Forest Keep 5
#7 of Forest Keep
Chapter 5 The council of Dragons was in uproar, but that was nothing new. Various dragons huffed and spat at one another in frantic bargaining and negotiation over territory and feeding areas as well as the local gossip that filtered through the layers of hierarchy. Nokala strode into the chambers with Carlina at his side. "Do we have to tell them Noka?" She asked, her earlier rage dissipating with the realization that they were about to drop a fireball into the middle of the council. "It won't last. It CANNOT last. You know the gossip that will go round..." Nokala turned to his mate and sighed, "You know what was going through that human's mind, he is powerfully attracted to Cill, and she to him. The inevitable consequence of that attraction may be painful to you but may also be of great benefit to dragon-kind" Carlina huffed to herself, she knew he was right, but the thought of her hatchie possibly mating with a human revolted her. What if they were compatible? What about eggs? She shuddered in mixed revulsion and fear for her daughter's future. Nokala stepped up to the central podium and whispered to the eldest, begging a moment of his time. The elder's eye ridges flew up in mingled amusement and disbelief as he heard of the happenings at the lakeside. "You're kidding?" he gasped out loudly and suddenly there was silence in the chamber as the squabbling dragons turned to see their elder laughing hard in his lounger pounding the table with his fist. "I always knew your daughter was a troublemaker Noka", Elder Marre guffawed; tears of laughter rolling down his snout, "But this? This is the best yet!" Nokala nodded "It gets better", he sent the mental image stream to the elder, including his mates reaction and what she had said to the human in her anger. "Hmmm... I see your point Nokala", Marre nodded after absorbing the stream of emotions and images. "This has never happened before and it is an opportunity to take advantage of... So long as it is allowed to develop on its own", his gaze slid slowly to Carlina who felt her cheekruffs grow warm under the gaze. "But we shall have to inform the members of the council and let them deliberate", banging his staff on the table Marre stood up to face the delegates. "We have an interesting situation to debate brothers. Open your minds to view. With your hearts, and not your eyes", he declared with a wink at Nokala, sharing the stream around the council, various hisses and sudden intakes of breath indicated the depth of the shock. Carlina's talons dug into Nokala's arm as she waited for the inevitable fighting to start. Cill wandered slowly back to her lair, the blanket wrapped around her forepaw. She was feeling strangely happy and it was with pleasure that she ran into her lair and spread the blanket on her bed, shuffling it around and rearranging it to her liking. She thought of James and how he had reacted to her, the remembrance of his caressing made her slowly stroke her breasts. She flushed as she recalled how she had grabbed him and held him close at the thought of his being in trouble. Why did she feel this way about a human? She also thought of her mother's appearance and wondered what she had said to him. Her mother was imposing and if she had thought the human was a threat would have easily killed him on the spot. Snuggling into the blanket, she could scent him on it. Thinking hard she resolved to ask her mother later what had occurred. The heat in her loins seemed to grow stronger as she inhaled his scent, her paws sliding down to her vent and rubbing gently, feeling the moisture leak from between her fingers, she whimpered softly and thought of James. The noise was almost deafening in the chamber, never had such a thing occurred, and several factions had immediately sprung up over the affair. Marre tried to maintain control but knew he had to let the information sink in to avoid over-reaction, thankfully the location of the pair had not been given, so those dragons who immediately voted to flame the impertinent human and his dragon-whore were unable to fly off and do so. This left both Nokala and Carlina to be the targets of insults and abuse. "This threatens the purity of Dragonkind", hissed one elder red dragon, "We cannot let this go any further!" "Since when were you ever pure Tekala?" the hissed riposte came from across the chamber, "This could be the hope of peace between humans and dragons". Tekala lashed at the table with his talons, scoring deep marks along it "You would welcome the possible offspring of such a coupling into this chamber?" he growled, "A bastard hybrid of monkey and dragon? Who knows what will happen". Marre hammered the desk with his scepter, calling for order amidst the chaos, "We shall observe this situation. If this human becomes a threat... he will easily be dealt with, though should he choose his path carefully, we cannot interfere with the fates. Something has brought these two together and it is not our responsibility to step in unless our survival is threatened. Do we all understand this?!" he thundered. A chorus of various responses came from the assembled elders, many were not happy with this decision, but nodded to Marre, after all, they thought, no sensible dragoness could possibly want to couple with a human; it was against the very laws of nature. Nokala leant across and whispered to Marre, "I need permission to use the Anifornum, the spell of accommodation". Marre blinked and nodded "For you?" Nokala grinned, "I want to talk to this human who fancies my Hatchie without scaring him into insensibility". Marre chuckled and nodded, marking some runes on a piece of parchment, "Take this to the spellbinder and he shall remind you on its use, remember the time limit, no more than three days or you'll suddenly find yourself full size and that could be awkward in a small room with humans". Nokala thanked Marre and took the parchment scroll gratefully. He turned to Carlina. "Let's go home", he murmured to her, seeing she was most upset and only holding a brave face in front of her attackers. She turned to him thankfully and they left the chambers for their own lair as hostile eyes watched them depart. James grinned at the gate guards as he rode in, it had been an extremely interesting day. He shook his head in disbelief, and what was worse, he couldn't tell anyone about it without being locked up in bedlam for either being drunk or insane. Stopping at the kitchens for some supper, he sat pensively at the table and pondered. He admittedly had fainted when faced with Cill's mother, and that bothered him. He had honestly thought he was going to die and he had passed out, he had not even been able to reach for his sword with his arms pinned like that. What sort of knight faints in the face of mortal danger? He grimaced to himself, it could have been worse; he could have filled his breeches and then fainted. That would have made a good impression on her. He blinked, just why did she let him go? He knew she had read his mind... was she amused or shocked at what he had been thinking about Cill? He chewed ferociously at a piece of meat as he thought. What about her father, should he fear him too? Should he turn tail and not see her again in case he brought the wrath of angry dragons down on the keep? Giving a loud sigh, he pushed his plate aside and finished a glass of rough wine before heading upstairs to sleep. Undressing slowly he looked down at himself and turned slowly in front of the mirror; sure enough there were several dark bands of heavy bruising around his ribs where he had been grasped tightly by Carlina's talons. He would have to make sure none of the other novices saw them while sparring or there would be some difficult questions, wincing slightly as he got into bed he thought of Cill, her eyes and her purr. Giving a sigh, he tried to turn over then groaned as his erection suddenly got in the way.