The Gorgon

"Why, I'm here to meet with my esteemed agent...The Lady Alandra." Elias heard the distinctive cock of a pistol and turned to see, emerging from the shadows, the cloaked figure of Lady Alandra. Elias' face soured immediately. He hoped, as he raised his hands, Alandra could see the disgust on his face at the betrayal. He had no need of words - his expression conveyed his anger and confusion at being betrayed. Alandra's own expression remained unchanging.

"I would be a fool to pass upon the chance for a Gorgon's heart Elias. The magic I could create with it..." Alandra's words stung as she said them.

Elias could feel his heart skip a beat at the mention of Yharin's moniker. He wanted to draw his sword but doing so would be foolish.

"Your obsession with magic was always your downfall, Alandra."

"And your principles were yours, Elias. We don't have time for these games. Jobel, I brought you Elias, where is the Gorgon?"

Jobel spat, a common habit of his. "My men are on their way to the safe-house as we speak. They'll kill the beast and bring its heart to you."

"She has a name, you know."

"I don't bloody care, Elias. You were always too sanctimonious. Guards, deal with him. Alandra, our business is concluded."

With that, Jobel made to leave. He would have gotten farther but a figure had emerged, leaping from a spot concealed over the edge of the balcony and blocked his path. It was Yharin, and the sight of her caused both the guards to panic and Jobel to shriek in a shrill voice. She grabbed Jobel with her tail and placed him between herself and the guards, daring them to attack her. Alandra was quick to react but Elias was far quicker. He leaped towards her as she tried to shoot the pistol, the ball flying high into the air before he could knock her to the ground with a punch. He turned and drew his sword, pointing at the two guards.

"You were always too quick to count your eggs, Jobel," said Elias with a casual smirk. He gave Yharin a thankful look and she nodded, reflexively tightening her grip on Jobel's rotund body. The guards were at a loss of what to do. Jobel vacillated between telling them to attack and begging for his own life but neither one wanted to face mythology made manifest.

"Yharin, love, what do you say we deal..."

Elias did not complete his sentence. Before he could, a bolt of ice, flew through the air and impaled him in the chest, robbing his words from him. His facial expression turned to shock before he gasped and fell over. Behind him was Alandra. Her face ran with blood from striking the floor but she was very much awake and angry that she had been denied.

Yharin was the first to react. She cried out as Elias fell and in anger, flung Jobel at his guards. The three of them barrelled into a mess of limbs and pain that Alandra managed to avoid as she rose to her feet properly. The two stared at each other. There would be no room for error or hesitancy. Yharin charged first, darting forward like an arrow in the night. Alandra dodged the first swipe of the tail and the follow-up punch with an uncanny grace. Her potions did more than preserve her youth it seemed. She struck back with a punch that Yharin blocked. The attacked proved to be a feint, however and Alandra's other hand flung another shard of ice which Yharin dodged, but only by the barest of margins. Her keen senses would be an asset but the cold would dull them, nonetheless.

The two fought ferociously with Yharin limited by the cramped corridor and her lack of practice and Alandra limited by the speed of her opponent and her lack of any weapons. The first to tire, the first to waver, the first to make a mistake would find it fatal.

In this contest of martial spirits, it would be Alandra's who faltered. As she dodged a flurry of blows from Yharin's powerful arms, Alandra slipped backwards on a loose tile. The ice shard she had summoned went awry, just grazing Yharin's cheek as the lamia struck a powerful blow to the mage's jaw. Unlike Elias' earlier strike, there was an audible crack as Alandra's jaw broke from the impact of the blow and it sent her reeling backwards. Yharin reared up, reading to crush the deadly mage with her tail when she reflexively ducked. A bolt, aimed at her head moments ago, struck the stonework with a thud.

In the time they had been fighting, Jobel had come to his senses, fled the scene, and returned with more men who were better armed. Yharin was now trapped. Even with Alandra down, unarmed, she could do little against a mob of men with crossbows and spears. She eyed Elias, then edge of the balcony, and in that moment, made a critical decision. As she darted forward, the men braced for her charge. Only it never came. She scooped up Elias, and in a titanic leap, flung herself off the edge of the castle and into the uncertain darkness below.

Chapter 13 Elias' eyes opened slowly. He felt groggy and extremely tired. His limbs felt heavy and his vision was blurry. He tried to recall his last memories but only a haze came. He wanted to speak, but no words came to him. He wanted to fight the lack of sensation but could not and so embraced it and lay back. He felt uneasy. Am I dead? he thought as his mind struggled to process what had happened to him.

He felt himself. He felt like flesh, and he felt the hem of pants. Would a dead man have need of pants? he thought, laying there. There was movement near him but his mind could not yet fully process the surrounding room. The sounds grew more distinct. Something was approaching him from behind.

"Katarina, is he going to be okay?"

"He seems to be coming out of the stupor. Perhaps. Give him time. I need to leave now; I can't risk being caught by the guards, let alone for this. Goodbye...and good luck."

When Elias tried to get up, he felt a strong hand supporting him and he turned to see the almond-shaped face of Yharin come into focus. She looked sullen but relieved to see him alive. Very gingerly, she stooped down to hug him softly. Elias heard a fire in the background. Wherever he was, it was a safe space. It was certainly safe enough to permit a fire.

"What happened Yharin? Where am I?"

Yharin broke the hug and leaned in to seat herself on the bed next to him. Unlike the one at the safehouse, this bed was easily large enough to accommodate them both, though she still kept her tail dangling off to the left. She sat close to him, one hand cradling his still weak body and the other gently playing with his hair.

"We almost met our end at the hands of Alandra and that pig Jobel. I was able to escape with you, but you were hurt badly."

Elias could see a deep bruise alongside her flank although when she saw him looking, she brushed it off as a minor injury. The recollection of the events came back to Elias. He remembered being impaled by Alandra, though afterwards it was all a blur to him. Almost instinctively, he reached for the area where he had been struck. The wound itself seemed to be strangely absent, although there was some scar tissue. It seemed bizarre to Elias that the wound had recovered so quickly. He looked quizzically at Yharin, as if trying to ask for an explanation for his recovery. She did not return his curious stare immediately as if to hint at a shame. Instead of answering any questions, it only brought more.

"I'm sorry Elias. You were wounded...and I didn't want to lose you."

"Yharin...love? What did you do?"

"Katarina...helped me...perform a blood ritual. I...we...used some of my blood to transfer some life energy from me...to you. It saved your life, but..." She was going to continue but Elias interrupted.

"It doesn't matter love; I'm alive and we're safe. That's all that matters. Speaking of, where are we?"

Yharin explained that Katarina had helped them secure a new safehouse although she left as soon as the ritual had been completed. They were far on the outskirts of the city and probably sufficiently away from the wrath of the nobility. They were, for now, safe.

Chapter 14 Elias woke up feeling comfortable. His body was still recovering from the after-effects of the ritual, but he was mostly fully recovered. To his great pleasure, Yharin had embraced him as he slept, and she had wrapped herself around him. By now the sensation was extremely pleasurable. The roughness of the scales mixed in with the supple flesh was a truly unique experience and it was one Elias was keen to savour.

Yharin was completely naked and in the position she was in, Elias got a view of her generous bosom. Awareness of the room and of her brought more than just a quickness of mind however. He felt an erection coming along and the gorgeous naked body of Yharin would only hasten it. A salacious thought crossed his mind and he was quick to act upon it.

He started to call out to Yharin, softly. It would not be enough to startle her but it was definitely enough to rouse her from her slumber. She yawned into wakefulness and instantly felt a prodding sensation. Elias, staring sheepishly, raised an eyebrow.

"I seem to recall that we were interrupted. I'd very much like to continue where we left off if you don't mind?"

Yharin almost squealed in delight as she adjusted her body and uncoiled her tail from his lower half. As a pre-emptive measure, he freed his erection from his pants. He was already erect but he wanted to make sure she was ready too so he sat back and leaned into her crotch. It was necessary to brace himself on the bed, given her strange anatomy of course, but he found a comfortable position and began to trace a course along the entrance to her vagina.

The sensation was quite unlike anything Elias had experienced before. He was careful to avoid the scaliest region but she had a smooth,slightly bumpy texture. The attention provoked Yharin to moan. To up the ante, Elias shifted slightly and began to tongue her clitoris, whilst at the same time, stroking his fingers into her vagina. He wanted to continue, but she tapped his head, urging him to enter her.

He needed not further motivation and got up. Her tail proved to be an obstacle but before too long, they found a position that could accommodate their needs. While Elias braced himself on the bed, Yharin guided his penis with her hand. Once he was in, he started to thrust. Slowly and gradually, he began to build up momentum. While he was thrusting, he leaned over to caress one of her nipples. She let out a low moan which only drove him wilder.

There was a powerful lust between them. The deprivation of contact and their near-death experiences combined to propel the sex with a primal need to connect. Though she needed to brace herself for the pounding she was receiving, her tail was under no such obligation and wrapped itself around him as he thrust.

Elias noted that she began to squeeze with her tail, softly but firmly and as her breath became more intense, she moaned that a climax was near. They couldn't hold back much longer, and the pair kissed intensely before they both reached their own climaxes. The pair, exhausted by their efforts, collapsed into each other's arms. For now, and for them, the cares of the world evaporated in the bliss of a post-coital glow.

Epilogue The wind was blowing fiercely. Only instead of the icy winds he was used to, the air carried sand and the heat of the desert. Elias struggled to clamber up the dune he was walking up. Luckily, the stick he had brought with him helped but he still lagged behind Yharin who had already crested the dune and was taunting him and his tardiness. He rebuffed her and made a comment about being carried which brought a laugh from her. She flicked her tail approvingly when he scrambled up to meet her. As a reward, she reached over and handed him a flask to drink from, though he did so sparingly. They would have a while left to travel. The pair looked on, seeing in the distance the strange bulbous domes and spinnerets of a foreign city.

"It's beautiful, Yharin. What do you suppose we'll find there?"

"I'm not sure, but hopefully a home."

She reached out her hand, and gratefully, he took it.