A Knight to Remember: The Tower Rescue

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

#1 of A Knight to Remember

Elaine the kobold has achieved the impossible. Not only has she defied the societal oppression of kobolds to become a knight, but she has also bucked the nobility's attempts to have her killed on the frontlines of the battlefield. The kobold knight instead led her contingent of reject soldiers on three campaigns that won the fabled Wolf Wars and turned her into a living legend.

But the nobility aren't the only ones Elaine has angered. The adversary of the series of wars, the fearsome wolf sorcerer Ranulf, has captured Elaine's best and only friend, her princess Thalia. Can Elaine persevere and save her princess? Or will she crumble when Ranulf threatens the only person in her life that has ever cared about her?

This is the start of a 5 chapter epic about Elaine's misfortunes! The entirety of the story is already written, and I plan to continue to upload it every other week. Please leave a comment if you enjoy the story!


Yes, I have your dear princess. If you wish to see her returned alive and whole, join me alone at my tower in a week and a day at noontime. Leave Eaglescreech behind and doff your armor. If you try any of your dirty kobold tricks, the next parcel will deliver Thalia's head.

Elaine stared numbly at the open package in her lap. Inside, a lock of golden hair sat mockingly on a velvet cushion. Her blue-scaled fingers traced slowly along the soft strands.

There was no magical illusion or trickery involved. Elaine had already sliced the edge of her magic-severing blade, Eaglescreech, along a single hair, and it hadn't transformed back into strands of yarn or another's hair. This was Thalia's.

How could Ranulf possibly have her? The princess only ever left Nefelihold with a contingent of royal wizards for protection. They should have been able to whisk her to safety even under a terrible assault. After over a decade of war against the feared Wolf Wizard, Thalia would never have left the capital city Nefelihold and its magical protections without such an entourage.

Yet, Elaine could not deny the proof. Ranulf held Thalia in his evil grip. She languished under the same cold, calculating gaze that Elaine remembered facing down on the battlefield with a ragtag contingent of reject soldiers and drafted vagabonds behind her.

Elaine's scaled thumb brushed over the inked vellum note. Her dulled claw scratched Thalia's name. The thought of her kidnapped by the egomaniacal wizard twisted her gut. Ranulf's magical power and cold wickedness frightened Elaine. The wolf was a powerful wizard. He had built an armies of slaves and kept them in line through fear of swift, brutal retribution.

Worse, Ranulf was unpredictable. He had the temper of a child. Elaine had exploited that impetuous fury with clever guerilla warfare that had ruined each of Ranulf's three campaigns against the Kingdom of Nefelihold.

Once an advantage to exploit on the battlefield, Ranulf's temper now terrified Elaine more than anything. Thalia should be too important to harm. Killing her would bring the full forces of Nefelihold down on him with purpose and clarity behind them. The people of Nefelihold loved Thalia.

But Ranulf was angry. Elaine remembered his loss after the First Wolf War. He brazenly approached the castle gates, a mere dozen paces from the ancient magics that would rebuff him. Magic amplified his voice to boom for leagues around as he screamed horrible curses and cruelties at the King, the Queen, the three Knight-Heirs, the princess Thalia, and the unassuming kobold knight-banneret Elaine who had turned the tides despite all odds.

Fire burst from his hands and washed over the shimmering, protective barrier. The ground quaked and heaved, shearing the road outside the gates in two. A great storm gathered overhead. Lightning cracked and felled mighty trees. But the magical protections held. He finally teleported away after his final screamed obscenities.

That was the temper of the man who kidnapped Thalia.

Elaine's heart withered like a dying rose. Tension strung her shoulders. She swallowed the lump stuck in her throat.

Eaglescreech lay sheathed on the ruffled bedsheets. The magic sword had been gifted to her by Thalia on the day she left to fight in the First Wolf War. Elaine had been terrified that day. She had been sent to die, an excuse to remove Thalia's "pet kobold" from the castle where she upset the proper order of society. A sham knight-banneret title, a contingent of worthless throwaway troops, and no hope for any support but her princess's hopes and this incredible, magical blade.

Elaine ran her small, scaled fingers down the blade. The edge cut as sharp as it had the first day she swung it. However, even this enchanted sword had been marred with notches and dents from the brutal battles she had brought it through. She held the blade for a long moment, staring, and then hid it under the mattress.

Her magic-resistant platemail couldn't be hidden. The armor was worth a fortune, but not priceless like Eaglescreech. So, she carefully arranged it in the corner of the room along with her chainmail. The metal gleamed with polish and excellent care.

There went her two protections against Ranulf's magic, both gifts from Thalia and pivotal in her success in the Wolf Wars. To leave them here meant going to Ranulf defenseless. What else could she do?

It would take a week to reach Ranulf's tower. She could have driven a horse hard to Rollock's Reach, the nearest town with a stationed royal wizard, to magically call for aid from the King. But then she would never make it through the tangled forests at the edge of Ranulf's domain in time. Elaine didn't dare call the unpredictable wizard's bluff.

It must be a bluff,_Elaine thought._Ranulf couldn't __possibly_ kill Thalia._ Could he_?_Both Ranulf and the Kingdom still licked their wounds after the last war. Surely, neither was ready for more bloodshed. The people loved Thalia. If she were killed, the country would cry out for blood and vengeance. The grieving king might just offer it to them.

But then why threaten to kill her?

Elaine wanted to believe that Ranulf didn't even have Thalia. It would feel so good to scoff at this note and make her way back home. But that would mean Ranulf had somehow infiltrated a city resistant to not only his magic, but also his mere presence, and then stolen hair from the princess herself.

Elaine had personally overseen Thalia's protection. She ensured the quality of every guard that watched over her. The princess's fingernails and hair were carefully disposed of to avoid their use in unsavory magic.

So how did Ranulf manage to capture Thalia herself? What did he want with her? And why did he send the demand letter to Elaine instead of the king? Surely, Ranulf knew that Elaine had no negotiation power for the kingdom. She was a kobold, and none of the palace aristocracy would trust a kobold with any semblance of diplomatic power.

After her victories in the Wolf Wars, the people began murmuring about the kobold hero. They called her The Sapphire General in mockery of the fat, lazy knight-heir Thommas, whom the royal propagandists had tried to dub The Golden General. The upper crust had to act swiftly to keep society properly ordered. Kobolds were vermin, not heroes.

Elaine had to dine next to the men who ordered criers to blast Nefelihold with stories of kobold thefts and murders. The criers preached the low prices of kobold slaves and told tales of little scaled monsters that were whipped easily into subservience for even the modestly wealthy.

Ranulf's spies must have known this. So why demand Elaine, the kobold knight hated by every noble besides her beloved Thalia?

Elaine's head ached from lack of sleep. Her carefully laid bricks of logic and tactics crumbled from exhaustion and worry. Every second she delayed was a second that her dear Princess remained in the tantrum-prone wizard's clutches. There was no question about what to do. Elaine couldn't call Ranulf's bluff, not with these sorts of stakes.

Still, leaving behind Eaglescreech terrified her.

Elaine walked downstairs wearing her utilitarian, beige gambeson, dusty wool hosen, and a pack with rations for a week's travel. A mundane arming sword hung at her hip.

Conversation in the tavern quieted to a fierce hush as the town laborers stared at the war-wearied kobold and her tell-tale broken horn. Elaine approached the bar, climbed up onto a stool, and slapped four platinum coins along with a sealed letter in front of the nervous bartender.

"Keep my room for three weeks," she said. "Send a messenger with this note to the garrison in Rollock's Reach. Inform them that they, and the stationed royal wizard, are summoned by Knight-Banneret Elaine and are to report to my room. Obey any further instructions they have for you. I am paying two months' keep for your trouble. If you fail to secure my room, the wrath of the royal family will fall upon_you_personally."

The letter detailed the threat against Thalia, Elaine's decision to venture to the tower, instructions for the wizard to magically send a message to the capital, and for the soldiers to collect her gear and follow her as backup. With Rollock's Reach a full eight days out by horseback, they likely wouldn't arrive until after Elaine was at Ranulf's tower. Maybe the castle wizards would think of some way to help her. Otherwise, she was on her own.

The human man behind the bar wouldn't meet her eyes. "Understood ma'am," he said with a nervous quiver.

Elaine strode out of the tavern doors with a firm, scaled hand resting on the pommel of her blade. Eyes followed her with a mixture of fear and fascination.

The royal propagandists had less reach here in outskirt villages like Gopherburrow. The capital Nefelihold was months of travel away. Battles in the Wolf Wars had been fought in these very woods. Folks here hadn't just heard the truth of Elaine, they saw it. Drunk soldiers exaggerated her exploits to mythical heights. During the war, peasants had peeked from their homes to catch glimpses of battles against terrifying monstrosities that corroborated ever wilder tales. Out here, Elaine truly was the Sapphire General.

In some villages, the Sapphire General was a fearsome kobold apparition. She had died as Ranulf's slave, but raged for such vengeance that she rose from the dead and vowed to see him too brought low before slaughtering him. In others, the Sapphire General was an immortal sword master who chose the form of a kobold woman so she would always be underestimated and have the edge in a fight.

Farmers shied at the edge of the road as Elaine strode unflinchingly forward. They whispered of the brilliant male knight who ventured to Nefelihold to woo Thalia. The princess had nearly fallen for him, but then a jealous court wizard heart cursed him with the form of a kobold woman. The wizard also yearned for Thalia's love. Yet Thalia turned on him with fury, banishing him from the kingdom. Even as others tried to undo the spell, poor sword master Elaine was left unlovable. As a kobold, she was too monstrous for a proper lady. As a woman, Thalia would reject her even if she were to see past the scaly exterior. And so, the knight ventured tirelessly to win glory and fame in a sad, hopeless campaign for Thalia's love.

That legend was wholly untrue, of course, but it still hurt. Elaine never broke her stride or allowed more than a twitch of an eye to register her furious sorrow. Her heart ached for Thalia--her dearest and only friend ever since Elaine had saved her life as a child. Thalia, who had given Elaine the chance at a new life.

When she was twelve years old, Elaine had once held a shoddy sword with an inexpert yet firm grip. At the princess's demand, the kobold marched directly at her side. The other royal guard looked at her with disgust, but Elaine only had eyes for her princess.

Elaine remembered Thalia's golden curls gleaming in her minds eye, in sunlight that shone through leaves. Thalia was the reason why Elaine was tolerated as a knight--the reason a kobold was allowed in the castle as anything but a cleaning slave.

Elaine was determined to be the best knight Nefelihold had ever seen. She had protected Thalia once and earned the trust and friendship of the most beautiful woman in the world. When Thalia's sky-blue eyes met her own, they filled her with strength and courage. She could do anything. She would serve with honor and dedication.

Elaine would stay true to the oath she had first given as a child. No one would ever hurt her beloved princess. Whatever it took, she would keep Thalia safe.

***

The crooked stone tower loomed in the heart of the forest. Moss crept up the stone in large patches. Vines constricted ancient balconies in a verdant chokehold. Although it was midday, the forest canopy seemed to supernaturally dim the light, giving the false sense of twilight.

Elaine stood a dozen paces before the door. Her heart pounded against her dirtied gambeson. Twigs clung to the fabric after cold nights on the forest floor.

Fear gripped the kobold. It was as if she were back on her first day on a true battlefield, raising a greatsword against a troll whose roar chilled her to the core. She had persevered then, letting out a cry in the king's honor and charging forward.

Today, she persevered by unbuckling her scabbard and laying it in front of her.No weapons, Ranulf had written. He had warned her against_dirty kobold tricks_. Elaine did not play tricks. She operated with honesty and honor. However, those who lost to kobolds in a fair game still accused them of trickery.

Except Thalia. When Elaine beat Thalia in a game of chess, the princess pouted for a minute before demanding that they replay the same moves of her lost game again and again. This wasn't because Thalia refused to lose to a kobold, but because she had to know precisely what had caused her to lose. Elaine would reset the board, and the two would replay the game for ten times as long as the game had taken in the first place.

A smile stretched Elaine's snout. Had Thalia's drive for self-improvement inspired her own perfectionism with the sword? Or had it been Elaine's insistence on identifying every failure of her own swordplay that had rubbed off on Thalia?

The young princess would often gaze down at the kobold from the balcony over the training grounds. She doodled sketches of Elaine as the kobold struck a sackcloth dummy over and over again. The kobold wouldn't stop until she perfected the technique that had lost her an earlier sparring match.

Perhaps they simply brought out the best in each other.

Elaine walked briskly to the ancient oaken door. Delay only fed fear. She would be ready for whatever faced her.

The door loomed over her. It would have towered over a human, and the small, reptilian kobold was barely half the height of one. She stretched to unlatch it, sharply knocked twice, and then waited. Finally, hearing no response, she heaved it open.

The tower smelled of incense and thyme. Thick, varnished wooden shelves lined the walls, most of them holding musty old books. Others displayed dusty baubles taken from foreign lands--mundane items that shimmered with magical enhancement, or finely crafted, golden treasures.

Elaine turned to the firm, blocky stone steps that wound up the outer edge of the tower. If Ranulf thought he could tempt her with valuable magic items, then he clearly didn't understand her despite their five years at war. Kobolds had a reputation for sneak-thievery, but that wasn't a kobold trait; it was a result of centuries of oppression on the bottom rungs of society.

Even if Eaglescreech itself were to appear on those shelves, it would only tug at Elaine's desire because the blade had been a treasured gift from Thalia.

Eaglescreech had been given to Elaine on the day she left for the First Wolf War. The kobold donned her armor with the help of the squire who had drawn the worst lot. Just as she had been about to exit into the palace courtyard, huge sword strapped across her back and the lighter arming sword at her hip, Thalia burst down the hallway at a speed unbecoming of a princess.

"Elaine! Wait, you can't go yet! It's here!" she yelled.

Elaine turned and smiled proudly at her princess. Her eyes twinkled. "Thalia? We said our goodbyes. I shall be back for you, I promise."

"No, you dummy!" Thalia shouted as she hurried forward. "You have no idea how difficult this was to arrange but--Gods! Uncle will have my head for giving it to you. This is for you!"

Finally, gasping for breath, her brow glistening with unladylike sweat, Thalia ground to a stop. She dug her hand into a valuable magical handbag she had been gifted when she came of age, grinned, and drew from it the hilt of a sword. As the weighty steel emerged, Thalia's hand trembled, and then she dropped it. For a moment, half of the sheathed blade stuck awkwardly in the handbag. Finally, the whole weapon tumbled free and clattered onto the marble floor.

"What's this?" Elaine asked with reserved awe. She cautiously reached down to grip the hilt. She inched the scabbard down the weapon to admire the steel. It gleamed in the flickering candlelight. Even the pommel was marvelous. Polished lapis lazuli shone like sapphire. The marbled blue color spider-webbed even through the fine sharkskin leather grip. The guard twisted and turned in an intricate, curving pattern. The graceful designs contrasted with the brutality of the wicked parry hooks a few inches up the broad blade.

"Eaglescreech," Thalia declared. "You have no idea how many favors I had to call in for this to happen. My father may throw a fit when he discovers that I've given it to you! He believed it to be a parting gift for my brother Thommas, that dear, cowardly bore. The old fop never even noticed the dimensions on the work order we sent to the blacksmiths. I had it sized to your favorite practice sword!"

"By The Sun and The Moon..." Elaine said. Gingerly, she tested her gauntleted grip on the handle and then looked her charge in the eyes. "Is this enchanted? I... Gods, how much is this worth?"

"A fortune," Thalia said with a mischievous grin. "This sword can cut magic itself. It bears a unique, powerful enchantment that the court wizards have perfected over years of work. There will never be another like it. The sword's magic comes from the sapphire embedded in the pommel, The Tempest's Eye. One of a kind, just like my valorous kobold knight."

"I owe you a debt beyond a thousand years of service," Elaine breathed. She gripped her other hand on the duller part of the blade underneath the parry hooks. The weighting felt so right. Its balance was flawless. Her heart pounded.

"My friend," Thalia said. She knelt face to face with the kobold. Her soft, squishy hand cupped Elaine's scaled cheek through the open visor of her helmet. "You will pay every debt you owe me and a hundred more if you return home safe and sound."

Elaine sighed as she recalled that memory. Anything to delay meeting the wolf one minute longer. She scratched idly at her shoulder where Eaglescreech's pommel should have rested comfortably.

Perhaps she should have brought Eaglescreech anyway. At the end of the Third Wolf War, she realized that the great Wolf Sorcerer of the Eastern Boughs no longer attempted to fight her on the battlefield. Was he worried about losing? Could she have stormed this very tower to rescue her princess?

No, the risk was too great. Ranulf was the type of man who would burn down a boat he stood on so that everyone else might sink along with him.

The tower's second floor hosted a comfortable library free of dust and mildew. Velvet lounge chairs and recliners were positioned around the room with little rhyme or reason. Reading lamps shed a warm glow. Here, the smell of incense was strongest, but cut with the pleasant odor of well-kept books.

Elaine continued upwards. She passed a floor of bubbling cauldrons and jars of strange ingredients, and then one where strange lenses distorted the sizes of woods and metals and minerals. On another floor, a wide forest opened up before her. Curiosity urged her to investigate the strange, distorted reality. But Elaine didn't have time to indulge her curiosity.

After climbing over a dozen floors, Elaine approached a regal, purplish-red amaranth door. It felt cozier than the tower's oaken entrance. An ornate bronze handle sat just too high for Elaine to comfortably reach it.

Whatever sort of negotiation or hostage situation she walked into, there would be no accusations of underhandedness; she knocked. The door swung open of its own accord.

Despite the tower's circular form, a disorientingly square room greeted Elaine. Masterpiece paintings adorned its snug, wooden walls along with two portraits of Ranulf himself. They were done in the modern, surrealist style that nobility favored.

The wolf beastfolk sorcerer lay atop a plush, canopied bed. Silk drapes were stylishly tied up against the bed's canopy along its sides, then hung free around the corner posts.

Ranulf lazily groped for a potion on the ornate nightstand. He downed its contents. His sharp, slanted canine eyes trained on Elaine. His face was a mask of dark grey fur tracing around lighter grey ears and eyes. The lighter, dusty white of his muzzle and scruff ended at his buttoned doublet.

Elaine waited expectantly just inside the door with her hands clasped behind her back. She stared right back at him with an impassive expression. The kobold had suffered through years on years of meetings with racist, dismissive nobility. They had wished for nothing more than to see her stripped of every rank and honor, and then tossed out to beg on the streets. She could handle Ranulf's petty power plays.

Finally, he spoke. His voice rumbled like a growling dog. "You left your weapons outside?"

"I did," Elaine said.

"And I'm supposed to take the word of_a kobold_on good--?"

"Then why did you ask?" Elaine asked sharply, cutting the wolf off.

A tense veil of silence drifted between them. Elaine held herself firm, offering no ground. She wouldn't play this man's games. She was here for Thalia. She had to project power, figure out what he wanted, and then leverage his needs to ensure her princess's safety.

Ranulf finally laughed. He clinked the potion vial back down on the sideboard. He then scooted back to sit up against his bed's cushioned headboard. "You're quite the spicy little lizard, Elaine. I can only imagine what a marvel you might have been if not born a stunted monster."

Elaine's eye twitched. "What do you want in exchange for Thalia?"

"Oh Elaine," Ranulf said. He picked a claw between two horribly sharp teeth. His bushy, gray-speckled tail thumped the cushions beside him. "You're so sneaky, ducking and dodging my earlier question. And here we are on a whole other topic! I still need to be sure that you haven't brought any weapons. Strip to your smallclothes."

What the fuck? Ranulf wielded overwhelmingly powerful magic. Without enchanted equipment, Elaine posed little threat to him. Unless... did he plan to approach her? At arm's reach, a swift hand could bury a dagger in a wizard's gut before they could react with magic.

Perhaps he simply meant to humiliate her. He gloated his victories and threw sudden, fiery tantrums over his defeats. Pettiness was par for the course.

Elaine kept her expression neutral as she untied the straps on her gambeson. This mangy dog would have his satisfaction. She would negotiate, unarmed, unarmored, and nearly naked, so that he could feel powerful.

Other lords were similar. None had ever gone so crudely far as to make her strip. Yet, despite wearing her knight's regalia around the castle, lords would pretend to mistake her for a slave and then demand she fulfill their mundane, demeaning duties. Even after a correction, they would inform her that the job needed doing, and she was the only kobold around. Those interactions stung Elaine's pride, but she always refused to make a scene that might bring trouble to Thalia.

Elaine cleaned shoes, clipped hair, and even trimmed the nails of one particularly nasty Lord Rendenfont before he would entreat with her. What could a kobold do? Complain to the king and queen of unfair treatment? Without a peep from Elaine's lips, Thalia had done that plenty and only landed the kobold in worse waters with her peers and superiors.

Elaine set her heavy gambeson against the wall. Without its weight on her, an extra spring lit the kobold's step. Motions felt too easy without it hugged around her shoulders. The sensation was like raising a tankard after an evening of weightlifting.

Elaine tugged her wool hosen down to her ankles and stepped out of them. She was lucky not to need shoes or socks on her tough, scaled feet.

Ranulf shared that pleasure. His bare hind paws flexed in boredom as the man impassively watched her undress for him. He looked so smug and above it all.

Elaine had enough experience with that type of asshole to easily bottle up her hatred and disgust.

The last item was Elaine's undertunic. She didn't know how far Ranulf meant when he said underclothes, but she wouldn't give him cause to berate her. So, she tugged the light linen garment up over her head and carefully slipped it back around her two backwards-spiking horns. One had famously been mangled in a bloody sword fight against Ranulf's lamia general. At the cost of half of her horn, a nasty slice through her tail, and three broken ribs, Elaine had returned to the bivouac with the lamia's head. Once the pain diminished, the end of her jagged half-horn had been polished to a smooth bulb.

Elaine folded her undertunic and hosen and then set both in a neat stack before her gambeson. She turned expectantly towards Ranulf again, naked except for her loincloth and the wrap that compressed her breasts.

"I like the light blue scales on your belly," Ranulf remarked. "They look like a fat cum-stain dripping down from your mouth. Very fitting. How many cocks did you suck to be put in charge of your band of crooks and shit excuses for soldiers?"

Elaine bit her tongue and softly hissed. Her face held still as if it were etched in stone. She didn't dignify Ranulf with a response.

So, that was how this negotiation was going to go. Whatever disgust and distaste castle nobility treated her with, at least they weren't so crass to her face.

"What do you want in exchange for Thalia?" Elaine asked. It took all her willpower to stay level and polite. Ranulf had her princess. She refused to take his bait, no matter the provocation. "Do you want gold? Magical artifacts? Are you looking to take outlying territories?"

Ranulf laughed. "Elaine, such a sneaky little kobold. Look at you, lying right to my face! You want me to believe that the crown would allow their little, armored, dress-up lizard to barter away the kingdom's territories? I gave you a week and a day to reach me. You had no time to gather any sort of permission to negotiate royal property."

Elaine's face burned red. Her heart pounded. Though she kept her expression firm and uncompromising with every ounce of focus she could manage, her words spat out like a viper's venom. "I do_not_lie, Ranulf, not like you! I have always fought fair!"

She took a deep, shaking breath before continuing. "You are correct. I do not have permission to barter The Crown's property. However, I will at least negotiate a fair deal for Thalia that I will bring to the king when I return. I have approached you exactly as you asked, naked and defenseless. Eaglescreech is many days away. I lack the protection of my armor. How_dare_you accuse me of deceit?"

Silence hung between them. Elaine stood firm. She shouldn't have lost her temper like that. Thalia's life was in danger.

All she could do was grit her teeth and wait. What did Ranulf really want? Why would he ask her here if he weren't prepared to strike a deal with the crown?

No. A chill ran down Elaine's spine. She had been thinking too hard about contingencies and how to inform the castle of this situation. Her head had been clouded by worry and longing for Thalia. She hadn't thought about why Ranulf had set the time limit.

At first, Elaine had figured that she was simply the closest notable figure to him when he was ready to negotiate for Thalia. He was characteristically impatient. Ranulf didn't like to wait for diplomatic parties when he could grab a general from the battlefield and hash things out one on one.

But that wasn't it. The time limit had frustrated Elaine because it had been just short enough to prevent her from communicating with the garrison in Rollock's Reach before arriving here. If she had, the wizard there could have used magical messages to immediately contact the king, who could have granted temporary negotiation power to her. As consternating as Thalia could be to her father, and as little as he cared for Elaine, the king truly loved Thalia and would sacrifice a great deal to ensure her safety.

That meant that Ranulf hadn't brought Elaine here to negotiate kingdom resources for Thalia's release. Whatever he planned, it involved Elaine herself here on her own and wholly at his mercy.

Elaine steeled her mind. A strong will could resist mental control. During her knighthood training, even a half dozen court wizards working in tandem hadn't been able to feed her a magical suggestion. They wouldn't admit it to a mere kobold, but she knew that she had the strongest mental defenses of any living knight of Nefelihold. A life of enduring hatred and disgust from the nobility had been excellent training.

The wolf gazed at her with dark, playful eyes. He was a predator about to nudge his prey forward to prolong the chase.

"You lied again," he said.

"What did I lie about?" Elaine demanded. She had recovered her composure entirely. She stared the wolf down, daring him to make his move.

"You aren't naked." A toothy grin spread across Ranulf's muzzle. He laughed. "You think yourself such an honorable_knight of Nefelihold_? Restore your honor. Bringing truth to your words."

The words battered her like a troll's club against her armor. Elaine knew right then that he was going to torture her. Her stomach sunk. A wave of nausea crashed over her. Diplomats were trained against torture. No one had ever bothered to train "Thalia's pet lizard" for such a thing, however. Why would they?

She could endure this. She had to. Any cost was worth it for Thalia. This vile, petty wolf would not break her.

What information did he want? Why would he need to resort to kidnapping and torture to force it from her? Elaine's mind raced through the contents of every military meeting and important noble gossip from the past year. Was he going to demand troop movements? Was this about finding a weak link in the nobility to perform some act of magical espionage?

No, there had to be easier targets to kidnap and break to learn that sort of information. What, then?

Oh, Elaine realized with horror.This is about me. Ranulf was petty. He blamed her for his loss. And so, he meant to torture her in return. But to kidnap the princess of Nefelihold just to get his hands on her? That baffled her. Thalia was a far more difficult target than herself.

Elaine was proud of how her hands didn't shake as she unclipped her chest-wrap and removed it. She worked her loincloth free, folded it, and added it to the stack of her clothes. Now, she stood truly naked before Ranulf.

"You are a_thorn_in my side, Elaine," Ranulf said. He drew out his voice with a disappointed sigh, as if he were lecturing a disobedient child rather than negotiating with the Knight-Banneret who had led three successful campaigns against his army. "I don't know how you do it. My kobold slaves are sniveling little wretches who beg to please their master and cower at a mere hint of my anger. But you're something special. Maybe there's some dragon in you. Maybe your mother bred with a lizardfolk and inherited its intelligence."

Elaine's eyes narrowed. "I am a kobold. Surely your magic can verify that. The court wizards did so when rumors were floated around that I was a shape-shifted dragon."

"Those buffoons?" Ranulf snorted. "They couldn't tell a potion from a vial of grape juice. No, you're right. You've got the blood of a true, dirt-born kobold. That's what makes this so infuriating!"

Elaine's shoulders tensed. She stayed quiet, just staring at Ranulf.

"Fuck." The wolf threw his arms out in an exaggerated gesture. "Okay, fine, it's just the two of us, I'll say it. You beat me! I know your Golden General, that whiny fat-ass Thommas, likes to take the credit, but the victory was yours. Maybe I could have accepted defeat against a human or an elf or another beastfolk. But a fucking kobold? Hah!"

Elaine grimaced. His slaves would have been as capable as herself, or anyone, if they'd had the same opportunities that Thalia had granted her. Elaine had once marched down the dockside streets and caught two young, dirty kobolds sparring with crudely carved wooden swords in an alley, sackcloth tunics painted with Elaine's crest. More kobolds would follow in her footsteps. Maybe one day Ranulf's slaves would find similar inspiration.

Elaine bit her tongue. Mentioning the court magicians to fire up Ranulf's pride had been risky enough, just for the sake of forcing him to admit her heritage. It was a tiny, petty victory that Ranulf didn't even realize Elaine had taken. But she wouldn't fight him on his speciesism. The situation had grown too precarious for her to needle at the wolf. Thalia's life was on the line, and Elaine didn't know how much she would have to endure to save her.

"I didn't expect you to be so quiet," Ranulf said, rolling his eyes. He raised a hand, snapped his fingers, and the empty glass vial on his side table hurtled through the air at a blinding speed. It zipped past Elaine's cheek and smashed into the wall. The loud crash shocked Elaine. Tiny specks of glass clattered on the floor.

Elaine managed to hold herself perfectly still, eyes locked on the wolf. Ranulf wouldn't have the satisfaction of making her flinch.

"For fuck's sake, Elaine! You're so Gods-damned boring. You're a kobold! Flinch, cower, and beg! Get on your knees and tremble as you plead for your mistress's life! That's the kobold thing to do. Instead, you've got a stick as long as your tail stuck up that puffy, scaly cunt!"

Elaine continued to stare straight forward. He wouldn't get a rise out of her. Verbal abuse was an old friend to her.

"That's how we're going to do it, then?" Ranulf roared. His canine face twisted in a ferocious snarl, a terrifying visage of a wolf stalking its prey in the night. "You came for your dear princess? If you want her, then you will do as I say! You will be a fucking puppet on my strings.Obey!"

A tremendous blast of magic crashed into Elaine's very soul. It struck like a warhammer, battering her willpower. All the little bits of_her_that connected her soul to her physical being suddenly felt tangible. Each one was a tether to reality, a connection that Ranulf now assaulted. Her very essence burned.

Elaine stood firm. She breathed in, and then breathed out. She had practiced with the court wizards against mental control. She grounded herself.

In her mind, Elaine sat with Thalia for tea. Her princess kept urging her to comment on the romance novel that she'd shared. Elaine didn't want to tell the princess that the story's love interest was a pompous asshole.

Thalia poked and prodded through their conversation, coyly grinning as if it were a game to get Elaine to pass judgment on the book. Yet, Elaine sat with a bright smile on her snout as she ducked and dodged the topic.

Eventually, as their tea cooled and glasses emptied, Thalia whispered an admission to Elaine, "Her betrothed was a jerk! She should have married her handmaiden, don't you agree? They were so much better for each other!"

Elaine blushed fiercely in her agreement. She hoped Thalia didn't notice. Still, she couldn't help but burst into laughter.

In the present, she remained stoic. She didn't move an inch as her every ounce of willpower focused on repelling the invading magic.

Pure, forceful energy hammered at the joints of her very soul. Her soul held. Not a single tether so much as cracked under the pressure.

"Fuck! You are_such_a bitch. What the fuck kind of mutant, freak kobold are you?" Ranulf yelled at her, spittle flying from his mouth. "The funny thing is, I don't even need magic to make you do my bidding! You're mine! You came here with no armor, no Eaglescreech, just a pathetic little lizard. I have your precious Thalia. That's plenty enough magic to make you do as I command."

Elaine didn't respond. Her shoulders ached from the stress. A small grimace tugged at her snout.

"Play with your tits, kobold. Play with your cum-blue kobold tits until I tell you to stop, or I'll fucking chop off one of Thalia's pretty, slender fingers."

That finally earned a flinch. A knot stuck in Eaine's throat, and she struggled to swallow it. Her heart pounded against her chest.

Elaine only hesitated for a few seconds, but even that filled her with shame. This man was disgusting. He wanted to make her dance for him, to be as little and inconsequential as he felt she should be. But with Thalia's life on the line, Elaine would be his puppet. She would move on his strings.

Her small hands found her breasts. She squeezed the soft, scaled mounds under her fingers, groping herself as if she were laying in the privacy of her own bed.

Following Ranulf's orders was one thing. Giving him the satisfaction of a reaction was another. She held a firm, stony demeanor as she rubbed fingers over her nipples.

"Look at that!" Ranulf exclaimed. "The war lizard herself, naked and playing with her tits! What a show. Back to her true, kobold whore roots. Oh, how I wish all your soldiers could see the pathetic the excuse for a leader they follow. How many do you think would cop a feel?"

Elaine commanded respect, but not friendship. If she had failed and been humiliated, far too many of the men under her command would have been happy to partake in her debasement. Despite her best efforts, her grimace tightened.

Ranulf grinned. He raised a hand and a strange weightlessness washed over the kobold.

Elaine's feet left the ground. Her tensed muscles jolted at their lack of purchase. However, Elaine kept steady. Levitation spells were not particularly powerful magic. Enemy wizards had wielded them against her in combat. So, after a moment of disorientation, she relaxed and allowed herself to hover in place.

She absentmindedly continued to fondle her breasts. Ranulf hadn't told her to stop. She wouldn't disobey his orders while he held Thalia over her.

"Give me permission to touch your tits, Knight-Banneret Elaine of Nefelihold. Ma'am_Sapphire Genera_l," Ranulf said, sneering at her titles. "Tell your sworn enemy--who you've fought for five fucking years--to play with your nipples."

Elaine allowed herself only to furrow her brows. At first, she hadn't talked back to Ranulf because she didn't want to incite farther danger for Thalia. Now, it was so clear that he wanted a rise out of her. He personally blamed her for his losses. Those losses were made all the worse by her species.

At this point, the only victory she could take was to remain strong in the face of his humiliation. How could she escape? How could she stop him? As long as he had Thalia, he had the leverage. As long as Elaine was without her armor and Eaglescreech, she was helpless. Her victory was one of endurance. If she could outlast him, let him unsuccessfully torture her, throw his tantrum and wear himself down, then maybe he would make a mistake that she could capitalize on. Maybe both she and Thalia might have a chance.

"You may touch my tits. Play with my nipples," Elaine said dispassionately. She wanted to cringe. She guarded her sexuality close to her heart. Plenty of crude comments about lifting her tail or fondling her tits followed her through the male-dominated work she pursued. Elaine made a point of refusing to engage.

Only with Thalia did Elaine make chaste remarks about the attractiveness of certain knights. But even then, Elaine's heart was never in her words. She just loved the glow of beautiful Thalia when the two of them gossiped.

No one had ever touched her breasts. Only Elaine herself had ever slid a finger between her legs late at night as she tried to think of those attractive knights instead of the one who kept sliding into her mind's eye. But the thought of those knights couldn't maintain the slickness between her legs. Her orgasms were forced. Afterwards, her stomach ached, and she fought off nausea.

A near-opaque purple duplicate of Ranulf's hand shimmered into being in front of Elaine. Despite giving grudging permission, despite knowing what was about to happen, Elaine still flinched as the magical fingers pushed her own out of the way and squeezed her left breast.

The hand felt so real. The pads on each finger scratched against her smooth, sensitive scales. Fur tickled from around his pads. Elaine's stomach clenched.

"Believe it or not," Ranulf said as he twisted his real hand and cupped the air. In perfect harmony, the spectral hand shifted to cup Elaine's breast as well. He gently pinched her nipple between thumb and forefinger. "I can feel through this spell as well as I can with my own hand. You have such nice, pert tits, Elaine. They're firm, not too small, but not too big either. A great size for a kobold. And such perky little pink nipples. Just the right shade to stand out from your scales. You are_wasted_outside of a brothel!"

Elaine resisted the urge to bite her own lip. Any reaction was a win for Ranulf. She hovered in silence, muscles tense and aching, as the wolf sorcerer molested her breasts.

"That's what I would have done if I'd taken your mind, you know," Ranulf remarked casually. His hand shifted over to her other tit, pushing her hand out of the way. Elaine stiffly returned to fondling the breast the wolf had just freed. He hadn't ordered her to stop yet. Elaine would continue to obey his orders.

"I'd have fucked you," Ranulf continued. "Made you moan, tell you every truth you need to hear about how worthless you are. You're nothing more than a pathetic lizard slave pretending at knighthood. Then, I would have sent you off to work a month in a brothel. The fun kind, a slave brothel where patrons can pay to hurt the miserable bitches inside. You would have been stuck inside your mind, watching the whole thing, learning just how a kobold ought to behave and be treated. It would have been quite the lesson."

Elaine's eyes widened in horror. She'd expected torture. But that torture should have been bamboo under her claws, broken bones, or scales peeled away. That sort of pain would have been excruciating, but it was a known factor. If she endured it, she would return a bleeding, battered mess, but one carrying her head high.

Ranulf so casually dropped the fact that he had planned to rape her body once her will had been severed.

That put the violation of his groping hand in a whole new light. While her stomach had turned at his touch, now it rolled with queasy disgust. This wasn't just humiliation or a flaunting of power and control. This was foreplay.

The spectral hand finally slid between her breasts. It traced down her solar-plexus, and then rubbed over her taut, muscular belly.

"Quit it with your tits. Spread your pussy, Elaine," the wolf said. For once, he didn't add on a gloating soliloquy. That wasn't any comfort.

Elaine tried not to think about what she was doing. A cold flush of fear traveled under her scales. Her first time should have been so much different than this. She wanted warm, lanky arms hugging tight around her body, fingers lovingly trailing across her horns, a soft whispering voice in her ears.

She spread her legs. The levitation spell held her steady. Somehow, her hands still didn't shake as they parted her light-blue labia. In between them, a light pale pink flushed deeper in the crevice of her entrance. Her sleek inner labia weren't prominent, but they weren't subtle either. They traced an elegant arc up her slit to crown her clit. Smooth, delicate ridges tucked away her vagina.

With no care, Ranulf's arcane hand dipped between Elaine's legs and wriggled its fingers against the silky skin. A harsh, involuntary shudder shook the kobold. She felt sick to her stomach.

Elaine was going to lose her virginity tonight. Suddenly, she regretted every time she had turned down an arrogant knight asking her to accompany him to his chambers. Many had propositioned her as if joking, acting as if sex with her would be a handout to a freak with no real prospects. Some had just been sleazy and willing to fuck anything with a hole. Elaine would have preferred her first time to be in any of their arms rather than this horrible wolf.

As her heart pounded, she forcefully thought to herself,He will hurt your body just as a sword or bludgeon would. This is simply another beating to endure. Nothing special will be lost. He won't kill you. Intending to send you to a brothel proves that. He wants to break you down into what he thinks a kobold should be. Rape won't make you any less of a knight.

The mantra didn't help against the horrible shock of violation as a finger wormed its way into her entrance. Elaine had to chomp down on her tongue until she tasted blood so that pain would overcome the discomfort.

As Elaine spread her pussy and the spectral hand fingered her, she slowly floated towards Ranulf. She passed under the fine silk canopy. Her toes dragged against the lush, red blanket.

Ranulf grinned. A trickle of drool ran down his maw like a dog begging for a leg of lamb.

"We're finally getting to the fun part, Elaine!" Ranulf said with a playful, canine rumble. He waggled the pointer finger on his left hand. The finger inside her mirrored the motion. "You may stop spreading your vagina. We'll have more fun with it later. For now, remove my breeches. Tell me, how many men have felt that wet little mouth of yours?"

Elaine fell onto the bed with a grunt as the levitation spell dissipated. The mattress creaked from the impact. With as much dignity as a naked kobold with a spectral finger still wriggling in her vagina could muster, Elaine pulled herself to her feet and approached the wolf.

She swallowed. "I have never given oral sex," Elaine said as flatly as she could manage. Her voice cracked halfway when the finger in her vagina yanked at her inner walls. Cold disgust shook her.

"Is that so?" Ranulf asked. He laughed, which brought heat to Elaine's cheeks.

Why should she feel ashamed? She devoted herself to a cause. Other knights slept around and lecherously propositioned castle maidens. While they rolled in their sheets, Elaine viciously hacked a blunted sword at a training dummy and thought only of making beautiful Thalia proud.

"I honestly expected a lie," the wolf continued. "You could've pretended you've had a dozen partners. Then, I might not feel_so damn much_ satisfaction being honored with the Knight-Banneret's first blowjob."

"I am not a liar," Elaine said. Despite herself, she gritted her teeth and then spat out, "_I_have honor."

Elaine knelt on the bed in front of Ranulf. His legs splayed to either side of her. An obvious lump peaked his breaches near his crotch. She attempted to keep her legs closed enough to restrict the movement of the finger that still wriggled inside her. She averted her eyes from his left hand as it mimed her molestation.

"My dear Elaine, if honor is turning down sex from kobolds, then I lost mine with the first slave girl I ever collared," Ranulf said. He condescendingly patted her head between her horns. "Now, chop chop! Get to it with the breeches and blowjob. Don't bite, of course, or I'll slit your princess's throat!"

The threat barely registered to Elaine. Of course, she wouldn't bite. Did Ranulf really feel the need to remind her that he had Thalia? Ever since receiving the fateful missive, she had thought of nothing but the danger her princess was in.

This close, she could smell the wolf's scent. It was like a mix of stray dog and pine tree. Elaine wrinkled her nose.

His fur was wild and unkempt. Yet, surprisingly, it wasn't knotted or dirty. It looked soft. Did he take care of it with magic? Was his wild appearance an aesthetic he chose rather than a simple lack of hygiene?

Elaine deftly untied the knot on Ranulf's fine, silken breaches. The fabric was died a royal blue. Was that yet another jab at her? That didn't matter. So what if it was?

Disgustingly, Ranulf wore no undergarments. A wave of earthy musk blasted her nostrils as a slimy, pale-red canine penis popped free from its fabric prison. The shaft was quite large, even compared to some beastfolk she had seen grow embarrassedly aroused in bathhouses.

Elaine put off any interaction with the looming penis as long as she could. She tugged his breeches down past his ankles. She tried not to focus on the scents of sweat and cock that also emanated from the garment. Turning her head to stare at a decorative wall scroll, she folded his pants, and then set them beside her on the bed. She took a deep breath.

"You're take so fucking long, Elaine. You know, now I've gotta piss!"

For a moment, Elaine was simply confused. What was he talking about? Was he going to interrupt this awful experience to go use his chamberpot?

No. A yellow stream of piss arced out of Ranulf's erect cock. It first splashed against Elaine's shoulder, but then he lazily slipped a paw between his leg to guide his cock. The stream of piss shifted to the center of her chest.

At first, shock kept Elaine's other emotions at bay. She simply stared, wide-eyed, as hot urine splashed against her scales. Then, Ranulf angled his cock up to splash the stream against her face.

The sharp, acrid smell filed her nostrils. That broke her shock. She jolted back, trying to get away from the disgusting urine.

The spectral finger finally--thankfully--slipped out from Elaine's pussy. Ranulf was too busy signing arcane motions to focus on molesting her. He chanted three low, guttural words.

Elaine barely fell half a foot back before she bumped against a solid barrier. She glanced back. There was nothing behind her. Her heart pounded. Hot, wet urine continued to splatter her scales.

A long shudder of revulsion bent Elaine forward. A stray splatter of piss stung her eyes. She squeezed them tightly shut.

Elaine hated her traitorous body for giving such a visceral reaction. It was just urine. Mentally, that was easy to acknowledge. Elaine had emptied chamber pots and wrinkled her snout at the smell plenty of times before. Sometimes, when using chamberpots or latrines, urine splashed her legs or stuck to her feet. That was gross too. Elaine had dutifully sat down with a washcloth and scrubbed the filth from her scales.

And yet, something about seeing the wolf's erect cock aimed at her, smelling the undercurrent of thick musk underneath the acrid piss, feeling his visceral excitement over marking her, it violated her in a whole other way than the finger that had invaded her vagina.

Elaine felt disgusting. Hot trails of pee dribbled down her cheeks and shoulders. The few rivulets that found a path down the back of her neck made her back itch. She would have rather been beaten until a cleric had to mend her bones.

"Well now, the little lizard has some emotion! Open your mouth, slut. Drink my piss. And open your eyes. Watch me mark you. You're fucking_mine_."

Elaine had always been good at thinking under pressure. Although her composure had crumpled under the spray of hot, stinking wolf urine, her mind stayed sharp.

Thalia was more important than Elaine's disgust and humiliation. She opened her mouth.

The stream of piss somehow felt even hotter as it splashed on her tongue. In seconds, it felt like the liquid got everywhere. The rank, bitter, acidic taste clung to her tongue and trickled behind her teeth.

Urine dribbled over Elaine's lips. She dreaded swallowing. Yet, Ranulf had ordered her to drink it. She would obey for Thalia's sake, no matter how her body fought her.

Enough piss had accumulated that Elaine's first gulp had to be a big one. Her body fought against both the taste and the sheer amount that she tried to drink down at once. Her eyes watered. She finally managed to swallow. The disgusting, acrid taste curled her stomach. Urine caught in her throat for a moment. She was terrified that it would come right back up.

The next swallows were easier, even though swallowing didn't help the rank, metallic taste go away. Her subconscious wanted to keep swallowing to wash it away. Clearly, swallowing more piss wouldn't help, but at least her body didn't fight against her as much.

It took an excruciating half a minute before the stream of pee slowed. It sprayed over her chin, then breasts, and then down her belly to her pussy. Elaine squirmed as the astral hand spread her folds again, spraying wolf urine against her pink insides. A shudder of revulsion shook the kobold. She felt so dirty.

Then, the splatter of piss trailed away. The last of it trickled down the red canine cock. It wet Ranulf's sheath fur.

Elaine struggled to restore her composure. There were so many worse things that Ranulf could do. Urine wouldn't even hurt her! It was just gross and humiliating. She still wanted to hide in a corner and throw up.

So why was she so distraught? Would she fall apart from just a blowjob? What about when Ranulf raped her?

Elaine shuddered. She blinked to keep her eyes from growing wet.

One step at a time. Elaine would make it through. Thalia's life was at stake. Although the princess's captivity created the invisible chains that bound Elaine to this horrifying prison, it also provided her the willpower to endure whatever this vile wolf threw at her.

Elaine didn't wait for the hot, rank taste of piss to fade before she lowered her snout between Ranulf's legs. The contents of her mouth and stomach were already disgusting. Why wait for the taste to clear, knowing she'd have to subject herself to worse flavors right after?

Ranulf's penis somehow felt bigger than it looked. It had already been intimidating to look at, but she had to stretch her mouth around it like she was trying to stuff a cob of corn inside. His penis was way squishier than she had expected. Somehow, it fit.

Elaine tried not to think about what she was doing. She squeezed her eyes shut and sealed her lips as best as she could around his thick girth. That blocked out the sight of her snout wrapped around red wolf cock. It was disheartening to know just how little she'd managed to fit in her mouth.

Beneath the reeking taste of piss was an earthy musk and a saltiness that tasted like sweat. She could focus on that. Sweat wasn't a terrible flavor. Despite their reptilian appearance, kobolds still sweat. Sweat would drip from her brow down into the corner of her mouth while she ran laps around the training grounds. Droplets would splatter against her snout as she traded fisticuffs with training partners. The taste of sweat was familiar.

"Fuck, you're a cute little thing with your snout on my cock, Elaine. It's a good look for you. That tiny mouth is just the right size, like you were_made_for this. You know--" Ranulf paused. A low growl rumbled from his throat.

Elaine winced at the sound. What had she done wrong?

"Open your eyes, slut. And stop fucking closing them. It isn't exactly_showing_you your place if you aren't looking, is it?"

Shame stabbed Elaine through her gut. Of course, Ranulf would be upset about that. Was she just not thinking? Or had she started to lose her nerve, to try and pull away in small ways that he wouldn't notice, to protect little parts of herself?

Elaine opened her eyes to the thick wolf cock jutting out of her mouth. She could see every strand of fur on his thick sheath, the wrinkling curves of his sack hanging underneath. She hated it all.

Furious at herself, she suckled. That only accentuated the disgusting feeling of wolf cock throbbing in her mouth, but she deserved the extra bit of nastiness for letting her composure break so quickly. She would endure it. She had to. Because this rape would only become worse. She couldn't allow herself to break down from a simple blowjob.

The urine had been so much more disgusting. She still tasted it strong as ever in her mouth, and it seemed to continually run down her scales. This wasn't half as bad.

Still, she fought against gagging constantly. Her eyes watered. Even if the taste wasn't quite as repulsive as the urine, she hated it even more. The flavor was more like Ranulf.

"Gods, you really are a virgin. What could have possibly given you the idea that a blowjob was holding a cock in your mouth and sucking?"

Heat flushed Elaine's cheeks. He'd called her a slut only moments before, and now he mocked her inexperience? What a stupid insult. Why then, did it stab her with another needle of shame?

"I'll have to show you how it's done, girl. You need to make up for your lack of proper, kobold education."

Ranulf firmly gripped her good horn. The pressure caused a dull ache on the side of Elaine's head. "The Gods were kind to gift kobolds with convenient handles."

Elaine barely had time to guess at what he meant. Ranulf rammed her face down onto the his cock. She convulsed, gagging. The thick shaft battered her throat. She was powerless to do anything but try to tug away. The grip on her horn was too much. She didn't have any leverage.

Her throat heaved and convulsed. Elaine tried to stop herself. Whatever Ranulf wanted out of her, surely it wasn't to vomit on his cock. But no amount of mental fortitude could stop her body's reaction.

A terrible_glurrk_sounded from Elaine's battered throat. The wolf casually forced her face back up and then down on his cock again. Another awful_glurrk_. Ranulf chanted a few words. The shivering, sickly sensation of vomit hit. She heaved.

Nothing came out. That almost felt worse. Elaine's throat contracted. Sickly noises escaped around the intruding cock. She should be spilling sick out over the wolf's crotch, but instead, it felt like a knot in her shoulder she just couldn't crack. Elaine suffered only the worst sensations of dry heaving. The relief just wouldn't come.

Tears streamed down her cheeks. At least they were natural from her heaving, rather than the humiliation. Ranulf hadn't made her cry yet. He wouldn't, of course. He didn't deserve to.

Elaine tensed and shook with the convulsions of her phantom vomiting. The cock throbbed in her throat.

Ranulf just kept rocking her head up and down without a care in the world. Every time the meaty tip jabbed into her throat, another shivering bout of gagging heaved her chest and shook her body. Sweat glistened at her scales, but she felt so cold.

"Oh, fuck. Fuck, your throat feels good," Ranulf moaned. How could he enjoy this? How could he look at what was happening and stay hard? "Shit, I'm gonna cum!"

Elaine wanted more than anything to squeeze her eyes shut. But Ranulf had explicitly ordered her not to, so she kept her puffy, leaking eyes open. She stared at the curly brown crotch fur as it magnified and then shrank with every forceful yank of her face. She didn't realize snot had started dribbling from her nostrils until her upper lip itched.

The wolf picked up his speed. Behind the gagging convulsions that shook her, the thick cock battering into her throat also just_hurt_. She wanted to swallow but couldn't. Every time she tried, her throat burned like she were in the throes of a terrible fever.

Then, the musky cock jammed deeper inside her than ever. Elaine's lips mashed against his sheath. For the first time, that powerful, rank musk overtook the sharp acidic flavor of piss. Her throat ached. Her nose itched. Her lungs burned for breath.

It felt like this blowjob had lasted an eternity. Only minutes before, Elaine had stood proudly and defiantly in the doorway. That felt like ages ago.

She had thought she could bear pain, even though she wasn't trained for torture. And yet, she struggled to hold herself together after nothing but pee and a blowjob. Could she really endure this?

The cock in her throat pulsed. Elaine retched with an excruciating dry heave. Aching pressure on both her unbroken and broken horns kept her face buried in the male's musky crotch. The cock pulsed again.

Warmth blossomed deep in her neck. It almost stung. Did this mean she was finally done?

Rough hands dragged her head back up. Two more spurts of cum filled her mouth. But her throat was empty. At last, after another horrible retch, she could finally swallow. She expected the taste of sick, but she only got a fresh, powerful flavor of wolf semen. Ranulf's cum tasted so much more salty and bitter than his cock alone. There was an odd tang to it.

The flavor revolted Elaine. It made her want to gag again, but her body was through with dry heaving. How could it be worse than the piss? Somehow, it was. It reeked of Ranulf's very essence. It defiled her with his abuse. His piss had been humiliating. His cum was degrading.

Ranulf yanked her back by her horns until she sat fully upright over his legs. Overwhelming blasts of thick, slimy cum splattered over her face.

Elaine tried to keep her eyes open, but a spurt landed in her eye. She yelped and squeezed her eyes shut against the sting.

Surprisingly, Ranulf didn't complain. In fact, he barely seemed to notice.

"You remember that vial I drank when you walked in? A potion of potency. Specially brewed. My own concoction. Not only does it give me the stamina to keep pounding cute little kobold holes, but it fills these hefty balls with plenty of cum."

With her eyes closed, Elaine could only listen to the wet slaps of the wolf gently stroking his cock. Thick spurts of semen landed in sticky ropes against her scales.

Her face wasn't his only target. Splatters of cum laced her breasts, arced over the top of her head, and even dribbled down her horns, both the full horn and the broken stump. Semen mixed with the tears on her cheeks.

The cum reeked of a powerful, masculine scent. It smelled worse than the tents of the least hygienic soldiers in her retinue. She suddenly understood some of the stale scents she'd picked up in those tents. That made her want to gag again.

Finally, the orgasm died down. Elaine reopened her eyes. Cum dribbled over the wolf's furred fingers as his cock twitched under his strokes. She shivered. She could feel every individual dribble of thick, viscous cum oozing down her face and chest. A droplet splattered down from her horn down onto her neck. She shuddered in revulsion.

"Oh, Elaine. Your first ever blowjob. You're_almost_a woman. I wish your fellow knights could see you now."

Elaine's eyes watered. She bit her tongue. Once, Ranulf had been a near faceless enemy. A legend who sometimes fought her on the battlefield. She had hated him only as a formidable foe.

Now, she truly hated him with every scale on her hide. What a disgusting, evil man.