The Dragonskin Chronicles Bk. 02

"I can wield the axe one-handed, Zyn, my father insisted on my ability to swing it effectively with either hand when doing my basic Militia training all those years ago. Besides, I have used it since on occasion and not just by necessity. I also have the light dwarf sword for my sword arm, does that count as 'light'?" he grinned.

"I dare say that it's probably the best I could wish for, my love," Zyndyr conceded with a slight shake of her head, "but I think we should be safe here, the delegation from Goblin King Mamdhuk were friendly yesterday after their escort happily joined us in battling the last Orc horde, even though they were unasked."

"That was a welcome incident that showed Goblin, Dwarf, Man and Elf side by side fighting Orc. A memorable scene that would warm any warrior's heart seeking justice for all."

"Aye, there was ever animosity between Goblin and Dwarf, but Orc was always a common enemy to them. And, before Hawkhart, the Goblins were allies of your grandfather when he was King of Man."

"I know of none that favour the Orcs, 'cept the Undead of Blearn." Korwyn said with certainty.

"True, but there are Rock Spirits, too, who have allied themselves to the Orcs in the past. And this world's natives, the Woodland Spirits, are elusive creatures who rarely trouble anyone, but may ally themselves to the Rock Spirits if pushed. I know of these woods now part of Goblin lands from when I first came to this world, when they were called the Frogmere Beeches; then they were a haunting ground of disturbed spirits and only the Goblins could endure their haunting attentions."

"Mountoule claimed last night that it will take two days of marching to clear the woods and a further day across the flat lands to the Bridge at Swollen River."

"Aye, he mebbee about right, these woods are indeed extensive," Zyndyr agreed, "but I still trust him not."

"Well, after breakfast I will go to the head of the column and, if confronted by any Goblins I will speak with them and explain that King Mamdhuk allows us through and will allow the Dwarf Army to return this way home unhindered after confronting Goadrik."

Korwyn indeed rode at the head of the column all morning and it was around midday that, in a clearing in the forest, he came across a welcoming party of Goblins, including King Mamdhuk himself and his Queen. A buffet table was laden with fruits and cold meats with jugs of Goblin ale to drink out of lovely crystal goblets. Zyndyr was swiftly sent for and the column halted as at least a dozen dozens of Goblin servants passed down the column handing out flasks of ale and Goblin pasties of meat and jam to the Dwarf soldiers.

Zyndyr could speak Goblin fluently and translated what the Goblin King was offering.

"They too lost so many Goblin courtiers and soldiers at Hawkshart and he wants to be part of the historic righting of the wrong. He has ordered two regiments of Goblin infantry and one regiment of Goblin cavalry to join our Army under your command, Korwyn. They are making their way from their winter quarters to meet with us at the Bridge across Swollen River."

Korwyn ordered the Army to set camp there after enlarging the clearing, erecting their tents and joining in the feast and relaxing. Each regiment set guards and changed them regularly, but there were no attacks during a night notable for its laughter and camaraderie.

The King and his entourage had departed late afternoon before dark. Korwyn and Zyndyr retired to their Dragonskin tent that aides had set up ready for them beside a small babbling brook.

Korwyn shook the cold water from his wet hair as he bent down and crawled naked into his tent and dropped his clothes wrapped up in his Dragonskin cloak just inside the entrance. There was no room to stand, he just crawled in and rolled over on his back on the straw mattress.

"I've had too much Goblin ale to drink, Zyn," he admitted, "this tent is spinning like a top."

Zyndyr was on her knees just an inch or so from the top of his head. She leaned over him and the tips of her loosened hair tickled his face.

"You were nervous and uncomfortable, my love, not understanding much of what was being spoken, and King Mamdhuk is an ancient ruler and very formal in his dealings with visiting dignitaries," Then Zyndyr laughed, "His Queen Quistyn and especially Crown Princess Myddy were quite taken with you, though, judging by the roving hand of the Princess on your thigh all afternoon."

"Aye, she was persistent, every time I removed it, she put it back. Short of stabbing her between the ribs with my elbow, I was at a loss what to do!"

"Well," she placed her hands either side of his face, her fingertips tracing the edge of his freshly shaved jaw, "perhaps I need to restake my claim upon you."

More of her soft green hair brushed against his face as she lowered her head and pressed her lips against his in an upside down kiss. Her tongue licked his lips, so he parted them that she could better sweep her insinuating tongue around his mouth, playing with his tongue. It felt so different this way around. She kissed his smooth chin, then his throat and chest. By the time she started nipping at his naked nipples, he was able to suckle from her ripe breasts, her nipples stiffening under his attentions, sucking and licking, and sucking again. All too soon she moved down his torso, pulling her breast from his mouth with a pop. She stopped at his navel, where she licked and nipped at his taut skin over solid muscle beneath. He kissed her softer belly, that was just starting to swell a little more noticeably, almost two months into her pregnancy.

Just the thought of his tiny unborn daughter being only a thumb or two thickness from his loving lips brought a wave of emotion over him, of the dangers his beloved Zyn faced on this campaign. Then her stomach moved on and he was now smelling the intoxicating musk of her arousal, his nose then mouth buried in the soft green curls of her sex. Meanwhile, Zyndyr had reached his own sex and gripped its steel hardness with a firm hand, before licking with wet licks the length of him from base to tip, before swirling her tongue around the head and forcing him into her mouth, where she sucked and caressed as she slowly moved down sucking more and more of him into her hot mouth. Korwyn kissed her lower lips, using his fingers and thumbs to open her up so he could lick the sweet honeyed nectar that filled his senses of smell and taste and drove him to suck up her essence from deeper, knowing that he would never tire of her glorious taste. They continued to lick and suck each other until Korwyn concentrated his tongue on the little nub above the entrance to her elfpussy, lashing and lathing at it until she groaned, shuddered and flooded his face with her gushing juices. He lapped them up as much as he could, but then she swung her lower half away from him, leaving her hot juices cooling on his face in the dark. She turned fully around, trailing her lips against him, alternating nipping at his skin or kissing and licking him. Soon their mouths met in a searing kiss and biting lips and tongues, at the same time feeling her hand on his cock, stroking the tip against her streaming sex lips before she lowered herself down on his rock-iron hardness. She left off sucking on his mouth as she tilted her head back while she wiggled her arse as she impaled herself further down his ramrod shaft, deeper and deeper. Korwyn licked her neck and she shuddered again as ecstasy overwhelmed her senses again. As she pressed down, he pressed up and they were soon bucking and slapping against each other as if their lives depended on reaching their entitled fulfilment. Korwyn held off as long as he could but she was flooding him once again with a hot gush of her juices and he had to let himself go, pumping his ejaculate into her for all he was worth.

Korwyn woke with a start. He must have passed out for a few moments. He was faced with the arresting sight of Zyndyr's silhouette against the side of the tent as the dawn approached. She appeared to be watching him.

"Zyn, you are so beautiful," he said, his dry voice no more than a croak.

"I was just thinking the very same thing, Wyn," Zyndyr said softly, "how lucky we are that we met when we did and that we can be together sharing our adventures, our lives, our future. It is better than being one of those wives of warriors left behind, waiting your return and imagining all the horrors you're enduring along the way, without the comfort of renewing our relationship when needed."

***

Clive took a week-long course consisting of five half days on basic computer skills at the Job Centre. The course was free to the unemployed and it got him out of the house all day and into the evening, because that is the lie that he told Carole regarding the length and intensity of the course. He had used computers at work for most of his working life and within the first morning he found himself helping some of the other students with the basics. Mostly they were manual labourers who had no time for computers and found them difficult, the other larger group were women who had worked on assembly lines now long silenced through factory closures and trying to improve their skill sets ready for office work or telesales.

By the end of the week he was asked by the trainer if he was interested in helping with the next week's course in the next town over, just a short train ride away. The tiny amount of pay would be deducted from his benefits, of course, but the experience gained could be added to his curriculum vitae.

On the first afternoon, after the course began, he started his search for a place to stay. The library had the local papers showing flats to rent and access to the internet to extend his search. He opened a new free email account that he wouldn't use on the home computer they shared with the children, knowing that any searches at home by Carole wouldn't reveal what he was searching for and actions taken. He found three likely local flats that he wanted to look at, plus one that was just a short train ride away. He was hampered because although he still used the company car while he served his three month period of notice, in a week's time, when he was hoping to be free of his wife, he would no longer have access to that or the family car.

While at the library he consulted an online divorce specialist and read through all their frequently asked questions, so he had a clearer idea of what would happen to the marital assets. He was able to use his newly refreshed computer skills and created a spreadsheet on which he set out all the assets and liabilities, and from recent bank statements what share of the household costs he would have to bear once he left. He opened new online cash, credit and deposit accounts in his own name with the same bank as his joint account and waited approval before he started transferring half their savings to his new accounts.

He left the current account as it was because once his last salary cheque went in, the monthly outgoings would be higher than the income, even allowing for still sending in his half of the household costs. On another spreadsheet, he worked out the fixed costs, added an allowance for food, children's clothes, clubs and other expenses and set up a standing order to start next month. He knew that unless he got a job soon, he would run out of money in nine months. There was a joint investment account that had penalties for early withdrawal but that was not accessible online and he wasn't sure what to do with that, so he fired off an email question to the online divorce solicitors he had signed up with.

By Thursday he had seen all four flats he was interested in and paid three months' rent in advance on the one he'd chosen, which would be retained as a deposit. The departing tenants were due to leave at the end of the week. He had to adjust his spreadsheet to show that now he'd run out of money in seven months. The flat was cheap because it was a second floor maisonette over a row of shops in a rundown community on the edge of town, but was small but clean and sparsely furnished ready to move in once the tenants left. It was at the far end of the centre of town but within walking distance of the railway station, which would be handy. He still didn't have a car but had spoken with the manager at the bank re the joint investment account and once he launched the separation the manager would release the funds to buy a car if he needed one. The visit to the bank showed that he was the only signatory for the account, opened nearly thirteen years before; he got a statement of the value so he knew how much his half was to transfer to his new savings account in due course.

Towards the end of the week Clive filled in the divorce papers online and put them on hold awaiting actioning when he was good and ready, with a sigh, but at least he felt it was the first step to getting his pride back.

On that Friday he really threw the boat out and applied for half a dozen jobs that he knew he didn't stand a snowball's chance of getting. He just felt so much more positive than at any time in the last two years. When he got home he announced that instead of cooking the dinner, he was taking them all out to his favourite Chinese restaurant that ran a buffet help yourself service. He felt adventurous and, when Carole complained about the expense, he showed her the cash in his wallet, although he said nothing about having withdrawn it using his new cash card.

"If you've taken--" she started.

"You will find the bank account still in order, Carole, I wouldn't be so disrespectful to sneak around behind your back with secret deposits or withdrawals."

Carole looked sick at his words, seeing the double meaning just as he did.

"You don't look well, Carole," Clive said, "Are you all right? I bought some chicken soup with the groceries, if you'd rather...."

"No, yes, I think I'll just have the soup, Hon, after a hot bath, if you don't mind?"

"No, we don't mind," Clive answered briskly with a mixture of lack of sympathy, enthusiasm and relief, that he made absolutely no attempt to conceal, "all the more for us, then, eh, kids?"

"Yes, Mum," they chorused, with Michael adding, "Hope you'll feel better soon, Mum," as they bundled out the door, full of the joys of a weekend without school and a chance to pick and choose their favourites dishes.

***

"Losing your immortality by slices is killing me, sweetheart," Korwyn puffed, making love to Zyndyr for the fourth time in what would be an exhausting night, yet he felt so invigorated whenever he was near her. To imagine that he once hated Elves until just a few short months ago and now he worshipped the only one left on the planet, was a constant source of wonder to him.

'Not only do we love each other deeply,' he thought, 'she wants to give up for me the ultimate gift she can give, as a creature with a natural lifespan, baring accident or murder, that is without end, her immortality.' But he finds it impossible to concede a long life to the one he loves, despite her arguments that for him to grow old while she remains young and has to endure her timeless existence without him and outliving their child and grandchildren is too much to bear. Korwyn thinks that he cannot get his head clear enough during these troubled times to make such a decision.

Now that he been seduced, for the second of the three seductions that is required to turn an Elf mortal, so now he was taking full advantage to make love to Zyndyr as much as he could during this night and morning.

After breakfast, the column of Dwarves broke camp and moved off cheerfully in their respective regiments. Dwarves enjoyed the woodlands and the springy surface of the pine needle littered path after the sharp track of the mountain passes that saw each regiment's boot repairers working every night to keep the troops comfortably shod for the next day.

It was mid morning before Giant Eagles were seen in the bright blue sky above, a rare sight any day, but to see so many in one place heralded something significant was afoot. The eagles appeared to be landing a mile ahead of the column. Korwyn and Zyndyr rode on ahead and found themselves in a clearing, with most of the Eagles landed, while a pair circled overhead indicating to the Man and Elf where they were.

To their surprise they were greeted by the young Prince Bydon, a boy three-quarters Wizard and a quarter Dwarf, only five years old but precocious way beyond his years.

"Wyn! Zyn!" he yelled in the Man tongue that he was comfortable in speaking, Korwyn being worshipped as his hero, "Mother has been taken by force and is held captive against her will!"

Korwyn reached the youngster first and picked him up. The Prince was surprisingly warm, considering the mode of his arrival, but Korwyn knew by now the powers that the boy's Witch great-grandmother has and he was grateful for the three small spells that she had given him to hold in reserve before he embarked on his campaign. Providing a spell to keep the Prince warm on the journey was probably a small spell for such a powerful Witch.

Meanwhile Zyndyr conversed with the Giant Eagle in some manner that was not in a language that he could comprehend, beyond observing the eye-blinking, wing flapping, tosses of the head and what would otherwise pass as twitches. Zyndyr turned to Korwyn just as Bydon spoke.

"Wyn, my mother Queen Myr was taken in a coup by King Ghumbletuc, of Salzden, and his dull son Prince Dhunhark. The Queen Grand Mother was able to call upon the Giant Eagles to rescue me, but the fate of my sweet sister the Princess Raya is unknown."

Korwyn knew who the Dwarf minor king and prince of the province of Salzden were. He met them at the court in Dharibia. As incentive for the then Princess Myr's rescue from Blearn Mountain, Prince Dhunhark had been expecting to marry the Princess Myr, had contributed to the gold merkprice to set her free, and become co-heir to the Seven Kingdoms. After the Princess's rescue and the death of the High King, King Ghumbletuc and his son used their influence over the High Council to name Prince Dhunhark as interim Crown Prince of the Seven Kingdoms until Prince Bydon of Dharibia was old enough to take his place. Korwyn had taken an immediate dislike to both royals, as he felt they were disrespectful of their Queen. The new High Queen Myr used her exulted position to decide that she didn't want to marry for political reasons, and certainly not be married to the Prince of the Minor Dwarf Kingdom of Salzden, who she took an instant disliking to. Privately, having seen the strength of love between her two warrior heroes, she was determined that her future happiness, and that of her children, lay in the possibility of meeting and marrying some young Dwarf for love, and she was prepared to look for that among the non-royals of her court. She felt an attraction to the royal farrier's son, a broad, rather plain-faced fellow who was shy in her presence, had broad shoulders and kind eyes, but the High Queen was patient in her desires and took up daily riding and particular care in the grooming and shodding of her favourite mount. The visiting minor royals had made no attempt to disguise their annoyance at being snubbed.

"What of Queen Grand Mother Urmah?" asked Korwyn.

"She has decided to stay," Zyndyr replied, no doubt heard directly from the flying mount's mouth. "As a Witch they are unlikely to mistreat her for fear of the power of her retribution, but she is also better placed than anyone there to protect the Queen and Princess from harm." Zyndyr added, "The Eagles are prepared to convey us and a limited number of men or Dwarves to the Palace, but I am not sure what we could do with such short numbers."

"Let us speak to Captain Difaniel and also seek out the Captain of the Salzden Regiment."