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He shuddered as her\nsharp claw tips scratched his thickly haired chest, the sensation sending\nhis already jangled nerves to singing once again.\n\n \"Milady – I...about last night.\" He stammered, suddenly getting his wits and\nbearings.\n\n Jessica rose lithely from the bed, her cloven hooves clicking softly\nagainst the hard packed dirt, her naked, furred body showing bleeding\nscratches down her back as she stood, her hoof-paw's clasped before her, as\nshe stared out through the bedroom window, her back to him, ears folded flat\nagainst the back of her neck. She seemed oblivious to the fact that she was\nas naked as the day she had been born, clothed only in her matted and\nbloodied pelt. For some time she remained quiet, then spoke, her voice\nbarely a whisper.\n\n \"Sir Kathis,\" She began, then paused and hung her head and sighed, before\nclearing her throat with a delicate cough. \"Last night, you were like some\nwild, untamed beast. You took me as your own, ravaged me in every way\npossible a man can take a woman, treated me no better than some common\nstreet-wench.\"\n\n Sir Kathis blinked and an uncontrollable shudder ran through him, his heart\nturning to stone in his chest, his blood to ice water. He rolled out of bed\nand wrapped himself in the sticky sheet, then came over and laid his strong,\ncalloused hand on her shoulder, feeling the young Whitetail tremble at his\ntouch.\n\n \"I - I never meant.\" He stammered.\n\n \"You frightened me.\" Jessica admitted.\n\nSickened by what he must have done, yet bearing no recollection of it, he\ntried to find words to soothe the shivering, naked Doe who stood with her\nback to him.\n\n \"I.\" He croaked weakly.\n\n Without warning, Jessica twisted about and wrapped her hoof-paws about his\nneck and pulled him tight, her incredible warmth flooding over him as she\nnuzzled his throat and thickly maned chest.\n\n \"Do it again.\" She murred.\n\n He gasped and stumbled back from her, eyes wide in surprise and confusion.\nTripping over his discarded leggings and tunic, he fell with a heavy crash\ndown onto her bed. Jessica was on him in an instant, kneeling over him and\npressing her surprisingly strong grip onto his shoulders. To Sir Kathis, it\nfelt as if a mountain was pinning him down, yet the actual weight of the Doe\n's hot, sweaty body against his was barely noticeable. Her eyes sparkled\nwith an intense longing that sent shivers through his body, even as she\npressed her hips down against him - and yet again, as if with a will of its\nown, his body responded to the Doe's wishes.\n\n*\n\n Hours later, they lay sprawled together, Sir Kathis' snores rumbling like a\nsleeping Dragon, and Jessica tenderly unfolded his arm for around her and\nslipped out of the bed. Flicking a quick glance back at him, she moved like\na wisp across the bedroom and out into the main room. With a startled yelp\nher hoof come down on the smooth hilt of his sword and it twisted beneath\nher, the loud crack of fracturing bones in her ankle ricocheting off the\nwalls. Whimpering, Jessica hobbled over and sat down on a chair and\ngingerly probed her ankle, feeling the damage deep within it. Her gaze was\ndrawn back to the sword that lay half-unsheathed on the floor, the brilliant\nblue glow of its icy flames transfixing her gaze. Unable to help herself,\nshe carefully made her way towards it, drawn as a moth is drawn to a candle\nflame.\n\n Kneeling, she grasped the heavy sword in her paw - then her world came\ncrashing down around her ears.\n\n Pain! Such incredible agony seared like liquid fire up through her hoof-paw\nand tore its way along nerve, muscle and bone, as if her very arm had been\nplunged into a vat of magma. As she drew breath to scream, her lungs turned\nto ash in her chest and her entire body was consumed by the unimaginable\nanguish that flooded her very being, almost feeling as if it would surely\nrend her very soul apart. At last she did scream, a high-pitched, long, and\ndespairing wail - before her body crumpled to the ground and lay still..\n\n*\n\n Sir Kathis gurgled and rolled over, then sat up as his hands met the damp\nstraw stuffed mattress, and a cold jolt of fear ran through him, as he leapt\nto his feet and hurriedly pulled on his leggings and tunic, then ran through\nout into the main room. Here, he gasped in horror, seeing the twisted,\nstill form of Jessica lying sprawled on the floor, a thin rivulet of blood\noozing from her muzzle and forming a growing, sticky pool about her head and\nneck.\n\n \"Lady Jessica - no!\" Sir Kathis screamed in horror, as he dropped to his\nknees and picked up her limp form, clutching it against his chest.\n\n Jessica lay like a bag of bones covered in fur, her every muscle limp and\nunresponsive, her neck flopping backwards as if it were surely broken.\n\n \"Come on, please, don't do this to me not now.\" Sir Kathis wept, as he\ncradled her head against his chest. \"Milady, please - come back to me..\"\n\n He began to weep - something he had not done in over forty-five years,\nsince he was only a young child, and as his tears slid down his cheeks, long\nburied memories came back to haunt his tormented mind..\n\n*\n\n He had been a mere strip of a boy, barely six winters old, when he had\nwitnessed a pair of Dragon's descend down on his village and proceed to raze\nit to the ground. They had been rampaging, unstoppable engines of\ndestruction, smashing apart the stone and thatch huts, squashing humans\nbeneath their iron-like hind talons, or worse, snatching them up in their\nclaws and devouring their screaming victims alive. As a young child, he had\nstood rooted to the spot, as the two commanding reptiles wreaked a bloody\nswatch of violence through his village, the screams of the dying searing his\nears, as the tears ran down his cheeks unimpeded. His mother and father,\nwho worked as the village blacksmith's, stood before their son, wielding\nshimmering swords, as the two Dragon's whirled towards the impudent mortals,\nthen stopped and looked at each other. Together, they each chose one of his\nparents, and as the terrified young boy watched, snatched them up and\ndevoured them. It was a memory that had been burned into the boy's mind\never since, and it was this one act that had set him on his life's quest, to\nhunt down and destroy Dragons.\n\n One of the Dragon's looked down hungrily at the boy, who would not even\nhave been a snack for the slavering beast that towered above him, but the\nother, slightly smaller one, roared and sank it's jaws into the larger one's\nneck, just as it leapt towards the boy. Within seconds, the two Dragon's\nwere involved in a violent, bloody battle, clawing, raking and biting at\neach other, their long canines gleaming as again and again they lashed out\nat each other. Helplessly, the boy watched on, transfixed by the battle of\nthese two incredible beasts, but at last the larger one screamed and took\nwing, obviously beaten in the frantic battle. Bloodied, weak and exhausted,\nthe smaller Dragon lay itself down and its great panting breath washed over\nthe boy with the smell of death and blood. Resolute, the boy reached down\nand picked up his fathers fallen sword, and clutching it between his hands,\nmoved towards the exhausted reptile, his face not one of justified vengeance\nand hate, but one of pity and compassion.\n\n Before him, the Dragon only rolled its large, liquid mercury like eyes up\nat the boy, and as he raised the sword and held it in his straining hands\nbetween the Dragon's eyes, it merely groaned weakly and as he watched, two\nlarge tears squeezed their way from the corner of the Dragon's eyes, turning\nto fine crystal as they slid down the reptile's cheeks and plopping to the\nground. It was this one moment, that made the boy pause, and he felt his\nrage sluice from him, and he dropped the sword and wrapped his arms over the\nDragon's snout and hugged as tightly as he could. Surprise come over the\ngreat Dragon's expression, and it rolled its silvery eyes up and locked\ngazes with the boy and something flashed between them - bridging the gulf\nbetween mere mortal and the genius intellect of the Dragon. \n\n It was something neither understood, but both felt deeply moved by. Slowly, the\nboy released the Dragon, who rose weakly and shook itself, the silvery\nscales glimmering, before it looked down at the boy and executed an\nintricate curtsey, bending its left foreleg out straight, the right coming\nto a kneeling position, as it stretched out its neck and lay its chin\nagainst the ground, the wings unfurling and sweeping back to brush against\nthe ground.\n\n Blinking, the boy bowed stiffly in reply, then stepped back as the Dragon\nreached out and took its crystallised tears in its claws, then squeezed them\nshut, before it closed its eyes. A bright, almost pure white light\nencircled the Dragon's clenched claws, then it turned them over and the\nlight vanished, before the Dragon crouched and held out its claws to the\nboy, who looked on in awe as the two tears had been fused into perfect fist\nsized diamonds. Nodding, the Dragon held them out, and the boy hesitantly\ntook them one at a time, then looked up in confusion at the Dragon, who only\nsmiled sadly, then unfurled its leathery wings and slowly began to beat\nthem - raising a stinging cloud of grit, dust and debris. Hurriedly, the\nboy moved away and with a roar of wind, the Dragon leapt into the darkening\nsky and was soon swallowed up by the swirling storm clouds far above..\n\n*\n\n His salty tears spattered down onto Jessica's bloodied muzzle, then in\ndesperation, he pulled her limp, boneless neck up and pressed his lips to\nhers, breathing deeply into her lungs. Again and again he did this, and\nfinally, with a choking gasp, Jessica stirred, then convulsed and began\ngagging. Sir Kathis lowered her to the ground and rolled her onto her side,\nwatching as the stricken Doe bucked and retched, finally vomiting up blood\nand bile from deep within herself, before she gurgled and lapsed into\nunconsciousness. Relief washed from him in waves, as he crouched and picked\nher limp form up in his strong arms, then carried her into the bedroom and\nlay her down on her bed, propping the mangy wolf skin pillow under her head\nand neck, before he left and returned with a bowl of water and a cloth.\nGingerly, he dabbed at the blood that spattered her muzzle and he stroked\nher cheek tenderly, before carefully taking her hoof-paw in his and\nsqueezing, as he continued to wash away the blood.\n\n*\n\n For three days and nights, Jessica lay in a near cataleptic state, her\nbreath barely felt and her heartbeat so low, that Sir Kathis surely felt she\nhad passed on to the next world. It was late on the third night, the\ncottage blazing with bursts of light as the heavens outside roiled and\nclashed, the thunder booming like Titan's engaged in some mighty war, the\ntorrential rain pounding down from the seething, boiling heavens. Sir\nKathis dozed quietly beside Jessica, then without warning, her catalepsy\nbroke and she began screaming and convulsing wildly, clawing at the air and\nshrieking incoherently. Sir Kathis leapt from his chair beside her bed,\nthen pulled the shrieking Whitetail against him and held her tightly,\nstroking her ears.\n\n \"Milady, shhh you're alright.\" He whispered, trying to soothe her.\n\n \"What, who.\" Jessica squealed, then blinked and shuddered, going limp.\n\"What, what happened to me?\"\n\n \"I was hoping,\" Sir Kathis spoke soothingly. \"That you could tell me.\"\n\n Jessica gasped and shuddered, flicking her hoof-paw's across her eyes, then\nwhimpering as her injured hoof-paw's blazed with pain. Sir Kathis gently\ntook her wrists in his hands and pulled away the bandaged hoof-paws, laying\nthem gingerly back on the Doe's stomach.\n\n \"I found you unconscious outside, in the main room. It seemed that you'd\nstumbled over my sword, and.\" Sir Kathis began, then his words trailed off\nas his eyes widened slowly. \"My sword..\"\n\n Jessica's eyes widened as memory flooded back in on her, and she hurriedly\ngave a low, whimpering cry that brought Sir Kathis' attention back to her.\n\n \"Rest here my love.\" Sir Kathis spoke as he gently stroked her ears. \"I\nneed to go check something.\"\n\n \"No!\" Jessica wailed, as she clung to him. \"Please, I'm scared.\"\n\n Torn between his duty of care to the injured Whitetail and his niggling\ndoubts, he paused and stood trembling, then without another word, moved\npurposefully away from her and out into the main room, the door swinging\nclosed behind him.\n\n*\n\n Lying on her bed, Jessica stared at the closed wooden door, her expression\nturning dark and predatory, as her eyes turned to a brilliant incandescent\nsilvery glow, a low, menacing growl escaping her throat before she squeezed\nher hoof-paws tightly together and fought down the anger that blazed white\nhot within her, but only just managing to regain her composure..\n\n*\n\n Sir Kathis reeled, clutching the unsheathed sword as he stared at the\ncerulean blaze of the icy flames that wreathed his sword.\n\n \"No.\" He moaned in horror. \"No, it's impossible. I know what she is..\"\n\n As if in response, the sword burned colder in his grasp, its angry flames\nflickering and waving, almost as if it had a mind of its own.\n\n \"No damn you,\" Sir Kathis screamed. \"I know who she is, she is the one who\nhas brought me such pleasure, such kindness and above all taught me what it\nis like to love someone! I will not believe - \"\n\n He whirled about, as he heard Jessica's soft, pitiful sob, and she moved to\nthe fireplace, resting her paw's against the warm mantle, before she\nsniffled and took a pitch soaked torch from the woodpile and lit it in the\nfireplace. Sir Kathis watched her in bewilderment, as she led him outside.\nHeld high above her head, the torch hissing and sputtering in the rain, and\nshe turned her muzzle towards the sky and at a single word from her, the\nrain turned to drizzle, the churning, boiling clouds breaking apart, to\nreveal the full moon, its silvery face blazing down, bathing the ground and\ncottage in its cool embrace.\n\n \"You say you love me - you called me your beloved,\" Jessica wept, her tears\nsliding down her cheeks.\n\n Sir Kathis stared, then knelt in the mud before her, placing his sword at\nher hooves, and noticing as Jessica flinched and took a step backwards, away\nfrom it.\n\n \"Milady, my heart, my soul, and my sword are yours - command me as you\nwill, and as the God's themselves are my witness, I pledge my life to you,\nand my hand in marriage, if you would have it.\"\n\n \"I.\" Jessica whimpered, then turned away, hanging her head. \"Milord.as\nmuch as I would.it would be living a lie. I am living a lie.and I must\nconfess my terrible secret to you. Take the torch I bear, and I will reveal\nthat which I have hidden from you.\"\n\n Confused and uncertain, Sir Kathis did so, and then watched as Jessica\nmoved herself between the torch and the wall, standing side-on to him and\nthe sputtering torch he held.\n\n \"Raise the torch and cast my shadow on the wall - \" Jessica whimpered, as\nshe dropped her gaze to the cold, frosty ground.\n\nSir Kathis did so, slowly raising the torch, then his eyes widened as\nJessica's shadow rose with it, revealing not the form of the whitetail doe\nhe had come to love and take as his mate - but something from his darkest\nnightmares....\n\n Her shadow wavered and flickered, then solidified as the dark silhouette of\na dragon - its distinct head, powerful jaw-line, long - sharp canines and\nback-swept horns at the back of the head.\n\n \"No - \" Sir Kathis gasped, as his eyes widened in horror and the torch fell\nfrom his nerveless grasp. \"No - I know who you are...I know what you are!\"\n\n \"No my love - \" Jessica wept, bowing her head. \"My shadow cannot lie, even\nif I can.and have. I am not what you have taken in your arms, I am not the\none you have pledged your very life too. I lied to you my beloved, and for\nthat, I offer no excuse, none I could offer would suffice.\"\n\n \"How - how could you....\" He gurgled, his face paling.\n\n Jessica had no answers for her mate...she only prayed for a quick, painless\ndeath. It was the least she deserved for her selfish betrayal. She\nwhimpered, then moved away from him, and knelt down onto the mud and her\nbody began to glow and writhe, as she screamed and dug her hoof-paws into\nthe dirt, her body stretching and running like wax, before the glow that\nenfolded her forced Sir Kathis to look away and cover his eyes with his\nhands.\n\n When he could see again, the Doe he had known and loved was gone, replaced\nwith the crouched form of a majestic silver dragon, her deep glacier blue\neyes gazing sadly at him, as she stretched and unfurled her wings, then\nfolded them over her back.\n\n \"You.I know who you are - \" Sir Kathis gasped, his eyes widening.\n\n \"Yes, I see the hate reflected in your eyes, it was I and my mate.that\ndestroyed your village, your people.your family.\" Whispered the dragon, her\nhead bowed in grief.\n\n \"Give me one damn reason why I shouldn't run my sword through that black\nheart of yours!\" Sir Kathis snarled in sudden fury.\n\n \"I offer no excuse.for my crimes. My only reason, was one driven purely by\nmy hate of you and your kind.for it was one of your kind, who stole\nsomething from me and my mate, something that could never be compensated\nfor.not now, and not ever.\"\n\n Sir Kathis paused, reeling as the dragon's words slowly burned away the\nhate within him.\n\n \"One of your kind - a Knight, stole from me and my mate, our only\noffspring. For decades, had we bred, yet never had my beloved's seen taken\nwithin my body.and I feared I was barren. Then, once, and only once, his\nseed did take, and grow within me - and I lay a single egg. We were\noverjoyed, and guarded our sole egg with every known enchantment and mundane\nward we could..\"\n\n With a pitiful sob, the Dragon squeezed its eyes closed and shook with pain\nthat Sir Kathis was incapable of imagining.\n\n \"We were over-confidant, and it was in this, that lay our downfall.\nSomehow, a lone knight found our one chink in our armour, and with the theft\nof our offspring, turned my mate and I too evil and destruction. We only\nsought he who had stolen our offspring from us, but we hunted that vile\nthief high and low, yet never found him. Our despair and rage grew and new\nno bounds, and we turned our hate towards all mankind, seeking to punish\nthem for that which they had brought down on us. If only now, I knew what a\nterrible, terrible price I would be forced to pay for my hate of your\npeople..\"\n\n It's eyes opened again, and it stared deep into the stunned expression of\nSir Kathis.\n\n \"Yes - my brave, valorous knight - it was by your hand, that murdered my\nmate.twenty winters past. I knew then and there, that you had come to seek\nyour vengeance for our crimes, and my mate paid his due with his life.\nOnce, you spared my life, and now - I ask, no, I beg, for you to find it in\nyour heart, to forgive me.\"\n\n Sir Kathis shook with feelings of rage and despair, both equally tearing at\nhis heart and mind, fighting to dominate and conquer his emotions, for good\nor for ill.\n\n \"I ask you this, brave Sir Knight. Do you so crave my head? Do you wish\nto bathe yourself in my blood? I offer you no resistance - I will not fight\nyou. Take your sword, drive it into my scaled breast, and end my pain. I do\nnot deserve pity, or mercy - for my crimes, I should join my beloved in the\ndarkest depths of the hells. I only ask of you this, did you truly mean it,\nwhen you said you loved me?\"\n\n \"I.I loved the Doe, not some cold hearted murderer! Yes - I did mean what\nI said, but that was to the kind, gentle and loving Whitetail...not....you.\" He\nsnarled, his body shaking.\n\n \"Look at me, brave Knight. Look long and hard into my eyes, for she and I,\nare one and the same. I am the Whitetail you took into your arms, and\nloved the one you pledged your heart, soul and sword too.\" Whispered the\nDragon quietly, staring intently into his eyes. \"Or do you so wish of my\nhead? If you do, then please, I beg of you, make my suffering end now.\nCleave my head from my neck, with one stroke. I will not fight you my\n love.\"\n\n Laying herself prone before him, the Dragon stretched her head and neck out\nalong the mud at his feet, and then closed it's eyes. Sir Kathis raised his\nsword, his tears streaking down his cheeks, as he took a two handed grip and\nmoved towards her, then stood astride her slender scaled neck, his sword\nheld ready, its icy flames dancing and flickering hungrily, fully expecting\nto slake it's thirst in the Dragons blood. As Sir Kathis stood astride her\nneck, his arms began to shake, then his whole body. With a snarl of anger,\nhe drove his sword down and there was a loud, braying shriek of reptilian\nterror and agony.\n\n\nTo Be Continued.\n", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "

Fire and Ice
Chapter IV - Dark Secret Revealed
© Cederwyn Whitefurr
June 2003.
All Rights Reserved.

 Jessica rolled over and nuzzled the throat of Sir Kathis, who moaned and
caressed her slender jaw line, gazing into her eyes.  He shuddered as her
sharp claw tips scratched his thickly haired chest, the sensation sending
his already jangled nerves to singing once again.

 "Milady – I...about last night." He stammered, suddenly getting his wits and
bearings.

 Jessica rose lithely from the bed, her cloven hooves clicking softly
against the hard packed dirt, her naked, furred body showing bleeding
scratches down her back as she stood, her hoof-paw's clasped before her, as
she stared out through the bedroom window, her back to him, ears folded flat
against the back of her neck.  She seemed oblivious to the fact that she was
as naked as the day she had been born, clothed only in her matted and
bloodied pelt.  For some time she remained quiet, then spoke, her voice
barely a whisper.

  "Sir Kathis," She began, then paused and hung her head and sighed, before
clearing her throat with a delicate cough.  "Last night, you were like some
wild, untamed beast.  You took me as your own, ravaged me in every way
possible a man can take a woman, treated me no better than some common
street-wench."

 Sir Kathis blinked and an uncontrollable shudder ran through him, his heart
turning to stone in his chest, his blood to ice water.  He rolled out of bed
and wrapped himself in the sticky sheet, then came over and laid his strong,
calloused hand on her shoulder, feeling the young Whitetail tremble at his
touch.

 "I - I never meant." He stammered.

 "You frightened me." Jessica admitted.

Sickened by what he must have done, yet bearing no recollection of it, he
tried to find words to soothe the shivering, naked Doe who stood with her
back to him.

 "I." He croaked weakly.

 Without warning, Jessica twisted about and wrapped her hoof-paws about his
neck and pulled him tight, her incredible warmth flooding over him as she
nuzzled his throat and thickly maned chest.

 "Do it again."  She murred.

  He gasped and stumbled back from her, eyes wide in surprise and confusion.
Tripping over his discarded leggings and tunic, he fell with a heavy crash
down onto her bed.  Jessica was on him in an instant, kneeling over him and
pressing her surprisingly strong grip onto his shoulders. To Sir Kathis, it
felt as if a mountain was pinning him down, yet the actual weight of the Doe
's hot, sweaty body against his was barely noticeable. Her eyes sparkled
with an intense longing that sent shivers through his body, even as she
pressed her hips down against him - and yet again, as if with a will of its
own, his body responded to the Doe's wishes.

*

 Hours later, they lay sprawled together, Sir Kathis' snores rumbling like a
sleeping Dragon, and Jessica tenderly unfolded his arm for around her and
slipped out of the bed.  Flicking a quick glance back at him, she moved like
a wisp across the bedroom and out into the main room.  With a startled yelp
her hoof come down on the smooth hilt of his sword and it twisted beneath
her, the loud crack of fracturing bones in her ankle ricocheting off the
walls.  Whimpering, Jessica hobbled over and sat down on a chair and
gingerly probed her ankle, feeling the damage deep within it.  Her gaze was
drawn back to the sword that lay half-unsheathed on the floor, the brilliant
blue glow of its icy flames transfixing her gaze.  Unable to help herself,
she carefully made her way towards it, drawn as a moth is drawn to a candle
flame.

 Kneeling, she grasped the heavy sword in her paw - then her world came
crashing down around her ears.

 Pain! Such incredible agony seared like liquid fire up through her hoof-paw
and tore its way along nerve, muscle and bone, as if her very arm had been
plunged into a vat of magma.  As she drew breath to scream, her lungs turned
to ash in her chest and her entire body was consumed by the unimaginable
anguish that flooded her very being, almost feeling as if it would surely
rend her very soul apart.  At last she did scream, a high-pitched, long, and
despairing wail - before her body crumpled to the ground and lay still..

*

  Sir Kathis gurgled and rolled over, then sat up as his hands met the damp
straw stuffed mattress, and a cold jolt of fear ran through him, as he leapt
to his feet and hurriedly pulled on his leggings and tunic, then ran through
out into the main room.  Here, he gasped in horror, seeing the twisted,
still form of Jessica lying sprawled on the floor, a thin rivulet of blood
oozing from her muzzle and forming a growing, sticky pool about her head and
neck.

 "Lady Jessica - no!" Sir Kathis screamed in horror, as he dropped to his
knees and picked up her limp form, clutching it against his chest.

 Jessica lay like a bag of bones covered in fur, her every muscle limp and
unresponsive, her neck flopping backwards as if it were surely broken.

 "Come on, please, don't do this to me not now." Sir Kathis wept, as he
cradled her head against his chest.  "Milady, please - come back to me.."

  He began to weep - something he had not done in over forty-five years,
since he was only a young child, and as his tears slid down his cheeks, long
buried memories came back to haunt his tormented mind..

*

 He had been a mere strip of a boy, barely six winters old, when he had
witnessed a pair of Dragon's descend down on his village and proceed to raze
it to the ground.  They had been rampaging, unstoppable engines of
destruction, smashing apart the stone and thatch huts, squashing humans
beneath their iron-like hind talons, or worse, snatching them up in their
claws and devouring their screaming victims alive.  As a young child, he had
stood rooted to the spot, as the two commanding reptiles wreaked a bloody
swatch of violence through his village, the screams of the dying searing his
ears, as the tears ran down his cheeks unimpeded.  His mother and father,
who worked as the village blacksmith's, stood before their son, wielding
shimmering swords, as the two Dragon's whirled towards the impudent mortals,
then stopped and looked at each other.  Together, they each chose one of his
parents, and as the terrified young boy watched, snatched them up and
devoured them.  It was a memory that had been burned into the boy's mind
ever since, and it was this one act that had set him on his life's quest, to
hunt down and destroy Dragons.

 One of the Dragon's looked down hungrily at the boy, who would not even
have been a snack for the slavering beast that towered above him, but the
other, slightly smaller one, roared and sank it's jaws into the larger one's
neck, just as it leapt towards the boy.  Within seconds, the two Dragon's
were involved in a violent, bloody battle, clawing, raking and biting at
each other, their long canines gleaming as again and again they lashed out
at each other.  Helplessly, the boy watched on, transfixed by the battle of
these two incredible beasts, but at last the larger one screamed and took
wing, obviously beaten in the frantic battle.  Bloodied, weak and exhausted,
the smaller Dragon lay itself down and its great panting breath washed over
the boy with the smell of death and blood.  Resolute, the boy reached down
and picked up his fathers fallen sword, and clutching it between his hands,
moved towards the exhausted reptile, his face not one of justified vengeance
and hate, but one of pity and compassion.

 Before him, the Dragon only rolled its large, liquid mercury like eyes up
at the boy, and as he raised the sword and held it in his straining hands
between the Dragon's eyes, it merely groaned weakly and as he watched, two
large tears squeezed their way from the corner of the Dragon's eyes, turning
to fine crystal as they slid down the reptile's cheeks and plopping to the
ground.  It was this one moment, that made the boy pause, and he felt his
rage sluice from him, and he dropped the sword and wrapped his arms over the
Dragon's snout and hugged as tightly as he could.  Surprise come over the
great Dragon's expression, and it rolled its silvery eyes up and locked
gazes with the boy and something flashed between them - bridging the gulf
between mere mortal and the genius intellect of the Dragon.

 It was something neither understood, but both felt deeply moved by.  Slowly, the
boy released the Dragon, who rose weakly and shook itself, the silvery
scales glimmering, before it looked down at the boy and executed an
intricate curtsey, bending its left foreleg out straight, the right coming
to a kneeling position, as it stretched out its neck and lay its chin
against the ground, the wings unfurling and sweeping back to brush against
the ground.

 Blinking, the boy bowed stiffly in reply, then stepped back as the Dragon
reached out and took its crystallised tears in its claws, then squeezed them
shut, before it closed its eyes.  A bright, almost pure white light
encircled the Dragon's clenched claws, then it turned them over and the
light vanished, before the Dragon crouched and held out its claws to the
boy, who looked on in awe as the two tears had been fused into perfect fist
sized diamonds.  Nodding, the Dragon held them out, and the boy hesitantly
took them one at a time, then looked up in confusion at the Dragon, who only
smiled sadly, then unfurled its leathery wings and slowly began to beat
them - raising a stinging cloud of grit, dust and debris.  Hurriedly, the
boy moved away and with a roar of wind, the Dragon leapt into the darkening
sky and was soon swallowed up by the swirling storm clouds far above..

*

 His salty tears spattered down onto Jessica's bloodied muzzle, then in
desperation, he pulled her limp, boneless neck up and pressed his lips to
hers, breathing deeply into her lungs.  Again and again he did this, and
finally, with a choking gasp, Jessica stirred, then convulsed and began
gagging.  Sir Kathis lowered her to the ground and rolled her onto her side,
watching as the stricken Doe bucked and retched, finally vomiting up blood
and bile from deep within herself, before she gurgled and lapsed into
unconsciousness.  Relief washed from him in waves, as he crouched and picked
her limp form up in his strong arms, then carried her into the bedroom and
lay her down on her bed, propping the mangy wolf skin pillow under her head
and neck, before he left and returned with a bowl of water and a cloth.
Gingerly, he dabbed at the blood that spattered her muzzle and he stroked
her cheek tenderly, before carefully taking her hoof-paw in his and
squeezing, as he continued to wash away the blood.

*

 For three days and nights, Jessica lay in a near cataleptic state, her
breath barely felt and her heartbeat so low, that Sir Kathis surely felt she
had passed on to the next world.  It was late on the third night, the
cottage blazing with bursts of light as the heavens outside roiled and
clashed, the thunder booming like Titan's engaged in some mighty war, the
torrential rain pounding down from the seething, boiling heavens.  Sir
Kathis dozed quietly beside Jessica, then without warning, her catalepsy
broke and she began screaming and convulsing wildly, clawing at the air and
shrieking incoherently.  Sir Kathis leapt from his chair beside her bed,
then pulled the shrieking Whitetail against him and held her tightly,
stroking her ears.

 "Milady, shhh you're alright." He whispered, trying to soothe her.

 "What, who." Jessica squealed, then blinked and shuddered, going limp.
"What, what happened to me?"

 "I was hoping," Sir Kathis spoke soothingly. "That you could tell me."

 Jessica gasped and shuddered, flicking her hoof-paw's across her eyes, then
whimpering as her injured hoof-paw's blazed with pain.  Sir Kathis gently
took her wrists in his hands and pulled away the bandaged hoof-paws, laying
them gingerly back on the Doe's stomach.

 "I found you unconscious outside, in the main room.  It seemed that you'd
stumbled over my sword, and."  Sir Kathis began, then his words trailed off
as his eyes widened slowly.  "My sword.."

 Jessica's eyes widened as memory flooded back in on her, and she hurriedly
gave a low, whimpering cry that brought Sir Kathis' attention back to her.

 "Rest here my love." Sir Kathis spoke as he gently stroked her ears.  "I
need to go check something."

 "No!" Jessica wailed, as she clung to him.  "Please, I'm scared."

 Torn between his duty of care to the injured Whitetail and his niggling
doubts, he paused and stood trembling, then without another word, moved
purposefully away from her and out into the main room, the door swinging
closed behind him.

*

 Lying on her bed, Jessica stared at the closed wooden door, her expression
turning dark and predatory, as her eyes turned to a brilliant incandescent
silvery glow, a low, menacing growl escaping her throat before she squeezed
her hoof-paws tightly together and fought down the anger that blazed white
hot within her, but only just managing to regain her composure..

*

 Sir Kathis reeled, clutching the unsheathed sword as he stared at the
cerulean blaze of the icy flames that wreathed his sword.

 "No." He moaned in horror.  "No, it's impossible.  I know what she is.."

 As if in response, the sword burned colder in his grasp, its angry flames
flickering and waving, almost as if it had a mind of its own.

 "No damn you," Sir Kathis screamed.  "I know who she is, she is the one who
has brought me such pleasure, such kindness and above all taught me what it
is like to love someone!  I will not believe - "

 He whirled about, as he heard Jessica's soft, pitiful sob, and she moved to
the fireplace, resting her paw's against the warm mantle, before she
sniffled and took a pitch soaked torch from the woodpile and lit it in the
fireplace.  Sir Kathis watched her in bewilderment, as she led him outside.
Held high above her head, the torch hissing and sputtering in the rain, and
she turned her muzzle towards the sky and at a single word from her, the
rain turned to drizzle, the churning, boiling clouds breaking apart, to
reveal the full moon, its silvery face blazing down, bathing the ground and
cottage in its cool embrace.

 "You say you love me - you called me your beloved," Jessica wept, her tears
sliding down her cheeks.

 Sir Kathis stared, then knelt in the mud before her, placing his sword at
her hooves, and noticing as Jessica flinched and took a step backwards, away
from it.

 "Milady, my heart, my soul, and my sword are yours - command me as you
will, and as the God's themselves are my witness, I pledge my life to you,
and my hand in marriage, if you would have it."

 "I." Jessica whimpered, then turned away, hanging her head.  "Milord.as
much as I would.it would be living a lie.  I am living a lie.and I must
confess my terrible secret to you.  Take the torch I bear, and I will reveal
that which I have hidden from you."

 Confused and uncertain, Sir Kathis did so, and then watched as Jessica
moved herself between the torch and the wall, standing side-on to him and
the sputtering torch he held.

 "Raise the torch and cast my shadow on the wall - " Jessica whimpered, as
she dropped her gaze to the cold, frosty ground.

Sir Kathis did so, slowly raising the torch, then his eyes widened as
Jessica's shadow rose with it, revealing not the form of the whitetail doe
he had come to love and take as his mate - but something from his darkest
nightmares....

 Her shadow wavered and flickered, then solidified as the dark silhouette of
a dragon - its distinct head, powerful jaw-line, long - sharp canines and
back-swept horns at the back of the head.

 "No - " Sir Kathis gasped, as his eyes widened in horror and the torch fell
from his nerveless grasp. "No - I know who you are...I know what you are!"

 "No my love - " Jessica wept, bowing her head.  "My shadow cannot lie, even
if I can.and have.  I am not what you have taken in your arms, I am not the
one you have pledged your very life too.  I lied to you my beloved, and for
that, I offer no excuse, none I could offer would suffice."

 "How - how could you...." He gurgled, his face paling.

 Jessica had no answers for her mate...she only prayed for a quick, painless
death.  It was the least she deserved for her selfish betrayal.  She
whimpered, then moved away from him, and knelt down onto the mud and her
body began to glow and writhe, as she screamed and dug her hoof-paws into
the dirt, her body stretching and running like wax, before the glow that
enfolded her forced Sir Kathis to look away and cover his eyes with his
hands.

 When he could see again, the Doe he had known and loved was gone, replaced
with the crouched form of a majestic silver dragon, her deep glacier blue
eyes gazing sadly at him, as she stretched and unfurled her wings, then
folded them over her back.

 "You.I know who you are - " Sir Kathis gasped, his eyes widening.

 "Yes, I see the hate reflected in your eyes, it was I and my mate.that
destroyed your village, your people.your family."  Whispered the dragon, her
head bowed in grief.

 "Give me one damn reason why I shouldn't run my sword through that black
heart of yours!" Sir Kathis snarled in sudden fury.

 "I offer no excuse.for my crimes.  My only reason, was one driven purely by
my hate of you and your kind.for it was one of your kind, who stole
something from me and my mate, something that could never be compensated
for.not now, and not ever."

 Sir Kathis paused, reeling as the dragon's words slowly burned away the
hate within him.

 "One of your kind - a Knight, stole from me and my mate, our only
offspring.  For decades, had we bred, yet never had my beloved's seen taken
within my body.and I feared I was barren.  Then, once, and only once, his
seed did take, and grow within me - and I lay a single egg.  We were
overjoyed, and guarded our sole egg with every known enchantment and mundane
ward we could.."

 With a pitiful sob, the Dragon squeezed its eyes closed and shook with pain
that Sir Kathis was incapable of imagining.

 "We were over-confidant, and it was in this, that lay our downfall.
Somehow, a lone knight found our one chink in our armour, and with the theft
of our offspring, turned my mate and I too evil and destruction.  We only
sought he who had stolen our offspring from us, but we hunted that vile
thief high and low, yet never found him.  Our despair and rage grew and new
no bounds, and we turned our hate towards all mankind, seeking to punish
them for that which they had brought down on us.  If only now, I knew what a
terrible, terrible price I would be forced to pay for my hate of your
people.."

 It's eyes opened again, and it stared deep into the stunned expression of
Sir Kathis.

 "Yes - my brave, valorous knight - it was by your hand, that murdered my
mate.twenty winters past.  I knew then and there, that you had come to seek
your vengeance for our crimes, and my mate paid his due with his life.
Once, you spared my life, and now - I ask, no, I beg, for you to find it in
your heart, to forgive me."

 Sir Kathis shook with feelings of rage and despair, both equally tearing at
his heart and mind, fighting to dominate and conquer his emotions, for good
or for ill.

 "I ask you this, brave Sir Knight.  Do you so crave my head?  Do you wish
to bathe yourself in my blood? I offer you no resistance - I will not fight
you.  Take your sword, drive it into my scaled breast, and end my pain. I do
not deserve pity, or mercy - for my crimes, I should join my beloved in the
darkest depths of the hells.  I only ask of you this, did you truly mean it,
when you said you loved me?"

 "I.I loved the Doe, not some cold hearted murderer!  Yes - I did mean what
I said, but that was to the kind, gentle and loving Whitetail...not....you."  He
snarled, his body shaking.

 "Look at me, brave Knight.  Look long and hard into my eyes, for she and I,
are one and the same. I am the Whitetail you took into your arms, and
loved the one you pledged your heart, soul and sword too."  Whispered the
Dragon quietly, staring intently into his eyes. "Or do you so wish of my
head? If you do, then please, I beg of you, make my suffering end now.
Cleave my head from my neck, with one stroke.  I will not fight you my
 love."

 Laying herself prone before him, the Dragon stretched her head and neck out
along the mud at his feet, and then closed it's eyes.  Sir Kathis raised his
sword, his tears streaking down his cheeks, as he took a two handed grip and
moved towards her, then stood astride her slender scaled neck, his sword
held ready, its icy flames dancing and flickering hungrily, fully expecting
to slake it's thirst in the Dragons blood.   As Sir Kathis stood astride her
neck, his arms began to shake, then his whole body.  With a snarl of anger,
he drove his sword down and there was a loud, braying shriek of reptilian
terror and agony.


To Be Continued.
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