I awoke the next morning to a sore body and a groggy mind. It was only after I sat up on my narrow hay-stuffed mattress that I remembered what had taken place the night before; I had pleased the Dragon.
An uncontrollable smile stretched across my face as I recalled the pleasure of the Dragon's touch, his groans of ecstasy as he pounded into me, and the sweep of his hand over my fertile womb. With these lustful memories swamping my thoughts, the soreness between my legs begin to change—transformed by desire into an intense ache for my master's touch.
My hand drifted down my body and beneath the covers. I pulled up the skirt of my sleeping gown. Without conscious volition, my fingers delved into the moist heat at my center. My eyes drifted shut as pleasure sang through my blood once again.
I settled back against my pillow in rapture, pulling down the neckline of my gown and releasing my breasts from the confines of scratchy cotton. My nipples tightened when first exposed to the cool morning air and I drew my fingers across them to soothe the fire raging in my system. Remembering the heat of my master's mouth, I brought a finger to my lips and sucked the digit inside. I brought the warm moisture I found there to my beaded nipples, coating one before repeating the process with the other.
Under this self-torment, my core grew dripping wet. I swooped my thumb down into that wetness and brought it up to the bud of pleasure above my nether lips. My breath caught in my throat as the motion sent tingles up my spine. I continued to circle that little bead of ecstasy, stopping occasionally to dip a finger into my aching channel. Soon, the thickness of one digit was not enough to sate my weeping core; so I returned with first two, then three fingers. My tight channel stretched pleasantly around my slender fingers, but the feeling still did not come close to the memory of the Dragon's thick member.
I continued my two-pronged assault on my breasts and the private place between my legs. As my pleasure mounted and I felt the familiar warmth course through my veins, I threw back the covers and exposed my near-naked body to the cool room. With fulfillment in sight, I could no longer contain the whimpering moans that ripped from my throat. My murmurs, sighs, and groans of ecstasy filled the quiet room.
Soon enough, my climax overtook me. I drove three fingers into my tight, moist heat just as my inner muscles began to clench. For a long moment I felt like I was in rictus; my mouth hanging open as my body seized up and stiffened.
I lay still for awhile after my ecstasy had all but concluded, my heart pounding in my chest and my inner muscles still contracting lightly around my fingers. Letting out a long, shaky breath, I removed the damp digits from my body.
Sitting up, I pushed back my unruly mane and glanced around the room. Heat filled my cheeks as I took in the sight of my still-sleeping roommates, whose forms I had not seen in the dim light when I had first woken up. I gave a silent thanks that none of the other women had awoken to see my private moment of passion and knew that I would have to be more careful about fulfilling my desires in the future.
-
Later that morning, I made my way to the salon. Although I had spent the night before with the Dragon, I didn't feel that my life had changed drastically. In fact, the whole encounter seemed more like an erotic dream than reality.
Many of the other women serving in the temple were surprised to see me back at work, and more than a few shot dirty looks in my direction when they thought I couldn't see. I did my best to ignore this extra attention, but it was difficult. My cheeks were bright pink for most of the day as the constant speculation from my peers reminded me of the intimacies of the night before. But as uncomfortable as the stares made me, I didn't feel frightened—not until a group of girls cornered me outside.
I had stepped out of the salon for a moment to fetch a couple of buckets of water from the well. This was a task I had done before, one that was so simple that I never required any assistance. In fact, I had always enjoyed the moment of solitude and the chance to escape the chaos that always seemed to plague the temple.
Distracted by the weight of the heavy buckets I held in each hand, I didn't notice the people standing in the shadows near the temple entrance. They waited for me to pass them by before they shoved me forward, sending me sprawling on the stone steps. The flash of pain that swept through me when my knee come down hard on the unforgiving rock was overwhelming; all I could do in the moment was lie on my side in the pooling water, curled around my injured leg.
"Look at that stupid bitch," one of my attackers said, her voice full of disdain.
"She doesn't look all that special to me," came another voice. "All that dull, frizzy hair, and those hips like a boy's—what's so remarkable about her?"
Three shadows eclipsed the sun as the girls leaned over me, laughing at my pain. I was miserable, completely unused to such abuse. I tried my best to crawl away, half-sobbing in fear.
The three girls followed me lazily, not worried for a second that I might escape them.
"Where are you going, love?" The question was asked by the third attacker, and she stepped forward, crowding me into the corner I had found between the temple wall and the staircase railing. Her friends fell back, giggling into their hands as the apparent leader of the group crouched down to look me in the face.
She cocked her head to the side and stared intently at me with ice-blue eyes. "What does he see in you?" She asked the question quietly, more to herself than to me. I didn't answer because I couldn't say for sure—not when I sat in the dirt, bleeding and cowering against the temple wall.
"Please," I begged, my voice wobbling in fear, "don't hurt me."
The girl only smiled at me and straightened. She looked down at me, still lying on the ground, with an expression of pity on her face. It was then that I saw her pull back her foot, obviously with the intention of kicking my unprotected abdomen. I felt the fear drain out of my body as soon as I saw the movement, and my maternal instinct kicked in as I instantly grew concerned for the life that might already have been blossoming in my womb.
In the instant I saw her lift her foot, I hurled myself at my attacker. She fell backwards on the hard stone floor, her head hitting the ground with a satisfying thud. I straddled the girl, pinning her arms to the ground with my knees as I pummeled her with my fists. I felt enraged; I felt powerful.
But the feeling of power didn't last. The girl's friends were quick to come to her aid; the two of them each grabbed one of my arms, hauling me up from the ground and dragging me off into the shadows. I fought them like a woman possessed, but even in my pique they proved stronger than me. When they pinned my struggling body to the cool stone behind me, I whispered a little prayer and shut my eyes.
And the next thing I knew, a piercing shriek filled the sky. My attackers halted, surveying the courtyard around us to see where the noise had come from—but I saw the culprit before they did.
He was beautiful. His dark scales, a shiny black from the distance, glittered with a full spectrum of colors as he dipped out of the sky. The true nature of his appearance was nothing like the myths that had spread throughout the Hollow; he was not grotesque and malformed, but rather deadly and handsome. Though his body was much larger, much more serpentine than it had been the night before, when he had held me with passion, I recognized those coal black eyes and I shivered at the power I saw there.
My attackers released me when they beheld the Dragon's form, screaming as he dove down towards them, his sinister black talons extended out in their direction. They fled my side in an instant, perhaps believing that they could escape the Dragon's wrath if they let me go—a foolish thought on their parts. They ran out to the courtyard and then into the field beyond, the Dragon in hot pursuit. When I heard their guttural screams a moment later, my stomach churned and I was glad I hadn't seen their demise.
-
I remained in the shadows as the chaos from the temple spilled out into the courtyard, dozens of uninformed servants and worshippers out to see some blood. I watched them all crane their necks to the sky in the hopes that they might be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the Dragon. Unfortunately for them, he didn't show.
One of the priestesses, a beautiful blonde woman named Ariella, found me in the shadows and asked me to follow her back into the temple. I told her no, that I wanted to stay and watch until the crowd had dissipated.
We watched as a few of the men who served in the temple headed out to the field to collect the bodies of the two attackers the Dragon had punished. A stern-looking nurse oversaw a few other servants as they hauled up the third girl, the one I had pummeled on the steps, and directed them into the temple. Ariella assured me that she would be gravely punished, that I wouldn't have to worry about her bothering me again. I shuddered in revulsion as I thought about what that might mean.
When the courtyard had emptied of all but a few stragglers, I finally followed Ariella back into the temple and into an empty room off the main entrance. A nurse was already waiting in the room for me, a young woman with kind eyes and gentle hands. She examined me quickly, the priestess keeping a close watch over the whole process, and assured me that I would suffer no more than a bruise. Ariella thanked her for her service and followed her to the door.
"It won't do for the mother of the Dragon spawn to serve in the salon," she told me as soon as we were alone. "You are no longer a simple serving girl. You must live up to your new status." She told me that I had been summoned back to the Dragon's quarters that very night—I would not have to wait a week as he had told me the night before.
"What does that mean?" I asked her, disappointed that I wouldn't be allowed to serve the Dragon as I always had, as I had always enjoyed, but excited to serve my master every night—for as long as he'd have me. "What am I to do everyday?"
She told me that I would be made to live like one of the priestesses, waited on by the lower servants. I would be expected to spend every day in the salon in preparation for every night, which I would spend serving my master directly.
She told me that, for my own protection and for the protection of the Dragon spawn, I would be moved to a sleeping chamber in one of the towers, high above the rest of the temple. Up there, my master would have access to me whenever he pleased. At first, I felt only relief that I wouldn't have to worry about another incident like the one I had just encountered.
And then, I pictured the Dragon coming into my room one night, waking me from erotic dreams of him and fulfilling my desires right there in the dark. I shivered in delight at the thought.
