "Not many at present...as mentioned, hard times."

Petra sipped more of her drink. "Okay, even with that taken care of we've got a lot to plan for. We need to figure out how to break into and then back out of the Vasalat temple without anybody knowing. Oh, and steal a heavily guarded magical artifact and replace it...again, without anybody knowing. All while dodging Metternich and the King's goons."

"Can start on replica immediately," said Miklos with a smile. "Have plenty of reference pictures, can then make final refinements to copy once we have original in hand."

Tibor nodded. "You do that. Everyone, please make lists of anything you need and hand them to me or Emsari. We might even have it here already. In two weeks, we'll make the move to the Katona manor house and finalize our plans."

He raised his glass, and everyone followed suit. "I would drink to a new and better king, but I'll be honest. I'm doing this more for revenge. And revenge for someone in particular. So let's drink to Natalia." He drank the rest of his brandy.

"To Natalia," repeated the others as they also finished their drinks.

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Fortunately, the lair had plenty of separate rooms for the team. Gard saw that Petra had just put a cot in her lab and called it good. The other two new arrivals had rooms of their own just next door to his own. Gard's room was a bit small, but at least it was tall enough that he didn't have to stoop. Emsari also had installed a proper round ogre's nest-bed as well, which was a pleasant surprise.

Before they had retired for the evening, the dragon passed them some notes with the amount that they would be paid for their services. In Gard's case, it was a number large enough to be an even more pleasant surprise than the bed. Based on Celia's sudden poker-face, Gard figured that the burglar had received a similarly big number.

He now lay in his nest-bed while staring at the pale stone of the ceiling. The candle next to him flickered slowly, sending impressionistic shadows racing along the walls. It was hard for him to sleep, mostly due to his mind whirling through the possible problems that lay ahead.

Gard was no stranger to perilous situations both before and after he'd been exiled. He bore the scars of many battles, and he knew that the waiting before the fighting began was the hardest part. However, this situation was different than a straight-up rumble. For this job, he was expected to be subtle at times. And the ogre honestly didn't know if he could pull that off.

He closed his eyes, but sleep still eluded him. Gard then realized he could hear a low noise. It was very faint, just barely detectable by his keen hearing. And then his equally keen nose caught a whiff of a musky scent.

Gard sighed. From Emsari and Tibor's interactions earlier, he had a good idea of what was going on. However, caution dictated that he should make absolutely sure...just in case something nefarious was afoot. He carefully got to his feet and unlatched his door. Moving as silently as he could, the ogre opened the door. It was thick and wooden, and thankfully it didn't creak.

As he opened the door, the noise grew louder. He could now hear two separate voices in it. Gard stuck his head out just enough to get his eyes around the door jamb. He looked down the hallway, back towards the dragon's large bedchamber.

The first thing he saw was the green-scaled back of Emsari rising out of the dragon's bowl-shaped nest. The dragon was looking down into the nest, and she rocked back and forth as she softly grunted. Gard could just hear the responding moans of Tibor sounding in counterpart to the dragon's own lusty sounds.

Okay, then. It was just what he'd suspected, and all was normal. Or at least as 'normal' as it could be while in the lair of a horny dragon currently having sex with her human companion. Moving just as carefully, he withdrew his head and softly closed the door.

Gard then turned back towards his nest-bed and jumped in surprise. The ceiling was low enough for him to whack his head pretty hard against the unyielding rock. The ogre got his breath under control, then rubbed his sore head while he glared at the gray-clad figure that now lay before him.

"This is really quite comfy," said Celia. "It's me first time in an ogre's bed." She gave him a cheeky wink that he ignored.

He looked at the door, then back at her. He'd had it open for maybe all of thirty seconds, and he'd also been occupying most of the doorway during that time. "All right, now I'm officially impressed. How in Hades did you get past me?"

She waggled her eyebrows and pointed in the direction of Emsari's nest. "They do make a cute couple, don't they? Not to mention one hell of a distraction."

"Is there a point to your being here, other than to show off?"

Celia stretched a little in a manner that reminded Gard of a lazy cat. "I just wanted to thank you for facing down that dragon when she attacked me."

Gard felt a little embarrassed. "Well, to be fair she was only pretending to attack you."

"You didn't know that. It still took guts. And you'd just met me, after all." She leaned back and looked over at the lit candle. "It's hard for me to sleep in a new place. It seems you have the same problem."

He drew himself up a little. "Not at all. The noise woke me. I just wanted to check that all was well."

The lanky female stretched again and got to her feet. Gard noticed that she held her head at a slant that presented the un-scarred side of her face towards him. "And you wanted to give in to your curiosity, eh?"

Gard blew out an exasperated breath. "Yes. There are ancient ogre legends of dragons using other races to, well, recharge their magic through..." he trailed off.

"Through schtupping?" she asked with an even cheekier grin.

"Yeah. That. I thought that's was going on here, but I needed to make sure." Gard shifted uncomfortably. Thankfully he was still wearing his loincloth. But the topic of discussion, plus that draconic scent in the air, was making it hard for him to concentrate.

Celia shrugged. "I think it's more than a simple sex-for-magic trade going on here. Those two seem genuinely fond of each other. And big scary dragon or no, Emsari wouldn't buck her own people's laws without feeling real affection for Tibor."

"I hope so," replied Gard. "For a job this dangerous, we all need to be committed."

The lanky woman stepped closer. Celia was tall for a human, but she barely came up to Gard's chest. She kept her head tilted to show her face's un-marked side. "You sound like you've been in similar situations."

"I'll be honest, nothing quite like this." Gard shifted again and breathed more deeply to relax himself. Unfortunately that meant he took in more of the dragon's musk. The earthy smell now seemed to permeate everything. "But I've been in combat. And that's all I'll say about my past. Was that all you wanted to know?"

"Not quite." Celia stepped even closer and looked up into his eyes. Her own eyes still twinkled, although with something more than humor. She still kept her head tilted away from Gard. "I guess I should just come out and ask. Have you ever...been...with a human?"

"No."

The burglar looked away. "Hasn't any of us ever, you know, propositioned you?"

"They have." Gard took a deep breath. The musk of sex made him remember several times during his exile when human females...and once, a human male...had expressed the same desire that Celia was now hinting at. He'd turned them all down for the same reason, and without any further discussion. Now, however, he felt the need to explain himself. For Celia's sake, if nothing else. He looked at her face, but she didn't meet his eyes. The woman was staring off into the corner of his room in a fixated manner, her eyes guarded.

"I guess we look too strange to you, eh?" asked Celia.

He felt a pang of empathy. From the positioning of her head, it was clear by now that Celia was self-conscious about her scarring. He could definitely relate to that feeling. although in his case it was due to his size rather than his scars.

Gard took another deep breath. "No, it's more that humans look too familiar." Upon her sidelong look of surprise, he kept talking. "Have you ever seen an ogre child? Before puberty, their tusks are nonexistent. The skin is much more of an earth-tone, and they have a protective fuzz of fur on top of their head that eventually falls out. And they haven't started to put on any appreciable muscle."

Her brown eyes widened. "Oh. So to you humans look like..."

"Like prepubescent children," said Gard with finality.

He saw her shoulders slump a little. "Damn." She rubbed the short hair on her head. "Well, thanks for saying why not. I wish I knew what had me so riled up. I was just in the mood, ya know? And I know we met only a few hours ago, but you did challenge an angry dragon for me. I also have a...thing for muscles." She flicked her eyes at Gard's bare chest.

Celia must be reacting to the dragon's pheromones as well, even if she didn't consciously realize it. The ogre took another deep breath, this time fully reveling in the smell of sex that filled his lungs. He reached towards her with one thick finger, then hooked it under her chin and drew her up to meet his eyes directly. He could hear her breathe faster as he carefully gripped her chin with his thumb and forefinger and gently turned her head over to the other side. Now the scarred portion of her visage was fully presented to his black-eyed gaze.

Gard's voice was soft. "I should also mention that ogres aren't considered fully mature until we get our first good scar. That goes for females as well."

With his other hand, he indicated a long crease that ran up and over one side of his scalp. "This was my first. We were hunting a boar, and the thing charged me before I was ready." He gave a rumbling chuckle. "It knocked my damn-fool head against a tree, but at least I was properly blooded."

He let go of her chin and traced his forefinger over the scars on her face. Celia gave a full-body shudder at the touch, followed by a slight gasp.

"Oh, damn," she whispered. Her own hands reached out hesitantly, as if she expected him to bat her aside at any moment. But Gard did nothing to stop her from touching his chest. Her fingers shyly pressed against the corded muscle of his pectorals, and she gave another little gasp.

Gard's own finger traced down the side of her neck. His heart was beating faster. If she had been an ogress, what was coming next would look more like hand-to-hand combat than sex. Celia was strong and tough for a human, but he knew he had to control himself or he'd break her. Fortunately his mage training had given him plenty of discipline.

That discipline wavered, however, as her exploring hands drifted down the firm swell of his abdominals and towards his hips. Her long fingers deftly unlaced the thongs holding his loincloth closed.

"Gotta see what I have to deal with here," she said with a ghost of a smile. Then her eyes widened as she tossed the bit of clothing aside and gazed upon his thick and dangling member. "Blooooody 'ell."

Now it was Gard's turn to feel self-conscious. "Am I...too big?" Then he gasped as she slid both hands down along his cock and grasped its spongy head. His cock hardened quickly as she massaged the head with one hand. Her other hand ran back down his length to cup his balls. They were big enough so that she could only fit one at a time in her palm.

Celia gave a little laugh. "At least you're a show-er, not a grow-er, mate. If this got much bigger I was gonna have second thoughts."

Gard's breath came faster as she explored him, and he could feel a little wobble starting in his legs. His own fingers were busy as they unlaced the top of her blouse. Celia broke off her fondling for a moment to pull the garment off over her head.

Gard greedily drank in the sight of her exposed flesh. She was slim, especially compared to an ogress, but there was corded muscle underneath her pale skin that bunched and flexed as she moved. There were more scars here and there on her body, scars smaller than those on her face but still appealing to his eyes. Her breasts were small, barely the size of peaches, and they were capped with coral-colored nipples that drew his gaze like a lodestone.

Celia began to reach for him again, but paused and looked a little shy. "Am I...too small?"

In response Gard slid one huge hand under her ass and lifted her up. His ardor was such that she seemed to weigh next to nothing. His other hand went around her bare back to support her as he drew her chest up to his mouth. Celia gave a little cry of delight as his thick pink tongue licked at one nipple. Gard was pleased to feel it harden as he stroked his tongue over it, and the small colored area of skin around the nub crinkled in a way he found intriguing. He shifted his attention to her other nipple as her hands gripped at his smooth, hairless scalp.

"How...how long has it been for you?" she gasped.

He stopped lapping at her chest. "Too long. Take your pants off, please."

"Please? Heh, yer such a gentleman."

Gard set her down so that she could shimmy out of her trousers. He felt another swell of lust as he regarded her sleekly muscled legs. Her haunches reminded him of a hunting hound getting ready to spring at its prey. He trailed one hand up the back of her thigh as she moaned. He almost picked her up and pinned her against the wall so that he could taste her cunny, but stopped himself.

"Um, perhaps you should take the lead," he panted. "Just to be safe."

"Good idea," she responded. Her own breathing was also heavy. "I wanna try something." She waved at his bed-nest. "Lay on your side, okay?"

He wasn't sure what she had in mind, but did so. Then he felt a little surprise as she laid down next to him, but with her head towards his groin. She threw one leg over hie shoulder, exposing her core to him. Then she lifted his leg...or tried to, at least. Gard suddenly got the idea and put his leg over her shoulder to mirror her position.

Gard felt the heat of her breath on his member, then he gasped as he felt the wet velvet touch of her tongue on his cock-head. As she kissed and suckled on his tip, he leant his head forward to explore her with his tongue. Celia was already excited, as he could see by the thin sheen of moisture on her lower lips. Her own lovely scent overpowered the background smell from the dragon. He moved his head carefully to avoid scraping his tusks against her inner thighs. He gave a her a long firm lick along her cleft, and Celia twitched and moaned in response.

He felt her jaw stretch as she took his cock-head into her mouth. The feeling of wet and soft warmth surrounding his tip made Gard give a moan of his own. He traced all along her cunny with the tip of his tongue and tasted her excitement. At the top of her pussy, he licked repeatedly and felt a little hard nub emerge. At least human females were similar to ogresses in that regard.

Celia moaned around his cock and slobbered around it as she forced it deeper into her mouth. In response Gard moved his tongue back to her entrance and pushed it inside. The walls of her pussy clamped around him and he was rewarded with a fresh gush of her excitement. He gripped her ass with one hand and pushed her down onto his thick tongue as she shuddered.

One of her hands stroked up and down on his cock as she bobbed her head, and her other reached down to fondle his balls. Gard could feel the pressure rising in him, but his discipline kept himself in check. He withdrew his tongue from her wonderfully wet cunny and lapped again at her clit while he pushed a finger into her. His digit was thicker than his tongue, and he could feel the stretch in her pussy's muscles as they gripped his finger. He began to pump his finger into her as he kept licking her nub.

She all but threw her head onto his cock, and he felt his tip bump up against the entrance to her throat. Before he could say anything, she kept pushing onto him. Gard grunted in amazed lust as he felt her throat expand to receive him. Both of her hands now caressed his balls, and she rolled them gently as she moaned again with a throat-full of cock. The vibration around his member made stars dance in Gard's eyes, and he nearly blew right then.

But he was able to hold off, and added another finger into her silken honeypot. She twitched as he pumped her faster and faster. He felt the urge to thrust into her throat, but stopped himself and let her take the lead with his cock.

His own moans filled the room until finally he managed to gasp out "Celia, I'm gonna..."

She pulled him out of her throat until just his tip was held in her mouth. He exploded what felt like an endless stream of jism into her, and he felt her swallow like mad to keep ahead of his gushing. Then she kept sucking at his glans while she quaked around his thrusting fingers with her own climax.

They shook against each other for a long moment as their respective orgasms subsided. Celia gave his prick one final suckle and dropped it from her mouth. "Wow, mate. That was really damn good."

Gard panted in response as he stroked one hand along the smooth flesh of her inner thighs. He finally was able to speak. "Yes, 'wow' is the right word."

Celia chuckled and pulled away, then wriggled around so that they were facing each other. She nuzzled into his chest while his arms went around her. He bent his head down and sniffed the top of her head. He now found her scent intoxicating. Gard trailed one huge hand down her back and rested it on her ass-cheeks, and with the other he stroked her back.

"Thank you," he said softly. "Was I too rough?"

She laughed, then gripped one of his biceps and started kneading it. "Nah, you were fucking amazing. Heh. Literally."

They lay in pleasant silence for a while. Gard had forgotten how nice it was to simply hold someone close. Then Celia rubbed her inner thigh along his groin and Gard gave a little growl of lust. He felt himself stiffen as he hugged her closer.

"Mmmm," murmured Celia. "Somebody has definitely been without for far too long." She gently pushed at Gard's shoulder and he obediently rolled onto his back. She straddled him and began rubbing her cleft along the underside of his shaft. He could feel the trail of moisture left along his cock as she got more excited. Celia grinned down at his enraptured face.

"I'm gonna make sure you go to sleep with a smile," she purred. She moved forward and pressed her folds around his cock-head, then rose up and reached down to grasp his member and align it with her pussy.

He felt a brief moment of alarm. "Just don't hurt yourself..." he panted.