FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

*****

Chapter Sixty Five

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Revaramek crawled through smothering darkness. Black, sludgy water surrounded him. The faint, gray light of day beneath the ever-present clouds barely filtered down to the depths he plumbed. In the shallows, he could still see a short distance in the murky water. But when he dove this deep, he explored night itself. He gripped at slimy rocks, and submerged roots. Some were firm and strong, others long since rotted. Sometimes he grabbed at things that pulled away, or twisted around him. At least they didn't scare him anymore.

Don't startle if a thorn vine coils round you. You'll only dig the thorns in under your scales. And if you should grasp something like a slimy, wriggling root, let it go gently. Scare a spine-eel and it'll sting you, and your paw will swell up and throb for weeks.

Nyra was right, as always. He'd been stung three different times before he finally learned not to let them startle him. For months, he limped around. It took him even longer to adjust the feeling of the poison water's tingling caress. His first few times swimming had left his wings and his other exposed areas feeling as if a thousand claws were pricking them all at once. Then when the tingling faded, everything felt numb. His throat and muzzle burned from the water in his nose. Nyra taught him how to blow it back out as soon as he emerged.

Now, he was used to this world. His body had long adjusted to the air, and he could hold his breath as long as Nyramyn could. The poison in the water barely bothered him even when he swam with Nyramyn all day long. He scarcely even thought about the long term, anymore. This was his world now, and he'd be damned if he wouldn't live his life here with joy, just as she did.

And nothing would bring him more joy than finally besting her at something.

As deep under the burbling surface as he'd ever been, Revaramek felt around. He followed the rocky slope of an underwater hill. He was fairly certain there was some kind of ruin here, long submerged. Most of the stones he felt amidst the roots and the silt were unnaturally flat, some with sharp edges. He felt over them carefully as he pulled himself further down the hill. If he cut his pads, the wound would infect, and the blood would draw the attention of all sorts of unpleasant creatures.

The dragon's lungs ached, but the urge to breathe was not yet overwhelming. He knew his limits well enough now to know how much longer he could stay beneath the water before he'd have to surge for the surface. Dragging himself across the bottom made it easier for him to know which way was up when the moment came. But he was not yet ready to admit defeat. Not with Nyramyn waiting on the bank, ready to tease him about his latest failed attempt to best her. And there had been many.

I can outfly you.

I can outswim you.

I can hold my breath longer.

I can outwrestle you.

He'd been damn sure of that last one, too. But he hadn't counted on her being so quick and agile and slippery. Every time he thought he'd had her pinned she found a way to wriggle free. She was as graceful as the gryphons, and thanks to the rain, her scales had been far too slick to get a good grip on. Tricky female, only accepting his challenge in the rain. At least he'd earned a stalemate that time.

But this challenge, he was determined to finally win.

I can catch a bigger swamp crab than you.

She didn't have to laugh at him when he'd brought it up. Much as he loved to hear her beautiful laughter, he wasn't sure he liked having his challenges laughed at. Just because she'd won every single one of them, save their stalemate, that was no reason to laugh off his latest attempt to prove he was better at something than her. Why, he'd show her his resplendency yet. Wait, he didn't think that sounded right. Nice thought, though.

The need to breathe grew steadily more urgent. The gentle aching in his lungs was turning to a growing fire. Soon he'd have to propel himself back to the surface. If he did so now, it would be the seventh time that afternoon that he'd come back empty handed. Nyramyn had given him until nightfall to catch a swamp crab larger than any she'd ever dredged up, and each time he returned without one she only smiled at him and asked if he was ready to admit defeat.

Truth was, Revaramek only issued the challenge because he had stumbled across an immense swamp crab the day before. The biggest he'd ever seen, for sure. Or felt, anyway. He'd found it deep below the surface, felt its gnarled shell, the shifting of its legs. It got a grip on one of his unsheathed claws and damn near snapped it off. He'd left the thing there, sure he could find it again the next day as they rarely moved very far. But with his luck, the stupid thing probably died of old age overnight.

Just when he was sure he'd have to ascend to the surface and face defeat once more, the pads of his right forepaw brushed something chitinous that shifted away from his touch. He reached over it, grasped at it. Something jointed, cylindrical, and moving. It was either a swamp crab's leg big around as an immense root, or he was about two seconds away from being attacked by a furious saw-squid. When he wasn't beset by a few dozen serrated tentacle-claws, he followed the leg to its source.

The leg connected to a broad, domed shell, knotted with bumps and scars, almost as broad across as he was. The creature was even larger than he remembered, and he wasn't sure he could even get it out of the water. Pincers brushed and snapped at him, and he repositioned himself above and behind the thing. Revaramek worked his forepaws down under the creature's massive shell. He unsheathed his claws for better grip. Its shell was so thick they scarcely penetrated. That was alright, he didn't want to kill the thing yet. If it wasn't alive and unharmed, Nyramyn might accuse him of finding a dead one and claiming it as his prize.

With great effort, he wrenched the crab away from its moorings. A cloud of thick silt kicked up beneath him, so thick he felt it washing across his scales. While the crab wriggled and flexed its many legs, trying to free itself from his grasp, Revaramek braced his hind paws against stones strewn across the underwater hill. He pushed himself off with as much strength as he could muster, lashing his tail against the water. The dragon paddled his hind paws, waving his tail back and forth. The webbed spines made excellent fins even against such thick, poisoned water.

Revaramek breached the surface with a great splash and a long, ragged gasp. Clutching his prize to his heaving chest plates, he gazed around, found himself quite far from shore. Nyramyn lay on her side, savoring the clean rain falling across the swamp. The air was filled with its fresh scent and its steady, whispering patter against so much water. Nyramyn cocked her head at him, smiling.

"Listen to you gasping over there! You should really leave the deep diving to those who are actually good at it."

"Just you wait!" Revaramek panted, struggling to cross the surface without relinquishing his grasp on his struggling treasure. "Just yooouuuuu wait!"

"I've been waiting." Nyramyn glanced up at the sky, laughing. "If that's all the faster you can swim, it's going to be dark by the time you reach the shore, and then it won't matter what no-doubt unimpressive thing you've dredged up from the mud, because you'll have lost anyway."

"Oh, little do you know!" Revaramek snarled at her, paddling his hind paws and swishing his tail, bobbling up and down. "I've got something _very_impressive clutched between my legs!"

Nyramyn burst into musical laughter, tossing her head. "No, I've seen that, and it's not that impressive."

"Front legs!" Revaramek snapped his teeth, hissing. "And it is impressive, what I've found."

"But not the other thing, hmmm?"

"That too!" He grumbled, shifting his forelegs. The crab wriggled, trying to snap its pinches against his forelegs. "Just you wait...a little help, perhaps?"

"That wasn't part of the challenge."

Gritting his teeth, Revaramek struggled the rest of the way to the shore. Swimming was far harder when he was holding something heavy and squirming. When he finally felt silt and stones beneath his hind paws, he braced them against the bottom, and staggered the last few paces on his hind limbs. Black water ran down his scales and over the crab's body as he carried it up the bank, and set it down in front of Nyramyn. The rain rinsed him clean.

As soon as Nyramyn caught sight of the truly monumental creature he'd dragged up from the bottom, her copper-bronze eyes went wide, and her maw dropped open. Her frills all shot up, and her pink tongue nearly hung from her muzzle. For several long moments, all she did was gape at the gigantic crab.

Revaramek's victory was written all over her expression. He strode right up to her, put his muzzle in her face, and smiled. "HAH!"

"Alright, alright." Nyramyn waved her paw at him. "No need to rub it in."

"Oh yes there is!" Revaramek plopped himself down on his haunches, flaring his wings out to their full extent. "In all the time I've known you, you and I have issued one another more challenges than I can count. You have won every single contest, and every time you've rubbed my muzzle in your victory."

Nyramyn arched her neck, glancing away. "Not every time."

"Name one time you didn't."

"When we wrestled."

"That's because that was a stalemate!" Revaramek poked her with a forepaw.

"So you see? I haven't won them all."

"Now you're trying to win this, too!" The dragon laughed, incredulous. "And when we flew? You did a damn loop!"

"Well, I had to prove my point, didn't I?"

"And now I get to prove_my_ point!" Revaramek swept his paw towards the enormous swamp crab. "I can catch a bigger swamp crab than you! In fact, I have caught a bigger swamp crab than you've ever caught!" He sneered, then faltered a moment. "I mean...haven't I? It's no fair lying!"

Nyramyn huffed, then craned her neck to stare past him. "Very well. Yes. Yes, that is the biggest swamp crab that I have ever seen." She glanced up at him, smiling. "Didn't even know they got that big. It's a very impressive catch. You have won the challenge, Water Ally Revaramek. Congratulations."

"Thank you!" Revaramek strode across mossy ground, then stretched his wings in the rain. He pranced back and forth, paws slapping against sodden moss. He swished his tail back and forth, tossing his head around. "I win! I win, I win, I win!"

"Is that your victory dance?" Nyramyn pushed herself to her paws. "It needs work."

"I've never had a victory to dance about before, what do you expect?" Revaramek trotted around in a circle, smiling till his jaws ached. He laughed and danced around, hopping from paw to paw, not caring how foolish he looked. "I win! I finally win! I'm a great and resplendent victor, at last!"

"Hey Resplendent." Nyramyn pointed with a paw when she had his attention. "Your crab is escaping."

"ACK!" He spun around, nearly whacking her in the head with his tail. "My dinner!" Revaramek charged after it, but by then the crab had already scuttled back into the dark water, where it disappeared into a burbling mass of bubbles. He felt around for it, brushed chitin, and then pain shot up his foreleg when it clamped a pincer down on one of his fingers. "OW!" He yanked his paw back, and the crab's limb broke, leaving just a single, mottled gray pincer clinging to his finger. He grabbed it in his teeth, pulled it free, and the shook his forepaw. "Ow, ow, ow! I'm gonna catch that stupid crab and roast it alive!"

"Oh, let it go. I'll catch you something else to eat later." Nyramyn smiled up him from further up the bank. "Besides, any crab that big must be ancient. I'd say he's deserved to live out the rest of his days, one pincer down. And at that age, it's probably too full of poison to eat, anyway."

"Not the point." Revaramek examined his digit. The scales were cracked and broken on the back of his finger, but he wasn't bleeding. "I spent all day hunting that stupid crab, and it got away!"

"You still succeeded, didn't you?" She cocked her head.

"I suppose." Revaramek held his paw out in the rain, letting the clean water rinse away the lingering traces of the swamp. Then he licked his wounded finger a few times. "I wanted to finally impress you."

"Impress me?" Nyramyn tilted her head the other way, laughing. "Is that what this is all about?"

"Well..." Revaramek turned back to her, glancing aside. "Maybe that didn't come out right."

"Now why would you think you'd need to impress me?"

Revaramek shifted on his paws, gulping. "I...like you. And...it's just..."

"I like you too." Nyramyn settled on her haunches, giving him a smile that was a little too coy for his liking. "We are friends, aren't we?"

"Of course we are." He stretched a wing to scratch at his neck. "But sometimes I feel...well...I don't...I mean, we could...no, that's..." He snapped his jaws, his belly suddenly a twisted knot of cold nervousness.

"You don't sound very resplendent right now." Nyramyn's smile grew just a little.

"Don't feel very resplendent right now."

He glanced back at the muddy trail the crab left where it had scooted back to the water. He took a slow breath, trying to gather his thoughts. There were things he'd wanted to tell her for some time, now. Revaramek had tried before, but the words never came out right. Now, here, in the beautiful rain, just like the day he'd first met her, the moment could not be more perfect.

If he could only find the right words.

There was so much he wanted to say. The dragon held his breath a few moments, then let it all come out in a rush while he had the nerve. "I love having you hunt for me, and I love the way your laughter sounds, and I love the way your scales look in the rain and I hate feeling like I don't have anything to offer you and that I can't do anything impressive and I wish everyone could find joy as easily as you can, and I don't want to feel a burden to you because I think I lo-"

"Stop, Revaramek." Nyramyn's smile faded, yet her copper-bronze stare grew far more intense, cutting under his scales to find his pounding heart. "You're getting your thoughts all jumbled up. If this is important to you, take your time and get it right. Take another breath, and try again. There's no hurry."

"How do you do that?" Revaramek arched his neck a little, staring back at her. "You know what I'm...on about, and yet, you...I suddenly feel half-terrified, and I'm rambling, and you're just as...calm as ever. I don't know if you...feel...as I do..." Her smile returned, but she did not otherwise answer, and so Revaramek went on. "But you just seem...like we're talking about the rain."

"It's wonderful, isn't it?" Nyramyn tilted her head back, her eyes closed. It washed over her in clean, clear lines, and left her glittering as if her scales were strewn with a thousand tiny emeralds. "The rain. I've seen more fresh rain in the time I've known you that I ever saw in all my life. It's a sign, I think. Maybe that's superstitious, but I don't care."

"Now you're changing the subject." Revaramek hung his head a little, staring at his paws. He wasn't sure if he should feel relieved or saddened. "We don't have to...I mean...if you don't want me to..."

"But it's the same subject, you see." Nyramyn kept her head back, her wings outstretched. "I stay calm because...because of the swamp. If I lose my nerve here, it could be my life. The swamp has taught me to take everything in stride, and so I can seem perfectly collected on the outside, while on the inside..." She pushed a paw to her belly, and gave a soft laugh. "I'm so tangled I'm afraid I'll wretch if I try and tell you why."

Half a smile crept over Revaramek's muzzle. In a strange way, it was comforting to know she was as nervous as he was. He'd known, in his heart, for a while now, but he wasn't sure if she felt the same. "It's...nice to know I'm not the only one...uncertain."

"It's hard to have a feeling you're...so sure of, even if you've never known it before. Harder still when you're uncertain if that feeling is shared."

Revaramek scrunched his muzzle. "Are...you talking about me, or yourself?"

Nyramyn burst out laughing, her wings shaking. She tossed her head, sending droplets spraying. "You can be so delightfully dense, my dear water ally. You don't even know what I meant when I said the rain was the same subject, do you?"

"No." Revaramek tilted his head, staring at her, watching the water slide down her glittering scales. "You look so beautiful right now. You always do but...more than ever when you're in the rain, the way I first saw you."

The female slowly tilted her head, her frills up, her ears swiveled forward. "Thank you. I said the rain was the same subject, because I _love_the rain."

"Oh..." Revaramek glanced away, swallowing again. Then he sucked in a breath and his head shot back around. "Wait, what part's the same, the rain or the love?"

Nyramyn only laughed again, her maw split with a wide, happy smile. "You're wonderful, you know that?"

"So...so...the love, then?" Revaramek's voice trembled, his heart fluttering within his plated chest.

Nyramyn slunk up to him, and without another word, pressed her muzzle to his own. The sudden, intimate gesture caught him off guard, but he returned it just as swiftly. He parted his jaws, curled his tongue against hers. She put a paw on the back of his neck, caressing his scales. Revaramek tilted his head, trying to deepen their kiss. He arched his neck into her paw, stroking her the same way. The twining of their tongues left his head swimming, his heart pounding. It heated his blood, and quickly had him tingling.

Such a gesture was a very rare, very intimate thing for dragons, more so even than for humans, he suspected. Dragons could mate simply for pleasure, and often did, but such unions rarely included a true kiss. It was too difficult and too vulnerable a gesture to be made lightly, to have another dragon's teeth so close to their throats. Licking was just as affectionate, but to actually press muzzles and tongues together was rare enough that he'd only ever done so a couple times, and only with Aylaryl, till now.

She broke their kiss and pulled away just as quickly as she'd started it, but kept her muzzle brushing his. He cupped her cheek in a paw, and she bumped her nose against his. Her voice sounded as breathless as he felt. "Is that answer enough?"

Revaramek worked his jaws a few times. He still tasted her tongue, wanted to taste it again. A single question rolled around his mind. It was the same one he'd imagined asking her time and again lately, and each time it nearly left his lips he bit it back out of fear he would not get the answer he hoped for. In the end, it wouldn't matter if she said no. They'd still be friends, they'd still be allies, and he'd never bother her about the idea again. He'd tried so hard since he met her to be on his best behavior, to be not the conquering, swaggering, sex-addled dragon from all the stories, and instead, to be the best friend to her he could. But now, with her kiss still gripping his mind and exciting his body, he could hold back no more.

"You like formal things, right?" He forced himself to clear his throat. "Very well. Water Ally Nyramyn, will you be my-"

"Dance with me!" She eased back from him, her eyes locked on his. "You can't ask until you dance with me in the rain!"

She had to know. What he was asking was more than just tacit permission to lay with her, more than just the sharing of their bodies for simple pleasure. Asking this of her meant he was asking to share her life, always, and maybe even...to start a family with her. Mating was a simple thing among dragons who were close with one another, but to be mates, that was a lifetime. That was a family, forever.

As she slipped back across the mossy rise, Revaramek followed, eyes still locked. He couldn't dance like she could, but he knew that wasn't the point. She sauntered back, swaying her body, and he pursued her. Nyramyn pranced forward, through the rain, and when he did not pull away she brushed up against him, her wet scales sliding across his all down his body. The feeling made him shiver, and left him increasingly displayed beneath his belly.

Revaramek turned his head, nipping at her tail as it slipped past her. She danced around him again, bumped him with her haunches, and then pranced away. Just when she was out of reach, she flicked her tail up, flashing herself to him. He followed her with a playful snarl, and when he reached her hind end, she twisted away and backed up once more, grinning.

"Dance!" She laughed and swayed her body, then slunk around him. "Dance with me!"

Her whole body seemed to slither, a glistening emerald serpent moving in enticing ways he could never replicate. Nonetheless, Revaramek danced with her. He spun about on his paws, bumping his haunches up against her. He curled his tail around her hind leg, then pulled it free. Then pranced a few steps after her, swaying himself best he could. Revaramek pushed his side up against her own, mimicking the way she'd brushed past him. The way it made her shiver just the same delighted him. He nipped at her neck as he slipped past, felt her tongue brush his own scales, then the joint of his wing.

Nyramyn danced a circle around him with quick, frolicking steps. Her green frills were reddening with growing heat. He knew his own must be doing the same. Every beat of his heart pumped hotter blood than the last. He sought to match her steps, slinking in a circle opposite hers. When they passed, she stretched her neck, licked at his muzzle. He flicked his tongue against hers, panting. She nuzzled at his ear, purred into it, then licked rain away from his scales, all down his neck.

Following her lead, Revaramek stretched his own neck to lap at her. When she lifted her head, he slipped his tongue down her throat, licking up droplets of sweet rain. Nyramyn backed away, and Revaramek nuzzled her chest before his lapping back up along her throat. Where her jaws met her throat, she was softer, and when Revaramek licked her there, Nyramyn moaned and shivered.

She tilted her head, brushed it against his ear again. Her tongue along its frilled edge left him shaking, and as intensely aroused as he could ever remember being. "Ask your question."

Revaramek turned his head to stare into her eyes, his muzzle brushing hers, her breath washing over him. "Will you be my mate?"

Nyramyn's tongue flicked over his lips, his muzzle, her voice a throaty whisper. "I would share my life with you, always."

He'd expect nothing else than such a formal answer to such an important question. Before he could reply, before he could kiss her, she slipped away from him once again. This time, she coiled her tail around his neck, her spines and webbing teasing at his scales. She took a few steps away, tugging him to follow. He did so on three paws, caressing the underside of her tail.

As she lowered her chest to the wet, mossy ground, her tail slipped away. Nyramyn kept her haunches in the air, swaying slightly. Revaramek eased up behind her, nibbling all down her tail. She arched it into his teeth, then tucked it aside, flattening her wings out of the way. Gently, Revaramek mounted her, and let his weight settle upon her. He nuzzled the back of her neck, nibbled her scales, licked her. Revaramek stroked her foreleg with a paw as he shifted, positioning himself.

As Nyramyn turned her head to gaze back at him, he had a hundred things he wanted to tell her. How beautiful she was. How deeply he'd grown to love her over the last year. How her joy inspired him. That he'd never known a soul that shone so brightly. But when he opened his muzzle to tell her every wonderful word he had to offer, instinct took hold. Instead of speaking, he kissed her. She tilted her head to let their muzzles join, their tongues intertwined. Nyramyn pressed her haunches back against him, and he rolled his hips forward, pushing deep into her warmth.

Together, they built a loving rhythm in the rain. Revaramek braced his hind paws against the mossy ground, claws unsheathed for traction. His motions were gentle at first, slow and even. As Nyramyn's breath picked up, so too did his movements. He rocked his hips harder, pleasure growing. Scales brushed and slide across scales. He broke their kiss to lick and nibble at the back of her neck. He stroked her foreleg, nuzzling the side of her neck. Without the kiss to stop her, Nyramyn gave moaned voice to her pleasure.

Soon, her moans turned to soft snarls. Her head hung, neck curled, her ears splayed in delight. Revaramek's claws clicked out, scrabbling at her scales as she met his motions with her own. As she rocked harder against him, his pace and force increased. Before long, the dragon's breath came only in urgent pants, the steady rolling of his hips growing ever more frantic. Nyramyn lifted her head and turned her neck, and Revaramek met her muzzle with his own once more.

This time the dragons' kiss was their deepest yet, breath and pleasure alike shared. Not long after the kiss began, Revaramek's pleasure grew too intense to stand. With a muffled cry, he buried himself inside his mate with one last thrust, blissful heat overwhelming him. He shuddered, and Nyramyn moaned into their kiss just the same, her body shaking beneath his belly. Her hind legs gave out, and she slumped to the moss, with Revaramek still atop her.

When they were both spent, and he began to withdraw, he curled around her in the rain. He stretched a wing to shield her, draped a foreleg across her, and then simply lay with her a while. As she caught her breath, he nuzzled at the back of her neck, gave her scales long, loving licks. After a time, she turned her head to smile at him. He bumped his nose to hers, licked her once more, and then laid his head alongside her.

They lay in happy silence long after they'd both caught their breath. It warmed Revaramek's happy heart to know that even here, even in this horrible, poisoned place, love existed, and life was waiting to be made.

Keeping her sheltered beneath his wing, Revaramek lapped at her neck, stroked her foreleg. He'd been wanting to tell her he loved her for a while, now, but in that moment, simple gestures seemed just as telling. Besides, they had their whole lives together now.

There would be time to put their love to words, later.