War of the Dragons (w/ Honeypaladin; M, just in case)

[PendragonXeno94]

As the day had lingered on, Ara simply sat in her cell in increasing agitation. She had begun to pace around the cell, her tail swishing and twitching. Her azure hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail that was vying to free itself from its current position. The kingdom of Frankonia would hear of this. Well, they would think of her as good as dead anyway. Bretony looked better being a smouldering heap and burning down the last village hardly phased her. In fact, she swelled with pride thinking of the flames trickling up the sides of the thatch-roofed houses and her army rushing through the streets to cut down anyone in their way. Dark gray eyes peered up at what little light peeked through the cracks. She was probably going to be executed, but that... that was letting her off easy, she thought. If they wanted to actually punish her, they could at least exile her or throw her with the slaves and let them lynch her. A few other soldiers under her command had been captured as well, and they were already shaking their cell doors and crying out to whatever gods would hear them. There was no need for her.

It wasn't like they were doing it out of spite. Maybe the king was, but she was merely following orders. It was a shame her linage didn't grant her some sort of ability to break through stone or at least burn her way out. Her father had passed down the trait of ice and the immunity with it. She couldn't just freeze her way through, but the best she could do to escape was make a few guards a block of ice and keep them there. It was better to just impatiently await what fate was in store for her. Finally, she sat in furthest away from the cell door with her back to it, her peach colored wings shielding her.

A few jeers from the prisoners had no effect on her turning around or glancing up. She heard all the names and curses that came her way; it wasn't the first time the Bretonians blamed her for everything. If only they would shut up...

[Holeypaladin]

Sitting in the jailor's office, a knight began to read through the documents of the prisoners. Most of them were common rabble... low-born peasants who had been drafted against their will into Frankonia's army. So many of them were lowlife scum, corrupted perhaps by the nature of the army they had been forced to join, but so far gone that he didn't think they'd be able to recover.

One particular prisoner, however, was most intriguing. A soldier... mid twenties, female, half dragon. Someone with such lineage should be some kind of knight, or at least man at arms, rather than a foot soldier. Also, it was very rare that any females served in the Frankonian army... most of the women they brought with their armies were "camp followers", another term for prostitute really, a way for their low morale to avoid hitting rock bottom.

She had taken down numerous Breton soldiers before being captured... no doubt due in part to her dragon lineage. He could only assume she had proven herself worthy of joining their sexist army due to her superiority in combat over most of the men. Regardless, if there was one interesting prisoner among this lot, it was this Ara.

Making his way down into the cells, he nodded to the jailor to open the door for him. Many of the jeers died down as well, as the prisoners seemed afraid of provoking this particular knight as he deliberately made his way to the half-dragon's prison cell.

"You claim to be the daughter of a troll," he said as he looked over her appearance. Ragged, unclean from the lack of hygiene in these Breton cells, yes... but she definitely was not anything he would call ugly. Even her dragon features seemed to suit her. "But you don't look like any troll I've ever seen." He paused. "What is your name, half-dragon? What can you tell me of your Draconic lineage?"

[PendragonXeno94]

Hearing someone approach, she peeked over her wing and let out a low hiss. The jeers had begun to die down when her cell door opened. Finally being able to see whoever was coming she gave him an indifferent expression. Ah, so they sent a knight to come fetch her? He was better off bothering one of the other prisoners. Even the ones who were with her stopped their pleading to their deities when he arrived. It was no secret that the Frankonian army was incredibly sexist but she was able to prove her worth thanks to her heritage and unmatched abilities. She even gained the favor of a few chromatic dragons, though she hardly spent time with them outside the battlefield and... other activities.

Rising to her feet, she stood at attention as he addressed her, commenting on her appearance. "It helps when your father is considered irresistible, even for an ugly thing like a troll," she refuted, wings folding onto her back. "But if Mother were alive, I'd point you to her residence." Not that it would have mattered. "You speak to Captain Ara Raz'ti-nak of King Ashendrethel's army. My father was Kalern, a white dragon, and therefore I inherited his capabilities with ice." She tilted her head, smirking at him. "Why? What does it matter? You're going to behead me anyway." At least she would die in her king's name. And judging from how the knight was looking at her, he, too, viewed her as attractive. Him and most of the males she came across who weren't trolls. She neither cared about her appearance nor saw herself that way. It was something that could not be undone from childhood.

"Yeah, just kill the bitch already!" someone yelled.

Rolling her eyes, Ara straightened herself and exhaled through her nose. "What does a Breton want from me?"

[Holeypaladin]

It mattered little what this woman looked like when she held such vile tendencies... the knight was almost tempted to execute her just for spite, but that would somewhat diminish from his purpose. He had his orders, and though he might not like them, and certainly didn't like this creature in front of him, he still had a duty to see them through to completion.

"Are you in such a hurry to die?" he asked, crossing his arms and looking at her with amusement. "A swift beheading can be arranged, you know. You probably deserve it, don't you? I don't believe that merely following orders is an excuse to commit atrocities..." he said, "And besides..." he said, "You've probably done more than enough evil of your own will to warrant a beheading."

He considered what she spoke. "I've heard of Kalern... vicious beast, as brutish as he is stupid. His time will come soon... he lacks the intelligence of most dragons, but has all of the same arrogance and overconfidence. You seem proud to call yourself a captain in your king's army, even though he sacrificed your entire unit like a pawn on a chess board for little gain... if I recall, half of the wounded Frankonians were hit by friendly fire from your own archers. I needn't say who ordered them to fire."

"Regardless," he said, "I'm not a Breton. And I'm here to assess whether you are worthy of a fate other than death. How important is your life to you, Frosty? Would you rather die for an evil king who abandoned you, or attempt to accomplish some good for a change before you die?"

[PendragonXeno94]

"I like to think execution is too easy of a punishment to give out," she said, her tone becoming sweet. "You need to come up with something worse than that." Crossing her arms as well, her smirk remained. "I'm in no hurry. But if you have something else in mind-" Done more than enough? That was an understatement. From what she heard, they were ready to raid her childhood village next. Shame that she wouldn't be there to raid it for the hell they put her through.

She shook her head. "Last I heard, he was dead. He and his human mate had been hunted down by the woman's family or something." She assumed that she had at least one half-sibling, but she hadn't seen any other half-dragon. She refused to dignify his insult with a response. Saying something that shouldn't have happened under her command was bad enough. If their places were switched she'd down him on sight. It was true that Ashendrethel just threw away soldiers in order to gain desired results, but to be fair, she did the same thing. It was harder when she knew her battalion personally but it was for the kingdom and she could not show weakness.

She cocked an eyebrow. "I would say that it's very valuable." Doing some good? That was a joke. But one to entertain, nonetheless. "Well, if you think playing nice would help then fine." Too bad, she wanted to see what was the worst they could have done to her. Maybe she would find a way to escape. If she needed to use what she had used before for some males, then she would have to. She was accustomed to it by now, and if needed, she had no problem in doing it again. "What's in it for me?" There was no point of doing charity work if nothing was coming her way as a reward.

[Holeypaladin]

The knight frowned. Perhaps he was wasting his time with this wench... she didn't seem the least bit remorseful over what she and her soldiers had done. Were Bretony not in such a desperate situation at this point in the war, he'd have simply ordered her execution on the spot. This woman was not a good person... this much was quite clear.

"Ah yes..." he said, "I think I heard something to that degree." He shrugged. "Good riddance... the world is better off without him. The world would also probably would have been better off without, you, too," his eyes held little pity for a woman who felt no remorse, "But unfortunately, we cannot undo what has been done. We can only hope to fight fire with fire... or ice with ice, in this case."

He shrugged, and produced a collar. "What's in it for you is that you get to live a bit longer," he said. "If that's not enough... you get to hurt some bad guys. You like hurting people, don't you? I doubt it matters to you who you hurt... you made the decision to be a monster, whether or not it was influenced by your blood."

"One of my brethren is associated with a dragon who was once a cruel, red-scaled tyrant but has been reborn with golden scales... the greatest breed of dragon save for Bahamut himself. If he has hope for redemption... then perhaps an insignificant wench such as yourself might have hope as well." He handed her the collar. "Put that around your neck willingly. It's your leash. Since you act like a wild animal, I'll leash you in order to train you."

[PendragonXeno94]

Well, it wasn't like she knew her own father, anyway. Ara was told that he left her mother in favor of another. Oh well. No loss there. He didn't pity her, and she didn't want pity from him. If the world was better off without her, then what was the point of her surviving for so long? Ah, well. "And what do you mean by fighting ice with ice?" She never understood that phrase, even with being explained several times.

Living was a good thing, she supposed. But hurting more people? All the better. If her aggression was to be directed to those she had fought with, then so be it. She didn't give one wit about who she cut down. Being handed a collar, she scoffed. "Really? You need to leash me, now?" Shrugging, she placed the collar about her neck, figuring it was easier to just go with it and not resist. "Now what? Do you wish to take your frustrations out on me?" Maybe he needed a little rutt to calm himself. He seemed to be a little too pissed for her liking. She didn't think of herself as a monster, let alone a wild animal.

"Trust me, sweets, I'm a wild animal in one area. Give you three guesses..." Already, she could tell that she was going to have a little fun with him, pushing his buttons was better than doing something she wasn't fond of and being dragged along kicking and screaming.

[Holeypaladin]

"Metaphors aren't your strong point, I see," he said, noting how she didn't understand the ice metaphor. Well, she was the scion of two rather dumb races, so it made sense that she wouldn't be the brightest lamp on the street. He didn't have to say much more, as she willingly put the collar around her neck... she would soon see for herself how she would be leashed.

Once it was secured around her neck, the collar tightened, constricting uncomfortably around her throat. "The collar should be feeling a bit tight right now, shouldn't it?" he said, as he kept tightening further. "That's because it's a cursed prisoner's collar... it will continue to choke you until you acknowledge me as your Warden. There's a bit more to it than that, though..."

He smirked at her innuendo. "I needn't guess at things that are clear as day. Anyway, there's also a razor sharp garrote wire in that collar you put on. Should you tamper with it too much or attempt to remove it... it'll slice your head clean off. Should anyone else attempt to remove it, it'll do the same. The only person who will ever be able to take it off of you is the one you acknowledge as your Warden..." he said, watching it constrict to the point of choking, nearly making it impossible for her to speak.

"Since I'm the only one here besides these prisoners who already want to see your head removed," he said, "You'd best act swiftly... while you can still breathe." He didn't actually enjoy employing such methods, but he also knew that, at times, they were the best way to control a monster, and attempt to tame her into something resembling a decent person, if that were even possible.

[PendragonXeno94]

Seeing how he figured to be not so bright... it wasn't like he was totally wrong. Ara even prided herself to further her knowledge though she had her moments thanks to her father. Maybe she should have refused to put the collar on now that it was constricting her. She would have attempted to tear it off if there wasn't a risk of her sudden beheadment. Sighing to herself, she looked at him with pleading eyes. "You're my Warden. There, now please could you loosen this?"

Already, she felt that it was becoming increasingly more difficult to breathe. And she thought being nearly choked to death by a male was the worst thing. She couldn't take this thing off, and some "encouraging" prisoners weren't helping either. When was this blasted thing going to come off?

[Holeypaladin]

The collar suddenly loosened up to a more comfortable fit... enough to give the half-dragon room to breathe, but it was still quite clearly there. "Now I can control how comfortable or how constricting it can be," he said. There wasn't much need to demonstrate this point, as it had already been proven when she put the collar on in the first place. "And so, you will follow my rules. Or you will find yourself uncomfortably choked, or dead."

Now that he could at will have the collar take her head off, he went ahead and unlocked her prison cell. "Rule number one. You will not hurt or kill anyone without my permission, except to defend yourself or me from imminent danger. Because if I die... well, the collar will immediately take your head off as well. So it's also in your best interest to keep me alive."

"Rule number two," he said, gesturing for her to follow him as he began walking out of the stinky prison cells, "You are not to leave my sight without my express permission. While I might get tired of having to look at you all the time, it's the best way to keep tabs on you and make sure you behave."

In order to properly train a wild animal, or a person who acted like one, it was also necessary to set in place a system of rewards and punishments. The woman had already implied that she had an extremely high sex drive... so that could also be manipulated into the carrot and stick approach. "Rule number three," he said with this in mind, "You're not to put anything in your little pussy without my permission. If you behave, I might let you use your finger. If you're a very good girl, I might even let you use something bigger."

She would not be the one using sex to manipulate him... quite the opposite, in fact. "I might add more rules as needed," he said, "Any questions?"

[PendragonXeno94]

It felt as though Ara was gasping for air when the collar loosened. So now he could control how comfortable she could be in the collar? What a lovely thought...

"So, I have permission if I wanted to slap you?" she asked. "Not that I would, but-" Her cell door had been opened and she sulked behind him, already feeling her control slipping away. A feeling she had always hated. But if he needed her to hold back on her hurting others, he was better off wishing for something else. Killing had been instilled into her blood and it was not something she could just stop doing. It was what she was trained for, what she was called to do. He couldn't just put a curb on it with some stupid collar.

And she couldn't leave his sight because he needed to ensure she was behaving? "Bollocks," she muttered to herself. And he had the audacity to tell her she couldn't go sate herself without his say so. "That's bull! You can't do that!" Then again, she was so used to running around using her body to get what she wanted. Maybe she should have taken up on one of the dragon's offer and kept him. Nothing she could do about it now. "You expect me to be at your beck and call for that so I can't go sleeping with people behind your back?" She guessed that was the reason why he explicitly said that.

Once she was led out, she angrily pointed at her collar. "You think you can just turn my back on my king so I can help you?" she huffed.

[Holeypaladin]

"I wouldn't recommend it," he said, making his way out of the prison cells. It smelled much better, aside of course from the stench that still lingered on the half-dragon girl from her time in the cells. "I can do... pretty much whatever I want," he said with a shrug. "Really, this second chance is far more than you deserve," he said, "Be glad that our side is the merciful one."

He laughed at the idea of wanting her at his beck and call. "I'll pass," he said, shaking his head. "Wouldn't want to catch a thousand diseases by taking a dip in the wrong swimming pool, if you know what I mean. Also... you and I both know that you have no loyalty to anyone besides yourself... so you'll turn your back on your king if it suits your interests, and right now, it does."

Expecting her to follow if only to stay in his sight, he made his way to a washroom. "You stink," he said, pointing to the bath tub. "Clean yourself up. Can't have you looking and smelling like that, after all. Clean clothes have already been prepared for you... so get rid of those."

He took a seat at the far side of the room and watched her. He was serious when he said she wasn't allowed out of his sight, after all... not even for normally private moments like this one.

[PendragonXeno94]

Ara sighed. "Noted." Well, it was nice to be finally out of the cells. Whatever fate was in store for her comrades was unknown to her. It wasn't like she necessarily wanted to know or cared to find out what might be in store for them. Him being able to do whatever he wanted to her didn't sit well with her. She would rather have their places switched so she could at least have some power. The knight going on about how their side was more merciful was just... no side could be entirely merciful.

"I don't have any disease," she barked. "I've been tested and I'm perfectly fine." She knew exactly what he meant by that. She always ensured any potential sex partner was disease free before she got at it with them. "Shame you want to pass. You'd love swimming in my pool." If he decided to, which was a given.

She pursed her lips when he said that she only had loyalties to herself. "Fair point." Being led to a washroom, she grew excited that she was finally getting a bath but that quickly dissipated when he sat at the far end of the room. "You serious? I can't even bathe in peace?"

Rolling her steely eyes, she undressed herself, albeit slowly and seductively. She even freed her hair, letting it fall to her tail base before stepping into the tub. As she washed herself, she did everything humanly possible to turn him on from standing in the tub wet and nude to stretching down so he could an eyeful of her chest. If this didn't work, then he was surely going to give in eventually. No man could resist her charm, or her body for that matter. "You know, I usually don't take my clothes for a man unless he does it for me..."

[Holeypaladin]

By the way this woman kept trying to entice him, it was quite clear that she was used to getting her way in these means... and he could see why, considering the way her body looked. She seemed to enjoy flaunting it too, and yet as she did so, the knight continued to sit, staring at her with little emotion. This would indeed be interesting...

"I suppose there's a first time for everything," he said with a shrug. "I don't particularly need a bath right now... though i you want to bathe in peace, you'll have to prove yourself trustworthy enough to do so." He chuckled, "And you have a very long way to go to even begin that journey."

Despite his attempts to remain cold an show no emotion towards this naked half-dragon, there were still parts of his anatomy that didn't agree. He remained seated in a way that would conceal these reactions, however... because unlike the monster in the tub, he was capable of putting reason before base desire.

[PendragonXeno94]

"Ah, too bad," she said, flipping her hair and showcasing her scar-ridden body to him. From the way he was sitting, there might have been some effect on him. But his expression said otherwise, maybe she wasn't trying hard enough. "So I get to watch you bathe, too?" It would be fair, from how she saw it. She had to expose herself to him because he had to keep her in his sight so why couldn't he do the same? "It wouldn't be so bad if you'd admit that you're enjoying this." No doubt he was in a sense, though she would hardly put reason ahead of desire.

She even moved about while bathing, letting her wings open as she carefully scrubbed them. It would be painful if she damaged the membrane that could never recover. Something she had to remind several would-be lovers about as a few almost made that mistake. Washing her body, she turned to the knight to let him see what she was doing. "You have a name, warden?" she asked, rising slightly to expose herself once more before submerging herself for a few seconds, only to come back up and brush her soaked hair away.

Already, she could imagine the look on his comrades' faces when they heard about him not being able to resist the half-dragon who was forced to bathe in front of him. Once she was satisfied, she exited the tub and began to dry herself, occasionally showing herself off before slowly redressing. Long way to go, indeed. This would definitely be fun for her, seeing how she had probably already pushed one or two of his buttons.

[Holeypaladin]

"I suppose that might depend on how good a girl you are," he mused. She had already expressed a desire to see him naked... perhaps he could use that to his advantage, too. She was being far too obvious in her desire to get laid... like any animal in heat, he supposed. "I do have a name," he said with a nod, "And perhaps you'll eventually earn the right to call me by it. But for now, Warden will do." It was clear she did not like being in an inferior position... yet she'd have to get used to it.

"I take it you're ready to go then?" he asked, making no obvious outward display of his thoughts regarding her body. After all, as pretty as she might be, doing the nasty with her would hardly be much of an achievement, considering how eager she was to get it on with just about anyone or anything. "Your armor, weapons, and uniform will be returned to you as well," he said. "You'll need them, if we are to infiltrate Frankonian military camps and assassinate their generals."

He had little desire to see more bloodshed than necessary, but it was in fact very necessary to slow the advance of the Frankonian army. Bretony was fighting a losing war, as they were simply far too outnumbered, and until reinforcements arrived to drive the Frankonians back, they'd need to do everything they could to delay the army long enough at least for the villages in their direct path to be evacuated.

[PendragonXeno94]

Ara pouted. "Aww, no fair," she said, keeping her imaginations to herself. So he wanted to use his name as a privilege for her, too? Gods, what else was going to be labelled as a privilege? He must have been enjoying himself. "Well, I'd best get to it, then." Seeing how he would be a challenge. And she loved a challenge.

Finishing getting dressed, she glanced at him as he said her things would be returned to her as she was expected to sneak into camp and assassinate the generals. She had no problem with that, most of them were asses to begin with. So it was no loss for her. "I'm guessing you're going to be sharing the same room as me?" It would be no surprise at this point.

[Holeypaladin]

"Indeed... you'd best get to work," he said with a nod, showing her to where her equipment was. "Suit up," he told her, "We've got a lot of work to do and we're already behind schedule. Sooner we get moving, sooner you'll get to kill people." She seemed to enjoy killing people, so if it was enough motivation for her for the time being, then so be it.

"Indeed," he said, "Can't let you out of my sight even when you sleep, after all. And I needn't tell you the consequences of what might happen if I wake up in the middle of the night and you're nowhere in sight..."

She was indeed much more attractive once she had cleaned herself up and dressed in some proper clothing, but of course the knight wasn't going to admit this to her face. In a war against dragons, one had to quickly learn that some of the most dangerous opponents are the most beautiful ones... it was what was inside that counted.

"There's one question I want you to consider as we travel, though. It probably won't mean much to you right now, but keep it in the back of your mind." He glanced over to the girl. "What is better," he asked, "To be born good, or to overcome your evil nature through great effort?"

[PendragonXeno94]

Ara quickly suited up before she eagerly walked behind him. She could get back to what she did best, even if her aggression was turned to another force. Well, no matter to her as long as she got to keep killing. Maybe in time she wouldn't be so quick to go a a bloody spree, but for now it was enough to get her moving.

She nodded. "I see." Probably best not to tell him now that she normally slept in the nude unless she had her cycle. It was more comfortable for her and she felt that nightclothes were somewhat suffocating when she tried to sleep. Something she'd unfortunately grow accustomed to, she was sure. The question he posed to her was somewhat puzzling. Well, she'd probably figure it out eventually, but for now she had Frankonians to kill. Though he seemed keen on no further bloodshed, she was more than happy to smite everyone under anyone's banner.

"So, Warden. Where we goin'?" she asked, sheathing her dual blades and putting her hair back up in a bun.

[Holeypaladin]

"We're going to battle!" he said, nodding to her as he began to pick up his pace. Finally, she was showing some energy. Stepping outside into the castle courtyard, he heard an emergency bell ringing. "What fortunate timing," he said, glancing over to the half-dragon, "It would seem we're under attack. But I should think we'd have spotted an approaching army from quite a distance away..."

He glanced to the source of the commotion, and it was quickly evident what was going on. The crossbowmen stationed on the walls for watch were firing... but not at the ground. They were aiming their crossbows skyward, shooting down flying opponents. One of them took a bolt to the face and landed dead in the center of the courtyard.

It looked similar to a dragon, but it was smaller, and had two legs instead of four. It had a scaled body like a dragon, however, but on its tail was a weapon not usually part of a dragon's anatomy... a stinger, similar to that of a scorpion.

"Wyverns..." he said. "Distant cousins of dragons... dumber than a brick, but smart enough to understand simple commands when spoken by a suitably powerful Dragon." He glanced to Ara. "New orders," he said to her, "Kill the wyverns. Bonus points for saving the soldiers on our side... if you save enough soldiers from being harmed by wyverns, you'll get a special prize after the battle is over. Now get to killing! And remember, kill ONLY the wyverns!"

In order to join in as well, he summoned forth a crossbow, seemingly from nowhere. This crossbow, however, was different than those used by the Breton soldiers... it had a grip underneath that could be pulled backwards, in order to draw the string quickly, plus a magazine that held multiple crossbow bolts. It was a tech weapon of sorts, definitely not of Breton or Frankonian design. Raising the crossbow, he pulled the trigger, shooting a wyvern in the eye, before pulling the grip backwards, which caused a second bolt to slide into place.

[PendragonXeno94]

The bell had her on edge and she had pulled her crossbow out. "Oh, great," she said, her voice dripping in sarcasm. "I love wyverns." They were not the most fun in combat. The stinger could do some damage. Without even acknowledging what the Warden said, she ran forward, shooting at the wyverns and pushing those who were now on her side away while instructing them to find cover and shoot from there. One young lad, most likely a recruit had his leg stuck underneath a fallen pillar. Taking one of her blades, she slashed at they wyvern's face while a few other soldiers worked to pull the boy from the pillar.

"You will not have him!" she yelled, stabbing it between the eyes. Looking behind her, more soldiers had stopped fighting to save the recruit. "Oh, I'm supposed to be fighting while you lot save his arse?" She had leaped into the air after putting away her crossbow and unsheathing her other blade. A few wyverns had started to chase her, hopefully long enough for the boy to be taken to safety. Saving others wasn't her strong suit, but whatever prize she could get after this better be worth it. One or two were taken down as she flew around the courtyard. She could only afford one moment to glance down, seeing that the soldiers were close to freeing him. Turning around, she sunk her blades into one of the beast's chest and dragged them down while avoiding getting blood splattered on her. No point in taking a second bath.

The wyvern dropped to the ground just as the recruit was finally pulled out and taken away. Swooping down, Ara traded her swords for the crossbow once more and began to shoot at the wyverns, being careful not to hit any one of the Bretons. Hitting wyverns good, hitting Bretons bad... she kept repeating in her head.

"Help me, wench!" someone shouted, to which Ara groaned and ran in the voice's direction, only to have to shoot down yet another wyvern. The soldier seemed to have been slashed at on one of his legs.

"You need my sword arm?"

The older man nodded, hobbling to support his weight on her.

"I didn't mean that, but all right..." The two never exchanged words, just shoot wyverns down and then go on to the next one. "Warden better appreciate this," she said under her breath.

[Holeypaladin]

Keeping an eye on the half-dragon as she fought, her Warden took careful aim, downing the approaching wyverns with well-aimed shots. Though they were capable of attacking from the sky, they were also falling swiftly as more Bretons joined the fight, rallying to the sound of the bell.

Joseph knew that the dragons considered these beasts expendable, so they didn't care how many of them they lost in the attack, so long as they could soften up the Breton soldiers in preparation for what he assumed to be an incoming army. Either that, or to pin their forces down while the armies circumvented this fort on their raids of settlements.

Regardless, as dumb as wyverns were, even they realized that they were dying quickly, and soon what was left of them turned and flew off into the distance, only a couple more falling to crossbow fire before they were out of range. Joseph took note of which direction they had fled, before glancing over to Ara.

"Good job," he said, giving praise where it was due. He was not an unjust warden, after all... just a strict one. "You've earned yourself a prize. Follow me."

Releasing the grip on his crossbow, it faded into nothingness as he glanced back to make sure Ara was following him. He led her to an isolated room in the castle, holding the door open for her before shutting and locking it. "Are you ready for your special reward, Ara?"

[PendragonXeno94]

Once the remaining wyverns had fled, the older soldier was helped along by a few of his brothers-in-arms to the barracks where he could get proper medical attention. "Bless you, my lady," he called as he was carried away. Even the boy waved to her in gratitude. She sighed, sheathing her weapons and approaching the warden. The wyverns were always expendable, so it wasn't unusual for them to be sent this way. It meant that the larger armies were either raiding or invading one of the enemy camps.

"I tried," she said. "And no dead Bretons from me!" Following him to an isolated room of the castle, she dropped her weapons before she heard the door lock. Oh, so her special reward was something she might enjoy. "When am I not ready?" she purred, beginning to free herself from her armor while walking up to him.

[Holeypaladin]

"My my my," said the knight, watching how eagerly the half-dragon approached him, already shedding her armor in anticipation, "Nothing like a good battle to get you all excited, hmm?"

He began to give this woman her reward. After all, it served as a means of keeping her savage brutality under control... an incentive for her to do the right thing. "My name is Joseph," he said at some point, as part of her reward was knowing her name... but of course, her reward was primarily of a more physical, primal nature.

Once he had finished rewarding her for her good work in the battle, he got dressed and smirked a bit. "Keep up the good work," he told her, "And you'll be rewarded more in the future. The more good you do... the better your reward... so I look forward to seeing how well you... perform," he said, letting the final word and its multiple meanings linger.

[PendragonXeno94]

She smirked as she stood in front of him. "Battles tend to do that to me."

And before she knew it, he had sated her primal needs not once but twice. She had used his name a few times throughout the duration but it seemed as though she wasn't fully allowed to use it yet. To her, he was still "Warden."

Now that she was dressed, she let her eyes travel his body once or twice as he finished clothing himself and she sighed to herself. "From what I've seen, I'm sure of it." Maybe she was crazy, but perhaps someday there might be something between them beyond whatever they wanted to call their odd relationship. Perhaps liaison was a better term. She had finished reapplying her armor as she glanced at him, waiting for his response. Already, she saw him in a slightly different light. He wasn't as hard as she thought he would be and, daresay, more affectionate than what she anticipated. Surely something she hardly ever experienced.

"So what now, Warden?"

[Holeypaladin]

It was clear that the the knight was correct in figuring out a suitable reward and punishment system for the half-dragon prisoner. Not only was it successful, but it was an absolutely stunning success, even though she seemed to know what he was doing and why, her primal urges seemed to be too strong for her to resist... she didn't even seem to care that she was being manipulated into doing Joseph's bidding.

Which was just fine for him. Once he had dressed himself back up, he glanced back to the half-dragon. "If they're sending wyverns to attack us," he said, "Then they have at least one dragon among them. We don't want to fight a dragon head on when they're supported by an entire army of soldiers... so we may need to re-think our little assassination plan."

"Tell me, Ara..." he said, "How well acquainted are you with the local Chromatics? Specifically... who are the dragons who live in this area, and where are their lairs? The wyverns went... that way," he said as he pointed off in the general direction they had fled. "Know any dragon lairs over there?"

[PendragonXeno94]

She nodded as he mentioned that the wyverns went in a certain direction. Yes, they would have to have a dragon with them to control them. They couldn't do much on their own. She pondered for a moment before speaking again. "There's one in the direction they went," she said. "I believe that lair belongs to Kirkthin. Nasty bitch."

There were other lairs that she knew of, but she was never fond of the dragoness that the wyverns may have flown to. Ara wouldn't mourn her loss. "I know a handful of Chromatics. Most of them aren't the most pleasant to deal with. Like Kirkthin. She's a red dragon, I think." It had been a while since she last saw her. One of those that claimed to have fought alongside her father. "The other lairs are mostly north to northeast of here. There's two in the south and maybe four to the east. I don't know all of them, but Adrustel has one in the north, Kumal is also to the north, and Dukan is east. Everyone else I'll have to find out about."

Well, they could out four now while she researched who else had lairs. There was no way they could kill them all.

[Holeypaladin]

Nodding, the knight glanced at the half-dragon. "If your suspicions are right," he said, "We'll likely find some wyverns guarding Kirkthin's lair. She herself is likely to be absent, perhaps commanding troops in your former army, but once we start butchering her guards... she'll be alerted, and return to protect her treasure."

He chuckled as he made his way back down into the courtyard, to the gates of the castle. "After all... if there's one thing a dragon values more than everything else, it's their treasure! She'll want to protect it at the expense of all other loyalties. So... you up for killing some more wyverns, and a dragon who you don't get along so well with?"

Dragon hunts were far from anything that would be considered easy... only the strongest of adventurers could typically take on a dragon, and only when they worked together as a group. Red dragons were slightly weak to ice attacks, but white dragons were weak to fire attacks as well... and Joseph expected that Ara had inherited some degree of this vulnerability along with her frost powers.

[PendragonXeno94]

Though she wasn't entirely eager to go against Kirkthin, Ara shrugged. "I wouldn't mind getting my hands on some of whatever she's guarding." She was sure her father gave up treasure for some other conquests regarding anything in a skirt. What made him decide to sleep with her mother was probably letting intoxication come into play. Trolls were not by any means attractive. Anyone who thought otherwise might have had something wrong with them.

And she thought she had enough of her share of wyverns for one day. "All right, let's go." Hopefully, he would have her back when Kirkthin would opt for her fire abilities as Ara was not entirely immune to it. Dragons weren't the most fun to fight unless she was sliting their throat in the sleep. Maybe she could get something like a magically augmented armor or amulet for protection as a reward. But only if. But the reward from earlier was good enough.

"It's up this way," she said, gesturing towards a mountainous region as they exited the gates.

[Holeypaladin]

"My guess is the volcanic peak of that tall mountain over there..." he nodded, gazing up at the tallest of the peaks in the mountainous region where the wyverns had fled, "Right?" He glanced over to the half-dragon for confirmation. "Most lairs have multiple entrances... one accessable only by air, and another, more dangerous entrance, intended to lure and trap potential intruders. And it will indeed be trapped..."

He considered how best to break in to the dragon lair. "How familiar are you with spotting and disarming traps?" he glanced to Ara. Her soldier training wouldn't have taught her much in that regard, but she was not always a soldier, and he was unfamiliar of her life before joining the evil king's army. "At least one of the traps will be an alarm, which will send word to Kirkthin that her lair has intruders. This one we will most certainly want to trip, as it is what will draw her to us. But some of the others... might be a great deal more dangerous."

Plus, it went without saying that if the wyverns were hers, many of them would be in her lair, guarding it from intruders in her absence. There was no saying what other sorts of guardians she might have... dragons tended to be powerful sorceresses, so she might have undead minions, or golem constructs as well. Perhaps summoned devils... the possibilities were endless. But there would be plenty of killing to make Ara wet and ready for her reward... this much was obvious.

[PendragonXeno94]

"Yeah, up there," she said as they made their way to the mountainous region. "I can try to disarm traps, but I can't promise anything. I was trained to fight, not play around with traps." In fact, she wasn't sure if she could disarm them. The only times she had dealt with them was when she had someone with her to help her disarm while she fought everyone off.

She looked up at the volcanic peak. "I would offer to go into where Kirkthin usually enters but then I would be burnt crisp." She had entered lairs the way the dragons did before, but she was not about to try to make it into the peak while risking burns. "What about you? Can you disarm?"

No doubt there were more wyverns to take down and hopefully nothing else. She didn't anything more to complicate things further.

[Holeypaladin]

"Disarm..." the knight considered the concept. "Not sure. But... I can probably at least locate the traps. And sometimes the best way to disarm them is to let something else spring the trap..." he mused over the idea, "Like, say, a wyvern, or whatever sorts of guardians she has in her lair. Wouldn't it be amusing for her traps to strike down her own guardians, after all?"

It was true that Kirkthin's entrance likely involved passing through a ring of fire, something that would burn anything without the fire resistance of her own kind... so the alternate entrance was likely to be the best choice. Plus, they needed to set off the alarm anyway. "Keep an eye out for wyverns," he said as he began to make his way towards the peak, "And any other wild creatures that might inhabit these mountains. It's in your best interest to keep me alive, remember."

[PendragonXeno94]

"Hmm... I'm better at luring than disarming anyway," she mused, checking her surroundings to ensure nothing had followed them. There were mostly non-hostile fauna in their path that skittered away upon seeing them, and a pack of wolves were across the mountain from them from what Ara could see.

Upon reaching the entrance, she readied herself for battle. "I know. It'd be a shame if you didn't stay alive." Well, she no longer have the rewards she enjoyed for one and it would be the end of her for that matter. Two wyverns were resting further back from the entrance and she gestured for Joseph to be silent as she aimed her crossbow.

[Holeypaladin]

"Some of your luring methods won't work so well on dumb creatures like wyverns, though," said the knight with a smirk. "Flashing your boobs at a wyvern is likely to receive a look of confusion, after all... you'll have to use other methods of luring our opponents, in this situation."

As he approached the entrance to the dragon's lair, he was grateful that it wasn't located very high up the slope. There might, of course, be other slopes within... but it had clearly been designed to be accessed by foot. Mostly, dragons liked to use these sorts of entrances as a test and a trap... to lure wealthy would-be dragon slayers into their lairs, only to kill them with traps and minions, and then loot their belongings to add to their own treasure hoard. It also showed how massively overconfident and prideful these creatures tended to be... daring the lesser races to kill them was a risky thing by its very nature, after all.

Spotting the wyverns, Joseph nodded to the half-dragon, summoning his own crossbow in his arms. He mouthed the words, "You take the one on the left" as he aimed at the wyvern on the right. Once he felt he had given her sufficient time to aim, he pulled the trigger, sending a deadly crossbow bolt through the dragon-like skull of the wyvern.

[PendragonXeno94]

"That's not how I lure," she said. Honestly, if it was good tactic for distraction then she would do it. But none of the warriors she'd seen, save for the ones who had absolutely no clue what they were doing, would be sidetracked by a woman flashing them.

Nodding, she aimed and hit the wyvern on the left. Carefully making her way through, she moved further in as she kept her crossbow up and ready to fire. So far, she hadn't seen traps; her foot pressed on a floor plate that shot out a stake from the adjacent wall that whirled toward the warden.

"Look out!" she yelled, grabbing him and pushing him out of the way. She could feel the sharpened end tear open her shoulder. Hissing, she held her wound for a moment before looking around for any more floor plates.

A sudden whoosh was heard before a few more wyverns flew out of nowhere. Hitting one, she had a hard time reloading without feeling some degree of pain in her shoulder.

[Holeypaladin]

The Warden's life might have been put to a premature end... had he not been saved by someone who he had thought had not a single compassionate emotion in the very fiber of her being. "Thanks..." he said, a bit surprised by her rapid reaction speed. Though she had been the one to spring the trap, she also had been the one to take the wound... for his sake, no less. "You deserve a reward for that," he said, before the wyverns began to rush out at them.

"Use your blade and frost breath," he said, "Strike them as they pass." He himself took cover behind the powerful half-dragon creature, using his own crossbow to pick off the wyverns from a distance, yet allowing the woman to take care of the ones that got close. Thankfully, since this particular breed of wyvern lacked a breath weapon, Ara's melee skills should prove more than enough to deal with the ones that got too close.

[PendragonXeno94]

Letting him get behind her, she switched her crossbow with her blades and began to strike at the wyverns that got close enough. Well, she might have not used her frost breath for some time, but she could try.

Inhaling, she released a stream of frost on one of the creatures closing in on them. She even slit its throat for good measure. As they continued to take down the wyverns from where they stood, one of the ones that Joseph shot down pushed one of the traps that sounded the alarm. Something with gongs getting hit repeatedly. Now, Kirkthin had to come. When an alarm was sounded in a dragon's lair, the dragon was sure to follow. But unfortunately, it had awakened two golems that began charging toward them. "Ah shit..."

--

Kirkthin paused, hovering over her lair as the alarm rang. Intruders! She swooped down through the opening of the volcano and flew through the dank chambers before reaching the other entrance, perching in the shadows. Her minions were either lying lifeless or were blindly charging. There were only two adventurers this time. One knight and one... no. Kirkthin must have been seeing things; it looked as though Kalern's daughter was with the human. Well, at least she could kill the traitorous brat and go back to the battlefield as she was called upon.

Roaring, she outstretched her wings as more of her minions fell, calling for them to fall back. A tactic that proved useful all other times. Lure the would-be thieves into her main chamber and then play with her future meal before finishing them. She lurked back to the main chamber as her lackeys could do nothing but obey, though the golems were as good as dead anyway.

--

Ara readied herself as the two golems approached with stone fists above their heads.

[Holeypaladin]

Taking careful aim, Joseph continued to snipe at the wyverns, shooting them out of the sky. He didn't necessarily need to kill them, for merely wounding them sufficiently enough was enough to take them out of the fight, causing many of them to fall and inadvertently spring some of Kirkthin's traps. It seemed she didn't particularly care if her minions died to her traps, so long as they took out any would-be thieves as well.

However, the alarm that sounded caused the battle to be joined. Not only would the dragon be arriving shortly... but her guardians awakened as well. Joseph gave them a quick look. Magical constructs... bound to serve the will of a skilled artificer. These creatures were more dangerous than the wyverns, and wouldn't flee when they knew they had lost, instead battling to the death. He was able to identify what they were quite easily.

Stone golems. Ara might be powerful, but Joseph doubted she had any weapons capable of damaging solid rock. Crossbows were practically useful against such creatures as well... so he released his grip on the weapon, letting it vanish into nothingness. "Got anything that can cut through solid rock?" he asked her, just to be sure, as he himself summoned forth an enchanted stone-cutting sword. As he sliced at the creatures with his blade, he cut off chunks of rock... but it didn't seem to stop them, or even slow them down much as they felt no pain.

He would need to locate a weak point or... "A trap." He said. "There's gotta be a molten hot magma pit somewhere around here. Ara, fly over one and see if the dumb constructs run right into it!"

[PendragonXeno94]

Well, the wyverns were easy enough, but the golems were the real problem. They never stopped, always killed until they were cut down. Ara didn't even answer him when he summoned a stone-cutting blade. Apparently, it wasn't enough when he told her to go find a molten pit. Leaping into flight over them, she let the golems chase her as moved deeper into the cave as she actively searched for a pit of magma that the creatures could fall into. Finding one in the main chamber, she kept her distance from the pit as the golems, as expected, walked into it.

A large hand pushed Ara down, and she soon had her vision blocked by large, black claws.

"My, my," the dragoness purred, "it seemed that you are like your father."

"Dumb as I look, yes, yes. I've heard that one before." She couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"You seemed to have grown up since I last saw you and-" Kirkthin paused when she eyed the collar. "Oo, what's this?" One claw began to tap on it.

"Don't."

"Why? Is it one of those magically augmented collars that can slice your head off?" A toothy grin broke her maw. "Let's test it, shall we?"

Ara responded with sticking one blade into the dragon's palm, making it pull back. She smirked from Kirkthin's yowl. "Let's not."

Circling around her, the dragoness kept the grin on her face as she flexed her wings. "Where's the knight, hmm? Did he stay behind to wait for more wyverns?"

"And leave him with no excitement? I don't think that's his style." Rolling her shoulders, despite the sul pain in one of them, Ara began to circle the dragoness as well, keeping an eye out for wyverns. This one was known for foul play in combat.

[Holeypaladin]

It seemed the plan worked... sort of. Unfortunately, it appeared that Ara had ventured a bit too far ahead of him. Though she had broken the rule regarding leaving his sight... she had done so at his order, so he let it slide. As she had wings, she had avoided the floor traps in her flight, but he himself would have to take it more cautiously...

"Loritic, vucat," he incanted in a language that sounded quite familiar to Ara, Kirkthin, and the wyverns... for it was, in fact the language of dragons, though the dialect was that of a silver dragon. Suddenly, he was able to see the locations of all of the traps in the passage... and avoid them with nimble steps as he hurried to catch up to his prisoner. The lava pit required a running start, but he was able to clear it and land with a roll on the ground.

The half-white and the red were exchanging taunts... the most clever and powerful of all dragons versus a half-breed of the weakest, most dumb variety. Ara had managed to survive so far, but for how long? Expecting her to fight a creature of this magnitude was not something reasonable... it had already almost killed her with her own collar, after all.

Reaching out, he summoned forth yet another weapon. This one was a polearm... specifically designed for slaying dragons. Not only could it pierce dragon scales like paper, it had sufficient length to reach deep into a dragon's hide, and strike at their internal organs, which were normally too deep for swords and other melee weapons to effectively hit.

It appeared his arrival was not unnoticed, however, as even though he was behind the dragon... she let loose a mighty swipe of her tail, knocking him over. He saw the creature inhale deeply..."

"Take cover!" he shouted to Ara, "She's gonna breathe!" A fire blast of that magnitude would certainly reduce a half-dragon to ash should it hit directly, especially considering her vulnerability to said element.

[PendragonXeno94]

Even as she kept circling, Ara noticed Joseph appearing out of nowhere and behind Kirkthin, who had knocked him to the side with her tail. Seeing as the other female was ready to breathe fire on her, she had lunged to the side when Kirkthin finally unleashed her breath. Running to the side of her, she slashed at her legs while avoiding her fire attacks. There wasn't really much she could do besides wounding her or... perhaps taunting her while the knight went in for the kill.

Hopping onto her back, Ara attempted to pierce the dragon's hide as she dodged any head thrashing from the dragoness.

"That's right, I'm untouchable!" she shouted. Though her words were proved wrong when Kirkthin's teeth caught her sleeve and tossed her across the chamber, feeling one of her wings snap. She yelled in pain, knowing that now she was immobile for flying for the next month or so. Unless there was healing magic to remedy it, she couldn't do much more flying for the time being. She also felt her legs scrape against the rocky ground and her arm getting scraped.

As she struggled to get on her feet, Kirkthin slowly ambled up to her, raising one hand over her head. Her claws grazed Ara's side, making her stumble back down. Now, the dragoness raised her hand one last time, steadying herself as she shot a taunting glance at the half-dragon.

[Holeypaladin]

Ara indeed proved quite capable of distraction. Joseph himself having to deal with a few stray wyverns, his polearm proved quite efficient at slicing through the creatures. But it was clear that this Kirkthin didn't see him as much of a threat... perhaps thinking that since he, unlike Ara, lacked dragon blood, then he would be weaker in comparison. It was enough to let the overconfident beast lower her guard, and though Ara fought well, she was wounded, pinned, and moments away from death.

Several thoughts rushed through his head at this moment. A single second's delay could mean the difference between life and death for the half-dragon... the horny slut who he was forced to deal with for this assignment might meet her end, at the hands of a red dragon. And no one would be the wiser... no one would know that Joseph's half second delay had cost the life of his prisoner, who was considered expendable to begin with. He'd be free from this assignment...

Except... Joseph would know. It would linger in his conscience for the rest of his existence. Sure, Ara may deserve to die for her crimes... but she was under his protection, at this point in time. He may not like her, and he certainly didn't trust her to look out after anyone except herself and her own carnal desires... but she was his prisoner. And he was her Warden.

"Hey, snake face!" he said, distracting the dragon away from her finishing blow. As she turned to look at him, he plunged his polearm deep into her eye, causing her to howl out in pain. He thrust it harder, deeper, growling as he forced it into the creature's brain, at which point she stopped thrashing and fell over, dead.

Panting, he noted he had received several burn wounds from his leap over the fire pit, and Ara herself had sustained injuries. But the wyverns, seeing the death of their dragon, quickly retreated to live another day. For though they were dumb beasts... they valued their own lives, and knew that anything that could end Kirkthin could end them far more easily.

Panting, the warden collapsed next to his prisoner. "I bet you thought I'd let her kill you," he said once he had caught his breath. "Not on my watch. Maybe your next Warden will be more careless... if you have another, that is."

[PendragonXeno94]

Hearing Joseph's voice was enough for Ara to try to bring herself up, though she had already collapsed when he delivered the final blow to Kirkthin. Her tail making Ara hit her head wasn't the best farewell gift she ever received. The wyverns had scattered as she glanced over at him. She, herself, was already beginning to feel light-headed.

"Well... thanks..." she said, holding the fresh wound on her side. "I'm glad the bitch's dead." Her breathing slowed as she felt herself slip out of consciousness. "Maybe... I was wrong, after all..."

Opening her eyes, she looked around the room as she slowly brought herself up. She was freshly bandaged, and she wasn't sure if her wing was completely healed or not. But seeing Joseph gave her a feeling she never had before: she breathed a sigh of relief when she placed a hand on her forehead. "Is there a way I can get back to flying or I have to wait a month for it to heal?" It wasn't as though she wanted it fixed now, but not watching the world pass her as she took to the skies was probably the only thing she still had control over. And not having that for a month would drive her up the wall. "And don't worry, I'm still up for collecting a reward." She couldn't help her wink at him.

[Holeypaladin]

Joseph scanned the room. It appeared the half-dragon had collapsed from her injuries, though she didn't have any wounds that looked life-threatening. Still, he patched up what bleeding wounds he could find, not shy to remove her clothing since he had already seen her naked a couple times.

The room was indeed full of treasure, for the red dragon had collected a substantial amount of it over her long life. However, he had little need of most of it himself, and Ara... Ara was still a greedy little thing, and didn't need a monetary reward for her service either. Instead, the fortune would be used by the Breton army, to raise troops, hire mercenaries, and slow the advance of the Frankonian forces. It should at least buy the smaller kingdom several weeks worth of delay, which should give Joseph and Ara time to work at weakening the army.

Picking the half-dragon up, he carried her back to the room. Most of his restorative magic was meant for self-healing only... but he supposed he could use what energy he could get from Ara's "reward" to amplify his restorative circuit enough to heal her.

After a time, she woke up, and Joseph looked at her. "So you're alive," he said, acknowledging the fact. "My restoration is mostly for self-healing... but I'll see about amplifying it enough to heal your wing. Your flight offers a tactical advantage, after all, as it can lure dumb golems into lava pits and the like." Her next words made him smirk. "And of course you're already eager for your reward... why am I not surprised?"

With a bit of a chuckle, he nodded. "You did save me, and though I ended up returning the favor... it's still enough to justify a reward." He began to unwrap some of her bandages, revealing the wounds which had been healed. Her wing remained bandaged, but he also ended up removing the rest of her clothing in order to tend to her reward.

[PendragonXeno94]

And so she was rewarded once again, with Joseph getting enough energy to heal her wing. That much was a relief to her as she loved flying. Once all was said and done, she glanced up at him and climbed into bed with him. She had also asked during their intimate moment if it was all right if she could sleep next to him that night. It was just that she wanted to experience the feel of a warm body next to hers just cuddling with her if only this one time.

Resting her cheek on his shoulder, it was the first time she noticed his eye color. She didn't recall seeing anyone with turquoise eyes before. They suited him, in fact. Caressing his cheek, she smiled softly. "Gods, you have beautiful eyes," she remarked. It was all well good that she had a weakness for blue eyes, but she had an even bigger weakness for more unique eye colors. The half dragon couldn't help but snuggle closer to him as she kept admiring his eyes.

[Holeypaladin]

Her caressing was... unexpected. It surprised Joseph that even after she had received her reward, she desired close contact with him. Well... there was no harm in indulging her this once, so long as he was careful not to get too emotionally attached. She seemed different though, if only slightly... the savage beast was just a tiny bit more tame than she had been before she was collared.

"You think so?" he said, not shying away from her touch. He even allowed his arm to wrap around her. "I don't really see them very often," he chuckled at the slight joke he had made. "Night, Ara," he said, allowing himself to drift off to sleep. He was, after all, quite tired, and rewarding the half-dragon had taken a lot out of him.

[PendragonXeno94]

She smirked at him. "You should. They're hypnotizing." Yawning, she curled up next to him as he drifted to sleep. She touched noses with him once he was out before she fell into a deep sleep.

Shielding her eyes, Ara groaned as the rays of light began to seep into the room. Looking to see that Joseph was still asleep, she brushed his hair out of his face before kissing his forehead. She then moved out of the bed to dress herself. At least she had no scarring from last night's battle, and she had begun to mess with her wildly waved hair as she went to tame it. That was, in her opinion, unfavorable for her as she hated having to do anything with her hair as wavy as it was. She just had to get it from her mother. She could have just been born with mild curly hair or naturally straight hair but she was stuck with thick, wavy blue locks. Something she despised from childhood. She even thought about cutting her hair shorter though she always opted out of it.

[Holeypaladin]

Joseph woke to the sensation of a woman's lips on his forehead. Blinking his eyes, he pretended not to notice the fact for a bit, but eventually sat up and looked over to the half-dragon. "Morning," he said. Or at least, that's what he tried to say. It came out more along the lines of "mrng." He wasn't a morning person.

Glancing down, he noticed something that Ara probably hadn't yet... else she might truly act like a wild animal. He yawned and tried not to immediately fall back asleep. "You need a bath..." he said, managing to speak in a coherent sentence this time. It had only taken two tries.

[PendragonXeno94]

Ara sighed, just letting her hair fall down. "I know," she said. "Not much of a morning person, myself." It was a good thing she didn't notice what Joseph found. Though, at this time of day, she probably wouldn't want to. She was still somewhat tired from last night.

"I'm assuming you need to watch me bathe again?" She glanced over at him, finally seeing what she hadn't beforehand. However, she simply shrugged it off. "Do you need one, too?" The half-dragon came back to the knight's side as she stretched and placed a hand on his chest. "Sleep well?" She rolled on top of him so she could rest on him instead of next to him. She ran her fingers over his cheek, studying his face as she touched noses with him and tucked her head under.

Nuzzling his chin, she paused and gazed at him. "Joseph?"

[Holeypaladin]

Staring off at nothing for a bit, Joseph was a bit unresponsive at first, still half asleep. "I do..." he said when asked if he needed a bath as well. He felt much like a zombie, in that his brain still hadn't entirely turned on. He didn't resist when the half-dragon snuggled up to him, and even went so far as to wrap his arms around her when she rolled onto him, either too tired to resist or unsure what he was doing.

She was, for the most part, ignoring his morning phenomenon too. When he heard his name, he responded with "Hmm?" He didn't realize at first that she had addressed him by name without his permission, rather than calling him Warden. Instead, he went ahead and closed his eyes, holding her a bit closer for the time being.

[PendragonXeno94]

Well, things should prove interesting as he needed a bath as well. She wasn't exactly sure if it was against the rules if they bathed together or they had to bathe separately. If they just found one of the rooms with a bathtub and lock the door, there shouldn't be much of a problem.

She caressed his hair as he finally muttered a "hmm" when she addressed him. He must have been more exhausted than she thought if he wasn't saying anything about calling him by his name and not warden. "Why the hell are you so nice to me? I thought I was a prisoner." She wasn't suggesting for him to stop, but she was curious as to why when he rewarded her he showed some degree of affection and even lightening up on her.

[Holeypaladin]

Blinking a bit at her words, Ara's warden turned to look at her. "You want me to be mean?" he asked. Slowly, he began to pick his way up and to his feet, gently removing Ara from the position she had taken atop him. "I'm too tired to be warden right now..." he mumbled, "Lemme wake up first." Wrapping his body in a robe, he glanced to Ara.

"Bath time," he said. "Coming?" He led the way to the bathroom, where he went ahead and got in a tub that was barely large enough for the two of them. "Um..." he said, trying to think of something warden-y to say. "Come in here and wash my back, I guess," he said with a shrug. "Some spots are hard to reach." He still seemed tired, though he was slowly waking up.

[PendragonXeno94]

She shook her head. "No, I was just wondering why." Once she was removed, he had donned a robe and led her to the bathroom where he entered the tub. Getting in behind him, she poured water on his back before beginning to clean it. Since he was too tired to be warden she figured she could at least wash some more of him.

Moving to his shoulders, she let her hands linger there while massaging them, feeling the muscles pop and unknot under her touch. She then moved to his arms. The half-dragon silently marveled at them before going to his neck and chest. She moved her hands in a circular motion on his torso as she busied herself washing him. Once she felt satisfied, she slowly moved her hands lower. Should he not desire that, he could simply push her hands away and have her concentrate elsewhere. But she doubted it.

[Holeypaladin]

Joseph was still tired, and didn't really feel like resisting the prisoner's advances. So he turned around, and let her have her way, just this once... though she did seem different to him. More passionate, more open, as if she wanted to a least make an attempt at experience her rewards the way an ordinary couple might do so. Joseph realized she probably had very little idea what a normal relationship was like.

Once she had satisfied herself, he continued washing her like nothing had happened. "So much dirt and ash from the volcano," he said as he washed her body, "Isn't it convenient that we're in a bath tub?" He had woken up a great deal, and was pretty much back to his usual self by now.

[PendragonXeno94]

"Very," she said, beginning to wash and rinse his hair. Once she was happy with how clean his hair looked, she went to wash her own. She gave him a small smile as she bunched her wet hair together. "Should we look into another dragon lair or wait for a bit?" She wasn't entirely enthusiastic about going against another dragon so soon, but worst case she would have to.

Submerging for a moment, she resurfaced and rested her arms around his shoulders. She did feel somewhat different after having already numerous encounters with him. Not necessarily butterflies in her stomach, but she genuinely wanted to try to do good (especially seeing what boon she gained from it, though that might be her only reason why she hadn't turned on everyone). She even touched foreheads with him, not even realizing she murmured in Draconic. She glanced up at him. "I think I'm clean enough now. How about you?"

[Holeypaladin]

"With the success in that last fight," Joseph said, "I believe we've somewhat stalled the advance of the Frankonian army. This gives us time to do something more... dramatic." To say that he had a plan that was more dramatic than killing a dragon was interesting indeed.

"Our next mission is an infiltration mission. You'll be wearing your old uniform for this one... and we'll be investigating the Frankonian army encampment. I'm to be your prisoner," he said with a bit of a smirk, "But only as an act. Our true objective is to cause as much damage as we can and get out of there."

He gave her a hug before stepping out of the tub, he dried himself off, getting dressed and glancing over to Ara. "And yes, I'm clean enough too," he said as he gazed at her. "This will be dangerous," he said. "And you'll need to convince people that our roles are reversed. Think you can handle it?"

[PendragonXeno94]

What could be more dramatic than- Oh, now Ara understood. She hadn't really done an infiltration mission and quite frankly, she never really saw the need. But now that it had become necessary, she knew she didn't have a say in the matter. But causing damage was a plus and the roles were reversed for once! She had moved about in the tub before beginning to get up.

He hugged her. Hugged her. She wouldn't lie that she was touched by it and she got a little misty eyed. Ara had dried and dressed herself before locating her old uniform. "So, should I say that I escaped and took you as prisoner?" she asked with a teasing tone. "And what kind of damage are we doing? Is this where you want me to assassinate one of the generals?" She wouldn't mind, but she was always one to ask what she was supposed to do just so things were clear.

[Holeypaladin]

"If we get a chance," he said with a nod, "We should kill the general. And cause as much damage as we can manage... poison food stockpiles, burn supplies, anything that will slow them down." He hadn't expected her to get emotional over his hug. Perhaps there was a bit of a softie deep down inside, after all. "I'll use a simple trick to make it look like I'm the one wearing the collar," he said. "Our story is that you sexed my brains out in the prison cell to the point where you cleverly convinced me to do BDSM stuff with the collar, and that's how you facilitated your escape."

"They'll expect you to act like your old self," he said, "And there might come times when you're not in my sight. But rule three is still in effect... if you can refrain from sexing them, I'll give you extra rewards once we get out of there. And you know I'm better than them at... you know," he said with a wink.

[PendragonXeno94]

"Oo, all the better." She was already warming up to this. And it only sounded better when he spun up some tale for her to use once they got there. "I approve..." She couldn't wait to see how the other soldiers reacted, especially the general if he was around. But for the matter of rule three... well, she should just tell her now rather than later.

"I'll definitely refrain myself. I know you're better. Even more so than the general..." She sighed before uttering out the words "...cheating bastard." She probably would have ended up with him had he not been seeing the women who followed their camp behind her back. "But don't worry. I've been over him." Gearing up, she packed some supplies and took his arm. "Let's go, prisoner." She wanted to get into character long before they would arrive.

--

"Ara!" one of the soldiers yelled as he ran up to the two. "We thought you were dead."

"Yeah, well... Old Ara got herself out the only way she could."

"Oh?" The soldier glanced at Joseph. "How he'd get with you?"

"You know how knights get," she replied with a shrug. "All about redeeming others and the like. But he couldn't resist me. I even got him into BDSM."

"Oo! You have to tell Viktus more!"

Ara cocked an eyebrow. "I thought Danarus was the general."

"Oh, the king sent him further north to lead his best. Viktus took over."

"Oh... well, shit. I wanted to slap the bastard some more."

"Still upset about...?" He ceased as the half-dragon gave him a death glare.

[Holeypaladin]

This operation would be difficult, but so far, the half-dragon was able to maintain her cover by acting like herself. Joseph didn't exactly have complete confidence in her, and being surrounded by enemies, he was the one in the most danger here. The only reason Ara had not to reveal the entire plan was the fact that he could activate the collar if she did... but should she be separated from his sight by circumstances out of their control... could she be trusted not to spill the beans?

He was feeling anxious, and not just because he had to play the part of some BDSM-obsessed pervert prisoner. Ara's training had been going well so far, but she still had quite a ways to go before she could be trusted with this sort of assignment. Still, time was a scarce resource, and they had to do it now or lose the chance.

The fact that the general had left the main camp on a northern expedition was somewhat troubling. So he had decided to circumvent the fortress after all, even without the wyverns to distract the Breton soldiers. Or perhaps he had some other dragon up his sleeve...

For now, Joseph played the part of a good prisoner, listening to the exchange and keeping his mouth shut unless addressed directly. Even being able to collect information by ear could give this mission some redeeming grace, after all.

[PendragonXeno94]

The soldier simply cowered away as Ara pulled Joseph along. Several others came to marvel at her captive, asking numerous questions and staring at him as the half-dragon made her way to the end of camp.

"Halt!" commanded a burly Orc, ear piercings jiggling as he approached. "Who are you and how did you find our camp."

"You speak to Captain Ara Raz'ti-nak."

The Orc's eyes traveled her body as confusion entered his expression. "That is a troll name. You look more dragon and human than anything else. But I have heard of you, Ara. I only expected you to be... shorter. And uglier."

Ara shrugged. "Blame my father. He kept me from looking like my mother."

He chuckled. "I am General Viktus. If you seek General Danarus, I'm afraid our king has called him to the capital to lead his armies. He's made quite the name for himself."

"I've been told that."

"So how did you escape, hmm?"

Ara couldn't help but smirk. "Ah, so I see you've never been told of my reputation. See, this knight thought he could get me to betray Ashendrethel and fight for the Bretons, instead. But he's like the rest of the men, he can never resist a lovely body."

"Hmm." Viktus caressed her cheek. "I have heard of that, yes. But that doesn't answer my question."

"Oh, I convinced him to let me go," she resumed, pulling away from his touch, "but I felt so bad leaving him after getting him into BDSM."

His eyes seemed to have brightened. "You may stay for now, Captain. But there is a certain... problem I need you to fix."

Oh no... Ara nodded, pulling the knight along with her.

"I will see you later, Ara." Viktus chuckled to himself. "Dismissed."

[Holeypaladin]

"An orc?" asked Joseph in a low tone once she had dragged him far enough away that he could speak freely. "Really? I guess your reputation precedes you indeed.." It was clear what the problem is that the orc general wanted to have her treat. Thankfully, orcs weren't very bright, and he had bought her story rather easily. Because they were even dumber than white dragons, it shouldn't be too hard to out-smart this one...

"It seems he's also into BDSM, though..." Joseph thought for a moment. "We might be able to use this to our advantage, in fact. If you can get him to put a collar on... well, we'd be able to capture the head of this army. Perhaps once you have him alone, you can convince him that your terms for... violating rule three... are to have him put the collar on. And then betray him, of course. I doubt you want that warty, disgusting orc thing in you, anyway. Mine is much prettier, don't you think?"

He shrugged. "If nothing else, you can just kill him as soon as you're alone. That's works too. Maybe you can even convince him to let me watch... say that you like having an audience, or something."

[PendragonXeno94]

"I wasn't expecting one," she said. Orcs weren't her type, and they tended to reek, too. And they were arguably even less attractive than trolls, and that was saying something. "I'm not sleeping with a bloody Orc, trust me." The collar idea was not a bad one. "Could you get one similar to mine?" Honestly, watching him choke to death wasn't the worst idea she could think of. Having Joseph as an audience would feel awkward for her.

"This what I think. I can get Viktus alone and make sure he's dead by the time I leave, and I can just have you go sabotage their supplies. Just say that I ordered you to." Thinking of the warden in a different way made her swoon in the depths of her mind. She would be very much rewarded, indeed.

"All right, pet," she said aloud. "I'm going to put you to work while I have my meeting with Viktus. Go check on our supplies, and if anyone says anything, tell them I asked you to. Now go." She leaned toward his ear. "Make sure to poison shit so we can slow 'em down." Leaving him, she began to stroll around the camp, making her presence known so word would spread that the captain did manage to escape the Bretons.

[Holeypaladin]

"Prove that I can trust you to leave my sight, and you will be richly rewarded, indeed," he said, sliding a hand up her inner thigh to let her know the message. Perhaps she was more prepared than he realized... or perhaps she intended to betray him. However, he had already intended to poison the supplies, plus leave various... other surprises for them.

"As you wish, Mistress," he said, bowing his head in a submissive way to his prisoner. He had little choice but to trust her... at worse, they'd both end up dead, but at best, they could cause all manner of destruction to this army. He made his way towards the supplies... his first destination was the granaries. A few soldiers stopped him, of course, but those who didn't accept that he had been ordered by Ara simply ended up dead or incapacitated in some way.

He despised the Arcane college of Desecration, but it did have its uses. He hadn't invested any energy into desecration circuits yet, but... he supposed now was the time. Using what energy he had collected from the morning's activities with Ara, he set to work using a low level poison spell on the food and water supplies. "Weyog," he spoke a simple word of Draconic in a whisper as he touched the various food and water stores. It would serve to poison them... but it was a weak, slow-acting poison that was virtually undetectable. It probably wouldn't kill them... but it would make them unable to fight, and vulnerable to an attack from the Breton army. It was undetectable enough that they probably wouldn't even notice it until it had put half their army in bed.

He wasn't finished yet, however. There were other ways he could sabotage this camp. Making his way over to the armories, he ended up having to kill the guards as they would not let him pass, despite pleading that Captain Ara would punish him. "General said no one through," was their response, "General outranks Captain." So they had to die.

Now to destroy their weapon and armor stockpiles. Corrosion or rust would do it. Simple, easy way? Just use a black dragon's acid breath. "Vutha darastrix trekis!" he incanted, before spitting out a spray of acid to coat their weapons and armor. It would render them quite useless in battle, and replacing them would be a logistics nightmare for the Frankonians.

It wouldn't be long until his sabotage of the weapons was discovered. He quickly made his way back towards the command tent, hoping Ara had finished with the disgusting orc general.

[PendragonXeno94]

The half-dragon shivered from his touch before they departed. She entered Viktus' tent soon after as she rummaged through his supplies. A bottle of wine with two goblets, various things such as ropes and whips. Well, she could work with the wine in some way. Pulling out a small vial from her chest piece, she pulled the bottle and goblets out to pour the wine. Once both goblets were full, she emptied the vial into one of them and picked up the one that was not tampered with.

"Ah, I see you have come," said Viktus, entering the tent. "Now, little dragon, have you come to fix my problem?"

Ara smirked. "Why yes, I was hoping to finish setting up before you arrived." She gestured to the goblet sitting on the end table. "But I always need a glass before I can even start."

"Well, alright." The Orc picked up the goblet, placing a hand on the small of her back. "You're even lovelier than I could have hoped."

She shrugged as she sipped at her wine. "How I look makes no difference to me."

"Why? Do you not view yourself that way?"

"I don't care how I look. I will never view myself as either beautiful or otherwise."

A sigh escaped him. "That's too bad. You should give yourself more credit." With that, he turned and chugged down his drink and tossed the goblet to the side. He brought her closer to him. "Now, how about we discuss more important things?"

She raised a finger as she drank about half her wine, smirking to herself. "Let me finish my drink, at least, General."

"Please, Ara." He began to stroke her hair while helping her finish her drink. "There's no need to be formal. It's just us."

For a moment longer, at least. She placed the goblet back where it was before, pulling out a whip. "How about we pretend I'm a slaver and I am beating you to submission?"

Already, she could see the effects starting. He had begun to shake his head and rub his eyes and trying to keep his balance, so much so that he had to move away from her and support himself by holding onto the cot.

"How about I tie you to the bed, hmm? You seem to be one who likes it rough."

Ara could see Joseph coming to the tent, and she stared down at him. "Oh, but we could-" She gave a look of concern and terror. "Oh, gods, are you all right? You look ill..."

"I-I don't think so." He had slowly made his way to the ground before he began to lose feeling throughout his body. "What is happening to me?"

"You didn't know...?" Her expression molded into one of pure sadism. "Vatrasha. Liquid form."

"Wha-" The Orc began to choke and gasp for air as she stepped to one side.

"You really think I came back to fight for Ashendrethel? He means nothing to me." She only watched as crimson flowed out of his nostrils and his breaths became more desperate. A moment later, she exited the tent and waited for Joseph to meet her before she sighed. "Watch this." She turned and poked her head inside before letting out a bloodcurdling scream. "Viktus! Viktus! Oh, gods! What are you doing? Get up!" She grabbed the warden and ran toward the other end of camp. "Help! Help! Viktus isn't breathing! Someone help him! I'll go fetch a healer!"

The soldiers were too busy rushing to the general's tent to see her and Joseph make their way out. She laughed once the camp was out of sight. "Oh, that was beautiful. I hope your sabotaging went well."

[Holeypaladin]

"We need to hurry," said Joseph in a loud whisper to Ara, taking her hand and hastily making his way out of the camp. It was only a matter of time until their sabotage was discovered, and probably less time until they realized that Viktus had, in fact, been poisoned. Wrapping his arms around her, he knew that trying to escape on foot was too dangerous... they'd never make it out.

"Sehlek, trelk mojka," he incanted, and the two of them vanished, only to reappear outside of the camp. "We've bought ourselves some time," he said, "But they'll send out search parties. Your name will forever be branded a traitor to Frankonia... though I doubt you really mind," he said, chuckling a bit.

"But you're right..." he said, "That was beautiful, wasn't it?" He was also grinning in amusement at the way the two of them had eliminate an enemy and weakened an army, yet escaped to tell the tale. "And I see you managed to avoid letting the orc inside you... you'll be richly rewarded... soon," he said, stroking her tail and wings. "But for now, we need to get out of here!"

[PendragonXeno94]

She hardly registered the fact that Joseph transported them to outside the camp. Ara sighed as he mentioned that she would be branded a traitor. "You're right. I don't really care at this point." She began to trudge forward and she paused when he stroked her wings and tail. "Ah, yes. I didn't take the Orc so I'll take whatever rewards you give me."

The half-dragon pulled Joseph along as she made some distance between them and the camp. She kept checking over her shoulder to see if any of the soldiers had followed. To her relief, they were nowhere to be found, probably trying to save Viktus' life. Hopefully, he would be dead within an hour. Danarus would likely be brought back or Ashendrethel would have to find another one to take his place. About an hour or so had passed when she had to stop to catch her breath.

"You're doing all right?" she asked him.

[Holeypaladin]

Something about this half-dragon was changing, whether she realized it or not. She actively looked out for his interests... though of course it was largely due to her own self-motivation, but was there anything else? It was hard to say... she had passed a very significant test, however, in that she fulfilled the objective without trying to double cross him.

"I'm... fine," he responded to her question. Was she really concerned about his well-being? "Thanks for asking..." he replied. He was finding it more and more difficult to be stern and commanding towards this prisoner. He didn't want to admit that he was starting to enjoy her company, and he certainly would never admit to her being his type. But sometimes, circumstances forced a very unlikely duo to team up... and such seemed to be the case with them.

The loud barking of dogs drew his attention. "Of course..." he said, "They had to have some hunting dogs, didn't they? We're going to need to kill them, but... I doubt they'll be that tough."

[PendragonXeno94]

She certainly saw that he was less strict than when she first met him. He was more pleasant when he wasn't being an ass. Ara could have... well, that shouldn't be something she could never know if it would happen. She felt like it could given the circumstances, but it probably would have been frowned upon. Or everyone else wouldn't care. By the way they have been going the past few days, it was probably no secret that Joseph was bedding her.

The barking had startled her as she peered into the distance. "What, you can't use a spell to pacify them?" She sighed sadly. "This is probably not the best time to say it, but I've always wanted a dog. Mother wouldn't let me, and I had been so involved with my career to adopt one." She drew a small line in the dirt with her foot as she stared in the direction of the commotion. "They probably do have them, but they can thrown off easily if you leave your scent and footprints everywhere. I think killing them wouldn't be necessary if we can make them backtrack."

[Holeypaladin]

Joseph was thinking over the swiftest way to dispatch the pursuing dogs, when the half-dragon said something that absolutely baffled him. He had to blink for a few moments, in order to confirm that she had spoken truth. "Did you..." he paused, "Did you just express a desire.... not to kill something?" He chuckled in amusement. "My, you're quite full of surprises, aren't you?"

"There's an easier way, actually..." he thought for a moment. "Dogs can only track land moving targets. If we were to fly... then we could easily lose them." He nodded. "I'm probably too heavy for you to carry... unless I do this to you," he said, before incanting the words, "Turalisjilt xiekiv," gesturing at Ara.

The spell doubled her height, as well as her wingspan. "Think you can carry me through the sky now?" he asked, looking up to the girl who had suddenly gone from being shorter than him to much taller.

[PendragonXeno94]

Ara threw a confused expression in his direction. "What? I'm a dog person." She only smirked a moment later. "I am..."

She hardly knew what happened next expect that she was now towered over the knight. Getting used to being tall for once, she reached down and scooped him up. "I can carry you. Let's get back before the dogs find us." Taking to the skies, she soared over the fields as she carried them away, the barking only echoing before dissipating. She glanced down at the world below them, watching the minuscule trees and carriages pass by. "This is amazing!" she exclaimed, flapping her wings excitedly before steadying herself. She hardly said anything else until they returned to the fort. Putting him down, she lowered herself to his level as she patted his head. "Now, can I be normal again?"

Of course, she could never be too eager to receive her rewards. And she earned, doing everything Joseph told her to and she showed he could trust her. But being her normal height would help.

[Holeypaladin]

"The spell should be wearing off soon," said Joseph, watching as the girl was already shrinking back to her usual size. "See?"

Once she was back to her usual short height, he set about rewarding her. And rewarding her more. And more. He lost track of how much reward he had given her... but she had earned it, with that display of loyalty, even if it meant she was now a traitor to Frankonia.

Once they were finally finished, he found himself locked in a kiss which seemed to last forever, as neither of them seemed to have any desire to break it anytime soon. Eventually, however, it became necessary to break it... if only to avoid suffocation. Stroking her hair, Joseph pulled her chest to his head, exhausted from the long reward.

"I guess..." he said, recalling some of he pillow talk they had had, "I-i suppose we can be... soulmates... but only if you beg and plead and confess your eternal love for me! A-and don't ever betray me, no matter what! Stay loyal forever! Convince me!"

[PendragonXeno94]

She was relieved to be her normal size. Before long, she kept receiving reward after reward. He was more affectionate than usual and afterwards she found herself spooning him and keeping him locked in a kiss. What seemed like an eternity later, he had to break the kiss. She wished it lasted another moment, but she supposed he wanted to still breathe.

The half-dragon stroked his hair as he rested his head on her chest. She peppered his forehead with a rain of kisses before what he said made her stop abruptly. So she had a chance after all. Before her lips touched his forehead once more, she swiftly pulled away and gave him an expression of shock. Confess her love? Now? And did he stutter? She never recalled taking him as the stuttering type. "But... we've only been together for a short amount of time!" Why would he want her to say she loved him when she didn't even know if she was in fact in love with him.

"Please, Joseph," she said, holding him close as she had no idea what she was doing, only doing what he told her to. "I love you, and I promise to stay loyal forever. Just... Just don't ever leave me." She buried her face in his hair as both hands squeezed his shoulders.

[Holeypaladin]

Her confession wasn't... entirely convincing. It seemed like she only said what she did because she had been ordered to. Though he did appreciate her obedience, she hadn't entirely succeeded in convincing him.

"I will look forward to your continued loyalty," he said, giving her a tender kiss. It was no huge surprise, really... she had absolutely zero experience with love, having only basic wants and desires. It might be the first time she had ever considered anything long term... Joseph resolved to give her a chance, of course, but still held doubt in his heart.

"Night, Ara," he said, holding her close and kissing her again. "Make sure that you... continue to prove your loyalty to me." Holding her close, and exhausted from rewarding her, the warden drifted off to sleep.

[PendragonXeno94]

It was true, she had no experience in love because she hardly felt it her whole life. She held him close to her as he kissed her tenderly. She had a feeling she wasn't entirely convincing but at least Joseph didn't say anything on the matter. Then again, his wanting her to confess her love threw her off. Ara thought that was for when they've been together for some time and then get to that.

Letting him kiss her again, she curled up next to him and fell asleep. She wasn't sure what time it was, but her hair shielded her face when she woke up. Bringing herself to sit up, she took his robe and walked to the window, wanting to peek outside when she heard pattering outside. The half-dragon frowned at the clouded sky and the water that it brought along. Sighing to herself, she climbed back into bed and pressed her face into his neck. Though she was tempted, she didn't leave the room to go stretch her legs. She slid her fingers into his hair and kissed his neck.

[Holeypaladin]

"Mmm...." the knight stirred in his sleep as he felt the kiss on his neck. It was a bit unexpected, as Ara had only really showed that sort of affection when she was aroused and wanting attention. In his sleepy state, of course, Joseph's first thought was exactly that.... and wrapping his arms around the girl he squeezed her like a pillow before pulling her up onto him.

"Mmmorning..." he said, mumbling in his sleep and holding her close. He didn't really want to move yet, and even though he had slept in quite a bit... his body was quite sore from all the bite marks that Ara had left on him the previous night.

[PendragonXeno94]

Ara giggled as she pulled her lips away and had Joseph hold her. She wasn't exactly in the mood at the moment as the night before had her exhausted. As she was pulled up on top him, she leaned down and kissed him gently. Stroking his hair, she brushed hers out of her face as she smiled down at him.

"Morning," she replied. Her thumbs rubbed his cheeks as she yawned. "Sleep well?" She took time to study all the marks she placed on him and she smirked sleepily. She had never been prouder of her work.

Feeling up to teasing, she moved back next to him, keeping the smirk on her face. "Haven't you had enough last night?"

[Holeypaladin]

"Hmm?" He didn't exactly realize what she was referring to at first, but eventually picked up her reference. "Oh... can't help that..." he shrugged and squeezed her tighter. It was true that it was one of those things that happened to men in the morning, which he simply couldn't control. The fact that she was teasing him and not serious didn't occur to him, as his brain had yet to start working.

Eventually, he managed to get out of the bath, mumbling something that didn't seem to be audible. Taking the half-dragon's hand, he sleepily made his way over to the bath, figuring she had heard what he said, even though it wasn't quite clear.

Some of the soldiers gave them some very awkward looks as they passed. Joseph didn't realize exactly how marked up the two of them were, and simply took Ara in to the bath with him, laying down in the tub to relax as he slowly started to wake up.

[PendragonXeno94]

"I know," she said. Ah, the struggles of being a man. Thankfully, she wasn't born as one so she would have that issue. If she wasn't so exhausted maybe she would just take him right then and there. "My poor warden," she cooed, caressing his cheek before giving it a soft kiss. He didn't seem to catch on that she was teasing him.

When he had gotten out of bed, he... took her hand. That was the first time he had done that, but then she realized that they were heading to the wash room to bathe. She simply ignored the awkward glances they received from the other soldiers, only smirking as they commented on how marked up they were. Something she was highly proud of. When he slipped into the tub, she shrugged off his robe to join him and sit in front of him. With a soft smile replacing her smirk, she poured warm water over his face and dampened his hair.

She moved to wash his neck and shoulders, massaging them while her hands were there.

[Holeypaladin]

The warm water did wonders to help him wake up. Before long, Joseph was examining his body and Ara's. "Holy crap," he said, realizing how odd they looked, "We really went all out, didn't we?" He then began to laugh at how ridiculous they both looked, leaning in to the half-dragon as she washed and massaged him. "Mmm..." he replied. He hadn't even ordered her to wash him, yet she was doing so of her own will.

"Don't tell me you're trying to build up credit for your next reward," he teased her, before he began to slide his own hands over her, washing the sweat, dirt, and other fluids from her body. She really had been through quite an interesting night, and it showed.

[PendragonXeno94]

The half-dragon laughed. "Those marks suit you," she said, continuing to wash his body. Between the dirt from being outside and the sweat and other fluids from last night, a bath was much needed. "I didn't think you wanted to claim me so badly." Moving her hands to his back, she moved so she was sitting in his lap. She gently scraped at his back as he began to wash her body as well.

"Why? Do you want me to?" she asked. Actually, that wasn't a bad idea, though she didn't necessarily want her next reward right away. Though if he wanted to give to her, she wouldn't complain either way. "Gods, you're so filthy from the mess you made! What am I going to do with you?" She kissed along his jawline, her hands snaking into his locks as she washed it.

[Holeypaladin]

"I'm sure you're just full of ideas what to do," said the warden with a smirk, watching the way she sat in his lap. "Since you've been on such good behavior lately, I don't mind spoiling you just a little." He proceeded to let the half-dragon spoil herself and even mark him more, though he left some marks on her as well.

Once she was done, he found himself with his lips pressed to hers, stroking her hair and kissing the woman who was his prisoner. It certainly wasn't a typical warden-prisoner relationship... but then, their relationship had never been anything remotely typical to begin with.

[PendragonXeno94]

"Mmm, when am I not?" she asked. Before long, he let her spoil herself along with marking him further with him marking her as well. Once she was finished she moved to his side in order to finish washing him. But she had pressed her lips on his, wrapping her arms about his neck. She deepened the kiss as she showed no desire to break it.

It was funny how when they first met he wanted nothing to do with sleeping with her and now she had lost count of how many times it happened. Her hands went to his shoulders to rub them. He had even, daresay, gone soft on her. A lot of things he was letting slide for some reason. "Joseph?" she asked, pulling away and cupping his cheek. "What is this we have?" Already their latest encounter confused her more as she still couldn't figure out what feelings she had.

[Holeypaladin]

Stroking her hair, the knight washed off the body of the half-dragon, continuing to hold her in his lap. The way she had grown more passionate, more affectionate, with her kissing and other contact, hadn't gone unnoticed by him as well. Her question, however, was an interesting one... as if she herself was still uncertain of what was going on. Well, with her background being as complex as it was, it sort of made sense how she wouldn't be familiar with feelings of attachment.

"Emotion, most likely," he said with a shrug. "Some sort of emotional bond must be forming between us, since we're always together. Call it what you will... choosing whatever label you want won't exactly change what it is." While he didn't want to admit having feelings for her, it was clear that she was starting to develop some for him. Or perhaps she was faking them in an attempt to make him lower his guard... it was so difficult to tell these things.

Getting out of the bath, he dried himself off and shrugged. "The Breton army will be assaulting Viktus' camp today... but we won't be joining in the attack. We've got bigger lizards to fry. Literally."

[PendragonXeno94]

She loved the feel of him stroking her hair as he finished washing her. Shaking her head as she let it fall back, she looked back to the knight as she waited for a response. His response was something she didn't necessarily expect, but it seemed to make sense. There was some emotional bonding going on between them as they had been with each other the entire time she had been his prisoner. "That's not a bad thing, is it?" she asked. But how would she be faking feelings that she actually felt?

Getting out and drying herself, she donned the robe once again before glancing over her shoulder at Joseph. "Oh? Another dragon slaying mission? Which one is it now?" Kirkthin was hard enough in battle, and she hoped that the next one wasn't as difficult and didn't cost her almost dying like the last time. "So once Viktus' camp is raided, that would weaken the enemy..." It wasn't hard for her to figure out. It seemed that once Ara was taken prisoner by the Bretons their luck began to turn around.

Walking up to him, she pressed her body against his as she gave him another kiss that wouldn't be broken for some time. He seemed to like them, as he never pushed her away.

[Holeypaladin]

"Not a bad thing, no," he said, glancing over to the naked half-dragon as he finished getting dressed. "In fact, it's good to have people that you care about, so long as you don't betray them, and the feelings are mutual." He chuckled, "It's... normal, really. By experiencing a sort of bonding, it helps you to better understand the people that you are now fighting for. They all have people that they are emotionally attached to, which is why we protect each other."

Once she finally got dressed, he nodded towards her. "A white dragon, sighted in the eastern mountains. You probably know who I'm referring to. Though he might be a distant relative of yours... he's still our enemy, and it'd best to eliminate him before he begins to support the Frankonian army. Because he certainly won't be supporting ours anytime ever."

As she pressed against him, he returned the half-dragon's kiss, letting his tongue slide over hers. He stroked her hair, and decided that he wouldn't break this one off until she relented first.

[PendragonXeno94]

Knowing that having an emotional bond wasn't bad, it made Ara feel somewhat better. The thought of losing Joseph in any way scared, not because that she might die if he did, just... He seemed to return her feelings but it was just too much for her at the moment. The sex did nothing but further add to her confusion of her emotions towards him. Killing a dragon had to help.

When he mentioned that they were going after a white dragon to the east, she nodded. "You do realize no one's heard from Dukan in months." He had been so reclusive for a long time, especially when the reasons for him disappearing were unknown. In fact, she had heard that he was her father's brother and sought out for her. Maybe it wasn't too late to get him to side with them.

She slid her tongue over his as he returned her kiss. She lightly sucked on his tongue and bottom lip as she continued the kiss. Her hands ran rampant through his hair and all over his upper back. One hand rested on the back of his head as she deepened the kiss further. After another moment, she finally pulled away and locked her eyes on his, giving him a soft smile.

[Holeypaladin]

Deeply kissing the half-dragon and stroking her tongue with his own, the knight held it until she finally pulled away, returning her soft smile and stroking her hair. "Perhaps..." he said, "Our goal is to neutralize him as a threat... but if he is not an immediate threat, we might be able to deal with the situation through... alternative means."

As a white dragon, Dukan was in fact the dumbest breed of true dragon in the world. Even though Joseph doubted that a white dragon could be persuaded to side against his own goddess... if Ara felt otherwise, he might as well give her a chance to negotiate. If worst came to worst, it was always an option to simply kill the dragon... after all, he wasn't exactly the most clever of creatures, unlike most other dragons.

"I'm open to suggestions how to deal with this threat," he said, stroking and holding the half-dragon close, "Killing him is always an option, of course. But if you have other ideas... feel free to share them with me. You're one of us now, whether you initially wanted to be, or not."

[PendragonXeno94]

So... Dukan didn't really have to die? Well, before she would probably want to kill him regardless, but he was possibly family. He would probably be as stupid as her father seemed to be, but maybe the stupider a dragon was the better chance they could have to getting them to their side. Having a dragon would prove valuable to the Bretons and they would have some muscle that could rival the Frankonians.

One of them? It wasn't like she was part of the Frankonians to begin with. "He might be my uncle. Let me try talking to him first. If he can't be reasoned with or turns hostile, then he would have to die. But if there's a reason why he hasn't sided with anyone... Think how valuable it would be for the Bretons to have a dragon. You might lose less men having one since dragons can attack from above." It wasn't as if she had a sentimental reason, just thinking tactically. From what she heard, he didn't really attack on sight or turned hostile without reason.

[Holeypaladin]

It wasn't lost on him that Ara was starting to think tactically... outside of the animalistic box that she had been stuck in prior to her capture. So, she was growing smarter.... more strategic. He offered her a slight smile. "Impressive," he said, squeezing her a bit in his arms, "You're starting to use your brain. Very impressive," he gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"We'll talk to him, then," he said, "It seems unlikely that he'll join us... but if he does, it might indeed be beneficial to our army. Even if he is killed by the Frankonians instead of by us, he can cause some destruction among their ranks before falling," he said with a shrug, "And it's not like you're in need of any white dragonscale armor. By the way, the blacksmiths are making a set of extremely revealing red dragonscale for you... leftover scales, not enough for a full set, but since you like to wear revealing clothes anyway," he shrugged and let her figure out the rest.

[PendragonXeno94]

Well, seeing how it starting to become harder for her to have the mindset she had before (more so with a dragon that was not affiliated with either side), she wanted to show that she could in fact be sensible and find other ways to approach things. Him squeezing her in his arms and kissing her cheek along with praising her for her thinking made her smirk happily. "See? I can think like you," she teased.

Hopefully, having Dukan on their side, if that was a possibility, wouldn't be short lived. She could think of how much destruction he could cause on the enemy, freezing everyone in place while the foot soldiers cut them down. Maybe she could arrange for him to have some sort of protection for battle. She quirked an eyebrow when he mentioned the blacksmiths were making armor for her. "For me?" She smiled when he hinted at something. "So my next reward is that I pretend to be a mighty dragon slayer and you can be a hapless knight that I happened to rescue?" Well, it was a thought.

[Holeypaladin]

"So you can," said the knight, hugging the girl in his arms and stroking her hair. Now that he had mentioned they had some sort of emotional bond... he felt like he could be a little bit more affectionate towards her, so long as she behaved and showed intuition like she had just done when it came to the white dragon's situation.

He considered the reward that she had mentioned. Apparently, she already had plans of putting some revealing dragonscale armor to good use. With a slight smirk, he chuckled at her request. "Is that a request?" he said, giving her a gentle kiss to the lips. "Continue to exceed my expectations... and I think I can give you such a reward, if that is your desire. Don't let me down... mighty dragon slayer," he added in a teasing tone as he took her hand in his own and squeezed it.

[PendragonXeno94]

He had hugged her once again, but instead of misty eyes, she hugged him back as best she could. She... wasn't the best hugger given her history. Well, he knew that through her actions. She let him stroke her hair, inclining to his touch. Closing her eyes, she smiled, snuggling into his hand.

She didn't open her eyes when he gave her a small kiss. "Maybe..." she said, opening her eyes. Giggles arose from her. "Don't I always? I won't let you down, Warden." When he squeezed her hand, her tail twitched. He hadn't done that before. Maybe... well, she couldn't get her hopes up. He probably thought she was being this way to let his guard down and ensure her escape.

[Holeypaladin]

"I'm counting on you," he said, noticing the twitch in her tail. He gave it a gentle squeeze before suiting up in white dragonscale armor, to protect from Dukan's frost breath of course. Ara didn't need such protection as she already had her own degree of frost resistance, so he figured she could simply dress as she usually did.

"You ready?" he asked, glancing over to her before he started to head out. "Are you familiar with the exact location of Dukan's lair? Well if not... you can just let your own dragon instinct lead you to where you yourself might make your home," he shrugged. "So... feel free to take the lead, Ara." He squeezed her hand again before heading out towards the mountains.

[PendragonXeno94]

He squeezed her tail, making her shudder. He went to don his whitescale dragon armor while asking if she was ready. She, too, put on her armor and nodded to him that she was ready. "I don't know exactly where, but I can try to find it." Her cheeks reddened from another gentle squeeze of her hand and took the lead.

After a few hours in the mountains, she paused. "He's here," she said, pointing to the cave ahead of them. Going inside, she glanced around to find any potential traps. The first thing she found odd... usually they would stumble on a trap or one of the lackeys to fight in order to alert the guardian of the cave. There were little growls and squeaks as they advanced. Before long, she gasped from feeling something brush against her leg and almost pulled out her blades when she glanced down to see a little dragonling at her feet. It presented its belly to her, tail swishing happily.

"Joseph," she called. "What do I do with a baby dragon?" Well, the baby was probably why Dukan was withdrawn. A deeper growl encircled them as they heard something walking around; the growling lessened to a soft chuckle. "I see Kalern likes you," a deep voice echoed.

"But... Kalern was my father..." replied Ara.

[Holeypaladin]

Joseph went ahead and let the half-dragon lead the expedition into the mountains. Sure enough, she was quite capable of finding the entrance to the dragon lair... and sure enough, Dukan's defenses were much more lax than those of most other dragons. As a recluse, he had little need to actively raid human settlements, and most of his hunting had apparently been for food and survival. Few of the Bretons knew of this dragon's existence.

As he headed into the cave, he noticed the wyrmling. It seemed to be instinctively drawn to Ara, and as adorable as it was... its intelligence was about that of a wyvern. So it was, essentially, little more than an animal, though it would eventually grow to be... somewhat capable of thought and even speech, as the voice of its apparent father suggested.

"Well, I wouldn't suggest upsetting the wyrmling's parents... so I suggest you ask the dragon what to do with the child," he said, nodding in the direction that the voice had come from. "Greetings... you must be Dukan. Ara has told me some things about you... which is why we come to speak, rather than using the kill first approach you're probably used to."

[PendragonXeno94]

Dukan stepped out of the shadows, one of the largest dragons anyone has ever seen. He approached Ara and sniffed her carefully before going to do the same for Joseph. "I see my brother had more than one child," he said, looking at Ara. "If I had known, I would have made an effort to visit."

"How do you know?" asked Ara. "I could be some random half-dragon."

"Don't be silly, girl. I can clearly smell his scent on you. And he certainly liked to brag that he slept with a troll. Thank the heavens you don't look or act like those creatures."

Ara looked down at Kalern who had now leaped into her arms.

"Say hello to your cousin, Kalern," the great dragon instructed. "Follow me. I am willing to talk to my brother's kin."

The little hatchling rubbed its snout all over Ara's face as they followed him further into the cave. She kept glancing around to see if anything would jump out and attack. She also looked back at Joseph who was behind her.

"Don't be offended if my mate doesn't take kindly to your handling our son. Nitine's rather protective of him." Dukan brought them to the main chamber where hoards of treasure from years before was tucked away and another white dragon sat in a largely constructed nest. She crouched as she walked toward the two, growling with her tail twitching.

"Who are you?" she demanded. "What are you doing with my son?"

"Nitine, this is my niece."

"Your... niece?" She sniffed her before relaxing and glancing over at her mate. "Why does she have a collar on? Is she supposed to be some sort of slave to the human?"

[Holeypaladin]

Joseph eyed both of the white dragons with suspicion. He had heard nothing of the great white wyrm having a mate... and had certainly not prepared for a potential battle against not one, but two full grown dragons, plus their wyrmlings. It seemed that they trusted him about as much as he trusted them... though the older male seemed to take a liking to Ara, at least.

"Not a slave," said Joseph. "Bretons don't practice slavery. She is, however, a prisoner, but..." he wrapped an arm around Ara and pulled her close to him, squeezing her in his arms, "Not in the sense that you might think. We have a rather... special... relationship, if you know what I mean." He kissed one of the marks he had made on the half-dragon's neck for emphasis.

He decided that he might as well let Ara do most of the talking in this situation, as she was likely the only reason they hadn't attacked him on sight, if for no other reason than the protect the location of their wyrmlings.

[PendragonXeno94]

"A prisoner?" inquired Dukan. "But why would-" He nodded when Joseph kissed one of the marks on Ara's neck. "Oh, I see. The human is your mate, is he not, Ara?"

"Wha- No!" said Ara, her cheeks reddening. "It's not like that. We-"

"So you... mate with him, but he is not your mate?" He chuckled. "You don't need to answer, Ara. He seems fine for a human." He glanced over at Nitine, who was looking at a squirming Kalern.

Ara handed the hatchling to Nitine, the female gently picking up her baby by the neck and carrying him back to the nest. "So, Dukan... Uncle Dukan...?"

"Oh, Dukan is fine," he answered, picking her up and placing her by the nest. "What made you come here?"

"We were hoping that you would side with the Bretons."

The dragon shook his head. "I can't stand the war. I don't want to take sides because of my family. I would have gone to fight with Bretony if not for my son. Ashendrethel should not be roaming free." He hardly gave the war a second thought the moment Nitine was pregnant. "Nitine can't fight either because one of us needs to raise him. I will not risk my life knowing that my children might have to grow up without a father."

The half-dragon glanced over at Joseph with pleading eyes. If he woulding go into battle, then what else would he do? "Help me," she mouthed. "What else should I suggest?" Honestly, she didn't think they would get this far with the dragon.

[Holeypaladin]

Joseph was amused by the confusion that the dragon had shown. Indeed she did enjoy mating with him, yet still denied that he was her mate... it was enough to confuse most humans as well, so it was no wonder that it confused the simplest species of dragon. He did speak some interesting words, however... a white dragon was a chromatic, typically in service to their matron goddess Tiamat, yet this one seemed to oppose the expansion of another of Tiamat's servants, the Frankonian king Ashendrethel. Perhaps not even the dragons were a unified force in this war...

"We are the nice guys," he said to the dragon. "We're perfectly fine allowing you and your mate to exist in isolation in these mountains, raising your wyrmlings, so long as you do not raid any human or dwarven settlements in the area. The Frankonians, however.... not so nice. They'd abduct your wyrmling and hold him hostage, using him as leverage to make you fight for them. Plus they'd take this.. rather impressive treasure of yours... and use it to fund an army of inferior life forms. I don't care about treasure, which may seem odd to you... but you're welcome to keep it so long as you side with the good guys."

He shrugged. "The choice is yours, Great Wyrm... you should know that those who stay neutral in the Dragon War are bystanders, and eventually one of the sides will either convince you to help them, or kill you and take your treasure. We'd prefer the former... and after all, Ara here is family." He squeezed the shoulder of the half-dragon and stroked her wings for emphasis.

[PendragonXeno94]

Ara sighed as Joseph took over for her. If she had kept going, she probably would have just left... well, not before she did something stupid she was sure. She kept looking at the two dragons' expressions, they seemed to understand the situation.

"I understand that, human. It's a miracle that the Frankonians haven't found us yet." Though, if their son was captured, they would fight to get him back to the death. Dukan snorted. "Ashendrethel is a disgrace, and Tiamat is not my goddess."

Ara shuddered as Joseph stroked her wings.

"Are you sure he's not your mate?" asked Dukan. "He seems to act like he is."

"Yes. No. Well... Maybe he is..." Once more, Ara's cheeks had reddened, even more so with both dragons chuckling.

"Leave her alone, love," said Nitine. "It must have been recent and it's so surreal to her." Her tail thumped against the nest as Kalern pounced and nipped it. "Don't you think we should choose a side? Maybe see if they can do something for us."

"Hmm..." Dukan sat and opened his wings slightly. "If I do side with you, what will we get out of it? Can we trust your forces to guard and set up traps for us? They won't harm my family, will they?" He paused for a moment, tilting his head before resuming. "I might be a bit beyond my years for battle, but I can meet with the war council if need be. But you must promise that we will be protected from Frankonia's harm."

[Holeypaladin]

It was amusing to see the dragon couple teasing Ara. Joseph needn't even say a single word on the whole mate issue... they were saying more than enough already. The fact that Ara actually visibly blushed at their words... proved to him that they were, in fact having an effect. He continued to stroke her wings and tail, holding her close to him.

"Here's what we can do," said Joseph. "In exchange for a 200 year peace treaty, during which you'll not harm and Breton civilians or soldiers, we can send aid to these mountains if the Frankonians come to hunt you down. Likely, it'd be the two of us again, though it may be someone else. We'll need you to, for the most part, steer clear of any Breton forces in your raids... most of them are trained to view all chromatic dragons as hostile, and we would prefer to avoid any... unfortunate misunderstandings."

"We wouldn't request you assist us for free, of course. Far from it. In fact... the very nature of what I have in mind for you would add to this increasingly large pile of treasure you've got here. You see... we want you to raid Frankonian supply convoys. Which tend to be loaded down with food, gold, weapons, other valuables... pretty stuff that would make a fine addition to this hoard, plus feed you and your family for the coming years."

"Since your mobility is so high, you're ideal candidates for singling out convoys and dealing a great deal of damage to the enemy forces. Without supplies, they can't press forward... which means these lands stay under Breton control. They'll leave you alone if you leave them alone, after all. How does it sound? Good enough, or do you need more?"

[PendragonXeno94]

Joseph holding her close as she was teased made her blush even harder. She awkwardly placed an arm around his shoulder as the dragons laughed again. "Bastard..." she muttered.

Dukan listened to the knight's proposition carefully. Well, he could always add to his hoard while taking out convoys. Full blown battle was something he was getting too old for, especially with a hatchling and plans of having more. He turned and approached his mate to discuss the offer quietly while Kalern rolled over his mother's tail. After some time, Dukan glanced over at the two before sighing. "All right. We agree to these terms. Maybe we can get some help as well. There are dragons who think the same as we do about the Frankonians. The more there are, the harder it is for them to rally up."

Ara sighed, trying to move her arm off of Joseph's shoulder. At least it didn't come to killing an entire family.

[Holeypaladin]

It surprised the knight somewhat that the dragons had so readily agreed to aid them. He had come expecting to exterminate a dragon... and white dragons who had young were in fact more aggressively defensive about their lairs, rather than less. Had it not been for Ara, he likely would have been forced to exterminate this small family of dragons.

"It pleases me that we were able to come to a mutually beneficial relationship," said the knight, nodding with gratitude towards the white dragon. "Would you mind if me and my... mate," he glanced over to Ara as he mentioned the word, "Borrowed a bed before we move on to our next destination? She likes to be rewarded for good work, and she's never been rewarded on a genuine pile of treasure before... we won't take anything, as our agreement with you is more important than a few trinkets."

[PendragonXeno94]

Dukan shook his head when Joseph suggested that he reward Ara on his pile of treasure. "I... don't think so," he said, unsure of what the knight meant. "There are a few smaller chambers further in. Please just... go do whatever you do for rewarding." In all honestly, he didn't want to think about cleaning up his hoard once they were finished.

Ara chuckled nervously as she pulled Joseph along to go further in. She glanced over at the knight once the dragons out of earshot. "Really? You had to tell them that?" It wasn't like it wasn't entirely false, but that didn't make it official. Finding a small opening with an old bedroll in it, she shoved him onto it and began to kiss him with ferocity. "You want it that way? Fine." She unarmed the both of them as she started to remove his armor.

[Holeypaladin]

Joseph went ahead and rewarded Ara... even though most of his reward to her this time involved allowing her to service him. She had changed her attitude quite a lot in what little time they'd been together... and it was impossible to deny that they'd forged some sort of bond in their time together, which stretched deeper than the warden-prisoner relationship.

Once she was spent, he caught her in his arms. She had mentioned making him his mate, and that she had terms, and he stroked her hair and asked her, "A prisoner is dictating terms to her warden, hmm?" he tapped her nose, "Quite willful you've become. But I'll hear you out... go ahead."

[PendragonXeno94]

As she was reward, her aggression had softened considerably, almost to incredibly passionate. She took her time, more so toward the end, where she kept him in a lip lock and held his hands.

She hadn't thought he would catch her as she collapsed next to him, but she readily accepted his hair stroking and kissing. "Since you asked..." She shifted her weight to one arm, tapping his chest. "If you're so serious about the whole mate thing, then I want you prove it. Get this blasted collar off me in a year's time on a special night..." She looked down at him, it was probably a bit early, maybe even inappropriate, but she wanted to see how far he would take. "Marry me." She wasn't expecting any particular answer, but if he were that serious he would agree to it.

[Holeypaladin]

Holding the girl in his arms, he squeezed her and stroked her hair. "Oh..." he said, shrugging at her words. "Is that all?" The fact that she had just proposed to him was not lost on him.. and though he wasn't expecting it at all, he at least attempted to downplay it, as if it were no big thing. "Well you should be happy to know that you're well on the way to earning yourself a full pardon for your war crimes... since you've already made a substantial difference in the war effort, and effectively helped turn the tide of the Frankonian invasion."


He squeezed her hair, holding her close. "It probably won't even take a year for you to get yourself pardoned, and the collar removed, if you keep it up at this rate," he offered her a tender kiss and held her, stroking her wings. "And once that happens... yeah, we can get married. I accept," he said with a slight smirk. It was unusual for a woman to be the one to propose... but he supposed it gave her some sort of power.

[PendragonXeno94]

"Yes, that's all." Well, if he loved her so much then why would he keep the collar on her? It wasn't like she would turn on him the moment it was removed. Not when she might have cared for him enough to not do that. Maybe at the beginning she might have but- "A full pardon?" That was something. "Sounds good to me. How soon can I get one?" The sooner they didn't let her crimes loom over her a moment longer, the better.

"So, once I'm pardoned, the collar comes off?" It sounded nice to be free in a year's time. To have the collar finally off her. She'll probably scrub her neck the moment it comes off to ensure that it was clean. She kissed him back and flexed her wings as they stroked. She was about to lean in for another kiss. "What?" He... He was accepting her terms? He even said yes to marrying her? She expected him to scoff it off but... "Oh, shit. You are serious." Sighing, she rested her head on his shoulder, feeling dumbfounded. "Thank you..." She held him closer to her as she felt a little better of how she felt. At least there was still a year to sort her emotions out.

[Holeypaladin]

"Well, if we can bring this war to a swift conclusion, the pardon might come sooner than you expect," said the warden, holding his prisoner close to him and squeezing her. "But even once you get rid of it... you'll need to stay on your best behavior. Wouldn't want you to end up in a similar situation again in the future, right?" He stroked her hair and gently kissed her.

"Mmm," he shrugged, continuing to stroke her wings. "Call it what you will... but perhaps the best way to keep you from going down the same path again in the future would be to stay by your side. Always. Never letting you out of my sight... and satisfying those physical needs of yours so that you don't need to look elsewhere." He chuckled at his awkward explanation of married life, even though it was fairly accurate.

[PendragonXeno94]

Well now, the sooner the war ended, the sooner she could be pardoned. She would have to get to work to chip in if she was to be released. But his next statement puzzled her. "But why?" Even as he kissed her and stroked her hair, she just found it odd. She could see that he didn't want her to fall back into her old habits, but why would he insist on staying with her as if he was still her warden.

"In other words, you'd still be a warden for the rest of our lives?" When he explained further, she nodded. "I was not looking forward to it, but now it doesn't sound so bad." She stroked his hair as well, gazing into his eyes. Those beautiful turquoise eyes that she found so attractive. He was certainly born to be captivating with them, but they were more effective than she thought. If they ever have little ones, she hoped they would have his eyes. They were too beautiful to be on just one person. Gray... anyone can have gray eyes, but turquoise was hardly seen.

"Joseph..." she said, "Is it so bad to be drawn to someone?" She starting to suspect that she was that way with him...

[Holeypaladin]

"Not a warden," he said, chuckling and holding her naked body close, "But a husband's job isn't all THAT different from a warden's job, no? The main difference would be the lack of collar," he shrugged, "But you're getting to the point where you don't even hardly need it," he said, giving her another tender kiss and gazing back into her eyes.

Stroking her skin and her wings, he enjoyed the way she admired him. He wondered if she realized exactly what she was doing, when she asked a somewhat silly question. "Why would it be bad? It's normal to have someone who is special to you... it's the emotional bonds between people that allow us to survive as a society," he shrugged, stroking her hair. "Imagine if everyone in the world killed one person. All of life would be wiped out, just like that. So it is normal to protect, to care... and to avoid killing people unless they reallllly deserve it, like that Frankonian king deserves to die."

[PendragonXeno94]

Husband. It would take some time to get used to once everything had been said and done. She was going to be his wife, something she never considered. She never said she wouldn't get married but she was indeed adamant about being free from matrimony. And now she put herself up to it if not to rid herself of the collar. But keeping Joseph was a plus. She took another kiss as he kept stroking her hair.

"Is it?" She pressed herself tighter next to him as he explained it was normal to care for someone, there would be no life if everyone killed each other. She did nod at his last comment. Ashendrethel needed to die. If he did, then the Frankonians would just scatter. Holding her... well, she figured he was her fiance... she kissed his cheek as her tail slid over his chest.

[Holeypaladin]

Sliding his hand over her tail, the warden nodded to his fiancee. "Imagine how much better your childhood would have been if your parents actually cared about each other," he said with a shrug. She'd have likely turned out more like her half-brother had, even though she had never met him. Offering her a slight smile, he kissed her gently and caressed her tail.

"Well... what's our next move? We came to kill a dragon but we managed not to... since you haven't gotten your daily dose of killing done yet, do you have another target that we can shoot for?" He figured that if she dwelt too long on the marriage thing she might start to have second thoughts, so perhaps a murderous distraction would help at this time.

[PendragonXeno94]

She sighed, not wanting to think about her mother blaming her for her father leaving. He had left her long before she was born. "Well, my father obviously didn't care for my mother at all. He just..." Sighing again, she buried her face in his neck before accepting another kiss, her tail curing around his hand.

Well, she did need to kill something, though not as much as she used to. "There's still Kumal. He's not sided with anyone from what I know of. I know he changes his lair all the time, but I think he has multiples. What dragon's gonna move his hoard because he needs to hide?" The steppes where he resided weren't too far off. If Adrustel was also close by... no, it was better to take on one dragon at a time. "You're right, I should go kill something. Maybe some of his guardians or something." Already, she was thinking more of fighting something rather than reconsidering the marriage.

[Holeypaladin]

"Sounds like a plan..." he said, nodding to the half-dragon. "Kumal... he's a blue dragon, right? Might as well get properly dressed, then," he said, helping Ara to his feet before realizing what he had done, but shrugging it off before conjuring forth a suit of blue dragonscale armor to protect against the inevitable lightning breath.

"Since we don't have any family ties with this one," said Joseph, "I'm betting he'll be much less willing to negotiate than your uncle was. So we might need to go in swinging, if you know what I mean," he gave Ara a gentle kiss before taking her hand. "Well... lead the way, mighty half-dragon. Let's kill us some bad guys!"

[PendragonXeno94]

Being helped to her feet, she redressed herself before looking back at Joseph, taking his gentle kiss.. She paused when he took her hand into his. It was odd that he wanted to hold hands with her now. Didn't they do enough of that earlier? Shrugging it off for now, she led him out, waving to her uncle as they exited. From the looks on the dragons' faces, they seemed to have caught on how they were now leaving holding hands, Dukan whispering something to his mate as Ara led Joseph back outside.

"Seeing how nobody's lived to talk about meeting Kumal, it's safe to say that he's more aggressive than Dukan." The steppes were only about an hour from their current location; she let silence stand between them as they made their way there. Shortly before arriving to what looked like the dragon's main lair, she turned to the knight. "Do you think the two dragons know about us? Besides the whole mate thing, I mean." Well, it wouldn't surprise her if they did. Peering up, a blue dragon hovered around before hopping from lair to lair, letting out a roar before disappearing into one of them. "I definitely think he's got more than one lair." She couldn't begin to think how much of a hoard he had accumulated. "It looked like he went between eight other ones before going into the largest one." Pulling him forward, they were greeted by a couple of wyverns guarding one of the smaller entrances before they lunged toward them.

[Holeypaladin]

"I'm sure they have some idea," said Joseph with a shrug in regards to the dragon question, "But I'm not sure they particularly care. Or maybe they ship us... who knows?" He went ahead and followed the half-dragon, making his way towards the steppes where the blue dragon was said to reside. When he arrived, he paused, observing the large blue dragon for a time, noting where he had gone.

"Sneaky one, isn't he?" Concentrating a bit, he channeled some energy he had collected from his rewarding of Ara... surprisingly, his affinity with her had grown quite a bit, to the point where he could develop his magic circuits into those of a dragon knight. Lacking the amulet, however, he would be unable to transform... but he'd have all of the other necessary circuits.

"I'm ready," he said, nodding to Ara. "And... we've got wyverns," he nodded in the direction of the wyverns, drawing forth his dragonbane polearm and stepping into a position to intercept them, slicing the wing off of the first on that came close before bringing the blade down on its neck, decapitating the wyvern with the swift stroke of the dragonslaying polearm. It seemed they were aggressively defensive of this lair... as if that was much of a surprise.

[PendragonXeno94]

As Joseph took care of the wyverns, she trudged forward as she made her way to the main lair before the blue dragon knocked her out of the way, making his was down to the knight. He growled, not wanting to waste his time or his breath. Spitting a lightning bolt by his feet, the dragon circled around him. Ara had begun to turn to the cave, but then she remembered. If he died, so did she. Normally she would just not care but... She couldn't let him die. She just couldn't.

Running back down the hill, she yelled before shooting a blast of frost breath on his tail, making the dragon yelp and turn his back to the knight. "Bring it on, lizard face!" Another wyvern had flown in but was cut down by her blade as she let the dragon chase her. It would give Joseph enough time to kill him while she took down any stray wyverns that popped out of nowhere.

[Holeypaladin]

Joseph wasn't particularly concerned with the lightning breath... in his blue dragonscale armor, the worst it could do was make his hair stand on end. He continued to twirl his polearm, slicing down two more wyvrns as the blue dragon approached and delivered its breath attack. Soon enough, Ara was rushing back to him, releasing her frost breath at the dragon.

"Watch out!" he called out to the half-dragon, hoping she'd be able to out-pace the larger blue dragon. Releasing his grip on the polearm, he pulled out his pump crossbow, leveling it at Kumal and firing dragonbane bolts into the creature's hide with deadly precision. The dragon was much too large and clumsy to effectively dodge his shots, and he began to slowly become a pincushion to the incoming projectiles.

Realizing he was outflanked and taking injuries, however, the blue dragon quickly ducked down into one of his many hidden caves in order to evade further injury. "He's wounded," said Joseph as he caught up to Ara, "But we shouldn't be too hasty in chasing him... we don't know what kind of defenses he has set up in those caves, after all. Luckily, he'll be forced to spend time to recover, however." He aimed at a stray wyvern and shot it down with a bolt to the head, "So he probably won't try to ambush us... much."

[PendragonXeno94]

Even as the dragon took more bolts, he had hard time catching Ara as she took to the air and slashed at his wings a bit, making it impossible for him to get a few feet in the air. She kept killing whatever wyverns came her way before she was knocked down by Kumal who retreated in a cave. Going in, they began to dodge a barrage of spikes and arrows that were coming out of the wall. Before one could pierce Joseph in the throat, she tackled him to let the rest of the arrows fly over them. One of them nicked her back as two more wyverns hopped out of the shadows. Slicing one in the throat, she went down one of the paths before seeing light out of an opening. Turning around, she had to shield him from a makeshift pendulum before facing another barrage of arrows.

Grunting in disgust, she pushed the both of them to the side where they were protected from the arrows so they could trudge down another path only to be met by another exit. Seeing the opening above then where they first entered, she began to climb up to it as stalagmites began to fall around here from the constant shaking and bellowing of the dragon. "He sounds pissed," she called to the warden, climbing through the opening, only to land on a pile of treasure.

Kumal frantically pulled the bolts out of him with his teeth before noticing the half-dragon.

"Oh... shit..." She glanced up at the opening she came from. "Hurry up, Joseph!"

[Holeypaladin]

This blue dragon certainly had an intricate network of defensive traps and minions, along with a confusing number of caves which were difficult to navigate. On more than one occasion, Joseph found himself rescued by his fiancee, allowing her to build up an accumulation of rewards that he'd end up having to provide afterwards. He would snipe at a wyvern whenever he saw them, but it seemed Kumal was running out of wyvern minions... that, or he was summoning them all to his defense in preparation of their showdown.

"I'll be right there!" said Joseph, surprised at how effectively the half-dragon had climbed. Perhaps it was due to the fact that she was lighter and wore lighter armor, while still having the superhuman strength that came from her mixed blood. Regardless, by the time he caught up to her, the dragon had already opened its large maw, preparing to swallow her whole.

Leaping down on the dragon, Joseph impaled the weak point at the base of its neck with his dragonbane polearm, the momentum of his fall pushing it deep into the creature's throat. For good measure, he moved the shaft back and forth, causing the blade to slice and dice at all the vital arteries and other tubes connecting the dragon's head with the rest of his body. Eventually, the creature fell with a thud, and Joseph leaped off into Ara's arms, holding her close.

"Looks like we did it," he said, stroking some of her hair out of her eyes before giving her a tender kiss. "Well done, Ara."

[PendragonXeno94]

She fumbled with her crossbow, getting in one or two shots before Joseph came in just in time. A few wyverns flew in and she sniped them down as he stabbed the dragon in the neck with his polearm. Now that blood was flowing out of Kumal's neck, the last of wyverns decided to defend him rather than flee. Ara sniped all of them down by the time the dragon's lifeless body collapsed. She caught Joseph before receiving a tender kiss.

"Yay, we did it..." She captured his lips once more, making the kiss last as long as she could, snaking her arms around him, stroking his chestnut hair, her tail curling about him. "Joseph..." she said in between kisses. "I don't feel like getting up." Well, he had expressed interest in rewarding her on Dukan's pile of treasure, but with a dead dragon, she figured he earned it. Slowly, she began to undress him, removing his armor first before bringing him on top of her to remove his shirt. "Please... make it last. I want to... I want to enjoy it with you. Just- Just make it slow, all right?" She had discarded her weapons as she continued to kiss him.

Her mind was only on him. Thinking ahead already, she began to wonder how much he would fret about the wedding. She didn't really care as she didn't think she'd get this far, but she knew that after the festivities she would just relax as the hardest part would be over. She hated being the center of attention at gatherings.

[Holeypaladin]

Lowering the half-dragon onto the dragon's treasure hoard, Joseph lost track of how many times he pleased her body, or how long it lasted. It was indeed much more intimate than their previous times together, with confessions of love being tossed around freely, and he pampered and spoiled the half-dragon as he continued to please her body.

Once she had had enough, Joseph watched her walk around the room, searching the piles of treasure for rings, it seemed. "I'm surprised you can walk after that," he teased. "Well, we'll see if you can walk a straight line tomorrow without looking funny. I'm betting you'll be sore," he said with a smirk. "Don't expect me to wear an engagement ring... and try to pick a magical one, if that's what you're looking for."

[PendragonXeno94]

Yes, she had professed her love so freely as he rewarded her countless times and finally getting up once she had enough. "I assume you're done," she said, sauntering around the pile and picking up rings. She scoffed, she had been sore before from their encounters but she could manage as she had before. "No, but that doesn't mean you're not getting a wedding band," she said, pulling out a rainbow moonstone ring with smaller rubies surrounding it.

"Shouldn't you have a magical ring?" she asked. She wasn't entirely interested in using magic like he was, but it made more sense for him to find one. She also found a larger ring with a rainbow sunstone. "Look, I found our wedding rings!" she teased. Well, she liked them, but she hoped he wouldn't care either way. "They were hiding..." She tried on the moonstone ring to make sure it fit her finger. She even showed it to him. "See?"

[Holeypaladin]

He chuckled at the insistence of the half-dragon in getting wedding rings. Watching her search the treasure, he had very little to say in the matter, as she had already made up her mind. "Uhh... sure," he said, nodding as she went ahead and selected the rings she liked. He wasn't much for jewelry, so he merely shrugged. "If that's what you desire, then it's fine with me. Before you propose, though..."

He stood up, making his way over to the half dragon, gazing at her. "It doesn't count if there's something coercing you and interfering with your judgment." With a soft kiss, he reached around her neck, and removed the prisoner collar that she had been wearing since she first met him. "There," he said with a soft smile. "I'm trusting you not to run away, now," he teased.

[PendragonXeno94]

"That doesn't sound enthusiastic," she commented, holding the rings in one hand. "Hmm... maybe you'd like another center stone... or a plain ring... maybe..." She had pulled out a few other rings as she ignored him for a moment before she felt his hands about her neck. "Wait-" Feeling the collar being removed, she stood up, running her fingers over where it was before. She took a step back, suddenly thinking of running off... The half-dragon stepped in front of him before she touched her neck again. Ah, she forgot she teased about doing a proper proposal.

"How do you know I won't run off?" she asked, still letting the thought linger in her mind. Well, she would stay for now. Resting her head on his chest for a moment, she glanced down at the sunstone ring. But she settled for the mostly plain band with a few smaller sunstones before holding him and gently kissing him. "Does my warden love me enough to be my husband?" She wasn't going to use the generic question for him as she never seemed to care to word it that way.

[Holeypaladin]

"How does anyone know anything?" he asked, holding her in his arms and gazing at her. He stroked her hair, watching as she continued to select rings, almost unaffected by the fact that she had just been freed of her imprisonment, just like that. He waited as she finalized her selection of rings, considering the words she spoke.

"No, he doesn't," said the knight stroking her hair and returning her kiss, "But I do. I'm not your warden anymore, after all... I'm simply your dragon knight, now." As he said this, he activated the last of his dragon knight circuits, and a bronze dragon amulet appeared around his neck. Stroking her hair, he kissed her deeper, holding her close as he took the ring she had selected for herself and slid it onto her finger. "Looks good on you," he said as he gave her a soft smile.

[PendragonXeno94]

"Well, you know me..." It felt strange to not have the collar on anymore, especially when he said she wouldn't get it off until she received a full pardon. Bretons have an odd way of things. She paused as he said he didn't before saying that he wasn't her warden anymore, but her dragon knight. Watching as he conjured an amulet, she let him kiss her deeply as he slipped the ring on. Looking at her other hand, she noticed she found a slimmer ring for herself encrusted with flakes of what looked like sapphires. "Can't I view you as my warden and my dragon knight?" If he was such a powerful being, then why was he traipsing as a arbitrator for the Breton army? But she shrugged it off as she finally moved to clothe herself and leave the treasure pile for the soldiers to cart out later.

It had been a month since the battle with Kumal. The Frankonian army had retreated with rumors of regrouping, as Ara expected them to. Dukan had visited the fort on occasion to offer ways to strategize against the enemy, only going after small caravans at the time. Ara, on the other hand, had been enjoying just doing small scale battles with other enemy groups though she hadn't been able to fight as much due to feeling ill.

As she slept next to her fiancee one night, she sat up in bed before feeling queasy. The half-dragon quietly made her way out for a walk as it helped her feel better. Though, now that she was moving, she found herself gagging and running for one of the bathrooms to vomit. Two soldiers who were on patrol found her heaving into a bucket. One ran to Joseph's room.

"Sir!" he said. "Ara was running around and we'll bring her back once she's finished puking her guts out. You can't be too careful with that one."

[Holeypaladin]

"If that's how you'd like to view me," said Joseph, "Then by all means." Holding her in his arms, he kissed her, stroking her hair. It seemed she wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon... from this point forward, Ara would fight for the Bretons. Not because she was forced to... but because she had chosen to stay by Joseph's side until this invasion was dealt with.

Time passed, and Joseph was awoken one night by some random guards. It seemed they still had not grown used to the fact that their former enemy was now on their side, despite all that had happened. Well, some people would never be too trusting of their enemies. "Oh, that's just her morning sickness," said Joseph. "Pay it no mind, I'll go get her."

Getting dressed, he went over to Ara, catching her while she was still being sick. Pulling her hair out of the way so that she didn't have to hold it herself, he kissed her neck, the marks of the collar having long since faded and been replaced with his own marks from their nightly activities. "The kids are being cranky this morning, are they?" he said as he kissed her cheek.

[PendragonXeno94]

The guard nodded, going back to motion to his companion to continue on and that Joseph was coming to get her.

The half-dragon felt her love puling her hair back as the last of her bile was regurgitated. Lifting her head up, Ara glared at him at the mention of kids. "Don't you dare say that," she said. "I'm not pregnant." She seemed to be in denial that she was showing signs and that some of the mages that checked her said she was carrying triplets. She didn't want to hear it, she wanted to think that she and Joseph were too different to have them. The gold pile had to have been cursed.

She began to sob softly as she crumbled into his arms. "What's wrong with me?" she said, clinging onto him. She didn't ask to be this way. It had only been a month and this was the fourteenth time she had to throw up. Why couldn't she have been infertile?

[Holeypaladin]

"Silly half-dragon," said Joseph, holding her close and wiping her mouth clean. "Denying won't change things, you know." He kissed her neck, squeezing her in his arms as he stroked her hair. "There's nothing wrong with you..." he said with a chuckle, "You've just got three grumpy little ones in your belly, that's all. They're a bit cranky in the morning."

He took her hand and began leading her to the bath. "At least you've got me here to watch and make sure you wind up making a better mother than yours did. It'll be fine... you're not the same person you were before you were captured. Not even close," he stroked her hair as he took her into the bath, holding her in his lap and squeezing her.

[PendragonXeno94]

Ara wiped a few tears away as he wiped her mouth and squeezed her in his arms. "They could at least try to be less cranky." She never thought she would be this sick with them. She only hoped and prayed that it wouldn't get worse as the pregnancy progressed. She let him walk him to the bath and sit her in his lap.

She sighed. "I don't feel like it." Usually, she would be more than eager to have him in the bath but with her getting sick most mornings simply killed the mood for her. "But I could use some washing." She fell back, her back resting on his chest as he stroked her hair. "I'm certainly not blaming them for anything they didn't do. Mother would have been a horrible grandmother." Well, she wouldn't know if that was true as the woman had been dead for some time."I didn't even go see her when I found out she was dying. When I left she told me to not bother coming back... so I didn't. It's terrible but... I can't change it now." She wanted to at least be the mother that she wanted her own to be growing up. "It's not bad that I hated the woman, is it?" Now that she had no parents and she was having her own, she wanted to revisit it since Joseph was with her.

[Holeypaladin]

Washing her body, Joseph held her in his arms. "How very unusual for you," he commented on her lack of mood as he slid his hands over her, holding her in the warm water and washing her. "They don't even have brains yet, so it's hard to expect them to be able to think, silly." He hugged her tightly from behind and listened to her talk about her home situation. It wasn't one of her favorite topics, but since she finally seemed willing to admit her pregnancy... it seemed now was an appropriate time as any.

"You hated everyone, back then," said the knight as he held her. "Some of them actually deserved it... her being pretty high on the list. But as terrible as she was... she could have been worse. She could have just killed you," he shrugged. "Even still... I won't let you be like her. And now that you feel what it's like to care about people other than yourself... you're much more suited to being a mother than she ever was."

When he thought back to the way Ara was when they had first met, compared to the way she was now... sure, she still had her issues, but she was, for the most part, a completely changed woman from what she had been before. To the best of his knowledge, Joseph was the first person to show her any form of compassion, and only because he didn't know how to sex her in a dispassionate way. It was funny how these things worked out.

[PendragonXeno94]

She sighed. "Being sick doesn't help it," she replied, letting him hug her from behind. It was true that she was a hateful child, as everyone in her village made her life miserable. The times that she could sneak out and eventually leave altogether were the only shreds of happiness she had. Every animal she brought home and begged to keep her mother said no and told her to take it back, even the puppy one of her friends brought along. Every dog that was in need of a good home was turned down because her mother didn't want anything else to care for, breaking Ara's heart every time.

Joseph changed her in a sense, however. The first man to actually show some compassion towards her. "I don't want to be like her," she admitted, wetting her hair. "You have no idea how much I was looking forward to invading my childhood village before we met." She would have said before she got captured, but it wouldn't have sounded right to her. She simply brought water to her face to rinse it.

"You see the scars near my wings?" she asked. "When I was four, some of the kids in my village thought it would be funny if they attached hooks to me and dragged me around. Mother just laughed. She... she told me that there was nothing with them doing that, they were just playing." The several small scars around and between the base of her wings were the first scars she ever received. The trolls were so unkind and unfeeling. While she cried about a small creature dying when she was young, they thought she had some eye disease when tears flowed down her cheeks.

[Holeypaladin]

"How cruel," said the knight, holding her closer in his arms. He knew that she did not have a pleasant heritage... a cross breed between two evil races, it was surprising that she had somehow managed to be redeemable at all. He was glad that she was now causing more good than harm, as without her help, Bretonia might have already fallen to the Frankonian invasion.

"We'll make sure our little ones aren't bullied by older kids like that," he said, kissing her neck and squeezing her in his arms. "They'll be strong enough to fight older kids on their own, of course, so long as they're not too much older. And they won't be alone, as they'll have each other for support." Perhaps Ara had had just about the most difficult life a person could have... yet somehow, she managed to turn herself around. Partially due to Joseph's help, of course, but also due to her own decisions.

[PendragonXeno94]

Indeed, if she hadn't been forced to redeem herself, Bretony would have fallen and Frankonia would have emerged victorious. She turned around to start washing him. He never blamed her for anything... well, when they first met, he somewhat did, but it was well deserved. She was a better woman for knowing and loving him. She nodded. "We're definitely teaching our kids to kick some arse. But they'll have breath abilities from a young age. I wasn't allowed to use mine so I had to learn how to use it away from everyone whenever I snuck out."

Wetting his hair, she stroked it as she smiled at him. "For all it's worth, I'm glad you're the father of my children," she said, brushing her lips over his chek before licking it. "You're gonna be a wonderful father."

[Holeypaladin]

"Well, using a breath weapon on a bully is a bit much," said the knight in a teasing tone, holding his fiancee in his arms. Her mood seemed to be improving from the bath and from talking to him, and she began to demonstrate her improved mood with her kisses to his cheek. The fact that they had grown a bit more sensual was not lost on him, and he stroked her hair, pulling her closer in his lap.

"I'm glad you think so highly of me," he said, leaning in and planting a gentle kiss on her lips. Well, he had made some strides in changing her away from her former life, so perhaps she did have a point. He obviously wouldn't be able to use the exact same methods on his children as he had used on Ara herself... but such extreme measures would likely never be needed.

[PendragonXeno94]

Feeling him pull her closer in his lap, she sighed to herself. "Seriously, Joseph. I don't feel like it this morning." But she didn't mind sitting in his lap. "I just want to be affectionate without being sexual every once in a while." In all honesty, her pregnancy had been affecting her. As much as she wanted to take him like she normally would, she knew that... Feeling nauseous again, she quickly exited the tub and ran for another bucket to vomit into.

It seemed as though her unborn babies didn't want her to be getting it on for the moment. Heaving up more stomach bile, she began to sob again, her stomach hurting from being emptied constantly in a matter of days. Damn, if she wasn't pregnant. Once she was done heaving, she covered her eyes with one hand and continued to sob. "It hurts..." she whimpered.

[Holeypaladin]

Wrapping his arms around her from behind, Joseph squeezed the half-dragon. "They're being super grumpy today, aren't they?" he said as he held her, stroking her hair. "What am I gonna do with you?" he said as he squeezed her in his arms and held her. It's as if her body were punishing her for her past, despite the fact that she had abandoned that life style.

Well, perhaps it was a good thing that she would have children, Joseph realized. She wouldn't ever be able to return to her past lifestyle if she had three kids to take care of, so long as she made an attempt to be a better mother than hers was. Many things could go wrong, of course, but it seemed everything had turned out for the best. "We're going to be getting back to work, pretty soon," he said as he held her in his arms, "The Frankonians have regrouped and are on the march. The king is at the head of their army... along with your ex. And another dragon, of course."

[PendragonXeno94]

Her body might as well have been punishing her for the days she had been ill. It was affecting her sex drive, almost to the point where unless she was feeling one hundred percent, she wouldn't even want to. She hated that, she wanted to be with him like they would. But she turned to rest her head on his chest as she took deep breaths.

Hearing that the enemy was advancing, she groaned in disgust. "Now? Can't they wait until I'm in a decent shape to fight?" There was no way she could swing her blades around or shoot properly as she had three little ones to worry about keeping safe until they entered the world. Danarus, however, seemed to have done well with himself if he was advancing alongside the king and another dragon. "Shouldn't we get help from another kingdom? They could be bigger than what we thik, for all we know. But do you expect me to run around with giant belly trying to cut everyone down while making sure our babies are unharmed? No pregnant women go around like that!" What was wrong with her? She was putting her unborn children ahead of her.

[Holeypaladin]

"Your belly isn't giant at all," said Joseph, wrapping his arms around the half-dragon, "If it weren't for your sickness, no one would even know you were with child. But you do raise a fair point," he said, nodding and stroking her hair. "We should bring this war to a conclusion before you are unable to fight. Which is why we're going to do something even more daring than what we did the last time they marched."

"Our agents in the Frankonian court report that the eldest son of king has voiced his opposition to the invasion..." he said, letting the thought sink in to her head for a moment. She had grown a bit more strategically minded over time, so she could probably see where this was leading. "It's gotten to the point where the king has threatened to disinherit his firstborn and locked him up. So in other words... we need to sever the three heads of this invading force, and let the crown prince take care of the rest. But you're right... I doubt the same method we used to infiltrate their camp last time will be as successful. Which is why we're going to let them have this castle. They've wanted it for some time... yet we know where all the secret passages are. They don't."

"Before that, though, we need to eliminate their dragon. Any idea who it might be?"

[PendragonXeno94]

"I don't even know if I want to fight knowing I'm pregnant." Well, she could snipe enemies, but even then she wasn't sure if she wanted to do that knowingly putting her children at risk. "I agree. I just want it done and over with so I don't have to keep worrying about it." She forgot Ashendrethel had a son, but the oldest one was opposed to it? Well, listening to him, she nodded as she wiped the last of tears away. "Kill the dragon, weaken the forces. Kill the general, make 'em scatter. Kill the king, put the good son on the throne." The son sounded worth rescuing.

Let them have the castle? "So, we're ambushing them once they make themselves at home?" She could easily duck into the passageways and shoot soldiers from there. "I don't know what dragon they have. I would have been notified if I was still on good terms with him." At least she killed that nasty Orc, she wasn't about to play dominatrix with him that day. "Do the agents know anything?"

[Holeypaladin]

"If you get hurt, I'll just heal you," promised Joseph, squeezing and kissing his fiancee. "The last dragon is a black one, said to live in the swamps. I was hoping you might be able to help locate him... as you've been vry helpful with such matters in the past." He squeezed her and stroked her hair.

"While we're off hunting dragons," he said, "The Breton army will all but abandon this castle, leaving only a token garrison, an irresistible target for Ashendrethel's forces. The garrison will surrender in order to get thrown into the dungeon..." He chuckled, stroking her hair. He now trusted her enough to discuss vital battle plans, as he knew she would want to end this war swiftly as well. "There's a secret escape route built in to the dungeons. When we return after killing the dragon... we'll infiltrate the dungeons through this escape route, free and arm the prisoners, and then take the network of hidden passageways directly to the most secure depths of the castle, where the king should be waiting for us."

[PendragonXeno94]

She shuddered at the mention of the black dragon in the swamp. "Oh... Adrustel." He was known for drowning his victims and enjoying how little sunlight there was in his swamp. She hoped that he would have been dead by now, but no such luck. It appeared that they would have to go dragon hunting one more time beginning the final assault.

"I like this plan," she said. She would have preferred having absolutely everyone hide and then starting offing the enemy one by one, but the plan he had in mind was just as good. But there were so many things that could go wrong. "Well, let's go kill a damn dragon." Once the war was over, she would focus on preparing for her family. "Shall I lead the way?"

[Holeypaladin]

"So you do them," said the knight, nodding to Ara. "I figured you might. I'll led you lead the way, yeah." He wrapped an arm around her and held her. "You might want to dress in your revealing black dragonscale outfit for this one," he noted. Among the rewards for her service were scrap armors suited better for costume play in the bedroom than for actual combat, though they did provide some degree of resistance to the breath weapons of dragons. "Hopefully you'll be feeling well enough by the time we finish off Adrutel to wear that outfit for what we normally use it for," he said.

Getting dressed, Joseph also summoned forth a black dragonscale outfit for dealing with this dragon. He had gained quite a bit of energy for his magical circuits due to his relationship with Ara, and while their affinity was low to start, it had grown quite a bit over time. He was confident that even if Adrustel had a mate in his lair, they could handle two dragons at the same time if they worked together.

[PendragonXeno94]

Ara smirked. "Can do." Locating her blackscale armor, she donned it before arming herself. "Hopefully, the kids will allow it." All the while, she began to think to herself. If Danarus was with the Frankonian king, he probably found out about the death of his replacement and her being branded as a traitor. He would likely try to kill her on sight or decide that it didn't matter and try to woo her back. Not that it would work now, seeing how she was engaged and carrying her fiance's children. Taking him by the hand, she walked him out to locate the last dragon allied with Ashendrethel.

It took them almost the entire day to reach the swamp. Oddly enough, there were no traps. Nothing too out of the ordinary for a dragon who liked to surprise attack his victims. The sun had been blocked out by the many trees and... she could have sworn she smelled something foul floating in the water. Trying not to think of it as she would get sick again, she held her breath for a moment to prevent herself from gagging. Adrustel was still nowhere in sight.

"Try not to trip on anything," the half-dragon said, preferring to stay on land instead of wading through the muck-filled water. A ball of acid hit a tree a few feet behind them.

[Holeypaladin]

Joseph's gaze kept glancing over to his fiancee in her revealing armor. "You look good in that," he told her. Now that he was no longer trying to dominate her, he saw no need not to compliment her on her appearance and speak his mind when he saw something about her that pleased him. "You're most likely alchemically enhanced and modified," he said, "Half-trolls do not look pretty. Homunculae, on the other hand... well, they look fairly similar to you."

Come to think of it, perhaps her mother had tried to drink an abortion potion when she realized she was pregnant, but it turned out to be a beauty potion instead. That would indeed be quite amusing... and explain a great deal regarding why Ara did not look like a troll. He considered other possibilities on the way to the swamp.

"Smells like a troll's paradise," he commented on the stinky smell of death and decay of the swamp. He also had no real desire to step in the water, but there didn't seem to be much of an alternative in this case. His thoughts were interrupted by a splash of acid. Some of it wound up on his armor, but it was harmless considering what it was made of. "Oh look, an ambush. A very poorly planned one, at that."

Conjuring forth his pump crossbow, he used a magazine of dragonbane bolts to track the source of the breath weapon, shooting with pinpoint accuracy into the concealment the dragon had decided to use. A reptilian screech was heard as one of the bolts struck true, effectively flushing the dragon from the ambush point... directly towards Ara.

[PendragonXeno94]

Ara chuckled. "Why thank you." Hearing him say that she might be achemically enhanced or modified, she pursed her lips as she was compared to homuculae. "Huh. I never thought of that. I figured that my father's genes in look were more dominate than my mother's." It was entirely possible that she should have been less attractive than what she was. Maybe her mother would have been kinder to her if she was that way.

Letting him take care of pinpointing the dragon's location, she began to run backwards before the dragon pinned her down. She turned her face to the side, trying not to inhale the foul breath. Soon, she felt his nose sniffing her hair and her neck. Shouldn't he be attacking by now?

"Ara?" a deep voice emerged from the dragon. "Is that you?"

"No, it's poor unfortunate soul who's wandering with a dragon knight." The half-dragon supposed she could glance up. That was when she noticed that the dragon's eyes looked different. They were lighter in color and more clouded; no wonder he had to sniff.

"Forgive me, it's been a while since..." Barely glancing in Joseph's direction, his tail whacked the dragon knight into the water before carrying Ara off.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" This was the third time she had to face the dragon first without any sufficient weapons. Being dropped on an impressive pile of gold, she looked up at the dragon as he had his back to her.

"I... hoped you would come," he said. "It's been so lonely out here. Even with my loss of sight, it's been difficult replacing my mate."

No... No, this dragon didn't want to mate with her. "Sorry, but I'm engaged."

"Well, I suppose I'll have to go drown the knight before we can make it official. And-" He paused, moving to Ara and sniffing her belly before rubbing his snout on it. "I would still love them as my own. But can you imagine? Quarter-dragons and three-quarter-dragons? We'd be the envy of the world."

"But it was a one night stand."

"So?"

"You've been in love with me since then?"

"I've always been in love with you, long before I went blind."

But if he went blind, that meant that... no, he could still pinpoint anything and attack. She would have to steal one of her fiance's weapons to end him before he killed him and claimed her.

[Holeypaladin]

Well... that was somewhat embarassing. Joseph had attempted to outflank the dragon while he was distracted by Ara, only to find himself whacked into the disgusting waters of the swamp. By the time he was able to struggle free of the stinky, stagnant murk, he noticed the dragon carrying Ara off. "At least he's going to lead us directly to his lair," he muttered as he followed the creature into his lair.

Though he missed the first part of their conversation, Joseph caught the gist of it. The dragon was warped and possessive of someone he barely knew, who had changed significantly from what he knew of her. He had lost his mate blah blah, the knight didn't really care. Instead, he summoned forth a dragonbane sword, allowing it to be used by his own mate, as he tossed it over to Ara.

While the blade sailed through the air to land next to her in the pile of gold, he summoned forth his dragonbane polearm, noting the dragon's blindness. He couldn't see, but he had other senses that would allow him to aim his attacks... explained why he hadn't noticed the black dragonscale armor and used his acid anyway.

"Well you know what they say," he decided to interrupt his confession with a witty remark. "Love is blind." He chuckled. "Right? Right?" he looked over to Ara to see her reaction to his lame joke.

[PendragonXeno94]

Ara had picked up the blade Joseph had summoned for her before she glared at him. "Really?" she said. "You're making a joke now?"

"Who goes there?" Adrustel boomed, crouching as he faced Joseph. "She's mine!"

"No, I'm not." She was swatted to the side for a moment.

"You will yield!"

Ara shook her head, walking by and poking his tail with her blade. "Bring it on, lizard."

The black dragon charged her as she slashed at him, dodging his acid attacks while giving Joseph a chance to flank him while she kept the dragon occupied and directing his more direct attacks to her. She gave her fiance a look, telling him that she wanted to make the final blow. If they could just weaken him enough...

[Holeypaladin]

"What?" asked the dragon knight, "I thought it was funny! You dragonkin have no sense of humor.."

When the dragon tried to swat him with his tail, this time Joseph was prepared, and leapt over it, bringing his polearm down on his spine. With a precision strike to the tailbone, he severed the vertebrae connecting the spine to the tail, effectively paralyzing the tail and eliminating it as a potential weapon. He was rather upset at that tail for making a fool of him earlier, after all.

Joseph got his fiancee's unspoken message that she wanted to finish the lizard off, so he focused more on flanking the dragon and weakening it rather than attacking head on like he usually did. Though the dragon seemed to know his location, his blindness still made it difficult to see attacks coming until they struck, and thus the dragon knight was able to disable the beast's wing with a similar thrust as he had used on the tail. This effectively eliminated two attacks, as the dragon could not wing buffet with a single wing without unbalancing him.

Joseph kept glancing at the way his fiancee fought in her revealing armor, noticing the way she flashed him in her tiny skirt. "You're missing quite the show, snake face," he taunted the dragon, "Must really suck being blind, huh?" He continued to taunt and distract the beast, aiming to weaken it enough for the woman to finish it.

[PendragonXeno94]

Being without his tail and one wing, the dragon had no choice but to snap at both of them and to use his acid breath, which Ara kept dodging. "Come on, Joseph! Don't hurt his feelings," she said, getting the hint that she seemed to be flashing him. Well, he wanted her to put it on to begin with.

She slashed at his legs while being putted about as she stabbed his feet and tried to reach for his neck. The dragon was slowly weakening with each new gash he received. As he nearly clamped his jaws on Joseph, Ara was able to poke a couple of holes in his neck, beginning the process of bleeding him out.

The painful roar that came out of him was followed by Ara being smacked out of the way as he went for the dragon knight. He started to stumble as blood trickled down his neck.

[Holeypaladin]

The dragon had suffered some lethal injuries, yet it still seemed insistent on charging after him. The bleeding puncture wounds on the creature's neck were indeed quite serious, and yet the enraged beast didn't seem to realize how badly wounded he was. Well, rather than finishing him off, Joseph decided to taunt him a little more, for trying to steal his girl.

"I'm over here!" He began to dart across the battlefield, evading the dragon's attacks. He was at Ara's side in moments, picking her up in his arms, not wanting her to suffer any serious injuries. As the dragon came at him once again, he incanted "Svern," empowering his legs as he made a jump up onto a ledge towards the top of the room, outside of the dragon's reach.

"Come get us!" he taunted, "Oh wait... you can't fly...." The dragon tried to respond, but all that came out was a gurgle of blood as it began coughing, falling down onto the ground as the stab wounds inflicted by Ara's blade caused the creature to bleed to death and cease moving. Stroking her hair, he kissed the half-dragon and hopped down onto the treasure pile.

"It's been awhile since we've had one of these," he said, laying her down on the gold, "But we have some rather fond memories of the last time we had one, right?" He began sliding his hands over her thighs, kissing her deeper and stroking her hair.

[PendragonXeno94]

Ara wasn't sure what had happened. She was about to finish him when Joseph picked her up and took her to a ledge until Adrustel bled out. Soon, they were making love before they changed where they were due to her becoming more sensitive to the smell of dragon blood. But it was nice to be rewarded and not have the collar on her.

She let him hold her close with a deep kiss before she pushed him away and got up. "Mm, I think ready to go pay my ex a visit." She smirked, stretching and showing off her naked body. "He needs a change in his life."

She was, indeed, ready to go assist with the final assault, put down the Frankonian forces and go prepare herself for motherhood. The sooner it was done the better.

[Holeypaladin]

"Indeed he does," said the knight in agreement as he got dressed once more. He didn't expect them to have any other dragons, so he summoned forth a suit of gothic plate armor (http://www.steel-mastery.com/images/products/full/steel-gothic-full-plate-armor-1.jpg) designed for fighting against humans. It would make him nearly invulnerable to physical attacks, and if they had magic users... well, he'd just have to prioritize killing them before they could cast any powerful spells. "More specifically," he continued, "An end to his. Let's go, my half-dragon bride to be," he said, helping Ara to her feet and giving her a tender kiss.

"If our plan worked properly," he said, "The Frankonians should now hold control of the castle, with the Breton soldiers in the dungeon. As I said, we'll infiltrate the castle through a secret passage that leads to the dungeons, free the soldiers, and move on to decapitate the head of the Kingdom of Frankonia. Then, we'll be hailed as saviors, you'll probably get some sort of really cool reward, maybe we'll get an island where we can go relax and chill and sex all day every day except when the kids make you too sick, and await the final battle where I'll have to fight once again."

He wrapped an arm around her and kissed her. "Sound like a plan?" he asked as he stroked her wings.

[PendragonXeno94]

Getting dressed herself, she allowed him to sweep her off her feet with a tender kiss. The castle should have been taken over by now, but there were still things that could go wrong. At least they weren't sitting in the dungeon with everyone else, and their army should be advancing as well. But the sooner, the better. Always good for her to reiterate that so she could focus on other things. But an island wouldn't be too bad.

"Sounds like a plan," she answered, holding his hand. "Off to get the king!" She pulled him along, noting the location of what used to be Adrustel's lair so he soldiers could come by and take care of things after the battle. Along the way, she had felt nauseous a few times though the cool breeze helped calm her.

[Holeypaladin]

They had to evade a small patrol of soldiers on the way back. Normally, Joseph would have simply killed them and be done with it, but since they weren't trying to raise any alarms yet, evasion was the better option in this case. It took a little longer to get back because of this, but the knight found himself near a large boulder built into the side of a small cliff.

"This is it," he said. "It's not meant to be opened from this side... so we'll need to brute force our way past." Raising his hand to the boulder, he incanted a somewhat powerful spell, "Jikmada sari weloh luhi." At the conclusion of his incantation, the boulder disintigrated into dust, revealing a dark passage headed deep underground.

"Quickly," he said, stepping inside and pressing a small button that caused an illusion to replace what had been the rock. It wouldn't hold up to close inspection, but it should at least be less conspicuous to passing scouts than a massive hole in the side of the cliff. Taking her hand, he began to make his way through an ancient escape passage underneath the castle.

[PendragonXeno94]

As much as she would want to kill the small patrol, it wouldn't have been the best to raise alarms so evasion was best for now. Letting her fiance disintegrate the boulder and lead her inside, she kept close to him while they went underneath the castle. "How much further?" she asked. Already, she could hear some shuffling above them while what sounded like a raunchy drinking song could be heard. Well, if that was the dungeon she was in before, it wouldn't surprise her that some of the Frankonian soldiers were drinking on the job. And they sounded incredibly wasted. Maybe slitting their throats while they were passed out would be a good idea.

"Oi! Shut up in there!" someone shouted. "If the General catches ya, don't blame me!"

The drinking song resumed as loudly as ever. A few moments later, two or three thuds were heard. Guessing from how loud they were, the half-dragon assumed that the guards have passed out.

[Holeypaladin]

"Not much further..." the knight said, glancing back to the half-dragon with a smirk. "From the sound of things, they've already been celebrating pretty heavily. This might be even easier than we thought..."

Making his way deeper, he soon found himself pressing on a stone wall, which moved aside to reveal a familiar dungeon. "This place brings back memories," he said, stepping over a passed out guard, "Remember when we first met? You were in... that cell right there," he nodded, lifting the keys from the guard's belt and unlocking the cell to free the Breton prisoners that had been placed there. Tossing the drunk guards in to occupy the cell, he gave the keys to the leader of the prisoners, a sergeant, with orders to free the other prisoners, take up arms, and retake the castle.

"They won't be able to help much until they acquire weapons," he said to Ara, "So we'll need to break in to the armory for them. From there, we'll make our way through a series of hidden passages until we find your old king and kill him." He suddenly pressed his lips to hers and deeply kissed her. "Excited yet?"

[PendragonXeno94]

Coming out of the wall, she glanced over at the cell he gestured to. "I remember. You were very adamant about keeping the relationship strictly warden/prisoner. Look how that turned out." She smirked back at him as he opened the cell door; the half-dragon even helped toss the drunk guards into the cell. As they began to move on, she started to think on how they were going to break into the armory when he kissed her deeply. "Mm... wouldn't you like to know?" she teased.

"Tell you what, you can go after the asshole king and I can go after my asshole ex. Does that sound fair?" Moving him to where none of the others could see them, she let her hand aimlessly drift down his torso only to end right above the polearm she had grown to love. "I'm sure we'll celebrating pretty heavily ourselves." Giving him another small kiss, she pulled him along. "Which way to the armory?" she asked.

Knowing Danarus would be here somewhere, he was no doubt with the king celebrating their "easy" victory. She wanted to see the look on his face when he saw her again.

[Holeypaladin]

"You were pretty certain I was there to take your head," he said with a chuckle, "I suppose neither of us can complain about the result, hmm?" He slid his hand up her thighs in response to her teasing, "I can always find out myself," he taunted her as he touched her between her legs.

"Sounds fair, though I expect they're probably together celebrating. Maybe they're as wasted as these guards... we can only hope." He caressed her body as well and stroked her, nodding his agreement to her. "We certainly will be celebrating," he said, as he made his way towards the armory. He summoned forth his pump crossbow in order to silence the guards between them and the armory, and a few expended bolts later, the doors were busted open and the guards were arming themselves.

"Time for our showdown," he said, licking Ara's neck and rubbing under her skirt to pump her up for the action ahead. Pressing a stone on one of the walls, a passage opened up, and he began navigating through the secret passageways towards the king and her evil ex.

[PendragonXeno94]

Playfully pulling away from him, she lightly slapped a hand on his chest. "It's rude to touch a lady like that," she teased. But he had begun to caress her body and stroke her, making her move away from him and twirl around him. Ara supposed she could let him open the armory so that the prisoners could arm themselves ans then make their way out. Well, at least the latest treasure hoard would be more than enough to replace the door.

She pulled away once more, chuckling to herself. "Not in front of everyone, Joseph!" She pressed a finger on his lips. "Later." The half-dragon followed after her dragon knight in hopes of stumbling on Ashendrethel and Danarus.

Meanwhile, in one of the rooms in a tower, a mutated man who looked like a cross between an Orc and a troll paced around the room as a more handsome human sat at a table. "We have to find Ara," he said in a gruff voice.

"I know, you act like I don't want that," the human replied. "Viktus shouldn't have died the way he did. I'm doing all I can to-"

"Find her!"

The human glossed through other texts and maps, trying to decipher where the half-dragon would have run off to.

Behind the wall, Ara had pressed an ear to it as she gestured to Joseph. "They're in here," she whispered. "Ashendrethel sounds pissed off." Well, it made sense that the king wanted to find her after sabotaging their camp.

[Holeypaladin]

Making his way through the hidden passages of the castle, Joseph headed towards the location of the voices. "By the way," he said, conjuring forth a dagger and handing it to his fiancee, "Feel free to use that against your ex. It's an enchanted vorpal dancing dagger, called Dicksever. I needn't tell you how it earned that name, nor what you should use it for... you're smart enough to figure that part out on your own," he said with a chuckle.

As he reached a wall, he went ahead and let Ara listen in on the conversation on the other side to confirm who it was. Nodding to Ara as she identified their targets, he pressed the secret door open and stepped through. "You needn't bother trying to find Ara," he said. "Because in Soviet Bretony, Ara finds YOU." He took Ara by the hand and led her into the room before returning his attention to the king and his general.

"I believe this is the part where we all draw our weapons and try to kill each other," said Joseph, "Or something to that effect. Don't you agree?"

It seemed like the cowardly king, however, had no intention of doing so. "Stop them, Danarus! Keep them away from me!" he said as he fled up the stairs to the top of the tower. Joseph rolled his eyes and chased after the coward, managing to slip past Danarus but leaving Ara in the room alone to face her ex. He knew she could handle him, so he wasn't particularly concerned, but still...

Meanwhile, on the top of the tower, the Frankonian king turned to face Joseph, giving a diabolic laugh. "You fell for it!" he said, "Now I have you just where I want you! Behold, the ultimate power granted to me, by the dragon goddess Tiamat!" Clutching a green dragon amulet around his neck, he transformed into the shape of a large, green dragon. "There was no room to transform in that room," growled the dragon knight of a king, "But here, I can use my true power!"

"Cute," said Joseph, clutching his own bronze amulet and transforming into a large bronze dragon. "But two can play at that game," he said. "Tonight, you shall dine in Hell.. and your general will be joining you, once Ara finishes him off."

[PendragonXeno94]

Ara eyed the dagger Joseph handed her, nodding at its intent. It was the least her former lover deserved, after all.

She rolled her eyes as he cracked a few jokes, entering to meet Ashendrethel and Danarus once again. Before she could pull out her blades, the king had run off with Joseph going after him. Danarus has blocked the doorway to prevent Ara from running after him.

"So... you came back," he said.

"Not for you, that's for damn sure."

"Oh, come now." Danarus began to approach her, hands extended to either side of her face. "There's no need for-"

The half-dragon spat in his face before unsheathing her blades.

"So, that's how it's going to be?" Pulling out his own blade, he popped his neck as he readied himself. "All right. I hate for it to end this way..." He swung his blade, only for hers to clash with his. They began to parry and have metal clashing on each others' as they moved around the room, only for Ara to be pushed out onto the balcony.

"Didn't think you were the romantic type to fight out on the balcony with a lady," she teased, dodging his sword as he brought it down.

[Holeypaladin]

The Frankonian king's breath was about the most foul substance one could think of, a gas so toxic and corrosive that it dissolved flesh. However, Joseph was familiar with dragons and their attack patterns, having fought several before with Ara, and this form was less natural to Ashenlongname as the knight had come to refer to the unpronounceable name of the king than it was to a true dragon. As the king unleashed his toxic breath attack, Joseph used his wings to buffet the gas right back at him with a powerful gust of air. It didn't do any damage as dragons were immune to their own breath weapons, but it certainly annoyed the king well enough.

Opening his own maw, Joseph let loose a powerful blast of electricity which blasted the green square on, sending a shock through his system that he had no way of dodging, as dragons were far too massive to effectively evade anything. Taking advantage of the shock that spred through Ashenlongname's system, Joseph leaped at the green dragon, assaulting him with claw and tooth, rending scales with his own natural weapons.

The green dragon knight began to fight back, and Joseph managed to smack his head aside with a claw at the last moment before Ashenlongname released his toxic breath harmlessly to the side. Joseph knew he didn't want to be struck by that attack. What he didn't expect, however, was the way the green dragon knocked him off the side of the tower, causing him to fall past the balcony where Ara was fighting her ex and land with a thud in the courtyard below. "Owww..." he muttered to himself. The fall would have killed a human, but his dragon form only suffered bruises from it.

[PendragonXeno94]

Ara glanced over her shoulder for a moment, trying to decide if the dragon that had fallen was her fiance or a dragon that had come to their aid. As she kept trying to parry Danarus, he managed to graze her side though it did nothing to deter her. Circling each other, they kept hitting their blades together as they started to push each other toward the railing. Ducking under him, the half-dragon took the dagger and stabbed his side.

Danarus yelled in pain, pulling the dagger out and throwing it over the railing, watching it hit the wall. Though he had begun to bleed, he swung his sword, getting frustrated that Ara was still dodging his attacks. He kicked her above her stomach, making her stumble to the railing before she charged him and drove both blades into his shoulders. She was kicked off and began slicing at his legs.

Leaving a nick in her wing, he sheathed his sword and brought out a dagger of his own, trying to jab at her. "You won't win, bitch!" he shouted.

"Heard that one a thousand times before," she retorted, leaving a gash in his back, only to get a few puncture wounds in her legs. He was beginning to show he was growing weak from all the blood loss. She could only hope that Joseph would soon finish off the king so she could-

She paused, looking down to see Danarus' dagger above where her unborn babies would be. If she was any further along, one of them would have been dead. Driving her blades into his back, she kept him there as he slowly collapsed, blood flowing down his back. She could already feel her consciousness slipping. "Joseph, hurry..."

[Holeypaladin]

Rolling over, Joseph saw the green dragon knight diving down towards him. As Ashenlongname opened his mouth, he knew that there was no way he could dodge the incoming attack in his current form... so he shifted back into his human form to roll out of the way as the courtyard was filled with a toxic gas. "Svern," he incanted before making a powerful leap into the air, drawing forth his dragonbane polearm and bringing the weapon down heavily on the back of the king's neck.

As the head of the green dragon rolled along the ground, the beast collapsed, and Ashenlongname began to transform back to his humanoid form... headless, of course. The crowned head of the Frankonian king was lifted up by a cheering soldier, as the remaining Frankonian soldiers began to lay down their arms and surrender.

Joseph didn't waste time celebrating, however. Incanting "Svern" once more, he jumped up to where the wounded Ara was, seeing her badly injured. "You'll be alright..." he said, "The blade missed the children... one moment, I'll heal you." Pulling the dagger out, he incanted his most powerful healing spell, "Irisv shio ezoukeic chiilipen."

As his unborn children were very precious to him, he used a spell capable of healing all of Ara's wounds, leaving her stomach completely intact for when the babies would need room to grow. "I think..." he said, stroking her hair and gazing into her eyes, "We need a very long vacation. I nearly had a heart attack when I saw that dagger in you. I'm the only one allowed in you, after all..."

[PendragonXeno94]

She was starting to slump over Danarus' body when Joseph came to her side and healed, feeling better but still a bit lightheaded. She pulled her blades out and sheathed them before using her fiance as support to get on her feet. "I think... we should hold off on celebrating." She could hear everyone cheering down below, and she knew that the war was finally over with the king dead and his general face down in his pool of blood.

For some unknown reason, her lightheadedness caused her to faint, slumping in Joseph's arms. It was probably too much for her babies and it caused her to act this way. No doubt if she were still conscious she'd want to be taken back to their room to rest.

[Holeypaladin]

Picking her up in his arms, the knight kissed his fiancee, chuckling a bit at her words. "I think you're right," he said, stroking her hair and holding her close. Her wounds were healed, but she was exhausted. Making his way through the cheering soldiers, he took the woman back to their room, and lay her on the bed. Sliding her armor off to make her comfortable, he let his own armor dissolve as he pulled her head to his chest.

Laying down next to the woman who would become his wife, he slowly caused his eyes. Soon, sleep began to overtake him as well. Celebration would have to wait... for now, it was nap time.

[PendragonXeno94]

Ara had awakened at her fiance's side, free of her armor and her head on his chest. She wasn't sure how long she had slept but she felt the urge to run as she was beginning to be nauseous again. The soldiers were too busy drinking and celebrating outside to notice her slipping out and throwing up. Instead of hovering over to catch her breath, she silently went back, her stomach feeling sore from numerous times of emptying it.

She held her stomach with her arms as she winced. The babies, it seemed, didn't want her to be celebrating as much as she wanted to. But she was able to kiss his cheek and rest her head under his. Now that she would be getting a full pardon soon, they should plan the wedding as soon as possible and get it over with quickly, not that she was in a hurry, but she wanted to get it done before their children arrived. She didn't want them to be bastard children like she was.

[Holeypaladin]

Wrapping his arms around the half-dragon as she slipped back into bed with him, Joseph rested his head on her breasts. He had been woken by her kiss to his cheek, and he pulled her close to him, squeezing and holding her. "Mmm..." he said, stroking her hair. "Five more minutes..." he rested his head on her breasts and napped a bit more. He still didn't like mornings, after all.

The war was over, and there were celebrations to be held. Awards and titles given, pardons passed out... and weddings to hold. It was all too much to think about so early in the morning, so the knight simply continued to hold his half-dragon fiancee in his arms, squeezing her close.

[PendragonXeno94]

She had slipped back to sleep as he settled against her. At least today they could sleep in and then catch up on celebrating later if she was up to it. For now, she was happy to cuddle with her soon-to-be husband as she let him stroke her hair, in which she stroked his in return.

It had been four months since the end of the war. Ara had been promoted for her services after being granted a full pardon for her efforts. She and Joseph had been given a fairly large estate, the monarchy was probably planning on making them minor nobility for now, not that she really cared about that. But the ocean view from their bedroom window was a plus for her. And she could have as many dogs as she wanted with the land they gained!

But now, she was ready to become Lady L'gra. She had opted for a backless white gown, seeing how her wings couldn't stayed folded for the entire day. Her dress was incredibly slimming and showed off her belly that had grown in the past four months and showing her bare shoulders as she wore long sleeves. Her hair was down and decorated in small flowers (someone else's idea, really). Moving to meet her future husband, she smiled as she approached, eagerly taking his hands into hers. He cleaned pretty well for today. She couldn't even stand still as the minister went on and on before they could even start exchanging vows.

"Ara? Would you like to say something to him?" the minister asked.

She cleared her throat, never taking her eyes off of him. "Joseph... when we first met, I thought that you were just going to get it done and over with, and when that didn't happen, I thought about how I was going to escape." Small laughter rose among the crowd. "And now, I'm pregnant with your triplets and I'm about to become your wife. That was the last thing to cross my mind. But I'm glad I got captured because I don't think I could have met you otherwise." She tried to hold back tears as her voice cracked here and there. "I didn't think I could get to this point in my life, but I'm glad it's you. I just wish I found you sooner so I could love you longer." The half-dragon had to turn away to wipe a few stray tears. "Damn it, why did you make me so emotional?"

[Holeypaladin]

Fate had a funny way of playing tricks with peoples' emotions. Joseph L'Gra, a man who had come seemingly from nowhere with but a single purpose, which even he questioned... was now in a position which no one may have predicted, save perhaps whoever it was who put him in that awkward situation, months prior, back in those dungeons beneath a certain Breton palace.

"Can't help it," he responded to Ara's words with his own, "But then, if I didn't make you emotional, you'd never have learned to feel, would you?" The crowd chuckled once more at his witty comment. "I never believed in such a thing as fate, or destiny. I always figured that people made their own destiny, and could change their fate. When the Founder ordered me to become your warden... I thought you were a lost cause. I thought I had drawn the short stick in the stack, the pointless mission. Never could I have predicted that things would have developed the way they did... and I've learned that he was right. About you. About us. Our potential, what we would become... and now, we're the strongest power pair in all of Bretony." He said with a chuckle, "And the sexiest of course. I'm proud to call you my wife... Lady Ara L'Gra."

At the conclusion of his speech, the clergyman pronounced, "I now pronounce you Husband and Wife, Lord and Lady Joseph L'Gra. You may kiss the bride."

"You don't have to tell me twice," said Joseph, pulling his new wife close, pressing his lips to hers and deeply licking and sucking on her tongue. He held the kiss for what seemed like forever, and continued to entwine his tongue with hers as he carried her off to a private location, in order to provide the pleasure vacation they had both been looking forward to since the day she proposed to him. Perhaps there would be a time when they would be called to fight together once more... but until then, he'd focus on providing her body with the pleasure that had warmed her frozen heart.

Good End