{ "submission_id": "606702", "keywords": [ { "keyword_id": "632", "keyword_name": "age difference", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "28610" }, { "keyword_id": "873", "keyword_name": "collar", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "41725" }, { "keyword_id": "15325", "keyword_name": "crossbreed", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "603" }, { "keyword_id": "37", "keyword_name": "cub", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "279944" }, { "keyword_id": "63022", "keyword_name": "dark romance", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "7" }, { "keyword_id": "21", "keyword_name": "dragon", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "149800" }, { "keyword_id": "2193", "keyword_name": "fantasy", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "26970" }, { "keyword_id": "16793", "keyword_name": "father daughter", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "824" }, { "keyword_id": "9731", "keyword_name": "father/daughter", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "3811" }, { "keyword_id": "123", "keyword_name": "female", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "1092427" }, { "keyword_id": "36479", "keyword_name": "halfbreed", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "1381" }, { "keyword_id": "11979", "keyword_name": "half-dragon", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "118" }, { "keyword_id": "318", "keyword_name": "harem", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "2448" }, { "keyword_id": "68", "keyword_name": "incest", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "45916" }, { "keyword_id": "165", "keyword_name": "male", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "1200505" }, { "keyword_id": "11507", "keyword_name": "male/female", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "96719" }, { "keyword_id": "1003", "keyword_name": "m/f", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "41631" }, { "keyword_id": "909", "keyword_name": "romance", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "9144" }, { "keyword_id": "76", "keyword_name": "sex", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "132762" }, { "keyword_id": "564", "keyword_name": "size difference", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "68979" }, { "keyword_id": "528", "keyword_name": "slave", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "9668" }, { "keyword_id": "108299", "keyword_name": "sventar", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "59" }, { "keyword_id": "268", "keyword_name": "tiger", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "39111" }, { "keyword_id": "2337", "keyword_name": "virgin", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "3372" }, { "keyword_id": "6487", "keyword_name": "virginity loss", "contributed": "f", "submissions_count": "1814" } ], "hidden": "f", "scraps": "f", "favorite": "f", "favorites_count": "98", "create_datetime": "2014-04-30 00:26:03.227816+00", "create_datetime_usertime": "30 Apr 2014 02:26 CEST", "last_file_update_datetime": "2014-04-30 00:18:13.417594+00", "last_file_update_datetime_usertime": "30 Apr 2014 02:18 CEST", "username": "RisingDragon", "user_id": "118371", "user_icon_file_name": "60181_RisingDragon_estridblinkicon.gif", "user_icon_url_large": "https://inkbunny.net/usericons/large/60/60181_RisingDragon_estridblinkicon.gif", "user_icon_url_medium": "https://inkbunny.net/usericons/medium/60/60181_RisingDragon_estridblinkicon.gif", "user_icon_url_small": "https://inkbunny.net/usericons/small/60/60181_RisingDragon_estridblinkicon.gif", "file_name": "797243_RisingDragon_verbmynoun_naiquest.doc", "file_url_full": "https://inkbunny.net/files/full/797/797243_RisingDragon_verbmynoun_naiquest.doc", "file_url_screen": "https://inkbunny.net/files/screen/797/797243_RisingDragon_verbmynoun_naiquest.doc", "file_url_preview": "https://inkbunny.net/files/preview/797/797243_RisingDragon_verbmynoun_naiquest.doc", "thumbnail_url_huge": "https://inkbunny.net/thumbnails/huge/797/797243_RisingDragon_verbmynoun_naiquest.jpg", "thumbnail_url_large": "https://inkbunny.net/thumbnails/large/797/797243_RisingDragon_verbmynoun_naiquest.jpg", "thumbnail_url_medium": "https://inkbunny.net/thumbnails/medium/797/797243_RisingDragon_verbmynoun_naiquest.jpg", "thumb_huge_x": "200", "thumb_huge_y": "200", "thumb_large_x": "200", "thumb_large_y": "200", "thumb_medium_x": "120", "thumb_medium_y": "120", "files": [ { "file_id": "797243", "file_name": "797243_RisingDragon_verbmynoun_naiquest.doc", "file_url_full": "https://inkbunny.net/files/full/797/797243_RisingDragon_verbmynoun_naiquest.doc", "file_url_screen": "https://inkbunny.net/files/screen/797/797243_RisingDragon_verbmynoun_naiquest.doc", "file_url_preview": "https://inkbunny.net/files/preview/797/797243_RisingDragon_verbmynoun_naiquest.doc", "mimetype": "application/msword", "submission_id": "606702", "user_id": "118371", "submission_file_order": "0", "full_size_x": null, "full_size_y": null, "screen_size_x": null, "screen_size_y": null, "preview_size_x": null, "preview_size_y": null, "initial_file_md5": "fa1d1c536339709cfdb5a0a17b93aeca", "full_file_md5": "fa1d1c536339709cfdb5a0a17b93aeca", "large_file_md5": "", "small_file_md5": "", "thumbnail_md5": "e1975de902f5e70f929fc94e43f402db", "deleted": "f", "create_datetime": "2014-04-30 00:18:13.417594+00", "create_datetime_usertime": "30 Apr 2014 02:18 CEST", "thumbnail_url_huge": "https://inkbunny.net/thumbnails/huge/797/797243_RisingDragon_verbmynoun_naiquest.jpg", "thumbnail_url_large": "https://inkbunny.net/thumbnails/large/797/797243_RisingDragon_verbmynoun_naiquest.jpg", "thumbnail_url_medium": "https://inkbunny.net/thumbnails/medium/797/797243_RisingDragon_verbmynoun_naiquest.jpg", "thumb_huge_x": "200", "thumb_huge_y": "200", "thumb_large_x": "200", "thumb_large_y": "200", "thumb_medium_x": "120", "thumb_medium_y": "120" } ], "pools": [ { "pool_id": "23067", "name": "Stories", "description": "Short stories featuring my characters, ether written by me, or friends of mine. ", "count": "12", "submission_left_submission_id": "607048", "submission_left_file_name": "797693_RisingDragon_collet.doc", "submission_left_thumbnail_url_huge": "https://inkbunny.net/thumbnails/huge/797/797693_RisingDragon_collet.jpg", "submission_left_thumbnail_url_large": "https://inkbunny.net/thumbnails/large/797/797693_RisingDragon_collet.jpg", "submission_left_thumbnail_url_medium": "https://inkbunny.net/thumbnails/medium/797/797693_RisingDragon_collet.jpg", "submission_left_thumb_huge_x": "199", "submission_left_thumb_huge_y": "200", "submission_left_thumb_large_x": "199", "submission_left_thumb_large_y": "200", "submission_left_thumb_medium_x": "119", "submission_left_thumb_medium_y": "120", "submission_right_submission_id": "279135", "submission_right_file_name": "358385_RisingDragon_agoodday.txt", "submission_right_thumbnail_url_huge": "https://inkbunny.net/thumbnails/huge/358/358385_RisingDragon_agoodday.jpg", "submission_right_thumbnail_url_large": "https://inkbunny.net/thumbnails/large/358/358385_RisingDragon_agoodday.jpg", "submission_right_thumbnail_url_medium": "https://inkbunny.net/thumbnails/medium/358/358385_RisingDragon_agoodday.jpg", "submission_right_thumb_huge_x": "200", "submission_right_thumb_huge_y": "200", "submission_right_thumb_large_x": "200", "submission_right_thumb_large_y": "200", "submission_right_thumb_medium_x": "120", "submission_right_thumb_medium_y": "120" }, { "pool_id": "12043", "name": "Sventar and Daughters", "description": "Sventar an evil dragon lord, who wishes to impregnate strong beautiful women so that can bear him children.\n\nHis daughters include: Terca, Aldrasya, Alyssa, Nai'Lati, Magiya, and Beatrix \n", "count": "54", "submission_left_submission_id": "604628", "submission_left_file_name": "794527_RisingDragon_sventar_nai_first.jpg", "submission_left_thumbnail_url_huge_noncustom": "https://inkbunny.net/files/preview/794/794527_RisingDragon_sventar_nai_first.jpg", "submission_left_thumbnail_url_large_noncustom": "https://inkbunny.net/thumbnails/large/794/794527_RisingDragon_sventar_nai_first_noncustom.jpg", "submission_left_thumbnail_url_medium_noncustom": "https://inkbunny.net/thumbnails/medium/794/794527_RisingDragon_sventar_nai_first_noncustom.jpg", "submission_left_thumb_medium_noncustom_x": "93", "submission_left_thumb_medium_noncustom_y": "120", "submission_left_thumb_large_noncustom_x": "155", "submission_left_thumb_large_noncustom_y": "200", "submission_left_thumb_huge_noncustom_x": "232", "submission_left_thumb_huge_noncustom_y": "300", "submission_right_submission_id": "608790", "submission_right_file_name": "799999_RisingDragon_shanora.jpg", "submission_right_thumbnail_url_huge_noncustom": "https://inkbunny.net/files/preview/799/799999_RisingDragon_shanora.jpg", "submission_right_thumbnail_url_large_noncustom": "https://inkbunny.net/thumbnails/large/799/799999_RisingDragon_shanora_noncustom.jpg", "submission_right_thumbnail_url_medium_noncustom": "https://inkbunny.net/thumbnails/medium/799/799999_RisingDragon_shanora_noncustom.jpg", "submission_right_thumb_medium_noncustom_x": "93", "submission_right_thumb_medium_noncustom_y": "120", "submission_right_thumb_large_noncustom_x": "155", "submission_right_thumb_large_noncustom_y": "200", "submission_right_thumb_huge_noncustom_x": "232", "submission_right_thumb_huge_noncustom_y": "300" } ], "description": "[largethumb]604628[/largethumb]\n\nWritten by [iconname]VerbMyNoun[/iconname]\nTechnical advise by Rising Dragon\n\n\nFor full credits and cast check out the original story post\n\n[mediumthumb]567776[/mediumthumb]", "description_bbcode_parsed": "
\r\n\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\tSventar's Daughters: Nai'Lati  by RisingDragon\r\n\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t


Written by \r\n\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tVerbMyNoun\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t		\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tVerbMyNoun\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Technical advise by Rising Dragon


For full credits and cast check out the original story post

[mediumthumb]567776[/mediumthumb]", "writing": "Nai’lati’s Quest\n\n~~~~~\n\n“I have a task for you, Precious,” her mother said. “It won’t be easy. It will probably be dangerous. You can say ‘no,’ if you’re afraid, or feel that you aren’t ready, but you’re the only one I can trust. You know I would never put you in harm’s way intentionally unless there was no other choice.” The tall tigress walked into the dark, stone chamber, her long, black silk robes dragging behind her. “If you say ‘yes,’ and succeed, then you will be nicely rewarded.”\n\nLady Joselyn smirked, her keen eyes darting to the shadowy recesses of her daughter’s room, scanning the blackness for signs of movement. Her round, feline ears twitched, pivoting, listening for any sound coming from the unseen. A sudden rush of air to her left caught her attention, and with honed, lightning-quick reflexes, she whirled to her right, extending a single claw. She halted the sweeping motion of her arm, the sharp tip of her talon nudging gently against the young girl’s throat.\n\n“Very well done, little one,” her mother chuckled. “If I were anybody else, outside of this family, you would have had me for sure. Nice touch, using Eclipse as a misdirection. Don’t forget, though… I taught you everything you know.”\n\nThe half-dragon, half-tiger cub stared back up at her, her red eyes sparkling with playful mischief. “so you did, mommy,” the girl whispered softly. It wasn’t that she was shy – far from it, in fact – she just preferred the quiet. “don’t forget, though, that you taught me everything that you know, too…” She quickly made a downward gesture with her eyes.\n\nJoselyn looked to where her daughter had indicated, seeing the business end of a training sword a hair’s breadth away from her abdomen. If the blade were designed for combat, and if this were anything more than a playful exchange between mother and daughter, she could easily find herself lacking several vital functions just as quickly as she could rip open the little girl’s jugular.\n\n“So I see,” Joselyn smiled, “nicely played, my child. So, tell me: would you like to hear more about this job I have for you?” A crooked grin spread across the tigress’s muzzle, and she turned her head, speaking back over her shoulder. “And just what do you think you’re doing, Eclipse?”\n\nThe girl’s pet, a black and red fairy dragon, flittered into view, landing at his mistress’s footpaws, crawling up her little body, and coming to rest on her shoulder. He looked up at Jocelyn with sorry eyes, his tiny wings slumped back. She chuckled and pet his long, slender neck reassuringly.\n\n“yes, please, mommy,” the cub said excitedly. “i know i can do it, if you think i am the girl for the task. tell me more about this reward…” Eclipse was craning his head around to the side, once more trying to see what the tigress concealed behind her back.\n\n“All in good time, little one. First, I have some unfortunate news,” Joselyn said with a sigh. “I have reason to believe that we have a spy in our midst.” The hackles on the back of the young girl’s neck rose, and she let out an almost comical growl. Her mother had to stifle her laughter, and continued, “I have no idea who it is, who I can trust. It could be one of the other mothers, for all I know. I don’t suspect any of your sisters, but it’s important that you keep this between us, because of their loyalties to their mommies, and a desire to protect your father. The only one I can trust is you.” She reached out and caressed her daughter’s cheek affectionately.\n\n“i’ll do anything to help, mommy,” the cub purred, nuzzling lovingly against her mother’s paw. “what do you need me to do?”\n\n“In the treasury, there is a small chest containing the secret to your father’s power,” Joselyn explained. Seeing an expression of awe appear on the cub’s face, she continued, “I suspect that is what our adversary is after. Your father and I have talked about moving it, but that would only attract unwanted attention, and alert the spy that we are on to them. Plus, it could get stolen while being moved.”\n\n“i understand,” the girl responded. “you wish for me to sneak in, grab the chest, and sneak out, then?” She bounced on her toes, eager to show her parents exactly how much she had learned in the art of stealth.\n\n“Exactly,” Joselyn affirmed. “Make certain that the guards do not see you. I don’t know if any of them are the spy, or working for him… or her. After you’re out of the vault, I need for you to fly as fast as you can to the highest spire in Wyverncrest. There, a trusted party will meet you, and give you the second half of your reward. But you must be there within one sandglass after swiping the chest, before anyone notices.”\n\n“and? what is the first part of the reward, mommy?” the little hybrid asked, barely able to contain her energy. As her mother brought her second paw around, she noticed two beautiful black small swords housed in ornately engraved sheaths, and fought to keep her paws to herself. “are those mine?”\n\n“To assist you with your journey,” her mother said. “Since you’re still young and growing, they have a few simple enchantments from your sister, Magiya. As you both grow stronger, your later weapons will have more powerful abilities. For now, these are imbued with enhanced sharpness, and will never go dull.”\n\nThe cub reached out reverently, gripping the hilts of both swords, slowly drawing the weapons from their sheaths. The metal was dark grey and unreflective, absorbing any light to touch them, and draconic symbols were etched into the flats of the blades. The girl gripped her presents, getting used to their feel and balance, then gave a few experiment swipes.\n\n“they feel amazing, mommy. it’s like they’re extensions of my arms,” she crossed the blades, holding the up before her fascinated eyes. “what does the writing say?”\n\n“That’s a question for your father, my dear,” Joselyn said, crouching down to study her daughter for a moment. “Those daggers were made specifically for you, to his exact instructions. So, do you understand your task?”\n\n“get into the treasury unseen, grab the chest, get out, and fly as fast as i can to wyverncrest in under one sandglass’s time, to meet your friend and claim the second half of my reward,” the half-dragon recited, giddy with anticipation for her first mission.\n\n“That’s right, good girl,” the tigress caressed her crossbred daughter’s face once more, and then pulled her in tightly for a hug, wrapping the little girl up in a warm embrace. “Good luck, Nai’lati. I love you.”\n\n“i love you, too, mommy. i won’t let you down, i promise.”\n\n~~~~~\n\n“I heard that your Mother gave you your present,” a voice called from her doorway, causing the little half-tiger to look up from her new blades. Terca formed an imposing silhouette in the torchlight pouring in from the corridor, and it was only enhanced by the large battle axe casually slung over her right shoulder. “Care to test your skill in a friendly duel? I’d like to make sure you know how to use those things before you hurt yourself, little sister.”\n\n“you knew?” Nai’lati asked. “why didn’t you tell me? you know i only like secrets if i’m the one keeping them, terca.”\n\n“Of course I knew. All of us knew,” the half-demoness said dismissively. “It was a group effort to keep you distracted and out of Magi’s laboratory. Sometimes you’re a little too curious for your own good, you know.”\n\nThe little girls eyes narrowed and she clutched the hilts of her daggers tightly. “it’s my business to know things. knowledge is like gold, secrets are like platinum. the more i know, the more i can control. i like controlling things.”\n\n“Back to my original question, then,” Terca repeated, holding her battle axe in front of her body and adopting a combat stance. “How well do you think you can control those blades? Well enough to make a little wager? Loser owes winner some special attention?”\n\n“you’re on, sister,” Nai’lati said, rising to her feet, mentally running through every dirty trick in the book, looking for an advantage against her older, stronger, more experienced opponent.\n\n~~~~~\n\nWhen evening finally descended upon the Keep, the little cub smiled. It was time. She stretched her oversized wings, giving them a few solid flaps to loosen up her joints. They were her favorite feature about her little body, allowing her to fly faster than any of her sisters – faster than anyone in the Keep besides her Father – and able to surround her like a cloak. She strapped her new weapons around her slender waist and patted her numerous pouches, making certain that every part of her plan was accounted for. She grinned to herself. She was ready.\n\n“eclipse, come,” she whispered, holding out her arm. The little dragon fluttered out of the shadows and perched himself upon her shoulder, wrapping his tail beneath the pit of her arm and gripping his little talons around the edges of her scales. “are you ready?” She asked, and he responded by nuzzling affectionately up against her cheek.\n\nThe greatest obstacles standing between her and success were her sisters and the other mothers, Nai’lati realized, and so she would need to ensure that they were properly distracted. Thanks to Terca’s sparring lessons earlier, she had been able to convince her eldest sister that she was exhausted and wanted to rest. She was still a little frustrated that her new blades had not been enough to best her eldest sister, and Terca wanted to collect on their wager. Naturally, Terca had agreed to bring Nai’lati a plate of food later that night, and pick up where they left off. For now, though, her absence from the dining hall would have a credible excuse from trustworthy, reliable Terca. The real trick would be to keep any of them from finishing their meal early and wandering towards the treasury.\n\nNai’lati gripped the cold stone wall with her talons and effortlessly scaled the height of the room, pressing her slender frame tightly against the ceiling. If she was going to pull off the excuse of being too tired to eat, it was vital that she not be seen by anybody, especially with her reputation of having a voracious appetite. Her pet fairy dragon relinquished his place on her shoulder to crawl out ahead of her, and quietly crept out of the chamber into the corridor.\n\nEclipse gave a quick double-swish of his tail, the agreed-upon signal that the coast was clear, and she crawled out behind him. Together, the pair made their way towards the center of the castle, both of them watching and listening carefully for the other residents.\n\nNai’lati’s small ear twitched. Cleaning wenches, she realized, by the gentle rustling of their skirts and the splashing of water in buckets. “eclipse, go,” she told her companion, and the tiny dragon gave an almost inaudible chirp of acknowledgement, unfolding his moth-like wings and dropping from the ceiling. He halted his descent almost a foot above the hard granite floor and made his way around the corner, startling the maids and causing one of them to drop their pail.\n\n“Oooh, you wretched little creature!” One of them shouted, swatting at the tiny dragon with her mop. Nai’lati’s blood boiled as she stealthily crawled over her head. If not for the fact that she was supposedly asleep in her chambers, she would report this to her Father in a heartbeat. Still, she made a mental note to herself to find some special way to pay back the jackal woman.\n\nOnce she was suitably past the angry servants, her pet came flying up to her side, whimpering softly in her ear as he curled his long body around her neck, but gently enough to not constrict her breathing. “did that bitch hurt you?” She asked. She usually never swore, but she was that angry. She may be wild and mischievous, but she was the daughter of a Lady, and Ladies never used such foul language. He answered her query with another plaintive cry and a gentle nuzzle to her cheek. “i’ll take care of her later, i promise.” A part of her wished that the jackal woman was the spy, so that her punishment could be that much more severe.\n\n~~~~~\n\nOnce they reached the central hallway, the duo paused. She was almost there, but she was also entering one of the most heavily guarded areas of the castle, and her Father’s security would be much more difficult to distract than the maids had been.\n\n“this is where we part ways. you know what you must do, right?” She asked the little fairy dragon. She hated asking so much of him; it was bad enough that those worthless maids disliked Eclipse, but now she was tempting the ire of much more powerful and influential members of the household. Still, her Father’s control over His Empire rested in the balance, and she would do what she needed to ensure He retained His power. “when this is all over, i will give you something extra special. be careful. i love you, my pet.”\n\nShe melted into the shadows of a nearby alcove as the tiny dragon scurried off towards the dining hall. She closed her crimson eyes, bathing in the darkness, enjoying the sweet symphony of silence for as long as it lasted. It would only be a matter of minutes, she knew, before chaos erupted around her.\n\nA loud, womanly scream erupted in the distance, the din of silver serving platters and copper plates clattering across the unforgiving stone floor ringing through the corridors. Matron Zamia was her least favorite amongst the mothers, and she took exceptional glee in causing the razorback woman undue stress. A series of cries and shouts immediately followed, and the little half-tigress smiled to herself. Causing mischief and mayhem was one of her greatest guilty pleasures, and this time, she had her mother’s full support.\n\nAs she heard the commotion growing nearer, she cautiously emerged from her darkened hideaway and crept carefully along the ceiling, slowly making her way towards the treasury. She paused at the intersection, the entryway to the vault just a few yards away. She could hear the approaching screams and footsteps, and tilted her head back to look down at the floor.\n\nSeconds later, Eclipse bolted past her with Matron Zamia’s favorite cooking skillet, which, by the looks of things, was not empty when it was swiped. Splatters of her delicious elderbeast stew splashed over the sides of the iron as it clanked against the granite bricks. The fairy dragon made a hard right turn, the cooking utensil making more of a ruckus as it slapped against the wall, before he ran off past the two sentries guarding the treasure chamber.\n\nThe rhino and ox both leaned forward, watching the comical sight of the little creature towing the noisy pan through the hallway, laughing to each other. Nai’lati spread her massive wings and sprang forth from the ceiling, using the leathery appendages to propel herself towards the stone archway, latching onto the frame and swinging herself into the stairwell before Eclipse vanished from view and the guards resumed their positions.\n\nA second clamor roared down the corridor as Zamia chased after the little fairy dragon, hell-bent on recapturing her skillet. She was followed by Sventar’s other five daughters, all of them shouting, screaming, laughing, and cursing as they all tried to chase Eclipse down. Nai’lati halfway worried for her pet’s safety, despite the warthog’s Druidic vows to never harm a living creature, but she could not allow her fears to deter her from her mission. The sentries behind her were nearly rolling on their backs, oblivious to the intruder that had managed to slip past them. She chuckled to herself as she considered what their fates would be once her Father learned of their failure.\n\n~~~~~\n\nShe stopped at the foot of the long staircase in front of a heavy oak door inlaid with ornate gold carvings. She studied the lock system carefully; it was a combination of three different mechanisms, each one very different from the one before it. The first device was just a standard lock, though it was masterfully-crafted and would be impossible for most to open without the key. The second lock was some type of riddle, with four wheels, each covered in four identical sets of images. The third lock appeared to be magical in nature, with no discernible keyhole. A single needle stuck out from the smooth polished wood, threatening to sting any foolhardy enough to attempt to open it.\n\nNai’lati cracked her knuckles and grinned; no key-based locking mechanism had ever stopped her before, much to the dismay of her sisters and various members of the household staff. True enough, a lock as finely crafted as this one might take more time than she was used to, but she would not be stopped. Not now, not when her Father had finally depended on her talents. So many captured thieves had been granted a stay of execution so that they may teach the girl the arts of stealth and lock-picking. In fact, she held her first set of picks before she had even mastered using a fork.\n\nShe reached into the pouch sewn into the right thigh of her breeches and produced a rolled-up bundle of cloth, setting it down carefully and smoothly unrolling it to reveal her lock-pick set. Her eyes scanned over her tools, considering the value of each in this situation, and decided on her torsion wrench and warded pick. She quietly slid the torsion wrench into the keyhole and gave it a gentle twist, ensuring that as she picked any pins, they would stay in place. Using her right paw, she cautiously slid the pick into the slot and began the process of disengaging the lock.\n\nRelying solely on her senses of touch and sound to bypass the lock, she used her eyes to examine her next challenge. There was a series of four wheels, each with four images. The first was a depiction of a dragon, flanked by a demoness and a strange equine-reptilian woman, surrounded in fire. She recognized the next picture as an egg, surrounded on either side by adult dragons. Third was a carving of a strong young dragon raising a crown over his head. The final image was of a young dragon pup crying, the corpses of his fellow dragons all around him.\n\nRecalling her history lessons, Nai’lati realized that these were all critical moments in her Father’s life, from his birth up until his rise to power and the creation of this vault. She would need to arrange them sequentially to gain access, but she had paid enough attention in her lessons with the blind old crow that she dismissed the puzzle and moved on to the next challenge.\n\n‘.hcaetsi anraiT ra ra liuhf nah ca ridief iN’\n\nThe strange script was emblazoned above the needlepoint, glowing orange with ancient power. She cursed herself slightly for not paying more attention to her Draconic lessons. Such boring nonsense was more in line with Magiya’s interests, or even Alyssa and Dras. Ancient, dead tongues were of little use to the little half-tigress; if she couldn’t use the words to charm some fool into parting ways with his belongings or information, she wasn’t interested in knowing them.\n\nNone of what she was reading made any sense to the cub, but she tried hard to not become frustrated, knowing that it would ruin her focus and throw her entire mission into jeopardy. She slowed her breathing and cleared her mind, trying to recall the lessons in the old tongue. One of the first things the crow had taught the girls is that Draconic is read right-to-left, not left-to-right, like Common-Speak.\n\n“‘ni feidir ac han fhuil ra ra tiarna isteach,’” she read aloud, or as ‘aloud’ as she ever spoke when she wasn’t trying to pull a con. Only two of the words made any sense to the girl: ‘Tiarna’ meant ‘Lord,’ she knew, only because that was how her Father wished to be addressed by his subjects. ‘Fhuil’ translated to ‘blood,’ she thought, knowing it was a word commonly chanted in her sister’s magic. “‘blood’ and ‘lord,’” she muttered to herself. “i’m going to need some of father’s blood to get in.” Her musings were interrupted by the click of the final pin sliding into place.\n\nWith a satisfied smirk, Nai’lati turned the torsion wrench, sliding the deadbolt into the unlocked position. Next was the puzzle. Thinking through the series of events depicted in the images, she quickly determined that they represented her Father’s birth into the Dragon Clan, their murders at the hands of the Lesser Races, the Great Conquest, and His Ascension. She smirked at the image of Lady Droch in her younger days, knowing that the demoness and her Mother had become… intimate. She nimbly turned all four wheels into the proper chronological sequence, and turned her attention to the threatening steel needle.\n\n“the blood of the lord…” she whispered. “i am his daughter. i am his blood.” She moved her trembling paw towards the sliver of metal, index finger extended to prick herself and provide the crimson offering. She jerked her paw away suddenly, her mind doubting the way she completed the puzzle wheels. ‘if the text was in draconic, and read from right-to-left, then would the chronological order of events flow in the same order?’ She asked herself. She pondered this detail for just a moment, and then quickly reversed the order of the pictures.\n\n“father, forgive me if i am wrong,” she sighed softly, hastily pricking her finger on the needle before she could doubt herself again. The heavy oak door glowed with an eerie blue light, and quietly, slowly swung open, revealing her Father’s fortune to her eager red eyes. She quickly regarded the door, turning the dials of the puzzle back to their previous positions and wiping the needle clean of her blood, so that no one would notice at first glance. Sadly, the lock was ruined, but she mentally paid tribute to the locksmith that had created such a fine device. Unfortunately, if he was still alive, her Father was going to have him flayed alive for his failure. She quietly pushed the heavy oak slab closed behind her and entered the dark chamber.\n\n~~~~~\n\nShe thanked her Mother for the gift of Darksight, a trait found in members of her race, which allowed her to navigate her way through the vault in the blackness. She stared with wide-eyed wonder at the expanse of the room, amazed at the amount of wealth her Father had amassed over His lifecycle. Everywhere she looked, piles of gold, platinum, jewels, and magical artifacts rose up nearly to the twenty-foot high ceiling. There were treasure chests scattered all around the vault, some larger than she was, made from various types of wood and metal. She frowned a little, unsure of how she would know which one housed the source of her Father’s power.\n\nSilently, she crept through the treasury, keeping her little eyes alert for her objective. She spied a large wooden chest, made of silverwood, bound in black iron bands. Nai’lati pondered this trunk for a moment. It was different, it had a certain regal charm to it, but it lacked her Father’s personality. There was another box, black leather and bound in bone, that caught her eye and gave her chills. It was grand, it was fearsome, but her Father commanded fear and respect through His imposing presence alone; He did not need to rely upon such macabre imagery.\n\nAnd so it went for nearly one sandglass’s time. Nai’lati would spot a chest, inspect it, and determine it was not fitting to hold the source of her Father’s power. She was becoming frustrated, and began to wonder if she may have been too late. Suddenly, her keen eyes detected a small box set atop a pedestal on the side wall of the room. She carefully approached it, studying it carefully. She could sense the might of her Lord and Father emanating out from it, despite it being sealed. It was crafted of fine mahogany and reinforced iron, and sealed with two key locks. Her Father’s crest was emblazoned upon the lid, and Draconic writing was carved into the wood all over the little chest. This was it, she knew.\n\nNai’lati knelt down beside the pedestal and untied the straps to a small sack from her belt, opening the bag as wide as it would go. She reverently lifted the small chest and carefully set it down inside, then drew the strings tight and fastened it shut. The little half-dragon deftly re-tied the straps around her belt, making certain the chest was secure, and pondered her escape from the chamber. If she could, she preferred to avoid having to slip past the guards a second time. While she giggled at the thought of the sentries receiving even harsher punishment for allowing her to slip past them a second time, she was out of ideas that would not alert them, or others, to her presence. Mother made it clear that she was not to be discovered, period.\n\nShe prowled the chamber, looking for some sign of a hidden entrance. She knew these strongholds were often built with secret passages so that the inhabitants could move from room-to-room unseen by unwanted eyes. She had studied the plans of several castles and keeps, souvenirs from her Mother’s former days as a spy, and knew what she should be looking for. She spread her large wings wide, using the sensitive membranes to feel for any drafts. She knelt down low to the ground, her keen eyes looking for any stray beams of light that may trickle under a hidden passageway.\n\nAs she crept her way around the chamber, eyes and wings scanning for an escape, her sensitive little ears perked at the sound of flowing water. ‘i’m right next to the sewer,’ she realized. As she inched closer and closer to the source of the sound, her wings felt the slight tickle of air seeping in from the drainage tunnel through the stones in the wall. She examined the floor and wall surrounding the area, and spotted nothing out of the ordinary. ‘though if there was anything unusual, it would make a pretty poor secret passage, wouldn’t it?’ She thought to herself. A few paces to the right was a wall sculpture of a Taurian head, not unlike the dozens of other wall sculptures of various other Lesser Races that lined the stone chamber, except for one little detail: this one had a large ring through its nose.\n\nShe analyzed the bronze head for a few minutes, making certain that it was not a trap. Realizing that it was so unlikely for anyone but family to get into the vault, and therefore not really necessary to set traps inside of it, she relaxed and gripped the large ring in her little paw. As she tried to manipulate the hoop, she was able to very slightly push it upward. Applying all of her strength, she slowly managed to lift the hoop, disengaging the lock to the door. A broad section of the wall slid open, revealing the filthy water of the castle sewers. The little cub gagged a little at the stench, almost backing her way into the vault, but the large stone door slid shut behind her, blending in seamlessly with the rest of the tunnel.\n\nShe sighed in annoyance as she realized that her wingspan was too great for the underground waterway, and tentatively felt for a hold on the stonework. The cool, smooth rocks were slick with moisture and moss, and in some places mold and fungus covered the surface. Satisfied that her little claws could find purchase in the gaps between the stones, she carefully scaled the cylindrical wall until she was on the ceiling. She was careful not to slip and fall into the muck below, but still moved with a purpose; now that she had left the vault, the sands had begun to fall through the glass. After more time than she would have liked, the young half-tiger emerged out into an underground river. With enough space to spread her wings, she leapt out into the cavern and began flying as quickly as possible towards daylight.\n\n~~~~~\n\nThe harsh light of the two suns beat down on her little body as she emerged from the side of the mountain, the river beneath her dropping off suddenly in a vertical plummet to the valley far below. After so much time in the low light, she was nearly blind, and quickly dove towards the ground below, seeking refuge in the oh-so-welcoming shadows beneath the treetops.\n\nShe leveled out at nearly arms-length from the lush jungle floor, weaving her way precariously through the sicklevine trees, but maintaining her course eastward toward her rendezvous at Wyverncrest. She recalled the tales her Mother told about the infamous keep, whose mere mention caused the house servants to cringe in fear. She was abducted from her home, targeted specifically for her cruel, ruthless nature by the tower’s former Mistress, Zaradeth, so that she may one day assume the mantle of Wyverncrest’s new Mistress and allow Zaradeth to become her Father’s next mate.\n\nWhat Zaradeth hadn’t considered, however, was her Mother’s strength and resolve, and the sheer extent of her ruthlessness. While Joselyn was being trained, forced to service her Mistress as well as several of the stronger, more popular gladiators, she was teaching her only friend, another woman named Traixa, everything she was learning. At her coronation, Josie was thrust into battle against the arena Grand Champion, a reptilian monster named Kortalas, and killed him with her bare claws, proving her right to the title of Mistress and earning Zaradeth a place at Father’s side.\n\nThe entire arena watched in forced reverence as Father accepted Zaradeth as one of His wives, the scene quickly turning into Chaos as her Mother eviscerated the equine/reptilian woman in front of Father and the other two Mothers, Ladies Droch and Popi. Her rage compelled her to attack Father, though His thick armor plating deflected her claws long enough for the other Mothers to subdue her. Father contemplated her execution, but still required a Mistress to train and maintain order amongst the slaves, and ordered her to stay behind and manage His affairs at the tower.\n\nHer Mother surprised the great Black Dragon Overlord, however, by announcing she had already trained a suitable replacement. Traixa was led to the arena, and Kortalas was brought back out, his reptilian blood enhanced through arcane enchantments on his armor, healed back to full health. The young lizan woman was barely able to defeat the warrior, helplessly outclassed in strength, speed, and size. Her guile and cunning, traits which Joselyn had personally honed and refined, had proven to be her keys to victory. Wyverncrest now had two Mistresses.\n\nHer Father was torn. Joselyn had attempted to take His life, and needed to be punished. Still, she had proven to be cunning and resourceful. He agreed to let her accompany Him back to the Castle, but she would need to earn His trust by proving her loyalty. He made Joselyn a diplomat in His court, her social skills from her previous life making her a natural fit to work a room and gather information. Furthermore, her beauty made her a master at seduction, and she led many of Father’s enemies to her bed… and their untimely ends.\n\nAs a member of the court, Joselyn had plenty of opportunity to interact with the demoness, Droch Fola. The two women had similar views and opinions, despite their differing backgrounds – Droch from the plane of Fire, Joselyn from the plane of Water. They became friends quickly, and eventually lovers. Mother would often keep Droch’s bed warm while Father occupied Himself with Lady Popi or that worthless whore of a slave girl He was infatuated with. Indeed, the two women grew very close, and the little half-tiger regarded Lady Droch like a second mother, and Terca like a full-blooded sister.\n\nNai’lati’s immature folds dampened as she recalled the details of her Mother’s telling of her first time with Father. Having proven her loyalty to Him as His top assassin, she had earned her place as His mate, and He surprised her by summoning her to His bedchamber. He had been so strong, so loving, so rough, so tender, so passionate and so patient all at once. He marked her as His, and she screamed her thanks to Him to the skies. That first time, that very night, they had conceived Nai’lati. Her Mother’s pride and joy. Daddy’s little Shadow.\n\nShe was absorbed in her thoughts as she burst out of the trees and into a small village, nestled deep in the forest. Her little body nearly slammed into a large wooden post carved into the shapes of the heads of various beasts. She corrected her course at the final second and plowed into a large porcine warrior, knocking him into the dirt.\n\nShe rolled across the ground several times, rolling up onto her clawed feet as she came to a halt. Several guards were converging around her, their sharp, angry spears leveled at her. She raised her paws in defense and spoke, “What are you attacking me for? I’m just passing through, and your village was in my way. Do you have any idea who I am? You’re lucky I’m in a hurry, or else you’d all be dead by now!” It sounded strange to hear her own voice when she spoke normally. She hated noise; the shadows spoke in hushed whispers and listening in on their secrets was so much more difficult without peace and quiet. “Lower your weapons and I’ll forget this entire incident happened,” she said calmly, brushing the dust and grass from her scales and fur.\n\n~~~~~\n\nThankful to have resolved matters with the warthog clan, Nai’lati continued along on her journey, speeding along over the barren wastes as quickly as her large wings could carry her. It had taken her longer than she would have liked, but she was glad that she was eventually able to convince the tribe of swine-people to allow her to leave. If she wasn’t mistaken, she had lost nearly half of her precious time, and was little more than halfway to her destination. She flew low in the dry, mud-caked gorge, hanging as close to the walls as she could, seeking comfort in the shade.\n\nAs the dried river bed banked right, she was met by a pair of fearsome opponents she had not expected. She cursed her luck as she flew into the lair of two cave trolls. “Stop!” The male shouted as the smaller female looked on menacingly. “This is our home, and no one passes without paying toll,” the male roared, slamming a massive tree trunk of a club against the ground with enough force to create a small landslide. A large, wicked looking spear twirled in the woman’s hands, challenging the little cub to attempt an escape. Nai’lati hesitated for a moment; if only had she was old enough to have developed her breath weapon. That would have leveled the playing field, but without it, and no simple means to escape, she would have to try relying on her wits to survive.\n\n“I have nothing,” she said, trying to remain calm in the face of this new threat.\n\n“What is in sack?” The ugly female asked, thrusting the tip of the spear forward, barely more than a foot away from the half-dragon’s face. “She must have something she can give, right, Krog?”\n\n“I think little striped pretty is lying to us, Glib,” the equally hideous male agreed. “Come now, Morsel, surely you have something shiny, or a few coins you can give us?” The hulking monster took a step in the little half-dragon’s direction.\n\n“I am the daughter of Lord Sventar,” Nai’lati warned the unintelligent beasts. “I carry a special delivery intended just for Him, and the only other things of value that I have on me are gifts from my family. I can’t give up either.”\n\n“Lord Seven-dar?” The thing called Glib asked. “We never hear of Seven-dar.”\n\n“Strangers that don’t pay toll become dinner,” Krog warned her, licking his lips. “Are you sure your pretty neck worth risking for present for Seven-dar?”\n\n“Are you certain your lives are worth risking over a meal?” The little half-dragon cub shot back.\n\n“A challenge, then,” Krog said. “If pretty wins, she goes free. If Krog and Glib win, pretty gives us what is in bag, or we eat her.”\n\nNai’lati thought over their request for a moment, deciding on whether to accept or insert stipulations into the wager. She didn’t have to think too long on the matter, as time was wasting and she couldn’t afford to dally. “A riddle then,” she answered. “I’ll accept your challenge, but only if it is a riddle, and only on my terms and conditions. There are two of you anyway, right? So that’s fair.”\n\n“What conditions?” Krog asked, as his mate licked her lips and stared at the young half-tigress hungrily.\n\n“I will ask you a riddle. You get one answer. You two can discuss it between yourselves, but you have to agree on the answer before I can accept it,” Nai’lati explained confidently. “I will give you from the time I ask until the sun touches the side of the gorge to answer, but no more. I am in a hurry.”\n\nThe hulking male turned away from Nai’lati, the two trolls discussing privately. After several heartbeats, Nai’lati spoke up, interrupting their discussion. “You’re losing time. What’s it going to be?”\n\n“We accept,” the club-wielding beast roared, his companion nodding eagerly. “But if Krog and Glib win, pretty better keep her deal.”\n\n“Don’t worry, you will probably win,” Nai’lati said with a sigh. “I can’t think of any good riddles.” She walked to a nearby rock and sat down, resting her chin on her paw as she thought of a challenging riddle.\n\nThe trolls chuckled at Nai’lati’s frustrated tone and posture, and Glib growled, “Hurry up, Meat. Glib hungry.”\n\nKrog glanced upward towards the sky, seeing that the sun had nearly crossed the gorge and they were almost out of time. “No more waiting, meat. Ask riddle, now.”\n\nNai’lati rose to her pawpads with a huff and shrugged. “Fine. This is the best I could come up with. It’s pretty easy, and you’ll probably guess it with very little trouble, but I guess that’s my own fault for making the terms of our arrangement so heavily weighted in your favor. I really might as well jump into your dwindling fire and get -”\n\n“The riddle. Now!” Krog roared.\n\n“Okay,” she said. “What is made of wood, but cannot be sawed? There. See? It’s really very simple. I don’t even know why I bothered. Just do me a favor please, and let my Father know how brave I was, so that He can be proud of His little girl in her final moments. I do hope that I taste delicious, so that my death was not for nothi -”\n\n“Shut up! Glib can’t think!” The female hissed, nearly skewering the cub with the sharp tip of her spear. Turning to Krog, the smaller troll asked, “what is it, Krog? Furniture, maybe?”\n\n“No, no,” the male answered. “Fancy chairs for sitting, but still can be cut. What about stonewood? Is hard. Sawing through would not be easy.”\n\n“Not easy not the same as impossible,” Glib said, shaking her head.\n\nNai’lati fought to suppress her grin, hoping to not throw the trolls off of their current train of thought. Stonewood was a good guess, though technically the fossilized remains of long-dead trees were made from wood, and not of it, all of the original fibers replaced by minerals. Still, they trolls were smarter than she had originally given them credit for. She glanced skyward while Krog and Glib debated back and forth; she just needed a little bit longer…\n\n“What that stuff called that falls on ground when wood is cut with saw? “ Glib asked. “Is like dust.”\n\n“Sawdust?” Krog asked.\n\n“Yes, sawdust,” the filthy troll woman nodded excitedly. “Is wood, and too small to cut with saw.” Nai’lati’s heart sank a little, and she began to calculate a new escape route, but the dumb male didn’t disappoint.\n\n“What if saw was size of ant?” The stupid male pointed out, which gave Glib a moment’s pause.\n\n“I still say sawdust,” she said obstinately, stamping the ground with the butt of her spear.\n\n“I still say stonewood,” he retorted, emphasizing his opinion by swatting her spear with his club, sending it clattering to the ground. This was the little cub’s chance; the male’s back was turned and the female was unarmed. By the time either could attack, she would be out of range. She used her massive wings to thrust herself high up into the air, and flapped them as hard as she could, continuing along her way towards Wyverncrest. Glib’s spear narrowly missed her, proving that she had once again underestimated the trolls.\n\n~~~~~\n\nThe little half-tiger’s heart skipped a beat when the imposing silhouette of Wyverncrest appeared on the horizon. She had often imagined herself as the Mistress of the Tower, breaking the wills of the slaves and forcing them to serve her in preparation for her Father. She grinned cruelly at the thoughts of doling out punishments for disobedience and failure, the agonized cries of atonement echoing down the stone corridors. She could scarcely believe that she was going to meet Mistress Traixa, who had helped Mother ascend from the shackles to the throne room, and continued, to this day, to supply Father with a broken-spirited workforce.\n\nShe touched down lightly atop the tallest spire of the fortress, her little footpaws coming to rest on the hot, sunbaked stone floor. A large, heavy, iron-clad door swung open, and a tall, regal-looking lizan appeared. She was breathtakingly beautiful, with cobalt-blue scales, a mane of white and yellow feathers, and cold, intelligent eyes the color of smoke. Her spider silk gown sparkled like diamonds in the light of the two suns. She strode confidently towards the little cub, who shrank a little in the presence of one of her idols, slightly bowing her head.\n\n“Please, Your Highness, do not bow before me. I should be the one to kneel before you,” the Mistress of Wyverncrest said sweetly, taking her place before Nai’lati on one knee and lowering her head in reverence. “The Daughter of our Lord and my Mistress is truly an esteemed guest in my home. Your Mother has told me how much you have grown, how beautiful you have become. I have not seen you since you were just a newborn, Miss Nai’lati. It is an honor to meet you once again. I am Traixa. Welcome to Wyverncrest.”\n\n“rise, mistress traixa,” the little girl said, blushing slightly under the attention she was receiving from her idol. “it is a pleasure to finally meet you, and to be old enough to remember the event. i trust that my mother informed you of my mission?”\n\n“Yes, Your Highness,” the lizan woman said, and with a graceful sweep of her arm, gestured towards the entrance to the Keep. “Right this way, please. I will escort you to the person you are here to meet, and he will take care of securing your Father’s Power someplace safe, away from spying eyes.” As they entered the tower, Traixa said, “Forgive me for saying so, but when your Mother told me you could make it here in one sandglass, I had my doubts. You must truly be a very swift flyer, Your Highness.”\n\n“except for father, or perhaps my sister, magiya - although she cheats and relies on her magic - i am the fastest in the entire realm,” she boasted, spreading her enormous wings as wide as the stone passageway would allow. “these wings that father has blessed me with are my pride and joy.”\n\n“Our Lord blesses His Daughters with many gifts,” Traixa said as she accompanied Nai’lati to her rendezvous. “Someday, I hope that He deems me worthy to be His mate, so that I may bear His eggs, and join my sister at His side.”\n\n“i would like that very much,” Nai’lati said, looking up at her Mother’s friend with a broad smile. “you and mother would be able to see more of each other, and you could teach me how to force the weak into submission. maybe one day i will be allowed to govern wyverncrest.”\n\nTraixa chuckled at the suggestion. “If Your Highness does not mind me saying so, such a job is below a Lady of your station. I am forced to associate myself with all manner of undesirable filth and scum. At the end of the day, I must bathe in perfumed oils to remove their stench from my feathers so that I may sleep at night.” She opened another heavy, iron-bound door, and said, “This is where we part ways, Your Highness. The person you are here to see waits inside this room. The secrets you carry upon you are not meant for my eyes. Please, though, before you leave, come and see me. I would like to give the daughter of my best friend a special gift. It was lovely to see you, Your Highness.”\n\n“yes, mistress traixa, it was an honor to meet you, as well,” the half-dragon cub said, taking the older woman’s scaled paw into her own. “i look forward to being able to spend more time with you in the future.” Nai’lati turned away from the lizan and entered the dark room, the loud screech of metal sliding on metal as Traixa closed the door behind her the only sound.\n\nAs the light from the hallway was banished by the closing of the door, her eyes adjusted to the blackness. She was in a bed chamber, and a very luxuriously appointed one at that. ‘an unusual place to meet,’ she thought to herself, ‘but i suppose it does provide the necessary secrecy.’\n\n“My name is Nai’lati, daughter of Lord Sventar. Show yourself, so that I may give you that which my Father has entrusted me with,” she demanded of the shadows. She hated her loud voice, just as she hated any loud noises, but in the dark, stone-walled room, it seemed to boom in her sensitive ears like thunder.\n\n“I know who you are, Child,” came a deep, rumbling voice she recognized immediately. It was low and full of love and care, though the sound of it would strike fear and panic into the hearts of most.\n\n“daddy!” she exclaimed, running as fast as she could across the room and leaping into the arms of the Great Dragon Overlord. She hugged Him tightly and gently nuzzled her cheek against His broad, powerful chest.\n\n“You made it,” He rumbled as He held His fourth daughter in His large, powerful arms. “But you were almost late. Did you run into any trouble?”\n\n“nothing i couldn’t handle,” she said, her crimson eyes staring back up into His affectionately. “the hardest part was not revealing myself when one of the slaves attacked eclipse with a mop. i want you to hack that jackal woman up into meat cubes and serve her to the others as an example.”\n\n“They all look the same to me,” He answered. He smiled down at her, both amused and proud by the girl’s vengeful blood thirst. “But point her out to me, and it will be done.”\n\n“thank you. that will teach them all to respect my precious baby. oh! mommy told me that there was a second half to my reward once i got here,” the half-tigress girl said eagerly. “can i have it now, daddy?”\n\n“All in due time. First, tell me about the Legend,” her Father commanded, setting her back down onto the hard stone chamber floor.\n\nNai’lati smiled with pride. She was not the most scholarly of her sisters, but the Legend of Sventar was the one textbook lesson she had followed with rapt attention and with her skills as an orator, she could tell it better than any of the other daughters. She stood up straight and placed her paws behind her back, interlacing her fingers, and began to recite what she had learned.\n\n“For thousands of years, the Dragon Clan ruled over the Six Realms, governing the Lesser Races justly and fairly. It was an era of peace and prosperity as the Great Dragons used fear to prevent their subjects from going to war. Large civilizations were formed under their rule, and without the hindrance of free will, the Lesser Races ascended to the pinnacle of their existence.\n\nIn their foolishness and greed, however, the Lesser Races revolted against their Masters. In an act of cowardice, they found the Dragon Clan during their season of slumber, and murdered them all as they slept. Without strong rulers to govern them, the Lesser Races plunged themselves into anarchy and chaos, ushering in the Time of Darkness. Still, hope persevered, for in their folly, the traitorous assassins neglected to thoroughly inspect the rookery, and a single, newly-hatched Dragon survived the attack.\n\nThe little hatchling endured by consuming the flesh of His fallen brethren. Their power became His power, and He grew strong. He ate all that He could, becoming larger and more powerful than His kinsmen. When there was nothing left, the young Dragon left the nest to begin His quest for vengeance.\n\nHe realized that in order to reclaim the realms and unite them under His banner, He would need an army. His first ally was the leader of a pack of bandits, the warrior woman named Zaradeth. He bested her in combat, and in exchange for her life, she agreed to become His First Mate, not just in command, but also in bed. Their band of marauders roamed the wastes, conscripting their defeated enemies into their ranks.\n\nWhen word reached the ears of the Dragon Lord’s ears that His kind had been powerful magic users, He and His army assaulted the Tower of Introspection, in search of ancient tomes regarding Draconic magic. The losses to His army were severe, but the Dragon was able to breach the Tower and gain access to the Grand Library. In a last-ditch effort, the Heads of the different Schools of Sorcery threw every last spell at the invaders, regardless of the consequences. One Summoner conjured up a powerful demoness from the Plane of Fire, hoping she would turn the tide of the battle.\n\nThe Dragon Lord and the demoness fought tooth-and-nail in fierce combat, until Zaradeth succeeded in slaying the Summoner. Desperate to avoid returning to her host plane, the demoness bound herself to the Dragon, pledging her service in exchange for being allowed to stay. The young Lord accepted her offer, and the Lady Droch Fola became His chief advisor. She taught Him the ways of Planar magic, and in doing so, helped Him focus His wild, instinctual Draconic magic. She named Him ‘Sventar,’ Draconic for ‘Overlord,’ and He made her His Second Mate.\n\nWith the aid of the demoness, the army once again spread across the Six Realms. Defeated enemies were offered the choice between death or defection, and it was not long before the Dragon Lord and His generals commanded the largest force the world had ever known. He turned His attention to the last bastion of resistance, Wyverncrest, where knights and paladins trained alongside monks and rangers.\n\nThe final confrontation was epic, as the forces of Lord Sventar assaulted the last of the freedom fighters, with heavy casualties on both sides. A small group of elite warriors caused unimaginable destruction in the Lord’s ranks, only to be overwhelmed and flee. The enemy general and these skilled soldiers fled out through one of the many secret tunnels in the Keep, with only one warrior covering their escape: a beautiful young white lioness that fought with unrivaled ferocity and intensity. Sventar took notice of how the young monk fought toe-to-toe against Zaradeth, and her unique gifts to drain her opponents’ energy with every hit. He vowed to make her His. The young woman, Lady Popi, daughter of the Archmage Codix, fought valiantly and allowed her general to escape. However, it mattered not as His armies were vanquished that day. It wasn’t until Lord Sventar faced her Himself that she fell, His indomitable spirit too much for her powers. Using His deeper understanding of Draconic Magic, Sventar branded the fierce warrior woman with His mark, causing her to cease her fighting and accept her new role as His mate.\n\nWith Sventar’s new role as Grand Overlord established, the army set up temporary headquarters in Wyverncrest while His new castle was built in the peaks of the Daggertooth Mountains, at the site of His hatching, over the bones of His slain ancestors. The former beacon of hope and goodness was corrupted and perverted as the Overlord and His servants converted the once-proud training ground for great warriors into a prison used to break the souls and spirits of the enslaved.\n\nGeneral Zaradeth was appointed the First Mistress of Wyverncrest, in charge of preparing the incoming slaves for their new roles and maintaining order, suppressing any uprisings before they could gain any momentum. It was decided that Wyverncrest would always have a Mistress, and that the current Mistress would not be allowed to leave until her replacement had been chosen and proven to be worthy. Their worthiness would be tested against the fiercest and most celebrated gladiators. Then –”\n\n“Enough.” Sventar said in a firm yet gentle voice. “It’s clear that you know the Legend very well, Nai’lati.” His voice was proud, and she puffed her little chest out at the praise from her Father.\n\n“thank you, daddy, it has always been my favorite lesson. why don’t we go out onto the balcony and watch the darkness rise?” She looked at Him and smiled expectantly. He gave a soft laugh and nodded, and she rushed to the heavy curtains, sweeping them aside to reveal the door leading out onto the landing. She stepped out into the evening air, a little less oppressive than the abusive heat and glare she had traveled in.  ”it’s been awhile since the two of us had the chance to do this.”\n\nHe strode up beside her and wrapped His thick arm around her waist. He gave her a gentle smile and told her, “I know. Too long. The duties of ruling an empire and crushing the rebellions take up a lot of My time. On top of all that, I have your sisters and all of the mothers.” She craned her slender neck up at Him and stuck her little tongue out, returning His loving embrace.\n\n“are you trying to make me jealous, daddy?” Just because she understood, didn’t mean that she wasn’t envious. Between the six Mothers, and her three older Sisters, He certainly received a lot of attention and affection in the bedroom. It had been excruciating torture while she sat back, letting so many other women occupy His bed. She had tried to tell herself that her day would come eventually, but her patience was running out.\n\n“Nai’lati, look up at the sky,” He commanded her, and she obeyed. “Do you see the horizon? That is Terca. She is beautiful, but she is also rough, and harsh, and unforgiving. The two suns? They are Aldrasya and Alyssa. They are bright and welcoming, but fierce and intense. The moon is Magiya, radiant and secretive. The clouds are Beatrix, teasing the watchful eye with the shapes of various beasts one moment, casting down rain and lightning the next.”\n\nThe little half-tigress’s heart sank in her chest as her Father listed off all of her Sisters, comparing each of them to a part of the very sky she had invited Him out to view. Weakly, she asked Him, “what am I, father?”\n\n“Just watch and wait,” He said, nuzzling the top of her head. They stood together, side-by-side in silence, as the suns slipped below the horizon, out of sight. The sky slowly shifted from blue to pink and purple, gradually darkening to black. The horizon vanished from sight, and the moon rose up from the South, cutting a pale sliver in the night sky. “What do you see now, Nai’lati?”\n\n“i see nothing but darkness, daddy,” she answered softly.\n\n“That, my Child, is you. You are the night. Mysterious. Soothing. Quiet. Treacherous. So many secrets. So much danger. Yet also welcome after a long day of scorching heat. The stars are the mischievous twinkle in your eyes,” His massive clawed hand swept across her field of vision. “You are everywhere and nowhere at once. You make me so proud to be your Father. Tell me, do you know what the source of my power is?” He asked her.\n\n“no, daddy, i don’t. mommy told me that when i am old enough, you will tell me,” she answered truthfully, until realization struck her. “is that today? am i finally old enough to know the secret?”\n\nHe gave a low, deep laugh at her excitement and told her, “Yes, my Child. You have proven that you are mature and capable enough to learn the truth. Let’s step back inside, and all will be made clear for you.”\n\n“speaking of which, mommy said that you would tell me what my blades say,” she stated as they turned from the balcony railing.\n\n“Ta gach rud a fheiceann muid ar scath a caitheadh ​​ag a nach bhfuil againn a fheiceail,” He answered. “Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not.”\n\n“that is a beautiful saying,” she said, nodding as she pondered the meaning.\n\nShe followed Him eagerly, her mischievous red eyes fixed on the small chest in her Father’s massive hands as He picked it up off the table. As she drew near, He unclasped the box and lifted the lid, revealing a black collar with a silver heart-shaped lock and two chains. “is that my collar?” She asked with nervous excitement. She had always been jealous of her older sisters: Terca, Aldrasya, and most recently, Alyssa, had all been given their collars from their Father. She watched in awe and reverence as He reached inside and lifted the beautiful accessory, and subconsciously bowed her head, offering up her neck for adornment.\n\n“Yes, it is,” He answered as He wrapped the leather around her neck and fastened the front, “made according to your mother’s specifications by the same craftsman that made your sisters’ collars. You see, you and your sisters are the source of my power, Nai’lati.”\n\n“i don’t understand, daddy,” she said, looking at her reflection in a nearby vanity mirror. Her little heart fluttered with love and pride for her Father at the sight of her new adornment. Each of her sisters’ collars were unique in their design, crafted with the personalities of their wearers in mind. Nai’lati’s certainly was no exception. It was perfect.\n\n“I am the last of the Great Dragons,” He told her. “My kind cut down in their sleep in an act of cowardice. Thanks to your Mothers, I now have six beautiful half-Dragons. In time, Nai’lati, you and your Sisters will give me your children, and they shall be three-quarters Dragon. As the generations pass, the bloodline will become purer and purer, until barely the faintest hint of the Lesser Races remains in our family.” He cupped her chin in His talons and said lovingly, “You are the future of Our people.”\n\n“i love you, daddy,” she cried happily, leaping into His strong arms where He held her close and tight.\n\n“I love you, too, My Shadow,” He replied in His deep, rumbling voice.\n\n“does this mean that this is my time? am i finally ready for you to take me to your bed?” She asked eagerly.\n\n“Yes, My Child,” He grinned down at her, “you are ready.”\n\n“daddy, would you please carry me to the bed?” she asked sweetly.\n\n“Of course, my Princess.” He carried the much smaller cub to the massive four-post bed and gently laid her down on the soft blanket. He slid His massive claws ever so slowly up her thighs, the razor-sharp talons shredding through her breeches and exposing her youthful body to His burning gaze. She parted her legs slightly, granting her Father access to her body, and closed her eyes as she enjoyed His touch. She shivered in anticipation as she felt His claws drag through her fur, moving further upward towards her tunic. She moaned slightly at the exquisite torture of His slow touch, and stared up at Him with an expression somewhere between love and extreme lust. She bit her lip, trying to calm her breathing.\n\n“Nai’lati, you do not know how many years I have waited for this moment,” her Father said as He sawed through her top, exposing her belly and the barely visible swell of her undeveloped chest. “After tonight, things between us will never be the same. I will always be your Father, but I will also be your lover. Your mate. I will never let you go, and I will be the only male you ever know.”\n\nThe little half-tigress stared up into her Father’s eyes and replied, “daddy, i want this more than anyone but you could ever know. please, make love to me. make me yours, forever.”\n\nWith a firm but gentle tug, Sventar tore the ruined tatters of clothing from His fourth-born daughter’s tiny frame, revealing her in all of her naked glory to His eyes for the first time since she was a baby. Her little nipples stood proudly and erect, like miniature mountains, and her virgin opening glistened in the faint moon glow, as though her next-oldest sister, Magiya, was watching, wondering what her turn would be like.\n\nHe lifted her up in His powerful arms, her slender legs wrapping around His waist and her arms encircling His broad chest in a loving embrace. He sat down at the edge of the bed, His gargantuan manhood sticking up between them, pressed against His abdomen by her lithe little body. She suddenly raised herself up slightly and kissed her Father deeply, trying to convey the depth and intensity of her love for Him. He kissed her back appreciatively, both of them moaning with escalating desire and need.\n\n“daddy, i hope you won’t be mad at me, but you won’t be my first. terca and i have been playing together for a few years now,” she admitted shyly.\n\n“Has she destroyed your maidenhood?” He asked casually, as if He already knew the answer.\n\n“no, father,” the young girl replied. “she told me that was a special honor meant just for you, and that i would thank her later for it.”\n\n“Your sister was correct,” He said as He stared back into her eager, excited eyes. “On both counts.” He gripped her much smaller body in His enormous hands, placing one over each of her soft, supple butt cheeks, and lifted her higher up His body. She rested her head on His chest, listening to the thunderous beating of His heart, and lovingly wrapped her wings around His regal torso. A moment later she felt Him return the affectionate gesture, and they lost themselves in a cocoon of darkness and love.\n\n“Are you ready, My Princess?” He asked, sweetly nuzzling her cheek with His nose. “This will hurt a little in the beginning, but the pain will fade and turn into pleasure.”\n\n“yes, please,” she urged Him, “a little pain to show my love, respect, and loyalty to my father, my king, my mate is nothing compared to the wait i have already endured. take me, please.”\n\nHe gently lowered her down, resting the slick, hot lips of her nethers on the tip of His towering shaft. The Great Dragon curled His wicked claws around the base of His erection to steady Himself, and stroked the thick head back and forth between her pure, eager folds. She pressed back eagerly, and let out a soft gasp of breath when the tip of her Father’s cock slipped between her lips and into her virgin cunny.\n\n“it’s so big,” she said softly, feeling herself stretched wider than she would have ever thought possible. He paused for a moment to let her adjust to His girth, but she gritted her teeth and said, “i can handle it. i was born to do this. please, keep going, daddy.”\n\nHe carefully slid more of His long, thick, segmented cock into her vice-like passage, sinking deeper and deeper into her virgin tunnel. He paused once more when He felt the resistance of her hymen, but only for a moment, before pushing forward, tearing His way through and claiming her innocence. A flash of searing pain shot through her body, and she fought with all of her willpower to hold back the tears that were forming in the corners of her eyes.\n\nA thin line of crimson escaped from the spot of their union, proof that He had made her His woman. As she sank lower and lower onto His spiny prick, He reached between her thighs and swiped up her maiden’s blood with His index claw. Nai’lati watched in a mixture of passion and amazement as He lifted His blood-soaked talon to His jaws. Sventar carefully breathed out a small stream of flame, heating the curved claw until it glowed orange with blazing intensity.\n\nWhen He pressed the magically-imbued brand against her stomach, she grabbed Him by the back of His head and kissed Him fiercely. Her pained whimpers and cries were muted by the duel of their tongues. The stench of burning fur and skin assaulted her nostrils as He skillfully carved out His mark on her flesh. When He was done, Nai’lati broke the heated kiss and held her paw to her belly.\n\n“I am sorry, My Child,” He said softly, brushing her silver hair back from her eyes. “That mark will forever link you to Me. When you are in danger, I will know, and I will come to your aid. My power will protect you, guide you. And when I am near, your body will respond. Your womb will become more fertile, and be more welcoming of My seed. In time, you will bless Me with many children.”\n\nShe held His face in her tiny paws and told Him, “please, daddy, don’t be sorry. i have waited for this moment for years. the pain was brief, but necessary. i am just overwhelmed by my love and desire for you.”\n\nWith a low, rumbling chuckle, the Great Dragon responded, “Oh, My Daughter, you have felt nothing yet.” Digging His claws into her muscular backside, He rolled her over onto her back, setting her ankles high up on His shoulders, allowing Him to penetrate her deeper than before. She clutched on to His arms tightly as they gasped and moaned into each other’s mouths.\n\n“Oh, gods!” She cried out, the jolts of pleasure severe enough to break out of her normal whispers. “Oh yes, Father! Mark me, mate me, breed me!” Her sharp claws dug and raked at His thick, scaly hide, unable to penetrate the natural born armor of His kind. “Fill me with Your essence and give me Your children!”\n\nHe continued to pound deeply into her stretched, swollen womanhood, her screams of passion dissolving into unintelligible grunts, gasps, moans, and squeaks. Overcome by so many new and erotic sensations, her first orgasm to be given to her by her Father quickly built to a crescendo. Her copious juices sloshed out of her abused pussy, soaking the sheets beneath her pert little backside.  She felt a familiar feeling as her inner walls began to twitch and quake around His invading member, similar to the way Terca had made her feel during their alone times together. “I-I’m getting close, Daddy!”\n\n“Let it go, My Child,” He commanded her. “Give in, and show Me how beautiful you are in the throes of your passion. Climax for your Father.”\n\n“Ahhhhh~! Daddy!” she cried out as her dam burst. Her muscles clamped down tightly around Him, her body’s natural instincts trying to coax Him into filling her womb with His potent seed. Her slender frame shuddered and bucked beneath Him, and with a violent jerk, she sprayed His muscular abdomen and thighs in her sweet, feminine nectar. “daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy…” she repeated over and over, her voice dropping back to its normal hushed tone as she rode out the waves of her release.\n\n“That’s excellent, Nai’lati,” He spoke as He continued to fuck her into babbling submission, not relenting the furious pace as He neared His own peak. Her voice had trailed off into a long, near-continuous moan as she felt the tip of His mighty cock nudge at the entrance to her uterus. His shaft swelled up even bigger and harder than before, though she did not know how that was possible, as His heavy balls smacked repeatedly against her firm little rump. Suddenly, He buried Himself as deeply in her young body as He could, His body going rigid as He unleashed a torrent of His virile, incestuous essence into her young, willing, and receptive core.\n\nNai’lati overflowed with her Father’s sperm, her powerfully contracting muscles squirting out the excess all over both of their laps in a gooey mess. She felt His pillar jerk and spasm deep inside of her body as He filled her to capacity with His royal seed. Once He was fully drained, He looked into her eyes and asked, “That was very well done, My Child. How do you feel now that you are a woman?”\n\n“i feel incredible! a little weak, a little tired, but better than i ever have before,” she replied, giving the Great Dragon a soft smile and a loving squeeze. “if you want, daddy, i can go again, back here if you want…” She pulled her tail aside, exposing her tight pink puckered hole to His eyes.\n\nHe let out an amused chuckle at her enthusiasm, and replied, “There will be plenty of time for that in the future, My Child. You have done more than enough for one night. I think it would be a good idea for you to pay a visit to Mistress Traixa while you are here. I know how much you like her.”\n\n“yes, i would like that, very much,” the half-tigress answered, “but summon me if you change your mind, daddy. i love you!” She kissed Him affectionately and rolled out of the bed. She didn’t even bother to pick up the shreds of clothing off the floor as she opened the door to the room, leaving a trail of their mixed juices on the cold, hard stone floor. She pulled the heavy wooden closed behind her, leaving Him alone in the dark. No, not alone. She was still with Him, she knew, because she is the dark.\n\n~~~~~\n\n“That was beautiful, My Lord,” Joselyn said, emerging from a false wardrobe where she had been able to observe the exchange between Father and Daughter. “One day, she will give you beautiful children. Still, I hope My Lord still has room in His bed for His favorite assassin?” The tigress seductively approached the large Dragon Overlord, raking her claws aggressively across His thick chest scales.\n\n“Certainly,” He told the lithe, muscular feline. “When your womb can give me a Daughter as precious as Nai’lati, you have definitely earned the right to provide me with more.”\n\nThe Great Dragon gripped the tigress by her silver tresses and roughly bent her over the side of the bed. He dragged His powerful, segmented shaft, still coated in their daughter’s honey, up and down her puffy, pink lips, slick with her desire for Him. Each ridge along the length of His scepter sent shivers of pleasure through her body, and she whined needily to be filled with His cock, to feel His potent seed flood her passage, to have His Child grow within her body once more.\n\nShe cried out in pleasurable pain as He drove His spiny prick home, burying Himself to the hilt in her willing body, splitting her aching pussy wide around His thickness. She clawed at the expensive silk sheets, still soaked with their daughter’s then-virginal juices, as Sventar sawed in and out of her passage, writhing and moaning beneath His massive, muscular frame.\n\n“Come in, Terca,” He said, not bothering to slow His rhythmic thrusting into Joselyn’s welcoming Motherhood. “Tell Us what you know. Did your sister require any help from you to complete her mission?”\n\n“No, Father,” His eldest daughter said as she entered the bedroom, staring with lust-filled eyes as she saw her Father take His fourth mate with unbridled passion. “As fast as she is, I was unable to keep up with Nai’lati, but I was able to track her by the path she left in her wake.”\n\n“Go on,” He grunted, bumping His hips up against Joselyn’s rump with enough force to drive her belly up off the sweat-and-pussy soaked mattress. “What did you see?”\n\n“She ran into the Scrofa Scrofa tribe,” the young half-dragon, half-demoness explained. “A few of their warriors were wounded; several of their women and children were slain. When I arrived, they were mourning their losses, and regarded me with fear and hate. Still, they gave me no resistance, and allowed me to move along without any further trouble. Though I believe Matron Zamia will be very angry when she hears about this incident. Even though they are not Her tribe, the razorkin are still Her people.”\n\n“I will deal with her when that time comes,” her Father said. “She already hates Matron Joselyn, so this will just add to her hate.”\n\n“Why does she hate Matron Joselyn, Father?” The little girl asked.\n\n“Tell her,” Sventar commanded. “Tell my daughter why two of my mates hate each other so much.” He wrapped His claws in the tigress’s hair and pulled, arching her spine painfully back to look Him in His burning red eyes.\n\n“I murdered her betrothed,” Joselyn hissed. “My Lord commanded it, and so I did it. And I would do it again, with pleasure. Anything for my Lord.” Her tightly-stretched passage contracted and squeezed around the massive invader, shockwaves of electric sexual bliss coursing through her athletic frame.\n\n“As an offering of peace, the razorkin gave Zamia to me,” the Great Dragon said calmly, despite aggressively mating the striped woman beneath Him. “Just like Josie here, she hated me at first, but she, too, learned to accept my love. Still, I cannot force them to accept each other.”\n\nTerca giggled, not used to hearing the feared assassin and former slave trainer referred to by such a cute nickname. Her amusement was cut short, though, when her Father asked, “What else did you observe, my child?”\n\n“I was able to keep following Nai’lati by the random dead bodies. From the locations of the cuts and the various things around them, I think she just slashed her way through any random bystanders rather than go over or around them,” the eldest daughter said as she recounted her grisly discoveries.\n\n“She was... in a hurry... and the fastest... way between two... points is a... straight line,” Joselyn huffed as her Lord took her, defending her daughter’s brutal actions. “That was just… bad luck... for them.”\n\n“Her trail led me to a pair of trolls. Mates, as near as I could tell. They were arguing and fighting over whose fault it was that their ‘delicious little striped dinner’ had managed to escape. For some reason, the words ‘stonewood’ and ‘sawdust’ came up more than once,” the half-demoness explained.\n\n“What next?” Sventar asked.\n\n“Oh, they spotted me, and wanted to make a meal out of me,” the girl shrugged. “I guess they expected me to try and outsmart them like Nai’lati did. Too bad for them, I’m a little more skilled with my weapon than my sweet little sister. She and I had a playful little sparring match earlier so that she could try her new blades out. Speaking of which, she owes me after losing a little wager.” The playful glint in her eyes showed that Terca couldn’t wait to collect. Nai’lati had a reputation for giving amazing cunnilingus, in no small part due to her feline heritage and fierce competitive spirit. The half-dragoness gave a slight shiver as she imagined her younger sister’s coarse tongue lapping eagerly over her immature button.\n\n“She is visiting with Mistress Traixa,” her Father told her. “Check the main Audience Chamber. They should be there.”\n\n“Thank you, Father,” she said. “I hope I have served you and Matron Joselyn well?” She rubbed her thighs together eagerly, hoping to receive a reward similar to what her little sister and the tigress woman had been given. A trickle of her youthful juices ran along the inside of her leg as she imagined her Father’s massive shaft buried inside of her velvety walls once again.\n\n“You have, Terca, very much so,” Sventar said as He felt His mate approaching her climax, the sensation of her stretched passage spasming and twitching around His invading member becoming more intense and frequent. “I will summon you to my bedchamber tomorrow, and any member of the house you wish to accompany us, if you like. Your mother? One of your sisters, perhaps? Maybe one of the slaves, if there is one that has earned your wrath. Just tell me her name, and it will be done.”\n\n“Thank you, Father,” she nodded respectfully, “there are so many delicious possibilities. Though I suppose I earned it in part because of my sister. Would you like to have two of your daughters at once?”\n\n“If that is what you want, then I would like nothing else more,” her Father replied. “And I am certain that your sister will appreciate the kindness. I am so proud of you for sharing this honor with her, Terca.”\n\n“By your leave then, I will go and find my dear sister,” His oldest daughter said with a slight bow, before she turned and exited the room, leaving her Father to impregnate the tigress with another child.\n\n~~~~~\n\n“I recently acquired this, and I would like for you to have it, Your Highness,” Traixa said as she opened up a small cloth bag and produced a bracelet. The metal band was crafted of brushed silver and inset with a large oval onyx. She handed it over to the daughter of her friend and mentor, who carefully accepted it.\n\nNai’lati held the trinket up in front of her face, studying it carefully. “it’s beautiful, mistress traixa. thank you,” she said politely, slipping it around her slender wrist.\n\n“You’re welcome, Nai’lati,” the older lizan woman said with a smile. “It’s actually a bracelet of shadow-scrying. As long as you are in the darkness, you will be able to use the nearby shadows to spy on others.”\n\n“ohhhh…” The little cub’s eyes lit up with excitement and mischief at that revelation. She imagined how useful such an enchantment would be for stealing things, or seeing what her sisters, the mothers, and her Father were up to in the other bedchambers.\n\n“That’s just what she needs,” Terca’s voice echoed through the audience hall. “Something else to help her cause mayhem in the keep. Really, you shouldn’t have.” The eldest daughter stepped up onto the raised dais and set her notched battle axe against the throne. “Hello again, Mistress Traixa,” she greeted as she dropped down into the large stone chair reserved for the Mistress of Wyverncrest.\n\n“Hello, Your Highness,” the woman returned with a slight bow. “It is lovely to see you again. How is your mother?”\n\n“She is well, though she wonders if you are close to training a suitable replacement to run Wyverncrest so that you may join us?” Terca asked.\n\n“Not yet, I am afraid,” Traixa responded. “They all lack that perfect mix of cruelty, guile, and constitution required to endure. I have broken quite a few hopefuls over the past several years.”\n\n“That’s unfortunate,” the half-demoness said with a click of her tongue. “I hate to interrupt, but are you nearly finished with my dear, sweet sister? She owes me after losing a small wager this morning, and I have decided it is time to collect.”\n\n“Very well, then. It was wonderful to see you both again. You are both growing up to be beautiful, fierce young women. Please, I’d like it if you could visit more often,” Traixa began, before Terca interrupted.\n\n“Oh, we’re not leaving just yet,” she said with a grin. “But after what I just saw, I’m not going to wait any longer for sweet Nai’lati to pay up….” Terca spread her muscular thighs and lifted her loincloth to reveal her smooth, damp slit. “My little sister is going to settle her debt right here, kneeling in front of me on your throne. But you can stay and watch, if you like. Isn’t that right, Nai’lati?”\n\nThe young half-tigress dropped to her knees submissively and crawled over to her sister’s waiting sex. “I wouldn’t mind, mistress traixa. perhaps later, you and i could get to know each other better? for now, though, a deal is a deal. but i will get you next time, sister...”\n\n", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "Nai’lati’s Quest

~~~~~

“I have a task for you, Precious,” her mother said. “It won’t be easy. It will probably be dangerous. You can say ‘no,’ if you’re afraid, or feel that you aren’t ready, but you’re the only one I can trust. You know I would never put you in harm’s way intentionally unless there was no other choice.” The tall tigress walked into the dark, stone chamber, her long, black silk robes dragging behind her. “If you say ‘yes,’ and succeed, then you will be nicely rewarded.”

Lady Joselyn smirked, her keen eyes darting to the shadowy recesses of her daughter’s room, scanning the blackness for signs of movement. Her round, feline ears twitched, pivoting, listening for any sound coming from the unseen. A sudden rush of air to her left caught her attention, and with honed, lightning-quick reflexes, she whirled to her right, extending a single claw. She halted the sweeping motion of her arm, the sharp tip of her talon nudging gently against the young girl’s throat.

“Very well done, little one,” her mother chuckled. “If I were anybody else, outside of this family, you would have had me for sure. Nice touch, using Eclipse as a misdirection. Don’t forget, though… I taught you everything you know.”

The half-dragon, half-tiger cub stared back up at her, her red eyes sparkling with playful mischief. “so you did, mommy,” the girl whispered softly. It wasn’t that she was shy – far from it, in fact – she just preferred the quiet. “don’t forget, though, that you taught me everything that you know, too…” She quickly made a downward gesture with her eyes.

Joselyn looked to where her daughter had indicated, seeing the business end of a training sword a hair’s breadth away from her abdomen. If the blade were designed for combat, and if this were anything more than a playful exchange between mother and daughter, she could easily find herself lacking several vital functions just as quickly as she could rip open the little girl’s jugular.

“So I see,” Joselyn smiled, “nicely played, my child. So, tell me: would you like to hear more about this job I have for you?” A crooked grin spread across the tigress’s muzzle, and she turned her head, speaking back over her shoulder. “And just what do you think you’re doing, Eclipse?”

The girl’s pet, a black and red fairy dragon, flittered into view, landing at his mistress’s footpaws, crawling up her little body, and coming to rest on her shoulder. He looked up at Jocelyn with sorry eyes, his tiny wings slumped back. She chuckled and pet his long, slender neck reassuringly.

“yes, please, mommy,” the cub said excitedly. “i know i can do it, if you think i am the girl for the task. tell me more about this reward…” Eclipse was craning his head around to the side, once more trying to see what the tigress concealed behind her back.

“All in good time, little one. First, I have some unfortunate news,” Joselyn said with a sigh. “I have reason to believe that we have a spy in our midst.” The hackles on the back of the young girl’s neck rose, and she let out an almost comical growl. Her mother had to stifle her laughter, and continued, “I have no idea who it is, who I can trust. It could be one of the other mothers, for all I know. I don’t suspect any of your sisters, but it’s important that you keep this between us, because of their loyalties to their mommies, and a desire to protect your father. The only one I can trust is you.” She reached out and caressed her daughter’s cheek affectionately.

“i’ll do anything to help, mommy,” the cub purred, nuzzling lovingly against her mother’s paw. “what do you need me to do?”

“In the treasury, there is a small chest containing the secret to your father’s power,” Joselyn explained. Seeing an expression of awe appear on the cub’s face, she continued, “I suspect that is what our adversary is after. Your father and I have talked about moving it, but that would only attract unwanted attention, and alert the spy that we are on to them. Plus, it could get stolen while being moved.”

“i understand,” the girl responded. “you wish for me to sneak in, grab the chest, and sneak out, then?” She bounced on her toes, eager to show her parents exactly how much she had learned in the art of stealth.

“Exactly,” Joselyn affirmed. “Make certain that the guards do not see you. I don’t know if any of them are the spy, or working for him… or her. After you’re out of the vault, I need for you to fly as fast as you can to the highest spire in Wyverncrest. There, a trusted party will meet you, and give you the second half of your reward. But you must be there within one sandglass after swiping the chest, before anyone notices.”

“and? what is the first part of the reward, mommy?” the little hybrid asked, barely able to contain her energy. As her mother brought her second paw around, she noticed two beautiful black small swords housed in ornately engraved sheaths, and fought to keep her paws to herself. “are those mine?”

“To assist you with your journey,” her mother said. “Since you’re still young and growing, they have a few simple enchantments from your sister, Magiya. As you both grow stronger, your later weapons will have more powerful abilities. For now, these are imbued with enhanced sharpness, and will never go dull.”

The cub reached out reverently, gripping the hilts of both swords, slowly drawing the weapons from their sheaths. The metal was dark grey and unreflective, absorbing any light to touch them, and draconic symbols were etched into the flats of the blades. The girl gripped her presents, getting used to their feel and balance, then gave a few experiment swipes.

“they feel amazing, mommy. it’s like they’re extensions of my arms,” she crossed the blades, holding the up before her fascinated eyes. “what does the writing say?”

“That’s a question for your father, my dear,” Joselyn said, crouching down to study her daughter for a moment. “Those daggers were made specifically for you, to his exact instructions. So, do you understand your task?”

“get into the treasury unseen, grab the chest, get out, and fly as fast as i can to wyverncrest in under one sandglass’s time, to meet your friend and claim the second half of my reward,” the half-dragon recited, giddy with anticipation for her first mission.

“That’s right, good girl,” the tigress caressed her crossbred daughter’s face once more, and then pulled her in tightly for a hug, wrapping the little girl up in a warm embrace. “Good luck, Nai’lati. I love you.”

“i love you, too, mommy. i won’t let you down, i promise.”

~~~~~

“I heard that your Mother gave you your present,” a voice called from her doorway, causing the little half-tiger to look up from her new blades. Terca formed an imposing silhouette in the torchlight pouring in from the corridor, and it was only enhanced by the large battle axe casually slung over her right shoulder. “Care to test your skill in a friendly duel? I’d like to make sure you know how to use those things before you hurt yourself, little sister.”

“you knew?” Nai’lati asked. “why didn’t you tell me? you know i only like secrets if i’m the one keeping them, terca.”

“Of course I knew. All of us knew,” the half-demoness said dismissively. “It was a group effort to keep you distracted and out of Magi’s laboratory. Sometimes you’re a little too curious for your own good, you know.”

The little girls eyes narrowed and she clutched the hilts of her daggers tightly. “it’s my business to know things. knowledge is like gold, secrets are like platinum. the more i know, the more i can control. i like controlling things.”

“Back to my original question, then,” Terca repeated, holding her battle axe in front of her body and adopting a combat stance. “How well do you think you can control those blades? Well enough to make a little wager? Loser owes winner some special attention?”

“you’re on, sister,” Nai’lati said, rising to her feet, mentally running through every dirty trick in the book, looking for an advantage against her older, stronger, more experienced opponent.

~~~~~

When evening finally descended upon the Keep, the little cub smiled. It was time. She stretched her oversized wings, giving them a few solid flaps to loosen up her joints. They were her favorite feature about her little body, allowing her to fly faster than any of her sisters – faster than anyone in the Keep besides her Father – and able to surround her like a cloak. She strapped her new weapons around her slender waist and patted her numerous pouches, making certain that every part of her plan was accounted for. She grinned to herself. She was ready.

“eclipse, come,” she whispered, holding out her arm. The little dragon fluttered out of the shadows and perched himself upon her shoulder, wrapping his tail beneath the pit of her arm and gripping his little talons around the edges of her scales. “are you ready?” She asked, and he responded by nuzzling affectionately up against her cheek.

The greatest obstacles standing between her and success were her sisters and the other mothers, Nai’lati realized, and so she would need to ensure that they were properly distracted. Thanks to Terca’s sparring lessons earlier, she had been able to convince her eldest sister that she was exhausted and wanted to rest. She was still a little frustrated that her new blades had not been enough to best her eldest sister, and Terca wanted to collect on their wager. Naturally, Terca had agreed to bring Nai’lati a plate of food later that night, and pick up where they left off. For now, though, her absence from the dining hall would have a credible excuse from trustworthy, reliable Terca. The real trick would be to keep any of them from finishing their meal early and wandering towards the treasury.

Nai’lati gripped the cold stone wall with her talons and effortlessly scaled the height of the room, pressing her slender frame tightly against the ceiling. If she was going to pull off the excuse of being too tired to eat, it was vital that she not be seen by anybody, especially with her reputation of having a voracious appetite. Her pet fairy dragon relinquished his place on her shoulder to crawl out ahead of her, and quietly crept out of the chamber into the corridor.

Eclipse gave a quick double-swish of his tail, the agreed-upon signal that the coast was clear, and she crawled out behind him. Together, the pair made their way towards the center of the castle, both of them watching and listening carefully for the other residents.

Nai’lati’s small ear twitched. Cleaning wenches, she realized, by the gentle rustling of their skirts and the splashing of water in buckets. “eclipse, go,” she told her companion, and the tiny dragon gave an almost inaudible chirp of acknowledgement, unfolding his moth-like wings and dropping from the ceiling. He halted his descent almost a foot above the hard granite floor and made his way around the corner, startling the maids and causing one of them to drop their pail.

“Oooh, you wretched little creature!” One of them shouted, swatting at the tiny dragon with her mop. Nai’lati’s blood boiled as she stealthily crawled over her head. If not for the fact that she was supposedly asleep in her chambers, she would report this to her Father in a heartbeat. Still, she made a mental note to herself to find some special way to pay back the jackal woman.

Once she was suitably past the angry servants, her pet came flying up to her side, whimpering softly in her ear as he curled his long body around her neck, but gently enough to not constrict her breathing. “did that bitch hurt you?” She asked. She usually never swore, but she was that angry. She may be wild and mischievous, but she was the daughter of a Lady, and Ladies never used such foul language. He answered her query with another plaintive cry and a gentle nuzzle to her cheek. “i’ll take care of her later, i promise.” A part of her wished that the jackal woman was the spy, so that her punishment could be that much more severe.

~~~~~

Once they reached the central hallway, the duo paused. She was almost there, but she was also entering one of the most heavily guarded areas of the castle, and her Father’s security would be much more difficult to distract than the maids had been.

“this is where we part ways. you know what you must do, right?” She asked the little fairy dragon. She hated asking so much of him; it was bad enough that those worthless maids disliked Eclipse, but now she was tempting the ire of much more powerful and influential members of the household. Still, her Father’s control over His Empire rested in the balance, and she would do what she needed to ensure He retained His power. “when this is all over, i will give you something extra special. be careful. i love you, my pet.”

She melted into the shadows of a nearby alcove as the tiny dragon scurried off towards the dining hall. She closed her crimson eyes, bathing in the darkness, enjoying the sweet symphony of silence for as long as it lasted. It would only be a matter of minutes, she knew, before chaos erupted around her.

A loud, womanly scream erupted in the distance, the din of silver serving platters and copper plates clattering across the unforgiving stone floor ringing through the corridors. Matron Zamia was her least favorite amongst the mothers, and she took exceptional glee in causing the razorback woman undue stress. A series of cries and shouts immediately followed, and the little half-tigress smiled to herself. Causing mischief and mayhem was one of her greatest guilty pleasures, and this time, she had her mother’s full support.

As she heard the commotion growing nearer, she cautiously emerged from her darkened hideaway and crept carefully along the ceiling, slowly making her way towards the treasury. She paused at the intersection, the entryway to the vault just a few yards away. She could hear the approaching screams and footsteps, and tilted her head back to look down at the floor.

Seconds later, Eclipse bolted past her with Matron Zamia’s favorite cooking skillet, which, by the looks of things, was not empty when it was swiped. Splatters of her delicious elderbeast stew splashed over the sides of the iron as it clanked against the granite bricks. The fairy dragon made a hard right turn, the cooking utensil making more of a ruckus as it slapped against the wall, before he ran off past the two sentries guarding the treasure chamber.

The rhino and ox both leaned forward, watching the comical sight of the little creature towing the noisy pan through the hallway, laughing to each other. Nai’lati spread her massive wings and sprang forth from the ceiling, using the leathery appendages to propel herself towards the stone archway, latching onto the frame and swinging herself into the stairwell before Eclipse vanished from view and the guards resumed their positions.

A second clamor roared down the corridor as Zamia chased after the little fairy dragon, hell-bent on recapturing her skillet. She was followed by Sventar’s other five daughters, all of them shouting, screaming, laughing, and cursing as they all tried to chase Eclipse down. Nai’lati halfway worried for her pet’s safety, despite the warthog’s Druidic vows to never harm a living creature, but she could not allow her fears to deter her from her mission. The sentries behind her were nearly rolling on their backs, oblivious to the intruder that had managed to slip past them. She chuckled to herself as she considered what their fates would be once her Father learned of their failure.

~~~~~

She stopped at the foot of the long staircase in front of a heavy oak door inlaid with ornate gold carvings. She studied the lock system carefully; it was a combination of three different mechanisms, each one very different from the one before it. The first device was just a standard lock, though it was masterfully-crafted and would be impossible for most to open without the key. The second lock was some type of riddle, with four wheels, each covered in four identical sets of images. The third lock appeared to be magical in nature, with no discernible keyhole. A single needle stuck out from the smooth polished wood, threatening to sting any foolhardy enough to attempt to open it.

Nai’lati cracked her knuckles and grinned; no key-based locking mechanism had ever stopped her before, much to the dismay of her sisters and various members of the household staff. True enough, a lock as finely crafted as this one might take more time than she was used to, but she would not be stopped. Not now, not when her Father had finally depended on her talents. So many captured thieves had been granted a stay of execution so that they may teach the girl the arts of stealth and lock-picking. In fact, she held her first set of picks before she had even mastered using a fork.

She reached into the pouch sewn into the right thigh of her breeches and produced a rolled-up bundle of cloth, setting it down carefully and smoothly unrolling it to reveal her lock-pick set. Her eyes scanned over her tools, considering the value of each in this situation, and decided on her torsion wrench and warded pick. She quietly slid the torsion wrench into the keyhole and gave it a gentle twist, ensuring that as she picked any pins, they would stay in place. Using her right paw, she cautiously slid the pick into the slot and began the process of disengaging the lock.

Relying solely on her senses of touch and sound to bypass the lock, she used her eyes to examine her next challenge. There was a series of four wheels, each with four images. The first was a depiction of a dragon, flanked by a demoness and a strange equine-reptilian woman, surrounded in fire. She recognized the next picture as an egg, surrounded on either side by adult dragons. Third was a carving of a strong young dragon raising a crown over his head. The final image was of a young dragon pup crying, the corpses of his fellow dragons all around him.

Recalling her history lessons, Nai’lati realized that these were all critical moments in her Father’s life, from his birth up until his rise to power and the creation of this vault. She would need to arrange them sequentially to gain access, but she had paid enough attention in her lessons with the blind old crow that she dismissed the puzzle and moved on to the next challenge.

‘.hcaetsi anraiT ra ra liuhf nah ca ridief iN’

The strange script was emblazoned above the needlepoint, glowing orange with ancient power. She cursed herself slightly for not paying more attention to her Draconic lessons. Such boring nonsense was more in line with Magiya’s interests, or even Alyssa and Dras. Ancient, dead tongues were of little use to the little half-tigress; if she couldn’t use the words to charm some fool into parting ways with his belongings or information, she wasn’t interested in knowing them.

None of what she was reading made any sense to the cub, but she tried hard to not become frustrated, knowing that it would ruin her focus and throw her entire mission into jeopardy. She slowed her breathing and cleared her mind, trying to recall the lessons in the old tongue. One of the first things the crow had taught the girls is that Draconic is read right-to-left, not left-to-right, like Common-Speak.

“‘ni feidir ac han fhuil ra ra tiarna isteach,’” she read aloud, or as ‘aloud’ as she ever spoke when she wasn’t trying to pull a con. Only two of the words made any sense to the girl: ‘Tiarna’ meant ‘Lord,’ she knew, only because that was how her Father wished to be addressed by his subjects. ‘Fhuil’ translated to ‘blood,’ she thought, knowing it was a word commonly chanted in her sister’s magic. “‘blood’ and ‘lord,’” she muttered to herself. “i’m going to need some of father’s blood to get in.” Her musings were interrupted by the click of the final pin sliding into place.

With a satisfied smirk, Nai’lati turned the torsion wrench, sliding the deadbolt into the unlocked position. Next was the puzzle. Thinking through the series of events depicted in the images, she quickly determined that they represented her Father’s birth into the Dragon Clan, their murders at the hands of the Lesser Races, the Great Conquest, and His Ascension. She smirked at the image of Lady Droch in her younger days, knowing that the demoness and her Mother had become… intimate. She nimbly turned all four wheels into the proper chronological sequence, and turned her attention to the threatening steel needle.

“the blood of the lord…” she whispered. “i am his daughter. i am his blood.” She moved her trembling paw towards the sliver of metal, index finger extended to prick herself and provide the crimson offering. She jerked her paw away suddenly, her mind doubting the way she completed the puzzle wheels. ‘if the text was in draconic, and read from right-to-left, then would the chronological order of events flow in the same order?’ She asked herself. She pondered this detail for just a moment, and then quickly reversed the order of the pictures.

“father, forgive me if i am wrong,” she sighed softly, hastily pricking her finger on the needle before she could doubt herself again. The heavy oak door glowed with an eerie blue light, and quietly, slowly swung open, revealing her Father’s fortune to her eager red eyes. She quickly regarded the door, turning the dials of the puzzle back to their previous positions and wiping the needle clean of her blood, so that no one would notice at first glance. Sadly, the lock was ruined, but she mentally paid tribute to the locksmith that had created such a fine device. Unfortunately, if he was still alive, her Father was going to have him flayed alive for his failure. She quietly pushed the heavy oak slab closed behind her and entered the dark chamber.

~~~~~

She thanked her Mother for the gift of Darksight, a trait found in members of her race, which allowed her to navigate her way through the vault in the blackness. She stared with wide-eyed wonder at the expanse of the room, amazed at the amount of wealth her Father had amassed over His lifecycle. Everywhere she looked, piles of gold, platinum, jewels, and magical artifacts rose up nearly to the twenty-foot high ceiling. There were treasure chests scattered all around the vault, some larger than she was, made from various types of wood and metal. She frowned a little, unsure of how she would know which one housed the source of her Father’s power.

Silently, she crept through the treasury, keeping her little eyes alert for her objective. She spied a large wooden chest, made of silverwood, bound in black iron bands. Nai’lati pondered this trunk for a moment. It was different, it had a certain regal charm to it, but it lacked her Father’s personality. There was another box, black leather and bound in bone, that caught her eye and gave her chills. It was grand, it was fearsome, but her Father commanded fear and respect through His imposing presence alone; He did not need to rely upon such macabre imagery.

And so it went for nearly one sandglass’s time. Nai’lati would spot a chest, inspect it, and determine it was not fitting to hold the source of her Father’s power. She was becoming frustrated, and began to wonder if she may have been too late. Suddenly, her keen eyes detected a small box set atop a pedestal on the side wall of the room. She carefully approached it, studying it carefully. She could sense the might of her Lord and Father emanating out from it, despite it being sealed. It was crafted of fine mahogany and reinforced iron, and sealed with two key locks. Her Father’s crest was emblazoned upon the lid, and Draconic writing was carved into the wood all over the little chest. This was it, she knew.

Nai’lati knelt down beside the pedestal and untied the straps to a small sack from her belt, opening the bag as wide as it would go. She reverently lifted the small chest and carefully set it down inside, then drew the strings tight and fastened it shut. The little half-dragon deftly re-tied the straps around her belt, making certain the chest was secure, and pondered her escape from the chamber. If she could, she preferred to avoid having to slip past the guards a second time. While she giggled at the thought of the sentries receiving even harsher punishment for allowing her to slip past them a second time, she was out of ideas that would not alert them, or others, to her presence. Mother made it clear that she was not to be discovered, period.

She prowled the chamber, looking for some sign of a hidden entrance. She knew these strongholds were often built with secret passages so that the inhabitants could move from room-to-room unseen by unwanted eyes. She had studied the plans of several castles and keeps, souvenirs from her Mother’s former days as a spy, and knew what she should be looking for. She spread her large wings wide, using the sensitive membranes to feel for any drafts. She knelt down low to the ground, her keen eyes looking for any stray beams of light that may trickle under a hidden passageway.

As she crept her way around the chamber, eyes and wings scanning for an escape, her sensitive little ears perked at the sound of flowing water. ‘i’m right next to the sewer,’ she realized. As she inched closer and closer to the source of the sound, her wings felt the slight tickle of air seeping in from the drainage tunnel through the stones in the wall. She examined the floor and wall surrounding the area, and spotted nothing out of the ordinary. ‘though if there was anything unusual, it would make a pretty poor secret passage, wouldn’t it?’ She thought to herself. A few paces to the right was a wall sculpture of a Taurian head, not unlike the dozens of other wall sculptures of various other Lesser Races that lined the stone chamber, except for one little detail: this one had a large ring through its nose.

She analyzed the bronze head for a few minutes, making certain that it was not a trap. Realizing that it was so unlikely for anyone but family to get into the vault, and therefore not really necessary to set traps inside of it, she relaxed and gripped the large ring in her little paw. As she tried to manipulate the hoop, she was able to very slightly push it upward. Applying all of her strength, she slowly managed to lift the hoop, disengaging the lock to the door. A broad section of the wall slid open, revealing the filthy water of the castle sewers. The little cub gagged a little at the stench, almost backing her way into the vault, but the large stone door slid shut behind her, blending in seamlessly with the rest of the tunnel.

She sighed in annoyance as she realized that her wingspan was too great for the underground waterway, and tentatively felt for a hold on the stonework. The cool, smooth rocks were slick with moisture and moss, and in some places mold and fungus covered the surface. Satisfied that her little claws could find purchase in the gaps between the stones, she carefully scaled the cylindrical wall until she was on the ceiling. She was careful not to slip and fall into the muck below, but still moved with a purpose; now that she had left the vault, the sands had begun to fall through the glass. After more time than she would have liked, the young half-tiger emerged out into an underground river. With enough space to spread her wings, she leapt out into the cavern and began flying as quickly as possible towards daylight.

~~~~~

The harsh light of the two suns beat down on her little body as she emerged from the side of the mountain, the river beneath her dropping off suddenly in a vertical plummet to the valley far below. After so much time in the low light, she was nearly blind, and quickly dove towards the ground below, seeking refuge in the oh-so-welcoming shadows beneath the treetops.

She leveled out at nearly arms-length from the lush jungle floor, weaving her way precariously through the sicklevine trees, but maintaining her course eastward toward her rendezvous at Wyverncrest. She recalled the tales her Mother told about the infamous keep, whose mere mention caused the house servants to cringe in fear. She was abducted from her home, targeted specifically for her cruel, ruthless nature by the tower’s former Mistress, Zaradeth, so that she may one day assume the mantle of Wyverncrest’s new Mistress and allow Zaradeth to become her Father’s next mate.

What Zaradeth hadn’t considered, however, was her Mother’s strength and resolve, and the sheer extent of her ruthlessness. While Joselyn was being trained, forced to service her Mistress as well as several of the stronger, more popular gladiators, she was teaching her only friend, another woman named Traixa, everything she was learning. At her coronation, Josie was thrust into battle against the arena Grand Champion, a reptilian monster named Kortalas, and killed him with her bare claws, proving her right to the title of Mistress and earning Zaradeth a place at Father’s side.

The entire arena watched in forced reverence as Father accepted Zaradeth as one of His wives, the scene quickly turning into Chaos as her Mother eviscerated the equine/reptilian woman in front of Father and the other two Mothers, Ladies Droch and Popi. Her rage compelled her to attack Father, though His thick armor plating deflected her claws long enough for the other Mothers to subdue her. Father contemplated her execution, but still required a Mistress to train and maintain order amongst the slaves, and ordered her to stay behind and manage His affairs at the tower.

Her Mother surprised the great Black Dragon Overlord, however, by announcing she had already trained a suitable replacement. Traixa was led to the arena, and Kortalas was brought back out, his reptilian blood enhanced through arcane enchantments on his armor, healed back to full health. The young lizan woman was barely able to defeat the warrior, helplessly outclassed in strength, speed, and size. Her guile and cunning, traits which Joselyn had personally honed and refined, had proven to be her keys to victory. Wyverncrest now had two Mistresses.

Her Father was torn. Joselyn had attempted to take His life, and needed to be punished. Still, she had proven to be cunning and resourceful. He agreed to let her accompany Him back to the Castle, but she would need to earn His trust by proving her loyalty. He made Joselyn a diplomat in His court, her social skills from her previous life making her a natural fit to work a room and gather information. Furthermore, her beauty made her a master at seduction, and she led many of Father’s enemies to her bed… and their untimely ends.

As a member of the court, Joselyn had plenty of opportunity to interact with the demoness, Droch Fola. The two women had similar views and opinions, despite their differing backgrounds – Droch from the plane of Fire, Joselyn from the plane of Water. They became friends quickly, and eventually lovers. Mother would often keep Droch’s bed warm while Father occupied Himself with Lady Popi or that worthless whore of a slave girl He was infatuated with. Indeed, the two women grew very close, and the little half-tiger regarded Lady Droch like a second mother, and Terca like a full-blooded sister.

Nai’lati’s immature folds dampened as she recalled the details of her Mother’s telling of her first time with Father. Having proven her loyalty to Him as His top assassin, she had earned her place as His mate, and He surprised her by summoning her to His bedchamber. He had been so strong, so loving, so rough, so tender, so passionate and so patient all at once. He marked her as His, and she screamed her thanks to Him to the skies. That first time, that very night, they had conceived Nai’lati. Her Mother’s pride and joy. Daddy’s little Shadow.

She was absorbed in her thoughts as she burst out of the trees and into a small village, nestled deep in the forest. Her little body nearly slammed into a large wooden post carved into the shapes of the heads of various beasts. She corrected her course at the final second and plowed into a large porcine warrior, knocking him into the dirt.

She rolled across the ground several times, rolling up onto her clawed feet as she came to a halt. Several guards were converging around her, their sharp, angry spears leveled at her. She raised her paws in defense and spoke, “What are you attacking me for? I’m just passing through, and your village was in my way. Do you have any idea who I am? You’re lucky I’m in a hurry, or else you’d all be dead by now!” It sounded strange to hear her own voice when she spoke normally. She hated noise; the shadows spoke in hushed whispers and listening in on their secrets was so much more difficult without peace and quiet. “Lower your weapons and I’ll forget this entire incident happened,” she said calmly, brushing the dust and grass from her scales and fur.

~~~~~

Thankful to have resolved matters with the warthog clan, Nai’lati continued along on her journey, speeding along over the barren wastes as quickly as her large wings could carry her. It had taken her longer than she would have liked, but she was glad that she was eventually able to convince the tribe of swine-people to allow her to leave. If she wasn’t mistaken, she had lost nearly half of her precious time, and was little more than halfway to her destination. She flew low in the dry, mud-caked gorge, hanging as close to the walls as she could, seeking comfort in the shade.

As the dried river bed banked right, she was met by a pair of fearsome opponents she had not expected. She cursed her luck as she flew into the lair of two cave trolls. “Stop!” The male shouted as the smaller female looked on menacingly. “This is our home, and no one passes without paying toll,” the male roared, slamming a massive tree trunk of a club against the ground with enough force to create a small landslide. A large, wicked looking spear twirled in the woman’s hands, challenging the little cub to attempt an escape. Nai’lati hesitated for a moment; if only had she was old enough to have developed her breath weapon. That would have leveled the playing field, but without it, and no simple means to escape, she would have to try relying on her wits to survive.

“I have nothing,” she said, trying to remain calm in the face of this new threat.

“What is in sack?” The ugly female asked, thrusting the tip of the spear forward, barely more than a foot away from the half-dragon’s face. “She must have something she can give, right, Krog?”

“I think little striped pretty is lying to us, Glib,” the equally hideous male agreed. “Come now, Morsel, surely you have something shiny, or a few coins you can give us?” The hulking monster took a step in the little half-dragon’s direction.

“I am the daughter of Lord Sventar,” Nai’lati warned the unintelligent beasts. “I carry a special delivery intended just for Him, and the only other things of value that I have on me are gifts from my family. I can’t give up either.”

“Lord Seven-dar?” The thing called Glib asked. “We never hear of Seven-dar.”

“Strangers that don’t pay toll become dinner,” Krog warned her, licking his lips. “Are you sure your pretty neck worth risking for present for Seven-dar?”

“Are you certain your lives are worth risking over a meal?” The little half-dragon cub shot back.

“A challenge, then,” Krog said. “If pretty wins, she goes free. If Krog and Glib win, pretty gives us what is in bag, or we eat her.”

Nai’lati thought over their request for a moment, deciding on whether to accept or insert stipulations into the wager. She didn’t have to think too long on the matter, as time was wasting and she couldn’t afford to dally. “A riddle then,” she answered. “I’ll accept your challenge, but only if it is a riddle, and only on my terms and conditions. There are two of you anyway, right? So that’s fair.”

“What conditions?” Krog asked, as his mate licked her lips and stared at the young half-tigress hungrily.

“I will ask you a riddle. You get one answer. You two can discuss it between yourselves, but you have to agree on the answer before I can accept it,” Nai’lati explained confidently. “I will give you from the time I ask until the sun touches the side of the gorge to answer, but no more. I am in a hurry.”

The hulking male turned away from Nai’lati, the two trolls discussing privately. After several heartbeats, Nai’lati spoke up, interrupting their discussion. “You’re losing time. What’s it going to be?”

“We accept,” the club-wielding beast roared, his companion nodding eagerly. “But if Krog and Glib win, pretty better keep her deal.”

“Don’t worry, you will probably win,” Nai’lati said with a sigh. “I can’t think of any good riddles.” She walked to a nearby rock and sat down, resting her chin on her paw as she thought of a challenging riddle.

The trolls chuckled at Nai’lati’s frustrated tone and posture, and Glib growled, “Hurry up, Meat. Glib hungry.”

Krog glanced upward towards the sky, seeing that the sun had nearly crossed the gorge and they were almost out of time. “No more waiting, meat. Ask riddle, now.”

Nai’lati rose to her pawpads with a huff and shrugged. “Fine. This is the best I could come up with. It’s pretty easy, and you’ll probably guess it with very little trouble, but I guess that’s my own fault for making the terms of our arrangement so heavily weighted in your favor. I really might as well jump into your dwindling fire and get -”

“The riddle. Now!” Krog roared.

“Okay,” she said. “What is made of wood, but cannot be sawed? There. See? It’s really very simple. I don’t even know why I bothered. Just do me a favor please, and let my Father know how brave I was, so that He can be proud of His little girl in her final moments. I do hope that I taste delicious, so that my death was not for nothi -”

“Shut up! Glib can’t think!” The female hissed, nearly skewering the cub with the sharp tip of her spear. Turning to Krog, the smaller troll asked, “what is it, Krog? Furniture, maybe?”

“No, no,” the male answered. “Fancy chairs for sitting, but still can be cut. What about stonewood? Is hard. Sawing through would not be easy.”

“Not easy not the same as impossible,” Glib said, shaking her head.

Nai’lati fought to suppress her grin, hoping to not throw the trolls off of their current train of thought. Stonewood was a good guess, though technically the fossilized remains of long-dead trees were made from wood, and not of it, all of the original fibers replaced by minerals. Still, they trolls were smarter than she had originally given them credit for. She glanced skyward while Krog and Glib debated back and forth; she just needed a little bit longer…

“What that stuff called that falls on ground when wood is cut with saw? “ Glib asked. “Is like dust.”

“Sawdust?” Krog asked.

“Yes, sawdust,” the filthy troll woman nodded excitedly. “Is wood, and too small to cut with saw.” Nai’lati’s heart sank a little, and she began to calculate a new escape route, but the dumb male didn’t disappoint.

“What if saw was size of ant?” The stupid male pointed out, which gave Glib a moment’s pause.

“I still say sawdust,” she said obstinately, stamping the ground with the butt of her spear.

“I still say stonewood,” he retorted, emphasizing his opinion by swatting her spear with his club, sending it clattering to the ground. This was the little cub’s chance; the male’s back was turned and the female was unarmed. By the time either could attack, she would be out of range. She used her massive wings to thrust herself high up into the air, and flapped them as hard as she could, continuing along her way towards Wyverncrest. Glib’s spear narrowly missed her, proving that she had once again underestimated the trolls.

~~~~~

The little half-tiger’s heart skipped a beat when the imposing silhouette of Wyverncrest appeared on the horizon. She had often imagined herself as the Mistress of the Tower, breaking the wills of the slaves and forcing them to serve her in preparation for her Father. She grinned cruelly at the thoughts of doling out punishments for disobedience and failure, the agonized cries of atonement echoing down the stone corridors. She could scarcely believe that she was going to meet Mistress Traixa, who had helped Mother ascend from the shackles to the throne room, and continued, to this day, to supply Father with a broken-spirited workforce.

She touched down lightly atop the tallest spire of the fortress, her little footpaws coming to rest on the hot, sunbaked stone floor. A large, heavy, iron-clad door swung open, and a tall, regal-looking lizan appeared. She was breathtakingly beautiful, with cobalt-blue scales, a mane of white and yellow feathers, and cold, intelligent eyes the color of smoke. Her spider silk gown sparkled like diamonds in the light of the two suns. She strode confidently towards the little cub, who shrank a little in the presence of one of her idols, slightly bowing her head.

“Please, Your Highness, do not bow before me. I should be the one to kneel before you,” the Mistress of Wyverncrest said sweetly, taking her place before Nai’lati on one knee and lowering her head in reverence. “The Daughter of our Lord and my Mistress is truly an esteemed guest in my home. Your Mother has told me how much you have grown, how beautiful you have become. I have not seen you since you were just a newborn, Miss Nai’lati. It is an honor to meet you once again. I am Traixa. Welcome to Wyverncrest.”

“rise, mistress traixa,” the little girl said, blushing slightly under the attention she was receiving from her idol. “it is a pleasure to finally meet you, and to be old enough to remember the event. i trust that my mother informed you of my mission?”

“Yes, Your Highness,” the lizan woman said, and with a graceful sweep of her arm, gestured towards the entrance to the Keep. “Right this way, please. I will escort you to the person you are here to meet, and he will take care of securing your Father’s Power someplace safe, away from spying eyes.” As they entered the tower, Traixa said, “Forgive me for saying so, but when your Mother told me you could make it here in one sandglass, I had my doubts. You must truly be a very swift flyer, Your Highness.”

“except for father, or perhaps my sister, magiya - although she cheats and relies on her magic - i am the fastest in the entire realm,” she boasted, spreading her enormous wings as wide as the stone passageway would allow. “these wings that father has blessed me with are my pride and joy.”

“Our Lord blesses His Daughters with many gifts,” Traixa said as she accompanied Nai’lati to her rendezvous. “Someday, I hope that He deems me worthy to be His mate, so that I may bear His eggs, and join my sister at His side.”

“i would like that very much,” Nai’lati said, looking up at her Mother’s friend with a broad smile. “you and mother would be able to see more of each other, and you could teach me how to force the weak into submission. maybe one day i will be allowed to govern wyverncrest.”

Traixa chuckled at the suggestion. “If Your Highness does not mind me saying so, such a job is below a Lady of your station. I am forced to associate myself with all manner of undesirable filth and scum. At the end of the day, I must bathe in perfumed oils to remove their stench from my feathers so that I may sleep at night.” She opened another heavy, iron-bound door, and said, “This is where we part ways, Your Highness. The person you are here to see waits inside this room. The secrets you carry upon you are not meant for my eyes. Please, though, before you leave, come and see me. I would like to give the daughter of my best friend a special gift. It was lovely to see you, Your Highness.”

“yes, mistress traixa, it was an honor to meet you, as well,” the half-dragon cub said, taking the older woman’s scaled paw into her own. “i look forward to being able to spend more time with you in the future.” Nai’lati turned away from the lizan and entered the dark room, the loud screech of metal sliding on metal as Traixa closed the door behind her the only sound.

As the light from the hallway was banished by the closing of the door, her eyes adjusted to the blackness. She was in a bed chamber, and a very luxuriously appointed one at that. ‘an unusual place to meet,’ she thought to herself, ‘but i suppose it does provide the necessary secrecy.’

“My name is Nai’lati, daughter of Lord Sventar. Show yourself, so that I may give you that which my Father has entrusted me with,” she demanded of the shadows. She hated her loud voice, just as she hated any loud noises, but in the dark, stone-walled room, it seemed to boom in her sensitive ears like thunder.

“I know who you are, Child,” came a deep, rumbling voice she recognized immediately. It was low and full of love and care, though the sound of it would strike fear and panic into the hearts of most.

“daddy!” she exclaimed, running as fast as she could across the room and leaping into the arms of the Great Dragon Overlord. She hugged Him tightly and gently nuzzled her cheek against His broad, powerful chest.

“You made it,” He rumbled as He held His fourth daughter in His large, powerful arms. “But you were almost late. Did you run into any trouble?”

“nothing i couldn’t handle,” she said, her crimson eyes staring back up into His affectionately. “the hardest part was not revealing myself when one of the slaves attacked eclipse with a mop. i want you to hack that jackal woman up into meat cubes and serve her to the others as an example.”

“They all look the same to me,” He answered. He smiled down at her, both amused and proud by the girl’s vengeful blood thirst. “But point her out to me, and it will be done.”

“thank you. that will teach them all to respect my precious baby. oh! mommy told me that there was a second half to my reward once i got here,” the half-tigress girl said eagerly. “can i have it now, daddy?”

“All in due time. First, tell me about the Legend,” her Father commanded, setting her back down onto the hard stone chamber floor.

Nai’lati smiled with pride. She was not the most scholarly of her sisters, but the Legend of Sventar was the one textbook lesson she had followed with rapt attention and with her skills as an orator, she could tell it better than any of the other daughters. She stood up straight and placed her paws behind her back, interlacing her fingers, and began to recite what she had learned.

“For thousands of years, the Dragon Clan ruled over the Six Realms, governing the Lesser Races justly and fairly. It was an era of peace and prosperity as the Great Dragons used fear to prevent their subjects from going to war. Large civilizations were formed under their rule, and without the hindrance of free will, the Lesser Races ascended to the pinnacle of their existence.

In their foolishness and greed, however, the Lesser Races revolted against their Masters. In an act of cowardice, they found the Dragon Clan during their season of slumber, and murdered them all as they slept. Without strong rulers to govern them, the Lesser Races plunged themselves into anarchy and chaos, ushering in the Time of Darkness. Still, hope persevered, for in their folly, the traitorous assassins neglected to thoroughly inspect the rookery, and a single, newly-hatched Dragon survived the attack.

The little hatchling endured by consuming the flesh of His fallen brethren. Their power became His power, and He grew strong. He ate all that He could, becoming larger and more powerful than His kinsmen. When there was nothing left, the young Dragon left the nest to begin His quest for vengeance.

He realized that in order to reclaim the realms and unite them under His banner, He would need an army. His first ally was the leader of a pack of bandits, the warrior woman named Zaradeth. He bested her in combat, and in exchange for her life, she agreed to become His First Mate, not just in command, but also in bed. Their band of marauders roamed the wastes, conscripting their defeated enemies into their ranks.

When word reached the ears of the Dragon Lord’s ears that His kind had been powerful magic users, He and His army assaulted the Tower of Introspection, in search of ancient tomes regarding Draconic magic. The losses to His army were severe, but the Dragon was able to breach the Tower and gain access to the Grand Library. In a last-ditch effort, the Heads of the different Schools of Sorcery threw every last spell at the invaders, regardless of the consequences. One Summoner conjured up a powerful demoness from the Plane of Fire, hoping she would turn the tide of the battle.

The Dragon Lord and the demoness fought tooth-and-nail in fierce combat, until Zaradeth succeeded in slaying the Summoner. Desperate to avoid returning to her host plane, the demoness bound herself to the Dragon, pledging her service in exchange for being allowed to stay. The young Lord accepted her offer, and the Lady Droch Fola became His chief advisor. She taught Him the ways of Planar magic, and in doing so, helped Him focus His wild, instinctual Draconic magic. She named Him ‘Sventar,’ Draconic for ‘Overlord,’ and He made her His Second Mate.

With the aid of the demoness, the army once again spread across the Six Realms. Defeated enemies were offered the choice between death or defection, and it was not long before the Dragon Lord and His generals commanded the largest force the world had ever known. He turned His attention to the last bastion of resistance, Wyverncrest, where knights and paladins trained alongside monks and rangers.

The final confrontation was epic, as the forces of Lord Sventar assaulted the last of the freedom fighters, with heavy casualties on both sides. A small group of elite warriors caused unimaginable destruction in the Lord’s ranks, only to be overwhelmed and flee. The enemy general and these skilled soldiers fled out through one of the many secret tunnels in the Keep, with only one warrior covering their escape: a beautiful young white lioness that fought with unrivaled ferocity and intensity. Sventar took notice of how the young monk fought toe-to-toe against Zaradeth, and her unique gifts to drain her opponents’ energy with every hit. He vowed to make her His. The young woman, Lady Popi, daughter of the Archmage Codix, fought valiantly and allowed her general to escape. However, it mattered not as His armies were vanquished that day. It wasn’t until Lord Sventar faced her Himself that she fell, His indomitable spirit too much for her powers. Using His deeper understanding of Draconic Magic, Sventar branded the fierce warrior woman with His mark, causing her to cease her fighting and accept her new role as His mate.

With Sventar’s new role as Grand Overlord established, the army set up temporary headquarters in Wyverncrest while His new castle was built in the peaks of the Daggertooth Mountains, at the site of His hatching, over the bones of His slain ancestors. The former beacon of hope and goodness was corrupted and perverted as the Overlord and His servants converted the once-proud training ground for great warriors into a prison used to break the souls and spirits of the enslaved.

General Zaradeth was appointed the First Mistress of Wyverncrest, in charge of preparing the incoming slaves for their new roles and maintaining order, suppressing any uprisings before they could gain any momentum. It was decided that Wyverncrest would always have a Mistress, and that the current Mistress would not be allowed to leave until her replacement had been chosen and proven to be worthy. Their worthiness would be tested against the fiercest and most celebrated gladiators. Then –”

“Enough.” Sventar said in a firm yet gentle voice. “It’s clear that you know the Legend very well, Nai’lati.” His voice was proud, and she puffed her little chest out at the praise from her Father.

“thank you, daddy, it has always been my favorite lesson. why don’t we go out onto the balcony and watch the darkness rise?” She looked at Him and smiled expectantly. He gave a soft laugh and nodded, and she rushed to the heavy curtains, sweeping them aside to reveal the door leading out onto the landing. She stepped out into the evening air, a little less oppressive than the abusive heat and glare she had traveled in.  ”it’s been awhile since the two of us had the chance to do this.”

He strode up beside her and wrapped His thick arm around her waist. He gave her a gentle smile and told her, “I know. Too long. The duties of ruling an empire and crushing the rebellions take up a lot of My time. On top of all that, I have your sisters and all of the mothers.” She craned her slender neck up at Him and stuck her little tongue out, returning His loving embrace.

“are you trying to make me jealous, daddy?” Just because she understood, didn’t mean that she wasn’t envious. Between the six Mothers, and her three older Sisters, He certainly received a lot of attention and affection in the bedroom. It had been excruciating torture while she sat back, letting so many other women occupy His bed. She had tried to tell herself that her day would come eventually, but her patience was running out.

“Nai’lati, look up at the sky,” He commanded her, and she obeyed. “Do you see the horizon? That is Terca. She is beautiful, but she is also rough, and harsh, and unforgiving. The two suns? They are Aldrasya and Alyssa. They are bright and welcoming, but fierce and intense. The moon is Magiya, radiant and secretive. The clouds are Beatrix, teasing the watchful eye with the shapes of various beasts one moment, casting down rain and lightning the next.”

The little half-tigress’s heart sank in her chest as her Father listed off all of her Sisters, comparing each of them to a part of the very sky she had invited Him out to view. Weakly, she asked Him, “what am I, father?”

“Just watch and wait,” He said, nuzzling the top of her head. They stood together, side-by-side in silence, as the suns slipped below the horizon, out of sight. The sky slowly shifted from blue to pink and purple, gradually darkening to black. The horizon vanished from sight, and the moon rose up from the South, cutting a pale sliver in the night sky. “What do you see now, Nai’lati?”

“i see nothing but darkness, daddy,” she answered softly.

“That, my Child, is you. You are the night. Mysterious. Soothing. Quiet. Treacherous. So many secrets. So much danger. Yet also welcome after a long day of scorching heat. The stars are the mischievous twinkle in your eyes,” His massive clawed hand swept across her field of vision. “You are everywhere and nowhere at once. You make me so proud to be your Father. Tell me, do you know what the source of my power is?” He asked her.

“no, daddy, i don’t. mommy told me that when i am old enough, you will tell me,” she answered truthfully, until realization struck her. “is that today? am i finally old enough to know the secret?”

He gave a low, deep laugh at her excitement and told her, “Yes, my Child. You have proven that you are mature and capable enough to learn the truth. Let’s step back inside, and all will be made clear for you.”

“speaking of which, mommy said that you would tell me what my blades say,” she stated as they turned from the balcony railing.

“Ta gach rud a fheiceann muid ar scath a caitheadh ​​ag a nach bhfuil againn a fheiceail,” He answered. “Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not.”

“that is a beautiful saying,” she said, nodding as she pondered the meaning.

She followed Him eagerly, her mischievous red eyes fixed on the small chest in her Father’s massive hands as He picked it up off the table. As she drew near, He unclasped the box and lifted the lid, revealing a black collar with a silver heart-shaped lock and two chains. “is that my collar?” She asked with nervous excitement. She had always been jealous of her older sisters: Terca, Aldrasya, and most recently, Alyssa, had all been given their collars from their Father. She watched in awe and reverence as He reached inside and lifted the beautiful accessory, and subconsciously bowed her head, offering up her neck for adornment.

“Yes, it is,” He answered as He wrapped the leather around her neck and fastened the front, “made according to your mother’s specifications by the same craftsman that made your sisters’ collars. You see, you and your sisters are the source of my power, Nai’lati.”

“i don’t understand, daddy,” she said, looking at her reflection in a nearby vanity mirror. Her little heart fluttered with love and pride for her Father at the sight of her new adornment. Each of her sisters’ collars were unique in their design, crafted with the personalities of their wearers in mind. Nai’lati’s certainly was no exception. It was perfect.

“I am the last of the Great Dragons,” He told her. “My kind cut down in their sleep in an act of cowardice. Thanks to your Mothers, I now have six beautiful half-Dragons. In time, Nai’lati, you and your Sisters will give me your children, and they shall be three-quarters Dragon. As the generations pass, the bloodline will become purer and purer, until barely the faintest hint of the Lesser Races remains in our family.” He cupped her chin in His talons and said lovingly, “You are the future of Our people.”

“i love you, daddy,” she cried happily, leaping into His strong arms where He held her close and tight.

“I love you, too, My Shadow,” He replied in His deep, rumbling voice.

“does this mean that this is my time? am i finally ready for you to take me to your bed?” She asked eagerly.

“Yes, My Child,” He grinned down at her, “you are ready.”

“daddy, would you please carry me to the bed?” she asked sweetly.

“Of course, my Princess.” He carried the much smaller cub to the massive four-post bed and gently laid her down on the soft blanket. He slid His massive claws ever so slowly up her thighs, the razor-sharp talons shredding through her breeches and exposing her youthful body to His burning gaze. She parted her legs slightly, granting her Father access to her body, and closed her eyes as she enjoyed His touch. She shivered in anticipation as she felt His claws drag through her fur, moving further upward towards her tunic. She moaned slightly at the exquisite torture of His slow touch, and stared up at Him with an expression somewhere between love and extreme lust. She bit her lip, trying to calm her breathing.

“Nai’lati, you do not know how many years I have waited for this moment,” her Father said as He sawed through her top, exposing her belly and the barely visible swell of her undeveloped chest. “After tonight, things between us will never be the same. I will always be your Father, but I will also be your lover. Your mate. I will never let you go, and I will be the only male you ever know.”

The little half-tigress stared up into her Father’s eyes and replied, “daddy, i want this more than anyone but you could ever know. please, make love to me. make me yours, forever.”

With a firm but gentle tug, Sventar tore the ruined tatters of clothing from His fourth-born daughter’s tiny frame, revealing her in all of her naked glory to His eyes for the first time since she was a baby. Her little nipples stood proudly and erect, like miniature mountains, and her virgin opening glistened in the faint moon glow, as though her next-oldest sister, Magiya, was watching, wondering what her turn would be like.

He lifted her up in His powerful arms, her slender legs wrapping around His waist and her arms encircling His broad chest in a loving embrace. He sat down at the edge of the bed, His gargantuan manhood sticking up between them, pressed against His abdomen by her lithe little body. She suddenly raised herself up slightly and kissed her Father deeply, trying to convey the depth and intensity of her love for Him. He kissed her back appreciatively, both of them moaning with escalating desire and need.

“daddy, i hope you won’t be mad at me, but you won’t be my first. terca and i have been playing together for a few years now,” she admitted shyly.

“Has she destroyed your maidenhood?” He asked casually, as if He already knew the answer.

“no, father,” the young girl replied. “she told me that was a special honor meant just for you, and that i would thank her later for it.”

“Your sister was correct,” He said as He stared back into her eager, excited eyes. “On both counts.” He gripped her much smaller body in His enormous hands, placing one over each of her soft, supple butt cheeks, and lifted her higher up His body. She rested her head on His chest, listening to the thunderous beating of His heart, and lovingly wrapped her wings around His regal torso. A moment later she felt Him return the affectionate gesture, and they lost themselves in a cocoon of darkness and love.

“Are you ready, My Princess?” He asked, sweetly nuzzling her cheek with His nose. “This will hurt a little in the beginning, but the pain will fade and turn into pleasure.”

“yes, please,” she urged Him, “a little pain to show my love, respect, and loyalty to my father, my king, my mate is nothing compared to the wait i have already endured. take me, please.”

He gently lowered her down, resting the slick, hot lips of her nethers on the tip of His towering shaft. The Great Dragon curled His wicked claws around the base of His erection to steady Himself, and stroked the thick head back and forth between her pure, eager folds. She pressed back eagerly, and let out a soft gasp of breath when the tip of her Father’s cock slipped between her lips and into her virgin cunny.

“it’s so big,” she said softly, feeling herself stretched wider than she would have ever thought possible. He paused for a moment to let her adjust to His girth, but she gritted her teeth and said, “i can handle it. i was born to do this. please, keep going, daddy.”

He carefully slid more of His long, thick, segmented cock into her vice-like passage, sinking deeper and deeper into her virgin tunnel. He paused once more when He felt the resistance of her hymen, but only for a moment, before pushing forward, tearing His way through and claiming her innocence. A flash of searing pain shot through her body, and she fought with all of her willpower to hold back the tears that were forming in the corners of her eyes.

A thin line of crimson escaped from the spot of their union, proof that He had made her His woman. As she sank lower and lower onto His spiny prick, He reached between her thighs and swiped up her maiden’s blood with His index claw. Nai’lati watched in a mixture of passion and amazement as He lifted His blood-soaked talon to His jaws. Sventar carefully breathed out a small stream of flame, heating the curved claw until it glowed orange with blazing intensity.

When He pressed the magically-imbued brand against her stomach, she grabbed Him by the back of His head and kissed Him fiercely. Her pained whimpers and cries were muted by the duel of their tongues. The stench of burning fur and skin assaulted her nostrils as He skillfully carved out His mark on her flesh. When He was done, Nai’lati broke the heated kiss and held her paw to her belly.

“I am sorry, My Child,” He said softly, brushing her silver hair back from her eyes. “That mark will forever link you to Me. When you are in danger, I will know, and I will come to your aid. My power will protect you, guide you. And when I am near, your body will respond. Your womb will become more fertile, and be more welcoming of My seed. In time, you will bless Me with many children.”

She held His face in her tiny paws and told Him, “please, daddy, don’t be sorry. i have waited for this moment for years. the pain was brief, but necessary. i am just overwhelmed by my love and desire for you.”

With a low, rumbling chuckle, the Great Dragon responded, “Oh, My Daughter, you have felt nothing yet.” Digging His claws into her muscular backside, He rolled her over onto her back, setting her ankles high up on His shoulders, allowing Him to penetrate her deeper than before. She clutched on to His arms tightly as they gasped and moaned into each other’s mouths.

“Oh, gods!” She cried out, the jolts of pleasure severe enough to break out of her normal whispers. “Oh yes, Father! Mark me, mate me, breed me!” Her sharp claws dug and raked at His thick, scaly hide, unable to penetrate the natural born armor of His kind. “Fill me with Your essence and give me Your children!”

He continued to pound deeply into her stretched, swollen womanhood, her screams of passion dissolving into unintelligible grunts, gasps, moans, and squeaks. Overcome by so many new and erotic sensations, her first orgasm to be given to her by her Father quickly built to a crescendo. Her copious juices sloshed out of her abused pussy, soaking the sheets beneath her pert little backside.  She felt a familiar feeling as her inner walls began to twitch and quake around His invading member, similar to the way Terca had made her feel during their alone times together. “I-I’m getting close, Daddy!”

“Let it go, My Child,” He commanded her. “Give in, and show Me how beautiful you are in the throes of your passion. Climax for your Father.”

“Ahhhhh~! Daddy!” she cried out as her dam burst. Her muscles clamped down tightly around Him, her body’s natural instincts trying to coax Him into filling her womb with His potent seed. Her slender frame shuddered and bucked beneath Him, and with a violent jerk, she sprayed His muscular abdomen and thighs in her sweet, feminine nectar. “daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy…” she repeated over and over, her voice dropping back to its normal hushed tone as she rode out the waves of her release.

“That’s excellent, Nai’lati,” He spoke as He continued to fuck her into babbling submission, not relenting the furious pace as He neared His own peak. Her voice had trailed off into a long, near-continuous moan as she felt the tip of His mighty cock nudge at the entrance to her uterus. His shaft swelled up even bigger and harder than before, though she did not know how that was possible, as His heavy balls smacked repeatedly against her firm little rump. Suddenly, He buried Himself as deeply in her young body as He could, His body going rigid as He unleashed a torrent of His virile, incestuous essence into her young, willing, and receptive core.

Nai’lati overflowed with her Father’s sperm, her powerfully contracting muscles squirting out the excess all over both of their laps in a gooey mess. She felt His pillar jerk and spasm deep inside of her body as He filled her to capacity with His royal seed. Once He was fully drained, He looked into her eyes and asked, “That was very well done, My Child. How do you feel now that you are a woman?”

“i feel incredible! a little weak, a little tired, but better than i ever have before,” she replied, giving the Great Dragon a soft smile and a loving squeeze. “if you want, daddy, i can go again, back here if you want…” She pulled her tail aside, exposing her tight pink puckered hole to His eyes.

He let out an amused chuckle at her enthusiasm, and replied, “There will be plenty of time for that in the future, My Child. You have done more than enough for one night. I think it would be a good idea for you to pay a visit to Mistress Traixa while you are here. I know how much you like her.”

“yes, i would like that, very much,” the half-tigress answered, “but summon me if you change your mind, daddy. i love you!” She kissed Him affectionately and rolled out of the bed. She didn’t even bother to pick up the shreds of clothing off the floor as she opened the door to the room, leaving a trail of their mixed juices on the cold, hard stone floor. She pulled the heavy wooden closed behind her, leaving Him alone in the dark. No, not alone. She was still with Him, she knew, because she is the dark.

~~~~~

“That was beautiful, My Lord,” Joselyn said, emerging from a false wardrobe where she had been able to observe the exchange between Father and Daughter. “One day, she will give you beautiful children. Still, I hope My Lord still has room in His bed for His favorite assassin?” The tigress seductively approached the large Dragon Overlord, raking her claws aggressively across His thick chest scales.

“Certainly,” He told the lithe, muscular feline. “When your womb can give me a Daughter as precious as Nai’lati, you have definitely earned the right to provide me with more.”

The Great Dragon gripped the tigress by her silver tresses and roughly bent her over the side of the bed. He dragged His powerful, segmented shaft, still coated in their daughter’s honey, up and down her puffy, pink lips, slick with her desire for Him. Each ridge along the length of His scepter sent shivers of pleasure through her body, and she whined needily to be filled with His cock, to feel His potent seed flood her passage, to have His Child grow within her body once more.

She cried out in pleasurable pain as He drove His spiny prick home, burying Himself to the hilt in her willing body, splitting her aching pussy wide around His thickness. She clawed at the expensive silk sheets, still soaked with their daughter’s then-virginal juices, as Sventar sawed in and out of her passage, writhing and moaning beneath His massive, muscular frame.

“Come in, Terca,” He said, not bothering to slow His rhythmic thrusting into Joselyn’s welcoming Motherhood. “Tell Us what you know. Did your sister require any help from you to complete her mission?”

“No, Father,” His eldest daughter said as she entered the bedroom, staring with lust-filled eyes as she saw her Father take His fourth mate with unbridled passion. “As fast as she is, I was unable to keep up with Nai’lati, but I was able to track her by the path she left in her wake.”

“Go on,” He grunted, bumping His hips up against Joselyn’s rump with enough force to drive her belly up off the sweat-and-pussy soaked mattress. “What did you see?”

“She ran into the Scrofa Scrofa tribe,” the young half-dragon, half-demoness explained. “A few of their warriors were wounded; several of their women and children were slain. When I arrived, they were mourning their losses, and regarded me with fear and hate. Still, they gave me no resistance, and allowed me to move along without any further trouble. Though I believe Matron Zamia will be very angry when she hears about this incident. Even though they are not Her tribe, the razorkin are still Her people.”

“I will deal with her when that time comes,” her Father said. “She already hates Matron Joselyn, so this will just add to her hate.”

“Why does she hate Matron Joselyn, Father?” The little girl asked.

“Tell her,” Sventar commanded. “Tell my daughter why two of my mates hate each other so much.” He wrapped His claws in the tigress’s hair and pulled, arching her spine painfully back to look Him in His burning red eyes.

“I murdered her betrothed,” Joselyn hissed. “My Lord commanded it, and so I did it. And I would do it again, with pleasure. Anything for my Lord.” Her tightly-stretched passage contracted and squeezed around the massive invader, shockwaves of electric sexual bliss coursing through her athletic frame.

“As an offering of peace, the razorkin gave Zamia to me,” the Great Dragon said calmly, despite aggressively mating the striped woman beneath Him. “Just like Josie here, she hated me at first, but she, too, learned to accept my love. Still, I cannot force them to accept each other.”

Terca giggled, not used to hearing the feared assassin and former slave trainer referred to by such a cute nickname. Her amusement was cut short, though, when her Father asked, “What else did you observe, my child?”

“I was able to keep following Nai’lati by the random dead bodies. From the locations of the cuts and the various things around them, I think she just slashed her way through any random bystanders rather than go over or around them,” the eldest daughter said as she recounted her grisly discoveries.

“She was... in a hurry... and the fastest... way between two... points is a... straight line,” Joselyn huffed as her Lord took her, defending her daughter’s brutal actions. “That was just… bad luck... for them.”

“Her trail led me to a pair of trolls. Mates, as near as I could tell. They were arguing and fighting over whose fault it was that their ‘delicious little striped dinner’ had managed to escape. For some reason, the words ‘stonewood’ and ‘sawdust’ came up more than once,” the half-demoness explained.

“What next?” Sventar asked.

“Oh, they spotted me, and wanted to make a meal out of me,” the girl shrugged. “I guess they expected me to try and outsmart them like Nai’lati did. Too bad for them, I’m a little more skilled with my weapon than my sweet little sister. She and I had a playful little sparring match earlier so that she could try her new blades out. Speaking of which, she owes me after losing a little wager.” The playful glint in her eyes showed that Terca couldn’t wait to collect. Nai’lati had a reputation for giving amazing cunnilingus, in no small part due to her feline heritage and fierce competitive spirit. The half-dragoness gave a slight shiver as she imagined her younger sister’s coarse tongue lapping eagerly over her immature button.

“She is visiting with Mistress Traixa,” her Father told her. “Check the main Audience Chamber. They should be there.”

“Thank you, Father,” she said. “I hope I have served you and Matron Joselyn well?” She rubbed her thighs together eagerly, hoping to receive a reward similar to what her little sister and the tigress woman had been given. A trickle of her youthful juices ran along the inside of her leg as she imagined her Father’s massive shaft buried inside of her velvety walls once again.

“You have, Terca, very much so,” Sventar said as He felt His mate approaching her climax, the sensation of her stretched passage spasming and twitching around His invading member becoming more intense and frequent. “I will summon you to my bedchamber tomorrow, and any member of the house you wish to accompany us, if you like. Your mother? One of your sisters, perhaps? Maybe one of the slaves, if there is one that has earned your wrath. Just tell me her name, and it will be done.”

“Thank you, Father,” she nodded respectfully, “there are so many delicious possibilities. Though I suppose I earned it in part because of my sister. Would you like to have two of your daughters at once?”

“If that is what you want, then I would like nothing else more,” her Father replied. “And I am certain that your sister will appreciate the kindness. I am so proud of you for sharing this honor with her, Terca.”

“By your leave then, I will go and find my dear sister,” His oldest daughter said with a slight bow, before she turned and exited the room, leaving her Father to impregnate the tigress with another child.

~~~~~

“I recently acquired this, and I would like for you to have it, Your Highness,” Traixa said as she opened up a small cloth bag and produced a bracelet. The metal band was crafted of brushed silver and inset with a large oval onyx. She handed it over to the daughter of her friend and mentor, who carefully accepted it.

Nai’lati held the trinket up in front of her face, studying it carefully. “it’s beautiful, mistress traixa. thank you,” she said politely, slipping it around her slender wrist.

“You’re welcome, Nai’lati,” the older lizan woman said with a smile. “It’s actually a bracelet of shadow-scrying. As long as you are in the darkness, you will be able to use the nearby shadows to spy on others.”

“ohhhh…” The little cub’s eyes lit up with excitement and mischief at that revelation. She imagined how useful such an enchantment would be for stealing things, or seeing what her sisters, the mothers, and her Father were up to in the other bedchambers.

“That’s just what she needs,” Terca’s voice echoed through the audience hall. “Something else to help her cause mayhem in the keep. Really, you shouldn’t have.” The eldest daughter stepped up onto the raised dais and set her notched battle axe against the throne. “Hello again, Mistress Traixa,” she greeted as she dropped down into the large stone chair reserved for the Mistress of Wyverncrest.

“Hello, Your Highness,” the woman returned with a slight bow. “It is lovely to see you again. How is your mother?”

“She is well, though she wonders if you are close to training a suitable replacement to run Wyverncrest so that you may join us?” Terca asked.

“Not yet, I am afraid,” Traixa responded. “They all lack that perfect mix of cruelty, guile, and constitution required to endure. I have broken quite a few hopefuls over the past several years.”

“That’s unfortunate,” the half-demoness said with a click of her tongue. “I hate to interrupt, but are you nearly finished with my dear, sweet sister? She owes me after losing a small wager this morning, and I have decided it is time to collect.”

“Very well, then. It was wonderful to see you both again. You are both growing up to be beautiful, fierce young women. Please, I’d like it if you could visit more often,” Traixa began, before Terca interrupted.

“Oh, we’re not leaving just yet,” she said with a grin. “But after what I just saw, I’m not going to wait any longer for sweet Nai’lati to pay up….” Terca spread her muscular thighs and lifted her loincloth to reveal her smooth, damp slit. “My little sister is going to settle her debt right here, kneeling in front of me on your throne. But you can stay and watch, if you like. Isn’t that right, Nai’lati?”

The young half-tigress dropped to her knees submissively and crawled over to her sister’s waiting sex. “I wouldn’t mind, mistress traixa. perhaps later, you and i could get to know each other better? for now, though, a deal is a deal. but i will get you next time, sister...”

", "pools_count": 2, "title": "Sventar's Daughters: Nai'lati's Quest", "deleted": "f", "public": "t", "mimetype": "application/msword", "pagecount": "1", "rating_id": "2", "rating_name": "Adult", "ratings": [ { "content_tag_id": "4", "name": "Sexual Themes", "description": "Erotic imagery, sexual activity or arousal", "rating_id": "2" } ], "submission_type_id": "12", "type_name": "Writing - Document", "guest_block": "t", "friends_only": "f", "comments_count": "9", "views": "5700" }