This erotic story features anthropomorphic (furry) characters, intelligent humanoid beings with both animal and human characteristics.
"The Clutch Of Kerann"
SHORT STORY
Author's Note:
sequel to 'Dragon Clan Mother'.
The air flows beneath me as I soar. I feel it in my wings, as they catch great gusts of it β dry and frigid to the skin. How high I must be. I feel it in my scales, the white touch of frost as I burst through clouds. My limbs tuck tight as I surge through the sky.
I see mountains. Huge peaks cresting the smoky sea of cloud. I start to descend.
Two follow me. Two drakes, who accompanied me as I struck out from my home, in search of glory.
I flew far and reigned in fire. Lands scorched. Prizes seized...tucked away in fresh-dug vaults of my own design. I fold my wings, arms and legs keeping their position in line with the spear of my body, and accelerate. My feet curl as the wind massages me. From horned head to taloned toe, I am battered by the pleasure of rapid descent.
The two behind me do the same. We all fall together.
We pass through the cloud layer. I breathe through air-whipped nostrils. Soon I shall be on firm land. Up on the mountainside β at the gates of my old home. It has been a long time. Years away. I try not to think about change. To me, it has always looked the same.
Though I try, I fail. It is more...
More crowded. More fortified.
This was my work.
Mother...
A thought enters my mind. A stray, wandering inkling. Heat flows from my core.
Mother. I will see her soon. What will she think of me? Of my last gift to her?
Changing course, steering towards the rocky mountain gate, I check behind me for my serving-drakes. Alrax and Gynvic β loyal to a fault. The only ones who followed me. The only ones Mother
allowed
to follow me, for the days of scarcity were plentiful, and we could not spare a soul to dally.
Alrax soars to the left. Over my shoulder I see his slender grey-blue body a distant blur. He is cold. Inside and out. Without flame. His colours speak that truth. Evidence of a weakened bloodline. I call him brood-brother regardless. I do not care for that world. Of race, and blood, and purity. I only wish to roam. But I must return. Somehow, I feel her calling me home.
Kerann...
My name rings out aloud in her voice. It is my mind. Tricks of tiredness. I continue my descent.
Gyvnic, shimmering green in the corner of my vision, turns along with me, matching my course and speed. He flies with impeccable skill: agile, and quick-witted. A pity also he shows signs of weakness in my mother's eyes. Small, just like Alrax. Yet he kept the flame. The trajectory of our kind a mystery to me, it seems. He shifts his position, wings dipping, acknowledging me.
Kerann!
I can hear Mother's voice, rich as the night I left.
That night...when I gave her everything she ever wanted. I picture it. I fade into her arms and die happy...my soul searching for a sensation to match.
The mountain rises before me, and I spread my wings to slow down. My body rights in mid-air, arms spreading out in front of my wings, legs ready to absorb the landing. Some dragons fly with coverings β fine cloth and jewels. To that I say no! Never! I fly nude, without embargo. Weighed down not by trinkets and finery.
Scratch their jewels,
I roar in my head, as if to confront something else. Something I cannot shake.
Mother. The one who adorns herself most with products made of metal and stone. I see her, and her gaudy decorations, but cannot turn away. Not for all the females in the lands could I do so, such is her pull. How I wish...
Kerann.
...how I wish to feel it again.
We sail, like the ships of the frightened hairless ones; those who filled mine and my companions bellies many times over. Without them, and their fragile forms, we three would've starved. I lick my lips, eagerly awaiting what the hunters of our home have brought as a feast for my return. They will have spied my approach, the best eyes among them keeping watch over the skies.
An outcrop at the foot of the path to the mountain gate is our landing. I collide with solid ground, buckling as I strike the protruding bulk of the world. I save myself from rolling by mustering the strength of my body, an inheritance from my father β greatest in the skies. And Mother's long-lost love.
I grunt. A burst of flame escapes my jaws. Rising, I look to the path, then my companions.
Alrax and Gynvic reach me, their bare bodies on display. I'd ordered them to do as I. Fly as our ancestors did: naked. They did not share my enthusiasm. I made them obey me, with threats of breaking wings if they stepped out of line. Sympathy for their lives, good or ill, aside, they are still mine to command. It is my right β another thing the ancestors of my kind I thank for.
Gyvnic is spry. He lands without trouble. Alrax reaches the outcrop, and hits his leg off of the rocky edge. He tumbles forward, smashing into the ground to piteous remarks from his green-scaled equal. I turn, and glower at Gyvnic. He knows better than to put lesser drakes down. That is my prerogative, if it is anyone's to wield.
Up ahead, the entrance is marked with wide stone pillars. A fortress of squat creatures once stood here, before our kind took it from them. Now no roads lead up the mountain, for the way has been scorched and broken. Dragon-fire can crack even the sturdiest stone.
We three ascend, walking the dusty path. I growl. My feet will need washing, and my underlings are poor servants. Too quick to waste water and not thorough enough to reach every spot.
Arriving at the gate, two sterling drakes, hardy ones, flank the great pillars of the ruined stronghold. They are new, and surprise me with their stature. One looks at the other as I walk closer, craning forward in his post to get a clearer picture. Their faces belie their astonishment.
Reaching them, with my drakes in tow, I regard them as they did me. It's impressive...they almost reach my height, give or take a few horn-lengths. Muscled. Solid bodies. Rich scale colouration. They stand to attention, holding themselves with impeccable discipline.
Mother has trained them well,
I think in the back of my mind. They have piercings, along the frill of their ears and in certain corners of their wings. Her touch again. Bracelets, ringlets, greaves decorated with engraved lines β criss-crossing scratches of draconic talons. Small bands of fabric hold parts together, and a golden cuirass adorns their front, moulded to fit the hills and valleys of their chests. Beneath, hung from the waist by fancy rope, a satchel of cloth. Theirs bulge with maleness, all bunched up tight. I stand free, my shaft and stones dangling before their very eyes. They know not where to look. I grin, and chuckle. Mine exceeds theirs by quite an amount.
Even sharing my blood in their veins they do not best me!
One speaks, his voice furtive. "F-Father-Of-All!" he blurts out, the other hissing at his undisciplined exuberance.
Pride swells within me as I hear the honorific. The truth revealed at last, to my great satisfaction. My sons β the product of a union between myself and my dear mother, the matriarch of our clan. More are inside...I hear their deep voices, caught in raucous conversation.
I take a step forward, and they move aside, eager to let their legendary father greet the rest. Oh, yes β as I hear from new faces the tales that have been told of me. Tales recited by the Clan Mother welcome me home, myself the subject of stories circulated through the whole mountain! Whether conjured from the depths of Mother's imagination, or those that her kobold spies relayed to her from the far places of the world, they entrance my children. Now I stand, with reluctance, at the centre. I see that I've been thrown into the forefront. The heart of a crowd of six (no...seven!) of my progeny.
By the ancestors,
I muse as I witness them gather,
Mother was bountiful!
"Father-Of-All! Welcome home."
My serving-drakes fall by the wayside, forgotten, as I bask in admiration.
"Greatwing! Welcome!"
"We are honoured to receive you."
"Father...you are more than we ever imagined."
I let that last one simmer for a moment, before moving through the crowd. My heart pounds. My loins tingle. I am surrounded by my children. Seeds I never expected to sow. And they adore me!
Was this what I could hope enjoy if I didn't race for the skies like a wild creature?