In This Together

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Two greedy dragons were able to collect quite the hoard together, but consequences--and a curse--have put an end to their thieving ways. Bound and forced to return their treasure, the best they can do is try to make the most of the situation, and enjoy the fun of having their beloved mate caught up in it with them...


Threnn awoke to smothering blackness.

The experience had become increasingly familiar over the course of the year, to come to awareness not to what his sight and scent and hearing told him but to how they could not do so, enveloped as he was in the thick hood: no light penetrated it, no sound, only the smell of leather in his nostrils, and the gag filling the dragon's maw tasted of nothing at all. His throat wrapped around the phallic shape that plunged down it, muting him to a silent, trapped huff, leaving him to rely on only his sense of touch.

What he could feel was again familiar: his whole body cocooned in thick leather and straps, which pinned his wings to his back, his forelegs to his sides, and his hind legs together against his tail, keeping all his limbs flat against himself as if he longed to be a snake rather than a dragon. But along with the heavy restraint there was also the sense of another form pressing their side to his, the weight of their neck crossing his own and their hooded head nestled against the crook of his chin: Safrona, his beloved and equally powerless mate, snuggled in as close as the two of them could manage while so securely bound, her muted touch and presence a reassurance.

They were in this together.

The cursed restraints gave the dragon a minute or two to come properly awake, but then as it always did a tingling, gently thrumming sensation began between his hind legs: it teased his slit, teased his dormant shaft within, and his throat bobbed around the gag in tension when his pent-up body responded, dragonhood stirring, swelling... and allowed no more than the slightest room to expand, sealed strictly within his slit by a chastity belt. Unable to groan, he could only twitch and squirm, and though he tried to move as little as he could to let his mate continue sleeping, he could not stay entirely still, his hips rolling, breath escaping his nostrils in mute, strained huffs as his length strained in futility against the belt containing him. He restlessly flexed his claws, unable to budge hardly a claw's width with his forelegs trapped in the sleeves sewn into the sack's interior, the aching denial increasing as the gentle stimulation persisted, and even if his gear might have rattled or creaked when he shifted not a sound of it made it through his hood to his earholes. He could do naught but wait, increasingly worked up, and wonder if today it would be his turn, or if Safrona would be granted another...

She stirred against him, equally sensory deprived and equally silent; only the feeling of motion touching him told him she'd awoken, and she wriggled and tried to lean herself against him still more snugly, her hooded head pressed to the underside of his own. His throat clamped on his gag and he huffed, not that either of them could hear him express his appreciation of her presence.

The dragoness's movements resembled his own: strictly bound, but he could feel her hips alternately press and relax against his side as she surely endured her own tease, and when his snout lifted their hooded noses bumped and rubbed together in a tender approximation of nuzzles and licks that was the best they could manage. No longer worried of rousing her, Threnn shuddered and arched, increasingly restless as the need beneath his chastity deepened: he heard no sound save his own heart thumping in his earholes, but he felt the little hard lumps of many locks on the straps that laddered his body bounce against him, and he longed for relief even if he knew it wouldn't come today whether it was his turn or his mate's. His struggles were utterly useless, as he knew full well, but it felt better to writhe and strain than it did to simply lie there, to somehow vent to his frustration with that effort!

A few more minutes passed for them to nuzzle and writhe, keeping them each in suspense: though usually the curse alternated, sometimes one of them might be loosed two or even three days in a row, keeping both powerless, needy dragons waiting and wondering if that day they would be allowed to be a dragon, if a peaceful and needy one, or if they would be forced to spend it wrapped in restraints and utterly powerless. The two of them quivered against each other as their anticipation drew out, his legs wiggling this way and that against his tail, hips and shoulders swaying side to side and back arching and slumping again, every attempt to do more than wiggle like a worm thoroughly stymied just as Safrona's movements were against him. He shuddered in shared helplessness as his nose pressed against hers, each of their snouts wrapped around the gags that silenced them as they rubbed and wriggled and his need--and her own--built stronger and stronger, his dragonhood straining to escape its prison and sending such a tense, needy ache through him. He nearly didn't want it to end, he wanted to lie there with her, to struggle and to grind and to merely keep her company all day long, even if it meant it brought them no closer to freedom. There was something comforting and pleasing, even thrilling, in sharing the experience with her, to be so helpless with her and so aroused and yet also safe and secure, and he shivered imagining if instead of needing to leave one another when the curse bid them, they could merely stay here in their bondage and keep each other company day after day...

His cock throbbed still more desperately at the thought, but at last the moment came: as unseen dawn broke and the sun's light touched the sky, Threnn felt his bonds begin to loosen. Locks popped open, straps unbuckled themselves, and he huffed and shuddered as, by magic, the bondage relinquished its unbreakable hold on his body. The hood unlaced itself first and pulled away, leaving him blinking in the increasing light that shone into their cave from the rising sun, the gear's removal also heralding the return of sound to his ears: little rattles of padlocks, creaking leather, the soft hisses of shifting laces and straps, and from further away, distant birdsong and the sounds of the forest beyond their cave echoing off the rocks at the entrance to their home. Once his vision had cleared he had eyes for only one thing: the dragoness who lay against him, who though he knew not to expect otherwise he still felt a pang of disappointment to see with her beautiful form entirely concealed by her restraints.

The curse only allowed one of them at a time to have any measure of freedom, never both of them together, and he sighed in longing as she helplessly squirmed at his side.

When the hood was clear of his head the gag went with it, an odd and uncomfortable experience as the long shape withdrew from deep down his throat and narrow breathing-tubes pulled from still deeper, leaving an odd empty tingling ache on its way out as the sleepsack itself finally opened. It took some effort to shimmy free even when it was fully loose, but the dragon was well practiced by now, and he sighed in relief at the sight of his own scales at last: sturdy and flame-orange, the even coloration broken in only two places by the bright steel of a collar that circled his neck, and the chastity belt still encasing his hips. As he slithered from the leather sack, a set of four thick mittens loosed themselves from around each paw, and straps fell away from his wings. Finally, a new restraint snapped into existence before his snout: an equally familiar snug cage muzzle, which buckled itself around his head, after which all the discarded restraints faded from existence, leaving him stretched out on the floor next to his still-trapped mate.

The tease beneath his chastity continued, the aching in his loins urging him to do what the curse wanted and thus gain some small relief from the sensations, but some things were more important than doing what the magic demanded. Hardly even pausing to stretch his cramped limbs, he rolled onto his side and wrapped himself around the cocoon imprisoning his mate. Threnn squeezed her tightly, he pressed himself as close to her as he could, his forelegs and his hind legs and his tail and even draping a wing over the two of them, and he nuzzled her hooded head and neck as firmly as he could with the cage of metal encasing his snout.

She writhed in his grasp, surely just as eager to return the gesture as he felt whenever she was the one free to embrace him, and he murmured softly to her, all the comfort and reassurance and love he longed to give her despite knowing she could not hear. "I'm here, my love, I'm here," he said, clinging to her to hope if he pressed hard enough she'd felt the thrumming of his purr in his chest. "Looks like it's my turn to continue our work today... You get to stay home and be lazy," he teased.

Safrona wriggled again, bumping her nose blindly into his cheek; he lifted a paw to stroke her neck, to rub against that spot beneath her jaw she so liked when he touched, to caress her cheek and the top of her head through her hood. It didn't matter that his words didn't make it through to her; he still wanted to say them, to talk to her as if nothing was the matter, as he was sure she did the same when she was free and his senses remained sealed.

He glanced behind them, where their dwindling hoard remained: still daunting in size, but not half so large as it had been when this curse had befallen them. Soon he would have to rise and begin the day's task, to choose some more of their treasure and return it to its rightful owners (or their descendants), but not yet. He could wait a few minutes more.

"It seems we're both hoping the other will take that old throne back," he rumbled to her, chuckling and bumping his muzzle to hers. "Maybe I will in a couple of days, if it's still here by then. Hopefully Lauvel will not be too hostile... Surely enough stories of us returning our things to all these anthros will have spread for that castle to expect one of us coming peacefully."

Safrona's hips bounced a couple of times, setting the rune-engraved padlocks clattering on the many tautly buckled straps that encircled her form. He groaned in strained amusement--shared longing--and let his tail curl upward along her form to lean against where her hips remain concealed. "Mmmhh." He ground himself gently against her side in agreement, the needy throbbing of his shaft increasing: the longer he lingered with her, the more the sensation slowly increased to urge him to obey. "Getting frustrated? Me, ahh, me too, love... We'll have to be sure to take advantage once we can see each other again."

Presumably that would be once all their hoard had been given away, though they didn't know for sure. Surely completing this task the curse had compelled them to fulfill would bring the magic to an end, right? It had to.

"Didn't expect to think it... but seeing you wriggle helpless in there doesn't make things any easier," he said, feeling his snout flush a little even if he was really saying it to no one but himself. "How you look, the shape of your body, how you somehow manage to make struggling in there look so sensual..." He nuzzled her some more, stroking her snout and her chest, the shape of its curve towards her belly. "And that hood... imagining how you must look under there with your jaws full of a dragon's length... You'd better be fantasizing your gag is me!" he added, jokingly severe, then after she made a couple of extra-vigorous wriggles he let his tail wind back up with hers: she was surely being tormented plenty without him adding to it, for he knew that on his days remaining strictly bound the sensations did not let up all day long! Her throat clenched and bobbed as her gag silenced any attempts she might have made to grunt or moan through it, and his dragonhood ached still more insistently as he imagined her throat wrapped around him, as he watched the quivers and squirms of her form beneath the thick laced black leather and the many broad strong straps and thought of her grinding against him, how nice it had felt when they'd both been restrained just a few minutes before...

How even better it would feel if instead of rubbing together in the sleepsacks, he could be inside her for real, to see her snout and hear her voice and see and hear and feel her love for him--share his love for her--at last! The twin desires mingled in him, the far more easily attainable longing to snuggle against her while she remained bound--or they both did--and the desire for them to be together again and free of the curse.

But that had been impossible for two full seasons, having been snared in this magical bondage through all of spring, of summer, and now as the leaves turned colors and dropped and summer turned to fall.

The stimulation in his loins ramped up further still; his dragonhood strained even more urgently against his prison. It was nearly time to go, as badly as he wanted to stay with her. He squeezed her and nuzzled her still more firmly, then looked over by the passage to the cave entrance, where they would leave brief messages for each other marked on a broad flat slate written in the scrapings of a chalky stone. Safrona's message was short and simple, yet still enough to make him ache with longing to read.

3 bags W, W, N

Love you

He squeezed the sleepsack containing his mate as fiercely as he could, nuzzling his snout against her as hard as he dared with the bars of the cage muzzle in the way. "I love you too. I'll work hard today. I'll be back soon."

At last, reluctantly, he rose and stretched out all his limbs, shaking himself so his scales rattled and ruffled and then smoothed down once again. To work--no matter how still more enticing Safrona looked writhing and grinding against no one and struggling uselessly all on her own. His slit throbbed once more and he padded across the chamber to their hoard.

Once it had taken up near half the cave on its own, amassed by a pair of greedy dragons who loved the sight of treasure and knew how to work together to get plenty of it. Though half the space was given to it still, it wasn't piled nearly so high as before, and it had been partly divided into smaller sections based on where the treasure needed to be returned to--one useful property of the curse that helped make it far more possible to satisfy would make each piece of treasure the dragon touched tug their mind in the direction that particular piece needed to go to be reunited with its rightful owner, and thus he'd had the idea to sort their hoard by direction so that they could take things that needed to follow a similar path all at once, rather than needing to randomly cross back and forth across the edges of their territory following the leads of a pile of trinkets selected at random.

Thanks to his mate's work the previous day, the West and North piles had grown rather small, and though he was still being teased by the magic insisting that he commence flying about giving back their treasures, the work to make those piles had to be done sometime! He ruefully rubbed a forepaw over the chastity belt a couple of times, longing for freedom, and then settled himself on his haunches by the unsorted section of their hoard and picked up a silver scepter with a jewel on each end. It was a pretty thing, and it looked like it suited his paw perfectly well--the green gemstones even matched his eyes--but as he held it, he felt an urge to fly to the East and surrender it to an anthro somewhere in that direction; he sighed and added it to the appropriate pile, and reached for a stack of coins next.

The blasted coins were the biggest obstacle by far, especially considering their small size compared to other things they'd stolen. If they'd known they would ever have to give them back, they would have kept them far better sorted! But as they'd brought more and more to the hoard stacks had been mixed and knocked over and shuffled back together and mixed further, and now he had to take the time to hold each coin on its own and let the curse tell him where it had to go. This pile at least seemed reasonably sorted already: most of them went to the North pile, one to the East, a few to the West.

He paused for a moment before reaching for more treasures, watching as Safrona bucked and struggled in her sleepsack with particular exuberance for a few moments, body twisting uselessly and her limbs barely able to squirm in her restraints; his cock throbbed harder still at the sight, he longed to go cuddle her some more, but he made himself stay on task. Back to separating the hoard into its various piles before he found his mate's half of their plight too distracting!

He kept at it for as long as he could manage, to make the future days less sitting there getting teased out of their minds and more flying around doing the work of returning all of their pretty things! Safrona's wriggles and needy humping motions made an... even more potent backdrop to the steady stimulation that tormented his own slit, impossible not to glance at or listen to with half his mind while he worked, and at last with a frustrated groan and a few useless strokes of his forepaw rubbing frantically across the curved plate of his belt he stood up and shook out his wings. He couldn't take it any more, and since finally getting hard or getting an orgasm wasn't an option, the only hope for relief he had was to get flying and rely on the less potent satisfaction of the curse telling him he'd returned something to where it belonged. He eyed the four piles and settled at last on South: it was the largest, as that was the most densely settled region nearby, and it would be good to whittle that one down a little.

Panting from the tension he'd brought on himself from spending his time sorting, he reached for the large bag Safrona had left sitting empty nearby the previous evening. The bag was a marvel he had no idea how his mate had obtained but thanked her for profusely every day he was free: when he held it, he felt no urge to give it to anyone, meaning that she had somehow managed to barter or pay for it one day so that it actually belonged to the two of them. She'd been worked up and muzzled to remove any chance of her intimidating someone, feeling such a preoccupation to do what the curse demanded, and she'd still had the wherewithal to think of how to get this sack and taken the time to trade for it! Thanks to her, he could scoop a whole pile of glittering precious metals and gems inside, able to carry far more of their hoard at once far more easily without having to worry about anything like a little coin slipping through his claws; then all he had to do was hold it in one paw, reach inside to grasp a piece of treasure with the other, and let what he touched be his guide.

Threnn filled the sack, updated the slate to say where he intended to go, and headed for the exit--after, of course, he stopped to bid his senseless mate farewell, nuzzling his snout to hers, patting her chest, and watching with aches of longing as she struggled and bent her neck into his touch and she must surely have tried without success to moan to him. He purred, imagining she could hear it, and after another nuzzle he murmured, "I love you. I'll be back soon. Don't have too much fun without me!"

Her hips rolled a few times, labored breaths huffing from her nostrils, and he came back to bump his snout to hers just one more time; then he stepped outside into the cooling fall air.

Two days ago, the last time he'd been free, the weather had been unseasonably warm and foggy in the morning; today was a little chillier, far more appropriate for the season, but with a bright clear sky and a steady gentle wind from the northeast. He took in a deep breath, enjoyed how he could actually use his sense of smell today, and then took off, beating up into the sky a little distance above the peak of their mountain and steadying his flight before easing one of his paws into the sack to feel for where he'd need to go. He briefly held a coin, a ring, a dagger, and a few other objects he couldn't quite identify without looking, trying to guess which would take him the furthest so he could start distant and then work his way back, but it was an uncertain feeling at best. Finally settling his paw around a large jeweled egg, he let the curse fix the direction in his mind and set off.

At once the stimulation to his poor, trapped dragonhood relented, receding to what might have been just a slow, gentle kneading against his slit: enough that he wasn't going to forget about it, but also enough to let him relax a little! He huffed out a few breaths of the cool, clear air up at altitude to further help get his body focused more on his wings than his loins, and on he flew. South was the most populated direction to fly, only a few minutes on the wing enough to bring him to a river that they considered the edge of their territory and then to a road and the many farms and villages it fed. He flew first over farms, crops and dairy and other beasts, then over small towns, then over hills and dales more densely populated still, where it seemed there was hardly any speck of land the bipedal races had not cultivated or occupied. The egg he'd chosen needed to go a great distance indeed: nearly an hour he journeyed over the cultivated landscape without ever feeling the call to land! He could only wonder if whoever this had originally belonged to had moved as far as they could from dragon lands after they'd stolen it, or if he was instead taking it to some distant relation.

Thus far, they'd been lucky enough that no treasure had led them so far away they couldn't make it there and back to their cave before dusk came and the curse bound them again, but he couldn't help but think of how difficult, even dangerous it might be if they ever did have to journey so far. The night and following day, or more, might prove most difficult for them both, one helplessly cocooned somewhere unfamiliar, while the other struggled home alone and hoped their missing mate was unharmed...! And if the next day that missing dragon didn't get another turn of freedom... It made him shudder to think about, and he shook himself all over to focus on his flying.

At last he started to feel himself tugged downward: his destination was close, and when he looked down he saw he'd reached what seemed to be a lane full of grand houses, not far from the boundary of a larger city. Such a place was sure to have guards, and as he didn't relish a poke from a spear he'd have to hope that the sight of his muzzle and collar--and belt--would convince the wealthy and their watchmen that he was peaceful. The curse had made it very clear early on that no matter what the situation, they were not to cause any harm to any bipedal race.

Threnn descended to the street, wary for shouting or warning horns, and as soon as he'd landed on the cobblestone street he tucked in his wings and lowered his snout and tail to appear as meek and nonthreatening as he could, but there seemed to be hardly any alarm set up at his arrival. In fact, as he looked around wondering where the jeweled egg would lead him, doors began to open up and down the street: and it was the nobles themselves who appeared, not just their footmen.

They knew he was here to give back treasure, and they hoped it would be theirs, he realized. Word had spread that he and his mate were not dangerous; if anything, the challenge would be to make sure what he returned went to the right hands!

The residents seemed all to be canine anthros of a particular long-haired brown breed, in fine dress as befitted their wealth. Concentrating, he held onto the egg and let it guide him to nearly the very center of the row, where a dog in especially elegant dress waited beneath the shaded front of her manor and regarded him coolly. Threnn stopped at the gate: he could have hopped over it, but thought better of risking damage to the home's meticulously landscaped front garden. Slowly, he held up the egg and said, "my lady? I believe this is yours."

He'd seen many reactions to his treasures changing hands, from pleasure to relief to even envy of other jewels not yet given; this dog settled on satisfaction, mingled perhaps with repressed anger, and came slowly down the stairs to greet him. "The ostrich! I thought I might never see it again. Were you not already bound," she gestured at his muzzle and collar, "I would insist at once that you pay recompense for this theft."

Threnn passed the egg over the gate and gently lowered it into her waiting hands; as he did, a rush of satisfaction washed over him. The way it lingered so long around his slit made his snout flush, but he managed to keep from shivering, or worse moaning, and withdrew his paw from over the gate, taking a breath to steady his voice before speaking. "I assure you, my mate and I are already paying."

"Mate?" She tipped her head to the side, ears splayed. "The bulletins had described more than one dragon," she mused, and then made a soft growl and a yipping noise. "Then I am doubly glad to know your penance includes that... belt. I hope it never comes off! The two of you wrought enough trouble, and if there were more--"

"Enough," he said, as close to a growl as he dared make with the curse hanging over his head, and turned away rather than hear more. Considering his dragonhood still felt so warm from that momentary relief and threatened to begin straining with aching ferocity at any moment, to suggest he never be free from chastity had made his chest flutter with especial dread! More of the wealthy canines had gathered while he'd been thus distracted, coming out onto the road and hoping something might be for them; he felt around in the bag, hoping that his task would be made easier by any more of the things he carried sparking a connection with one of the furred faces he saw before him, and to his relief one of them did: a delicately carved wooden box, locked shut.

He hoped neither he nor his mate had ever opened it and put something else inside--but if the lock was shut, then surely they had not, he told himself. He walked down the lane and gave it to a male who'd gone gray about the muzzle, carefully keeping the sack shut and held close: if someone stole something they weren't supposed to have, his options to get it back would be severely limited, and it might make lifting the curse nearly impossible! He handed over the box without incident, quickly satisfied himself that nothing else in this set of loot belonged this far South, and though many of the faces showed disappointment when he raised his wings to go--whether any had truly lost something or merely wished--they all backed away without incident, letting him return to the sky.

That had been lucky. He'd once brought a stack of gold coins to a poor village, and those hoping for a portion of the treasure had nearly gone into a frenzy knowing what was in his sack was likely many times more wealth than they'd ever know in their lives otherwise. He'd barely escaped without losing anything or getting into further trouble!

He hopscotched his way back in the general direction of their territory over the course of the next couple of hours: from a lone homestead, to a market square, to a farmer's barn, he distributed the formerly precious hoard, leaping into the air, flying a little ways, and dropping back down, repeating the cycle as the sun crossed the sky. Things went easily enough, until at the center of a homely village he was reaching into the near-empty sack to see where he'd next be going and someone cried out behind him.

"Look!" a child cried. "Look at the shadows! They're being... eaten!"

What did that mean? He craned his snout around, tilted curiously, and instantly saw: next to a tree, the sun that shined through its remaining leaves cast odd crescent-shaped shadows on the ground. It did, he supposed, almost look like someone had bitten a perfectly round chunk out of a coin and left a rim of light as the uneaten side, and he cocked his head the other way as he looked. Had cast shadows been that way elsewhere today? Or only here? He hadn't noticed, and he peered at the sky as close to the sun as he dared, blinking as his pupils narrowed to slits. The sky did seem perhaps a little dimmer, despite the cloudless weather.

"It's the moon's shadow!" said one of the adults, when others began to gasp and notice as well. "Today will be a special day. Even more special than a visit from a friendly dragon!"

Oh! It was an eclipse. That was special, but Threnn did not have time to stick around if he wanted to make a second run this afternoon with a refilled bag, as much as he appreciated the man's words towards his own presence; perhaps he would be able to marvel at the sunlight and shadows back at his cave, depending on the precise timing. If only Safrona would have been free for him to show it to! he thought, but there was no helping it. Dragons lived long lives; surely they would see another.

After two more stops, the sack was empty, his shaft pulsed beneath his belt from the mixture of longing and satisfaction the curse had given him for the portion of their hoard he'd returned, and he set his course for home. If anything, the sky had dimmed further, and he looked to the East and West as he flew. How dark could a day get? It seemed this might be an especially rare eclipse, he thought as he pumped his wings, and again he glanced about the sky uncertainly. He knew it was nowhere near sunset, and yet...

Abruptly the collar he wore buzzed, and he let out an involuntary yelp. "Hey-- It's not dusk yet!" he complained to no one as if the curse might listen to him, or perhaps the air itself: it was a warning, that the day was ending and soon he would be bound again, and he needed to get home soon. Had it interpreted the darkening sky as the wrong time of day? But it had never been thrown off by heavy clouds or other weather--

Fortunately he was nearly to their cave; the warning typically gave him about a quarter of an hour, and he increased his pace even as confusion gnawed at him. Was it caused by the eclipse? Or was this some sort of change to the curse, a punishment for some unknowing offense he might have caused, or something else? Though it was still mid-afternoon, it had grown nearly dark as twilight. To know it was still day yet for the sunlight to suggest the onset of night certainly confused him, a vague unsettled feeling creeping into his limbs even if he knew the cause of the darkness, and he stumbled when he landed and his collar rattled against his scales once again, cautioning him that a binding was imminent.

Threnn hurried to the slate, where he tried to summarize: 1 sack S. Solar eclipse. Curse striking early. Love

He didn't get to the you: a pop sounded beside him, heralding the return of his restraints. He set down the chalk and leapt over to Safrona, who continued to weakly squirm, unknowing; he nuzzled her, pat her neck with a paw, then the gear descended as the sky went truly dark outside: he longed to go and watch the eclipse, but he longed far more strongly to lie in bondage with his mate rather than even a couple of dragon-lengths away from her! The padded leather of the mitts pulled themselves over his paws, each of them buckling tight; the straps for his wings appeared next, fitting themselves around his great limbs as he folded them down and tightening to pinion them...

But then... nothing. The sleepsack did not appear; nor did the hood, nor the straps or their locks that would tighten the sack so securely around his form. "What...?" He lifted one mittened paw, waved it in the air, turned it back and forth and looked around as if suspecting that the sleepsack was sneaking up behind him to pounce, but there was no sign of it. The curse had stopped? His wings twitched against the straps; he pushed one mitten against the other, then against his muzzle, but he had no way to work the buckles with each paw and his snout contained. It may have been light by comparison, but it was still enough to keep him grounded--and speaking of light, the darkness outdoors had begun to lift, just as swiftly as it had descended!

If the start had been enough to start the curse... had the end been close enough to a dawn to stop it in its tracks? Perhaps, he thought, but though he waited, watching light return to the world outside, none of his mittens removed themselves.

Then he heard a cough from beside him.

Threnn's heart nearly stopped; his head snapped around. It had been similar enough to dawn: but instead of dawn for him, it was dawn for Safrona. The curse was about to free his mate until dusk, instead of him! His tail twitching in agitation, scarcely daring to breathe, he watched in amazement as the hood unlaced itself, as padlocks began to open on the many straps around her body, and then gradually the hood pulled free, and for the first time in months he saw the deep blue-green of her scales.

"Safrona?"

"Mmmmklnn--" She tried to yelp his name before the gag had fully extracted itself from her jaws, and her whole body jerked in surprise. "Threnn? Threnn!" She wrenched herself against the sleepsack, twisting her head past the hood without even waiting for it to vanish, and his eyes met hers.

It was happening. He was really seeing her. Hearing her! He flung himself against her--narrowly avoiding the cage muzzle that swooped over her snout and buckled on tight--and they came as close as they could to touching noses. "It's you!" he cried, squeezing her.

"It's really-- it's really you," she gasped, pressing herself back against him, squirming still more urgently in her sleepsack. "What happened! How-- we had so much treasure left last night--how are we... s-sort of..." she stopped, looked down at herself, and so did he.

He realized an instant later that just as the curse had only barely begun binding him, it had only barely begun to free her, and now it had stopped. Though the padlocks were open, the straps and the sleepsack were still tight, and thanks to his muzzle and mittens, he couldn't do the rest for her to get her out of there. She grunted, and squirmed, and huffed in frustration, but of course escape was impossible, as it had been for months.

"What happened?"

Threnn looked outside: it was still dim, but lightening gradually. "There was a solar eclipse. Just minutes ago. The sudden darkness, and light... it must have done something to confuse the curse. It started to lock me down, and then stopped... and then started to free you. And then stopped."

"Wow..." she breathed, her head tilting briefly side to side as if considering the possibility, then she blinked at him. "Threnn. Threnn!" she yelped, her whole body bouncing energetically. "Threnn, you're really here! I can see you--we can speak!" She writhed and grunted and moaned, and remained immobilized aside from her head and neck. "Nnnngh this stuff is so tight... Just-- cuddle me!"

It was what he'd wanted to do from the start; he'd been so shocked by the circumstances it had frozen him in place, and at her excited demand he practically flung himself against her, circling her body with forelegs and hind legs and tail, pressing his muzzle to hers, squeezing as tightly as he could. "My love. It's you! I've wanted to see you for so long!"

"One of us has seen the other every day," she said with a little giggle as she shook herself against him, "but I'm so glad to hear your voice! I love you I love you--" she said in a rush, as if afraid her gag was about to appear once again, then leaned her head back just a little to meet his eyes once more. "How have you been?"

The dragon felt a little quiver of his own. "Missing you. Thank you for all the snuggles... They help a lot."

She purred, rumbling in amusement despite how tightly bound she remained. "You mean when I snuggle you, or when I let you snuggle me?"

"Both," he said, letting the tip of his tongue stick out at her for a moment behind the muzzle bars. "I have been... managing. Trying to return all this treasure. I've been getting..." He pointedly pressed himself against her, smooth chastity belt rubbing against her hip. "Frustrated..."

Her gaze turned to his hindquarters; it occurred to him she would never have seen his chastity belt, only the sleepsack covering it, though they'd used messages on the slate enough to know they each wore one. "Oh, my mate, me too. I've missed you so, and this chastity is a poor substitute for my dragon," she said, huffing, groaning, her own hips bucking rapidly for a few moments.

"And... other than that?" he murmured, squeezing her again.

"I have been holding up well enough. It is fiendishly distracting, but it's not so bad, really," she said with a purr that was very nearly provocative in its cadence, and her jaws parted to pant behind her muzzle. "Threnn, love..."

He couldn't help but smile back at her. It must have looked silly behind the muzzle cage, but just hearing her voice had set his heart soaring. "My love," he rumbled back. "I'd like to say I made good progress today towards ridding us of this curse, but the eclipse cut me short from going on a second trip." He slid a paw down her chest, the mitt bumping the many open padlocks on its way, and he gave her another longing look. "With luck, a few more months..."

Her muzzle bumped his throat. "I'd ask why you weren't getting back out there, but I know why. In your place, I wouldn't either, but I'd still tease you about it... if you could fly. But it seems the curse isn't giving you a choice in the matter," she growled, grinning at him with all her fangs. "You have to stay here with me."

Threnn couldn't resist, with how she sounded so playful despite the situation, and the curse brushed against them almost like a living thing, encouraging: they were both freed (barely, in her case) from total containment, and thus the stimulation increased for both dragons, trying to tell them to get back to distributing their hoard. That urged him further to instead twist himself atop her and plant his forepaws on her shoulders and pin her there--just carefully enough that his mittened paws didn't slip off her--and she moaned loudly and shuddered beneath him before he could even shoot back, "I think you have to stay here with me." He pressed himself against her, grinding his hips to hers as near to her own concealed chastity as he could get, gritting his teeth at how such a motion added to his tease; his dragonhood pulsed stronger than it had all day, yearning to get free for her, and it seemed to affect her just as much from how she writhed beneath him and gasped.

"Thrennnnnnn...! Ah!" She flinched and jerked and the leather creaked softly, containing her whether pinned by his weight or otherwise. "That's one way to make this--nh--a lot harder!"

"You're telling me," he hissed as his shaft throbbed intensely beneath the belt, unable to show her just how hard he'd be!

She just growled, "don't stop," and pressed up against him; he couldn't help but oblige her, worked up as he was. He'd missed her, he'd yearned for her, the curse had ensured they both longed for each other in this way too and still they were denied each other! He panted and growled and grit his teeth, pinned her down, thrust with aching frustration, and beneath him she writhed, moaned, gasped and shivered in eager arousal he couldn't satisfy for either of them no matter how roughly he thrust against her. It made his tail lash and his claws clench tight in the mittens, yet seeing how she seemed to so enjoy it, he couldn't help but find it turning him on still more strongly as well!

He kept it up for a few minutes, but he could only be that encouraged for so long when he couldn't get anywhere thanks to their chastity and eventually he slumped, panting and groaning in denial, cock aching and trapped and his whole body flushed hot from desire and exertion. "Nnnhhh. Safrona..."

"Threnn. Mmmhhn. I wonder... if there's..."

The dragon blinked uncertainly and cocked his head. "Mmmm?"

She hesitated, blushing so hotly herself that he could see a subtle purple hue darken the bridge of her nose. "Once we're free... a way... to keep this..."

"You mean... the bondage? You'd still want to wear the gear once we don't have to anymore?"

Tilting her snout, she gave him a look that was almost shy--a rarity for her--and at last said, "if you were the one putting it on me? Nnnh, yesssss..."

He knew she liked when he pinned her and claimed her, of course, but such a level of domination? The thought made him blush too, his tail twitching... shaft pulsing. The belts were still teasing whether or not they'd stopped so roughly grinding on each other. "Even after... all this?"

The dragoness wriggled beneath him and he felt her limbs flex uselessly against her restraints. "Mmhmmm... Especially after all this. It feels so thrilling... Even the chastity feels so good..." She took a deep breath, and added, "I'd want to put you in it too, you know."

He yelped in surprise--his cock twitched in lust--and he shivered against her. Uncertain what to make of his own reaction, he tried to stall her by countering her attempt to provoke him: "and how will you manage that, while strapped up so tightly yourself?"

"Not at the same time, you silly beast," she stuck out the tip of her tongue. "Although that would be nice too, if we could manage it somehow. Our cuddles every morning and night get me so worked up!" She wriggled and rolled her hips again. "But I mean it. Having my dragon, my big strong lovely dragon, totally cocooned and at my mercy..." She bumped her muzzle to his, purring, continuing to squirm and grind. "Knowing how pent up he is, knowing he yearns for me to cuddle with him as much as I can stand..."

He couldn't help but press back against her once again; his own blush deepened at the description. Though he would tell himself it was because it was the closest they could get, he did love the feeling of being so safely held in her embrace while he was trapped... When he shivered, she went on, "and every night when we're both tied up... It's just as good. I don't know how to say why... That sensation of being trapped, and yet together, bound, helpless, and sharing that experience, and doing our best to snuggle together throughout... A-ahh, it just, it sets me afire!"

Something about her description worked at him, too, and he couldn't bear any more: he rolled off of her, groaning in pent-up frustration, and rubbed one mitt against his chastity belt over, and over, shuddering and having to swallow first a whine, then a needy moan as his length ached stridently. His dragonhood insisted, demanded freedom, and he couldn't grant it! "Nnhh! T-too much... come on...!" He grit his teeth, hissed, thumped his tail on the floor in denial.

She watched him, still blushing, and trembled a little. "You look... does it hurt, when you're stuck in your slit and want to get out?"

He did moan this time, and let his paw fall, trying to calm himself, which the continuing stimulation from the magic made virtually impossible. "I, nhh. It aches but it's not quite pain... maybe it's even exciting, when it isn't quite so strong. But sometimes when I need it that badly..." He huffed. "You're lucky your body doesn't need to grow like mine..."

"Lucky in a way... hh-hnnn..." She bounced her rump again, shivered, moaned. "But you're lucky not to be stuffed full all the time. When this thing buzzes, nnnnggh..."

He rolled back to his side, groaning at the thought--half sympathy, half envy that it wasn't him giving her such filling pleasure. Her messages had mentioned her belt of course, but he hadn't recalled her revealing that part! "You-- you have... the belt holds something in you--all the time?" His shaft ached even more jealously when he put it to words.

"Oh, yes," she moaned, though when she saw his expression she reassured him, "but this toy doesn't feel quite so nice as having you in me, love, even if it feels bigger than you," and when his frustrated envy showed on his snout she giggled at how the tease had so plainly gotten to him. "Or at least it's certainly bigger than you can be right now. Don't worry... I'm always fantasizing that this dragon cock is you."

"Are you? Good," he said, then smirked when he had a thought: "then who are you fantasizing is in your mouth under that hood? I can't be both places at once..."

That must have hit home; she writhed and huffed and her tongue lolled as well it could in her muzzle; she must have had a very active imagination--not that he could blame her, considering how she filled his thoughts day after day of this teasing and denial. "Oh but you can be... whichever I'm paying more attention to, that one's you... The other... hmmmmm." She smirked at him. "Who would you be the most jealous of?" When he tried to give her a flat stare, she teased, "perhaps Granel..."

Had they been free, he would have reached over and pushed her snout shut between his forepaws; he had to settle for batting at her muzzle with a mitten. "You're way beyond any dragoness he could hope to land anyway," he huffed, thinking briefly of the brown dragon who lived a few hours' flight away. They had avoided contact with other dragons, wary the curse might somehow be contagious--and that they could not defend their territory or what was left of their hoard in this state. He growled and wrapped his limbs around her again, snuggling her tightly. "My dragoness. Mine."

She trembled dramatically against him and thrust, repeatedly and hard, riding the toy inside her in longing. "Aaahhnnnnn...! S-see... that's why I still want to have gear like this, after... Ffff having you get so possessive... while I'm bound this tight, is..." She leaned her snout on his, gasping. "Really does make me feel yours, and I love that feeling..."

"Would like it more if I could demonstrate how mine you are with my dick," he huffed, the snap of his teeth muted from how the muzzle pinned his jaws nearly shut. Safrona trembled and closed her eyes and moaned a few more times, and he bumped her with his nose. "Quite the fantasies you seem to be having."

"Like I have anything else to do on so many days! You must have plenty of your own," she said, to which he nodded--of course he did, thanks to his aching need and the belt's teasing and his inability to properly live out those fantasies with her! She blinked and asked, again nearly shy, "and in how many fantasies are you as bound and helpless as we so often are?"

A lot of his fantasies involved unleashing some hidden reserve of strength to tear free of his restraints, free her, and then ride her like they both desperately wanted... but the longer he'd been unable to escape, he thought, the more remaining trapped in at least some of the bondage had slithered into his imagination, to no less arousal than his other daydreams (and regular dreams). "Some," he admitted.

She blushed, but purred softly, her forelegs stirring before their immobilization forced her to settle. "Good. Because I like just as much when I get to hold you and call you mine, just like that, and you're my helpless champion for me to protect until your own strength can return... I think of getting to unlace where this gear hides your dragonhood from me, and then find out the sort of ride you'd give while imprisoned beneath me..."

Threnn moaned in longing. That did sound... Granted, he would surely find most anything sexy that involved his mate, but the way he'd surrender to her, to the shared pleasure of it... He stroked her neck with a mitten, purred in agreement. "When this is all over. Maybe the curse will leave this gear for us, inert for us to use... maybe not. But perhaps we could find a way to trade with the anthros for some."

A giggle escaped her. "I bet if we were to explain the situation to the right anthros when our hoard was nearly depleted, warn them that in a few weeks they might have free dragons unbound and able to walk among them, they might craft restraints for us for free. Anything to keep us from slipping back to our old ways hmmm? And then we wouldn't be limited to just this stuff, as... nnhh as amazingly tight as it is, they might make whatever we wanted..."

He blinked at her. "You really have been enjoying this."

"I have," she said softly. "I hope you have not been too worried about me."

"Perhaps I was a little. But whenever I did, you were there, safely bound by my side."

Rumbling, she bobbed her snout and leaned in close against him, silent for a time. She pressed her nose to his, breathed in deeply, looked into his eyes. "Threnn... My Threnn. I'm glad this... today... happened. I needed to hear your voice."

He purred back. "It was one thing to read your messages. Another to hear you tell me you are all right." He squeezed her, rocked his hips, then glanced outside: afternoon was slanting the light away from their cave, the proper passage of time and not the eclipse, just starting to turn towards evening. They had perhaps another hour or two--if the curse worked as it should, and dusk brought back their strict cocoons, silence, sensory deprivation. "A shame we cannot... convince this curse to let it happen more often."

"Mmmhh. But we will still have each other, lying right there, always glad to be snuggled, held, teased..."

Threnn nodded along in agreement, and only belatedly noticed to blink and huff at her, he the one squirming despite her being the one in the sleepsack! "Nh I-- Well if you insist, I can tease you plenty," he finally growled, grinning at her. "If you're really not getting enough from fantasizing about me stuffing you full," he said, managing not to flinch too badly at how again his length throbbed in envy.

"I'm not!" she grunted, bucked, and subsided with an aching moan of her own. "As hot as this is, I need. My. Dragon." She growled and bounced and wriggled, blushing hot once again as the strict restraint fueled her arousal. "Need him tied up and horny and in me..."

He blushed and shivered, and nuzzled her. "I love you too."

Still panting, she smiled at him.

The dwindling light vanished all too soon; they could have cuddled for days, murmuring to each other, sharing thoughts and memories and teases--lots of teasing for each other, egged on as they were by the stimulation beneath their chastity belts that was meant to send them off ridding themselves of that hoard, if only they were free to do so. Regardless of their bondage and aching need for each other it was a blissful evening, and they snuggled and nuzzled as best they could throughout, but all too soon twilight descended on the world outside and each of their collars buzzed in warning.

"Almost time, love," he rumbled to her, mitten caressing her forehead, behind her jaw, along her neck.

"Almost." She writhed. "My dreams of you tonight will be... especially vivid, I think," she purred, then touched her muzzle to his once again. "How about you?"

He purred. "I always dream of you. But after getting to speak with you again... especially hearing how... Maybe 'content' is the wrong word," he mused, poking her belly with his tail; she wriggled and huffed playfully at him. "Knowing that you're enjoying yourself as much as you are, that might affect whether you appear in my dreams free and feisty, or strapped up just that tight and eager for me to satisfy you."

"You, nn-nnnhhh..." She struggled and thrust again, leather creaking around her but never loosening its grip. "You always know just what to say... to rile me up... Hhn. "Don't let need drive you too crazy."

He groaned. "Right. The other hard part, rhh..."

"Or you wish you could be, at least," she taunted, his trapped cock throbbing in response. "Just... think of it as the build-up to... what'll be the best night of our lives. The fun we'll have together, as soon as we can. You'll be ready for me... I'll be ready for you."

The second warning from their collars rattled them; he clung to her as tightly as he could, pressed his snout close to her as the muzzles would let them, took in a deep breath of her scent and looked deep into her eyes in the failing light of dusk. Their first separation had been a surprise, without a proper resolution; this one they could see coming, and predict the likely end of, and savor its coming all the more. "Of course. I love you Safrona. And I'll be here, whether it's your day to fly, or mine."

"Of course you will," she giggled teasingly as a soft series of pops echoed through the cave: his sleepsack appeared on the floor along with all its straps, and he reluctantly let go of her, twisting onto his back on the open sack so the gear could draw itself up over his scales. "It's not like you can wriggle away from me, all strapped up," she said, even giving him a sultry murr as she for once got to watch his sleepsack envelop him, reducing him from a mighty dragon to a powerless captive just like her. Both their muzzles slipped off and their hoods appeared; he shivered, and interrupted whatever she'd opened her jaws to say next, taking the risk with the massive gags waiting for them to twist his snout and lock jaws with her in a firm kiss. She eagerly returned the kiss, not hesitating even a moment despite how he'd surely caught her by surprise, and they both held together until the lewd tips of the gags began to bump insistently at their snouts, until their chastity belts ramped up the teasing to demand their compliance, and then at last let go.

"I love you too," she panted. "I'll see you tomo-- mmmmrrrfff," she was cut off by the gag sliding into her maw, and shuddering with her limbs writhing in her bondage she surrendered, as he did the same, feeling the sleepsack lace itself up around his body and pin all his limbs to his sides in its familiar, inescapable embrace. Her locks all rattled shut while his straps pulled themselves tight around him, and each managed one final moan before they had to relax their throats and let the gags in, silencing their voices. His eye met hers and she gave him a slow, content blink, then his hood and hers covered their snouts, their heads, their earholes, and lacing up around their heads stripped all their senses away save for touch, just as their freedom, their movement, their voices had been so swiftly and strictly taken from them...

But touch was enough. Especially after so wonderful an afternoon together, touch was all they needed; no sooner than all his enchanted locks had pressed shut did he struggle, and writhe, and worm his way back across that paw's width they'd been separated to lean against her once more, to press his hooded head to hers, to huff out silent breaths and share his presence with her.

His throat clamped mutely around the deep phallic gag, but he tried to voice his love again all the same. They'd get through this together, he knew they would, more than he'd ever known anything. He would be there for her, and she for him, and one day...

The chastity belts continued to thrum and tease, keep them both aching, needy, reinforcing their helplessness and their lust and their denial until it was time to let them sleep at last, snuggled as close together as they could.