Half-Breed

Story by Nesetalis on SoFurry

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A story based around the picture drawn by my friend donta telling the backstory of my tiger-dragon character.http://nesetalis.evil-spork.net/bio/dragon/

It kinda got away from me though, enjoy!


Note: The name of the character "Nese" was changed to Kuthalti.

He was a terror; crowds fled when ever his shadow passed; the world shook when he landed; he was selfish and no one knew how to be rid of him. Four years back he moved in to the bluff overlooking the river valley and had made his presence known to the little folk before. With a roar and a gout of flame he had snatched up four kittens and dragged them off to his lair to do unspeakable things.

To that sleepy valley war had been a thing long forgotten. Deep in the southern mountains, far beyond the tribes the kingdoms and the knights that harried dragon kind. It was warm, it was peaceful, and it was for the most part quiet. He came here for those same reasons, away from the wars, away from the pestering of family, away from the noise. So there he sat, upon his jungle choked bluff as he gazed out over the long winding river.

He wasn't large, nor was he old. He hadn't even reached his hundredth year yet. That might have been why he chaffed so bad under the overbearing regimen of his mother as he stood shoulder to hip with his larger siblings. Here he could relax, here he could play, here he could forget about the stupid politics he wanted nothing to do with. Here he had found such delightful little creatures to amuse him.

He took to wing upon the warm steamy air and circled the river valley a few times. Below him villagers scattered and cried out; startled by his shadow. He never took many of them, only one or two at a time and not often enough to diminish their numbers. He was well versed in the ways of animal husbandry. His keen eyes roamed the length of the river until they came to the village; an assemblage of wooden huts with grass thatch tops. A single breath could have leveled the entire civilization and it gave him a heady feeling. So much more interesting than the massive stone keeps that could be scorched black before those ancient stones would even crack.

His eyes settled upon the village center and realized they had left him something for a change. There was a place of punishment there, for public scorn and ridicule, but since he arrived it had become a buffet. They couldn't run when they were tied down, they couldn't hide. He landed in the center of the town, buildings creaked and swayed from the gust of his entry. The little kitten squirmed and screamed her little head off with that thin tail flicking back and forth. It was adorable.

He stepped forward and sat upon his haunches to stare down at the squirming little treat, "Ohh hello little one, were you left out for me?" He asked with a teasing tone.

She was upon her back with ropes binding wrists and ankles to the stage. She wasn't naked, but a flick of a claw along her lithe form sliced through the leather cord holding her breasts bound and hips concealed. Cloth and leather fell away to expose her to him, a naked little delectable that just stared at him with white rimmed eyes, laid back ears, and trembling body.

"Not a word of greeting for me?" He asked as his head lowered toward, "Such terrible manners I must say."

At last she managed a sobbed word as her head turned away from his terrible appearance, "Please don't eat me," She begged, pleaded even. Her chest shook as it rose and fell, her legs twisted and pulled at the rough rope, her tail flicked against the wooden deck. She squirmed and wriggled ever so enticingly as he hovered over her.

As his claw slipped down to her ankles and began to play at the knot binding her, he teased some more, "Not eat you? Are you sure? Who would you suggest in your stead, perhaps the elder? No no, he is too stringy, I prefer them young and limber like yourself. Perhaps a sister or a brother?"

She cried in earnest now, great gulps of air followed by bellowing sobs. Her facial fur became matted with tears and a bubble of snot ran down her muzzle. It was truly an unbecoming sight for a kitten such as she, it amused him so much he couldn't help but laugh, "Pathetic little kitten, can't even suggest an alternative? Have you done such a bad deed that even you believe your fate is just?" He asked, genuinely curious as to what might bring the tribe to sacrifice its own. Most months he had to hunt through fields and forest until he found a snack or two.

"N--No!" She yelled, wailed, screamed even before falling back in to her pathetic sobs.

He simply shook his head as the knot came undone, then he followed with the second binding her wrists. As soon as she was free she hopped up as if to run but his large claw encircled her waist and lifted her feet from the ground. She kicked, she flailed, she bit and clawed, she even hissed and snarled like a good kitten should. He paid her no heed, his tough scales well protecting his hide from her dainty claws. So up in to the air she was lifted as the village threatened to collapse under his lifting gust.

It was a short flight to the bluff, south of town. There he sat and set the morsel down upon a surface of blackened stone. Nothing lived up here anymore, not a tree nor insect, not even a bird dare roost upon his home; just as he liked it. He settled down upon the charred remains of what had been and gazed at the trembling woman. She wasn't old, nor young, though she wasn't frail her knees gave out and she sank to the charred ground and sobbed in to her hands. Her wrists were rubbed raw, fur scraped away to expose reddened skin.

"Is your life so precious to you?" He asked with an amused smile. Others had tried to cast themselves from the bluff to the river below, just to deny him the kill; he caught them of course and always had his satisfaction.

"Yes..." She managed to gasp between sobs.

He smiled a little smile and asked her, "What would you do to save your own skin?"

She looked up at him, her eyes red and swollen, her fur a matted mess, and a hint of hope in the perk of her ears, "Anything... I would do anything!"

He sat back upon his haunches and pressed his hips forward. Between his legs his slit parted and out peeked the black tip of his penis, "Anything you say?" He asked as he pointed down his black and white striped front toward the emerging member.

She stared at it and her wide eyes grew to saucers as ears laid back and her breath caught in her throat. She looked up to his face, then down again toward his cock. It wasn't large for his kind, in fact he was ashamed of it in the company of others. Yet here, now, with not another dragon for a thousand miles his spire was breathtaking. It's length would have put a draft horse to shame. As the full of it was exposed, it flexed upward and from the foreshaft rose a thousand small barbs, each no longer than a centimeter yet sharp and fleshy. His father, he was told, had been a tiger, why his silver dragon mother thought it a good idea to bed a tiger he would never know, but his body echoed the features. Striped black and white, with tufts of fur between most scales and fluffy pert ears upon his head.

"You wish..." The kitten began, then trailed off as she watched the barbs rise and fall with the pulse of blood. She shook her head and wrinkled her nose; the scent of him reaching her, potent and bitter.

"I wish nothing, I offer you a chance to live. Should you fail to please me, you will of course, end up a snack; but at least you would have lived longer, yes?"

She gulped and took a slow timid step forward, then another. She closed until the massive length dangled above her. He purposely lowered it until the arrowhead shaped tip brushed across her furred chest and left a sticky blue trickle of moisture behind. She swallowed again and wrinkled her nose at the strong smell of him; not unpleasant simply powerful and unfamiliar.

A timid hand lifted to brush across the smooth muscular flesh, hot to the touch and left a sticky film upon her fingers. Again she swallowed and looked up in to his face, as if to plead for something else. He spoke before she could, "You wish to satisfy my hunger instead of my lust?"

Her head shook quickly and her little hand lifted his shaft and brought the messy head to her lips. Her eyes closed, her nose wrinkled and her small rough tongue poked out; then a moment later her hot little maw closed upon him; to taste, to please but mostly to tease. He sighed a satisfied sigh as that rough little tongue licked across his urethra and drew with it a copious spurt of his arousal. She drank from him, she nursed upon him and her soft palms slid down his length, laying his barbs flat.

She could easily fit him in her hands and he enjoyed the slow careful strokes and lusty little pulls of her mouth. He sat as still as he could, as to not throw her off her feet, but he longed to thrust himself down her throat and pin her below him. Little mews and slurps told him how eager she was to live, she did her best to pleasure.

His penis twitched and she choked as a gush of arousal filled her throat, mouth, and even spurted out through her nose. She looked up at him as she pulled away coughing, "Did you... did I please you?" She asked.

He had to laugh and shook his head, "No, that was not my peak you silly kitten." His large claw lowered to her sticky chest and pushed her down until she laid back upon the ashy ground. She looked down right terrified as he climbed over her and squatted down. He wanted something else, he wanted more pleasure than her mouth could give her. Occasionally he took his lust out on the village folks, though never before had he given them the choice.

"Oh please no!" She begged as she watched his barbed phallus droop between her thighs. She closed them quickly and pressed her knees together, as if that would protect her.

"No? Have you decided your true fate in life is as a meal?" He asked of her, but he didn't stop, he just pushed that tapered head down as a claw grasped her legs and pinned her knees to her chest. Her pert netherlips peeked up between closed thighs, perfectly exposed and vulnerable.

She shook her head again and began once more to cry, "No... No! I don't want to be eaten--but... but I am too small, you will kill me with that."

He smiled at that, feeling a sense of pleasure at being called 'large', then he shook his great head and told her, "Oh no, others survived, so might you." Of course, those others who survived, he then ate immediately afterwords so they might have died anyway, simply a slower death.

She hesitated a moment longer and flinched as she felt his hot head press against her folds, "You promise you won't kill me?"

He grinned a toothy grin upon his furred muzzle, "No," He told her with a laugh, then thrust against. Her entrance stretched wide around his head, easily accommodating it. He sank in to her heat until he felt her back wall and pressed harder, not satisfied with that shallow tunnel. He felt frustration at how little these kittens were, the centaurs he had feasted upon last year had given him great satisfaction. He jerked his hips and the kitten screamed as flesh gave way deep inside and his length penetrated farther.

She thrashed and sobbed with her hands clutching at her bulging belly. She was so small and he could see the outline of himself through her stomach wall as he penetrated her body cavity. Organs were pushed aside to make room for his length and he sank in until he felt her entrance starting to tear. There he stopped. She stared at him, mouth agape and eyes wide. Her lips eventually moved and he couldn't make out her words at first. His head leaned closer until at last he heard, "Please... kill me."

He just grinned at his precious little kitten and began to withdraw. Barbs lifted and hooked, flesh tore. She screamed again and clawed at her stomach fur. He sighed out in pleasure and told her, "Ohh you feel so good now, so tight and juicy." He withdrew until only the head of him lay between her gaping lips. As his barbs had withdrawn they had sprayed her life across his stomach, leaving a splattering of red specs upon his pristine silver and white scales.

He thrust again and this time he didn't hold back. Breath rushed from her lungs in a sound like a sneeze and howl combined. Her sex tore at last, split around his massive girth with a sticky pop. He could feel her pelvis against the sides of his penis. He withdrew again and breath rushed back in to her lungs followed by a series of painful coughs. Once more he thrust and this time he felt her pelvis give way, allowing his entire length to enter her. It was a deep fleshy clunk, like kindling cracking under mud. She couldn't even scream without the breath in her lungs.

From that point on, he used her like a rag doll; he fucked her ruined body brutally. Through it all her eyes stayed open, focused upon him, accusing him, full of anger. He only responded with a grin of pleasure and aggression, when he bothered to even look at her. She had once been tight, once been a delightful little hole, now she was a ruined bloody sack of flesh, draped over his cock.

When he climaxed, her stomach ballooned around his copious release. He held her by her legs against his waist, his cock buried to the hilt, sealing himself inside of her. He roared a deafening roar, back arched and ears back in pleasure. He paid her no heed other than the sensation of her hot little body being filled. It was over quickly, his release taking no more than thirty seconds or so yet her stomach protruded as if pregnant.

As he looked at her, she was making a strange sickening gag sound, then a moment later blood streaked semen bubbled out between her lips followed by a cough. As he pulled free of her the pressure reduced and she cleared her throat with a cough, then gasped. Her breath bubbled in her lungs audibly, then she coughed again and screamed at him, "You beast, you fiend!" Her rage boiled from her eyes and spat from her lips. She coughed and spit a mixture of his own semen back at him.

He only laughed as he pulled free with a rasping scrape and behind his emergence came a flood of blood stained semen. Her stomach deflated quickly and the mess pooled on the blackened ground. He dropped her bodily in to the puddle and watched her squirm and flail. She was in obvious pain, yet he didn't care, "As I promised, I will not eat you. Would you like help getting back home?" His smile was one of merciless amusement at her suffering.

She only sobbed and nodded so he scooped her up again, took to the air and carried her limp, cum drenched body back to the village. There he landed again with a rumble of impact. Screams could be heard from everywhere; they had thought he was done, that he had taken his amusement and left for the time being. So bit by bit they had crept back to their homes only to be disturbed again.

He dropped her upon the stage and watched as she curled in to a ball. For a moment he thought to tease her further, or perhaps even eat her, but he had promised, "I bid you a long life, kitten. Perhaps you will some day remember me fondly."

She snarled at him, then winced and clutched at her ruined stomach, "I bid you to trip on a cloud and crash in to the sun. I bid you to catch a parasite and waste away. I bid you to--Die!" She spat at him again, then began to cry and paid him no more heed.

He only laughed at her bile and took again to wing, leaving the village for good, "I wonder what other creatures lurk to the south." He mused in to the sky as he flew away. They would remember him for centuries but he doubted he would ever return; feline folk were just too small to be proper snacks or to even pleasure him.

**

Alia laid there in suffering and agony as the sky terror left. She expected at any moment for him to turn around and inflict another injury or to burn her alive, or to snatch her up and devour her whole. She had watched her own sister, eaten alive by him only three months prior.

So there she laid, raped, broken, and likely to die in agony by nightfall and it was her own fault. Had she just accepted him, had she just been a dutiful wife none of this would have happened. But no, her sister had died and when her brother in law had come to claim her as replacement, she had refused him. She wasn't one to just submit to a man and when he had tried to take her... She trembled at the memory, at waking up in the middle of the night with a heavy paw upon her muzzle.

He would never do it again, she had seen to that and in punishment she had been offered. Her punishment was four days in the open, four days in which the sky terror could find her. He frequently would go for months without stirring from his roost, but of course her punishment had been just and he had come to her. It seemed fitting, she had refused one man to whom she should have belonged and her punishment was to endure a man she could not refuse.

Her sobs stilled as she laid there, forlorn and broken. Not just in body, but her heart had broken, she knew it was her fault, knew she deserved everything the terror had done to her; yet a part of her felt betrayed, felt it was unjust and she hated herself all the more for it. To her relief, she knew she wouldn't have to suffer for long, she would die and this life would be over. She would have no children to carry her shame either.

The sun set behind the mountains and with it came the rest of her tribe. They were less now, so few of them. Every woman was required to bare as many children as they could, simply not to fade away entirely. She had refused her part and ruined his, she had threatened the survival of the tribe. They crowded around her and she didn't move; never before had anyone survived an encounter with the sky terror. She still felt she would die, for the pain was so great she could barely breathe without crumpling in agony.

Elders took her in arms and carried her home. They bathed her and she just cried. They inspected her wounds, they whispered prayers. They too knew she would die and none could look her in the eye. She longed to curse at them as she had the terror, longed to claw their eyes out, or rip their genitals off as she had her betrothed.

She slept fitfully, waking when ever another curious nose poked its way in to her home. They were both terrified and interested. In their eyes she saw both hatred and pity and it made her sick. Everyone knew her crime yet none had imagined her punishment. Most had figured she would stay out there for four days, then would be given to another man who thought he could handle her. Now, no one wanted her, she was broken and defiled by the terror.

Come morning she was still alive, by the next evening she was hungry and asked for food. The elders were hesitant to give it to her, but eventually she was fed. Another night, another morning and she was proclaimed alive. The elder stood over her and said firmly, "The shadow of death has left, you will return to the tribe and you will serve the needs of the tribe or you will again face the terror."

Alia cried and bowed her head in obedience, "As you say elder, I will serve." She didn't want to, she never wanted to look upon another man, let alone let one in to her, yet she was too afraid to refuse. By this point she knew she would live, she felt herself becoming whole again. Empty places within had begun to fill, loose flesh tightened, tears knit. She would live but she would never be whole again.

**

It took three months for Alia to recover, three months as a useless drain upon her tribe. They let her know it to, every morsel of food was given with a grudge, every kindness was shrouded in disgust. When at last she had healed and the elder mother proclaimed her womanhood usable again, she was offered to the tribe.

Upon the stage she stood, clothed but feeling naked before so many eyes, "Who will claim this one? We all know her crimes, we all know her punishment. She wishes only to serve the tribe again so who will give her the chance?"

Her fist clenched against her bare stomach, feeling the hardness of it, the strangeness of it. She would never again feel like herself, never have the tight smooth tummy she had grown up with, now it was a knotted mass of scars just under the muscle. Her eyes lifted, scanned the crowd, yet no man offered. She met the eyes of childhood friends, they looked away. She saw her brother in law, he only glared, hating, thankfully he was ineligible due to her actions.

"None will take her in?" The elder asked, genuinely surprised. There was a shuffling of feet but no voice rose to claim her. The offering had been shameful enough, but she had never felt such humiliation than that moment, when the entire tribe looked upon her and none wanted her. When he spoke again, it was with a glimmer of cruelty, "Very well, if none claim her, all must claim her. You know your duty, she must bare for us until her womb goes barren." He looked from man to man in the crowd and one by one they nodded their heads in acceptance.

Silently Alia cursed them all, none would care for her, but they would happily use her. After that she was lead from the stage, back to her home. The elder mother asked her with a voice almost kind, "Do you need to be tied down or can you keep your teeth and claws to yourself?

"Tie me down," Alia snapped and glared, "None of them want me, I want none of them."

"As you wish," the elder snapped back with cold eyes.

So there Alia was, bound to her own bed, legs spread open. There she laid, for the entire night as in the shadows, one after another, the male members of her tribe came to do their duty. One by one they were woken up and lead in to the shadowy room, one by one they spent themselves against her womb. Eventually, sore and exhausted she fell asleep and only woke again when the sun rose and the elder was untying her. She was out of tears, she was out of anger, she was so emotionally spent she just sat up, rubbed her wrists, and asked for breakfast.

No one said a word to her as the meal was brought, she ate alone in silence in the sticky drying puddle of her duty. She would burn her bedding she told herself, then climb the bluff and offer herself to the sky terror. At least he would want her she told herself.

Breakfast finished, she gathered up her blankets and carried them out to the cooking fire, then tossed them upon it. Other women glared at her with disgust; she was still naked, still with the remnant of their husbands upon her furred thighs and rear. She said nothing to them as she watched the fabric catch and burn, then walked away as the stain was consumed.

The bridge that spanned the river was a crude thing of woven branches and ropes; but it worked. She crossed, her eyes frequently darting to the rapids below, imagining simply throwing herself to them. She didn't even feel depression or sadness anymore, just numb acceptance. No one asked her where she was going, no one looked her way twice as she walked past them naked.

On the other side of the river she made her way toward the bluff, toward her salvation. It would be a clean quick death, it had been so for her sister. Those screams had stopped abruptly with a crunch then gulp and her beloved sis had been no more. So too would her own, just a quick snap of teeth and it would be over.

It was well past noon when she reached the foot of the bluff. Craggy sandstone greeted her, but the path carved over many generations was still there. Step after step, some requiring her to climb, but up she went as nimble as she had once been. She smelled the char long before she saw the blackened stone and scorched trees. She heard no sound other than the wind however, no beat of wings, no great breaths, no mocking voice.

At the top she looked out over the charred stone and saw no evidence of him, yet he always returned. So with quiet acceptance she sat down upon one of the soot smeared rocks and waited. She remembered her ordeal up here, remembered the feel of him ripping her open and glanced about. She wondered where it had been, if she could still find the stains of her blood and his seed upon the stone. There was no sign of it though.

She kicked at a tuft of scraggly grass as she waited, then stopped, "Grass?" She glanced about and realized there were other things beginning to grow, sprouting between stones where wind blown or bird dropped seeds had taken root. Weekly the terror had burned the rocks, the flames could be seen from the village even in broad daylight. Yet now, now things were growing, things were reclaiming the lair of the sky terror.

"You aren't returning." She said quietly as she stared at that spot of green poking up between soggy charred earth. Her head fell in to her hands and all the things she hadn't felt, all the things that she had brushed off came rushing back. She sobbed, screamed, cried and eventually drained herself again. He had left her, he hadn't attacked again since her rape, she had been his last act, "You probably don't even remember me and I will never forget you--or forgive you."

She thought of tossing herself from the cliff face, of dashing herself against the rocks or drowning in the rapids below. But she felt no desire to die, in fact, she felt no desire to even leave the bluff top. So she sat down in the char and curled up. The sun was setting and she was hungry, but she felt no desire to rise. She spent the night there, alone and cold, but for the first time in months she felt the weight of the tribe free itself from her shoulders. She would live here, far away from them, away from their stares, away from their disgust.

**

Alia wasn't there a month when she felt the hardness of her belly become a protruding paunch. Unlike others she had seen, she felt no nausea or exhaustion, in fact she had never felt so strong. She stole the tools she needed in the night, chopped her own trees, split her own lumber and hauled the logs up the bluff. She ate what she could catch and only rarely stole a meal or two from the village. Once in a while she imagined herself the terror, swooping down upon her old village to take what she wanted.

She built her cabin, she carried up soil and made her garden. The charred earth when mixed in made the plants she grew healthier than any farmed down below. She hunted through the night for her own meat, she cured it and tanned the hides, soon she had new clothing, new bedding. She was the terror and she took care of herself. Occasionally she even built large fires to burn the ground and kill off whatever tried to take root that she didn't want. Perhaps, she hoped, the villagers would think the terror had returned and leave her alone.

Seasons in the jungle mountains were little more than changes in weather patterns. Some times it rained constantly for months, other times it rained only once or twice a day. Seasons they were however and she noted their passing as her stomach grew. By her counting she should have given birth already, but she was still growing. In her veins she felt power, like fire with each beat of her heart. She could jump higher, run faster, lift heavier and she felt such exhilarating ferocity when she sank her teeth and claws in to large game animals.

Occasionally she stalked her own people through the forest. They never saw her, never heard her, but she watched their every movement as they hunted, logged, or fished. A thought came to her one day as she watched women wash clothing in the river. Did they taste good? She had hunted game animals, she had eaten raw flesh and drank fresh blood; but did her own kind taste good? Was that why the Terror had stayed so long? The thought made her salivate, but she shook her head, aghast at herself.

That day, as if to reject her own twisted imagination, she forced herself to march proudly in to the village with a stack of unneeded tanned hides. There were shouts of surprise, confused questions and even one or two dared touch her bulging stomach. It had been over a year since any of them had seen her, yet she was strong, healthy and carried a child within herself that had to have been sired recently.

She made her way to the weaver's house and asked, "Do you have any cloth to trade?" She had never the patience for weaving before her ordeal and now the few times she had woven reeds for floor mats she had felt annoyance. So she would trade for the cloth she wanted.

The matron stepped out and stopped short as she stared at Alia, "I thought you were dead!" She said, "Every one did."

Alia just smiled and held up her bundle of hides, "I need cloth and I'm sure you need leather."

The older woman hesitated a moment, then nodded her head, "Yes yes, the men have been catching less lately." Then she glanced at the bundle and realized it was made up of almost entirely large hides. "How did you catch so many?"

Alia just smiled and told her, "It's not really that hard once you are desperate for food." In truth she had only started hunting the larger animals for fun, the small game having given her plenty of food and even enough hides to make what little clothing she wanted.

"Well then lets see--yes, some of these are quite nice..." A crowd had gathered as they bartered and by the time it was over Alia had to push through a crowd. She got enough for herself though she had hoped for more, she wanted to make a thick blanket for her child when it was born. She would have to line it in fur instead.

The crowd followed her all the way to the bridge, then she lost them on the other side as she darted between trees and made a few false trails before heading back to the bluff. Eventually they would figure it out, but in the mean time she intended to have some peace and quiet.

**

Alia woke with a startled cry. She had felt something, she wasn't sure what, but she had felt it. By the time she was awake however the sensation had gone and she laid back down. She wasn't asleep yet when she felt it again; this time she knew. Deep within she felt a stretching and tearing, painless, yet the sensation left her disturbed. No mother had ever described such feeling to her. She knew what to expect, or thought she did, the pain of contractions, wetness, blood, stretching and clenching. This was different.

There was a squirm, deep inside and she knew the child was moving. She had never felt more than a slight shift before, not the violent writhing and wriggling she did now. There was another sensation of stretching, and this time she screamed, this time there was pain. A rush of wetness gushed from between her legs and Alia knew the child was coming.

Alone, in pain, and terrified; Alia endured the birth. Nothing was like she had expected, not the sharp pain, not the violence as the child tried to get out. Her muscles never clenched, perhaps ruined by the sky terror. Her cervix was pulled open and the squirming intensified. Between her legs, her vulva distended, then something poked free, something glinting in the moonlight. She reached down to touch it, sticky with the wet of birth but unmistakeable.

She wailed suddenly in abject horror as the squirming child pushed its scaled angular head out of her. Then came a long neck, then clawed hands and fore legs. The young sky terror was so tiny that relative to what others experienced, the birth was easy, but for Alia it was pure trauma. When it was over, it wasn't over, she still felt squirming and writhing inside as a second child began to claw its way out of her.

The first child struggled and clawed at her until it eventually dragged its frail body up hers and found her breast. She nursed the tiny thing without holding it, without even touching. She stared, she panted, she hoped against hope that it was just a nightmare brought on by late pregnancy. But it was real and as the second child crawled free in to the humid jungle air, it too reached for her to nurse. This time there was no more movement, no third child. Reluctantly she held them as she fell asleep in exhaustion. They were her children, even if their father was a monster.

Come the rise of the sun, she stared upon the silver and black beasts. They were so like their father it terrified her, there was little evidence of her in them but for a furthering of the feline features. Shorter faces perhaps, fluffier ears, more feline tail with a tuft of fur on the end instead of the great scaled appendage of their sire. Their underbellies were all scales however, from chin to tail base. She stopped for a moment and stared at the scaled slits between their thighs, both of them looked female, but so had their father in that respect.

They slept soundly with tiny snores and she cleaned them, swaddled them, then tucked them both in to the bed she had made for one. They were so small they fit comfortably. As for herself, she crawled out in to the sun then fell back in exhaustion. She felt used up and defiled, her body had given birth to monsters, yet her heart, she admitted, loved them, they were her own. There, naked on the scorched rock she began to sob and accuse the universe of hating her.

Hours later the leathery shell of their egg was pulled from her belly with great care. Then she washed and tended to her aches and pains. She ate, she tossed her soiled bedding outside, then settled down on a fur and fell asleep. Only awaking momentarily to her children's hungry cries, then she fell asleep again with them clutched to her chest.

**

Monsters were born slow but grew fast. Days became weeks, weeks became months and by years end they were nearly as large as Alia herself. She had to remind herself occasionally that they weren't animals, they weren't pets. But when ever they cried for momma, her heart felt it and she came to kiss a bruise or let them nurse. By the third year they towered over her and even so large; they still came to her to nurse yet she had so little that she supplemented it with fresh meat; they wouldn't touch fruits or vegetables.

This time she came running to a wordless cry and found Kuthalti atop his sister Maiana. They were fighting, his teeth in her neck with a fierce growl. She was clawing at him with fore claws and kicking with hind but her tail was coiled up with his like a braid. A moment later it dawned on Alia as she watched her son press his hips to her daughter in quick sharp thrusts, "Stop it!" She yelled and swatted Kuthalti on the crown.

He cowed back and peered up at her with pursed lips. His chest was rising and falling quickly and the forked tip of his tongue peeked out between his furred lips, "What?" he asked as his hips gave another jerk and Maiana howled again in pain.

"You two are siblings, you shouldn't..." Then she wondered if it was true, or if the sky terror grew up like that.

Maiana took that moment to push Kuthalti over, climb on top and pin him to the ground. She then snapped her jaw down upon his throat and held him, helpless. For only a moment Alia thought she would run away and hide behind her as the girl had done before. But no, as she watched her daughter's hips lifted, then she slammed herself down again upon Kuthalti's penis, riding him, taking charge of their mating.

Alia was silent, staring, confused and frightened. She was raising monsters, she knew this, but every time they did something she didn't understand it came as a surprise. Slowly and quietly she backed away until she felt the cabin at her back, then she slid down and clutched her knees to her chest. They were monsters and she didn't know how to raise them. She didn't know what was right and wrong anymore.

When it was over Kuthalti ran off and Maiana sat there, cleaning herself with her long forked tongue. Alia wasn't watching, but it happened before her eyes and she eventually noticed, "Mai..." She said quietly, then louder and her daughter's head lifted, "Why did you two... do that?"

She shrugged, uncoiled, then hopped across the stones to her mother's side, "We were wrestling and I suddenly felt hungry but not hungry. So did he."

"He didn't hurt you?" Alia asked.

Maiana shook her head and smiled, "No, not really, it hurt a little at the start but then I couldn't stop." A shiver ran down the girl's body, rising fur from head to tail in a ripple, "It felt so good..." She admitted with a dreamy half lidded expression.

Alia didn't know what to make of it, sure she had felt such feelings before but she had never acted on them. Eventually she said, "It feels good, I'm sure, but you aren't ready to have a child yet, you're... You're barely four! When I was your age I was still running around naked getting under foot." She shook her head, her children, her monsters grew so quickly.

Maiana nodded as if she understood, then said, "I won't have a baby, It's not time yet."

Alia stared at her, then asked, "You know that?" her daughter just nodded her head then returned to cleaning. Eventually Alia spoke again quietly, "I've never enjoyed it, so I'm glad you did." She didn't exactly feel jealous of her daughter, but she felt like she was missing something important.

"You can ask brother." Maiana said, simply.

Alia shivered at the thought, he wasn't as large as their father, but his shoulder came up to her chest and he was nearly twice her length. It was also something taboo, something she shouldn't even be thinking, "Mothers and sons aren't supposed to, and my body... well, as you put it, its time." Then she added quickly, "Brother and sister shouldn't either."

Maiana finished, lifted her head again, then leaned in to lay her damp muzzle upon Alia's chest. Those large silver eyes gazed up at her as hot damp breath rushed in great plumes across her face, "If its time, brother will anyway. He will know. So it can't be time yet." It was said so plainly, with that strange beastly smile and those bright shining eyes, it seemed almost normal.

It wasn't normal for Alia though, "Kuthalti will just... know? And what do you mean he will anyway?"

Those eyes closed for a moment, then opened again. Maiana shrugged a familiar shrug then pushed her muzzle in to a breast demanding milk. Alia exposed herself and held her daughter's head as the large lips closed on her nipple to suck. She felt a strange tension, both fear and excitement. Some day her son would turn on her, some day he would impregnate her as his father had. Alia didn't know if she could survive a second mating however and the pit of her stomach seemed to drop away.

"I hope he doesn't." She admitted nervously.

Maiana pulled back and told her, "He will." The words were so final and so careless.

When Kuthalti returned Alia stared at him, as if waiting for him to attack, but instead he just flopped down against his sister to nurse as well. They nipped at each other, fighting for room, then eventually settled. There was no arousal in him now, though Alia could still smell the scent of sex upon them and it left a separate tension in her belly.

**

Together they hunted far and wide. By the fourth year the children both began to fly and by the fifth Alia rode upon their backs. Never before had she seen the world from such a vantage. They would be gone for days at a time, flying far and wide, hunting and exploring. The villagers never saw them, careful as they were to avoid the tribe, especially so after Alia told them of her fate.

That night they landed upon a bare cliff overlooking lush jungle a few valleys over. It was a new place, one unvisited. Kuthalti had already finished scorching the stone clean. It was still hot under Alia's feet when she stepped down from Maiana's back and she did a little dance before her daughter plucked her back up again.

"I forget, mother, how sensitive your paws are." She said with an amused giggle.

Alia replied with a grumpy frown, "Oh hush, if I could spit fire I'd probably be able to stand on a few hot rocks as well." Once every thing had cooled off, they settled down for the night, ate their respective meals and made up stories as the stars came out. By the time the moon rose Alia was fast asleep.

She awoke again late in the night to a horrid crying roar sound. She jerked up in her furs and stared out in to the dark night, then heard it again, her daughter crying out. It was a familiar cry, a cry of painful lust. They had listened to her and refrained from mating for years since she caught them the first time. Something had changed.

Alia climbed out of bed and made her way around a tumble of stone to find her children, tangled together. Kuthalti was the larger of the two and he was holding Maiana down with teeth upon her throat again. She took a breath, about to yell at them; but the scent in the air, the potent pheromones, the sight of her young monsters... Alia fell to her knees as a sudden need washed across her core. Immediately she knew the scent though she had never smelled it before. Maiana, in heat.

Helplessly Alia watched as her own arousal grew and grew. If she were a man, if she had a penis, she too would have taken Maiana should she have been willing and able. The scent of her tossed every sane thought from her mind and left her desperate to breed. "It shouldn't do anything to me!" She pleaded with no one in particular, but it did.

Before her eyes she watched Kuthalti release with a howl of abject pleasure. It was nothing like the first time, when he was so immature. Now as he fucked his sister, he was desperate, hunger, mad even with lust. Even after he came, even after he had spent himself in her, he stayed rigid and continued to mate with brutal ragged thrusts. Maiana was beginning to cry and struggle, to push her brother away but he wouldn't, couldn't stop.

Neither could Alia. Her hand had found its way between her legs and she was thrusting furiously as she smelled, tasted, saw, and felt her children mate. She had been aroused before in her life, but never like this, never with such desperation. Her son came a second time and still didn't stop. Maiana was pleading, blood leaked from her slit to stain her silver white fur. Eventually she managed to get a foot under him and kicked, sending him sprawling on the ground a few meters away.

He scrambled up, his wide eyes shining with maddened lust. Between his hind legs his penis bobbed and drooled as barbs flexed with each throb. It was so much smaller than his father's, but so was he. He started moving toward Maiana again and Alia halted him with a shout, "Kuthalti, stop it!"

His eyes moved to her without recognition. His nostrils flared and he advanced. Alia crabwalked backward, away from her lust filled son, "No! Kuthalti, stop please!" she called to him, but he paid her words no heed.

Even Maiana, sore and heated as she was climbed up and tried to drag Kuthalti back but he shook her off and leaped upon Alia. When those paws came down, when the air rushed passed her, Alia knew it was over. That large head came down, those sharp teeth closed upon her narrow throat. She choked and struggled but he only bit hard enough to hold her, not to break her neck. His phallus lowered, his fore claws scooped her up and she felt herself pinned to his scaled stomach and chest.

A moment passed as his sticky member trailed down her thigh. A sticky droplet fell and landed upon her taut stomach with a plop, the only sound other than heated lust filled breaths. Then Alia sobbed once as that tapered tip pressed against her labia. It was so hot and already coated with the remnants of prior excitement.

A clawed hand tangled in Alia's hair and she looked up to see her daughter's concerned face. "Mom, just relax, I'll be here," she said soothingly.

Alia's eyes shut tightly the moment her son thrust. It was a desperate jerk, a bestial probing. He bounced off her entrance and slid up along her stomach leaving a slimy trail behind. His second jerk sank home and she groaned. She had been with no man since that final night in the village, so many years ago now, Kuthalti was the first and for a moment it felt wonderful. He sank in until his scaled slit crushed against her furred entrance and she just howled.

It was true that she had been fucked deeper, it was also true that she had never felt such pleasure. His barbs laid flat, his penis bottomed out, but nothing hurt, nothing tore. On his third thrust her hips lifted to meet him, on the fourth she was panting in pleasure. He had already spent himself twice and the scent of Maiana's heat was beginning to drift away upon the wind. It was almost over and he was calming down.

His jaw opened and he nuzzled in to her cheek but his thrusts never stopped. She clutched at his shoulders with fingers curled deeply in his fur. She had never dreamed a man could feel so good. Then something clicked and she realized, he was no man, he was a monster. That thought pleased her some how.

When Kuthalti peaked Alia cried out. The feel of his semen entering her, a rush of liquid heat, it set her off. No man of her kind could have ever left such a flood, let alone for a third time that night. She moaned and trembled and clung to her daughter and son, laying between the two of them, wrapped in lust filled heat. As he came those barbs stood up and though they rasped against her insides, they were not the vicious talons of his father; they hurt but they didn't shred her alive.

When it was over, when Kuthalti had calmed down and Alia laid there limp and panting, she whispered, "I love you both, so much." and promptly fell asleep as her children licked her clean.

Within the month Maiana and Alia knew, they were both pregnant. Kuthalti was proud and practically bouncy, he was going to be a father. Alia was both upset and excited; she didn't want to endure another birth and the years of childhood yet she craved it all the same. Either way she was baring her son's child now and there was nothing she could do about it.

**

Kuthalti had learned a great deal in his ordeal. From the first scent of his sister's sex, ripe and fertile he had known his purpose. Even after it was over, after he had fathered children on both her and their mother, he still craved. Occasionally he went out hunting alone and he would always bring back meat, but he made a game of it.

There she was, standing in a tributary. He was a good three or four hours from home, far enough that no one would chance upon him. He dropped from the tree, a flash of light from his silvery hide the only warning she got. He landed upon her, heavily, crushing her under him in to the rushing water. She had stopped to drink, a beautiful and graceful doe. She bawled and struggled but his jaw closed on her neck, holding her tight and he dragged her to the bank.

He didn't kill her, not yet, there he laid atop of her, pinning her to the mossy ground. She struggled and her struggles only excited him further. He could feel her pulse against his lips and her heart as it fluttered in her chest. She was just an animal and would soon be a meal, but in that moment she was beautiful. He pressed himself against her rear as his erection grew and thrust himself in to her. She was so small and tight, she tore around him and screamed all the louder so he bit down to cut off her air.

His thrusts were quick and practiced and before she died under him, he emptied himself in to her womb. Then he bit down to snap her spine and felt her die around him. He never told his mother or sister, he knew they wouldn't approve, but he couldn't resist the pleasure, couldn't resist the struggle game. When he was finished he carefully washed the doe's body and especially her sex to remove the evidence, then flew home with her in his grasp. They would never know.

Maiana was pouting when he arrived. She was too gravid to fly and longed to explore with him. He was thankful she couldn't go, it gave him more time alone to enjoy himself. For the first few months she had let him play with her, but after a while she grew tired of it and he had to find other ways to--entertain himself. Mother hadn't let him mount her again either. Though more than once he had smelled her desire, she would simply brush him off.

Alia slaughtered and skinned it. He and Maiana would have been happy to eat it as is but mother had her own way of doing things. She did make good use of those hides however. He watched and caught the tasty scraps or organs and such as she worked.

Maiana came up later as the meat was roasting. "Tell me about father?" she asked and settled down heavily between them.

Alia always hesitated and a shadow crossed her eyes when he was brought up. They were not good memories, but she always told them what they wanted to know. She looked to Maiana and asked, "What do you want to know?"

"You must have seen him many times before he claimed you?"

To that Alia nodded and the cloud lifted some, "Yes, he terrorized our village for three years before... before he sired you two. Once or twice a month his shadow would cross the sun and we would run and hide. He always found some one, not once did he go back empty handed. Everyone he found, everyone he took back here, we never saw again."

"Except you." Kuthalti prompted, knowing his mother was special, was unique, "You were chosen by father, to have us." There was a strange awe in his voice, he looked up to the monster that had sired him.

Alia grimaced and told him, "Chosen? No, He was bored. I begged him to let me live, and he said no. I don't think he expected me to survive the night. He was a monster. He came down out of the sky, threatened to eat me if I didn't please him, then he raped me and left me for dead." Her bitter words came out in a torrent of hatred so strong that it made Kuthalti and Maiana both flinch back.

"But... But you didn't die momma, he didn't leave you for dead, he gave you us." Kuthalti urged and for a moment he was sure Alia would curse them both. More than once she had called them monsters when she thought they couldn't hear, but she never said it to spite them, just when she didn't understand.

Alia answered flatly, "You're right, I lived and gave birth to you both."

"That was good, wasn't it?" Kuthalti pursued.

With a sigh Alia nodded and laid her hand heavily upon his head, "Yes, yes it was." There was more she might have said, but they were things that she didn't want to admit out loud.

Maiana brought the subject back around and said, "So, about father... why was he here? Why did he do it?" Alia had no good answer for that and said as much. Maiana wanted more though, "Don't you know anything about him?"

"No, I have no idea where he came from or where he went. I don't know why it killed so many of us or why he let me live. He was a force of nature, he was a flood or fire that ripped through this valley and was gone. The only thing left of him are the tears of those of us still alive and you two."

There was silence for a while after that as they listened to the sizzle of fat and the crackle of flame. Eventually though Kuthalti said, "He must have felt so powerful."

Alia nodded, "He was powerful. But what is power without love and kindness to temper it?" She had a fear that Kuthalti would follow in his foot steps, so she added, "He was a monster who never thought of anyone but himself. He didn't see us as people, just toys for his amusement or a mid day snack."

His eyes lifted to his mother and for a moment he tried to look at her as his father might have. He could see in her the doe, the prey he hunted. In her belly his seed grew, but she was not his kind, she could never see the world as he did. Then he felt a twinge of shame, he did have the empathy that his father lacked, "I'm sorry mother, sis didn't mean to hurt you by dredging up all those memories. Right sis?" He asked as he glanced to Maiana.

She shook her head and added, "No, of course not. Forgive me mother."

Alia smiled at them both, hiding the turmoil she felt, "It's alright kids. I'm going to turn in though. Mai, please watch the fire, you know how your brother likes to run off and I don't want the house burning down."

"Yes mother." Maiana replied and settled down to peer at the flames. Kuthalti felt a moment prick of annoyance at that, but it was true, he was always running off, usually to find prey to play with. For a moment he wondered if the doe had felt as his mother had and he was thankful he had killed her so quickly.

**

The urges came again and again. Kuthalti refrained from acting on them most of the time, but every so often he would bring home a kill with added seasoning. He and Maiana were still growing and every time he blinked it seemed to gain another few centimeters upon his mother. He was shocked that he had ever been born from her narrow hips.

The urge came again that evening as he laid out on the rock, sunbathing. He had scorched it clean and could still feel the heat of it against his back. Far below in the valley he could hear the village. People he had never met working and living so close. Occasionally he watched them, but never strayed close enough to betray his presence. Today however as he watched, he saw some one being dragged out to the center of town.

Curious he dropped from the rock off the edge of the bluff and drifted closer. He slipped between trees then dropped outside of town to watch and listen. She was cursing and yelling, loud enough to be heard even from there. He watched as she was tied down to the stage and left there in the late sun. Others walked by and rarely spared a glance for the bound girl though one woman came out and spit upon her, not once but twice before walking away with a limp.

As night set he could hear the girl crying but no one paid her heed. He made his way through the village, not even thinking about what he was doing. She didn't see him at first, though she heard his heavy foot falls, "Who's there?" She asked to the dark.

"No one of consequence." He answered then slipped out from behind a building and in to the village center. She still took a moment before her eyes found, but when they did they spread wide, her mouth gaped and she made a choked cry, too soft to alert anyone.

He walked up to the stage, stood with fore legs upon it, and stared down at the bound woman, "So what did you do to deserve this?" He asked, curious.

Her mouth opened and closed dumbly a few times, then she sputtered and answered, "Ellet stole my boy."

He didn't know who Ellet was, or what was involved in 'stealing' some one's 'boy' but the way she said it, with bitter anger suggested it was a grave sin in her eyes, "So, some one else did something, which got you tied up?"

She huffed and said, "Well no, She stole him from me so... So I kicked her in the stomach and broke a chair leg over her knee." The last she said quickly with a huff. there was embarrassed shame in her eyes.

"I see, I see. And what exactly was your punishment?" He prompted as his head leaned a bit closer. He could smell her, fear, sweat, saliva, and the unmistakable scent of a woman. She wasn't aroused, not yet, but he knew what she would smell like when she was and it made his mouth water.

She glared at him and tugged at her bonds, as if trying to shift away from his encroaching muzzle, "I... I'm supposed to sit out here for two days. The Elder said I was to remain here and await whatever fate had in store for me."

"Fate has been kind to me I see." Kuthalti said with a grin and reached out to drag a claw across the rope. It frayed then popped and she gave a startled scream. Movement behind him told of awakened people coming out to see what the commotion was. He quickly snapped the other rope, leaving hands and feet bound but freed from the stage. He clutched the girl in his fore claws and leaped in to the air just as the cry rose up. Torches came out and light reflected off his glistening scales.

He started back toward the bluff, then realized his mother would be upset to see the girl so he flew past. She had struggled at first, but now she was limp and quiet. He glanced down to check and saw she had passed out. It was just as well, she wasn't light and her struggling made carrying her difficult.

He carried her a long way until he found a place he had slept a few weeks before, freshly cleaned atop a cliff side overlooking another valley far to the south. There he laid the girl and shook her gently until she awoke. She screamed again so he placed his hand over her lips to quiet her, "Be silent, I have no intention of eating you."

She shut up then and stared at him with a glare, "What do you want with me then?"

He shot her a suave grin, or what he thought of as one; to her it just looked like a mouth full of sharp shiny teeth under squinting eyes, "You have just lost your boy and I have just found a girl. It seems fate has fit nicely, doesn't it?"

She frowned she huffed, then her eyes opened wide and she stared at him, "You mean... you..." She had been only ten when Alia had been raped but she remembered how broken the girl had looked, how much blood there had been on the stage, "Oh gods above, no!"

His claw came out and dragged a fingertip with talon down her cheek. It was sharp and the scales slipped along her jawline like a lizard's touch, it made her shiver and jerk away. He frowned and slipped closer, giving her no room to escape, "I won't hurt you, I promise, and I'll be a better man to you than any number of villagers."

She flinched away from his touch but said nothing as he undid her clothing. Bit by bit she was bared before him, she didn't even lift her arms to cover herself, for fear he might grow angry. He was so large, not nearly as large perhaps as the sky terror, but she remembered him only through the eyes of a child, this may be the same monster, or it may be another, she couldn't know. All she remembered was blood and screaming of Alia and the terrible deaths of so many others. She flinched again as his hand slipped between her legs, but she parted them reluctantly and turned her head away. He would have her as he pleased and she would not resist.

She couldn't see him well in the darkness, there was no moon and the stars were hidden behind clouds. Yet she could make out the shine of his eyes and the glistening scales as the moved over her. She felt the warmth of him, smelled the musky scent, and then felt droplets of wetness rain down upon her stomach. At last she asked him, "You promise not to hurt me?" It was such a small and timid voice that it disgusted even her.

His heavy body came down and his thick limbs encircled her. He was warm, fluffy and soft in some places, slippery and smooth in others. She trembled in his grasp and flinched once more as his muzzle met her cheek and he whispered in what could only be a husky, aroused voice, "I won't hurt you, I promise." She trembled in fear yet obediently parted her legs, terrified by what horrific appendage might be there to split her in two.

When he thrust it was a gentle thing. He wasn't so large as to split her open, yet she was a virgin and as she gave it up to him, she yelped in pain. True to his word though he didn't hurt her beyond that. Even as his barbs rose and clawed at her inner wall, she felt only pleasure at his deep powerful thrusts. She may have even orgasmed upon him a time or two, though she wasn't sure. He was gentle as he held her in arms that could have broken stone. He was passionate as his wide lips found her small mouth and forced upon her the most penetrating kiss she had ever experienced.

It became the most intense experience of her life as his body arched and he roared a lust filled cry to the night sky and she felt his pulsating member jerk, then empty in to her. Gush after splashing gush poured in then spurted out around him, soaking her stomach, thighs, and rear. She clung to him, her entire body trembling but not from fear.

When he was done he sat back upon his haunches and gazed down at her spent body, his penis semi-flaccid and still embedded inside of her, only hanging on by his barbs, "Mmm... that was wonderful. So much better than a doe or even Alia and Maiana."

Her ears perked up and her tail twitched suddenly at that, "A doe? Alia?"

He seemed suddenly ashamed as he replied, "Er, don't tell anyone. I was... well... I needed relief, so when I went hunting..." He trailed off and looked away from her.

"You had sex with a doe?" She prompted and at his nod she giggled as the image of the big beast chasing down and mounting a deer, "But, you said Alia? You know her?"

He nodded again, "She's my mother and Maiana is my sister."

Her eyes widened and she asked, "How old are you?"

"Six." He responded brightly.

She was flabbergasted. She looked up at him with wide eyes, still feeling his penis twitching and oozing inside of her. She said quietly, more to herself than anyone else, "I was just fucked silly by a six year old?" Then she accused him, "Are you supposed to be out here, doing this? Shouldn't you be at home?"

He chuckled a very boyish chuckle, though with his voice it sounded so deep and manly as to set her fur on end. Then he told her as his hand reached down to stroke across her belly fur, "Maiana had her first heat last year and I go out on my own all the time. Mother does have trouble with it sometimes, but I guess we monsters grow up quicker than you folk." He gave a jerk of his hips and she shuddered in sudden pleasure as the barbs laid flat and his member thrust to the hilt in her. He was already stiffening again, ready for round two.

Hours passed as he rutted her and all her doubts, all her fears washed away. By the time the sun rose and she gazed upon his tired form, still embedded in her sex, she was in love. Or perhaps it was simply lust and trauma blending together to confuse her, but she didn't want to spend another day away from his side. So she fell asleep under him wrapped in his silky embrace. She dreamed of him, of flying, of pleasure, of freedom she had never known.

When she woke again, it was to feel him rutting her anew. Her sex was sore sopping wet with his mess, but she parted her legs and lifted her aching hips to him again. He must have taken her more than once through the morning as she slept yet she found she didn't mind, he was a lusty little boy and she was his, she told him as much, "I suppose I belong to you now, huh?"

He panted with each slow exhausted thrust and between them he responded, "Uh-huh, you're my wife now. You're going to have my babies and open your legs for me when ever I want." It was such a childish thing to say with such adult connotations and it made her stomach clench and flutter as she realized it was true.

"I'm Alice." She told him.

"Kuthalti." He replied.

It was noon before he finally finished with her. Though he had spent himself for the final time hours before, he took the rest of the time to clean her with his tongue. She had been licked by animals before, but never with such affection and obvious attention. She trembled to another peak long before he was finished and fell asleep again with his long slippery tongue buried deep in her belly. When again she awoke, they were in the air, flying home.

**

There was regret of course, and anger, and rage that burned so bright it blotted out every thought in his head. Kuthalti had never felt such emotions before, never learned to manage them, never learned to temper anger with reason. Oh sure he had gotten angry at his sister, or threw a tantrum when he didn't get his way, but that he now knew, was not anger. Petulance maybe, or frustration, but not true anger. The anger that burned in his heart as he landed upon the ruin of his smoldering home was something new and disgusting.

He roared, he stomped and scampered back and forth. He found them and howled anew, a sound so deeply wrenching that it brought tears to Alice's eyes. She at first didn't know what was going on until she followed him and saw the bodies. A large ash smeared clump of silver white and black with a stain of rusted red under it. Cloudy silver eyes staring out toward the sky. The other was small, smaller than even herself. Through Alia's heart a spear had been thrust, her eyes were still staring in death.

There were arrows everywhere, a dozen protruding from Maiana's body. She had been trying to fly, to take off and had crashed here after too many had torn her wings. Alia had rushed to her side, only to be set upon by other villagers and killed. Alice could see their bellies, gravid with children that would never be born.

"Kuthalti..." Alice said quietly but there was no sentience behind those violent eyes, there was no recognition. He took off at a blur and rushed to the village below in the twilight.

Quiet and numb, Alice sat between the two dead and looked upon them. These were people she would never truly know, people who had meant nothing to her until she had met Kuthalti. She also realized they had only died because he had come to town, because he had taken her. Because she had gone with him. She knew now, she could have told him no, could have prevented all of this.

There was no feeling as she heard the screams and cries from the valley below. People she had known died in dragon fire and she felt nothing. She heard Kuthalti's roar, heard the crackling spit of his fire, heard trees shattering and crashing to the ground. Then there was silence. Not a cry, not a whisper. The only thing that reached her was the acrid stench of smoke.

A few minutes later a shadow passed over head then she felt the ground shake as her monster returned, unharmed. Large arms enfolded her, lifted her to his back. She clung to him and tried not to look as they rose in to the sky, yet still she saw the flames far below, a raging inferno that filled the entire valley, a fire so thick and hot nothing would survive. In a moment of rage everything she had ever known was gone; everything Kuthalti had ever known and loved as well laid upon that bluff top, dead. She clung to his fur and began to cry as he took her higher and higher.

Beads of ice rained from her eyes as the frosty wind battered her, but still she could see the bright spark of fire far below. With a grit of her teeth she steeled her heart, he would need her compassion more than she would need his. He was all she had left. With determination she leaned forward and whispered to his ear, "Fly away Monster, fly far away and lets never look back."