The torches around me burn lazily as I listen to the sounds of an almost silent night. Only the soft crackle of wood burning in the fireplace is heard, and I bask in the warmth of the fire, banishing the thoughts of the snowstorm that has raged for days. I stare at the shroud of the cold, white death that extends far beyond the horizon, sending chills down my spine and tail.

I never imagined I would ever be thankful for anything nowadays. But right now I'm glad to be where it is warm. I pity the poor souls that may have dared venture under this weather. I pity them even more if they ever see this place and decide to take refuge here. Not that I think any sentient lives anywhere close. If they do, though, it would be some of the pelted mammals -- none of my kind would ever survive.

The thought of my people brings so many memories. Gods, how long has it been since I gazed upon their faces, heard their songs and their laughter, smelled their food and their pheromones. I take comfort in the fact that they are doing well, better than when they had me around.

How long has it been? How many years? So hard to tell. Time has already started to slow down for me. The thoughts will always survive. I hope they remember me.

It was my choice what helped them.

The fur pelts called it the "Age of Prosperity". And yet, our clans were dying.

Our clans' stories told of a different Age. One where we the egg-layers dominated the world. And the fur-pelts, those who give birth to live offspring, were barely above the level of sentience. A time when we followed the paths of Maia, our Mother, She who laid the Egg from which our races were hatched. Where leaf-eater fed on grass and trees, and the meat-eaters fed upon the leaf-eaters. And both fertilized the ground with their dung and their bones, for the cycle to begin anew. Never was a meat-eater feeding on a grass-eater seen as a sin, nor did the families of those fallen harbor any grudges against the hunters. For it was the will of good Maia and the order she instituted to keep all Her children strong.

The old stories also tell of the Deliverance, when a big "Egg of Fire" struck the land. It hatched with a huge explosion Upon touching the ground. Countless perished on the moment and place of the Deliverance; many more died soon after. Our ancestors suddenly found themselves unable to cope with the sudden changes which altered the world's climate. Hunting grounds for the meat-eaters; herding places for the leaf-eaters... all disappeared under the white blanket of the cold death. And thus began the migration, towards lands of warmth. Some refused to leave the lands where their packs and herds had lived since the beginning of time. Not a single one of them was ever heard about again. Those who trod the path to survival were pushed to lands that could barely sustain a small clan, even less whole herds and packs. Hunting was scarce, and vegetation even more so.

We begged Maia for help, but Her voice was silent. And so, we created our own path. The meat-eating packs made a pact with the grass-eaters. They would not hunt the leaf-eaters if the weak and infirm among these would give themselves voluntarily to the meat-eaters as food. In exchange, the bodies of all meat-eaters (or what was left after other meat-eaters were done with them) were given to the leaf-eaters to nourish the barren ground, so crops would rise for the leaf-eaters to eat. Thus they joined in survival, and thus the inevitable was delayed.

That was countless years ago. Our numbers declined slowly.

I was born in the time when the clans noticed that the world had long begun to right itself. Explorers were sent back to the lands we were forced to abandon during the Deliverance. They all came back with news. Many of the old territories were luscious, green as far as the eyes could see, and covered with plentiful game... and how the fur-pelts now held claim to them.

We thought of ways to reclaim our rightful lands. Some of the meat-eaters demanded for the fur-pelts to be hunted down. But our clans were not in a position to wage war; our numbers were too few, our species too weak.

Emissaries were sent to the new holders of the lands, professing good-will and peace. Understandably, the fur-pelts were wary of us, and only seemed willing to hear our pleads after they verified how close to extinction us egg-layers really were. Our time on the world was past -- our numbers would never increase to where were would even remotely threaten the fur-pelts' domains. No, we only wanted a place where we could live our last in the peace we, the first children of Maia, deserved.

Most of the fur-pelts agreed to have us buy back part of the lands. Alas, what they asked was beyond the reach of our impoverished clans. The only other viable solution was our total servitude to the fur-pelts... and that was unthinkable. Slavery in exchange of survival -- we would rather die.

A solution was to come, and soon. It was decided everyone should voice their thoughts, so the clans gathered.

Packing a few hundred meat and leaf-eaters together for a meeting proved to be an extremely difficult task. Pheromones clouded the air we breathed, creating an intoxicating atmosphere. The smell of the meat-eaters made the leaf-eaters extremely uneasy, while the former battled the growls in their stomach at so much meat in sight.

What started as an organized gathering turned into heated discussions about what was the right path. Each species had its own view, each one insisted everyone else was wrong. Among the most vocal, "claw hunters", medium-sized meat-eaters possessing a terrible claw on each foot, demanded that the children of Maia attack the fur-pelts and take back what was rightfully ours. Again, the other clans insisted how weak our numbers were to wage war.

The leader of the hunters' clan stepped forward. His foot claws twitched as he paced in the center of the arena. "Better for us to die in the hunt than skulking like mindless lizards, or to become slaves to the abominations!"

A rockheaded female stepped forward, brazingly challenging the hunter. "The lizards are also Maia's children! We can do no wrong following their path. What you propose can only be the voice of a hunter's sheer folly!"

"Better an instant death than a slow, agonizing one, waiting for better times that will surely never come. War is our only hope!" the hunters insisted.

"And soil the name of Maia's children even more?" she snorted. "Isn't enough for you that the mammals think of us as creatures better left to die, you also want our legacy to be soiled as well?"

An old longneck bull made his way slowly towards the center. An exception rather than the rule among our clans, he was still standing strong despite his age, like the trees his ancestors fed from. He was one of the very few who maintained an harem of several females, the other ones being the spikedfrills. Muscles rippled with each step as he wore only collars and a harness with some tools attached; heavy balls weighed in the sack that dangled between his legs. Folds of skin around his slit denoted how "busy" this male was with his harem.

"Maia put us to the test," he said with the slowness characteristic of his kind. "We all failed to survive in the lands She gave us."

There was a brief interruption as a longcrest female bleated. The few who turned to look in her direction saw her being forcefully humped by a male of her species. Most surely she had entered her rutting season, from the looks of the other males close to her.

The longcrest continued. "We are not fit to live, and thus Her second children now live there. We are not to take what Maia has given to any of Her children."

All clans gasped, shocked. After a few seconds the rockhead female turned to look at the longneck.

"Blasphemy! How could Maia, an egg-layer like us, ever forfeit her real children for some fur-pelts?"

"The truth is as visible as the sand we stand on," the longneck said calmly. "You have only to look around, and you will see death hanging right outside the circle where we stand.

The gathering degenerated into a loud cacophony. Whether the longneck was right or wrong was, however, was drowned by the shouts from the claw hunters again demanding we hunt the fur-pelts. For the first time in countless years, the bound that united all saurians threatened to be broken. Meat-eaters were on the verge of killing the leaf-eaters.

Suddenly, a voice was heard above the noise. It spoke only one word, but that was enough for every saurian to freeze in his or her tracks.

Dragon.

It was followed by an eerie, total silence.

We all knew what dragons were. There was no hatchling who was not told about them. Egg-layers like us, they were different creatures altogether, more than any of us could ever hope to be. Legends (or myth, depending on which saurian you asked about it) said that, ages before the Deliverance, their forefather had once been one of Maia's children, who had tapped into realms from where Maia itself had been born, where he found the essence for each of the species that made Her children.

Seeking to share his findings with the rest of Her children, he was almost killed by the furious crowds, who saw him as an heretic and harbinger of destruction. Forced to flee, he took with him those few from his clan that believed him. And one day, atop a tall mountain, they defied the shroud of white death, and transformed themselves into the creatures they are now, taking the essence of both meat and leaf eaters, and adding the gift of flight found in the winglizards.

This was, of course, mere speculation. As far as we could remember, the dragons had always been there.

The clans disagreed which species had been the dragons' original stock. Each species sustained claims about why theirs was the true ancestors to the dragons. Nevertheless, they all agreed that dragons lived far longer than any number of our generations could measure. And that over their long existence, dragons had accumulated far more riches than that which would allow us to buy the lands we desperately needed. We only needed a very small fraction to insure our survival.

Loud voices gave way to whispers, and then absolute silence, as they all came to the same conclusion, afraid to utter the question.

Who would be foolish enough to walk towards certain death?

A claw hunter walked away from his pack and towards the center. With a firm voice, he vowed he would find the dragon's lair, so he could study its habits and find its weaknesses or any other way to claim some of its treasure. Rontrag was his name. The sight of his toeclaws, twitching as he walked and talked -- claw hunters seem to burst with energy, for they rarely stay immobile while they talk -- impressed and convinced the entire assembly. All except me, that is. I never had much sympathy for meat-eaters. I raged silently, thinking the hard-headed bastard only wanted to gain renown for his name, and for his species to go down in history as saviors of Maia's children. Quite a change from their current reputation as greedy killers.

Rontrag prepared himself for his journey. Old maps were given to him, pointing to the existence of a dragon lair someplace beyond what was now known as the Desert of Sorrows, a vast expanse of dry land which had claimed the lives of more than half of Maia's children when they migrated to the place we now live in. There was no way to verify the lair's existence, for no one had ever crossed the desert since our ancestors did. Rontrag ego was not fazed by this, so sure he was of his survival skills.

Two days later, all of the clans were there to bid him farewell on the day he set out for the lair. Praise and prayers were heaped upon his name as he departed. Slowly at first, he trotted in the manner his kind does when it goes on a hunt. Minutes later he was only a speck in the horizon, and then he was gone. I imagined he would be dead within a week, his bones bleached white by the desert's carrion bugs.

More than one season-cycle passed, and nothing was heard from Rontrag. During that time I mated with Ikee-Nam, a female of my species.

It happened early one day, as I worked in the fields, trying to harvest whatever food survived in the arid lands we seemed condemned to end our existence. Surrounding me were other leaf-eaters, from all surviving clans. And just a short distance from me, busy in her task too, was Ikee.

I had known her for some time already, and liked her very much. She was also being courted by other males, aware that her first rut would come in soon. On that day, though, she chose to work the fields. As usual, the other males worked close, waiting for her to rut. Smaller than the rest, I kept my distance, eyeing with eagerness, knowing I stood no chance against the others. I could hear their anxious chatter, and knew it was only a matter of moments before she was ready.

A longcrest dashed suddenly into the field, screaming hysterically that one of the dams was breaking. Were it to happen it would mean complete disaster for our meager crops, so every male rushed over to fix it. I dashed after them, some distance behind. My nostrils flared as the first whiff from Ikee's pheromones hit me, and I stopped cold to look at her. Her back plates had turned a deep red, also signaling her readiness. Guilt choked me for abandoning that which could mean an even worse crop than usual, but I was certain I would never have a better opportunity to mate.

I approached her slowly, watching her still busy in her tasks, but fully aware of her condition.

"Maia has called to you, Ikee," I told her softly, swishing my spiked tail sideways, letting her know what I felt. I have always been one short of words.

She turned to look at me with soft, eager eyes -- spirits, I do miss her look. "That She has done, Sargas."

"And has She shown you the mate to help you raise hatchlings?" I asked, hardly able to contain my lust.

"She has put me one right in front of me. I would be proud if you were to be their sire."

I nodded. To my surprise, she took out her meager clothes right there and then, and propped herself on all fours and raised her hips, moving her tail to the side. I looked at her vent, red and swollen with her mating phase. I moaned as my cock emerged from my slit, hard and hot, painfully visible beneath the loincloth that was my only clothing. I ripped it off and promptly held Ikee-Nam under my weight, my tail pushing hers aside as my cock lustily searched for her opening.

Ikee-Nam hissed with delight as my cocktip rubbed against her vent. My lust overcame my mind; she hissed loudly as something ripped inside her as I pushed my member inside her with one strong shove. Nothing serious; just that she was no longer virgin. Her moist flesh wrapped against my hard member as I penetrated deeper inside her. The sensation gripped every part of my body, and in an instant I let my primitive mind control me. Pumping hard, soon I was rocking her, hitting her hard with my loins as I thrusted deep and hard.

The other leaf-eaters tended to the crops while we went about our thing. They stopped their work momentarily to look at us. Some gave us a casual glance and smiled; there was something about the sight of two future mates, each losing their virginity. I paid no attention to them, only to my thrusts and to the female pressed under my weight.

Though it was my first experience, by no means I was unprepared. I had seen my parents mate several times when I was a mere hatchling. In fact, they had taken to show me and my other sibling what it was to sire, and went about showing us in full detail. I remember that moment when I saw my father's cock disappear into my mother's vent, their rhythmic movements. From the look of their faces it was obvious they enjoyed it very much, as they forgot their lesson to give way to their passion.

Of course us hatchlings were eager to try it, but we had to wait long years, as only the scent of a female unlocked the desire in a male for the first time. After that, it was possible to mate at any time.

I was determined to make this last as long as I could. Blood rushed through my cock and my head as I thrusted. The pressure of her wet flesh stroking mine was intense, and so it felt to her as I filled her vent, my cock stroking her pleasure zones. I kept impaling her, faster and faster as I came closer and closer to climaxing. I gasped and hissed with intense delight as fire gripped every fiber of my cock and ballsack, running over my spine and enveloping my mind in a deluge of sensations. The sun's fiery heat was nothing compared to the burning in my cock as I suddenly shot my seed inside her. For a few instants the world dissolved into blissful paradise as I bellowed my pleasure, in what would be the first of several times I would let everyone within several paces of my location I was in the throes of an orgasm. Even through the sensory overload, I heard Ikee shrill just like I did, and I felt her shudder and go limp as she too climaxed.

We savored the orgasm for as long as we could. I dismounted, panting heavily, loathe to take my cock from inside her. As we turned to pick up our meager clothes, I noticed the other plateback males just a short distance from us. They had returned in time to see us climax. Disappointment was clearly etched in their faces. Ikee-Nam licked my snout, and she smiled. I nodded, agreeing to her silent request. We did not bother to dress ourselves as we walked away. Some of the other leaf-eaters smiled as they watched us depart. No doubt we had given them something to fire their own passions, which they would quench later on, in private.

Ikee-Nam and I walked to a more secluded place, where we went about to continue our passion in other ways. Her rut continued for five more days; each day I lost count of the times I buried my cock into her. Each night we went to sleep; every day the sun greeted us with I buried deep inside her, already having done it several times. We climaxed every time; a few minutes later we were again in the heat of passion. We did not stop to eat -- we did lose some weight, although we fed on each other's juices, she more than I. And when we finally returned to our clan, to share a home, we went to my hut... and we did it one last time, as her rut faded... but never our love.

Days passed. Ikee became more torpid each day, until one afternoon she trudged back to her nest, and refused to walk away from it. She hissed at me somewhat furiously as I tried to touch her. I nodded and kept my distance. I walked away to make tea for her, when a sudden, loud scream had me drop everything and run back to her. I saw Ikee twitch and convulse, prostrated on all fours, her vent swollen and red, similar as when she had been in rut.

This time it was for a very different reason, the result of the seed I had planted inside her. I watched, fascinated, as her vent bulged and the soft, leathery shell of an egg started to emerge. I called for anyone outside our hut to give us assistance; strangely, none came. A quick inspection of the huts around ours only showed there was nobody for several paces around. I became worried, but Ikee's screams made me rush back to the hut.

I cooed softly to her, trying to reassure her everything was all right, then took to help her deliver her egg. I touched it almost reverently as it laid in my hands, guiding it carefully to the nest. Ikee screamed again as another egg emerged... and another... and another... and then a fifth one! At a time when clan members were lucky if they laid two, it seemed that Maia had blessed us.

Ikee slumped on the nest, panting heavily, completely exhausted. I kissed and nuzzled her as I washed her body with a wet cloth, all the time giving her words of encouragement at her splendid job. She assented, smiling weakly as she looked at the eggs. Her motherly instincts took over despite her weakened state, and she huddled them protectively.

After giving her some tea and making sure she was all right, I left the hut. It was dusk already, but I felt as if an ethereal glow surrounded me. Every movement of my body radiated with pride as I went to search for the other clans. I wanted to tell every soul that would cross my path, and was sure everyone agree it was indeed a great event for the clans.

Some distance away, I found the whole clans gathered at the exact same spot where months ago they had discussed our survival. I soon found out why no one had answered my calls. Of all days, that bastard Rontrag had chosen precisely that one to return.

Unscathed, and healthier than ever. All of the clans had gathered to hear what he had to say. I seethed with anger as the other claw hunters preened and cooed to their pack mate, with the reverence of someone who has risen from the bottom of the pecking order to almost the top of the pack.

Rontrag told the clan about his journey with a slow, deliberate pace designed to impress everyone and gain their admiration. He admitted being lost for several days, cursing the map makers, until he realized that the Desert of Sorrows had shrunk to a fraction of its expansion during the days following the Deliverance. The clan members all voiced their delight at the good news, and even I conceded that was good to hear.

He then spoke of the lands. He avoided the fur-pelts, preferring to go on his own rather than getting help from such abominations. Our hearts broke as he told how fertile the lands were, and how all were taken by their new owners.

"It was then that I came upon an uninhabited sector of land. Bigger than what the best the fur-pelts had offered us. Big enough to sustain our clans twenty times over! I was about to call it quits with this dragon-searching business, thinking that if we could only adapt to living in the cold, we perhaps could have a better chance.

There was a loud murmur of approval. The thought of cold not even fazing those who would protest the loudest to such an idea. "I saw a large beast. Fur-pelted, yet non-sentient. Don't know what it may had been, but I sure was hungry, and had my fill of eating rations that would only please a leaf-eater."

Rage nearly overcame me as Rontrag's pack mates snickered. I kept quiet, however, as drops of saliva hit my right shoulder. Next to me, a big deathbringer drooled with anticipation, imagining the tasty morsel that Rontrag described. I moved away, more in disgust about his drooling than him thinking of me as a potential snack.

"Naturally," Rontrag continued, "I was readying my senses for some real hunting, prowling, trying not to alert my prey, when it suddenly bolted, running. I cursed, wondering what I had done wrong, when a dark, red shape suddenly dropped from the sky and fell over my prey, killing it quickly, but not before the beast screamed in its death throes. That is when I saw the dragon."

Loud gasps of surprise, followed by complete silence. Everyone waited anxiously for whatever Rontrag had to say. Even myself, I hate to admit.

"His skin was a fiery, almost blinding red. At his back, two large wings were folded as it ate. It stood on two legs, like us, but easily larger and stronger than our friend longneck here," Rontrag said, pointing at the longneck bull that days before had suggested the clans to follow their natural course of death. Whether he intended to humiliate the longneck was not clear, but the bull suddenly trembled with fear. Loud laughter followed from everyone in the arena, except obviously the bull. Perhaps it was my imagination or the dwindling light playing tricks with my eyes, but I could swear I saw his ballsack shrivel and shrink as he found himself suddenly inadequate. I did not want to be in his place later today when he tried to mate with one of his females.

The clan was silent, listening with rapt attention to Rontrag telling how he had followed the dragon back to his lair, then set up camp some distance from it, but still within easy view. He spent days on end, studying the dragon's habits. The dragon, it seemed, abandoned his lair about every month or so to seek nourishment, only to return about three days later, his belly heavy with food, almost unable to fly. More days were spent days inside the lair, obviously digesting his meal, coming out only to stand at the entrance of his cave to sun himself, or to watch the movements of the stars. Rontrag said the dragon seemed forlorn even.

"Never did I hear a word from him... only the roars of a hungry beast. Neither did I ever see him in the company of any other of his kind."

Rontrag continued by telling how he waited one day for the dragon to leave his lair. Even then he waited for hours to make sure the dragon would not return before he dared venture to the entrance and take a look of the treasure inside. Rontrag then pulled a large, jewel-studded goblet from his pack as proof. All around me the saurians drooled, I don't know whom I hated most -- the dragon for hoarding it, or Rontrag for gloating.

Rontrag bowed as he signaled he was finished telling his story, then walked away from the center and towards his pack, where the others bobbed their heads continuously, exalting him. The pack leader took him towards one of the female hunters; Rontrag bobbed his head in what seemed like gratitude.

There was much heavy discussion afterwards about how we would go about claiming the dragon's treasure. Clan members talked about invading the lair and empty it from every coin. Some of the more experienced meat-eaters said that a large group would never be able to conceal all of its marks. No doubt the dragon would follow our trail, and Maia alone would know what he could do to destroy us. No, it was best if at most two clan members were to go and fill every sack they could carry with something from the dragon's hoard, things we could dispose easily.

Rontrag, who self-proclaimed himself the authority on dragon behavior, said he was going back. Someone else was needed to help him bring the loot.

I had seen how Rontrag's pack was getting renown in the light of their member. I felt envy. I wanted the clan to congratulate my mate for her whole clutch of eggs. But her accomplishment had been eclipsed. There would be no way I could attract attention to our offspring unless I demonstrated bravery equal or greater than Rontrag had done.

Well, I thought. You will not take all the credit.

I volunteered.

A time would come, later on, when I would regret my decision.

There was something I had not foreseen in my hot-headed decision. I had forgotten about Ikee-Nam. As I walked slowly back to our hut, I tried to think of ways I could break the news to her. Every time I concluded it was not something I looked forward to do. By our laws, I could not walk away from her without her consent, not until the hatchlings were born and capable of sustaining themselves. She was still recovering from her egg laying, so I waited until nightfall when she was fully rested.

To say she was hysteric would be an understatement. Pressed against the wall, I eyed nervously the spiked tail swinging just an arm-length from my snout, just as if Ikee were defending herself from a meat-eater.

"But -- I just laid the eggs! Our eggs!! The ones you sired!"

"I did it for our own good, Ikee," I said, not taking my sight from her, while trying to keep an eye on her tail.

"Did your brain went to your tailbase or something? Leaving me alone with unborn hatchlings! How can that be good?!?"

I watched her, afraid to move in any direction. Knowing full well what that tail could do. Watching anger seethe inside her, like a stew boiling over in a covered pot, screaming for the lid to be removed.

"How some foolish quest can be so fucking important that you risk leaving our hatchlings-to-be to live without their sire?!"

"If I succeed, I will return with renown."

I realized my wrong choice of words as her tail swung with a loud whoosh, missing my head by just a breath-length, smacking against a chair, reducing it to barely more than splinters. "Renown!" she snorted loudly. "Renown does not feed you. It does not raise your hatchlings! It does not fertilizes our meager crops -- it's only dung that fertilizes bloated egos!

"Renown is nothing you... nothing you can have pleasure with," she continued. "It does not have flesh for you to bury your hot, stiff cock... like you did when you used me!!" She then slumped on the floor, sobbing. I did not approach her, instead turning to pack the rations and other stuff I had been given.

Neither of us said anything for a long time, her laboring breath the only sound to be heard. Despite her anger, I could feel sadness in her.

Ikee sat on the nest, covering the eggs, and sighed with despair. I sat down next to her, wanting to hold embrace her tightly. She turned away from me. I held her tight, trying to infuse her with warmth. She finally turned to look at me, and I saw the tears welling in her eyes. Her voice was soft, full of pain and fear.

"You are walking to your death, you know that."

A very long silence took over as I pondered her words. For the first time I realized the risks, weighed them against my stupid feelings towards Rontrag, against the possibility of a better future for the clan. I touched Ikee-Nam's chin with a finger; she did not reel away from me this time. She sobbed, full of pain.

"We are dying, Ikee. The soil barely feeds us. The children of Maia die while the fur-pelts prosper." I swallowed hard, afraid of my words to come, blasphemous as they were. "Maia has forgotten us, my mate."

Ikee said nothing, though I knew my words had hit deep within her. "How many generations will pass before the last one of us dies? If Maia does not helps us, it is our obligation to do so. I want our hatchlings to grow never having known the hardships we have faced. I want them to feed their children in sweet plants, without the taste of dry sand in them. Whatever the sacrifice, we must fight for our children."

I stood speechless as her beautiful, moist, green eyes looked deep into mine. "What if you never get to see your hatchlings?"

I tried to make my words sound sincere -- Maia knows I would had gladly given my soul and body to make sure that came to pass. "They will not lack a father," was all I could say. I bowed to her and walked away, to the opposite corner of the room, to give her time to think. I turned to look away from her, so my mind would not influence her decision.

Hours passed before she spoke. I turned to look at her; her plates were again a bright red, revealing her disposition to mate, even if this time she was not rutting. "You gave me much," she said, caressing my snout as she pointed to the eggs. "And I gave you pleasure. I want you to remember me, the way we were happy together."

I nodded, and she knelt on the floor. My cock emerged hard and hot; she held it in her hands, stroking it while I hissed with pleasure. She lowered her snout, and proceeded to lick along the length of my cock, slowly wrapping her tongue around my shaft. I held her head tightly as she began to take my full length inside her mouth. Slowly, I began thrusting into her snout with the same hunger I did on her vent when we first mated.

I roared my climax as my seed gushed into her throat, Ikee drinking my juices eagerly, before she laid on her side, opening her legs and offering her warm, moist vent for my pleasure. I thought of the long walk I was to endure during the following days, and the rest I needed to take. I cared for neither as I shoved my cock all the way into her with one strong thrust. Time and time again I took to enjoy her, her moans fueling my passion as her walls parted with the presence of my hard flesh. Soon after I was after her tailhole, pressing my weight on her as I screwed Ikee to the ground, spreading her butt open.

Once again I lost count of the times we climaxed... only to get into the throes of passion soon after. Again the sun greeted us with my cock buried into her.

The image of the clans gathering for our departure soon faded from my mind as I pushed it away, replaced with the thought of Ikee among the crowd, flanked by strong platebacks who vowed to insure her eggs would be guarded until my return. I gasped as the sudden thought of Ikee postrated on all fours, moaning with pleasure while another male hit her hard with his loins, driving his erect flesh inside her. I perished the thought with a loud hiss as a voice drilled into my mind, taking me back to reality.

As we crossed the desert, I could not wait for the time when we would be relieved of the cursed heat. The load on my back felt heavier with each heartbeat, though I welcomed it shielding the sun's rays on my naked body. A few steps ahead of me, Rontrag walked, not fazed by the heat or his own load. I stared at his nude body, watching muscles move with what seemed some elegance. He was a creature born to kill for survival, unlike the stock of my leaf-eating ancestors. I could not help but admire his walk, his rigid tail behind him swaying with every step. And, in a quirk forecast of my future, I thought his rump was quite attractive... almost inviting me to take it.

Gaze fixed on his tail, I almost bumped into him as he suddenly stopped at the top of a sand dune, smelling the air for a few instants, then dropped his pack. "The sun is close to setting," he said in a light growl. It was the first time Rontrag had spoken to me since we left the clans' territory. "We shall make camp here. This will be a good place to sleep, like any in hundreds of paces around."

I nodded, glad to have the load out of my back. "What shall we do with the dragon when we get to his lair?" I asked while unpacking some dried fruit from one of the bags.

Rontrag did not turn to look at me, but paced with the same cockiness his species seemed to bask in. "We do nothing. He gets to live."

I cocked my head in surprise. "Why? Sounds like a dumb thing to do. If we kill him --"

"Because, weed breath, we can't kill him," he said matter-of-factly. "He's too big for both of us."

"Really?" I said derisively as I finished the last of my fruit. Hardly enough to calm my hunger, but it would had to do for now. "I thought your kind was quite brave."

"Brave. Not stupid. Quite unlike others, who seem to think with their tails." He unpacked the contents of his pack, then started chewing on some dried meat. "Wrap yourself with your blanket now."

"Why?! It's still hot!"

"Precisely. Trap as much heat as you can inside. The desert gets exceedingly cold during the night." He unpacked some dried grass, and lighted up a small fire with it. "I'll keep watch tonight. You go sleep now. Surely you will need it, after having spent energy last night filling every hole in your mate's body with your seed."

I snorted, annoyed at how much he infered, not for him knowing. Ikee and I made no secret we mated; I was sure our gasps and grunts must have kept a few curious saurians awake. Some had managed to sneak a look inside our hut; several times I had felt eyes on me. "She and I have hardly been together. I wanted to give her one last moment of pleasure before we left." I noticed the temperature dropping rapidly as the sun set; just as the hunter had said. I wrapped myself quickly in thick clothing, and cuddled on the sandy ground. "It is good to have a mate at your call, and share her body when you feel the need."

Rontrag nodded, a soft grunt, almost seemingly a whisper. It never occurred to me the hunters had any sex. Of course they did, how else they would reproduce?

"Have you have ever mated, Rontrag?"

He was silent for several heartbeats. "A few times. Never with a rutting female."

"I saw you walk away with a female the day you came back to the clans."

He nodded. "Indeed. But our mating was more of a token of appreciation than a chance for me to have my own hatchlings. The alpha hunter keeps control of which males mate with the females. The conditions of the land makes it hard to sustain us hunters. Even if she were to lay eggs because of our mating, there is no guarantee the alpha will let them hatch." He turned to look at me; surprisingly, I saw not the eyes of a hunter, but the ones of a subservient creature. "But urges always run high in my race. Before that day, I had no say about what was done to my body."

I kept silent, somewhat surprised my looking at Rontrag's body in a sexual manner was not unique. I tried to say something, thought better of it, decided against it, and turned to sleep. I was out in no time.

Days passed. We barely exchanged words, except when it was necessary to communicate things. All this time I followed him, the hunter. It was not in my nature to lead, and honestly, I was not about to challenge his large toeclaws.

We kept walking -- after several days of march the desert gave way to a vast, open plain. Not much to look at, but after a few hours of walk the grass became a soft carpet under my feet. Small furry herbivores were seen running around. Rontrag turned to look at me; I nodded, as I knew he was as eager to hunt as I was to munch on the soft grass. He dropped all his equipment, and ran after the small creatures.

I ate greedily, and purred as I relished the taste of the soft plants -- full of moisture and so sweet, quite unlike the sandy taste of the ones back at the clans' territory. I turned my head slightly to look at Rontrag as I heard him roar. Thankfully, he was quite far away, and knew he was rending his prey to pieces while it was still alive. I came to feel some respect for him right then, knowing how tempting a target I must have presented to him. I dismissed the thought and went back to eat.

It took six more days of walk before we reached a thick forest, where I found more sweet plants and Rontrag hunted larger game. Rontrag said it would be two more days before the mountains were visible in the distance, and almost four days march before we actually reached them and the dragon's lair. Once in our way we had to wade a wide yet shallow river. I was awed by such a vast expanse of water; once the initial reaction was over we took time to drink and bathe in its cool waters. The weather soon grew colder, and for the first time in my life I took to wear full clothes instead of the almost nakedness which was the clans' lifestyle.

Early the next morning, Rontrag stopped to point somewhere in the distance. That's when I first saw the dragon's cave. Set at the base of high, steep cliff, even from far away it was an incredible sight, though huge as it was, it was dwarfed by the almost impenetrable mountain range that would had impeded our walk if we had wished to cross it. I glanced up, and shuddered at the white capped mountains, realizing it was the cold death which had claimed the life of many of the clans' ancestors.

It took us a whole day and the following night to cover the remaining distance, walking slowly, keeping ourselves hidden and silent within the vegetation. Feeling like prey and predator at the same time, Rontrag felt we were to take extreme precautions so as not to alert the dragon of our presence. I felt he was overtly cautious, but I was not to dispute his skills as a hunter.

The sun greeted us again as we were perhaps a thousand paces away from the the cave entrance. Other than the wind and the chirping of birds, nothing else was heard. Eventually, even the birds became silent.

"Where is he?" I whispered.

Rontrag said nothing. I could feel him getting tense, like a hunter trying hard not to give himself away to his prey. Except that he was not the hunter.

The same wave of fear washed over me suddenly as a large shape appeared at the cave's entrance.

I stood in awe as I saw the dragon, and finally realized why Rontrag had said it was foolish to fight it. A biped like us, he was easily more than twice as tall as us. I got an obstructed view of his powerful, muscled body, for he was completely nude despite the cold air. His skin was almost completely red, a deep, flame-like tone; his highly muscled chest and belly, down towards his crotch, was a sandy color, as it was the underside of his tail. Two black-tipped horns protruded in his head, each going past the eyeridges. Several small plates lined his back, a fainter shade of red than his skin; these resembled in arrangement the plates of my own race, though were quite unlike mine. I noticed his maleness; while his cock was held inside his body, his ballsack was highly noticeable, wheighing heavily against the skin beneath his slit.

His red skin seemed to glisten under the morning sun, almost as the color of the flames housed inside his body. Sinews moved effortlessly and gracefuly even as he stood there, basking himself in the morning sun, while he scanned his surroundings. Hidden in the vegetation, Rontrag and I waited in complete silence, knowing there could be no hope of survival against such incredible hunter. Still, I felt those ancient eyes almost going past my flesh, as if looking deep into my soul, every time the dragon scanned the area where we hid. It was an alien feeling, and yet strikingly familiar... something I had felt more than once in my life... yet I could not place exactly what it was.

Time passed. Still the dragon did not budge from its resting place. He twisted and turned a few times, sunning every part of his muscular body, and giving us a clear and complete view of his graceful physique in the process. I whimpered as I watched him move; my own body had already started aching from the awkward position in which I stood; born of prey stock, my race had not as much endurance as a predator.

"Is he going to stay there all day?" I whispered, my voice coming more like a whimper.

Rontrag snorted. "Yes," he whispered, his voice dry and edgy. "He is a predator, and a highly successful one. Unless you want your bones sucked dry of their marrow, I suggest you endure your cramps."

I gave a quick glance at Rontrag; he stood there, like a hunter waiting patiently for its prey to make its move. I watched him for a few moments, then at the dragon, noting a resemblance, of sorts. I imagined the dragon coming from the same stock as Rontrag's hunter species... and I shuddered at what the dragon could be capable. Thankfully, the dragon lacked the big sickle claws found on Rontrag's feet.

The sun was almost midway on its slow journey when the dragon suddenly unfurled his wings to their fullest extent, basking them in the afternoon heat. I could not help but admire what a magnificent creature he was. He took a few steps out of his cave; I saw his leg muscles tense, then he jumped into the air.

"He's taking flight!" Rontrag whispered, almost unable to hide his surprise. I ignored him, my eyes fixed on the dragon as his wings beat twice, thrice... and he was in the air, climbing higher with each wingbeat. He hovered for a few moments before he turned to fly eastward at an incredible speed; he was soon gone, his body a speck in the distance, and soon that was gone too.

"Odd," Rontrag whispered.

"What is it?" I asked, a bit uneasy.

"Nothing. He used to go west, into the forest, every time he went to hunt. And earlier in the day, more often than not. He must have found himself some new hunting grounds."

We waited for almost two hours, making sure the dragon would not return, before we ventured out of our hiding place. We made our difficult walk towards the cave, our progress hampered by the sheer cliff, to which my body was not used to climb.

As we stood at the entrance, light from the setting sun shone directly into the cave, striking the hoard. I stood shocked, unable to believe the sight of that much treasure and wealth. I gathered that we could fill our sacs with enough treasure for the clans to buy some luscious lands for everyone to live in peace. Still, I regretted raiding the cave of such a magnificent creature, and begged for him to understand it was for our clans' survival.

"Get to it, grass breath!" Rontrag ordered as he took some sacs and started filling them with coins and other valuables. "And choose well -- I am gathering only for the carnivores. What you get is for you grass eaters."

I nodded, then started filling the sac with coins and other objects I imagined would be worth much when sold to the mammals, trying to keep my mind from wondering what means the dragon had gone to collect his wealth. But soon the feelings became overwhelming. I had hardly filled the first sac when my heart raced, and suddenly I was unable to move, transfixed, locked with fear... similar to the same sensation I felt when the dragon stood at the cave's entrance, but intensified a hundredfold.

"I guess we have enough" I said, almost stammering with the words. "Let's go."

Rontrag sneered. "Doesn't take much to impress you herbivores? You still don't have enough to save your kind."

I could have left right there and then, and Maia be my witness, I regret not having done that. But somehow I cared for that arrogant bastard, enough for me to try to get his worthless skin to safety. "Let's get the fuck out of here!" I said, almost begging. "The dragon's not gone!"

"Fuck, Sargas!" Rontrag growled, scooping out more coins into the sac. "I studied that motherfucker for months! He has gone hunting! He never left for less than a day. No way that dragon will return any minute now!"

"He's a sentient! He need not get into a pattern!"

"Specially when he wants to catch the thieves that were skulking outside his lair!"

I wished for death right there and then. It was not Rontrag who spoke those words.

Rontrag dropped the sac and turned, his eyes widening in shock and fear, while a shadow fell over us. I turned slowly to look towards the entrance. There he stood, the terrible -- yet somehow still magnificent -- beast. His eyes seemed to burn my soul as he turned to look at me, then at Rontrag. Smoke came out of his nostrils as he breathed, slow and deep, and I could see, and hear, that he was not at all pleased at the raiding.

Rontrag and I stood there, watching him, watching the entrance a few steps behind. My mind raced, analyzing. If we could race far enough towards the exit, we could manage to lose ourselves in the forest just below the entrance, providing we could survive the fall. Being the hunter, Rontrag was the more agile, so his odds would be slightly better than mine. Even then, it was a long shot.

I made my move. I dashed towards the entrance. As I expected, the dragon suddenly turned to face me. I stopped instantly as his head swung towards me; jaws agape, moist with saliva, the stench of his meat-eating diet washing all over me. Deep inside his throat I caught a faint glimpse of the fire inside him. I looked deep into his eyes, unable to keep myself from fathoming that alien, and yet familiar, presence. Somehow, I managed to strike something deep within him, for he stood there, scanning me intently, as if looking for some hidden clue. I saw Rontrag dash towards the entrance, eager to take chance of the opening I had given him.

It was not to be. The dragon turned effortlessly to cut his escape. I marveled at his swift movements, far more graceful than I had seen in Rontrag. With one swift stroke of his left claw the dragon grabbed Rontrag by the tail. Soon the dragon held Rontrag as the hunter squirmed in his grasp, and I watched as the dragon pressed his snout on Rontrag's neck. Rontrag screeched as the dragon ripped his coat, exposing the hunter's flesh, which the dragon licked and tasted. I seemed imminent that the dragon would devour him right there.

I had cared enough for Rontrag. Tried to save his skin. But it was survival of the strongest -- or the smartest. Good riddance, I thought as I ran for the exit.

Five steps later, the dragon had caught me. His hot breath washed over my snout as I found myself staring into his gaping jaws. I had a vision of those sharp teeth closing on my neck, and begged Maia to end it instantly. Instead, his right claw held me rudely in a tight grip before the dragon threw me to the floor. A strong feet pinned me to the ground almost instantly. The dragon smiled fiendishly at me, then turned his attention to the squirming and screaming Rontrag.

To my surprise, Rontrag was still unscathed, even if shocked with absolute terror. I watched as the dragon continued to rip his clothes, leaving the hunter completely naked. The dragon then pinned him on the ground with his other foot, holding him in place as he turned towards me. Within seconds I too was fully naked. I could feel the cool air grabbing hold of me, and my fight subsided.

"Now, now..." the dragon said almost casually, the calmness of his voice as shocking as his fury had been. "Which one of you will be the first to go?" Absolute terror gripped me, the stories of my ancestors raced in my mind, of how prey feels as it realizes it is all over for itself. Meanwhile, Rontrag squirmed under the dragon's foot, gnashing with teeth and claw, determined not to become easy prey. The dragon roared as one of Rontrag's toeclaws managed to rip the dragonflesh and draw some blood. "Ah, yes... the feisty one!"

The dragon grabbed Rontrag and hurled him into a nearby cage. Rontrag was on his feet immediately, but he was not fast enough. He struggled futilely, trying to get out. Satisfied, the dragon then devoted his attention to me. He walked away from the cage and towards a chest near the center of his hoard. The sound of his feet stepping on the gold was almost mocking, reminding it was greed what got me into this. The dragon smiled a toothy grin, and I gasped, thinking it was finally over for me.

"Yes, he will be the first to go... but I want you to watch."

I choked, disgusted at a creature that made fun of its prey before being eaten. The dragon rummaged into the contents of the chest, looking for some stuff, finally taking some leather straps and belts. Satisfied, he started walking towards a small stalagmite.

I wondered why he had not locked me then in the cage, but who I was to know anything about dragons? Rontrag had thought himself an expert. Rage coursed through my blood, as I silently cursed Maia for not fulfilling my initial wish of Rontrag dying in the desert when he set out alone that day.

My mind got back towards the dragon as he twisted my arms behind my back. His grip on my arms was strong; any attempt to break free only met with more resistance, and I quickly realized the futility of trying. The dragon tied my arms with some leather cuffs, then fastened a collar around my neck, then tying a leash to it, the other end to the stalagmite he sat me on. He chuckled as he spread my legs, then tied a bar to keep them that way.

"Why in hell don't you eat me?!?" I screamed, more out of outrage than pain.

"Shut up," he commanded as he finished fastening the cuffs, making sure these would held me, but not tight enough so blood would not circulate. He held a leather strap with some large round ball attached to the middle of it. "This should keep your mouth shut... or open." He chuckled, and his laughter sounded like the snoring of a longneck.

"What the fuck do you want with me?" I shouted, frightened, yet at the same time enraged, just before he managed to put the gag on me, tying it tightly, the leather biting into my flesh.

"You yourself said it."

I realized he would not kill us right then... but something inside told me I would wish he had done so. He seemed pleased with my reaction, licking my gagged mouth. I turned my head away in disgust, and he smiled, then turned towards the cage holding Rontrag.

The dragon returned to the chest, then got some leather belts, which he tied around his loins, cuffs hanging from them. The dragon fastened a thicker, larger belt around his waist, from which he fastened two more cuffs. He then walked towards the cage.

"You," the dragon said, his voice filling the cave as his roar once had. "You were here not long ago. I felt your presence then, and let you undisturbed. It had been a very, very long time since I felt the presence of a scaly brother. And when you took that item, I did not mind -- thought perhaps you had done so in admiration. Perhaps as a way to direct your worship towards me."

Rontrag screamed in terror as the dragon opened the cage and grabbed him by his legs, pulling him. The dragon growled as he held Rontrag dangling from a leg, his head down about four feet from the ground, then slapped him hard in the snout a couple of times. Rontrag ceased struggling, dazed.

"But now you came back, with another, to rob me!" The dragon's voice was furious, but still I could notice some sadness in it. "You are no better than the fur-pelts who have come to rob me so often. They all met their destiny. The most fortunate I killed promptly; the rest have died in pain."

The dragon looked at me; again going deep into my soul -- and yet going past, reaching the core of me. He turned his back towards me, so whatever he was doing with Rontrag I could not see. "You two should be honored... brothers in scale, you shall give this dragon something he has not gotten in a long time." When he finally turned, Rontrag had been fastened head down, so his snout lied in front of the dragon's slit. I threw up the contents of my almost empty stomach, almost chocking with the gag in my mouth, as terror gripped me.

Rontrag recovered just in time to hear his words, and he started trembling and screaming, trying to twist his neck and head away from the dragon's groin. "Maia!! Please.. Don't... *choke*... not... not here too!!"

The dragon caressed Rontrag's head, almost lovingly. "It's been eons since Ss'karryhl had an intelligent reptile to get some pleasure. Now I got myself two."

Ss'karryhl -- which we know knew as the dragon's name -- said nothing more. His tongue slid out of his long snout, probing inside Rontrag's slit. Rontrag squirmed, repelled by the warm tongue. Ss'karryhl smiled as he began pulling, taking Rontrag's cock from the slit. Rontrag gasped at Ss'karryhl's administrations; I imagined Rontrag would find himself unable to contain himself, if the other hunters had had sex with him against his will. Rontrag gasped and went rigid as his cock started to harden. At the same time, the dragon's own cock started to peek out of its own slit.

Rontrag's eyes seemed to bulge as he saw the huge dragoncock come out, larger and thicker in proportion to Ss'karryhl's body than any would had thought possible. It was coated with some slimy substance, possibly a natural lubricant of some sort. Rontrag twisted his head away in disgust as the thick member rubbed against his snout.

Ss'karryhl held Rontrag's head easily in his left claw, while holding his victim's cock wrapped tightly with his tongue. He forced Rontrag to stare directly into the throbbing member, oozing a large amount of precum. Rontrag gasped as his lips touched the cock.

"Nooo!!! Please!!! Kill me!!!"

"Did I hear right? You beg for death?"

Rontrag gasped. "Yes... Please..."

Ss'karryhl smiled. "Well... too bad." Ss'karryhl pressed the back of Rontrag's jaws with his thumb and middle finger, forcing them open. Rontrag gagged and gasped; with one quick push the dragon pressed the hunter's head down forcing his thick member into Rontrag's mouth.

"Nooo--gglooohhhkkkk!!!" Rontrag could say no more. His cheeks bulged, distended as the huge cock buried itself into his throat. Rontrag tried desperately to pull, but the dragon held him fast, forcing him to take more of his cock. Ss'karryhl bucked his hips several times, and each time his stiff member disappeared deep into Rontrag's gullet.

"Yessss..." Ss'karryhl hissed with pleasure, saliva foaming in his snout, as he thrusted slowly inside his victim's mouth. "You have no idea how great you feel, morsel. You better not bite... or else it will go far worse before I get to kill you." Rontrag whimpered, nodding as far as he could, then suckled on the huge cock. He gasped and gagged, barely able to breathe. I imagined he wasn't unused to perform that act, though the huge size of the cock was.

Ss'karryhl growled with pleasure, the kind he surely had not experienced in eons, while he worked his tongue on Rontrag's cock. Rontrag shivered with his own pleasure and fear; saliva and the mucous substance around the dragoncock foaming and bubbling obscenely in his mouth.

The scene played before my eyes was too gross... and yet I could not help but watch, a mixture of absolute fear mixed with fascination... terror that such would come to me... and yet, looking at something I never thought possible. Ss'karryhl hissed as he turned to look briefly at me, then positioned himself so I could have an obstructed view of his cock going deep into the poor hunter.

Suddenly Rontrag whimpered loudly, and I could see his cock pulsing as it spurted, sending his shots of cum into the jaws of the grinning dragon, who worked his tongue, milking Rontrag of every drop, spreading it around his jaws and tasting it.

"Is that all you can give?" Ss'karryhl said, almost gasping as his own climax seemed imminent. He pushed Rontrag's head into his groin, forcing the hunter to take the full length of the dragoncock, until it seemed as if the dragon would push his balls inside his victim. Rontrag trashed, squirmed, but Ss'karryhl held him fast.

Rontrag gasped and choked at the same time Ss'karryhl closed his eyes, his jaws open... the dragon panted and roared as he emptied himself almost directly into Rontrag's stomach. Large droplets of dragon seed dribbled from Rontrag's mouth, running down his snout and eyes, blinding him, then splattered on the rocky floor.

Ss'karryhl panted, slowly taking his huge cock out; tendrils of the whitish cum trailed after it and towards Rontrag's snout. Ss'karryhl cleaned his huge member on his victim's snout, then started unbuckling the cuffs, finally releasing Rontrag, who fell to the ground with a loud thud. The hunter laid there, coughing and weeping. He vomited, and a huge glob of cum splattered at the dragon's feet.

"There's no understanding you, bastard," Ss'karryhl said while he looked at the weeping hunter. He smiled fiendishly as he pressed Rontrag's face on the glob of cum, almost drowning the hunter. "You come to my lair to get something from me. This I gave you my own essence, and you don't like it?!"

To my amazement, the dragon's cock was still hard, and I could see now his erection was no less than 15 inches. I shuddered as I realized Rontrag's ordeal may not be over yet.

As if in response, Ss'karryhl grabbed him and threw him over a rocky slab, then tied him so Rontrag laid spread-eagled, his belly on the cold rock. Ss'karryhl lifted his tail, and massaged his asshole with a clawed finger.

"Please... not anymore..." Rontrag begged, his words hardly coherent between sobs.

Ss'karryhl decided to let his cock do the talking, and pressed the tip against Rontrag's hole, holding it there teasingly. He smiled, pleased to hear Rontrag beg. He arched his long neck and head, his snout reaching Rontrag's easily, licking the hunter's snout, tasting his own seed. His tongue went inside Rontrag, and pressed his lips against those of his victim, so his screams would be muffled.

With one cruel shove, the dragon buried half his member into Rontrag.

Rontrag stiffened, his head going up as his eyes opened wide. He struggled desperately, clawing at the rock as he pulled desperately at his bonds; he tried to screech but Ss'karryhl held firmly, their lips pressed together. Slowly he pushed his cock deeper and deeper into Rontrag, his anus stretching beyond what I thought possible.

Again Ss'karryhl did it so I could watch. I winced in pain as I saw that monstrous cock plunge deeper, stretching Rontrag's anus wider. Ss'karryhl growled as he pulled out the entire length, only to bury it again inside, savagely. Ss'karryhl thrust slowly at first, then more rapidly, ramming the helpless Rontrag, getting more than half the cock out then back again.

I could hear muffled scream from Rontrag, his eyes shut tightly with pain, tears rolling down his cum-covered cheeks. His screams only served to fuel the dragon's desire to rape him.

Long minutes passed; Ss'karryhl kept pummeling into Rontrag, thrusting mercilessly, time and time again. He seemed to stop once, hissing, as I thought he had orgasmed. He released his hold on Rontrag's snout just as he took his cock out, and my companion lowered his head to the rock, his eyes half-shut, gasping and sobbing loudly.

To my horror, Ss'karryhl suddenly buried his cock completely back inside the hunter. Rontrag screamed; to this day I don't think that loud shrill will ever fade from my mind. Rontrag's screams were like those of a prey been torn alive by predators. Ss'karryhl pounded on him faster than ever before. With each thrust he lifted Rontrag clear from the rock. This continued for longer than I thought possible for anyone to keep that pace. Rontrag suddenly became silent; a soft gurgle emanated from his throat as he mercifully passed out, but not before Ss'karryhl gave his last thrust. His wings fluttered, his head bent backwards, jaws open, as the dragon drained himself into the hunter, before he finally collapsed, totally exhausted, on top of Rontrag.

Ss'karryhl remained inside Rontrag for a long time. He withdrew with a loud slurping sound; cum splattered on the ground as he pulled, much as I had seen when the clans' bull workbeasts pulled out of their cows. To me, Ss'karryhl was not much different -- sentient, yes, but a savage beast nonetheless.

The dragon turned to clean his cock with Rontrag's tail, and gave him a mock kiss in the snout, as if thanking him. He then turned to look at me. I met his gaze with hate-filled eyes as he said casually, "Tomorrow." He then trudged towards the back of the cave, and disappeared into its depths...

I was still awake by the time sunlight started shining again in the dragon cave. I gasped and rasped my dry throat, wishing for something to drink as I worked my tongue around the cursed gag ball that had forced my mouth open for a long time. I would had taken the cursed thing had not my arms also remained tied behind my back. Long did I desist on struggling against the strong leather; it took me the best part of a minute to realize I would not be able to free myself. Despite my being tired, I did not sleep during the night. Wondering, thinking.

So it ends, I thought. Raped by a dragon before becoming his next meal. My thoughts drifted over to Ikee-Nam... I longed for her warmth, her voice... her sex. All were gone forever. I imagined her mourning, carrying five hatchlings of her own, alone... feeding them on food that would never nourish them... before their generation would be over, the clans would be dead. Tears welt in my eyes, and I sobbed.

A moan directed my attention towards Rontrag; shivering from the cold, he was still tied to the rocky slab. I saw his tail twitch and quiver, and he gasped just as his body went almost rigid. His naked body glistened in the soft torch light, covered in dried cum. I envied him for an instant; the gods had mercy on him and had kept him unconscious for hours. His moaning, however, told me his dreams were anything but peaceful. I hoped, I prayed, his dreams were the worst possible nightmares.

Shortly after sunrise, I heard the ruffle of leathery wings. The dragon was approaching.

For an instant, he looked as magnificent as I had seen him early the day before. I looked at Ss'karryhl as he basked in the morning sun, as if he drew sustenance from it.

Then he turned to face me, leisurely walking towards where I stood, still bound and gagged. I met his eyes, looking deep into them, fathoming the mind that was behind. I wished to spit on his face, but my gag made it impossible.

A movement caught my attention briefly, and I watched as the dragon's cocktip started emerging from his slit. Ss'karryhl released the leashes binding me to my rocky seat, then sat on it himself, holding me on his lap. His growing cock pressed against my balls; as I watched, the cock grew to a size seemingly larger than when he raped Rontrag.

I breathed deep and fast, trembling with terror at what was only moments away from happening to me. I prayed to Maia to claim my life right then, to send me to a life of servitude -- anything to take me away from the terrible fate that was to come.

Ss'karryhl licked at my neck; behind me I felt his cock rubbing against my tailbase. Why this? I thought, in something like rage, and yet almost crying. Please... don't let it be... don't let it happen to me!

Surprisingly, a thought came back. It will... because you wanted to rob me... and I am alone.

I stood there, shocked. I tried to ponder this thought, just as the dragon lifted me. I felt his cocktip pressing against my anus, and still my mind tried to analyze...

All my thoughts were squelched as I felt my tailhole ripped open.

Back with the clans I wondered what Ikee-Nam had felt when I ripped her virginity, and the feeling of my cock filling her vent. Right then she had given herself willingly to me; the overwhelming pain around my tailhole as the dragon ripped me open only signaled the rape to which I was now a victim.

I tried to scream, to voice the pain that violated my soul much in the same way the dragon's cock violated me, forcing its way inside me. I gasped, tensing my tail muscles to the utmost, trying to keep Ss'karryhl from entering me more. He grunted, pleased at my resistance.

"You... are tight, my little saurian... *hrnnnn!!*."

Slowly, inch by painful inch, Ss'karryhl forced his thick member inside me. I tensed, trying to keep him from going farther, but my meager strengths were not match for the dragon. His claws clenched around my waist, and forced me further down his rock hard cock.

I moaned as I felt something hard and hot between my legs. To my surprise, my own cock had come out of my slit and now stood painfully erect, dripping clear liquid. Ss'karryhl smiled as he saw this, and promptly turned to rub my hard maleness. I moaned, trying to keep his claw away from it. Soon the pleasure I got from his touch was undeniable. I cursed and screamed as much as I could with the gag on -- cursing myself for getting aroused at this savage assault, screaming for the dragon to get his release, and to give me mine as well.

The rubbing on my cock only worked to weaken my will. Suddenly I realized there would be no denying; no amount of resistance would keep Ss'karryhl from taking my flesh, using me the way Rontrag had been used, to release pent-up urges the dragon had held for ages. Life no longer seemed willing to struggle for, and I abandoned my body, letting the dragon use me as he pleased.

I could only muster a muffled cry as the huge dragoncock filled me completely, burning inside me. Ss'karryhl hissed with pleasure as the entire length of his member was suddenly enveloped by my hot flesh. He held there for a few seconds, then slowly lifted me clear of his length, only to then push back in again. This time he met no resistance.

Ss'karryhl grunted loudly as he moved my limp body up and down, much like a rag doll; at the same time, my cock throbbed and pulsed under his furious stroking. I wished for death to take me as my innards felt on fire from the hard flesh moving inside me; I cried as no supernatural force would grant my wish. Ss'karryhl continued for a long, seemingly interminable time, while I sobbed, begging for the dragon to finish.

The world turned into a dizzying blur as the dragon increased the pace, impaling me faster and faster on his throbbing rod, until it suddenly stopped. Ss'karryhl tensed, growling deep and loud, the rumbling of his voice deafened by the rush of blood in my ears.

"MRRRAAAHHHHHHHH!!"

Ss'karryhl's grip on me strengthened as orgasm gripped him. His claws dug into my skin, drawing a little blood. He jerked and thrashed hard, roaring loudly with pleasure and the intensity of his climax. I felt the powerful shots of the thick, furiously hot dragon seed filling my bowels with incredible force. Just then my own cock pulsed, spurting my seed to fall to the ground. I moaned and gasped -- to my surprise, Ss'karryhl did so.

I heard a soft moan despite the loud dragon grunts. Rontrag had awakened, and now watched horrified as the dragon used me for his insatiable hunger. His eyes spoke the horror of his mind recalling the experience from the previous day had not been a terrible dream. My gaze met his for a brief instant, before he averted his tear-filled eyes.

I closed mine, tears running down my cheek just like the seed oozing from my tailhole and down the dragon's thick shaft. The horror of the rape washed over me in a nauseating realization that I had been used in a way that tore at my mind. I was no female to be taken... tears flowed down my eyes.

I don't know how long we remained locked after that; time seemed meaningless while I tried to cope with the deluge of painful thoughts racing through my mind. Finally Ss'karryhl withdrew with a wet, slurping sound. More of his seed trickled from my ass to fall on his crotch and stomach. He dropped me on his belly, still holding me tight. I listened to his fast breathing, his nostrils letting out copious steam.

"Much better than your friend here!" Ss'karryhl finally managed to say between gasps. "It may take a while for me to recover... but I will use you again! In the meantime you can do something more for me --"

He put me back, resting on my belly, on the rocky outcrop I had spent the night on. He slapped my snout with his seed-covered cock, smiling. "Lick it clean."

I averted my face, growling. Fuck yourself and die, I thought, furious.

Ss'karryhl roared furiously. "No! Fuck YOU!" He grabbed my snout, almost crushing it in his strong grip. I trashed desperately with pain, trying to breathe, the gag biting painfully at the roof of my mouth. He released his hold, then took the gag rudely out of my mouth. "You better not bite, you bastard!!"

Forcing my mouth open, he rammed the entire length of his member inside my throat. I felt it harden, my cheeks bulging. Ss'karryhl rammed furiously into my mouth, choking the life out of me. He thrusted hard and deep, like a bull on a cow. Each time my snout pressed against his groin, the smell of his crotch wafted to my nostrils. He roared with anger as he took me again; his words, however, were lost from the blood rushing to my head as I started fainting from lack of air.

The last thing I felt was the thick spurts of dragon seed going into my stomach...

"Sargas..."

The voice penetrated my unconsciousness, slowly bringing me back. Part of my mind fought it vehemently, unwilling to bring the rest of me back into the world. I tried to comply, to banish it and my own existence to where spirits would wait for me when it is over. The voice was persistent, however, and slowly but steadily brought me back while the rest of me screamed in protest.

There was barely any portion of my body that was not ridden by pain. My mind reeled from what it had endured, wrists and ankles still red from where the leather had bitten into my skin, jaws aching where the dragon's thick slab of meat had distended them... and my soul and tailhole screaming from the rape I had been subjected to.

I turned to see Rontrag as he crouched next to me. My eyes cleared slowly; I could see he and I were locked inside the cage. He shivered, apparently from the cold I was starting to feel, as we both were still naked from when the dragon ripped our clothes. A wave of intense nausea overcame my throat and stomach, and I vomited a gob of dragon seed, along with my stomach acids.

"Thank Maia, you are alive. How do you feel?" He had been calling me, desperately, for quite some time, apparently from his coarse voice.

"Like I could drop dead." I said weakly, cursing Maia for not killing me. "Or as best as one can be after a dragon force fed me his disgusting essence. Speaking of which...?"

"Probably hunting, I guess," Rontrag said, answering my unspoken question. "He locked us in this cage after he finished ramming his cock in your mouth, then stormed outside, roaring something about not finished satisfying his other hunger."

"Oh, fuck..." I could only mutter as the realization came over me that there was more to come, feeling even worse at using a word that best described what the dragon wanted. "We need to get out of here." I spoke in a slightly desperate tone, forcing myself to at least see some optimism. I tried to get onto my feet as best as I could, walking towards the cage's lock.

"Don't bother trying," Rontrag said, defeat clearly marked in his voice. He pointed two fingers at me, the claws broken. "It's a tough lock. Lost these two trying to work it out."

Sighing, I slumped to the floor. "Then we are fucked."

Rontrag nodded. "I would say so."

I said nothing for a while, trying to absorb the realization of our failure. Not because of the horrors that were yet to come our way. My mind reeled with the images of the clans waiting for our return, slowly realizing we had failed in our quest at the cost of our lives. I imagined them sending more explorers, who would in turn become victims of the dragon. Then the clans realizing they were doomed, and would try to survive in the arid lands... slowly withering away. Images of dead saurians flashed in my mind. Ikee-Nam dead, her flesh dry against her bones... while a hatchling wailed hungrily, his four siblings already dead... while the sand blowing around them mercilessly, covering everything in its shroud of death.

I tried to get a hold of myself as anger and frustration raged within me. I looked at Rontrag, sitting on the opposite side of the cage, and my anger swelled tenfold.

"Someone should have stepped on the eggs of your kind before Maia had let you hunters be born," I said, spitting each word in his direction. "You worthless piece of shit."

The hunter stood there for a few instants, eyeing me. From the look on his face I could see I had hit home, insulting not just him but his pride. His pack.

"And can you tell me now how the fuck would that help you now, weed-breath? If I had not come to study that dragon, someone else would have done, and from the way I have heard you talk, you would had volunteered the same!!"

"Indeed. And I would had been with someone who would had been smarter and made a better study of the beast, instead of proclaiming themselves as some Maia-damned expert!"

Rontrag hissed, seething with anger. "Oh, yes, like you would had done any better! Fucking dragon would have caught anyone getting into his lair. That should be painfully obvious for you and any of you ass-brained platebacks. You all would had felt the dragon's cock smashing into your brains!"

I growled. Terrible grudges and death had come from one saurian insulting another's race. But that was precisely what I wanted. Feeling defeated, I wanted nothing more than a release from the flesh I was entrapped inside. There was no saving the clans; I wanted death. "If you had done as I suggested first!! This is more than enough fucking reason to kill him!"

Rontrag sneered. "Just the two of us, tail for brains?!"

"A whole fucking army then!! Your whole pitiful hunting race, perhaps!!" I stopped... thinking. "Yes, your whole pack... give the dragon a whole harem for him to screw their brains out, like your weakling pack did with you!"

Rontrag roared, his toeclaws twitching almost uncontrollably. Saliva dripped from his slightly open jaws. Normally, I would had feared confronting a meat eater, much less a claw hunter. Right now I saw him as the only path left. I wished nothing more than for him to strike... and kill.

"Yesss...." I hissed. "Why are you fighting the dragon getting his cock up your tail? When your pack knows nothing of tasting a female's cunt, only screwing them to make more male hatchlings to screw and suck when they grow up. You are no different from every hunter! You are all weaklings!! Fit to become the dragon's lovers!!"

Rontrag kept looking at me, breathing deep. He shook his head slowly, then leaned against the cage's bars, giving me a faint, forced smile. "I can see where you are going... No, I won't kill you. That would leave me alone with the dragon. You will not get out of this easily."

I breathed deep, furious that Rontrag, like Maia before him, refused to grant me a release from this world. Suddenly, with an agility that still surprises me to this day, I got on my feet and leaped at him, screaming.

Rontrag yelped as I caught him off guard. My hands closed around his neck, strangling him with every fiber of strength. I kept myself out of range of his lashing toeclaws, while I hit them with my spiked tail. Never did I strike to injure, although I did try to choke the life out of him. My hands eased their grip only a fraction, but enough for him to recover just enough.

Rontrag grabbed hold of my wrists, and held tightly while he looked at me with hate filled eyes. His snout suddenly struck, and his jaws clenched around my snout tip. Teeth pierced my flesh; I resisted the pain, watching as my blood trickled down to his mouth.

The taste of blood served the desired effect. Rontrag was suddenly driven by his hunting lust, his mind slipping into the desire to kill, becoming stronger. He slammed me to the opposite side of the cage, then jumped on top of me, raging. My whole body froze with shock, the kind that overcomes all prey when they realize they have lost to a predator. I gave a quick prayer to Maia as the tip of one of his toeclaws nicked my stomach, a mere instant away from it spilling my guts on the cage floor.

It was precisely at the moment when a loud roar filled the cave.

"ENOUGH!"

Ss'karryhl had returned. His reddish scales even more so, bathed in the blood of the prey he carried on his right shoulder. He dropped the dead animal on the ground then turned towards the cage, opening it instantly just by his sheer strength. Rontrag screamed as the dragon grabbed his tail and dragged him out. Rontrag struggled in his grip, desperately trying to escape, still driven by his hunting rage. Ss'karryhl roared more out of surprise than pain as the hunter's toeclaws scratched him, finding himself having a really hard time trying to subdue the hunter.

Suddenly I realized that, in his struggle with Rontrag, the dragon had left open the cage's door. My eyes shone, and I immediately dashed towards it, my whole body and soul overcome by the prospect of freedom.

Just as I raced for the door my left foot stepped on the mess I had vomited minutes before. I slipped, and fell loudly to the cage floor, slipping, and stopping half out from the cage. I clawed madly, trying desperately to get on my feet, and had barely managed to do so when a hard kick sent me reeling back inside the cage. I screamed in pain, clutching my belly, which bled somewhat from the marks of sharp nails where the dragon's foot had hit me. The cage door slammed loudly, and almost instantly I was washed over with greater despair. I was trapped again, and this time without Rontrag to kill me.

"I will dispose of you later, little saurian," Ss'karryhl growled, looking at me with rage while he held the still struggling Rontrag. "Right now this one needs to be broken a bit more."

Ss'karryhl disappeared into the deeper parts of the cave, Rontrag's screams trailing off... then coming stronger. Screams of pain and despair, begging for mercy, mingled with the loud grunts of the dragon, extending for long minutes... then the scream of the dragon's ecstasy... a short pause... then Rontrag screaming... and everything getting repeated on and on for several long hours...

"Yesss... that's it, little saurian..."

I grunted in assentment as I continued sucking on the big piece of hard dragon flesh inside my mouth, determined to pleasure the dragon as much as possible. I breathed easier as I felt Ss'karryhl thrusting slowly in my snout, savoring the sensations, trying to delay his release as much as possible, just as he delayed mine. The leather cuffs that tied my hands behind my back still reminded me I was the dragon's slave and him using me sexually was a rape like countless times before. Yet the pain of that first day had subsided somewhat, as his claws gently massaged my tailhole and ballsack.

My loud moans fueled Ss'kahrryl's passion, and he thrusted faster into my snout, but still at a gentle pace. He hissed with pleasure as orgasm took him yet again, spurting hard inside my mouth. Some of it trickled back into the cushions where we laid, while I swallowed most of it. Ss'karryhl gasped and panted; he pulled out moments later, panting. At his unspoken command, I pressed my lips and tongue on his semi-hard cock, licking it clean.

"Good saurian," he hissed with delight, patting my rump hard. "Maybe when the time comes, I will make your death a painless one. It is not a request I've granted to those who came here before you."

I nodded, licking the last drops of cum from his cock. The thought of me serving as the dragon's meal had long since stopped being terrifying; in fact, I could hardly wait for the day Ss'karryhl would decide he had enough and wanted to take me out of my misery. Still, I did my best to please him whenever he wanted to use my body, if only for his promise of a quick, painless death.

"What became of them, great one?" I asked, feeling some morbid curiosity.

"Before you two came, only the fur-pelts had dared come to my cave, seeking to steal my hoard, just like they had done with that of other, less fortunate dragons. Their mistakes only served to increase my wealth, and their bodies to fuel all my hungers. One thing I will give you two... you feel much better and have lasted longer than any of them did."

I tried to envision the dragon raping the mammals just like he had done to Rontrag and I, the thought bringing a strange sense of justice for them taking our lands and demanding payment or servitude to have them back. I relished the thought, giving Ss'karryhl a good lick along the most sensitive part of his cock and ballsack.

"Aaaa... aaahhh... aaaahh!" he spurted, almost gurgling, his tongue hanging clear of his jaws. I continued licking him, and he responded by forcing my mouth open, once more thrusting inside my mouth. I said nothing as once more I sucked him, giving him more pleasure... until once more I felt his load gushing inside my throat. The dragon roared before slumping on his bed of cushions, panting heavily for several instants.

"Great Mother Maia... You do pleasure me well."

His mentioning of Maia surprised me, and I wondered how his ancestors also turned to worship the Great Mother. I dismissed the thought; it bore no relevance to my survival. "It was mine to serve you, my lord," I said, licking my lips clean, already used to the bitter taste of the dragon's juices.

Ss'karryhl lifted his head to look at me, curious, before he slumped back. His body shook as he laughed loudly. "Your pleasure? Since when my raping you is a pleasure to you?"

"It is not, my lord," I admitted. "But it is not my place to disobey you."

The dragon snorted. "Your friend should learn well and follow your example."

Thoughts went to Rontrag. Unlike me, which had been kept well-fed and even bathed occasionally, the hunter was left in the cage, suffering from cold and hunger, the stench of his unwashed body and the dragon cum overpowering. Yet he still seemed defiant every time Ss'karryhl sought to use him, causing Ss'karryhl to find pleasure in raping Rontrag as painfully as he could. Every night I heard the hunter wail with despair, every time wishing I could do something to end his pain.

I was brought back from my thoughts by Ss'karryhl's strong claws massaging my rump. "Ready that tailhole of yours, slave. I still want more."

I grimaced, but tried not to show it. Slow or not, his huge cock always left my tailhole craving for a salve to ease the pain. "As you wish, my lord."

The dragon snorted again. "Enough with the subservient shit. What is with this 'lord' business?"

"What else would I call someone who is obviously more powerful than I? It would be my duty to serve you, for you --"

"Shut up," he growled as he moved behind me to fasten the cuffs tighter. "Don't make me feel sorry for having raped you and your friend."

Sorry? Ever since the dragon crossed our paths, it never occurred to me that he could have feelings. I cursed myself slightly for not stooping to ask for mercy when we first encountered Ss'karryhl instead of our hot-headed decision to escape. But dwelling in the past was of no use to me. Could it be possible the dragon had feelings? Thoughts raced through my mind, faster than liquid downhill. Maybe... if I played it right... perhaps there could be a chance.

I winced at the sudden lash of pain as he tightened my bonds. "It was your right, sir. We were not entitled to take any of your hoard, no matter how desperate our situation was then."

Ss'karryhl turned only slightly, but enough for his tail to reach and grab a bottle of scented oil, as dexterously as he would had done with any of his hands. He grabbed the bottle with his right hand and started shaking it slowly. "Desperate? You mean you two raiding my hoard was not a simple act of greediness?"

"No, sir. We only sought to help our clans. They are dying, sir. Even with our numbers diminishing with every season, our barren land soon will no longer be able to nourish whatever is left of our races. Unless we can buy back some of the fertile lands that once belonged to our ancestors, Maia's children will soon become nothing but words in the mouths of the new inhabitants of the world. That is, if they will even bother to remember us."

Ss'karryhl grunted; a faint trickle of steam wafted out of his nostrils. "Yours is a race of fools. If such lands belonged to you then why you did not fight back for them?"

"We are weak, sir, and our numbers few. Maia's children deserve better than to be massacred instantly. The only other option that was available was our slavery to the new masters... and that was unthinkable."

There was a long pause, after which the dragon laughed noisily. "Unthinkable! And here you are all subservient, being nothing more than an object for me to rape, yet you treat me as your "master" so there's a chance I may get to spare your pitiful existence!" He took the cork out of the bottle; a sweet perfume soon invaded the room.

I remained silent, trying not to gaze into the dragon's piercing eyes. His words hurt, even more when he was speaking the truth. Who were to say the rest of my kind would not do the same as I did? The thought of Ss'karryhl taking Ikee-Nam... I shook my head in disgust, hating myself for even bringing that thought. And yet... how long before it indeed happen? Probably the clans were starting to notice our delay right at that moment. It would be just a matter of time before they would take us for dead, or that either or both ran off with the treasure. Perhaps they would send more to the lair... or else they would take the easy way and submit. No, I could not allow it.

"I do not speak for the rest of the clans, sir," I finally said, my voice barely above a whisper.

Ss'karryhl smirked. "You two were quite foolish to come here. Yet I have to concede that you were also very brave."

"We needed the wealth desperately, sir. We... didn't think there was any other choice."

Ss'karryhl paused for a while. I could notice he was thinking, perhaps weighing my words. He moved away from me, and started to pace, his head held high, yet it was obvious he was talking more to himself than to me.

"I was born long after the Deliverance. I have never known a world like that recorded by the ancestors. I did meet one who did, shortly before the wyrm died. How he managed to keep himself alive was not for me to digress. I thought he was mad, driven crazy by spells beyond his comprehension. And yet... the way he spoke, it was evident his mind was as sharp as when he when he was my age.

"He spoke of a time when your kind and I shared the same sphere of existence, until dragons separated from your stock and moved to a higher plane. One that blessed them with longer lifespans and heightened powers, yet it cursed us to have more time to dwell about what we left behind.

"And like your race, the Deliverance killed a great number of dragons. Just as you saurians seem destined to die, so are we. I had indeed noticed the decline of intelligent reptiles -- Maia knows how long it has been since I even saw another dragon. That is why I was so pleased me when I first felt your friend's presence, and yet it angers me that you were so bold to think you had the right to rob me!"

I shivered at his sudden outburst of rage, even more so as his hot breath washed over my naked body. It never occurred to me until then how easily he could had engulfed us with his flaming breath had he wished so.

"Still," he continued, "as another of Maia's children, it would be unfortunate if I let you saurians go extinct or become any mammal's servants. It would mean the death of my roots... specially your --" He hesitated.

I looked at him, curious. "Sir?"

"Nothing," he stammered, a bit angry, averting his eyes as I looked at him. "I am under no obligation to help your clans. You two bastards certainly are not worth the trouble -- maybe I should devour you later. Still, I can understand your plight, my scaly brother. If you were so willing to sacrifice yourself, I should give you what you want."

My heart almost exploded with sudden joy. Blessed be Maia!, I thought. The pain of my ordeal suddenly seemed nothing compared to the joy of having Ikee and my offspring able to live healthy! My happiness was such that I would have dared leap and kiss Ss'karryhl were I not tied up. I would see my hatchlings grow strong --

"That, on one condition," Ss'karryhl voiced.

"Yes, my lord?"

"That you stay forever by my side. So that what I lose in gold, I will recover in a slave that will give me the pleasure I crave."

My happiness plunged faster than a bird shot from the sky, an arrow in its heart. "B-but... wouldn't my lord prefer a female dragon to bring him offspring to carry his lineage?"

"That will not be necessary. I have indeed fathered some eggs, yet they remain dormant, resting until the time comes for them to replace me. Dragons are loners. You, however, have proved to be something I want. Every time I have used you... you have managed to satisfy me." He rubbed my tailhole. "I want you."

"S-s-sir!" The words almost chocked in my throat. "I have a mate and hatchlings that await for my return!"

"You are my slave, remember? You offered yourself, saying you were honored to give me pleasure!" Ss'karryhl growled, and I noticed the anger mounting again in his eyes. Curse my words.

"What about your friend?" the dragon said in between grunts. I turned to look at him, and saw him rubbing the oil on his once again hard cock. "Does he has family too?"

I shook my head nervously, knowing there was more suffering to come. "From what he told me, his clan used him as the rulers' toy, even."

Ss'karryhl looked around for a gag, then turned back towards me, tensing the leather. "Then he would not be doing anything he has not done before. You will get to leave tomorrow, my little saurian. In the meantime, let me enjoy you for the last time."

I was hurt by his callous words. "But... he has not voiced his opinion!" I managed to say before he fastened the gag in my mouth.

"He has no say in this. Neither do you, come to think of it." He turned me so I could rest on my stomach, then yanked my tail, exploring my tailhole with a clawed finger. "If it bothers you, I suggest you two discuss it. I shall await your decision."

Nothing more he said after. The next thing I felt was my tailhole opening wide as his cock was forcefully pushed inside me. The oil was little comfort from the dragon's size. I trashed and squirmed at the painful thrusts, my screams muffled by the gag. Ss'karryhl grunted loud, both from his pleasure and his desire to let me know that, despite his occasional good treatment, I was nothing more to him than a posession for him to vent his violent sexual desires.

It took only mere instants for the pain of his rape to hit me full force, like when he took me for the first time. It took a long time for him to finish. I sighed with relief as he withdrew his cock from me... only to feel it penetrating me again in another violent rape.

It would take him five more orgasms before he was satisfied.

Rontrag paced restlessly inside our cage. His toeclaws twitched, twitching almost uncontrollably. His tense muscles were highly noticeable all over his naked body; these released in sudden spasms, making his movements seem jerky, as he tried to control the emotional flood racing through his mind and soul.

"One of us..." he said, almost choking on the words. He turned to look at me. "Tough decision, eh?"

I nodded, still silent. I had been silent after I let him on what the dragon had said, hoping he would understand my position.

"We each would lose a lot," he continued, his voice shaky. "You... would lose your mate, and your hatchlings... they would need someone to take care for them all. And you would lose your freedom."

I nodded. "Yes."

"While I... I would only lose my freedom... to run, to hunt."

"You were a sex object for your clan," I added, hating myself for bringing it up.

Rontrag nodded. "That is not known outside our species. But what that beast did to me -- to us -- is nothing but brutal rape. At least the senior hunters brought me to pleasure at the same time they got theirs."

Silence followed for longer than I anticipated. I imagined the hunter going onto another raging fit, perhaps trying to attack and kill me in his desperation for being the one to leave.

Rontrag sighed, looking outside the cage and towards the entrance, where we could see some stars shining brightly. He finally slumped on the cage floor, snout pointing down in defeat as he covered his eyes with his claws. "The need of the many are stronger. I -- I am only one."

I moved to his side of the cage, and gently pried the claws from his eyes. Copious tears ran down his snout as he turned to look at me. I rested my hands on his shoulder and held him tightly. I said nothing, and yet he understood better than if any words had been spoken. He nodded, getting closer. I felt the sharp touch of his claws on my back. But never was my flesh pierced, as Rontrag held my skin tightly yet lovingly. No longer did I feel anger towards this hunter, as we both joined in a tight hug -- one that lasted until daylight.

The next morning, the three of us waited at the cave's entrance. Very few words were exchanged as Rontrag and I said farewell to each other.

"All set," Ss'karryhl said as he held two large sacks, one on each of his claws. "You have heard me. No coming back to attempt to release the other from my control. He is my possession now, and he has traded himself willingly for the treasure I now give you."

The dragon set the sacks on the ground. "This should exceed any expectations your leaders may have. Now, for the sake of you and your people, you better not try to dispose of this for yourself. Not even a single gold piece -- else you and your people will wish to have died slowly in that hellhole you live in."

I watched silently as Rontrag took the sacks on his back, grunting under their weight. For a moment I was worried the load would prove too much for him under the desert heat -- I prayed for his safe return to our clans. A lone tear ran down my cheek, happy for his freedom, yet also envious.

Ss'karryhl held me tightly as I watched Rontrag race away, silently, with his load. The hunter did not turn not even once to look back towards the cave he was enormously pleased to leave behind. Within moments he had disappeared in the forest at the mountain's foot.

Ss'karryhl tugged the chain attached to my collar, and I followed him into the cave. The dragon wasted no time for him to claim his part of the bargain, forcing me to stand on all fours. After tying my legs and hands to spreader bars, he yanked my tail up. He lifted my hips, and I felt his cocktip poised at my tailhole.

"It was your decision," he said, smiling. "I hope you can live with it."

I said nothing, preparing myself to be used again. "Who knows," I said, a bit defiantly. "Maybe if I--"

My words were cut short with a loud gasp as he pushed hard. There was a scream. Not mine -- Rontrag's. A cry of pain... and farewell.

Ever since that day Ss'karryhl has used me much as I used Ikee-Nam on the days we first mated. A short, intense thrusting inside me, followed by a short pause... then more sex... and so on for days. Occassionally the dragon would grant me some respite, as he left for days on end to hunt for himself and collect food for me. Every time he would make sure to chain me to some part of the cave where I would have no way to free myself.

To my surprise, some time later we had an unexpected visit. Rontrag returned, bringing news... and one of my hatchlings. Tears of joy ran down my cheeks as I saw the young boy, which he and Ikee had named Markhan. The child already was growing strong, far more than other children of his age, and obviously very well fed. Even Rontrag was different; still lean, as it was the nature of hunters, but his skin glistened from a far more nourishing diet.

I cuddled the hatchling as Ss'karryhl and I listened to Rontrag as he told us how the dragon's gold had allowed the clans to claim of one of the choicest sections of land ever. Several fur-pelt kingdoms resented this, but fortunately the clans had enough wealth remaining that other fur-pelts decided it was in their best interests to form an alliance with the clans. The clans would never be large enough to claim dominance of the earth again, but they would not lack allies to help them.

I prompted Rontrag for news about Ikee-Nam. She, understandably, mourned my loss -- I asked Rontrag not to tell the clans what became of us in the dragon's lair, but I did not want her to live in that lie. I had promised her I would sacrifice anything for my hatchlings to grow strong... and she was proud that my sacrifice had been the clans' salvation.

I once promised her the hatchlings would not lack a father, and they did not. A very unusual one, indeed. Rontrag himself took to raise them, in the way of the leaf eaters, yet in the strength and the cunning of the hunters. My sons, he vowed, would be among the healthiest, and Rontrag was sure they would be fit to take our races to paths never dreamed by others. I felt I had no reason not to believe him.

Rontrag, however, was very ashamed to admit that he had started to enjoy Ikee sexually, as I had done before. Surprisingly, I did not feel anything but happiness that he had taken my place completely, and took to look after all her needs.

Rontrag did not stay for long; I could notice he was still visibly uneasy from the memories. Seeing me wearing a collar, with Ss'karryhl always holding the other end of the chain, only made it worse. I'm sure he heard the noises when the dragon raped me again late that night. Also, the changes he surely noticed in myself. I bid him farewell to him and my hatchling... for that could be the last I would ever see one of my kind.

I sacrificed myself for the survival of the clans; so my hatchlings could have a chance to live, I bound my word to the dragon. Still, it is my hope to leave someday, to go back to my kind. That was a some time ago... if I left now, where would I go?

Ss'karryhl will soon arrive from his hunt. I wish I could face the cold as strongly as he does. Perhaps, someday, I may find the way back to my ------ **********

Ss'karryhl hissed with displeasure as the parchment's writing ended so suddenly. From the ink spots that obliterated the writing, he deduced Sargas had been in a hurry to hide it. Nothing more was written after; it must have been shortly before he last raped the saurian. Before he had to take some measures he now was beginning to regret having done so.

The dragon rolled the parchment and put it back where he had found it, next to what once was his slave's cage. How many years had passed since then? He shrugged; time was something dragons seemed to have plenty of yet thought of so little.

He felt his member worming inside his slit, as the accounts of those days when he took his slave's once virgin flesh fueled his desire once more. He hurried towards another part of the cave, where Sargas now rested.

"Sargas! Come here!" he shouted.

The loud rattling sound of chains told the dragon Sargas trudged as fast as he could towards his master. It was the only thing the saurian could do, as his legs were chained, as they had been for years on end, allowing little movement. That, and that his slave still had to get used to a different way of doing things.

The dragon grabbed the chain attached to Sargas' collar, then tugged at it gently. "Let's go outside." Sargas nodded happily, his muzzle's little bells jingling happily as their owner.

Both reptiles climbed effortlessly to the top of the mountain, where they could see for miles around. Ss'karryhl noticed the shadows in the distance. He remembered when the land surrounding him was deadly cold during winters; now it was slowly growing capable of sustaining life. The outskirts of civilization he had seen once in his explorations beyond the horizon were proof of it. They would never get close, though. Mammals knew better than to live even remotely near where a dragon lives, and the saurians knew better than to tread on the territory of the dragon that saved their lives.

Ss'karryhl smiled as he felt Sargas eagerly licking his feet to get his attention, then turned his back and propped himself on all fours, moving his spiked tail sideways, leaving his tailhole exposed and ready to receive and please his master. It had taken years and extreme methods, but Ss'karryhl had finally broken the saurian's will.

Ss'karryhl looked at his slave, who turned to look at him with eager eyes, whimpering. Never did it occur to Ss'karryhl that Sargas knew how to read and write. Had he known, perhaps he would not had taken to obliterate Sargas' former existence. Then again, Sargas had been quite rebellious after Rontrag last visited. He knew somewhere deep in that mind still lived the little saurian that once raided his lair. Perhaps, if he researched more, there could be a way to reverse some of the damage...

Sargas moaned as he licked at his master's ballsack submissively. "Is there a problem, my master? Am I not that pleasing to you anymore?"

"No, no... just was thinking of something, my little saurian." Sargas rubbed his slave's tailhole, feeling it pulsing eagerly. "I'm quite hungry for you. I hope you ate well -- we won't be eating in a few days."

"We can live of each other, master," Sargas said, trembling slightly with anticipation as Ss'karryhl caressed his wings.

Young as the saurian was, Ss'karryhl would had outlived him for centuries, unless something had been made. Sargas' sacrifice required more than leaving his clans behind. It was leaving also going the path of countless generations in the past. After all, it had been Sargas' race the one who gave birth to the first dragons. Ss'karryhl awaited eagerly for the day when Sargas' wings were capable to sustain him in the air, so both could take to flight someday -- and enjoy his slave's body while among the clouds.

Ss'karryhl nuzzled and kissed his servant's snout, just as he would do to a lover rather than the prisoner he once liked to rape. He gently pushed Sargas' tail aside, and promptly entered him; chains rattled loudly as Sargas squirmed and thrashed as Ss'karryhl rammed him dry. He hissed, then eased himself to better accommodate his master's cock.

In another time Sargas surely would lose count of how many times his master entered him that day. He only hissed as the sun greeted him, Ss'kahryl's cock buried deep inside, rocking him with every thrust from the dragon's hips, as his member was tenderly stroked by his master. The first waves of pleasure took them both, Sargas's seed splattering on the rocky ground as his master's filled his intestines.

Almost immediately the scene was repeated -- and would continue to do so for the years ahead.