“...Up! Wake up! Hey! Come on!” Muddled words from a distant voice jolted my mind, and all at once my senses came crawling back to life, some slower than others. My head ached like the morning after too many cheap spirits. I stirred groggily, my eyes reluctant to open, my hands feeling the… ground? Not a bed? I started to rise when I was yanked back to the ground, particularly by my hands, which I realized were tied together. Was I sat on my ass tied to a damned pole? My eyes peeled open in surprise, and I blinked rapidly at the newfound light of day. Someone stood before me, perhaps a horse-stride away, though they were too blurry to make out. A rather oddly shaped person. They wore a helmet with horns and they seemed to widen as one looked down their frame. After I blinked a few more times and the sight before me truly registered, everything clicked. The damned dragon and her blasted desert. Perched on the sand before me like a proud eagle, she stared with those all too familiar yellow eyes, an insufferable grin on her muzzle. The desert behind her waved and pulsed like the surface of an ocean. It was the blistering heat, I knew. Far worse than when I had last been conscious, for now it seeped into me, eating away my strength and focus. I had no will to move, yet I had never felt a stronger desire to escape. All of yesterday came flooding back. “You… this whole time… Where are those men from before? Do you charge them?” My voice became hoarse with the last few words, and next I knew, I was coughing. My painfully dry mouth, a sudden want of drink, and more ugly sensations came. And now grew a vague, dull burning within me. If she did not know this state of me, I wouldn’t let her learn it now. She didn’t seem to notice anything, either way. “More or less. They sort of do whatever they want. You look very surprised for someone deep in our territory, were you not expecting this?” Gone was the childish lilt, her childish demeanor. “An act from a dragon? The novelty of it was on your side. Any more ruses? Perhaps, you are no dragon at all.” It was hard to keep my eyes looking up at her as I spoke. It would be easier to let them droop and close, and maybe I could go back to sleep... “I think I might just be. You’re alone with me in the desert with no friends around. No ruse there. And the reason you're still alive is right here.” She stood to her four legs, and pawed over to me, tapping me on the head with a single talon. That action alone banished any thoughts falling unconscious. It was a struggle not to flinch. I met her eyes. It is hurtful to look upon the face of one who has bested you. “There’s nothing I know that you don’t. The only value I have is what I can give you without these on,” I tugged my wrists against the fabric. “When I agreed to let you into our legion, it was no lie. Warm meat and mead every night. Real weapons and arms, real trained soldiers at your side. You can’t tell you have better than that.” She was blank for a single moment. Until a shy grin crept upon her muzzle, her scaly lips pursed, and then she giggled. "That's adorable, actually. I hope you aren't the negotiator of your company," she giggled again. I frowned. "I also have an offer, and it's much more simple." She leaned in, close, the end of her snout nearly touching my nose. “I will promise not to drop you sky-high and watch you flail to your death. And all you have to do is what I say,” she said. “You take me for a servant? Shall I be washing your pans and laundering your rags?” Both were equally unsuited for a man of my merit, but neither were as fearful as the possibilities I hadn’t voiced. Even so, prideless servitude; it wrought a certain anxiousness by itself. “I wouldn’t aim as low as that. It doesn’t sound very official. I wouldn’t take away your status like that, Castiel,” she mused. “Just say what you want, dragon. Though I warn you, I will be no servant,” I huffed. “What? Already? I thought you would’ve fought me on it or something, at least. But, if you're that eager, why don't we start right away?" Start what? If she truly thought I would do any trivial thing she said, she was a greater fool than I had initially taken her for. Centurions of the Roman army did not perform the bidding of animals. She stepped past me, her scales brushing my shoulder as she went. I tried to crane my head around to follow her, but a poignantly placed talon stopped me. "Relax. It'll just be one…" She grunted, and my wrists were jerked back. Coinciding with a sound not too dissimilar from scissors snipping hair, the fabric fell loose off my hands. "Second!" She finished. I immediately thought to spring to my feet, but lethargy was kinder to thoughts than to action. Instead, I brought my hands before me, clenching and unclenching them. She stepped back in front of me, plopping her rump on the ground. “Don’t get any funny ideas, you’re still stuck with me. Not that you look like you have the energy to try and run away. I would hope you could at least get your feet beneath you, though.” She said before stretching out, flewing her paws against the sand and bowing her chest. Instead of rising back up, she simply let her body fall as she laid on her side, a lazy dog in likeness. “This heat is a real drain, isn’t it?” An appalling understatement. I noticed beads of sweat on my brow, which I quickly wiped away. I didn’t want to indulge in whatever game she was playing, which made her being right even worse. She was prolonging this all; she had a concrete motive but she hid it behind filler and foolery. I had a service to return to, as quickly as possible. The more time I wasted, the less likely I would ever march out of this hellscape with my fellow soldiers. And if not with them, then very well not at all. They had the water and food. Who knew when they would leave? That was, if that they hadn’t already. “I think my first wish, as part of our deal, is for you to stand. And maybe be a tad more lively. I’d think you were about to melt,” she said. I sat right where I was. She tilted her head. “Are you breaking your word already?” I breathed through my nostrils, trying to still a boiling feeling. Her scaled eyebrows narrowed. “Castiel. Where is your honor? I thought we agreed. Come sit down.” The gall. I felt my fingernails digging into my palm. She sighed. “Look, you really don’t want me to-” “Do what?” I boomed. She recoiled, her eyes wide. “You would dare order me around like a dog? You speak of worth and honor when you are less than any man or woman! I would sooner beseech the will of a beggar. You are no Roman, how could you ever pretend to know what it takes for someone to get where I have gotten?” I spouted each word with more vitriol than the last, occasionally accompanied by spittle. There was no reply for too long. I steadied my fists which I realized had been shaking. Yet, I did not break from her eyes. Eyes which I found to hold a vague sadness. “You don’t have to yell,” she finally said. “No need to be angry either. Remember where you are. Out here, you live by my choice. Whatever soldiers you have are far, far away. You’re not in Rome, you’re not with your company. I’m the only chance of surviving you have, so maybe swallowing your enormous pride would do you good. And if you think you're above listening to a beast, you’re always welcome to the hospitality of the desert.” I had a thousand words ready to sling back at her, but I knew she could respond to them all the same way. It wasn’t like me to lose it like that, was it? In those few short moments, she had wrought so much tension and indignance in me. Each time she told me to sit, told me that she was in charge, it felt like injustice. When addressed inappropriately, it was an officer’s duty to put down such insolence. I’ve wrapped myself too much in this, haven’t I? I thought the title ‘Centurion’ would protect me. It wasn’t my fault they sent me on a fool’s quest to find a dragon. But, I had failed to return, failed to keep my guard, failed to see her farce, failed simply. I relaxed my fists and let my hands hang loose. My gaze drifted to the ground. Grudgingly, I got to one foot, then the other, and I rose using the pole behind me as a support. I stood, my arms limp, my whole body swaying until I pulled it back into balance. The dull burning in my stomach became a quivering fire, small but intense. “Ah! Smart man after all. Come sit down.” I could feel my face tense into a grimace. I felt unclean and confused with myself. The distance between her and I was closed with one taxing step after another. I dropped next to her in a clump. “Trust me, that was the best decision you’ve made since we met.” She raised her wings and clasped them together, just like she had the day before. It had been the day before, right? The skin-like appendages cast a great shadow over me. “Much better now. I always feel so lucky that I don’t get overheated. That’s one difference between you and I. One of many things I don’t understand about humans.” I listened, but only partly. I wasn’t even looking at her. I was bloody tired and bloody hot, but at least the latter hindrance was offered some reprieve. “You a well-read man, by any chance?” That certainly depends. “Well-read?” I asked. She nodded. “What books have you read, what topics? And how much of them do you remember? I heard scholarly men are always eager to share what they know.” “The scholars are in Rome, dragon. I’ve read but a few tomes, and nothing of great interest, at that.” She frowned only slightly. “Well, tell me what they were about, at least.” I stared at her for a moment. “You wish me to recount tomes? This all seems like a waste of your time and mine. What do you really want, dragon? Why keep me alive unless you only wish to jest and torment me? Tell me, if you desire gold or silver, or a place in the highest society the world has known, let us go now, I will take you myself,” I tried to frame it as if I had some leverage, but I knew I was actually pleading. She shook her head and grinned. “It’s not nearly that complicated. You’re smart to propose gold to a dragon, but I happen not to be the hoard-building type. What I want is for you to tell me what you know, starting with those tomes.” It made no sense, none at all. “To what end? Reason with yourself, I will show you a thousand books you could read until your heart gave out. Let us be gone from this place,” I said, and then coughed. “Enough. Your high society can keep its books. I want the words from your mouth. From an actual human. Anything else is too impersonal.” I began to raise my hands, but I let them fall instead. I was stuck in a dream, being chased, and the ground was slipping beneath me. I was grasping at my own thoughts for a solution. And every dead end gave way to a dead end. Everyone weasels their way into or out of at least a few unlikely situations, but those are the exceptions. “You know I cannot stay here,” I eventually uttered. She sighed and wore a look of concern, and maybe even empathy. “Good grief, you’re killing me slowly. I won’t keep you for any longer than I have to,” she replied. She lifted a paw and made a circle in the air with it. “So let’s get warmed up and started, and we’ll be done before you know it.” “Do you mean done as in today?” There was some hope amongst the tiredness in my voice. Her paw still in the air, she waved it to the side as if brushing dust off a table. “As far as you know, it could be in the next hour, or the next month, I will let you decide when you want to start talking.” It was not definite, but it was perhaps a way out. I shook my head. “I need water, first.” “Later,” She said dismissively. “Very...Very well.” So, against a visceral, fuming sensibility, I told her. Of towers, of palaces. Of hierarchies, of politicians. Of professionals, of soldiers. I started off with the things I had read, but I quickly developed random tangents. Lives all intertwined and codependent, seeming to form a society, but really it was more nuanced than that. A story or a play was a better comparison. Everyone had their role and their part. The most complex narrative possible: in which I was found amongst the higher society, the career warriors and aristocrats. Upgrading one’s role in the play from squalid, peasant farmer to the Centurion of a legion was akin to reincarnation. “Many old memories are coming back now, and I’m reminded of how horribly vivid some of them are,” I mentioned. It was the soldiers and occasional merchants who I looked up to; they carried an air. It was palpable, and something about the way others treated them got me thinking. Even as a young boy, it was easy to see. Between them and my family, the comparison became even starker. My family had no drive for moving up. The rebels hadn’t been so different either. Nor Priscilla. They had no idea what it was to be on any echelon. This place was all they knew. I even told her so. “It’s a shame you see it that way,” she said. It was the first time she had spoken since I started. I was taken for a bit of a surprise. “That way? It’s not a grey area. Some matters are simply viewed upon correctly or incorrectly. Some people try to delude themselves.” She cocked her head to the side. “How are we different?” She asked. I scoffed. It was more shock than it was dismissal. “I’ve been with the legions for years now. A house is waiting for me in Rome after my service. What have you? A great dust bowl of sand.” She chuckled and looked away from me, at nothing in particular. “You are so unafraid to be arrogant when arrogance is what got you in this mess in the first place.” She looked back and met my gaze. “What if you never went back? What if the army left without you, thinking you were dead? I’d like to see how fast your bravado would dwindle.” The army. My company. “Dragon, I don’t know why you desire to converse so much, but you remind me that time is of the essence. I’ve told you much if not all of what you asked me, and now all that remains is for you to release me,” I reasoned. “Well, proving my point already. It shouldn’t be easy to take the fighting spirit from a human.” “Dragon!” I exclaimed, “No more of the games and distractions, will you release me, or must I take you for a liar and find escape myself?” She brought a paw to her scaly chin and scratched. “Hmm…” She seemed to wonder. She looked up at the sky, then to the ground, then to me, then to the ground, then to me again. And with a straight face, looking me in the eyes: “No.” It wasn’t me sitting there in the sand as a captive, just having been refused my freedom. It was another who sat there. Taking the blow that crushed him for an instant, however brief. Even the brevity of such things does little to dull the impact. But despite how aware I was, it didn’t feel like it was me. Still Castiel, but a step removed. “I’ve never enjoyed an easy reward, have you?” she asked. “I wouldn’t patronize you by giving you up without a challenge.” She smiled a toothy, dragon smile, and her eyes were lit by the Sun itself. I wanted to stir in the sinking ruination I had just been plunged into, and she was preventing that a bit. It isn’t cold when your body freezes with emotion, it actually feels warm. Sickening warmth, minimal and ineffectual. And it lingers like residue. “I need to teach you something in return for what you’ve taught me. I need to tell you that I-” she stopped abruptly. A moment passed where only the wind made sound. “I meant to ask you earlier, but kind of forgot. Do you want to die out here?” she asked. “What do you think?” I was too busy thinking. “Are you just ignoring me now?” No, I wasn’t. But there was no reason for me to pursue this fool’s quest. “Should I leave you here?” Oh. There it was. Just as I thought all options had gone, it struck me. She should very well order me dead. There would be nothing to boast of after this, but then boasting was hardly ever a matter of dignity. “No,” I said, “Forgive me... It’s difficult to take in so much at once. I think I should not die today. After all, we have not finished.” “Oh. Well that is… I…” She started, but seemed to lose her words for a moment. “Very good,” She nodded. “I hadn’t exactly pictured that response. But, you’re right, we haven’t finished.” She was frustrated. The one who presumed herself to hold all the keys was now upset it seemed. Had she expected her question to catch me off guard? To get me to slip and say something I otherwise wouldn’t? It might have worked had I not already been so used to her antics. “You’re a soldier, right?” She asked after a long pause. I nodded slowly. “Is there something that makes you want to hurt people for no reason?” I began to shake my head, but then reconsidered. “How has this crossed your mind?” I asked She was studying my cuirass, but it seemed she was still listening. “Sometimes it feels like people only do things just to see others hurt. My brothers do not even know your name, but because you’re a Roman, they want you dead. Is it like that for you? Do you want to hurt us?” A curt response formed in my head, but I had a part to play; no point in ruining it. I leaned ever slightly toward her, and tried to deeply consider it. “No, I don’t. I think that has to… do with…” I trailed, “What…” I held a flat and calm expression despite being confounded by Priscilla’s paw reaching out to me, particularly to my chest. It would do no good to show that I was more or less terrified. Those claws certainly didn’t help. They were stark black and curled like an eagle’s talons. All this talk of hurting others and now the idea of imminent pain didn’t seem so unlikely. I almost jumped when she hooked a singular claw behind a leather strap. Her eyes were glued to it, and she said nothing, as if this were normal. She gave the smallest of tugs, lurching me just slightly, and then unhooked. “What is this?” I asked. “Just feeling,” She said. Oh, was that all? That was perfectly fine, it was of no concern to me that those pointed daggers were practically inches from my heart. She did not pull away, instead she planted the tip of each claw against the riveted scutes of metal. And slowly dragged them down. Even through the armor, I could feel them, like each one could pierce through at any moment. However, before she got much further, she lifted her paw and once again tucked it back against herself. I saw five thin, jagged marks left behind. “So strange,” she mused. “I’ll say,” I replied. “It’s like my scales, but tougher. No wonder you people wear second skins like that, it’s smart. But I would think it’s a bit hot under there, right? You are sweating a bit more than usual.” “Yes it is… quite warm. I was a bit nervous. Or rather… no not that. I suppose it’s just hot.’’ “Nervous? Slow down Castiel, relax. Nothing to be nervous about,” She said. “Unless you think I’m going to hurt you.” The ground was easier to look at than her. I could see where this thread was going. She had already asked me every question about the city and the people; was that all she wanted? If she had no further use for me… “No, I don’t,” I replied. She shook her head just slightly. Then her eyes narrowed, but not with suspicion or malice, instead they drooped like one fighting sleep. The corners of her lips trailed down. “Of course you don’t,” she said. “You would never think of me as such a monster. Even though you’ve told me how low I am compared to everyone else. Do you really put it beyond me?” I was about to respond but she halted me with the flat of her paw held in the air. “It’s been fun, because I don’t get to talk to people like you very often. But I’m going to free you now.” Just like that. In what world was I in where it was so easy? All this time I had fought and boxed this dragon to let me be. This is what it had taken? Had it really been a matter of waiting rather than winning her over? At the very least, despite my confusion, subtle waves of relief washed over me. To think I would have been here for days, weeks, or even months. But... How could I forget? This beast out them all would be most likely to deceive me, to toy with my expectations. “So,” She began, suddenly standing back on all fours, then stretching out her lithe body. “Are you ready?” Suspicious and hopeful all at the same time, I nodded. She smiled in turn. “Well look how quick your mood turns! You’ll be in high spirits in no time,” She said. She turned and took a few steps away before stopping suddenly. Sand began to fly this way and that as she dug into the ground beneath her paws. After a few seconds she ceased her digging to pull something out. She had hidden a cloth of sorts in that spot and had somehow remembered where it was. This damned dragon. She came back over to me, pinching whatever she had by the claw-tips, which she then pulled over my head without a word in advance. For the next few hours, I would enjoy the view of the inside of a coarse, textile sack. Despite my immediate questioning and objections, I was never given a response besides the sounds of shifting sands and footsteps. I was on my feet in a second, not by my own will. Priscilla urged me along with pricking talons against my upper back. My own steps were unsteady and uncertain due to the irregular dips and rises of the ground. “Where?” I eventually asked. I heard Priscilla simply scoff, and not much else. Even though I could hardly see anything but black, I was ever aware of the Sun’s radiance. It sapped at me. Pain surged suddenly, causing my foot to recoil from the stone it had so abruptly met. “Oh! That didn’t look good. I was about to warn you but you were faster than I expected,” Came her voice. I shook my head and sighed. “Are we close?” I heard her come up to me, and as the hood was snatched off my head, there was light again. This desert never changed. Dunes that were days of walking apart, nevermind hours apart, held no difference. Of course, the exception was a small, still uneroded stone that laid at my feet. I looked around. The dragon was still there. Behind her, endless sprawl and empty blue sky. “What is this all for?” I asked. She shrugged. “I gave you my word.” When faced with my obviously puzzled look, she pointed a single talon toward the ground, and made a circle with it. I hesitated, not quite understanding why I should turn around if it was only going to be more… desert. White, billowed tents for as long as it would take to house an army. With desert underneath. They looked like clouds, packed together, blowing in the wind, hovering above the sea. I snapped my head back to face her, to confirm that she knew she had led me to the one place I had wanted all along, a place that would not only resolve my fears, but also endanger her life. I must have made a funny face for her smile to have been so particularly smug. “That’s it?” I asked. She nodded. I started to edge backwards, toward the final stretch between me and freedom. “So I can just…” I nodded to my own feet as they continued to go. She rolled her eyes before nodding once again. I was gone in the next second, not only leaving her behind, but also the worry and fear. It was hard to not seem like I was in a rush, but I was more than eager to get back to command. My cooperation with the savages would be omitted from my future explanation. As I walked, I looked over my shoulder occasionally, and every time, she was still there. Eventually she became little more than a silhouette; it was obvious she wanted to watch me go. I would never understand her. Everything she had done was counter to what I considered logical. She never got anything useful out of me. Twisted in the mind, no doubt. “Hey!” A call brought me back to reality. A watchman, lightly armored and younger than a pup, with a scant few hairs on his chin. I checked behind me once more, surprised and not surprised at the same time. It seemed they finally gathered the sensibility to leave with their lives. The hilly dune from which I had descended was now just as bereft of life as anywhere else around here. Even though the sand was a warm tan, it brought no sense of comfort. “What is your business here?” I finally regarded him. His eyes shone mistrustfully under the brim of his helmet, his hand resting on the pommel of his sword. I looked him up and down once, and then I made my way past him. If he hadn’t already recognized me as one of his own, and a superior at that, there was no reason to waste time with him. Besides, they were more important people who would need reasoning with. He yells for me to come back, but nothing else comes of it. I navigated the labyrinth, trying to make my way toward the largest tent which laid at the center of it all. My fellow soldiers were accessory to the maze, some standing and waiting, others sitting and chatting between the paths. Hardly any of them acknowledged me, except for one. He was between two walls of white canvas on the pathway ahead of me, looking generally unoccupied. As soon as his eyes caught mine, it was instant recognition. His face paled, and his mouth hung agape. “Centurion…” He turned away from the man he’d been talking to. I stopped. He approached me with haste, then slapped both his hands on my shoulders and laughed. “What the hell happened?” I placed a hand of my own on his right shoulder. “Your time is worth more than how long it would take to explain.” I said. I let go and started to move past him. However, he did not let go of me. “Hey, with all due respect sir, you can’t just leave me with that. You were gone for two days! You were dead for all I knew.” He said, pointing to the Commander’s tent and continuing, “They marked you as a casualty.” Two days… That’s all it had been, and all this? The sooner I set things straight the better. I laid my hands on his wrists, and they fell away. “There’ll be time. Right now, I need to go.” I said, and I was on my way from there. As unceremonious as it was, I couldn’t just stay and chat, trying to make him understand the last two nonsensical days. The rest of the maze-walk went uninterrupted. Despite this, finding my way had been proved a challenge, and I found myself cursing whoever decided to allow the footmen to arrange their own barracks into this convoluted jumble. I would probably soon meet them. Inside the taller, and obviously grander structure before me was all that mattered at the moment. The four thin walls stood higher than their surrounding fellows, and the center rose to a crest. My last obstacle was a human-sized canvas flap. I pushed shoulder-first into it, and it gave way to a surprisingly wide and well lit interior. Despite it being midday, there were candles generously distributed about; ironed into the corner posts, and a massive table held a few as well. It was thick but it showed its age, no doubt a storied, war-worn item. The surface was largely occupied by a map, with the Zagros mountains scribbled down its middle. Everything around was dots with messy titles and messier lines. It marked us as being just over north of the range. With his hands still planted on the borders of the paper, a man with a grey beard and just as grey eyes looked up at me. His attire was almost entirely the same as mine, except for the engraved medallion over his heart, signifying his rank as tribune of the company. A man never ascended to his position by being patient with underlings. I wasted no time. “Tribune Augustus, I’ve returned.” He was blank, but his eyebrows, even when he relaxed, looked like something was continuously angering him. “You’re supposed to be dead,” He said. I nodded. “I was captured by the very enemy you sent me to rid.” There were furrows in his forehead now. “The dragon?” I nodded again. He scoffed, as one would after hearing a joke, but there was no smile on his face. “If you were captured, how are you here now?” There is great value in planning ahead, and this particular question had enjoyed the forefront of those thoughts. “The savages are foolish, just like we all thought. While they paid me a close eye in the day, they lacked the foresight to guard me at night. All I had to do was keep my footsteps light, and they were none the wiser.” His eyes squinted, and his frown deepened. “So there was more than one. Where were they?” “Where?” I asked. He did not nod, but his stare told all. “I think they’re…” I realized I was stumbling, not out of fear of the man before me, but of fear for the dragon. I should have already spit the words out. She was just north, had to be. They had tried to disorient me with the hood, but all you need is the direction your feet take you. The Sun was past its noon height and so moved to the west, and with the wind it was easy to gauge north and south. “They’re south,” I finished. Without question, his gaze flicked to the map, and he put a finger to the dot marked, ‘us’. “How far?” He asked curtly. “Five hour ride,” I said. He gripped a small piece of charcoal, and tapped the end below our dot. “That should be everything, Castiel. You are hereby demoted from centurion and will serve as a legionary in the fourteenth cohort. You may leave.” He didn’t even look up, just kept scanning the lines and scribbles. What did he just say? Did he just… “Sir… demoted… you must not mean to…” I chose my words as carefully as I could in the heat of the shock and rushing confusion. He raised his head once more with a tired, and rather annoyed countenance. “Yes, I do. You failed your orders. It’s anything but personal, I can’t accept that at a time when the margins of success have already been pushed so thin. We are too far from the capital to have room for error. Do not press your luck trying to continue this conversation.” His head hung down once more. I stood silent for a moment, but only for so long. I exited briskly and without another word. ________________ I peeked out from under the front opening of my tent. The Sun seemed to set quickly in this part of the world. The purple and pink dregs of its wake blurred the horizon in flummoxing tendrils. Soon the faint blue above it all would melt into black, but not before the Sun cast its last, faint rays of light over the land. Had I really been thinking about it that long? The fact that I had lied to him for nothing was almost worse than being a grunt again. She was a threat to everything we were doing, and I had protected her. Had I lost it? What other explanation was there for me throwing away my career? I wondered what she was thinking now. Could be anything; she had such a bizarre mind. I might never understand it in all the rest of my years. To her it probably made perfect sense, or maybe she liked making no sense at all. Maybe I should go back and ask her. What a scene that would be. Well, if I truly wanted to, I could just go. It wasn’t like I didn’t know where to find her. That was an idea. It hadn’t been that long of a walk. I’d be able to return by dawn, so no one would know. That was assuming she would let me go again. I felt like she would. And hell, what was there to lose? What did I have here? Years of progress and all those fortunate blessings: gone with a few words. I had been taken from riding the high of my success to the bottom. How was I not to be filled with dread? How was I not to feel as though a cold mist was settling in me, making it a chore to brace for a future of the same work I’d done before. The dragon was right. By the gods she was right. The point of it all was slipping away. The more I sought to save it, the further it strayed. Every justification had been shattered. If there was no purpose for this life anymore, perhaps I needed a new one. If nothing else, I needed answers. ________________ One step. It's only one step, but many times, that way it’s easier. I had almost turned around and marched all the way back several times. Each time came closer and closer to breaking my resolve, but it wasn’t quite enough. Sure, this was an even worse idea than trusting the scaled beast in the first place, but it hardly mattered. I was going to get some satisfaction out of this desert if it killed me. It was a long walk. Probably seemed longer than it actually was, anyway. By the time I had even gotten close to where she had originally kept me, it was well into dusk, the stars shining clearly without the pollution of torches or campfires. Oh, but the look on her face when I finally found her was worth every damned moment of it. I had almost forgotten how small she was for a dragon. Certainly no pygmy, but small enough that her head only reached my shoulders. She had spotted me right away as I came down a particularly tall and skinny dune. I had almost worried she would move far, far away out of sheer paranoia. She was more bold than I gave her credit for. I’d never seen her eyes grow so wide and round, her slitted pupils thinned out to a sliver. I feared she might bolt or charge, but instead she waited at the bottom. In payment for not watching my footing, my right foot was up above my head before I knew it, and the slippery slope carried me swiftly down. I tumbled to a halt right before her. I climbed to my feet quickly and brushed myself off. “Hello again,” I said, finally addressing her. She eyed me for a moment. “What are you doing.” She paused, looking at the ground and then back at me. “Wha… what the hell are you doing?” I sighed openly. “I’ve asked myself the same thing more than once. I don’t see any better option. Everything you did and everything you said keeps eating at me.” I said. Her eyebrows furrowed into angry slants. “ I would slap you if it wouldn’t kill you. You’re gonna tell me that after all you’re preaching about society and class that you’ve come back to me for answers?” She lifted a scaly paw and pointed back from where I came, adamant about it despite how off balance it put her. “You should be getting to sleep by now. How are you so stupid that you came back to the same place you’ve been trying to leave all day?” She put it back down, and nodded toward the dune. “Go back.” “No,” I retorted automatically. She was crazier than I was if she thought I would give up now. Her jaw parted to speak, but it closed not a second later. She huffed thin streams of hot air through her nostrils. “You’re going back,” she finally said. She came forward with narrowed eyes and lunged. Her talons clutched my shoulders in a prickly grip, holding me against the ground she had knocked me onto. My breaths became quick and shallow, both from the shock of being thrust into conflict and the sudden lack of air. I pushed against her with my hands, and then my legs, kicking at her. “Get!” I said between my efforts. “Off!” She was heavier than anyone would assume. She did not retaliate or try harder to hold me down, because she didn’t have to. I got nothing from my squirming and thrashing. “I will drag you back myself if that’s what it comes to.” I stopped and started her in the eyes. “Why do you have to resist everything I do? I want to leave, you stop me. I want to stay, it’s the same. How hard is it for you to listen?” The angry look never left. “Listen to what? What do you even want?” she asked. “I just told you. I want to know why. After all you have put me through. After getting me demoted and making me feel like there was never a point to any of this, you ought to tell me why. What makes you think the way you do?” Her face softened immediately. If only the slightest amount, the corners of her scaly lips upturned in a rather inhuman display of amusement, but to me, that counted as a grin. “What the hell happened between me letting you go and right now? You’re too high and mighty for this, Castiel. And what do you mean ‘demoted’? Did they punish you or something?” “I’m just a legionary now. I didn’t move you out of our way, and even got captured. It was a simple failure,” I said. She closed her eyes and shook her head. When they opened again, it was a look of concern rather than anger. “I won’t say I told you so, but I told you so,” She said, poking me in the chest with a single talon. “How does it feel to be a peon again?” It kind of felt like being pinned down by a dragon. “It shouldn’t feel like anything,” She said. “You’re the same man I met earlier today. All that’s different is the meaningless title. You certainly wouldn’t have gotten any more respect from me if you were still a centurion. But- I’d bet you still think I’m a savage.” A savage. There’s a strong word. As cruel as it seemed to say, wasn’t she? She lived in this sand, with no society and with no concept of etiquette. “What would you call yourself?” I asked. She scoffed, stepping off me one paw at a time. Now at my right, she seemed to have lost some of the indignation she had previously taken out on me. “Well, not that.” I sighed as the pressure was lifted off my shoulders. There was a residual ache in each of them, however. I sat up, planting both hands behind me. There was that look again: the faintest thing, and only a few times had I seen it before. You could tell a lot from someone’s eyes, and hers betrayed a certain… No, I had been through this before, there was simply no way. She obviously didn’t think… that. “I remember you talking about a play and how you were the better actor, or something. You still believe you have a higher fate?” Of course. Not everyone could be where I was, even with the less than optimal circumstances. The fact I had regressed to a lower place was a shock, however. I shook my head at the absurdity. “I’ll take that as a ‘yes’. Look what it got you. You aren’t invincible, fate can’t save you,” she said, absently scanning our surroundings. “Maybe you were right to come to me. Those Roman lunatics would’ve filled your head with more of that garbage.” “Don’t say that about them,” I said. Even with the small grievance her words had sparked, I didn’t hold it against her. I was becoming used to her. The last time had been tense and uncomfortable, and nothing mattered more than getting away from her manic ideals. But now there was a comfort in defeat. I knew nothing could change my misfortune, so accepting things as they came was easier. She shifted over to my side and plopped her rump down. I turned my head just so, no longer meeting her gaze, but keeping her well within my periphery. I almost flinched when I felt something brushing through my messy, short hair, and even when I realized it was her paw, I thought to move away simply because some small part of me still distrusted her. But of course the more reasonable majority won. Besides, it didn’t feel half bad. There was something inherently soothing about it. “It’s always weird to feel human hair,” she commented. “No one said you had to,” I chuckled. “Hmmm,” she hummed. “Yours is soft.” That got me to turn my head all the way around. She smiled. “What’s that look for?” she asked. I shook my head. “Weird thing to say is all.” “Oh, that’s weird,” she said. “Did you forget when you were let go from your captor and then returned to her not half a day later?” As she spoke, she moved completely behind me and before I knew it, a pair of scaly claws had wrapped themselves around my stomach. I was tired of letting things happen to me. I placed my own hands over hers and fell back against her, purposefully, willingly. Smooth scales pressed to my back as she heaved us both backwards onto the ground. The sensation of being horizontal in the company of a dragon challenged the lucidity of it all. I lifted my head to see her wings unfurled on either side of us, and it struck me how large they were in contrast to her body. I rose and fell in tandem with her steady breaths, which reminded me of being carried by the swells of a languid tide. “What is it about me, Priscilla?” I asked, having set my head back down. I heard her move in the sand. “Wow, that’s the first time you’ve used my real name. Surprised you even remembered it.” The Sun had surrendered completely to the night, and in its place, the usurper Moon. It was eerily quiet, as even the crickets were absent in this particular biome. “I’m not sure I know what you mean, to be honest.” I shrugged. “Why do you bother with me?” “You’re a Roman, a foreigner. I want to teach you some damned humility. But mostly because you’re a human.” Oh. So that’s why she knocked me out cold. “All that just for a human?” I asked. I felt something wedge-shaped rest on the top of my head. “No,” she said, and I could see the tip of her snout poking out just enough to enter my vision. “You must be some kind of mind reader, Castiel.” Pat-pat-pat went her hind paws rapping against my own legs, which hung off her body and lay in the sand. “Everything you ask follows my train of thought. Do you actually know, and you’re just pretending not to?” she asked, still patting away. It was massively distracting. “I’ve no clue what you’re trying to say.” She sighed. “You know your butt is right against my crotch, right?” What? The comment alone made me shift involuntarily, and I realized that she wasn’t wrong. Honestly, the dragon’s sex had never occured to me, nor to any single wandering thought of mine. It was most certainly occurring to me now. She was the one who put me here, so… “Should I move?” She giggled. “No.” The patting stopped, and instead she planted each hindpaw against my legs in an attempt to hold me still. “I like you, Cas,” she said. What? Did those words just come from her mouth? I’m dreaming. I went into my tent earlier today and I never left it. It was there I was sound asleep. “You’re arrogant and naive and stubborn. But you have the potential to be a good, wise man. The diamond of this desert. Of this world.” I didn’t even think it was possible. Why would a dragon ever… see a human that way? The thing that confused me the most, however, was the fact that it didn’t bother me all too much. Her paws were still holding me by the chest, but they slid now, downward. Grazing carefully over my cuirass, her claws lifted just so they didn’t scratch, only the pads of her paws remained pressed against the metal. And even through it, I could feel the pressure. The moment they reached the hem of my lappets, I snatched both forelimbs by the wrist. “Gods dragon, you're serious,” it was more a realization than it was communication of previously unknown things. “Mhmm. I always wondered what you humans hid under there,” she said, and I would’ve bet the Roman treasury and then some that she was smiling wide just above my head. I shook my head at the utter disorientation I was experiencing. Nothing made sense anymore. This was the wrong place for rhyme and reason, that’s why I had never found any. That’s why a dragon wanted me. Just being held by her was like standing on the edge of the abyss. For the first time in many years, I feared, but not for my life. She lowered her head so it was level with mine, her snout against my ear. “I know what you want to be. I have grand plans for you. But you need to let me teach you,” she whispered. And like that, I fell off. When you’re surrounded by something and can’t escape it, you become it. And the dragon holding me was nothing but lust and hexing fervor. I let go of her and my arms fell limp to their respective sides. It was the crack to break the avalanche. She gripped the cloth by the hem and shoved it down my legs with frightening vigor. There was nothing underneath. With the help of her hindlimbs, she dragged them the rest of the way and off my feet. No man, no matter how estranged by his environment, can resist the hunger and flush of arousal of being undressed below the belt. She growled. Feral and unashamed. She tapped on my cuirass once with her right paw. “Get it off, now.” I obliged. To hell with dignity or our differences. At this point, who in the world actually cared? I wanted to forget everything that had happened, who wouldn’t? This couldn’t be the worst way to do it. Plus, it’d be a shame to say you’ve never tried something. I pulled up on the metal hem, which left my head trapped inside of the rather unwieldy armor. I lifted it completely off my body, rescuing myself from the temporary darkness. I tossed it to the wayside, and it cluttered in the sand. I kicked off my thin sandals one at a time, and then, finally: I was naked. “Stand up,” she commanded, “I wanna get a good look at you.” She pushed me up off her body, helping me get to my own two feet. One moment she was lying on her back, the next she was on all fours, stretching out her lithe body before turning her attention to me. She began to circle me, slowly, confidently. After a few times having seen me from every angle, she stilled in front of me, shamelessly eyeing my member. I could have sworn I saw her lick her lips. But then her gaze wandered up, meeting my own. That was the look. Those times she’d given it before were just what I suspected. Pure lust. She laid down where she stood, rolling onto her back once more, splaying out her wings. “Come here,” she beckoned. “And stand over my face,” she said as I was walking. I circled around her body until I reached her head, promptly placing a foot on either side of it. “Lie down on me,” she said. I leaned down placing a hand on her belly scutes to lower myself. Eventually I lay my stomach on hers, so that my feet ended at her head, and my mouth ended at her… Gods, why did the fairer sex have to be built with such delicious features? Between her maroon thighs was a slit, an opening amongst the protective scales. And I thought I spotted a small nub which looked to be the closest thing to a human clitoris. No time for that, however, as the faintest of prods registered to me, followed by the sound of sniffing, I knew I was doomed. First, just the touch of something wet against my member for the first time in too long was enough to break any man’s will. I looked down between our bodies and saw a pointed, pink tongue peeking out from between her lips, and then I felt it’s full width press against my tip. Despite it being relatively thin, it still managed to wrap around the bellend quite nicely. There was no way I’d be able to resist that liquid warmth. And her eyes told that she knew it. They were drawn so devilish and cheery. On top of it all, a wide and toothy grin. A face that screams, ‘I win.’ “Something you want, Castiel?” she said between slow, infrequent licks. What could I have said? A situation like this was better suited for action, but I had a feeling she was going to appreciate any sudden advances on my end. “I think you want to fuck my muzzle,” she mused with another lick, this time, covering more than just the head, exploring the top reaches of the shaft. I felt her talons carefully wrap around my thighs, holding me as she continued to lavish upon me. I couldn’t see anything now, but it was well made up for by other sensations. I sucked in a deep breath when the first few inches were introduced to sudden tightness and warmth. How long was that tongue? She slipped me out, leaving it exposed to the night air before once again slathering it with wet draconic saliva. There was an audible pop as she came off me. “I'll let you blow inside if you get me back,” she said. I shuddered at the words. I eased my way forward, hesitating as my lips nearly brushed the top of her vagina. Sure enough, a small, pink nub lied just between those folds. I wanted to come, and if that took getting to work, then there was no one more eager than I. In a second my mouth was over the majority of it, leaving only the bottom most portion unloved. I sucked and kissed over and over, sticking my tongue out to part her lips, and I was washed over with the fleshy, watery taste of her lubricant. After some rather rough exploring, I ran over the telltale bump amongst the otherwise smooth inner vulva, and I attacked it. Her whole pelvis rose to push against my face in retaliation, and I thought I saw one of her hind legs twitch out of the corner of my eye. And for the first time since I had met this dragon, I heard her moan. I echoed her when she swallowed me whole. My legs nearly buckled from the sheer euphoria of being wrapped from tip to base in wet, silky heat; I couldn’t help but groan into her pussy as I ravaged it. I thrust instinctively into her maw, my balls nudging her snout when I sank as deep as I could go. She squeezed my thighs in tandem, moaning again while I continued my own assault on her genitals. She began to bob on my shaft rapidly, and despite my head being trapped between two powerful, scaly thighs, I could still hear her ravenously slurping up my cock. It was divine. And despite that, I had to have more. I flicked my tongue back and forth over her clit. Hard and fast, with no intention other than to send her to an entirely different plane of pleasure. But in return, I wanted pleasure of my own. Hoping that she wouldn’t mind the extra roughness, I continued thrusting against her lips, even as they suckled me at the end of each bob, even as she clamped her jaws down on my cock, tightening her tongue-grip on me. She began to growl, or maybe it was purring. Nevertheless, the vibration was so low and thorough that it reverberated in her maw with my penis still trapped inside it. I had to stop tonguing her, my eyes cinching shut while I tried, half-successfully, to keep moving back and forth into her warm mouth. Almost as soon as the cunnilingus came to a halt, so did her bobbing, and in fact she held my legs still by force. I was still buried balls-deep within her warm maw. I considered pleading with her to keep going before I realized I had a better bargaining chip. I dove back down on her sex, redoubling the licking and kissing, spearing my tongue past her outer lips and well inside. An appreciative growl emanated from between my legs, one which I felt before I heard. She loosened her talons, freeing me from the torturous pause. I picked up right where I left off, fucking her maw, groaning in relief as she resumed suckling my cock. Gods, I was fucking a dragon’s muzzle, and I could very well believe it, and for some murky, phantom reason, it didn’t bother me. More than it was frightening, it was exhilarating. And I knew I could have more. I thrust down again, right until her snout poked into my crotch, even the base of my member tied up in her wet, oral passage. In terse jerks, I began to work in and out of her maw by a mere inch or so, putting speed and intensity above pleasuring the entire length. At no point did this dragon stop me, or indicate that she wanted me to stop. She indulged me at every moment and movement. Occasionally, I didn’t even pull out, but simply grinded against her muzzle, rocking my hips back and forth. Nearly every time I did, my legs would threaten to collapse from the unparalleled pleasure. My cockhead pressed against the soft, ribbed roof of her mouth, meanwhile her tongue coiled around the entire shaft, constricting and coaxing it, acting much like a woman’s own sex. Just when I was riding the highest wave I thought possible, Priscilla went and sent me soaring. She lurched, right into my grinding crotch, taking my cock deeper, even allowing my balls just within her lips. She cradled them with her tongue to protect them from any teeth, opening her maw only so much as it fit them in. Her scaly nose dug into me, but that slight discomfort was nothing; absolutely nothing. In doing all this, however, she had lodged the entire tip of my penis into her tight, moist throat. As if it wasn’t enough already, she swallowed, creating a suction that brought me to the edge in seconds. But then she did again. And again. I couldn’t even pull back if I wanted to. It was too much for any man, no matter his stamina, and I was no exception. This was it, I was going to blow inside a dragon’s mouth. I felt myself throb, and that was the only sign she needed. She upped the intensity, sucking faster and harder, swallowing faster and harder. One moment I was in a state of mere bliss, and the next I was practically blind: the only sensation left being that of pleasure boiling over and exploding. I came down her throat, as far inside as I could go, the first spurt sending shocks throughout my groin, and every one after that was simply a repeat of raw, pure ecstasy. She clamped down and milked me for all I was worth, swallowing in time with each throb. By the time I was even close to realizing the world again, she was still gently suckling at me, sure to not lose a single drop of cum. Eventually, she did come off, still keeping the pressure as my sensitive cock dragged back out of her maw. When the tip was just past her lips, she gave it a kiss. I sighed as I was finally freed, pulling myself up off her body, standing onto two shaky legs. So shaky in fact, that they failed to keep my upright, and while trying to back up so that my balls weren’t hanging over Priscilla’s eyes, I fell right on my ass. She tilted her head back until I was looking at her upside-down face. I had never seen a smile so smug and satisfied. “If every dragon out there is like you, we’re doomed,” I said. She raised an eyebrow, or from my perspective, lowered it. “You think everyone in the army is as susceptible as you?” I chuckled. “No, that’s the problem. An army of sober men is no match for a whole species of maniacs.” “Hey!” She cried, her left forepaw shooting back to smack my leg, which was a minimal repercussion. “If the rest were as smart as I am, they’d know the dragons can simply be muzzle-fucked to incapacitation.” She gasped in a display of faux shock. “That’s it!” Flipping over in a manner I could hardly believe was so fast, she sprung at me, talons flexed and forelegs outstretched like a leaping tiger. For a split second my brain was reduced to the basest fight or flight response, even though I knew this dragon very well. Familiar or not, a predator was a predator. I knew such a reaction was likely, so I had already started to get up by time she had said a word. She landed behind me as I fled, only managing to tackle loose sand. It was on from there, a sporadic and predictably short chase. In fact it was hardly a chase at all. After only a few fleeting strides, I looked over my shoulder to see how close she was, and I saw that I had left her behind; although not very far. I stopped in my tracks, turning around, seeing that running wasn’t necessary. She was sat on her hind end much like a dog. Instead of her usual proud, smug demeanor, however, her head was lowered, with just the slightest downturn at the corners of her lips, her eyes wide and pleading. If it weren’t for the wedge-shaped, scaled head and the talons and wings, I would've thought I was looking at a begging puppy. “What?” I threw my arms up to indicate that same question. Despite her not having actual puppy eyes and instead predatory, feline slits, I was surprised by how… frankly cute it was. The crimson of her scales against the honey yellow of her eyes contrasted nicely, and with this new submissive look about her, she was rather… appetizing. “Don’t leave me all alone, Castiel,” she pleaded in a completely overdone voice. She didn’t know how else to play but coy, did she? One second she was a vicious animal, the next she was an adorable, distressed little creature. “Oh, you don’t want me to go?” I asked, deciding to play along. I started walking toward her. She shook her head immediately, her slight frown now a full-on pout. “What if I do?” I was getting closer to her. “I’ll have no one to take me,” she said, swiveling around until I was staring her right in the rear end, at which point she spread her hindlegs further apart and flagged her tail high, before letting it droop onto her back, leaving nothing to the imagination. Her pussy was still wet my saliva and her fluid, and it looked absolutely delectable positioned between those haunches, and even her rump was plump and heart-shaped, something I’d never noticed before. Probably because I didn’t have the eyes for that kind of thing until this moment. It was like indulging in a sweet dessert, drinking in the sight of her. But, enjoyable as it was, such a sight inevitably inspired a certain hunger in a man. She leaned her head to the side to see how I liked the view; the expression on her face alone got me moving. In a moment I was on my knees behind her, stroking my cock (which was already half erect thanks to her delectable rear.) As I took position I heard her growl contentedly, lowering her chest until it touched the ground while pushing her ass even higher into the air. I had already cum not so long ago, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t give her a wild fucking until I was ready to blow again. One hand grabbed hold of a scaly cheek, the other sought out her entrance, finger-first. With all the lubrication, it slid in like nothing. Her pussy tensed, squeezing my finger as I pushed in and out lazily. Just from the feeling of her walls, I could tell she was going to be heavenly. “Gods, that’s so much better than my paw,” she moaned. Well, if she liked it that much… I drew it out until only the fingertip was left in before I added another finger against her hole and pushed back in, knuckles-deep. She squirmed under my ministrations, letting her neck go limp so her head rested sideways on her paws. I went faster, and I did it simply because of the effect it was having on her, even rubbing my thumb in circles against her engorged clit. She was mewling, and the more she did, the more I wanted to hear it more, hear it louder. I almost felt bad, having worked her up this much. It seemed getting tongued and fingered in a short amount of time was a sure-fire way to make one horny beyond reason. I wanted to fulfill her, but there was only one more way I could escalate the pleasure. I drove in all the way and ground against her in harsh circles, trying to instill a last spike of euphoria before I replaced my finger with something better. But, alas, I pulled out. She whimpered, whether from the pleasure or the absence of my finger, I couldn’t tell. With both hands freed, I gripped her rump and squeezed, absolutely delighted at how the flesh gave in just enough to be soft, and not enough to lose firmness. I even gave the base of her raised tail some much deserved attention, massaging it. At that moment, I had no stronger desire but to sink my cock between her haunches. I grabbed hold of my now rock hard cock, shifted forward just so, and rubbed the underside of it against her vent. It seemed the scales closer to her flower were smaller and softer than the rest of her body, making them quite pleasant to sensitive skin. “You know what you’re about to do, right,” Priscilla suddenly piped up, her said stuck out to the side to look at me. I’ll never forget that look. There was no smile or humor about it. More than lustful or aroused, she looked... bloodthirsty. And it sent a shiver through my spine. I nodded, open-mouthed. I stopped my rubbing, and placed my tip against the bottom of her pussy. My cock was literally dripping with her fluid. “Yes,” I said. I began to press in, her lips opening to consume the first half-inch. Hot to the touch. Another half-inch. It was really happening, I was going to fuck a dragon. “All,” I heard her say, just barely registering with me. I needed to do it, and I needed to do it now. With a vicious thrust, I hilted my entire member inside her. “Mine,” she finished, and then moaned as she was taken properly. She was a furnace. The fire raging at her core warmed my cock to borderline discomfort. Her slick, impossibly smooth walls gripped me just like they had gripped my fingers. The timing between each squeeze was imprecise and frantic. Despite how frictionless it had been stuffing her full, she was still so tight. I moved just slightly to pull out so I could thrust back in, but even the sensation of the rim of my crown dragging back over her wet innards was enough to make me buckle over in pleasure, my chest on her back, pushing her tail out of the way. In response she curled it up and around my ribs, then slinking further to circle around my neck just enough to apply pressure. This could prove to be challenging. Nonetheless, I was going to get it done. I took hold of her hips and ground my crotch against hers, prodding at her depths, trying to rub my balls against her clit, which resulted in her soft-scaled lips clench around my base. Another shooting wave of pleasure that I couldn’t help but vocalize. Copious amounts of her juices began to spill, some of it dripping into the sand below, some running down my balls and onto my thighs. Gods, this dragon was driving me insane. There was nothing in the world that could stop me. All my previous woes and worries, all other motives and wants outside this situation were gone, and I was only left with the yearning to cum within this beautiful, shapely dragon. I was already deep inside her clenching pussy, I just needed to fuck it. I leaned down as far as I could toward her head, which she was covering with her paws. “I’m going to ravage you now,” I said simply. Up until that moment, I had never seen her shudder before. I braved the euphoria and pulled out nearly all the way, with the tip still lodged in her flower, until I rammed it all the way in. She whined unabashedly, but I wasn’t done. I did again, just leaving in the bellend of my member before I slid back home into her hot, constricting tunnel. I began a pattern of hammering myself back forth inside her, plunging my cock between her pussy lips over and over. Every so often her vaginal muscles would squeeze me especially hard, giving me no choice but to grind against her hips, thrusting into her even though my entire shaft was wrapped by her walls. Sometimes this would push her entire body forward, so she had to back up to maintain the original position, so while I was fucking her silly, she was moving back into me, drawing me deeper into her pussy. It was incredible. I let my right hand from her hip to dip down between her legs, searching for and eventually finding her swollen clit. I started my vigorous pounding up again, all while kneading and caressing her clit. I lifted myself off her and leaned back slightly. I wanted to see for myself just what a scene we were making. I watched as my own cock disappeared between her dripping folds, which made a wet schluck sound with every joining of our hips. I loved seeing our crotches pressed together, knowing how deep I was inside this beautiful beast, being clamped and tightened around by the most pleasurable of flesh. Flesh that ran hot as her core, an addicting heat that I had to get more of. It was a gorgeous thing to witness. I was entranced and intoxicated, the sight and sensation was too alluring, too good to even be real. I had to come inside her. Slap after slap rang out in the otherwise silent night. Leaning back over her wrapping my arms tight around her body to get the best leverage. I started to go at her like it was my last day alive. I drove from the knees, using my thighs and hips to spear my cock into her tight pussy, needing to go faster. In both directions, in and out, the pleasure built upon itself, heavy and thick, like syrup, almost proving too much to bear. Gods, that plump rear was the best thing in the word to fuck. It was coming, soon, the explosive end I wanted so desperately. It was fucking through cream and butter, warm cream and butter, with sugar from angels on top just to overload my senses even further. Closer and closer it came, dancing dangerously about the precipice. I didn’t know the human body was capable of this level of bliss. I kept fucking, little more than an animal, a beast like her. No, a beast beneath her, one that drew even more on primordial instinct. I was going cum inside her slick, tight, steaming pussy. Almost there. In three or four more thrusts, and I would be gone. At my pace, three or more was less than three or more seconds. It was here. With one final, brutal thrust, one that shook her entire body, I held balls-deep inside her and unloaded. I could feel my balls churning, pumping their contents into her snatch. It was white-hot euphoria, my eyes rolling back from it all, completely overwhelmed. At the same time, her legs tensed, and then began shaking as her walls constricted into a vice like grip, contracting in tandem with each spurt of cum, milking me and sending shivers up my spine. My cock throbbed over and over, shooting my seed into the deepest and hardest-to-reach depths of her canal. She let out a sound I thought only existed in the imagination, a high pitched mewl, a whimper turned growl that went on and on. By the time I was even close to coming back to Earth, she was whining softly, pushing back into my crotch, presumably to see if she missed any single drop of cum. She was a hungry one, I’d give her that. I collapsed, only supported by her back. Her weak legs unable to keep up with the extra weight buckled, splaying out beneath me. “Sorry,” I said. She lifted her head to the side to look at me, her tongue hanging limp out of the side of her mouth, her eyes heavily lidded. “Sorry?” she said, scoffing. “Gods Castiel, you didn’t tell me you fuck like a wild stallion.” We lie there for a little, my cock softening within her. Our breaths came unsteady, but the feeling of a peaceful afterglow was enough to make up for the exertion. “You made a wise choice. You and I will do great things together.” “I hope so,” I said. The wind blew over us, cooling down our heated bodies, and providing quiet music between our panting. “So what now?” I asked. “Right now, we’re gonna lay here for a while. As for what comes next,” She paused, maneuvering her tail to run its tip through my hair, “We’re getting out of this desert.”