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The Missing Dragon

By: Lien_Geller



Author's Note: This is a fantasy story that builds up to a good deal of sexy fun. It starts out in our world and ends somewhere else entirely. Given the name I've chosen for it I feel the need to tell you that it has a disappointing lack of dragons. However I've attempted to make up for that with an abundance of boobs and a strapping young male protagonist. I hope you like it.



Gregory Hopkins had a missing dragon to deal with. He'd taken a different approach to the problem than he normally did, cutting through the park on his way home from school. Still, there was no doubt about it. He knew the first time he saw those beautiful green lawns. All that empty space was missing something and that something was possibly an army of elves or, more likely, a dragon.

Without weighing the risks of such an endeavour as finding a missing dragon upon a park lawn during the English summer; he sat down beneath a large oak tree, plucked his sketch pad out of his bag and got to work. Drawing what was already there was easy enough. The trees in the distance, the flower bed in the foreground and the small caretaker's house to the far left soon materialised upon his blank sheet of paper. Only then was the true challenge upon him.

The first order of business in finding a dragon in an empty field is to understand how such a creature might fall to rest there. The outline took shape as a long serpentine curve, basking in the late afternoon sunlight. Next were the details: the horns, the scales, the shadows beneath the relaxed folded wings. Finally the creature needed to be placed in the field and so came the tufts of grass around where its weight rested in the earth, then the scorch marks on the earth beneath its nostrils.

He sat there for a while, a young man with messy black hair that fell to his shoulders and deep blue eyes steeled with concentration. His face was a mix of a little Italian, a little Greek and a lot of English. A baggy sweater and equally baggy pants covered his frame as he sat beneath a tree looking at his disappointingly dragonless field. 

It took him over half an hour to find and place the dragon there, then came the shading of its frame and finally the finished product. Unfortunately, Gregory didn't even so much as get to set his pencil down before the muddy football hit him squarely on the side of the face and smashed down into his sketch. Given the temperature the ball shouldn't have been muddy at all but summer had just begun and so had the storms that sometimes came along with it.

The impact left his right ear ringing and his right eye momentarily blinded by dirt. It took Gregory a full minute to adjust himself and realise the dragon in the field was ruined and that someone was stood beside him with a muddy football beneath his arm.

Freddie Lounds. What a complete and utter shitheel. Gregory glanced past him to where a group of his cronies stood in the football field across the way looking on with grim smirks on their faces. He'd heard them start up their game but in his concentration to capture his reptilian quarry he hadn't bothered to see who they were. If he had he might have just picked up his things and left the dragon to be forever lost.

"What' you doing?" Freddie asked.

"Windsurfing." Gregory replied calmly as he moved to slip his sketch book back into his bag.

Clearly Freddie didn't quite know what to do with this information. It certainly didn't look like Gregory had been windsurfing but then again Freddie wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the box and Gregory had spoken with a great deal of conviction. It took him a full fifteen seconds before he realised he was being mocked and his face tightened into a frown.

"Think you're a smart little shit don't you?" The football was smacked loudly against the ground as Freddie put his arms out in the classic 'let's kick the shit out of each other' pose he'd been fond of since primary school.

Gregory sighed inwardly. He'd had to put up with this idiot all through primary school during which time getting punched and shoved around the playground had been a part of his every day life. In high school Freddie still looked out for him despite being in different classes to each other. Any time he felt like shoving someone over or dumping the contents of their bag on the floor Gregory usually had landed square in the lunatic's crosshairs.

Of course much of this had stopped abruptly shortly after Gregory started taking some classes outside of school hours. The first time Freddie found a fist landing square in his face had been the last time he'd overtly tried to beat up Gregory. Still, he'd been a constant pain ever since. Then finally Freddie had left school and Gregory stayed on. School had gotten a lot better since then but they still lived in the same town and that town only had one park.

All in all, Freddie didn't bother Gregory that much anymore. What did bother him was currently walking towards them from the football field.

Janette Riley was a gorgeous redhead with long toned legs, curvy round breasts and quite possibly the cutest ass in the known universe. She'd been dating Freddie since they were sixteen. They were now both eighteen with Freddie soon looking at being nineteen and Gregory having just had his eighteenth birthday two weeks before. Seeing a girl like Janette with a guy like him was just plain depressing. Freddie wasn't even what a reasonable person would call attractive. Shaven head, pinched looking slightly inbred look, pug nose and a constant expression akin to someone smelling a particularly nasty pile of shit was pretty much all he had to offer the world.

Gregory had been single all through high school, partly due to his reputation as a bit of a loner and partly because he had other things to worry about. Seeing a girl like Janette with a guy like Freddie wasn't exactly the greatest advertisement for the guys who stay in school getting all the good stuff once they're in the real world. If it wasn't for the fact that Janette was what civilized society referred to as a 'total bitch' then it would have been downright soul destroying to see them together.

"Come back to the game." She reached out to Freddie's shoulder and gave it a squeeze. This wasn't the first time she'd had to try and dissolve a potential night in jail for her boyfriend.

"Shithead's been smart." The thug curled his lip and took a step towards Gregory.

Slowly, the boy who had been looking for dragons shifted his weight and placed his left foot further behind him. If this was going to happen then it was going to happen very fast, very hard and it was going to result in a very large headache for Freddie.

"Ignore him babe, he's nothing. C'mon...if you win I'll give you a prize." Janette smoothly slipped herself between them both as if knowing it would be difficult for Freddie to concentrate on two things at once.

He stalled a moment and then Gregory was suddenly watching a harsh kiss of pressure whitened lips and the noise of Freddie jamming his tongue into Janette's mouth. It was worse than being kicked in the gut. A guy behaves like a rabid monkey, starts a fight, ruins a sketch and it's him who gets the girl? It was enough to turn Gregory's stomach.

As he was walking away from them he heard their voices carry through the air. This time he heard the ball being kicked and being kicked hard. Reacting without much thought to the matter, Gregory felt his legs tense and then propel him up into the air, spinning sideways and swinging his leg outwards. He saw the ball blasting toward where the back of his head had been moments before. It took him an instant to re-adjust the swing of his foot and slam the football in a perfect volley that sent it hurtling back toward Freddie's face.

The noise of his foot hitting the ball was only outmatched by the noise of the ball connecting directly with Freddie's nose. Unlike Gregory, he hadn't been expecting the sudden return and soon found himself sprawling backwards into the grass. Even Gregory himself stood there dumbfounded for a few moments since even he hadn't expected his kick to work that well. Then came the sudden shouts of Freddie's friends on the field and he saw seven guys running toward him with angry looks on their faces. Brilliant.

Taking off into a run, he immediately broke for the gates to the park. With no one else around he sure as hell didn't want Freddie's cronies to get their hands on him. It didn't take him long to work out that they were going to get to the entrance before he was. One he could have handled, two or three even but there were going to be at least five or six of them there before he was and he had no chance with those odds. The high fences around the park's perimeter meant that he wasn't getting out any other way, certainly not whilst being chased. So Gregory quickly took a sharp turn and ran toward a smaller brick wall that he quickly vaulted over in order to land in the enclosed gardens of the park. It was a place large enough to get lost in and had plenty of hiding spots.

Apparently none of Freddie's friends had it in them to vault the wall in the way Gregory had done which bought him some time. He carefully slid under a thorny layer of bushes, not without a good degree of pain in the process, and then settled to silence. Footsteps soon followed as did voices.

"Freddie for fuck sake put that away! Come back to the game, he's..." Janette's voice.

"Shut the fuck up! That little prick's not gonna be able to kick anythin' again!" Freddie screamed.

Gregory shifted slightly through the bushes to glimpse through a small gap. What he saw made his heart almost fall into his stomach. Freddie had a knife.

He'd always seemed unstable but a fucking knife!? That definitely took this from the 'not wanting a wedgie' scenario it would have been three years ago and gave it some underwear staining new possibilities. Gregory checked his hiding place and let out a silent breath. At least he'd picked a reasonably good spot to keep away from these lunatics.

"Find him for me!" Freddie's voice again, closer this time.

"Fred, mate, he's..." One of the others, unsure of where this was heading.

"I said find him!" Definitely unhinged.

What followed was the most tense and terrifying half hour of Gregory's life. It hadn't taken them long to start snooping around his hiding place but thankfully the two who had come looking didn't particularly want to get sliced up by thorn bushes for Freddie's grudge. They didn't get near enough to spot him. After a while the sound of footsteps had died down and the sky had begun to grow dark.

Gregory thought it was time to move and quietly began to shuffle toward the gap in the bushes where he could stand up without hurting himself too badly. That was when he felt the earth beneath his hand give way to something cold, smooth and small. At first he flinched thinking that perhaps he'd just picked up a slug or a worm but as he turned his head to glance down along his right side he saw the tiny shard of metal gleaming in the dirt. Curious, he plucked it between his fingers again and pulled gently to reveal a small silver ring. It took him a while to shuffle over to the gap in the bushes but when he did he sat up and lifted himself into a crouch to examine the thing. It was smooth on the outside with an intricate pattern etched onto the metal on the inner part of the band. It definitely appeared to be silver and it was quite a pretty thing to behold. In fact it was so distracting that as he stepped out of the shrubs and onto the path of the gardens he didn't notice Freddie creep up behind him with his knife held out and a look of pure madness in his eyes.

"Got you now you little fucker!" The harsh whisper was spoken in Gregory's ear soon after he felt the painfully sharp edge of the knife on his throat.

"Freddie please stop it! You'll go to prison!" Janette's voice was now quivering with the nerves of someone who was evidently in way over their head.

"No I won't you stupid slut. Just gonna teach this little bitch a lesson. What's that you got there queer boy?" Freddie snatched the ring from Gregory's fingers and looked at it.

After deciding it wasn't worth a whole lot he flicked it towards Janette who fumbled and then let it drop on the path at her feet.

"There, take that and shut up." Freddie growled at the girl in a way that scared her so much that she moved forwards and picked up the ring.

Gregory noticed the shimmer of tears in her eyes. Oh yeah, it was always the pretty ones that went for the raging crazies.

"Well put it on then you silly cow. Lets show queer boy here how nice his new ring looks on you before I pop one of his ear drums then make him beg not to do the same with the other." The knife lifted from Gregory's throat and he felt it graze along his cheek. Any move and the thing would probably rip off half his face. He took a long deep breath.

With trembling hands, Janette took the ring and slipped it onto her finger.

Then the entire world fell into darkness.

- - - - -

Gregory awoke to the taste of dirt in his mouth. He tried to lift his head and felt the tangle of shrubs and vines above him holding him in place. With a few splutters and an audible cough he opened his eyes and blinked them a few times. He was back under the bushes!? Had he fallen asleep? Maybe he'd gotten tired or passed out and dreamt everything?

He moved his mouth and felt the cut in his cheek sting sharply. Had Freddie done something and left him there? He checked his extremities for further injuries. Two eyes. Check. Eight fingers. Check. Two thumbs. Check. Ten toes. Check. Cock and two balls. Check. Thank fuck. In fact he felt fine despite some aches and the cut in his cheek that was little more than a shaving accident.

What was troubling was the sudden dawning realisation that he wasn't under the park's bushes any longer. These weren't the thin branches and thorny brambles of his former hiding spot. These were large leaves, thick vines and long limbs of plants that didn't look like they belonged in a well tended garden. A little wiggling and he'd freed his arm, a little more after that and he could sit up.

He was sat in the middle of a forest. It seemed like he'd rolled there from a few feet away which would certainly explain why he was covered in shrubs and vines. Maybe he'd passed out and Freddie had decided to take him out and dump him in the middle of nowhere.

Then again surely he'd have left a trail. Despite the obvious signs of where he'd rolled there was no evidence of anything disturbing the surrounding flora. He'd been camping a few times when he was young. He knew what to look for. The complete absence of any trails was actually quite disturbing. It seemed like he'd just fallen out of the sky.

Frustrated, Gregory moved his free arms to untangle his legs from the plants and vines before lifting himself to his feet. A quick glance around revealed a nearby tree that he was able to climb to get a better view of his surroundings. He found no signs of any trails around where he'd woken up but he did notice something else in the distance.

He began to turn to climb down when one of the vines that had been wrapped in the tree came loose in his hand. The sudden loosening almost made him fall from his perch but he managed to balance himself rather than returning to earth much sooner than he'd have liked. He looked at the vine, tugged on it and found it latched to a branch higher up. Now having been raised on a series of fantasy novels, movies, computer games and comic books Gregory understood that chances such as these were made to be taken. He tugged on the vine again to make sure it was firmly rooted in the tree limb above and then allowed himself a small grin before dropping from the branch and holding on for dear life.

The rush of air was felt immediately as he swung on the vine directly toward his point of interest. Shortly before he managed to get there the vine snagged in another branch above him and swung him hard to the right to slam his body straight into the unyielding trunk of a large tree. Pain shot through his wrist where he tried to brace himself and he swore aloud to the nothingness that surrounded him. A large bump on his forehead would also likely be swelling up to high heaven in no time at all as a result of his quick tete-a-tete with the hard wood.

All in all it could have been worse and the pain seemed to subside when he saw what he'd been looking at. The forest floor was clearly pushed aside and there were notable tracks in the dirt beneath his feet. Large footprints, flat with no treads or heels which was an oddity in this day and age and long thin trails indicating something with wheels had passed through the area. It seemed to be some kind of road.

Gregory let out a breath of relief and started to walk. Roads had to lead somewhere. Hopefully they'd lead somewhere with a phone. Thinking back on his situation he considered that maybe swinging on the vines had been how he'd gotten laid up in the ground in the first place. It seemed a viable explanation for how he seemed to have dropped out of nowhere. Maybe Freddie had drugged him or something and let him loose in the forest? No, that sounded more like a Bond Villain than Freddie.

What's more this forest didn't exactly scream English countryside at him either. Vines on trees? Did they even have vines in English woods? He sure as hell hadn't seen any. The trees were wrong too. He knew what trees looked like and even what they were called in most cases but he saw no oaks, willows, alders, ashes, pines or anything remotely familiar. Some had needles like pine trees but the wrong structure, some wilted like Willows but didn't have the right branches. Many were beautiful to behold with one in particular bearing vines that were in the midst of flowering along with the tree itself. He didn't recognise any of the flowers.

This was getting eerie. Since the gap in the road sometimes allowed the trees above to part he saw the sky and figured the sun wasn't even at its peak yet. It was late morning, not late afternoon. He'd been out cold for an entire day?

That was when he met Algra for the first time. It was certainly one of the more interesting meetings of his life. This was largely because she introduced herself with a deafening scream of a battle cry and then burst out from behind a tree in front of him wielding a very large club she'd made from a fallen tree branch.

It was perhaps doubly or even triply startling for Gregory because Algra was, quite unmistakably, an orc. You see despite the many attempts of humans to dress up as magical creatures throughout the ages of earth the sad fact is that no matter how close your attention to detail and how brilliant your costume might be, no man or woman can quite manage to look like an orc.

The first thing that startled Gregory when he looked upon Algra was her size. As with most females, she was smaller than an average male by about twelve inches. This put her squarely at six and a half feet in height. Orc females are also considered equal to the tasks of orc males and so Algra was incredibly fit. Her muscles were defined and taut and her body was lean and capable of easily overpowering most human men. During that first meeting Algra also happened to be wearing relatively little. A few thick leather straps were wrapped around the generously proportioned curves of her breasts and a sash made of animal hide hung over her hips. The small garments, despite showing off her incredibly powerful musculature and undeniably feminine curves also gave Gregory a view of her skin. He had never in all his life seen such a rich shade of green. In places it was marred by dirt and he saw some evidence in of various wounds that had long since healed up but generally she seemed to match the colour of the finest emeralds.


The Missing Dragon Ch. 02



The pale blue sky above the orc encampment signaled the imminent arrival of the hot, yellow sun about to rise up over the edge of the great eastern ocean . Gregory Hopkins awoke to feel the pleasant ache of sore muscle and tendon. The light discomfort was a reminder of the previous evening and the wonderful women he had shared it with. They were his first thought as he remembered the touch of their flesh, their hunger for his kiss and the music of their soft moans as he repeatedly poured his adoration into their quivering bodies. His eyes closed as he savoured those two feminine shapes laid on either side of him. Their heavy breaths spilled out long and slow across his bare chest whilst they remained within the company of their dreams.

To his left, he felt the soft peachy bottom of Janette Riley and gave the supple, snowy white flesh a gentle squeeze. She was young just like him, no more than eighteen years of age and definitely ripe for the plucking. He remembered the colour rise upon her smooth pale cheeks and the feel of her deep scarlet hair in his hand as he'd taken her. For all his life he had known her to be cruel and vicious until they had both spilled over into this strange new world where it seemed anything was possible. He'd found Janette there, he'd fought for her and he'd won. The display had, by the rules of their hosts, made her his property. Later, by her own will, she had given herself to him completely and they had both ridden the flames of passion until they were utterly spent.

They had not been alone.

Wrapped up in his right arm with her own arm resting across his chest and her leg draped across his body was an altogetherly different female. Unlike Janette who was soft and delicate to his touch, his other woman was firm and honed as if carved from the smoothest emerald and heated to perfection. Her name was Algra Strongblood and she was definitely unlike any woman he had ever known. Though he did not know her age he guessed she was somewhere in her early to mid twenties and it seemed that all those years had been spent shaping herself into the finest feminine form possible. 

Every part of her was strong and lithe with long beautifully toned legs, a tight round bottom, a trim waist and gorgeous generously proportioned breasts that now squeezed against his body. The most striking feature of hers, as far as Gregory was concerned, was her skin which was a rich shade of green that that darkened upon the peaks of her breasts and over her lips. Her face was also something he was still getting used to, albeit whilst enjoying every glimpse he could get of her. She was a beautiful creature to behold with long jet black hair that spilled out in a feral mess across her head down to her shoulders. A smoothly curved distinctly feminine jaw line lifted into well defined cheeks flanking her lips. Lips that were shaped around the distinct form of her tusks at either corner of her mouth which took the place of her lower canines and raised outward to rest over her upper lip. Both of the distinctly inhuman tusks curved upward and pointed to a long straight nose which flared out into a deep brow that framed a set of wonderfully emotive, dark-chocolate coloured eyes.

He felt her head resting upon his chest where she had shifted in the night to listen to the comforting rhythm of his heartbeat. Without opening his eyes, he lifted his head and set a kiss in amidst her inky black hair. The sensation made her body hold him tighter for a moment and then relax again. He smiled and let his eyes open to look upward and found himself staring into a completely different face altogether.

The sudden appearance of a cloaked figure standing above him made him jump. Algra and Janette squirmed against him in their sleep, annoyed by the sudden movement. The cloaked figure leaned forward and an unfamiliar female face came into view above him. It was a human woman in her late twenties or possibly very early thirties with long silky smooth chestnut hair and pale green eyes. The corners of her bow shaped lips quivered a little in a nervous yet entirely disarming smile that made Gregory relax somewhat.

Well, he relaxed until he realised that although she wasn't an assassin, she was undoubtedly a very attractive woman who was looking at his naked body as he lay between two equally naked women. As awkward moments went, it pretty much blew out all the competition.

"H-hello master." Her voice whispered timidly. Thankfully her eyes seemed to be fixed upon his.

Unbeknownst to Gregory, keeping her eyes on his face was taking quite a good bit of effort from the woman. He'd been something of an outsider back on Earth and generally ignored by girls. This was mainly due to the fact that he continuously wore baggy sweats. If any woman who was so inclined had glimpsed just how firm and well toned his body was they would have probably made it their life's mission to bring the outsider to the inside as quickly as humanly possible.

She had peeked at his body, entwined between the two shapely females, before his eyes had opened. She'd seen sleek, powerful slopes of muscle defined along his frame and earned mostly from swimming. He was no body builder since he prized his own agility for his martial arts classes. This gave him a musculature that reminded her of a large predatory cat. It was all wrapped up in a light skin tone with just a little hint of olive to give him a slightly Greco-Roman hue that turned his body into the most appealing shade of bronze whenever it was overly exposed to sunlight.

Of course, she'd glimpsed what lay between his legs and found that he certainly wasn't lacking anything in that department. It was no trouble at all to believe that such a tool could draw forth the deliriously happy feminine screams that had risen from within the tent the previous evening.

Then she had come to regard his face and found him handsome if somewhat young. His youth was all the more notable as he slept, for he usually carried a contemplative look in his deep blue eyes that made him seem somewhat older and wiser than his actual eighteen years would imply. There was still a degree of boyishness about him but his face had all the makings of a thoroughly handsome man.

A well defined jaw was covered in a light layer of black stubble that outlined an appealing mouth. She'd seen him smile from his display the previous day when he'd bested her former master; a massive lumbering orc named Bolut. Gregory had a wicked smirk and a generous grin that made her want to laugh along with him. She'd heard the moans of Algra and Janette during the night and wondered what else those lips might be capable of.

He laid his head back and framed his features in amidst a mussed up mane of long black hair that fell to his shoulders. On Earth, the long hair had made him even more of an outsider but there it just made him seem wild like many of the orcs in the camp.

She'd been looking at his closed eyelids and trying to remember what his eyes looked like when they had flipped open and she found herself looking down into two dark pools of blue.

"Er...Hi?" Lowering his tone to match hers, he found his voice was a little hoarse with all the blissful bellowing he'd done the night before.

She'd called him 'master'. Since he'd arrived in this strange new world he'd almost gotten used to people calling him that. Orc society was a hierarchy based on challenges of combat. If two orcs disagreed or one orc thought he deserved something that another one owned then they would simply fight for it. The winner would thereafter become the master and the loser the slave. Orc slavery was much different to human ideas on such matters since practically every orc was in some way enslaved to another. This meant that ill treatment of a slave by a master was practically a ticket to get a severe beating by other orcs who didn't want their masters getting any ideas. 

Shortly after entering the camp he'd found Janette and had challenged the orc merchant who had captured her. He'd won and therefore as well as taking Janette he now owned everything the merchant had, including the merchant himself. Gregory therefore concluded that this woman had probably been one of the merchant's human slaves and he now owned her too.

"The warchief calls for your presence, master. Bolut asked me to take you there if it is your will." She bowed her head submissively and then looked down to Gregory for his response.

"Who's Bolut?" Gregory began to wiggle his way out of the grip of his two lovers. It was not an easy task, especially since he didn't want to wake them and even in their slumber they didn't want to let him go.

"Bolut is the name of your slave, master. He is the one who you challenged yesterday." She seemed a little worried, as if she might have somehow gotten the wrong person.

"Right, ok. Um, could you turn around?" He finally managed to slip from Algra's grip and stand up.

"Yes master, of course," she obeyed.

"Thanks." He began to fish around for his pants. "So what does the warchief want?"

The warchief was the leader of the orc encampment. An enormous male even for one of his kin; he also happened to be Algra's uncle. He was definitely not someone that Gregory wanted to keep waiting. Finding his loose cargo pants, he frowned at the broken zipper and popped button. Algra had been very eager to play with what rested behind those particular hindrances and in her enthusiasm she'd ripped the front of his pants apart. Gregory improvised by wrapping his heavy hooded sweater around his waist as a makeshift belt. He tactfully covered the hole in their front with the folded arms of the garment. Once that was done he slipped on his t-shirt and turned back.

Algra and Janette had sleepily slipped into each other's arms in his absence and they certainly made a pleasant sight for tired eyes. Algra had possessively wrapped her leg around Janette's thigh and their arms had slid into an embrace. Their breasts squeezed together as their heads fell against each other's shoulders and they continued to snooze. The messenger was still turned away and Gregory tore his eyes away from the nude pair to look at the cloaked figure.

"I'm ready, let's go."

"Yes master." The lady turned and looked him over, she obviously found his dress sense interesting, if slightly perplexing. Humans that she knew tended to wear simple linen garments or medievally tailored clothing.

Gregory offered her a small smile and slipped out of the tent, holding the large entrance flap open for her to emerge beside him.

"Thank you, master," she politely remarked on his manners before leading the way for him toward the warchief's home. "Is it acceptable for me to give you a message from Bolut?"

"Hm? Oh. Yeah, 'course it is." Gregory was slightly distracted as he smothered a tired yawn.

"He wishes for an audience with you today. Yesterday he was very happy that you allowed him to keep his things but I think he wishes to know what you intend to do now."

Him and me both. Gregory silently thought to himself.

Suddenly remembering the cause of his trip from Earth to this new world, he reached into the pocket of his pants and felt the cold touch of the ring there. He didn't pull it from the pocket and he was careful not to let the thing slip onto his finger. The last time Janette had done that they had both been teleported from England along with her psychotic ex-boyfriend. He needed to get home but he knew something very important about magic rings and that was simply that he didn't know anything at all about magic rings. Sure, it had transported them here this time but that didn't mean putting it on again would take them back. Maybe they'd end up somewhere else, somewhere without oxygen or somewhere that was just an endless ocean. The thought wasn't exactly encouraging.

"What's he like? Bolut, I mean. Is he kind to you?" Gregory tried to keep his mind on the present rather than pondering his other troubles.

It was clear from her reaction that she certainly hadn't been expecting him to ask such a question. Her pale green eyes widened and she turned her head sharply to look upon him. It wasn't fear upon her face but rather a simple moment of shock followed by a note of confusion and then an answer.

"He is not kind. Kind is not the right word. I would say that he is good," she affirmed with a satisfied nod.

"What do you mean by that?"

She took a calculating breath, her apparently timid nature obviously conflicting with putting forward her own views.

"A kind person is gentle with others. Bolut is not gentle but nor is he cruel. He is a very good merchant. He has been challenged three times and lost much of his stock only to rebuild his business over once again. We work hard for him but he keeps us fed and sheltered. It is better to work for him than the life we knew as peasants. If we are sick he gets us medicine and lets us rest rather than work. He takes on more of us than he should because he knows we don't like to be separated from our families. Orcs don't usually keep human slaves because they don't want the burden of tearing them away from those they love. Bolut keeps us all together." She explained, obviously hoping she was getting her point across.

"I see. What do you do for him then?"

"We do many things in the camp. We take his wares around for others to buy, we accompany him as he travels and we craft things to trade. Bolut is very keen for us to learn things than can help his business. He's trained three blacksmiths and two tailors in the last three years. One of them moved back to the human kingdoms and set up a shop. Bolut still trades with him." She offered that same nervous yet pretty smile as she spoke.

"And what's your job?" Gregory turned to look at her as they walked amongst the tents of the camp.

"I sing, I dance, I know some stories. I play the flute well enough for a drunkard's ears."

"You're one of the women in the tents? You do what Janette did?" Gregory was suddenly notably interested.

When he'd first seen Janette after finding the orc camp she had been branded an accomplice to a bandit and as a partial punishment she was made to work in one of the 'entertainment' tents in Bolut's part of the camp. Gregory had stumbled onto her dancing in her underwear in what was obviously going to be quite an impressive strip tease until she'd turned around and seen him. Evidently a love of boobs was not limited to humans.

"Yes," She nodded and looked back upon him. Her gaze was somewhat sharper now. "I do many dances to entertain Bolut's customers. I danced for Bolut himself yesterday night. I am no whore."

"Oh, er, no I know you're not. Janette told me that the girls just dance and...um...take their clothes off. It's fine by me. As long as you're not doing anything you don't want to."

"No master, I am happy with my place. I have my own tent and I enjoy being able to bathe regularly." She stopped as they approached a series of much larger tents set around a large central pavilion. "This is the home of the warchief. Shall I await your return?"

"Thank you. I'll be able to find my way back. You can go get some more sleep if you like. You can also tell Bolut that I'll speak with him later this morning." Gregory offered a pleasant smile and turned to look for the warchief's tent.

"M-master?" The girl piped up. Her quiet, timid voice was a sweet murmur in the cool morning air.

Gregory turned back to look at her. His amiable expression was incredibly disarming.

"What is it?" he nudged.

"Well, the girls who do what I do in the camp were wondering if you were perhaps planning on joining us? We are very eager to show you the benefits of our profession and...well..." She lowered her gaze demurely and then blinked shyly up at him.

There was a moments' pause as Gregory gave her a very long, level stare before his easy-going smile broke into a large grin.

"You're good," he applauded her.

"Master? I don't understand. I..." As she spoke she first appeared cutely baffled, her eyelashes fluttering prettily and her hand lifting to touch her fingertips against her lips.

She saw in his eyes that the game was over and her all-too-innocent act fell to the wayside. That beautiful innocent expression turned mischievously playful. Her downcast gaze lifted to fix squarely upon his and a very naughty gleam filled those smouldering green pools. Those lips stopped quivering and her hand lowered from her mouth as her smile turned downright wicked. Her hands slid down over her body, outlining the shape of her beautiful slender figure against the cloth of her cloak.

"I'm impressed. Most men don't have a problem playing into my 'Oh you shouldn't worry about itty bitty little me' act. They like women to be meek and mild. What gave me away?" She lifted a dark brow at him and stepped forward, her beautifully carved features taking on an altogether more deviant expression.

"No woman is that meek and mild, although I've seen better acts than yours." Gregory watched her step toward him and didn't give any ground.

"Didn't you want to take me home and teach me all the things every bad girl needs to know? That's what usually makes the act work. Every man loves a submissive little love slave don't they?" Her hand lifted to place her palm on his chest and slowly stroke along the firm body beneath his t-shirt.

"I kind of wanted to take you home and watch you eat a cake. You were awfully cute." He chuckled softly, never moving his eyes from hers even as she felt his heart beating faster beneath her fingers.

"Am I not still cute? Master." The final word had a hint of playful mockery about it. Her lips lifted to rest mere inches from his and he felt the light wave of heated breath pass over his mouth as she spoke with a husky whisper.

"Now you kind of look like you want to eat me." He savoured the sweet perfumed scent of her as she dominated his senses.

"I don't bite. I promise." Her eyes were alight with interest as she watched his gaze darken as if she was looking into the deepest depths of the oldest oceans.

"I do." He playfully snapped is jaws to illustrate his point.

The experienced courtesan had a momentary and genuine expression of delight as a shiver ran through her at his words.

"Many of us were awake last night. We heard you make Algra Strongblood and the red haired girl scream for you. We heard your name again and again. We want to meet you. We want you to make us scream too." She slid her hand up along his chest, feeling the hard heat of his body as she came to grip his shoulder. Her other hand moved to unclasp the neck of her cloak leaving it to spill open and reveal her very naked body beneath.

Only two days before, if Gregory had been in this situation he thought he might have vaguely resembled a very happy pile of human soup by now. It was amazing just how much spending a night with a beautiful orc and the centre of his teenage erotic fantasies had improved his confidence.

"What's your name?" He asked of her as he lifted his hand to stroke along the inside of her bare thigh.

"Talina." His soft feather-like touch made her breath catch and her heart race.

"Well Talina, I already have two truly amazing women to keep screaming for me." He smirked as his fingers caressed their way upward to lightly tease the soft lips of her sex where he found her already saturated and quivering. "But you do have a very beautiful voice and I like the way your eyes shine when you're thinking naughty thoughts."

The woman's grip upon his shoulder tightened as her eyes closed and her body shivered against him. Their lips accidentally brushed together and sent a pleasant tingle throughout each of them. Between her legs she felt his fingers tracing between the swollen lips of her pussy and delicately parting those soft petals to slide inside her wet fleshy folds.




The Missing Dragon Ch. 02



"So let's make a deal. If you promise to play no more games at my expense then I'll come visit you later today. I'd like to see you dance and hear you sing," he said as she moaned in that beautifully melodic voice of hers.

Talina was now beyond words. Her hips began to move with the rhythm of his fingers as they teased and tantalised her slick channel. Gregory watched with silent reverence at each tiny little reaction of the sexy seductress. Her eyes were tightly shut, their breath clashed as their mouths neared and she burned hot in the chill morning light. A few stray locks of that chestnut hair fell across her face as a light sheen of perspiration began to form on her brow. His finger finally found the firm little nub of her clit and lightly brushed across its sensitive surface. He felt her fingernails dig into his t-shirt as a sudden thunderclap of bliss rocked her body. Enthused by this, he repeated the light little brush over her highly aroused pleasure centre. As his fingers found the light rubbery flesh of her core, he traced small little circles around her clit and felt her body quiver with the oncoming wave of climax. She opened her mouth to moan and he silenced her by sealing his lips to hers in a kiss that she soon shared with equal passion.

Those oncoming waves crashed through her with tremendous force. She lifted both her hands to hold on to his strong shoulders and her body thrashed against him. His fingers slowed as he played her like an obscene musical instrument. Then, as she was able to feel her muscles preparing to relax, he suddenly moved his fingers sharply and quickly inside her to draw forth a great crescendo from her body. In all her years she had never known anything quite like that boy's fingers. If someone had told her that he, barely a man, had only felt his first woman the day before she might have slapped them for being so idiotic. Yet she had never known a man who had troubled himself to seek her pleasure and hers alone. Nor one with such a great natural talent for the task. 

His fingers slowly slipped from her juicy folds and slipped around beneath her cloak to possessively grasp her delightfully firm behind. As she fell from those dizzying heights her strength waned and her long slender legs grew weak. She held herself to him with her arms sliding around his shoulders as their lips parted and she looked up at him with a mixture of exhaustion and delight. She already wanted more. Though even as her hand moved to unwrap the hooded sweater from where it was tied about his waist he caught her wrist and shook his head.

"Not now. I have a meeting remember?" The words were downright heartbreaking.

"Very well. I'll not take you for an ordinary man again, master." That last word still had a hint of teasing about it, though it was spoken with a great deal more affection.

She found the strength in her legs again and wrapped her cloak around herself whilst Gregory lifted his fingers to taste her. She was clean, delicious and lightly scented. He made a note to lick that nectar directly from the source in future. The sight of the man licking her juices from his fingers and savouring the taste like she was a fine wine made Talina consider attempting an act of rape. Then his deep blue eyes met hers again and she quickly reconsidered it.

"Thank you Talina. Now if you'll excuse me..." He nodded his head toward the large tent in the distance to emphasise his need to get moving.

"Of course. I shall count the moments until we meet again." She didn't call him master this time. He didn't mind.

He left Talina to make her way back to the merchant's camp upon slightly wobbly legs. Turning in the opposite direction, he entered the circle of pavilions in which warchief Grolfir and his retinue resided. A few guards were posted here and there holding enormous spears and wearing typical orcish black armour. Gregory walked to the largest pavilion. It was crafted of a sturdy black material lined with fine gold and silver embroidery along the edges. Two guards stood outside as he approached and crossed their massive spears in front of the entrance before looking down at him. Their faces were impossible to make out from the darkness cast by their helmets.

"Hi, I'm here to see the warchief? I'm Gregory. He asked me to come." Thankfully a few thoughts of large scorpions, bad Elvis impersonators and the morning chill meant that he wasn't presenting himself sporting a large erection from his dalliance with Talina.

The spears opened almost immediately to allow him to pass though. The orc guards remained silent and unnervingly imposing whilst he walked between them. He passed through into the tent itself which was big enough for a couple of dozen people to stand comfortably inside. A third of the large space was partitioned off by a large thin curtain behind which Gregory could vaguely make out a large bed and a sleeping orc female lying apparently nude on top of it. 

He quickly averted his eyes back to the centre of the room where a very large table stood stalwartly with various papers laid out over it in what Gregory guessed was some kind of organised chaos. An armour stand carried the warchief's personal battle garb which looked fucking terrifying even without the great warrior inside it. Beside it a large black sword that looked like a very long meat cleaver from hell was propped up against a large, closed wooden chest. Other furniture filled the tent including a rich fur rug and several large chairs surrounding it.

Grolfir himself stood behind the desk and looked up as Gregory entered. The orc was huge even by the standards of his people with a body that had been shaped and honed in amidst years of war and brutal training. His head was bald and one of his pointed ears had long since been mangled in some battle or other. What unnerved Gregory about the warchief more than anything were his eyes that burned with intense orange flame and carried across a very keen gaze whilst giving away very little about his intentions. 

"Warchief." Gregory didn't really know how to address the massive orc leader and so simply used his title. He also tried a respectful short bow.

"You have come," the great behemoth remarked passively before going silent for a moment. "Good. You will give me Algra."

The words hit Gregory like a sharp punch in the gut. He managed to keep his composure and lifted his gaze to look the mighty orc right in the eye despite how terrifying it might have been.

"If Algra wishes me to gift her to you then I will. If she wishes to stay with me then I will not leave her." Gregory wasn't exactly thrilled with what he knew might be coming next since he wasn't all that fond of being pulverised but he stood firm despite his worries.

"Algra has already asked me not to challenge you for her. She wishes to stay with you." Grolfir let out a low growl at having to admit such a thing.

"Then if you want her you'll have to challenge me."

"You're good...but not that good. I am no fat merchant, boy. Many far greater warriors than you have fallen before me." Grolfir snarled menacingly.

"I know. I don't even think I stand a chance." Yet Gregory didn't waver. "Still, it's Algra and I think she's worth fighting for, even if I die trying. So if you want to challenge me then that's fine. Let's do it. I haven't dropped anyone as big as you before but fuck it, there's a first time for everything."

Grolfir gave Gregory a very long icy stare that burned into the young man like cold fire. Even then, Gregory didn't yield an inch. So it was, after a long moment, the corners of Grolfir's mouth curved upward into a very pleased tusky grin before he threw his head back and let out a loud bellow of laughter.

"You are obviously mad, little human." He finally said in amidst his amusement. "Yet you honour my niece and have a heart forged of steel. I had to know if you were worthy of her and it seems you are. Although, it also seems you're suicidal, but I shall take the good with the bad."

Relief flooded through Gregory. This was just a test. Grolfir moved around his heavy desk to the large storage chest. He lowered his large hand to move his own sword aside and run his fingers across the wooden engravings upon the container.

"Algra's former master and mate was my servant. He was a great warrior and an honourable orc. When he died in battle she should have passed to me but instead she chose exile. Her possessions were her master's and when he died they became mine. I offered her them then but she refused to take what was hers. She wanted no part of our way any more for her grief and shame were too great. These are her things. Her armour, her sword and her possessions. I give them to you in the hope that you will pass them on to her." Grolfir pushed the chest across the floor toward Gregory.

"Thanks! I'll be sure she gets them." Gregory looked over the chest but didn't open it for the contents didn't belong to him.

A long silence followed in which Grolfir looked upon Gregory as if trying to size up the boy. It seemed that the great orc wasn't the only one with unreadable eyes.

"How did you best her? She is a very dangerous warrior. I know you have some skill, human, but you are not her equal," Grolfir asked as he moved to take one of the seats and then extended his arm to offer Gregory a place on the chair opposite.

He told the warchief about his first meeting with Algra and how she had severely underestimated him. The truth was that although she certainly hadn't known his capabilities, she was also very much in heat and quite distracted as a result. Orc women passed through a very sexually frenzied state from time to time and poor Algra had been alone for a very long while out there in the forest. She hadn't been thinking very clearly when she'd challenged him. He didn't let Grolfir know this of course since he didn't want to embarrass his orc lover or her far more intimidating uncle. In any case it had all worked out in the end as he'd certainly seen to her needs.

They talked for over an hour as Gregory saw no need to deny his otherworldly origins. Grolfir was very keen to know about Earth and the things they did there. After half an hour of conversation it was clear to Gregory that the warchief was a great fan of military history. He'd studied the stories of many battles in his own world and was fascinated by Gregory's tales of Alexander, Hannibal and Caesar. Gregory was a keen student of ancient to medieval military history and he had no shortage of tales to impart to the great warchief.

"And what about the orcs? I don't mean to offend but I've never seen anything like your people before. I'd love to learn more about them." Gregory finally managed to venture the question.

Grolfir nodded his head at the trade off and turned his head to look toward the opening of the tent.

"Some ale!" He turned back to Gregory. "What would you know of us?"

"Well, why don't you let humans join your society? They can't challenge an orc for anything can they?"

"Because humans are a bunch of backstabbing bastards," Grolfir grumbled as two orcs wheeled in a cask of ale and settled it beside the warchief.

"Well...alright then." Gregory didn't quite know what to say to that.

"Nay, there are many decent men and women in the Empire but it's not a place where the cream rises."

"More like the shit." Gregory grunted the words out when thinking of some of the leaders of his own world.

"Ha! Aye, the shit rises and the decent stuff sinks to the bottom of the barrel." He reached out and smacked the top of the keg of ale to highlight his point before pouring himself a drink into a metal cup and taking a taste. "Ah, this is orc brewed. We try to be fine through and through." With that, the warchief raised his cup to Gregory. "As you seem to be, pup."

The compliment brought a smile to Gregory's lips and the warchief poured a second cup from the barrel and slid it across the table to him. Gregory reached out and took a taste. He barely managed to get down the great gulp he'd taken before coughing his lungs up. It felt like someone had made an ice cube out of gasoline, crushed it, lit it on fire and poured it down his throat.

Grolfir found his reaction to be mildly hilarious and took a deep drink of the stuff before grinning across the table to the young human.

"That could blow the head off of a horse," Greg observed before taking a rather more tentative sip. "So what is human society like here? You say it's an empire?"

"Aye, the central realm commands the loyalty of the outlying territories. Or so it thinks. There are five human territories, each run by a High Lord. They surround the...wait, there is a picture..." Grolfir turned to a chest settled beside his desk and pulled out a collection of parchments. He glanced at three of them before finding the one he wanted and spreading it out across the wooden surface.

Gregory looked upon the world of Arolius and was immediately fascinated. He couldn't read the writing upon the map for it was in some strange language but he immediately saw what Grolfir was talking about. In the centre of the world there was a large space surrounded upon all its borders by five other large territories. Gregory saw that the eastern part of the map was dominated by a vast ocean. The north was lined with large mountains and coloured in heavy blackened illustrations that didn't look in the slightest bit welcoming. In the west a large desert bordered two of the human territories and in the south there were thick jungles and beyond them were more mountains.

Grolfir pointed to the south-eastern corner of the map, in the jungles where he saw the small illustration of a camp next to a larger drawing of a city in the mountains to the south.

"This is Embervine. Our camp for the hot months before we walk home for the winters." He moved his finger to the picture of the city to the south.

Gregory nodded and looked further up the map to point out the central human province.

"And this is the centre of the Empire." His own fingertip tapped the image of the enormous city in the centre of that province.

Grolfir nodded.

"So these are the five territories." Gregory tapped on each of the provinces surrounding the borders of the empire. "What's this?"

Grolfir lowered his gaze to where Gregory had indicated to the northern most part of the map. The young man was chilled at the sudden look of hatred upon Grolfir's face. "They are the Northern Mountains. Home of the Black Orcs and the demonic lords. They are also said to be the Forsaken Lands. Humans and my people fight along the northern border to keep them at bay. Many armies rest there. Many lay dead on the killing fields."

"Oh. I see. So it's a constant war?"

"It is an unending fire for the flesh of my people and of yours."

Hearing the orc talking about a fight like it was hell was definitely un-nerving. Orcs lived to fight. They based their entire society around it. A fight that an orc wasn't happy about was not a fight that Gregory wanted to get within a hundred leagues of.

"And what about the people here..." Gregory quickly pointed out the south-eastern human territory that had its borders along the Embervine Forest.

Grolfir's response of a low, thundering growl didn't really instil a great deal of confidence.

"Not that good then?"

"The High Lord of that territory thinks us animals and his mind has been split. The humans in his lands suffer and starve. Yet because he sends troops to the north he is ignored by the Emperor. Better a foaming madman than one with cunning and ambition. He has stayed away from us and our warrior caravans are not disrupted on the Emperor's orders."

"Oh." That wasn't exactly encouraging news.

"The High Lords always vie and battle for power, young one. All want to be Emperor or want for independence. It is an Empire of shadows and knives. You would be better off here in the arms of my niece."

"Well from what you've told me I think I'd rather go strangle some of these idiots. But thanks for the offer."

Grolfir grinned downright wolfishly and took another swig of his ale. Then Gregory did the same and braced himself for the impact of the orcish brew. The two men clashed their metal cups together and leaned over the map to speak of the world and its state.

Humans, it turned out, were the most prolific race in the world but in past centuries they had grown less aggressive toward the other races and more prone to infighting. No human was ordinarily given the right to challenge an orc but if a human was challenged and emerged victorious then he or she was considered a member of orc society and could do as they pleased. Gregory found out that he was the only such human currently in existence. It was both a comforting thought to know he had a place here and yet something of a burden for he realised that he not only represented himself but all humanity to these green giants.

Gregory had finally worked up the courage to ask about the black orcs and learned that they had been splintered from the southern orcs long ago. A group of demons had once offered Grolfir's people unimaginable strength in exchange for their service and many had accepted. Those who refused fled south and made their home in the mountains there. The orcs who accepted the demon's gift found it came with a price and warped themselves into a horrifically deformed and wretched species that had become little more than animals. Even then the hatred in Grolfir's voice was so vicious it was unnerving when he spoke of The Lost Ones. Though they had been named 'black orcs' by the humans, Grolfir told them that their true colour was a wretched pallid white. They only appeared black because they spent so much time in amidst their furnaces and within the black ash of the northern volcanoes. The mutual threat of these monstrous creatures had improved relations between humans and the southern orcs and so they fought side by side along the human kingdom's northern border.

After two hours of conversation with Grolfir they were interrupted by a messenger. Gregory turned to see a young male orc wearing hardened leather armour standing to attention like a soldier as he awaited his warchief's permission to speak.

Grolfir turned and barked something at the young orc in the orcish language to which the messenger replied in kind. It wasn't a very long message and once it was finished the young male was dismissed and Grolfir turned to Gregory.

"It appears we have talked longer than I had intended. My presence is needed at the great hall. I am glad Algra found you Gregory Hopkins. Tell her..." Grolfir paused and then shook his head. "Be good to her."

"May I ask something of you warchief?" Gregory stood, the nerves of speaking to the great orc returning somewhat given what he was about to ask.

"You may ask but I may not give." It didn't seem like being asked for favours was anything new to Grolfir.

"One of the humans I came here with is being held in the pits. He attacked one of the orcs that brought him here with great dishonour. I would ask that you release him into my care." Asking the question wasn't exactly easy for Gregory. He was asking to free the psychotic lunatic that had bullied him for most of his life after all.

"And why, by the First, would I do something like that?" Grolfir raised a suspicious brow at the request.

"He means something to the girl I came with. They are no longer close but I don't think she'd be comfortable knowing someone she knew so well was slowly rotting in the pit. I also feel kind of responsible for him. He came here with me. If you refuse then I'll understand but I've got to ask you to free him into my care all the same," Gregory explained.

"I see." Grolfir studied Gregory carefully. "If he is released to you and he causes any further danger then you will be held accountable."




The Missing Dragon Ch. 02



Why do I get the feeling I'm really going to regret this? Gregory thought to himself as he nodded in acceptance of Grolfir's condition.

"I will have him released. I'll send a messenger now. He will be spared the pit today and you can collect him as you see fit. Don't wait too long." Grolfir nodded gruffly and took his leave.

This left Gregory standing in the tent feeling a mixture of relief and apprehension. He was going to have to look after Freddie Lounds? That sure as hell wasn't his idea of a good time.

He walked over to Algra's chest of belongings and lifted the handle on one of the sides to begin to pull the thing out of the tent. It was somewhat disheartening to find that apparently a trunk full of orcish armour was very heavy indeed. He wouldn't be able to lift it to carry and since the chest was quite nicely decorated with little engravings he didn't want to drag it through the dirt and mud of the encampment. He needed an orc.

"Excuse me?" Both guards outside the tent were a little surprised to see Gregory's head pop out and address them. "Do you guys happen to speak...er..." What was he going to say? English? "Do you understand me?"

His words were met with two still stares of darkened faces before one of the orcs roared something in orcish so loud that Gregory almost fell back on his ass inside the tent. The same young orc who had delivered Grolfir's message came running from within one of the tents and looked between the guards and Gregory. A quick exchange of brief orcish grunts focused his attention on Gregory.

"What want?" Apparently his human linguistic skills were somewhat rudimentary.

"Um...could you help me carry something?" Gregory asked.

The orc shrugged his broad shoulders and nodded. Gregory slipped back inside the tent and the orc followed shortly thereafter. He looked at the jade giant who seemed to be around his age, although it was difficult to tell since his kin were so large.

"It's that there." He pointed to Algra's chest. "I could drag it but it really needs lifting."

The orc male looked it over and nodded in agreement. He walked over and grabbed both handles at either side of the vessel before heaving it upward to carry it wherever Gregory wished. Since even the orc seemed to think it was heavy, Gregory wasted no time in leading the way.

"May I ask your name?" He said as they moved through the camp.

"Ulf." Came the quick reply.

"Thanks for the help then, Ulf."

Ulf let out an amiable grunt.

They made their way through the camp, back to the merchant's tents and found that more people were now up and about. Gregory spotted the merchant spreading out his wares upon several large tables with the help of the old human slave he'd met the night before. Two other humans were lighting a fire in preparation for breakfast and a third was cleaning up some of the work spaces for the human craftsmen to arrive. She was whistling a light tune as she worked.

"You can just put it here, Ulf." Gregory gestured to a spot by the entrance to Janette's tent.

The young orc obeyed and after setting down the chest he looked at the other tents with a keen interest. Particularly the ones that were marked for entertainment wherein the human slave girls danced and sang the day away.

"Do you want to go in?" Gregory asked with a hint of amusement.

The orc looked back at him, suddenly seeming quite unsure of himself.

"Go ahead if you like. Just remember no touching." With that Gregory turned and slipped inside his own tent.

He heard the soft moans and wet noises of flesh moving against flesh before he laid eyes upon Algra and Janette. They were happily settled together with their heads between each other's legs. Janette was laid out atop Algra's body and showing just how open minded she'd become in the past day. Gregory found himself instantly rigid at the sight of the two beautiful women so wantonly lapping at each other's horny cunts. Quietly, as not to disturb them, he undressed and walked around to stand in front of Algra's spread legs. Janette saw his feet and lifted her head up to look at him. Her face immediately turned a fetching shade of bright pink at being caught with her tongue so firmly planted in the cookie jar. The beautiful red haired teenager smiled up at him and then her smile quivered and her eyes closed when Algra licked her clit.

Gregory slid down to his knees and shifted into place with his thighs sliding beneath Algra's long green legs. Janette looked down at his cock as it bobbed lewdly before her eyes. The sudden presence of Gregory made Algra groan in anticipation sending sweet vibrations coursing through the soft wet flesh of Janette's tight pussy. His hand slipped in amidst the waves of Janette's long scarlet hair and she felt his grip tighten. Knowing instantly what he wanted, she opened her mouth and felt his swollen bell shaped peak slip between her silky pink lips. Though he was quite a mouthful, she eagerly sucked him as far as she could into her hungry mouth. A heavy sigh escaped his lips as he felt her hot slippery tongue flicking across the underside of his pulsing length. He used his grip in amidst her hair to guide her head as it bobbed along his thick length and the resulting fresh, wet slurping sounds became music to his ears.

Janette's talented mouth was eventually forced to relinquish his length as he grasped her shoulders and lifted her upright to straddle Algra's face. The orc never once ceased lapping at the girl's juicy pink flesh and the effect was becoming obvious upon Janette's face. Gregory grasped his cock and positioned it carefully at the entrance to Algra's dark glistening green labia, soaked with her juices and the gleaming trails of Janette's tongue.

The orc began flicking her tongue against Janette's clit sending the girl rocketing to a dizzying high. Gregory ceized the moment and quickly slammed his length into Algra's tight, wet pussy. The sudden feel of the orc's gasp made Janette gleeful as she rode towards her own climax, smearing her pussy across Algra's lips. Gregory had quickly embedded himself deeply inside of her, his heavy balls slapping against her firm green ass.

Janette looked upon him with half lidded eyes and a naughty little smile as she watched him begin to rock his hips and pump his cock into Algra's inflamed pussy over and over again. He rested there on his knees with the orc's legs lifted over each of his thighs as he fucked her incredible body with a fierce wanton passion. Algra growled and Janette soon felt her begin to lose control of her tongue to the point where she was unable to properly focus on licking the girl's sweet cunt.

Janette rolled back onto her feet and stood up with a foot on either side of Algra's head. The orc looked up at the male fucking her, his gorgeous young lean body gleaming with a light coating of sweat that made his hard rippling muscles all the more delightfully noticeable. Her dark chocolate eyes met his deep blues and he winked at her in a way that sent a strong sudden wave of blissfull tension through her body. Given his performance the previous night she wouldn't have blamed him for sitting out of such an act for the day but there he was, so ravenous for her that she purred his name and began to move her body with his strokes. Her large soft emerald breasts bounced freely with dark hard nipples tracing circles in the air. She felt his hands slide across her trim muscular belly to grasp those great jiggling tits and shut her eyes tightly as those hands softly kneaded her sensitive flesh.

Janette stepped forwards, her light bare footed movements leaving her standing directly before Gregory. Since he was knelt with his ass resting against the heels of his feet this put him squarely at eye level with Janette's smoothly shaven pussy. The pink slit glistened appetisingly and he licked his lips before lunging toward his delicious morning snack. The redhead moaned as his mouth sealed around her juicy cunt and his tongue continued the work Algra had begun. One of her long snowy skinned legs lifted up to rest over his shoulder and give him easier access to her tasty depths.

Gregory was in heaven. The tightness of Algra's sweet pussy was continually quivering around his cock and he felt her first orgasm rip through her body making her legs wrap around his body tightly and holding him deep inside her. Playfully, he squeezed her soft round tits and then lightly pinched her hard nipples between his fingers. As soon as her legs loosened again he resumed his fucking, this time much faster as he worked his way up to his own peak. At his mouth, Janette's pussy tasted like some long lost fine delicacy. The silky smooth juicy texture was incredible, as was the tasty nectar that suddenly gushed into his mouth as she too spilled over the edge.

The sudden climax he'd given her made Janette fall down beside the furiously mating couple. Gregory regretted the absence of her pussy at his mouth but it gave him a very good opportunity to lift his hands from Algra's tits and place them on either side of her body before lowering himself down upon her. He felt those two large tits squeeze against his chest as his mouth descended upon hers. Algra loved kissing. It was something that no orc had ever done and as such she always hungered for her lover's lips. The taste of Janette's sweet pussy in both their mouths enhanced their lust causing Gregory to growl much to Algra's enjoyment.

Her legs lifted up, her knees bent and her fingernails raked along his back until finally Gregory began to erupt. Rapid strokes slammed deep inside her to release several hot thick spurts of cum into her clutching body. She felt her insides seem to explode as he filled her and they fell extremely still for a few sweet moments until they again felt the aches of their bodies contrasting against the ecstasy they had shared. Their kiss ended as Gregory slowly rolled his hips to stir his cream inside of her. Algra looked up at him, her dark eyes were warm and inviting.

Janette watched the two lovers as they savoured the sweet moments of descending from their mutual high together. Then she crawled over to Gregroy and kissed his cheek before doing the same to Algra. Both turned their heads to return the favour on each of her pale cheeks.

"It's nice to see you two starting without me." Gregory remarked as he slipped from Algra's pussy after giving the tip of her nose an affectionate kiss.

"Well you weren't here." Janette complained as she brushed her lips across his naked shoulder.

"I know. That wasn't sarcasm. I mean it's really nice to see you two going at it." He smirked before rolling from Algra to settle back on the soft pillows beneath them.

"You don't leave again. Fuck me first." Algra suggested as she shifted to lie on her side and drape and arm and a leg across him.

Gregory was beginning to wonder if Algra actually didn't know very much of the human language or if she was just very direct.

"Yes ma'am." He was more than happy to acquiesce to that particular request. "Oh! Fuck, I almost forgot. I've got something for you."

Gregory shook his head and stood up, much to Algra's annoyance. Couldn't he ever just lie still? Outside the tent Gregory saw that the camp was getting into full swing as he poked out his head and his arm to grab Algra's wooden chest of possessions.

"Breakfast, master?" One of the slaves called to him from the fireplace. He looked over and smiled appreciatively.

"Sure! Give me ten minutes!"

"Ten whats?" The slave seemed confused.

"Give me a little while to get ready."

"Yes, master." The slave nodded and returned the smile.

Gregory managed to tug the chest inside with him and turned to look at Algra.

"Your uncle said these were yours. He wanted you to have them back." Gregory explained as Algra looked at the chest, her eyes suddenly widening in shock.

"I don't want." She said firmly.

"Hm? Oh he didn't ask for anything in return. He just thought you should have them. He was very nice about..."

"I do not want broken things." Algra's tone was suddenly furious, though none of her rage was thankfully aimed at Gregory but rather the wooden vessel he had brought with him.

"Um...I don't think they're broke, Algra." Seeing that she was so upset by the thing, he quickly walked over to her, placing himself in the line of fire. There he crouched down to where she laid and she quickly sat up. "What's wrong?"

The orc had almost fallen into a rage but upon seeing the concern in Gregory's eyes she forced herself to calm down. Janette looked wearily between them, not quite knowing what she might say or do.

"Those my things in different time. I not fit for them." She said.

"Alright, alright. Well they're not yours, they're mine right?" He reached out to run his hands over her upper arms. His touch steadied her even as she shot him a very dark look.

"Yes." She didn't seem too happy about it.

"Well I want to keep them. I won't open the chest. I won't make you do anything you don't want to. But I want to keep it, just in case you change your mind," he said.

"I won't." She was perfectly adamant.

"Well then you don't have to bother with it again. It'll just stay in the corner and we won't have to worry about it. Now, let's get dressed and go eat something. Then you can take me and Janette to the stream and we can wash up."

The idea of bathing gave the orc a somewhat uncharacteristic excitement for such an act. Normally she wouldn't have bothered much with such a thing but washing herself with Gregory usually involved several orgasms and so she had definitely changed her attitude on the matter. Her face brightened considerably at the prospect and she promptly ignored the chest and began to turn and crawl toward where she'd shed her small fur garments.

"Greg?" Janette's voice spoke up.

"Yeah? Oh shit, you've only got your underwear haven't you?"

Janette nodded as she nervously nibbled on her lower lip.

"Send her naked." Algra suggested, making Janette's eyes widen with horror at the thought. Algra smirked at her devilishly.

"Now there's an idea." He teased.

"Greeeeg!" Janette complained in the vain hope of being taken seriously.

"Alright, alright." He slipped his pants over his legs once again and found his t-shirt. "I'll go and ask if we can borrow a cloak or something to keep you decent. Wait, what did they do with your clothes when you got here?"

"The big orc burned them. Said I wouldn't need them anymore. He was pretty pissed off at Freddie and I caught some of it." Janette folded her arms across her shapely bosom and pouted prettily.

"Alright, I'll take care of it."

With that, Gregory wrapped his sweater around his waist as he had done before and slipped out of the tent. He returned a few minutes later with a long dark cloak and some small orcish sandals. Janette thanked him with a very grateful and very slow smouldering lip lock before trying on her new garments.

"What do you think?" She cast the cloak over her shoulders and spun about, letting the long dark material fall down to her feet. The sandals were slightly too large for her but they would suffice for the time being.

"I prefer you naked." Gregory replied with blunt honesty and a playfully lecherous grin.

"Hmph! I think it looks nice. What do you think Algra?" Janette looked over to the orc for backup.

"I like you naked too." Algra grinned naughtily.

Janette suppressed a giggle at their reaction and instead she turned around, flipped her cloak aside and wiggled her bare bum at the pair of them. She then moved to grab her underwear and fixed them into place beneath the cloak. Algra wore a series of leather straps around her breasts that kept her modest whilst still displaying a great deal of her emerald curves. A fur sash was tied around her waist to keep her sex covered whilst hiding none of her long toned legs. She also wore some sandals, though they fit better than Janette's.

The trio left the tent and their noses were met with the appealing smell of the cooking pot. It was obvious that whatever was in the pot had been built up around the remains of what was left over the previous night. They sat on a large log by the fire as one of the slaves poured their breakfast into clean bowls for them to take. Orcs weren't very big on the idea of knives and forks so they had to drink directly from the bowl. The food was nice enough despite the primitive techniques. A long sheet of metal gauze was placed over the pot to keep out anything unwanted from getting into their food.

Gregory was settled down and busying himself with filling his belly when a very large shadow fell over him. He looked up to see Bolut standing there with the human slave who had fed them the previous night stood beside the plump orc.

"Bolut wishes to speak with you now, if that is acceptable." The old human asked.

Gregory hesitated a moment but then realised there was no time like the present and nodded. Algra grunted with annoyance at the inevitable delay to their impending fun at the stream. Bolut moved around to sit on the log opposite them and nodded to the human who removed a very old looking medallion from his robes and lifted it to show Gregory.

"This is a gift from Bolut. It's a magical item usually favoured by diplomats. If you wear this medallion against the skin then you will understand any words spoken to you, no matter the language, and your own words will be understood in kind." The old man explained.

Gregory looked upon the medallion as it spun in the breeze. If it did even half of what the man had said then it would be practically invaluable in his current situation since most orcs didn't appear to speak English, or whatever language this world called English. Reaching out, he took the trinket and opened out the thin chain upon which it hung to settle it around his neck. He then stuffed the medallion down beneath the collar of his t-shirt to rest against his bare chest.

"So can you understand me now?" He wearily asked Bolut.

"Yes. Handy thing to have, is it not? Wizards make them for messengers in the human lands. I thought you would find it useful." The corners of Bolut's wide mouth curved upwards around his large tusks.

"Thank you. Are you sure it's alright for me to have it? Isn't it expensive?" Gregory asked, lifting his hand to press the medallion against his skin curiously.

"Ha! You bet your ass it's expensive." Bolut openly grinned.

"Well if it's too much you don't have to-" Gregory started to say before he was quickly interrupted.

"Nonsense! It is yours anyway, as is all that I have. You have no idea how much of a relief it is to know that I won't have to rebuild all this from the ground up again," Bolut remarked as he looked around his camp. "And now no one else will challenge me for fear of aggrieving Algra Strongblood."

Bolut nodded respectfully to Algra who returned the gesture in her usual abrupt fashion.

"I'm sorry, are you sure you're not speaking my language? I wouldn't have thought that the orcish way of speaking would be so similar to mine. You even have the same word structures." Gregory sensed that someone might be trying to make a fool of him.

Bolut shook his head and turned to the old man who sat beside him.

"That is not how it works." The silvery haired slave informed Gregory with a patient look of wisdom. "The medallion uses what you have said in the same way a wizard would incant a spell. The words you speak become the magic and the magic finds the meaning of those words from your mind. When you speak the magic emanates from the medallion and gives the meaning of what you say to those who listen. It takes words from their minds and arranges them in yours to convey the meaning as best it can."

"That sounds insanely complicated," Gregory remarked.




The Missing Dragon Ch. 02



"It was first crafted by an incredibly clever wizard, though it's a relatively simple spell once you know how it's done, or so I'm told. There are many such medallions made since it's a good way for wizards to make money." The old man informed Gregory with a small smile.

"Well thanks all the same." He said to Bolut before turning to the white haired man beside him once again. "I'm sorry, I didn't ask you your name last night."

"I am Emmet." The man helpfully filled in.

"Alright. Well is this all you wanted to talk to me about or was there something else?" Gregory set his empty bowl down in front of him where it was soon plucked up to wash by a passing human.

"Yes, there was something. Do you intend to live here?" The large orc was obviously being careful with his words.

"Well I haven't got anywhere else to go." Gregory replied with a long sigh. "I'll need to do some travelling soon but I was planning on staying here for a few days longer. I don't know much about this place or this world. It'd be pretty stupid of me to just jump out there and hope for the best."

Bolut nodded and considered the young man's words for a few long moments.

"If it's a problem then Algra has a camp we could just head back to." Gregory said causing Algra to perk up with an eager look in her eyes.

"No! No, I'm not trying to be rid of you, master. I'm just not sure that the one who mastered Algra Strongblood should be spending his nights in a tent that is designed for orcs to watch human women dance naked." Bolut tried to put it as tenderly as he could.

Gregory suddenly felt heat rush to his face. It seemed that it was improper for the equivalent of orc nobility to hang around in the equivalent of a strip joint. Who could have guessed?

"Right, ok, we won't sleep in there anymore." He lowered his head and rested his brow in his hand. Algra patted him on the back encouragingly whilst trying not to laugh at his oversight.

"So you will need a tent of your own. We have space here but most of my gold is resting within goods that I still need to sell..." Bolut was obviously dancing around a larger issue.

"Look, I appreciate the medallion. I really do. But right now I'd appreciate blunt honesty much more," Gregory gave the merchant a much needed push.

"Very well. I would like to know if you intend to make our challenge fixed," Bolut said.

Gregory patted the medallion beneath his t-shirt then looked back up at the big orc.

"Is this thing working right? I have no idea what you just meant."

"After a challenge is made, often the victor will take what he wishes from the loser and the loser must obey the victor from then on. Yet unless a challenge is fixed the loser may still be challenged by another orc. Fixing a challenge means that you will permanently own Bolut and that anyone who wishes to challenge him will have to issue the challenge to you instead." Algra supplied the explanation in language far more eloquent than Gregory was used to hearing from her. Then he realised that she was speaking her native tongue rather than the human language. The medallion was translating flawlessly.

"Oh, I see." Gregory lied.

Algra rolled her eyes. He wasn't very good at lying and appeared rather dumbfounded by the whole concept.

"If you leave your challenge un-fixed then other orcs may still challenge Bolut. I would guess that he wants you to fix the challenge since you're letting him keep his things and if you're his permanent master he won't have to worry about other orcs challenging him." Algra looked across to the merchant who was appearing slightly pained that she'd put the matter quite so bluntly.

"So you want me to look after you?" Gregory almost laughed, so far he'd barely been able to look after himself.

"Master, if you were to fix our challenge then I wouldn't need to hold back my business any longer. I could expand! Orc beer, steel, armour and weapons are prized on any market. I've had buyers begging me for our goods as the only other two merchants of my people don't even go far enough north to get to a city. If I didn't have to worry about looking like I had just enough to feed all my slaves then we could both be very rich men!" Bolut was clearly quite passionate about the issue.

"There are only three orc merchants?" Gregory asked sceptically.

"Bah! You may have noticed that my people value battle and war more than trade. Our biggest trading good at the moment is the meat and crops we trade with the human emissary and that business is done directly by the warchief. All young orcs want to be honoured in the battlefield, not sit at a table counting coins. We have many items to share with the world that the world is practically begging for and I can't sell them because if I do then I'll get my fat arse kicked and have all my profits swiped in a day. I can do sweet bugger all about it." The orc grunted and took a cup of offered water, guzzling the whole thing down at once.

"Alright then." Gregory shrugged.

"Hah! Oh you will not regret this!" Bolut was clearly elated. "What are your colours?"

Gregory blinked and turned to Algra.

"He asks so that he may wear them in order to show that the challenge has become fixed." Algra explained.

"Oh, I dunno. Does it matter?" Gregory asked.

"Not really, which colours do you favour? There are usually no more than three."

"Black, red and blue?" Gregory ventured as if answering a question in school that he wasn't quite sure of.

"So be it! Thank you for this opportunity master. All that I own is yours and we are both soon to be rolling in gold!" Bolut virtually had dollar signs rolling around in his eyes. "I will prepare a caravan immediately and use some of my emergency gold to set you up with a tent. It will be up by the end of the day."

Bolut moved to stand and get on with his plans.

"Hold on," He quickly lifted his hand for the orc to slow down. Bolut visibly cringed, obviously waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"Yes, master?" He asked, turning back to look at Gregory.

"Two things. The first is that if we're going to be rolling in gold I want the first thing we do to be going to get Emmet's brother and his family. I want them brought here when you return from this trip."

Bolut nodded in agreement, it certainly didn't seem to be a condition that he appeared to mind. Emmet's jaw practically bounced off of the ground. He'd apparently thought that Gregory had forgotten all about this and for him to make it such a prominent goal was a kindness the old man was far from used to.

"The second is that I've asked for Freddie, the human you had sent to the pits, to be returned into our care." Gregory's words suddenly caught Janette's attention as the girl jolted upright.

Bolut openly snarled at this particular request, clearly unhappy about Gregory's deal with Grolfir.

"He is no more than a dog and a coward!" The orc complained.

"Oh I know, believe me I know. But he's my responsibility. We'll take him and make sure you chain him up somewhere. I don't want him getting ideas. He's to be fed, cleaned and treated well...and very firmly chained to a post. Alright?"

Bolut seemed about to argue but he visibly stopped himself. This meeting had gotten him more than he'd ever hoped and he wasn't about to risk throwing it away over an argument about how a coward should be treated. In the end he said nothing but nodded his acquiescence.

"Alright, thank you Bolut, for the gift and for your understanding." Gregory nodded respectfully to the orc.

Bolut looked at Gregory for a long moment before offering a respectful bow and then moving off to begin preparations for his trip and suitably sheltering his new master.

"What was that?" Janette asked as Gregory stood up and stretched out his sore muscles.

"I asked Freddie to be released. We're going to keep him here at the camp." Gregory didn't even like the sound of himself saying it so he could hardly hold it against Bolut for getting angry at the arrangement.

"You did that for me?" Janette stood up along with Algra.

"Mostly. The guy deserves to be locked up, but no one deserves to die like that." Gregory heard Algra's grunt of disagreement and dutifully ignored it.

Janette was going to say more but she was suddenly interrupted when one of the other humans approached carrying a tray on which rested two very small cups filled with a pale blue creamy drink. The carrier was a woman who Gregory would have guessed to be in her very late thirties or early forties. Her face had begun to show pleasant lines that accented her equally pleasant features. As she stepped before them she gracefully curtsied and Algra casually stepped up to take one of the cups and knock it back like a shot.

"What's this?" Gregory asked.

"It is for your ladies, master. Unless you wish to have a child?" The woman seemed unsure she was doing the right thing.

"Nope! He's fine for the minute. Gimme." Janette reached out and took her cup, downing it quickly as Algra had. She noted that it smelled very faintly of eucalyptus and tasted somewhat like cough syrup.

Gregory remained wisely quiet on the subject. In truth he hadn't exactly considered the necessity for birth control. It had been an awfully stupid thing to forget about.

"Thanks! I've been worried about that all morning." Janette smiled at the woman who nodded with understanding.

"What's your name?" Gregory asked of the woman.

"Valise, master." She supplied.

"Thank you Valise. We're going to go wash up. If anyone comes looking for us then let them know we'll be back in an hour or so." Gregory moved but was suddenly stopped by Algra's hand snatching his.

"Two hours," The orc firmly corrected.

Gregory grinned as Janette hid a little laugh behind her own fingers.

"Two hours...or so," Gregory affirmed.

Algra nodded contentedly and led him out of the merchant's part of the camp. Janette walked on his opposite flank and he caught her hand in his and lifted it to lightly set a kiss upon her smooth skin. She silently smiled at him and walked with her cloak partially open. Many orcs looked at them as they passed through the encampment, they were obviously the talk of the town. Janette scooted a little closer to Gregory as they walked, obviously somewhat un-nerved by the enormous beasts. Algra paid them no mind and Gregory gave Janette's hand a reassuring squeeze as they made their way to the outer gates.

As they stepped out of the camp the two guards on duty smashed their fists to their chests and lifted their arms to salute Algra who continued to ignore all but her destination.

Once they were out of sight of the orc settlement Janette seemed to relax a little more.

"Sorry, could we slow down a little? These sandals are too big to walk in. I feel like I'm gonna trip up at any minute." The pretty redhead humbly complained.

"Piggyback?" Gregory suggested.

Janette looked at him in surprise and then her lips curved into a beautiful white smile. Gregory released Algra's hand and bent his knees as Janette opened her long cloak and hopped up onto his back. Her long slender legs wrapped around his hips as her arms folded around his shoulders from behind. She was light to hold and felt incredibly good settled against his body. His hands snaked beneath her thighs and squeezed the firm flesh encouragingly.

They continued to walk toward the tree line and soon found themselves walking along a dirt path in amidst the Embervine Forest. Gregory enjoyed the feel of Janette holding onto him as he watched Algra's shapely bottom moving out in front, clad as it was in her short fur skirt.

It was a pleasant enough walk, though the forest was slightly more tropical than he was used to.

"Is there anything dangerous living here Algra?" He asked curiously.

"Many things are dangerous here. Great cats prowl the forests, serpents slither through the trees and other creatures crawl beneath us. We need not fear them so much. The forest is a home for the orcs and our guests. There is old magic here that protects us." Algra reached out to run her fingers along the bark of a tree as she passed.

"What did she say?" Janette whispered in his ear. Obviously Algra had been speaking in orcish.

"She said we're fine." He turned his head and kissed her rosy cheek affectionately.

They continued to walk, detouring from the road to make way directly for the stream.

"So what are you going to do with Freddie?" Janette asked

"Keep him restrained, treat him decently and hope to hell he doesn't do anything stupid." Gregory's expression darkened.

"Thanks for getting him out of there. I know you hate him. God knows you have a reason to. It's just...I know his mum. He's..." Janette was obviously struggling to explain the unexplainable.

"A person," Gregory helpfully filled in. "I know."

"You're a pretty amazing guy Greg." She lightly nipped his earlobe with her teeth.

"I know that too."

The sound of running water was heard soon enough after that and they stepped out to look over the place. The fresh water stream was just as he'd remembered it.

Above them the limbs and branches of the great trees on either side of the stream interlaced together. The shards of light that passed between the leaves made the area around the trickling water seem lighter than the much more dense surrounding forest. The stream itself was only about knee deep and not very wide, nor its current very strong. Smooth grey stone flanked its shores on either side making it an ideal place in which to bathe.

Gregory set Janette down behind him and the girl soon walked over to the crystalline water to run her fingertips through the icy liquid.

"It's freezing!"

"I know. It's better that way. If it was warm it'd probably be a breeding ground for all kinds of bacteria." Gregory explained.

"Oh. Well this is going to be painful." Janette winced as she slipped her cloak from her shoulders to pool on the ground.

Algra quickly pulled off her skimpy top, letting her plentiful breasts bounce free before peeling the short fur skirt down her legs and stepping out of her sandals. Janette tentatively reached behind her to allow her fingers to unhook the clasp of her bra. She let the lacy scrap of material fall from her shoulders and then peeled down her thong before carefully placing her own sandals to one side.

"Well, me and Algra found a way to make the ordeal a lot more...amiable." Gregory himself had slipped out of his clothes and was approaching the orc with a very hungry look in his eye.

Algra turned her head to look over her shoulder at him, her long dark hair flowing wildly down across her beautiful jade hued back. As he neared her she never took those dark chocolate eyes from him for a second. Taking her hand in his, he led her down to the water and felt the icy chill soon washing over his feet. Algra's hands didn't have the silky delicate touch of Janette's for they had spent a life carrying weapons and using tools, yet they did have a pleasing nimbleness about them. She slid those fingers between his as they reached the centre of the stream and then pulled him back against her to press her luscious figure against his. Her breasts were soft and firm as they cushioned themselves against his taut body. The feel of her hard dark nipples poking into his chest was always a pleasing sensation. Gregory also noted the height difference as Algra stood at least four inches taller than his own impressive height.

She was stunning.

He reached up and caught her chin with his fingers, raising his head and lowering her lips to meet his. Though he could no longer feel his feet in the cold water, he did feel the heat rise inside him as their lips met and their arms encircled each other. She tasted downright yummy and Algra, who thought herself talented at making love before she met Gregory, was always eager to see what his imaginative lips would do next.

Slowly, she moved to turn with him. Her legs lowered her down into the water until she came to rest upon her bottom with her human lover contentedly settled between her thighs. Her arms lifted her upper body out of the flowing water and Gregory let out a sharp intake of breath as he descended with her into the cold shallow waters of the stream. Their lips parted and he looked down over her, the picture of alien beauty as the crystal clear liquid constantly flowed over her gorgeous green curves. Even despite the cold, his lust for her burned hot and his rigid member soon slid up between her legs. Sinking himself into that tight slippery heat once again was blissful and he was very eager to spend the next while warming them both up.

Janette watched the show from the shoreline. Still not quite having the courage of the two insane lovers to go skinny dipping in a freezing stream, she settled for sitting on the rocky shore, spreading her legs and letting her fingers explore the silken pink petals of her own pussy. Gregory was a ravenous lover, his hands disappearing into the stream as he held himself aloft and moved his lower body with the steady rhythm of their mutual hearbeats. Dusky pink met dark green once more as they kissed and allowed their tongues to tease and caress. Janette moaned softly as she watched Gregory's body, gleaming with fresh water, moving in time with his unearthly lover. His muscle rippled with every movement and she still couldn't believe that body had been hidden under those heavy sweaters for all these years.

Algra's body began to quiver and her mouth slipped from Gregory's as her head lolled back and she groaned with raw, unbridled lust. He knew the steps well enough by now and quickly increased his thrusts, sending a sharp climax to devastate her pleasure centres.

That was when Janette saw the other pair of eyes looking at them. It came as such a shock to notice such a thing that she actually let out a short scream of alarm. The noise immediately caught the attention of Algra and Gregory who looked over to see if she was alright. Gregory quickly slipped himself from Algra's thoroughly pleased pussy and scrambled to his feet. His own very needy jutting cock lifted out from between her open thighs, dripping with annoyance at being denied its reward for all that hard work. Algra was on her feet a moment later and instinctively stepped between Gregory and the spot where Janette's gaze was fixed.

Nothing stared back at them, the stream was empty.

"What is it Jan?" Gregory continued to look for whatever had made the girl scream.

"Something was in the water." She seemed quite certain.

"Something like what?" He asked.

"I don't know, I think it was human. It was in the water down there looking at us. I just saw its eyes come up from under the stream." She took a few tentative steps forwards.

"Well this stream doesn't seem deep enough to hide someone Jan." Gregory replied sceptically.

"It deepens down there. Grows out to join river." Algra informed them, though she too didn't seem to think they had been watched.

"Well there was something looking at us." Janette affirmed resolutely.

"I believe you." Gregory turned to look at her.

"Look I know what I saw! I'm not some...wait, what?" Janette was obviously all too prepped to defend herself.

"Well you're not an idiot Jan and Algra says that this forest is filled with all kinds of things. But nothing here will hurt us, right?" Gregory turned to Algra who nodded in the affirmative. "Alright then. So let's trust our guide here and finish washing up. If we had an audience out there it didn't seem too dangerous and it looks like it's gone now."

"I am not going in there Greg. I'll freeze." Janette shivered as she looked at the flowing water.

"Algra? Get her."

"Yes master." The orc grinned and then ran out of the water toward Janette.

The beautiful redhead let out a scream of terror before turning to run away, still completely nude. She didn't stand a chance. Algra was a creature at the pinnacle of fitness and it took her all of two seconds before she had Janette locked tightly in her arms. Janette wiggled, writhed and laughed in an effort to escape. Algra enjoyed the sensation of the slender girl slipping against her wet body as she brought her over to Gregory on the shore. The orc slid her arms up beneath Janette's, tightening her grip around the girl's shoulders and offering Gregory a rather stunning view of Janette's gloriously naked body.




The Missing Dragon Ch. 02



"No, no, no, no!" Janette tried to stifle laughter as Gregory cupped his hands and scooped up some water before pouring it directly over her head.

Her beautiful red hair soon matted against her face and down along her neck as it was soaked through. Janette reflexively kicked her legs out as the icy water was poured over her again. Algra's hold on her was damn near unbreakable however and she was reduced to standing whilst Gregory splashed her again and again with the cool liquid, washing away the grime and the sweat from her beautiful pale skin. Then the makeshift shower suddenly got very nice indeed just as it had done with Algra the day before. She felt him splash her less and less as he spent more time using his hands to slowly massage the water into her silky skin. Her eyes opened and she found he'd moved close enough that his face filled her world. The sly grin splayed across his features made her want to taste him and perhaps even bite into that tight body of his.

"You're a bastard sometimes Greg." She lifted her legs up from the ground and wrapped them around his waist as Algra easily held her body aloft from behind.

"I have my moments." He agreed as he drew a little moan from her lips by giving her nipples a little pinch.

Gregory reached beneath her and felt the tip of his cock between his fingers. The organ still stood rigid as it teased along the length of Janette's slippery pussy and poked forward into Algra's inner thigh. He glanced over Janette's shoulder to see the orc was happily nuzzling the girl's neck as she held her firmly upright. Gregory slid his cock into Janette's fiery pussy and felt her long legs tighten around his hips to pull him ever deeper inside of her. His hard muscular chest pressed up against her cushy soft tits as he reached around to let his hands run up along the sides of Algra's body.

The shivers that the cold water sent through Janette's body were steadied by the heat of Gregory's firm frame settled so delightfully against her. His lips found hers and their soft wet tongues entwined moments later. In all her life she'd never been kissed like that. The touch was both fierce, delicate and brimming with the male's insatiable desire for all she had to give. There was no hint of possession or deceit. There was only an outpouring of everything she made him feel directly into the fibres of every nerve in her body. All through a kiss.

Gregory savoured her touch for she had long been the centre of his carnal dreams. The true taste of her was better than he knew possible. The warmth of her body, the softness of her breasts, the texture of her tongue and the tender delicacy of her need combined with the constant fear of him slipping out of her embrace. For him, this epitomised the perfection of Janette.

They moved together in unison, his length filling her and sending hot jolts of excitement throughout her body with each thrust. Both lovers wanted more and their pace soon increased. Algra released Janette's arms and the freed limbs quickly encircled Gregory's powerful shoulders. The girl held him tightly as he took her weight upon his legs. The piggyback down to the stream had been nice but both of the young lovers preferred him carrying her in this manner. Front to front. Algra watched with a close, intent interest as she stepped around the pair and settled herself up against Gregory's back. He felt her large breasts cushion up against the slopes of his muscle and her hands settle upon his bare arms. Both Gregory and Janette broke their kiss and held each other tightly together as their hips thrashed against each other. Janette rested her chin on his shoulder and opened her eyes to see Algra looking at her. The girl eagerly accepted the orc's lips against her own as she clung to Gregory.

Without needing to worry about bashing his mouth against Janette's Gregory found that he could devote all his energy into fucking that tight, pink pussy. His hands grasped her firmly-rounded bottom and he began to rock her against him at an intense pace. Their bodies slapped together heatedly and soon Janette couldn't keep her lips upon Algra's. She moaned and then screamed his name as her pussy squeezed his length and she came hard against him. Moments later Gregory, running almost completely on adrenaline and lust, reached his own climax and began to flood Janette's molten core with his cream. His legs almost gave out from beneath him after the first wave of his orgasm crashed across his body. It wasn't until he felt the warm wet tongue licking his balls that he renewed his assault on Janette's convulsing cunt. Algra had slipped down onto her knees underneath Janette's bouncing frame. With the girl's legs wrapped firmly around Gregory's hips Algra was given an ideal view of his cock blurring in view as it pounded into Janette's inflamed pussy. Ever the licentious innovator, Algra had quickly moved to lift her mouth to lick the mixed juices from Gregory's balls. As his strokes slowed she licked along the underside of his cock and along Janette's juicy slit making the girl let out a surprised little gasp.

Eventually Gregory slowed to a complete halt and Janette moved to look at him once again. She kissed his cheek affectionately and then his lips lovingly until she felt his smile against her mouth. It was at that point that she realised Algra was once again stood behind him as she peeked over his shoulder and realised that he'd moved during the time she recovered from her climax. She was now still holding him tightly but he was now stood right next to the stream.

"Don't you dare." Her eyes narrowed with warning.

That was when Algra walked up behind Gregory and pushed both him and Janette into the deeper waters of the stream. He stumbled at first before landing on his ass in the middle of the freezing water. Janette had been in the process of wiggling herself free and came down hard in his lap. A side effect of which was that every inch of Gregory's still rigid length suddenly slammed up inside her pussy. The contrast between the icy cold and the sudden thrill of excitement made both teenagers groan with shock as the laughing of Algra followed behind them.

"S-see? It's n-not so bad when you get used t-to it." He shivered with a happy smirk on his lips.

"Shut up and w-w-warm me up Greg." Janette chided.

He did.

The happy threesome spent the morning there and left fully cleaned and only slightly sore from their exertions. None of them saw the pair of brightly coloured eyes looking at them again. Of course that didn't mean that those eyes weren't still watching. 

Watching and waiting.

- - - - -

On their way back into the camp Gregory was treated to more sights of orcish day-to-day living. The previous evening when they had returned to Boluts part of the camp they had found its inhabitants settling down for the night. Most had been lolling around and relaxing after their day's work. In the full light of day however, that work was on full display. Orcs were nothing if not industrious in their occupations, and as the trio made its way along the dirt paths between the canopies of the various tents, they saw many elements of the lives of the green giants.

The most prominent occupation, it seemed, was fighting. During the evening most of the orcs who weren't on duty had retired from their training grounds. Now it was impossible to walk anywhere in the camp without hearing the audible clang of weapons. Gregory stopped to watch six orcs duel in pairs. There was nothing orderly about their tactics. No discipline what-so-ever. Of course from what he saw it wasn't as if they needed it. It became obvious that orc fighting was not entirely unlike the way of old Norse berserkers. Tactics seemed to begin and end with building up enough blinding rage to overpower the opponent. They also fought with an extraordinary amount of skill despite that demonic battle-rage.

It wasn't exactly elegant, but Gregory still wouldn't have wanted to be on the receiving end of any of those blows. He'd heard that medieval armies carried battering rams into battle to break down enemy gates. Somehow he doubted the orcs would need such things.

"C'mon Greg." Janette tugged at his arm, obviously not finding the fighting quite so entertaining.

He conceded and they continued their walk. They passed an Orc seated in an open tent whilst clanging a massive hammer down upon a metal chest-plate in order to bash out a dent in the black steel.

That was when they came upon a tent outside which an orcish couple were busily and loudly rutting in the dirt. Janette immediately squeezed Gregroy's hand and huddled in tighter against him. Gregory tried not to gawp at the lewd, open display. Instead, he turned to Algra who apparently hadn't even noticed the massive orc slamming his mate eagerly from behind.

"Does that happen a lot?" He asked.

"Hm?" Algra looked over to the coupling pair. The female orc grunted and let out a wild roar of pleasure. "She is in heat. He is her slave."

That didn't exactly explain things the way Gregory hoped.

"I mean, why don't they go inside?" A few other orcs had moved up to watch the mating couple, one hooted a quick cheer for them as he passed by with his cart.

"It isn't raining." Algra was looking at Gregory as if he was unwell.

"Oh, well, alright then." He blinked and looked away from the orcs who were still eagerly enjoying themselves and gently led a gawping Janette down the path.

"What's your hurry?" The redhead asked with a playful lilt in her voice.

"No hurry. I want to get back and see Bolut. I'd like to at least introduce myself to the folks that work for him and learn about what they get up to. If I'm responsible for them all then I at least want to know who they are." Gregory said.

"That is good. I must speak with Grolfir," Algra added in such a way that it was unmistakably clear they weren't invited.

"Sure, just stay out of trouble. Oh and I've got a job for you Janette." Gregory turned to look at the pretty redhead who seemed slightly surprised that she was apparently about to be useful.

"Anything, my master." She bowed deeply and smirked at him all the way down and back up again.

"Stop stroking my ego." Greg chided and gave her firm bottom a light pinch. "I need you to go and speak to Rudd. He's the ambassador to the orcs from the human kingdoms. I'd like you to find out as much as you can about human-orc relations. From what he told me yesterday I'm the first human in an age that the orcs have recognised as one of their own. I'd like to know more about what that means and if I could have accidentally pissed anyone off in the process."

"Yes sir! I'm on it." Janette flipped a cute salute and looked around the encampment. "Gonna need someone to show me where the hell I'm supposed to go though."

"I will take you," Algra helpfully offered.

"Thanks. Oh, and in the interest of full disclosure I met one of the courtesans this morning. I was going to go see her this afternoon. Is that ok with you two?" He left the rest of what he was planning to do to their imaginations.

"Master is virile." Algra stated with a hint of pride in her husky voice.

"Yikes Greg. After that performance in the stream you're wanting to go again!? I think I'm gonna have to be ok with it. If you stick to just me and Algra I think you'd wear us out. My pussy's still practically glowing." Janette opened her long cloak and quickly reached between her legs to pull aside the slinky triangle of silk resting over her pussy. Before he knew it, his eyes were being treated to the sight of that pink, puffy, freshly fucked cunt once more.

"Jeez Jan!" Greg did the gentlemanly thing and stepped in front of her in an effort to keep her modest.

She laughed with musical amusement and used the renewed closeness to put her hands on his shoulders and kiss his open lips.

"Relax. We just strolled past two orcs getting hot and heavy in the dirt back there and no one even batted an eyelash." She slipped her underwear back into place and closed her cloak. Her fingers, still damp with her warm pussy juices, traced along his lips until she felt his tongue lightly licking at her fingertips. "I told you last night Greg. I'm yours now. You can do whatever you like with me. I'm not going to get jealous." She paused and considered her own words for a moment before amending them. "Well ok, that's a lie. I'm totally going to get jealous...but I know you can make it up to me, right?"

As Janette lowered her hand from his lips to gently run her fingers along the growing bulge in his pants Greg came very close to taking advantage of orcish attitudes to sex and ravishing her right there along the pathway.

"You sure know how to keep my blood hot."

Janette merely giggled with evil delight and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. She then gave his bulge a gentle squeeze and kissed his lips with a hungry appetite of her own. Gregory only opened his eyes long enough to glance over to Algra and he lifted his hand from where it was busily groping Janette's peachy ass to gesture the orc closer to them.

Algra approached with a look of brazen lust in her dark brown eyes. She wasted little time in slipping under Gregory's outstretched arm and was quickly met with a heated kiss from her master. He'd practically had to tear his mouth away from Janette and he soon felt the horny redhead running her warm, wet tongue across the curve of his neck.

This was soon going to get out of hand.

"Whoa there..." He finally managed to pry his lips back from the lusty orc and stood with an arm around both of his gorgeous lovers.

Janette was looking at him with a false outer sweetness that was betrayed by the damn near scandalous look in her eyes. Algra was close to losing herself to baser urges as her heavy breaths squeezed her bountiful tits against him in a slow steady rhythm.

"Alright, we've got work to do. Meet back at Bolut's camp at sunset?" Greg struggled to sound diplomatic whilst the rigid mast between his legs tried to hijack his brain once more.

"Sunset." Algra nodded.

"I'm counting the seconds." Janette purred into his ear before giving the lobe a loving, heated lick.

The threesome gave each other a parting embrace before Gregory turned and forced himself to walk in the direction of the camp. He felt the force of Janette and Algra's very presence pulling him toward them but he continued to fight the urge to give in to it until they were out of sight and he could finally concentrate once again.

As he walked he began to notice orcs looking at him with interest. They obviously weren't trying to be intimidating, but of course they were orcs so they somehow managed it regardless of intent. It appeared he was still something of a curiosity amongst them, though none came to speak to him. Somehow he didn't think that smiling and nodding in greeting would have been taken very well by the grizzled green giants and so he set his features into a stern, resolute expression and kept his eyes pointed forwards. 

When he arrived back at Bolut's camp he saw the place in its full working rhythm for the first time. A few stalls were set up near the main pathway bearing a collection of mostly arms and armour. Gregory was a little shocked to see the red, black and blue banners that had been affixed to all the tents. His colours. Three orcs were browsing the wares and another was haggling with a small human man over the price of a set of bracers. Gregory had to admire the little man's courage to give the orc as good as he got when it came to the inevitable shouting match. The giant brute could have kicked the fellow like he was a football but the man didn't give any ground.

He was watching the debate go on when he felt nimble feminine fingers slip over his shoulders and gently squeeze. Spinning about, he found himself face to face with Talina who was regarding him with those fiendishly naughty green eyes of hers. Since that morning he noticed that she'd painted her lips a rich shade of dark red and applied a light layer of make up along her cheeks to bring a little rouge to that snowy skin. She was wearing the same cloak as before and from the way she was looking at him it was quite clear that there was very little underneath that thick material. 

"Hello master. Have you come to visit me at last?" The greeting had that familiar hint of tantalising-amusement to it.

"I have," Gregory couldn't suppress the inevitable curve of his lips as he looked upon Talina. "but first I need a guide. Can you show me around here? I'd like to introduce myself to everyone."

"Certainly, master." Talina offered a small bow before turning and leading him toward her tent.

"Actually," Gregory quickly reached out and halted her with a hand upon her shoulder. "I was thinking we'd start at the opposite side of the camp. If you get me in there I'm not sure I'll be coming out for a while."

Talina looked over her shoulder somewhat saucily. Her eyes widened with an obvious appetite for him.

"Master has seen through my clever ruse." She leaned herself forward almost imperceptibly to press her gorgeous bottom up against his crotch in a way that was very perceptible, but only to him.

"Are you going to help me or are you just going to be an enormously pleasant distraction?" Gregory surprised Talina as she quickly felt his hands on her hips and he shoved himself hard against her offered bottom. The woman was suddenly quite reluctant that she'd chosen to dress in anything before coming to greet him.

"Ooooh, can I be both?" She wiggled her bum enticingly against him.

Gregory finally let out a laugh and settled a soft kiss on the slender curve of her neck.

"I think I can handle that."

Talina turned around to grab one of his hands in both of hers before leading him backwards toward the people that were busily getting on with life about the place.

Their first stop was a large open tent outside which were an anvil, a heavy trough filled with water and various tools for the shaping of metal. Seated just inside the tent was a young man, only slightly older than Gregory. He was staring at a round black buckler with a more critical eye than a black buckler perhaps deserved.

"Greetings Torren," Talina introduced them.

The man promptly jolted right up off the stool he was sat upon. The buckler he'd been scrutinising flew up into the air above him to land on his head with a loud twang of metal.

"Ow! Blast it!." Torren stood up and bent over, grabbing the top of his head in an effort to quell the sudden throbbing pain that had started up there.

Gregory stepped forwards, concerned. "Are you alright mate?"

"Yeah...fine...Not the first time it's happ..." Torren suddenly seemed to remember where he was and stood bolt upright to look between Talina and Gregory.

He made a deer that had suddenly been caught in the headlights of a freight train seem calm and collected.

Gregory suddenly stopped moving towards him and slowly stepped back toward Talina. He got the distinct impression that if he got any closer then the poor man might have let his nerves get the better of him and hurt himself. Again.

Torren seemed to be settling into his twenties with a heavy muscular build. There was perhaps a little more around his gut than there should have been but his broad shoulders accounted for most of the extra weight. Smithing had thickened his arms into strong pillars of muscle and the occupation gave him a scruffy appearance. His jet black hair was cut short but seemed to have been hacked away carelessly leaving a mismatch of patchy tufts across his head. Across his jaw was a thick layer of stubble that couldn't quite be called a beard yet. He also had a wide flat nose and dark brown eyes that looked smaller than they were due to his habit of squinting closely at his work.




The Missing Dragon Ch. 03



Author's Note: As usual, thanks very much to Krissta for editing this for me! If this is your first time reading this story then you should know that as well as Sci-Fi/Fantasy, it contains elements from the following categories: Erotic Couplings, Group Sex, Mature, Lesbian Sex, and NonHuman. This particular chapter is also a bit more violent than the last ones. So, if any of that turns you off then now would be a good time to stop reading. If not, then I hope you enjoy!

*

Ash and smoke: it was all that filled his senses. It had been all that the ring had left. A circle, as wide as a man was tall, had been burned into the grass. The boy who had foolishly placed the ring on his finger was no more. Even his bones had blackened and flaked away to sail through the air on the whim of the evening breeze.

The silence and stillness that had fallen upon the camp made the moment disturbingly serene. All had been there to witness the deranged Freddie Lounds place the ring upon his finger before slowly being burned alive from the inside. Algra's whisper upon seeing the terrible conflagration still rang in Gregory's ears.

Dragon fire.

Gregory had never seen a dragon, but if that was what their fire did to a person then he was damn certain that he never wanted to meet one. He remained sat in shock as the embers of death still remained heavy in the air. It wasn't until he felt the wet drops of Janette's tears spill upon his bare shoulder that he realised he hadn't taken a single breath since Freddie had slipped the ring onto his finger.

The world seemed to come alive again as he suddenly took in a deep gasp of air. Orcs and humans began running around the camp. Some made hurried rushed toward their tents to get away from the sight of the ring as it glowed hot in the blackened earth. Others started to crowd around to look upon what had happened.

Gregory turned to look upon Janette and found her eyes glistening and her cheeks stained with fresh tears. She wept in horror at the sight she had just witnessed. Freddie had once been with her before she'd come to her senses. Although she did not mourn his loss, she cried for the pain and the fear she'd seen in his face before it had been engulfed by the flames.

It was the sight of that beautiful face laced with such sorrow that finally tore Gregory from his own reserve and made him suddenly realise that he should be trying to find out what the hell had just happened.

"Algra!" he raised his voice and found it surprisingly strong.

The orc female turned from the sight of the scorched earth to look upon Gregory. He found that she was obviously taken aback by the power of the ring but the sight of a man being incinerated didn't bother her in the slightest. She was a warrior. She had seen men burn before.

Upon hearing her name, she rushed over to make sure that her human master was alright. She found him unharmed except for a few swollen knuckles. Shortly before Freddie had put on the ring, he'd been lying in the dirt getting his face re-arranged by furious Gregory. The sight of her master beating his enemy had given the orc a powerful urge to ravish him once again. Now it seemed that there were other matters to deal with.

Gregory was lifting himself to his feet and helping Janette to hers in the process.

"Take Jan back to the tent and make sure Valise sees her."

Algra nodded in the affirmative and he slipped the weeping redhead from his arms and into the welcoming embrace of the orc. He then turned to look back at the ring. Its glow had faded considerably, though it still glimmered brightly in amidst the ashes.

"No one touch it," he growled.

A few of the orcs had been stepping toward the object and suddenly jumped back at the sound of Gregory's voice. He walked over to Torren's tent where he found the blacksmith had been watching from behind its canopy. It didn't take him long to find what he was looking for as the pair of iron tongs came into view next to the smith's anvil. After snatching them up, he walked back over the blackened circle and caught the ring in amidst the pincers. He carried the thing to the cooling trough and allowed it to drop in the clear water. It made a small hiss as the hot metal hit the liquid and a tiny wisp of steam lifted into the air.

"I need some string."

Torren had been watching whilst rooted to the spot in fear of what the ring might do next. At Gregory's words, he snapped out of the fearful trance and fumbled about in amidst his tools to emerge with a long piece of string. It was taken with a small nod of thanks from the younger man before he reached into the water and took hold of the ring itself.

"Don't do that!" Torren made to move forwards in fear that Gregory would be the next one to erupt in a blaze of fire.

"It's fine. I've held it before." Of course, that didn't mean he was stupid enough to put the thing on his finger.

Torren hesitated and watched as Gregory looped the string through the golden band and tied the ends together before lifting it over his head. He wasn't going to forget about it ever again. The ring hung there upon his bare chest, still glinting but otherwise doing no harm to Gregory. After a moment's wait to see if anything happened, Gregory left the smith's tent to walk outside to see Grolfir had appeared in Bolut's camp along with five of his guards.

The crowd had quickly dispersed at the sight of the great warchief. Gregory couldn't blame them. Right about then he'd have paid good money to have had the ground swallow him whole. This wasn't helped by the fact that Grolfir saw him and his eyes narrowed in anger. Gregory would have felt more comfortable trying to stare down an erupting volcano.

"What, by the First, has happened here?" Grolfir's voice rung through the air like an oncoming avalanche.

"I will explain." Algra's voice. She had left Gregory's tent upon seeing the arrival of her uncle and was moving to head off any undue rages that might follow.

"No." Gregory held up his hand and Algra halted immediately whilst casting a questioning look over her shoulder at him. "This is my fault."

The female orc growled in quick defiance at her master's assessment of the situation.

"It is not-" she began.

"It is. I had Freddie released here. Into my care. He escaped because I didn't think to post a guard and I was too caught up in other things to even realise that I'd left the ring practically out in the open. It was stupid. It was my fault." Gregory looked up to the big warchief whose eyes had fallen upon his chest where the ring now hung.

"What happened?" The great orc curled his lip over a large tusk and folded his arms across his massive chest as he regarded Gregory.

"Freddie escaped. I don't know how he got free. I changed my clothes and forgot I'd left the ring in my pocket. He found it and put it on. He thought that because it brought us here that it would send us home... or at least send him home. I lost control of myself." Gregory felt Algra's hand upon his shoulder and realised that he was talking too fast. His breaths were becoming difficult as he relived the horrifying sight of Freddie igniting from within after being beaten bloody by Gregory's own fists. He stopped and closed his eyes tightly to keep from losing control and then when his gaze settled back upon Grolfir it was calm and steady. "I beat him. He was saying awful things about what he'd do to Janette and I couldn't hold myself back. I felt his face breaking on my fists and I couldn't... I couldn't stop it." Algra's hand squeezed reassuringly against his tight muscle. "I realised what I'd done and scrambled to get away. Freddie managed to put the ring on and he..."

"The ring has great power. It burned the mad child to nothing but ashes before our eyes." Algra's voice cut in so that Gregory did not have to finish. Her words were cold and clinical. A soldier's report.

Gregory found himself suddenly very grateful to the beautiful orc.

"Show me where the fool was bound," Grolfir ordered after a moment of thought. His eyes never veering away from Gregory's.

The words sparked a sudden clarity of focus in the young man's mind. He too wanted to know how Freddie had managed to free himself. The last time he'd seen the disturbed boy, he'd been chained up to an iron post. Freddie didn't exactly strike him as the most adept of escape artists and so the question of how he gained his freedom was definitely relevant.

Without a word, Gregory nodded to the warchief and turned to lead them along the tents of Bolut's camp to where Freddie had been shackled. What he saw when he came to the iron post made him freeze in his tracks. Torren, the young blacksmith, was stood in front of the post whilst scratching his chin. He hadn't noticed the approach of the others as he regarded what once had been a very long length of iron embedded into the earth.

Instead of the smooth iron post, there was nothing but a badly rusted heap of iron shavings. It was as if the post itself had been almost wholly disintegrated.

"Sorcerer," Grolfir growled.

"No." Gregory shook his head. "There's no way that Freddie could have done this. He didn't know anything about magic. He was just about the most un-magical person you could imagine."

Gregory took a few steps forwards and crouched by the crumbled remains of the post. There was a strong smell of sulphur in the air close to the ruined iron. He didn't like that one little bit. He then turned to look at Torren, who had by now noticed that he was in the presence of his master and the warchief himself. His face suddenly paled at the realisation.

"Do you know anything that could have done this to iron?" At Gregory's words, all eyes turned to the smith.

"N-no! No sir. I couldn't do this m'self if I wanted to. I forged that post. It was a simple job. Used the same stuff I forged this shield from." He quickly stepped inside his own tent for a moment before emerging with a perfectly fine looking iron shield. He looked over the metal to see if there were any signs of sudden decay when a thought occurred to him. "Unless..."

Torren stopped himself as the ramifications of his train of thought suddenly became clear. The many sets of eyes resting upon him suddenly made him become very nervous to the point where he lifted his shield up to his nose.

"Torren, what is it? It's alright if you made a mistake." Gregory meant it. Though he would have been somewhat shocked if that had been the case. Torren might have been a little bit of a shy klutz but it was obvious that he knew his trade well.

"Master it's..." he hesitated yet again, glancing nervously to the warchief.

"Speak boy!" Grolfir suddenly bellowed and made half of those in attendance jump with fright.

"I remember I have seen something like this before. I'd got this chunk of metal jammed in a frame I'd worked up for a cart. Couldn't budge the thing. So I went to Valise and she had this potion. It just ate through the metal so I could get it out. When the chunk broke free it looked a bit like..." He nodded toward the rusted scraps of the metal shaft.

"Valise. The witch? Where is she?" This was spoken by a member of Grolfir's company. An orc whom Gregory had seen sitting upon the high table in the orc's feasting hall.

"She was with me the whole time. She couldn't have done this." Gregory turned to Algra for support.

"He speaks true uncle. I was with them. Before she arrived at the tent she was in the middle of camp playing with her bottles," Algra quickly affirmed.

"The witch must be brought before us regardless." The orc elder quickly interjected.

This was getting out of hand. The looks upon some of the faces of the surrounding green giants suggested that perhaps a witch burning might be in order. Valise had told him that the orcs were wary of her alchemical talents. If suspicion was cast on her then it would be difficult to wash away, especially with mistrust already thick in the air. Gregory's thoughts naturally turned to what could happen to the beautiful woman whose company he'd been enjoying only minutes before. Human slaves were treated decently overall, but he didn't like to think what would happen to one that took to freeing potential murderers.

"No." Gregory finally found his voice again. All fell silent as he stepped up to Grolfir. The orc elder beside him seemed somewhat stunned that a human would dare challenge his words. Still, Gregory stood firm. "This is my fault."

The tension in the air thickened and only Grolfir and Algra remained silent. The beautiful emerald skinned woman stepped up to Gregory's side and placed a hand upon his shoulder. He turned to look upon her to find her dark eyes seemed angry and that anger was focused upon him. Being stared at in such a way by any orc would have sent chills up the spine of any human but Algra managed to put her own uniquely vicious edge to her gaze.

"You are not at fault." She quietly but firmly stated.

"The hell I'm not. I forgot about the damn ring! I left it out there for anyone to pick up. I got too distracted. Then when I could have pulled the thing out of Freddie's hand I didn't. I sure as shit didn't let him go, but he couldn't have done this without me. Everyone was in danger. Imagine if we hadn't seen him and he'd slipped into someone's tent to put it on. Half the camp would be on fire by now." Gregory was somewhat surprised to find his own anger boiling up from within to match the intensity of Algra's.

"Boy, should you take responsibility for this then the price to pay is a dear one." The elder's tone was ominous.

"No it isn't." Grolfir had been watching Gregory the entire time. His words brought a fresh wave of silence over the surrounding orcs.

"What? Master, the entire camp has been endangered. If this child accepts that he is at fault then-"

"Then the child must grow up," Grolfir finished.

The words brought the orc elder up short for he had clearly not been expecting to hear that. Gregory thought that he was pretty grown up already and had to damn near bite his tongue to hold back a sarcastic comment on the matter. He might have been angry but he wasn't insane enough to openly talk back to the warchief.

"Gregory Hopkins, you have been made one of us by the right of Algra's challenge. Yet you are not of our people and you have not earned the right to walk among us as a true orc. Therefore I deem you to be a child and submit you to the proving. All that you have is now mine, and your former property is to care for you until you are blooded. Do you submit to this?" Grolfir's tone had a distinct note of you'd better bloody do as I say or else that Gregory had often heard from his own father.

"I do."

"Then so be it. You shall appear on the proving grounds and find your pack at first light tomorrow. And you shall turn that thing into my care immediately." He pointed at the ring hanging upon Gregory's chest. "It shall be returned to you when you have proven that you are up to the task of keeping such a thing safe."

This matter did not remotely seem like it was up for debate. Gregory therefore did as he was told and lifted the ring over his head. It was the elder who reached out to take it from him, but he instinctively pulled back. The act of defiance was not taken well as the craggy, lined face of the old orc twisted into an enraged snarl.

Gregory quickly affixed his position and handed the ring out to Grolfir directly. There was little that the elder could do then, for Gregory had only done what he was told. Grolfir met his gaze and then snatched away the string loop that held the ring. With the strange metal band that had caused so much damage in his possession, the great warchief turned and took his leave. His guards and the elder soon accompanied him.

Gregory let out a long, slow breath.

"Ok, so what the hell just happened?" He turned to Algra.

"I do not speak to children!" Algra growled before turning and storming off toward their tent.

Gregory felt the distinct sensation of a very cold foot hitting him in the guts. Had she left him? Was that it? Instinct cried out for him to follow her but at that same moment he saw Emmet trying to catch his attention. The sudden realisation that he could speak to someone who would have an idea of what the hell had just happened quickly deterred him from thoughts of following Algra for the time being.

He approached the old man who bowed his head kindly in greeting.

"Emmet, I really need to know what just happened there."

"Well, it would seem that the warchief has lit a fire beneath your feet." Emmet did not address Gregory as "master" for the first time. "The punishment for Freddie's escape would undoubtedly have fallen on Valise's head had you not stepped forward. It was a brave thing to do. The punishment for freeing those who have been cast to the pits is a public beating and lashing. It is a humiliation for orcs and a painful one to be sure but for humans the act is nearly always fatal."

Gregory could immediately see why. Orcs were incredibly tough by nature and their greater size and strength would have made them more resilient to the punishment. A human facing what would take an orc to within an inch of his life would be a damn certain death sentence.

"You almost faced such an ordeal yourself. It seemed that Elder Wren was ready to order it when the warchief spoke up. All orcs must prove themselves as warriors in a ritual that is aptly named the Proving. Before this, all orcs are considered to be children. Children cannot be held accountable or responsible for what you were to be punished for."

"So he saved my ass?"

"Indeed. Yet children are also not allowed the responsibility of owning others until they have faced the Proving. Therefore Grolfir has taken Bolut away from you, along with me and the rest of what you owned. Including Algra. I expect that your possessions will be returned once you have passed the Proving."

"And what is it? The Proving I mean."

"It is a challenge of battle. You will be made a part of a pack and you will fight against other packs until you are proven worthy to be deemed an adult."

"I have to fight orcs? Lots of orcs?"

Emmet nodded.

"I think I need to go lie down." Gregory lowered his face into his hand. " Then I'd be grateful if you'd hit me over the head with something hard and blunt."

"I'm sorry, my friend. I'm afraid you cannot give me orders any more." Emmet reached out and gave Gregory's shoulder a consoling pat.

"So I've lost everything? Algra, too?"

"Not exactly. The warchief commanded that we remain to care for you. Therefore you can avail yourself of anything in the camp and we're obliged to help, but you cannot actively order us to do things any more. Though, I'm sure that most of us would be happy to help you anyway. Just don't ask me to bludgeon you to death in your sleep." Emmet smiled. "As for Algra, I would say she is worried for you. She lost her last mate, you know? She believes that it was her fault that he was killed."

"And I just nearly got myself executed."

"I doubt that she approves of the idea of you being beaten to death," Emmet conceded.

"Well I'm not exactly crazy about the idea either y'know. Fuck, this day has just taken a god damn nose dive. I thought Freddie was a pain in the ass when he was alive..." Gregory suddenly stopped himself. Someone was dead. It was hardly the time to make jokes about it.

"I would suggest you go to her and apologise. Such distractions as nearly getting yourself killed cannot stand in the way of her affection for you."

Gregory looked back to his tent. "Thanks Emmet."

"Of course."

"You know, I'd just gotten used to everyone around here calling me master." Gregory's mouth curved into a slightly ironic smirk.

"Perhaps you would settle for friend for the time being?" Emmet suggested.




The Missing Dragon Ch. 03



"Actually, I think I like that better. I'll see you later." With that, he turned away from the old man and approached the large tent that he called home for the time being.

Before passing over the threshold into the confines of the canopy, he stopped and lifted his hand to rub his fingers over his eyes. His world had succumbed to a fresh sort of insanity in the past hour that was all together different from the sexy craziness he'd yet to get used to. It didn't matter of course. Janette needed him. Algra deserved better. So he'd be there for Janette and, if need be, he'd make himself better. Of course he wasn't sure how the hell he was going to make himself good enough to face even a young orc warrior in an open fight before the morning, but that was a problem for another time.

With a deep breath, he lowered his hand before opening his eyes and stepping forward. He saw Janette settled upon the bed. She had fallen asleep in the comfort it provided whilst Valise attended her. Algra was stood on the other side of the room divider. Gregory saw her there, staring at the chest of her former possessions. As usual, her expression was unreadable, but Gregory guessed the thoughts that might be running through her head. None were particularly comforting.

Algra had renounced all her belongings when she had left the encampment after the death of Rowun Strongblood, her former mate. She no longer felt fit to wield her armour or carry her sword into battle. Grolfir had returned her things to Gregory when he had bested her in an open challenge, but instead of taking them back she had refused to even unlock the chest. She looked at the thing like it was full of old ghosts.

Gregory turned his attention to Valise as she approached him. The older woman seemed as serene as always. Not a hair was out of place in amidst the waves of gold that flowed from atop her head. She offered Gregory a small bow as she stood before him.

"Master, I have given your lady a potion to soothe her. She should not dream for tonight. I would suggest that you be there when she awakes. The night's events have greatly disturbed her."

"She's not the only one." Gregory looked over to the sleeping form of Janette. She seemed peaceful. He watched the slow rise and fall of her chest for a few moments before turning back to Valise. The cloak that Janette had worn was shed to leave her in her rather appealing bra and panties and the sight of her sleeping was becoming distracting. It was hardly the time for such thoughts.

"Would you like me to make a soothing potion for you, master?" Valise asked.

"No. A lot's happened. I'm going to need to be very sharp tomorrow. Thank you Valise. For the demonstration and for your help. I'm afraid that you don't need to call me 'master' anymore though. I'd like some privacy now if that's alright."

His words worried the woman. She did not speak but instead offered the same little bow that she had greeted him with before taking her leave after collecting the box of potions she'd brought with her.

This left Gregory alone with Algra.

He watched the orc stare at the case of her possessions. There wasn't a hint as to the nature of her thoughts to be found in her solemn expression, yet Gregory knew the woman well enough to see the storm brewing in her eyes. After a long moment in which the silence grew fierce, he stepped forward to Algra and placed his hand upon her shoulder.

It was immediately shrugged away and she let out a low warning growl.

"Algra. Stop this."

"You first." She didn't lift her eyes to look upon him.

"What do you want me to stop?"

"Being an orc. You are human. You are runt."

"Well, thanks for that. I'm not being an orc. I think I'd need to grow about twenty feet for a start-"

"You are orc. You are master. You fight." She whirled about to face him and jabbed her finger against his bare chest to highlight each utterance.

"I only took you because you'd have broken my bones if I set you free. I only fought Bolut because I wanted to get Janette out of trouble. I didn't go looking for any of this, Algra." Gregory found heat in his voice and stifled it immediately. He remembered what happened the last time he'd lost his temper. "Look, I want you with me. I don't care if you're my slave or not. I want you because..."

Algra's eyes narrowed and she rudely shoved Gregory back. The young man landed on his ass before her to look up at the angry, jade-hued beauty.

"I not care! You are fool to fight in orc proving. You get hurt or you get dead." She turned away and shook her long inky mane of unsettled tresses. "You are like him."

Gregory knew she meant Rowun, her former mate and the brave warrior who had died in battle, leaving her behind. The comparison unnerved him whilst making his chest tighten for her.

He shoved himself to his feet and stepped up behind her. His hands lifted to firmly grasp her arms and turn her about. This was quite the courageous move since Algra would have had no problem turning his jaw into powder with one solid punch. She found herself staring into his eyes and saw wild determination had settled therein.

"I'm not going to die. When we first fought, I surprised you. I'll do the same to them. I haven't shown all my tricks yet but I need you with me. I need you to show me how to fight them. I need to know you'll be here when I get back. You don't want to lose me, I know, but I don't want to lose you either."

The words softened the warrior woman's expression. It was a devious way to turn her fear and anger against her resolve. Then again, Gregory wasn't above being a little devious when he needed to be.

"I prefer runt to orc," she admitted.

"Well, I've grown quite fond of orcs. They're strong, fierce and occasionally stunningly gorgeous." Gregory lifted his hand to slip the band of leather from Algra's shoulder.

She let out a growl of an entirely different nature at that point.

"You are fool to speak of me." Though her tone said something quite different.

"Who said I was talking about you?" Gregory teased.

The quick, hard slap that came soon after that little jibe left his ears ringing.

"That is for thinking yourself amusing." Algra chided.

"Ok, I'll bear that-" Gregory was quickly cut off as the woman pressed her lips to his. The feel of her hard, smooth tusks contrasting against soft, silken seams was always a pleasure to experience and his hands soon settled on her bare waist. The kiss ended as abruptly as it had begun as Algra shoved him back and smacked her hand across the other side of his head.

"What the-!?"

"That is for being stupid."

He quietened down after that. Smacks upside the head he could handle, it was definitely better than stony silence. So he opted to stand and nod his head meekly as Algra keenly observed his reaction.

"I'm sorry, Algra. I'll not be amusing or stupid again," he lied.

"Good. Now, come... you must rest. We will fuck and you will sleep better." She got down to business immediately and stepped forward to slip her fingers into his new leather pants.

"Ok, just... no more hitting. Deal?"

"No promises."

"Now who's thinking they're amusing?"

For his lip, he was shoved rudely down onto the bed beside the slumbering Janette. Algra busied herself by tugging his leather garment down over his legs before pulling it from his feet and casting it aside. She followed up these actions by hoisting her skimpy top over her head and didn't even bother to loosen her skirt before placing a knee upon the fur covers and lowering her body to crawl over him. He felt the warm wetness of her tongue as it slipped over smooth, hard muscle. The reaction was immediate as his length lifted up to slide between the generous curves of her emerald hued breasts.

Algra slowly tasted enough of him to work her way to his lips where the texture shifted and the flavour seemed to grow more fulfilling. He felt himself slip beneath that small fur skirt and his peak felt a different sort of warm, wet delight. With a quick move of her hips, Algra captured him in amidst her slick heat and he felt the small flutter of those incredible muscles around his girth. The kiss broke and she lifted herself upright to ride him.

There was no argument from Gregory for he was left to lie back and watch his lover move to the steady beat of their heated rhythm. Beginning by slowly moving her hips back and forth to grind herself against him and then building the movements faster and faster until she was lifting her entire body up and down upon him. Algra's strength was undeniable as he was left to watch in awed reverence at the gorgeous feminine creature pleasuring them both together. He barely needed to move at all, only reaching out settle his hands on her thighs to steady her movements as quick jolts of bliss started running through her body and she trembled each time she lifted herself from him.

Those quaking shivers slid all the way down to her soul. Gregory's young, virile body was only too eager to accompany her desire and the sight of him looking upon her with that fire in his eyes brought a fresh heat throughout her body. She loved that he was only too happy to cede the power and let her move atop him. It wasn't a weakness on his part as she saw how much he loved to watch her in all her savage beauty. Her emerald skin had long since begun to gleam with perspiration as had his richly defined form. Each time she felt that wonderful member of his sinking seep into her fleshy folds she felt their connection burn white-hot until her release burst out from within her in a shattering wave.

Algra's perfectly honed body always felt incredible but in the moment when the beautiful orc found her climax, he felt the wet heat that surrounded his cock convulse and spasm. Sweet, slippery juices spilled out from her depths and those soft muscles seemed to suckle him inside her as she slammed herself down hard against him. She always liked to feel him deep inside as she experienced her peak. Her eyes fluttered closed and she felt his hands tighten on her bare thighs as his own climax spilled fresh spurts of creamy warmth inside her.

The shared rise between them slowly fell to a simmering afterglow as Algra lowered her body down to press her lips against his. He felt her gorgeously rounded breasts cushion against him and enjoyed the flavour and texture of her kiss with closed eyes. She felt his hands lift from her thighs and stroke along the curve of her rear to rest on the lower slopes of her back.

In that moment he wanted to speak volumes to her of what she meant to him and of how he was amazed at how deeply he loved her in so small a time. His love for Janette had been built over many years and was forged in amidst a great deal of pain and angst before it blossomed into something he truly cherished. With Algra, there was a much more intense fire borne between them that had made him hers without any time for either of them to consider or even comprehend what would happen.

He wouldn't have had it any other way.

He had no words to describe it and even if he could, he knew that there were no place for such words amongst orcs. So, instead he laid back and he kissed her and held her to him in a way that conveyed his meaning more than words ever would.

They came to rest like that until eventually Algra slid aside to settle herself under his arm and they both fell asleep together without worries of daylight would bring.

- - - - -

Gregory was dreaming. He was dreaming he stood upon a great ship and the waves beneath were causing him to sway from side to side. He could smell the salt in the air and feel the sunlight on his face as he looked over his ship and saw his crew of orcs below. Algra was with them. He watched his beautiful orc, dressed like a pirate, as she climbed down the rigging and landed on the upper deck beside him. She moved toward him with slow seductive steps, lifted her hand to stroke along his cheek, and then quickly slapped him hard across his nose.

"Ow!" Gregory sat upright in his bed and found himself looking into Talina's bright green eyes. "What the hell?"

"I tried shaking you but you wouldn't open your eyes." The dark haired courtesan chided him with a little pout on her alluring mouth.

"So you decided to go with the right-hook?" Gregory rubbed his nose.

"Oh please, it was barely a clip on the nose. Besides, if that bothers you then I'd suggest running away, given what you've gotten yourself into." She folded her arms across her breasts and offered him a stern look. She was clearly none too happy about his current predicament.

"Greg?" Janette's voice was somewhat murky beside him.

He looked down to the formerly sleeping beauty at his side and noticed for the first time that Algra was gone.

"She is with Grolfir," Talina quickly filled in.

"What's happening?" Janette's voice took on a sudden urgency as she began to remember the events of the night before.

"Master is going to get himself beaten into pudding. I do not like pudding." Talina had an almost accusatory tone.

"Will you be quiet!? I've had all this already once from Algra. I know. I'm a dumbass. But I'm a stubborn dumbass, so will you do me a favour and ease up on the punching and the cold stares until after breakfast?" 

"Very well, master." Talina offered a somewhat mockingly respectful bow.

"I'm not anyone's master anymore, Talina." Gregory reached for his trunks and found them resting beside a set of fur boots.

"You are mine. I obey you and no one else. If the orcs have trouble comprehending that then I would invite them to see what happens when they try to make me serve another."

Gregory had been in the process of shoving his boots on his feet when he heard the downright icy tone in Talina's voice. Ever since he'd met the woman, she'd always proven to not be quite what she seemed. He'd seen through her first mask but he suspected that she didn't wear just the one. The sudden shift from her usual playful and seductive nature to a woman forged of frost and steel was almost enough to send a chill down Gregory's spine.

So, instead of chiding her further, he slipped on his boots and raised up to his feet to step over to her and settle his hands upon her slender shoulders. Her green eyes met his and carried with them a fierce determination. Oh yes, there was definitely something underneath the masquerade that this woman performed for the benefit of others. Something strong and dangerous.

Gregory placed his lips upon her brow and inhaled the sweet mild scent of the oils and soaps Talina, Lydia, and Fiona used upon each other. The action apparently took the woman somewhat off-guard as she had been expecting to start a very angry shouting match with him.

"Thank you. I'll try my best not to get beaten into pudding."

Not quite knowing how to react to that, Talina's eyes glimmered with a flash of uncertainty before she turned and took her leave.

"Greg, what the hell was that all about? What's going on with pudding?" Janette had also risen and was settling her new cloak over her shoulders.

"I... uh... kind of have to join the orcs in training. After everything that happened last night, Grolfir made me a child in the eyes of the orcs. I need to complete some kind of rite of passage before I can get all my stuff back."

"Oh, so what do you have to do?"

"Well from what I can tell it's some kind of fight."

"With an orc?"

"Several actually."

"Are you insane!?" Janette hefted her cloak from her shoulders when she lifted her hands up in exasperated outrage.

"I'm getting that question so often lately that I'm honestly starting to wonder."

"Jeez, I wonder why?" She stormed around from her side of the bed to stand before him and jabbed him in the middle of his chest with her index finger. "We're leaving. Right now."

"And going where?" Gregory kept his tone calm and reasonable.

"Gee, I don't know, how about somewhere where they don't want to set angry orcs after you?"

"They're not being set on me, Jan." He tried to step around her but she quickly put her gorgeous body between him and the entrance to his tent again. He met her steely, furious gaze and lifted his hand to touch her cheek. "I have to do this."

"No, Greg, you really don't." She folded her arms over the skimpy bra that was barely managing to reign in the generously proportioned breasts beneath.

Gregory privately decided that Janette wasn't cute when she was angry, she was downright gorgeous.

"Look, I almost hurt these people. It was my decision that let Freddie do what he did. I have to take responsibility for what happened. If I don't, then they'll probably punish someone else for it and I don't really want that on my conscience."

"So you're going to go get your head caved in?"

"Oh ye of little faith," Gregory sighed and moved forwards. This time as Janette tried to get in his way he tactfully swung himself around her and walked out of the tent.

"Greg!" It wasn't over by a long shot as far as the redhead was concerned. "Don't walk away from me!" She caught up with him and smacked his chest hard. The quick contact left his skin lightly pink and her hand ringing with pain from hitting what was perhaps unexpectedly hard muscle.

"You're getting your feet dirty." Gregory looked down between them as the alarmed girl had run out of the tent and into the mud wearing only that skimpy bra and equally skimpy thong of hers.

"I don't give a shit about my feet. Stop walking, dammit!" She put her hands on his chest and attempted to stop him. The only effect she managed was to slide her feet backwards in the mud. She would have fallen flat on her ass if he hadn't caught her arm and kept her balanced.

He knew the camp was watching them. Their fallen master and his former slave girl arguing out in the open. He didn't really care. Janette's efforts might not have given him more than a physical stinging sensation across his chest but he was having great difficulty not feeling the hurt in her voice or the desperation in her eyes. It was only when he saw those twin sapphires of hers beginning to glisten with tears that he faltered in his path.

"Jan, I need to do this. I don't really know what's going to happen but I'm not going to back down and let someone else take the fall for my screw up. It's just not in me." He lifted his hands to settle on her upper arms and his touch was warm and strong against her cool skin. Then, he gently pushed her out of his way and continued on to leave her looking understandably worried.

She watched him walk out of the camp toward his escort of two enormous guards encased in that ominous black-metal armour of theirs. Gregory was led away between them to start his training as Janette felt the first tear slide down her cheek.

"He did this to save someone's life, you know." The voice came from her side and she turned to find herself looking on the well-weathered form of Emmet.

The old man, along with most of the camp, had seen her try to stop Gregory from leaving and had quickly snatched up a large blanket which was quickly offered to the scantily clad girl. She took it and only realised how cold she was when its warmth settled across her shoulders and wrapped around her body. The linen was coarse against her skin but it kept the breeze at bay. A little sniff of her nose was given before she used the blanket to wipe away her tears.

"You should not mourn such bravery, dear child." Emmet turned to look upon her, his eyes were still keen despite being set in an aged and wrinkled face.

"He's an idiot." She felt a sudden rush of spite rise up inside her. It felt better than the pain of thinking about her lover being hurt and so she welcomed it.

"Perhaps. Perhaps not. You should go inside. I will send Talina to keep you company and to keep her out of mischief. Do not let the tears rise again. All is not so terrible as it seems."




The Missing Dragon Ch. 03



Janette closed her eyes for a moment. Crying had made them sting. She took a deep breath and then ignited her gaze once again to look into the distance where Gregory had been led away.

"I just..." she paused, steadied herself. "A lot's happened. Coming here, Freddie getting loose, and now this. Then finding Greg and feeling so much for him so soon. It's a giant mess and we're both lost in it together. I can just about deal with that. I just don't want to be lost in it alone." Speaking more to herself than to Emmet, she finally turned to face the old man. "Where did they take him? If I can't talk him out of it then I can at least be there if he needs me."

"You cannot be with him now."

"The hell I can't." Janette's blue eyes flared with anger.

"The orcs do not allow humans near the training grounds. They don't want us seeing the fighting and getting ideas. You would be turned away immediately, and I would definitely not suggest pressing the matter with the guards." Emmet did not seem pleased about the situation either.

"I'm not going to just stand here while he goes through that!" Janette made no effort to keep her tone civil.

"Algra will be there. It is her right. She will make sure he is safe. Come now." He lifted his arm to gesture back toward Gregory's tent. "I promise you that when he returns you shall be the first to know."

Janette considered making a run for it before her more rational senses reigned back the urge. Sitting at home and waiting for the man in her life to return was most certainly not her style. What did Emmet expect her to do? Make the bed and have Gregory's pipe and slippers ready for when he got back?

If he got back.

She pushed that thought down as quickly as it had arisen and glowered at the old man before whirling on her heel and marching back into the tent. Emmet watched her take her leave, wrapped up in her blanket and then began the walk towards where he knew he would find Talina.

The slender, raven-haired woman was pacing back and forth inside her tent. Lydia and Fiona were both outside, discussing the events of the evening with the other residents of Bolut's camp. Talina looked up and saw Emmet pass through the canopy and calmly settle his hands together on the front of his robes.

"Begone, old man. I am not entertaining now." Talina barely gave him a backward glance as she continued her pacing.

"My dear girl, have you ever known me to seek you out for such a thing?" Emmet's voice was smooth, if slightly withered with age.

"The girl is in no mood to speak with you either way, old man." Talina halted her pacing to narrow her eyes dangerously upon Emmet.

"Well, I'm truly sorry about that but I fear we need to talk. Our young friend is in trouble and I know that look in your eye. It was the same one you gave the soldier from the diplomat's guard before he went missing." Emmet turned to the side and began looking through the supply of scented oils mounted on a small table beside Lydia's section of the tent.

"I know nothing of what you say." Talina had, however, gone rather stiff.

"I don't believe that. No one else saw. No one else would believe you were capable of killing a man and disposing of the body so smoothly. But I saw the way you were smiling in the days thereafter. I know that look, Talina." He turned away from the collection of coloured vials to look directly at her. "Your secret is safe with me. I know who he was and what he did. I know why you did it. Yet that brings us to why I'm here now. You are forbidden from making anyone disappear in the wake of Gregory's training."

"They will kill him!"

"They will not kill him. They will hurt him. Orcs don't care much about human soldiers vanishing into the night, but they will care a great deal more if it starts happening to their own kin. Especially if it happens to their pups during their provings. They'll be out for blood and Gregory will be their first suspect after all this mess."

Talina warped her beautiful features into a frustrated snarl before she began pacing again. She hated being shackled, even if it was only by logic. Someone had hurt her master and she wanted their heads on a spike.

"That doesn't mean you can't do anything," Emmet continued. "We do not yet know who released the madman last night. His escape was certainly not his own doing. So, we must find out who it was. I fear I am too old for such an investigation, but you? I think you are more used to such things, aren't you, Talina?" Emmet left the question hanging there for a moment. It pressed down on her shoulders like a lingering threat. 

"You see much, old man. Too much." She levelled an icy stare right back at him and Emmet would have recoiled had he not prepared himself for it. Then, after a moment of silence between them, Talina finally looked away and let out a long, steady breath from between her lips. "But you are not wrong about where our true problems lie. I will do as you ask and find the one who released the rabid child."

"Thank you," Emmet turned to leave but stopped just before reaching the opening of the canopy. "Oh, and I would ask that you tend to Gregory's red haired friend. She needs someone to keep her occupied until he returns."

"I will go to her."

With that, Emmet offered Talina a small and rather grateful nod before shuffling out of the tent leaving her to look back at her things. She thought of the knives, carefully slid into the lower lining of her sleeping furs, never to be used again.

She hoped.

- - - - -

Gregory followed between the two massive orcs who had been sent to collect him and felt not entirely like a man walking towards a guillotine. Part of his brain was panicking, screaming for him to run away and hide. Those thoughts were becoming more and more persuasive as they walked out into the proving grounds. Even young male orcs all outsized him by at least ten inches and what the orcs referred to as unproven pups had bodies hardened by years of brawling with each other. Gregory watched them practice, the main weapons either being two heavy wooden clubs or a singular large one. They did not fight in much armour save for a protective metal brace crossed over their bare chests.

Females were interspersed amongst the males, fighting the larger beasts with more speed and swiftness rather than brute strength but with no less ferocity. Gregory saw some of the impacts the weapons made. Merely walking across the proving fields, he heard the sounds of bones cracking on two separate occasions along with the agonised roars that soon followed.

Throughout it all, Gregory remembered the face of Valise and what would likely happen to her if he should flee. Then there was also the considerable worry of what would happen to himself, since he doubted the orcs looked fondly upon cowards. The greater fear won out and he remained with his guardians until they brought him before a rough and tattered old pale-green tent.

"I- I should go in here?" Gregory looked between the two hulking figures clamped up in their thick, blackened armour.

The orc he had looked to blared out a thundering bark before pushing his spear forwards toward the tent and baring his tusks beneath his helmet.

"Alright! Alright!" Gregory hopped to attention and walked in through the withered cloth of the tent and found himself face to face with another of the green behemoths.

The orc he saw was evidently an elder and it seemed that age had taken away none of the creature's considerable bulk. Not overweight like Bolut, but rather stocky and stout of build. Many old scars lined the bare arms and chest that were bulked up with years of muscle grown and burnished in battle. The top of the head was mostly bald with a single knot of long white hair at the rear of the skull. A thick white braided beard outlined the mouth that only had the single tusk at the corner, the other having been broken off long ago to leave the orc's mouth in a permanent snarl.

Then Gregory saw the old orc looking at him and instantly knew that the creature beneath all that scarred and battle-worn hide was still keen of mind.

"I, uh, I guess I'm here for the training?" Gregory ventured after a few moments of what he considered to be very tense silence as the old orc sized him up.

"No proving for you, pup. Too small. Too skinny." The bulky old orc snorted and dismissed Gregory by simply turning his back on him to walk around a large wooden table in the centre of the tent.

Well, that was unexpected. It didn't matter, of course. Gregory knew what was at stake.

"I have to. Grolfir has ordered it."

"Grolfir? Hah! Then he is a coward or a fool. If you have ailed him so, then he should have killed you himself, not sent you here to be beaten to death."

Gregory gritted his teeth. Why was everyone so certain that he was going to get his ass handed to him on a platter? He paused, examined the anger and decided he preferred it to fear.

"He is neither a coward or a fool, and I don't care if I get hurt. Now, put me out there."

The old orc suddenly bashed his massive fist upon the table in a way that made Gregory realise just why it had to be so sturdy. Those fists looked like they could splinter tree trunks.

"Do not order me, pup! You aren't even kin! Fine! Go out there now and find one who will honour you enough to fight with you. Find a pack that will take a human dog." The orc laughed in a way that felt like a warhammer smashing at Gregory's ears. "Begone."

With that, Gregory was well and truly dismissed.

He found the two guards waiting for him outside the tent and one immediately moved to stop him from leaving on the journey back towards Bolut's camp. It came as something of a shock, then when Gregory instead stormed right into the heart of the proving grounds instead. Not even bothering to snatch up a metal chest bracer, he grabbed one of the single handed clubs from a weapon rack and stumbled to the side when he felt the weight of the thing. Yet still, it didn't deter him from marching between the sparring young orcs and standing before those who were seated and resting from their own training.

"Fight me." Gregory laid down the challenge to all of them at once. In hindsight it might not have been the brightest thing he could have done.

Yet none of the orcs stood to take up the challenge and he found many of them turning their heads to look at him as if he was barely worth their time.

"I said fight me!" Gregory lifted up the club into the air, readying himself for any attack that might descend upon him.

No attack came.

Things were getting awkward when finally, one of the orcs lifted himself from where he had been crouched. Sitting away from the others with a smaller group of five of his kin, Gregory was surprised to find himself coming face to face with Ulf. He remembered meeting the young male orc shortly after his visit with Grolfir. It hadn't connected that Ulf was young enough to not yet have passed the provings until he'd shown himself.

"Ha! Runt fights human dog!" One of the orcs bellowed, much to the amusement of those around him.

Gregory kept his eyes on Ulf, who claimed his own twin clubs and readied himself in the orcish battle stance. Holding his one club in two hands, Gregory held the weapon out in front of him and suddenly felt very much out of his depth. Hand to hand fighting was one thing, it was what he was used to. The club felt unwieldy and alien in his grip and he knew just by holding the thing that it would grievously unbalance him if he wasn't careful.

The orc way was to rely on attack so much that defence was almost a quaint notion, and Ulf definitely didn't disappoint as he let out his own ritualistic war-cry and then charged. In moments Gregory registered what was important, the clubs of his opponent were lowered by his side, upper body leaning forwards to put as much momentum behind him as possible. Ulf was also much faster than Bolut had been and smoothly slipping out of the way was definitely out of the question as the orc's reflexes were bound to account for it and stomp him into the dirt if he tried.

So instead he did something slightly out of character and flung the club directly at Ulf's legs. The orc sure as hell hadn't expected the move and stumbled to get out of the way of the rapidly spinning weapon as it flew over the ground toward his shins. Ulf was fast enough to dodge out of the way but not quite fast enough to do so without unbalancing himself and Gregory took the time to give the orc an education in the basics. A simple lunge forward and he smashed his foot into Ulf's chest, just above the metal bracer and below the collar bone. The move almost sent the orc sprawling to the ground and would have seriously winded him if it weren't for Ulf's own training.

The orc gave enough ground to immediately reassess the situation and wasted no time in bearing down on Gregory once again. Rushing back toward his weapon, Gregory rolled over the club and emerged in a crouch with it back in his hands. Yet the time it had taken had been sacrificed to Ulf who was now upon him and forcing him to fight in a way that he wasn't used to. The clubs in Ulf's hands were swung with precision and the blows that followed were barely fended off.

Gregory tried to parry one of the attacks with his own weapon but found even Ulf, who didn't quite have the size or bulk of his brothers, was far too strong to stop with such a manoeuvre. The attempt caused the club to sail from Gregory's hand and fall to the ground far out of reach, making him rely solely upon dodging. This was somewhat easier than it should have been, as despite Ulf's talent with the clubs, they were still unbalanced weapons and couldn't adjust their arc in mid-swing.

It was the sudden kick from the orc to Gregory's calf that finally gave Ulf the advantage and allowed one of those blows to connect. The young human felt the club smash across the side of his face and sent him immediately crumpling to the ground. He felt like he'd just offered his jaw to a charging rhino and the entire right side of his face felt like it was on fire. Blood was felt rising inside his mouth and he spat it out, only to be a good deal more worried when he saw a couple of his teeth land in the pool of blood he'd made in the dirt.

"Enough!" The elder orc had evidently emerged from his tent upon hearing the cheers of the human getting pounded into the ground.

"Master Ulag!" Ulf quickly turned to face the master of the proving grounds and fell to one knee whilst resting his clubs upon the ground.

"Ulf! You think it honourable to face a human?" Clearly, Ulag was not impressed.

"Master, you taught us never to bow to..."

"A challenge." Ulag finished, though he didn't seem to be putting much stock in his own words just then. "Very well, young pup. Since you have faced the human then you shall keep him. He will join you with the rest of your Runts."

Gregory might have found this news to be curious if he'd been able to hear anything over the ringing that Ulf had left in his ears. He was getting slightly worried that the world was refusing to come into focus properly.

"Pups! Form up for pack skirmishes!" Ulag barked out the order and the orcs roared their approval. All except for Ulf, who was staring at Ulag with a look of horrified disbelief.

Gregory tried to push himself up with his arms but grew nauseous around the half way mark and abruptly vomited more blood onto the ground. Suddenly glad he'd skipped breakfast, he reached down and found the anger that had brought him there in the first place to start burning through it like fuel. Planting his fists in the ground again, he pushed himself up to his feet and found himself coming face to face with Ulf, who reached out to grasp Gregory's shoulder and firmly steady him on his feet.

"Frun! Bring a bracer for him!" Ulf shouted to the small group he'd been seated with. The order got one of the larger males seated there to stand and lumber off to the weapon racks to grab Gregory one of the smaller chest-pieces before coming over to help the young human fix it into place. Even as he felt his right eye swell over, he glimpsed the orc look to Ulf with an expression that clearly meant you can't be serious.

"Human! Look at me." Ulf grabbed the front of the bracer once it was fixed around Gregory's bare chest and hoisted him forwards to bring them to eye level with each other. "You are part of the pack now, yes?"

As Ulf spoke, the rest of those few orcs that had been eating away from the others had stood up to walk before them. Was one of them missing an arm? That couldn't have been good news.

"Whaddoo I do?" Gregory found it difficult to voice the question as he was having more trouble not falling over just then.

"You stay behind me."

"Noproblemo!" With that, Gregory turned his back to Ulf and raised his mitts at nothing in particular.

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Ulf let out a low grunt instead and pulled Gregory backwards to fall into step with the rest of the pack as they moved to the arenas wherein the future war packs fought each other for dominance. The arenas themselves were little more than pits of stone that orcs could view from several rows of seats above. There were five of them in all and Ulf was leading them with the other groups of orcs that had formed in the wake of Ulag's order.

"First match! Runts to take on Berserkers!"

"What!?" This time, Ulf couldn't hold back his incredulity.

"You heard, Ulf. Let's see how your human fares."

Something told Gregory that matters had not improved and he felt his face had swollen horribly along its right side. Pain was the only thing keeping him awake then, until he saw the six orcs that the Runts were going to face. Then fear leapfrogged pain in capturing his attention.

The six orcs that emerged to make their way down into the arena were all testaments to how physically overwhelming their species could be. All were young, just like them, but some members of the Berserker pack were already towering over a good many of their peers. Gregory recognised the one that had laughed at him amongst their ranks, no, leading their ranks. Four of them carried twin clubs in each hand with the other two hulking brutes carrying what looked to be like uprooted tree trunks.

He got the feeling that the blow to his head might not be his biggest problem of the day.

In comparison, he looked over the orcs that had fallen in line with Ulf. There were two women, one was strong and had a figure much like Algra's lean and muscular visage, albeit slightly more slender and younger. Her hair was tied up in intricate braids, unlike the rest of the pups he'd seen who went mostly bald or with very simple ponytails to keep their hair from their faces. The other female was much more slim with a body almost like a gymnast and, like Gregory, carried only one of the single-handed clubs. Although she seemed much more comfortable with it in her hands than he did.

Then there was Ulf, of course, who was well built but not as bulky by far as the orcs they faced. He was looking out over them as if trying to formulate a plan of attack and finding himself woefully outmatched. Yet there was no fear there, only frustration. Beside Ulf, there was a stockier male who carried one of the single clubs in both his hands and looked as if he could do some damage, though he was quite a bit shorter than the rest of them and somewhat short for an orc in general.

The final two were an odd pairing as one was downright wiry in comparison to the usual orcish muscular builds. Gregory could see the lines of his bones beneath his green skin and he seemed to be carrying a pair of much smaller clubs that looked almost like batons rather than the awkwardly weighted monstrosities that the rest of his kin favoured. He was looking at Gregory and offered a rather wry little smirk at him when he met his gaze. Was something funny? The world was still too shaky for the young human to know.




The Missing Dragon Ch. 03



Then, finally, there was the last of them. A much older orc who looked to have long since passed into middle age with flecks of grey in his black beard and a mass of similarly coloured, unkempt hair atop his head. That final figure might have reassured Gregory, for the older orc stood taller than any of the Berserkers they were about to face, and was built like a damn mountain.

Except he was also the one that Gregory had seen earlier. The one-armed orc.

The arm seemed to have been dislodged long ago in its entirety. The one that remained was thick with muscle and within his grip there rested one of the two-handed clubs big enough to knock over a tree.

If they needed any city gates raised to splinters, then old One-Arm was clearly the orc to call upon. Though Gregory still didn't like their chances against the A-listers of mayhem that they'd been set against.

Shaking his head yet again in an attempt to bring the world into high definition once again, Gregory rested both hands upon the grip of his club to steady the weapon and settled into a battle stance in line behind Ulf. The other orcs took up their positions, spread out in a line and preparing to charge the enemy. Their massive opponents, the pedigree of the orc youth, did the same. Eyes filled with madness as they worked themselves up into a battle-rage.

His new pack did exactly the same, though seeing the skinny orc trying to build up his fury might have been funny if it wasn't for the fact that he was about to be imminently bludgeoned to death.

"Attack!" Ulag's voice boomed from the seats above and Gregory watched as all hell broke loose.

The Runts attacked the Berserkers with the same fervour for battle that made all orc blood run hot. Unfortunately, though it was clear to see that though they had the will and the determination, sometimes trying just plain isn't enough. The first to fall was the skinny orc as he charged one of the Berserkers head-on and was practically steam-rolled into the dirt. Gregory winced and fell into line behind Ulf. He could still fight and it was painfully obvious that the Runts needed every pair of hands they could get. The girl with the body of a gymnast fell next as she tried an overly complex leap that allowed her opponent to grab her leg in the air and smash her abruptly back into the ground.

Two members of the pack had fallen. Ulf engaged with the leader of the Berserkers and Gregory followed suit as best he could. His comrade was a talented fighter, but he did nothing to rally his men in battle, whereas the Berserkers fought like a seamless unit of focused carnage. It wasn't long before one of them sliced between Gregory and Ulf's attack on their leader like a surgical knife and began bearing down upon the human.

Attempting to parry the blows that rained down upon him would have been a one way ticked to two broken arms. The orc who had chosen to duel him wielded a two handed club as if it were made of feathers, though the thunderous blows and thick, whumping noises it made as it flew through the air carried across the club's true weight well enough.

Fall back, dodge, turn, spin out, dodge. Gregory knew the moves to defend himself but he had no clue what in the hell to do to use the club in his own hands effectively. All his martial arts lessons were for nothing in taking down the battle-crazed monster before him. His peripheral vision caught Ulf as the young orc fell to the ground upon receiving a crushing blow to his ribs from the Berserker leader. The only other member of the Runts still standing was the one-armed orc and the three Berserkers now upon him would soon bring him down.

Fear and rage. It was all Gregory had to move his body as pain rang throughout his head and he suddenly lunged forth to smash his club against the extended elbow of his opponent before he could ready one of those big swings against him. Much to both their surprise, the blow connected and the orc roared in pain as he was swiftly unbalanced and the club swung out wildly in his hands. Unable to direct the blow, Gregory easily stepped out of its path and flung all of his weight behind it straight at the orc's knee.

It might have even connected if it wasn't for the leader of the Berserkers smashing against Gregory's side in a full charge that sent the young male sprawling into the dirt.

Colours that shouldn't have been present spilled over Gregory's vision in waves as he tasted the bitter earth and then felt the Berserkers descend upon him. The thunderous impacts were given as if he too were an orc and the boy felt his bones snapping and shattering beneath them. Pain gave way to agony and then the whole world fell numb, silent, and finally he fell into darkness.

- - - - -

Algra Strongblood watched her human lover be beaten senseless by the Berserkers until Ulag raised his arm and roared their victory. Throughout the entire course of the battle, she stood by her uncle, the mighty Grolfir, and steeled her resolve. Her expression never wavered or shifted when she saw Gregory's bloodied body and swollen face as the Berserkers finally pulled back. The leader of the pack spat on the unconscious human's fallen body as his companions moved to leave the arena. Ulag didn't give the proper reprieve for the dishonourable act. It was only a human, after all.

The Runts slowly picked themselves up once the Berserkers had retired from the arena. Seeing what had happened to Gregory, Ulf walked over with his comrades and picked up the boy's shoulders whilst the stout orc grabbed his legs. Defeated and bloody, they carried their fallen comrade from the field and started the journey towards his home. Many of those watching laughed openly at the behaviour. They spoke of cleaning away the filth as they took Gregory away.

Algra watched it all. Her fear for her lover, though justified, had long since receded as a dark, murderous rage filled her heart.

"It was his will," Grolfir said to her then.

She remained silent. Her world was painted in shades of blood and pain. Turning away from her uncle, she found herself momentarily unable to stomach the sight of her own people. Walking away, she followed the Runts from the proving grounds. It was time to return to Gregory, and to prepare for war.

- - - - -

The beaten body of Gregory was carried back into the camp in a way that almost resembled a funeral procession. Janette emerged from their tent and screamed upon seeing him, thinking him dead at first before she saw Valise hurry out of her own dwelling to rush to Gregory's side.

"Get away from him!" Fresh tears poured down Janette's rosy cheeks. "This is all your fault!"

Valise stopped in her tracks as if she'd been slapped across the face with the venomous words. Unsure of herself, the gentle woman looked around to see if she was doing the right thing.

"Woman, by the First, help him!" Algra entered the camp like an oncoming storm shortly after the others.

"Algra, why?" Janette's voice took on an almost pleading tone as she hopelessly asked how the orc could have let their lover be so badly injured.

Both women felt their eyes meet and after a cool stare from the orc, Janette lowered hers first and rushed out to Gregory. Her cloak whipping around her almost naked body beneath. She saw his chest still rising and falling. His handsome face was broken and his bones didn't seem to form right along his left arm and over his chest. Blood trickled from swollen lips and he seemed to be fighting hard to hold onto life.

"Talina!" Valise's voice cried out as she also rushed to Gregory's side. The raven haired woman in question appeared almost out of nowhere moments later. "I need valin root, umber sap and my healing potions. They're in-"

Talina seemed to already know exactly where they were and with a flick of her own cloak, she was gliding back toward Valise's tent.

"Is he going to be ok?" Janette reached out and took Gregory's hand in hers. She felt his fingers give a little instinctive squeeze that made hear heart almost leap into her throat.

"I think so, but until I can begin treatment, nothing is certain." Valise was all business as she moved the small candle holder from the large table within Gregory's tent and had the Runts settle his body upon its surface.

Despite her anger with Valise, Janette steeled herself and took a deep breath before wiping her eyes and looking up to the healer. Pushing aside her own pain and fear, she asked the only question that she could.

"What can I do to help?"

Valise looked up and saw that Janette had found some iron in her soul.

"I need Emmet in here, now. And an extra pair of steady hands if you feel up to it."

Janette gave a tense little nod and then turned to rush off to find the wispy-haired elder out in the camp.

Valise began her work then, examining the wounds and the breaks she could see before Talina returned with her supplies and she started putting the boy back together again. Janette returned with Emmet, who immediately was set to work in setting the bones along Gregory's arm.

The three of them worked for hours. After the sun settled below the horizon, Algra brought them fresh torches to work by and noted the worried look upon Valise's face. She did not like that look at all. Gregory still refused to breathe properly, despite the dose of medicine she'd given him. Alchemy was a powerful craft when used correctly yet it couldn't dislodge shards of bone from lungs without doing far more damage than it would heal.

So it was that in the dark of night Valise and Emmet cleansed their hands and Gregory had his chest cut open. Janette was forced to leave as the sight of him being cut into finally broke her will and she dissolved into tears once more. Algra took her away and sent Talina to take her place.

"You do know what you're doing here, don't you?" Emmet asked Valise as the razor edged knife sliced through the boy's skin over the right side of his chest.

"I have done it before." Valise replied, though she did not elaborate on the matter.

"Did it work?" Talina voiced the question immediately.

"Yes, but then I had other advantages. This will be more difficult. Apply pressure there and keep it until I tell you to release." 

Talina did as she was told. Her hands never wavered in the slightest as Gregory's warm, red blood began to seep out over her fingertips. Valise worked with her little blade for a full hour and made even the world-weary Emmet somewhat shocked by her skill and knowledge of human insides. Then, in the end, she began to fold the flesh back into place and applied further alchemical concoctions before sewing up the wound she had made.

Once she was finished, she let out a long breath and fell back to sit on one of the chairs beside the table, exhausted.

"Release him." On the blonde lady's orders, Talina and Emmet lifted their hands from Gregory's body.

"He seems to be breathing stronger," the old man observed.

"That is no longer the problem. I needed to use several different healing potions on him and there is a cost for that. Two aren't traditionally used together because they have certain side-effects. The others are made with herbs that are fine in small doses but can be dangerous when used to such a degree." Valise rested her forearms across her thighs with her bloodied hands hanging between her legs. "I did not know how else to..." she trailed off whilst looking over to Gregory with troubled eyes.

"You did everything you could. Now our young friend here must do his part." He then turned his head and looked toward the entrance to the canopy. "Algra!"

It was mere moments before the orc woman stepped through, having to dip her head to slip beneath the entrance. Janette followed quickly behind, eyes still glistening and immediately fixing upon Gregory.

"We have done all we can for now. His breathing is strong once more. This is a good sign. Valise is the most talented healer I have ever known." Emmet turned to look at the woman herself, as did everyone else.

Valise wasn't just talented. She was damn-near inhuman in her knowledge and skill. Open exploratory surgery and treatment in the space of an hour? The greatest doctors in the empire couldn't have hoped to accomplish such a feat.

Janette stepped out from behind Algra to take a wooden bowl from a chest of drawers at the side of the tent and dip it into a large barrel of fresh water. She took the bowl to Valise and knelt down before the tired alchemist to allow her to wash her hands of her patient's blood.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you. This wasn't your fault." Her voice was a little hoarse from crying, but it was honest.

"No, it Ulag's." Algra growled with the rage of a true orc. "Proving master. He put Gregory with worst pack he knew, then he set them against best to prove a point. He will regret using my..." She almost said "mate" but caught herself at the last moment. "Using Gregory to release his own spite."

"Now Algra, we can't have you challenging the proving master. You still haven't pledged yourself for Grolfir again. You'd be waging war on the entire camp."

Algra looked to Emmet, and for a brief moment the old man felt a great swell of pity for anything that she should decide to make war upon. Then common sense flooded back and he shook his head.

"No! He wouldn't want you to do something so reckless." Emmet pointed to the fallen human on the bloodied table.

"After this? He does not talk to me of recklessness!" Algra almost roared the words at Emmet who, to his credit just managed not to soil himself.

"Algra?" Janette raised herself to her feet, leaving Valise with the water bowl. The small voice of the red haired girl took quite a lot of the thunder from the orc's expression. "Algra, don't do this. It won't help him. I know you're angry that this happened. We all are."

"Which brings me to the point of whose fault this really is!" Emmet re-took charge of the situation and looked over all who were assembled. "Whoever let the mad-man loose."

Everyone fell quiet for a moment as if just remembering that only a day before Freddie had burst into flames before the entire camp. The catalyst of the series of events that had led Gregory to rest upon that table like a slab of bloodied meat.

"I promise you it was not I." Valise stood and offered the bowl of water over to Talina. "Gregory had asked me to demonstrate my wares for him. I was with him when it happened."

"She was," Algra agreed.

"Then it was someone else in the camp?" Janette walked back over to Algra and slipped her hand into the orc's, offering a little squeeze of comfort that seemed to calm the great warrior.

"It could have been anyone. We're merchants. Orcs walk through our tents every day to see the girls dance or buy our stocks. Any one of them could have done it." Emmet took the bowl of water from Talina and washed his own hands as he spoke. "I think someone has it in for our young friend here and until we find out who it is then I would suggest that we concentrate on helping him recover."

"Can we move him?" Janette looked over to the bed which would undoubtedly be more comfortable than the bloodied table.

"Not yet." Valise was still looking intently at her patient. "Tomorrow morning before breakfast, perhaps. If he stays the same."

"Or gets better?" Janette asked hopefully.

Valise raised her gaze from Gregory to the girl at Algra's side. "He will not begin to recover for a few days. I have sedated him to make sure he feels no pain. We will need to watch him at all times."

"Very well. Come now then. Who will take the first watch?" No sooner had Emmet asked than Algra stepped forth and placed her hand on the table. "Very good," he continued. "Then the rest of us should get some rest."

Valise stayed for a few moments to speak with Algra about the signs of trouble and what to look for in his breathing before taking her leave. Emmet stepped out with Talina shortly afterwards and placed his hand upon the woman's shoulder when they were out of earshot.

"Do you have any news?"

"I am not a miracle worker, old man. I've only had hours and much of that was spent with the red-haired one." Talina was tired and angry. She shot an icy look towards Emmet that warned of her edgy mood. "I shall ask the questions that need to be asked tomorrow. The day is for talking and the night is for spying."

"I see. Well, please report your findings to me, and to Gregory when he awakens."

"What do you intend to do? Lecture the suspect?"

"No, I intend to make sure you have enough evidence."

"And then?"

"Then I'm going to give their name to Algra."

Talina held his stare for a moment, then the old man and the dancer smiled at each other like wolves in the night, hungry for the blood of the one that had harmed their pack-mate.

- - - - -

Under the care of his friends, Gregory was allowed to recover in peace. Murmurs of the camp and his former possessions being permanently acquired by Grolfir after the boy's shambolic performance were quashed soon enough. The warchief himself appeared before them all on the second day after the accident to affirm that Gregory would be allowed to recover before any further action was taken. An elder orc, who seemed to almost constantly inhabit Grolfir's wake, did not seem pleased at all by this news. The warchief's mind seemed to be made up on the matter. If anything, the gesture was likely a very slight attempt to get his neice to talk to him once again rather than just glower with barely suppressed fury in his presence.

Either Algra or Janette were always at Gregory's side as he slept. Often both together. Algra was occasionally called away to show her presence in the great hall beside her uncle. She did not often speak on these occasions, but she did play along with them as it was part of her duty and station. At first, some of the younger males took her presence in the hall as a sign that she had moved on from her human lover. It only took three bruised ribs, a broken nose and a rather serious concussion before they took the hint and stopped pursuing her.

Janette had been pried away from Gregory and into Talina's tent on the fourth day after spending a great deal of time at the young man's side looking incredibly worried. Her eyes had a habit of welling up whenever Valise stopped looking cheerful around him. So, upon Emmet's insistence, she had been coaxed away to allow the courtesan to keep her mind occupied. Janette's interest in Talina's profession intensified as she learned the finer points of the art. Orcs, of course, were very boob-oriented. In truth, as long as the goods were on display, they usually left happy. Talina seemed versed in the greater subtleties of companionship however and was a veritable wealth of information on how to drive a man or so-inclined woman to the edges of madness using only herself as an instrument of desire.

Dancing, singing, storytelling, conversation, fashion, intrigue, sex. Janette was only too happy to start her journey in learning everything Talina had to teach along with the aid of Lydia and Fiona.

On the third day, they were treated to a positive and yet uncanny application of alchemy from Valise. Gregory was recovering well enough but they were all becoming worried that he wasn't able to eat or drink. After considering their options, Valise decided to use a form of her art that was considered highly illegal in the human realms due to its potential for abuse. Gregory was painted from head to foot in various patterns that seemed to oddly reflect his nervous system. Then, once those markings were in place, Valise painted a simple eye on her brow in the same substance. After settling down with her legs folded and closing her eyes, it only took her a few moments of concentration before Gregory lurched up in bed, still fast asleep, and awkwardly took a bowl of soup from his bedside before beginning to drink it down. A few glasses of water were added a moment later. Once he was done, he flopped back down on the bed and resumed the sleep of the dead.




The Missing Dragon Ch. 03



The markings left Valise able to do a number of other things for him and, more importantly, allowed her an insight into his body. Janette and Algra were both trying to balance being slightly terrified and impressed all at once in reaction to the display of the woman's abilities. Emmet seemed troubled, though he made no issue of the matter. He seemed almost familiar with the act and didn't like the performance one little bit.

It did, however, get results. Ten days after Gregory had fallen at the hands of the Berserkers, his mind finally awoke shortly after the sunrise. The constant stillness made every muscle inside him ache for movement and yet he still felt somewhat weak and disoriented as the sounds of the world were poured into his ears and the feel of air on his skin made him tingle all over.

Then he heard the noises beside him and a distant yet pleasant warmth lifted up from deep inside his belly.

Soft little feminine moans seemed to caress his ears, harmonised by the sounds of wet, gentle suckling. He felt the softness of the bed beneath him and the warmth radiating beside him before taking that final step and opening his eyes. The canopy above passed aside as he turned his head to look upon the partner beside him and saw Janette laid on her back, her head resting on a soft pillow with her gorgeous red hair spilled across the casing. Eyes were shut tight and her mouth hung slightly open, releasing those breathy little noises.

It was the nicest sight he could think of awakening to.

As his gaze slid down the nude girl's shapely body, he saw those plump breasts and peaked nipples. Down beneath, across that wonderful flat stomach and between her raised knees was Algra. The orc had her eyes closed, her gorgeous emerald features were glistening around her cheeks with Janette's sweet nectar as she hungrily lapped at that delicate, pink flesh.

"D'yohugh." Gregory tried to speak and failed spectacularly, his words failing to rise up from his dry throat and parched lips.

The noise startled Algra and Janette so much that the human girl almost kneed Algra in the face. If it wasn't for a lifetime of fast reflexes, the orc would likely have had one of her tusks snapped off. As it was, she dodged out of the way and they both looked to Gregory with wide eyes. Janette looked downright cute with her mouth hanging open and those big blue eyes conveying her dumbfounded shock before it slowly shifted to glimmering glee.

Algra, on the other hand, looked downright hilarious. Largely because the look of genuine all-out surprise was so out of character for the normally reserved female. Gregory saw her regain her senses and break out in a rather large grin. He closed his mouth and tried to force some moisture back in his throat so that using his vocal cords didn't feel quite so much like rubbing sandpaper together. Then he rallied himself and tried to speak again.

"Do you two have no shame?" His voice emerged croaky but strong.

"Greg!" Janette flung herself against his chest and hugged him tight.

It hurt like hell.

"Ow! Nice to see you too, Jan." He privately thanked Algra as she pried off the redhead and then enjoyed her as she leaned over gently and placed a slow kiss upon his lips. She tasted great.

After their little kiss was over, Gregory looked over to Janette who was smiling broadly as fresh, happy tears spilled down her cheeks.

"Come here, no squeezing," he ordered.

Janette happily obliged and leaned over to kiss him properly. The touch of her cherry lips was slow, intimate, and deeply thankful. He kissed her lovingly as Algra robed herself in her small fur garments and slipped out of the tent to summon Valise.

"Don't you ever do that to me again." Janette sniffled a little after releasing his lips from her own.

"Believe me, I won't." Greg began to recall the painful memories of just how he'd ended up laid out unconscious in a bed for over a week.

"Good, now- Eek!" The little abrupt squeak Janette made was the result of four people suddenly making their way into the tent to see her laid there in the buff.

Janette quickly bounced backwards behind the bed and they all watched the top of her head scramble over to the edge before an arm popped up to snag her robe from its post and tug it downwards. A moment later she stood up, fully dressed and sporting a pair of fiery pink cheeks.

"Can't you guys learn to knock!?"

Algra turned around from where she'd entered and gave a pointed look towards tent's entrance. It was little more than two sheets of thick material that parted in the centre.

"Oh, uh I guess not." Janette looked a little sheepish after her outburst. "Well at least clear your throat or something!"

Algra rolled her eyes. She was in the company of Emmet, Valise, and Talina. All of the new trio were looking at Gregory with smiles and relief on their faces. Valise quickly stepped up beside the bed and he was made to follow her finger before his nose with his gaze as well as perform a few other tests. He seemed to ace every one of them.

"Well then, I suppose I should pronounce you in good health, considering the circumstances." Valise finished her examination of her patient and rested her hand upon his chest in a way that spoke of a deeper affection.

After all the kissing and the touching, Gregory was suddenly very glad that he'd been dressed in a pair of linen pants. He decided to take his momentary pulse of carnal energy as a good sign. Everything was at least still working down there.

"Great, well that's good because-" He was quickly interrupted by a sharp stabbing pain in his chest as he tried to rise from the bed.

"Easy there," Valise gently chided him. "You will need to spend time resting before you go anywhere. Your mind has returned but your body still needs more time. Bones were broken. I can help them heal but I have my limits, yes?"

It was a testament to how gentle and sweet Valise was that Gregory didn't argue. He felt a sudden, raw burst of frustration. Stillness and rest were not what his muscles wanted.

"Alright." He winced as the pain flared again before subsiding. "I do have one pretty urgent question though."

Everyone suddenly looked very attentive.

"Why the hell am I covered in doodles?"

- - - - -

Emmet went off to announce that Gregory had woken to the camp. The women stayed and helped wash away the alchemical concoction that Valise had patterned across the young man's body. He was stripped out of his pants and quite quickly had four pairs of female hands all over him. It didn't take much of that before he was sporting a rather prominent mast between them. As it lifted and Greg tried desperately to think about cold showers and naked senior citizens to try and calm himself down, the women started to notice. Eventually, the stifled giggles lifted up to outright laughter as Janette lightly poked the jutting tip of his cock with her finger and wiggled her eyebrows.

"Looks like someone else has woken up." She teased and made everyone but Gregory burst out laughing.

"So, this whole 'me being bedridden' thing. It's not going to be too heavy on dignity, is it?" He felt his ears almost sizzling with embarrassment.

"Would it help if we were naked too?" Talina suggested whilst sporting quite the Cheshire Cat grin.

"Now, now," Valise lifted her hand from rinsing Greg's shoulder, "we must not put him through anything remotely strenuous. I don't want him tensing up or exerting himself." She gave a pointed look to each of the three sex-hungry females in her presence. Then, upon thinking about it, she gave the same look to Greg too. It was not a look to trifle with.

"Hey, don't mind me." Gregory innocently raised his hands as if he wouldn't dare even think such a thing. It wouldn't have been remotely convincing even if he wasn't sporting quite the prominent prow between them all.

"It's awfully tempting though." Janette looked at his member and absently licked her lips until she realised what she was doing and quickly shut her lips together tightly.

"We could stick a flower on top of it and just treat it as part of the flora," Talina suggested.

"Talina, for fuck sake, laughing hurts," Greg managed to eke out between flashes of pain and insistent chuckles.

"Yes, master." She batted her eyelashes at him.

So, on alchemist's orders, Gregory set about doing as little as humanly possible for the next few days. Algra and Janette took mercy upon him and refrained from teasing him too much. Talina, on the other hand, was enjoying herself immensely by wearing her tiny little garments every time she stepped into his tent. It seemed like if she didn't leave him every time sporting a flag pole then she would consider the day a waste.

One evening Gregory found himself sat up in bed with Algra laid beside him. She had been his green guardian angel throughout the entire unpleasant experience. It had been her who had kept others at bay and let him rest. Several orcs had also tried to challenge Bolut again, seeing an easy target to get their hands on his wares. Algra had put a stop to that. Painfully.

Now the brutal orcish warrior was laid there beside her lover in mutually contented silence. They had been there like that for over an hour, the only movement being when Gregory shifted his good arm to stroke his fingers through her hair.

"Did you dream?" Algra eventually shifted her head to look up at him.

"Hm?"

"Orcs get hit on head often. My father once did and did not wake up for a day. When he opened eyes, he spoke of a long dream. He say he dream of my mother cooking. She always cook when scared."

It was an insight into Algra that Gregory found himself oddly surprised by. He tended to think of her as more of a force of nature than someone who'd had a mother and father. After considering the question, he remembered that he had, in fact, had dreams.

"Yes. I did. I remember dreaming of you and Janette a lot."

Algra smiled and lifted her hand to rest over his where it had come to rest against her cheek. "Nice dreams?"

Gregory's expression seemed a little bit distant and slightly troubled. "No. I was running towards you but the world was moving me away. I ran faster and faster and you both disappeared further into the distance."

"We are here now." Algra settled her lips upon his shoulder and snuggled a little closer without hurting him.

"I know. I'm glad." Her warmth felt so good beside him and she smelled of the surrounding forest. Sweet and spicy. "There was another. A dream that started as a nightmare." He looked up to the canopy overhead as he recalled the sparse details. "There was white fire everywhere. Like the whole world was set alight and I was right there at the centre of it all. Everything around me burned with fire, but I didn't. Then I saw the fire wasn't doing what fire usually does. Instead of destroying what it touched, the things in the fire were remade whole again. The flames went out over newly reforged forests and mountains. Then, overhead, I saw a huge black dragon flying away, lighting up the darkness ahead with that white fire."

As Gregory fell silent, Algra lifted herself up. He felt her long black hair spilling across the muscles of his chest to create a pleasant, silky, tickling sensation across his skin. She looked down upon him, suddenly serious.

"You heard my story."

"Story?" Gregory was pretty sure he hadn't heard anything.

"The tale of The First. It is old tale of orcs. Perhaps oldest tale ever. The First Dragon was creator of all. Born of night. He flew out to the sunlight and claimed part of it for his own. That light was his fire and he use that fire to make our world. Then, after ages past, the sun began to die. It turn from yellow to red. The First flew up from the world to give sun back the power he had taken in the beginning. He gave it over and the sun burned yellow again, but the First fell from the sky and died, along with all his kin. I told you this story as you slept."

"Wow, sounds pretty epic." Gregory lifted his head and lightly kissed the tip of her chin. "Thanks for keeping me company."

Algra's troubled expression faded into a far more contented little smile and she settled back down against him.

Yet despite their comfort in each other's arms, neither of them fell asleep for quite some time.

- - - - -

As Gregory and Algra talked of ancient dragons, Torren the smith was busying himself with putting the final edge on a newly forged knife. He carefully dragged the blade along the simple honing rod and tested its edge by lightly running his thumb across its length.

So, when he realised that Talina had appeared very suddenly and silently at the entrance of his tent, he quickly jolted upright and sliced open his thumb. It was a small miracle that he hadn't cut the digit clean off. He barely even noticed the injury as he gawked rather gormlessly at the lovely woman. He'd adored the stunning, slender courtesan from afar ever since she'd arrived in the camp. In all that time, he couldn't recall her ever appearing at his tent at night.

Talina quirked a brow at Torren as she saw the blood spilling onto his lap and heard the audible gulp rising from his throat. With a quick roll of her eyes, she shook her head and advanced upon him.

"You know, it's a miracle you haven't killed yourself. The gods only know what Emmet was thinking, putting you in range of sharp objects." Talina grabbed a clean cloth from one of Torren's shelves and dipped it in water. "Come here."

Torren stared at her with a dreamy sort of confusion as she crouched before his seat and snatched his hand.

"Bloody hell!" He yelped as he finally saw the stream of blood he was spilling across himself.

"Bloody hell, indeed! Now hold it out for me so I can clean it up." Talina offered.

Part of Torren's mind jumped for joy and suggested that he cut himself more often before his common sense stomped on the idea rather harshly. Perhaps a light self-bludgeoning might still get her attention?

Torren shook his head and offered up a broad smile that was perhaps a little too big for his heavy-set, youthful features. He reminded Talina of a rather dopey and overgrown puppy.

"H-hello Talina, I'm sorry about-" His voice caught in his throat. He gulped again. "Is there something you wanted?"

"Yes, and it doesn't include you bleeding out. So sit still." She continued cleaning his thumb and Torren sat patiently as she worked. Once the wound was clean, she examined the cut and decided it would heal easily enough before applying a torn piece of cloth as a makeshift bandage. "There, now don't go ripping it open or getting it dirty. Understand?"

As her pointed finger was thrust mere millimetres from the tip of his nose, he nodded a little too quickly and then remembered to start breathing again.

"Good. Now, I came here to try to find out what, in all the dark realms, happened on the day when Freddie managed to get free."

"Freddie?" Torren looked puzzled yet attentive.

"Freddie." Talina nodded before elaborating. "You know, the imbecile that my master had chained to a post out there who somehow got free of his bonds and almost burned the camp down around our heads?"

"Oh! Him!" A light emerged in Torren's eyes before it faded away to be stifled altogether by a frown. "I'm sorry. I don't know what help I can be. I didn't even really see what happened until it was over."

"You saw the corrosion of the prisoner's bonds."

Torren nodded.

"Good," Talina continued, "then that is a good place to begin."

"Well, as I said, I didn't see what happened, but when I figured out that he'd escaped I ran to the post we'd chained him to. I wondered how he could have gotten free of it. I buried the thing deep into the earth and it was solid iron. Good iron too."

"And then you discovered it had withered."

"Aye. The thing looked like it had been bathed in acid and after being set out to rust for ten years. I remembered a potion that Valise had given me and I told of it. I didn't mean to get anyone in trouble."

"You did what you were asked by those who you respect. There is no fault in all this for you." Talina patted his injured hand gently. Her touch made his skin tingle.

"Thank you, but I feel bad about it all the same."

"As do many of us. Do you know of any others who use Valise's potions to make their crafts?"

"I know the smith in the human diplomat's camp sometimes comes to her for help like I do if he gets stuck. Orcs don't usually bother though unless they've tried everything they can and come up short. You should ask her though. I don't like speaking another's business."

Talina smiled openly at that. "Then you have an honest soul. Such a rarity."

"Not too rare amongst orcs," Torren chuckled softly. The orcs were indeed a rather straightforward people. "But thank you."

Talina stood up before him and his eyes followed hers rather than settling on the appealing, smooth curves of her mostly-bared body. She noticed it and let out a little, enigmatic laugh of her own.

"Torren, why do you never visit me? Do you have a woman hidden away?"

He suddenly felt his face taking on the temperature of a small sun once again.

"N-no! I am too busy here. With my work." He felt the need to add that it was his work that kept him from her rather than anything else he might be doing alone in his tent at night.

"Then you work too hard." She rested a hand on her hip and Torren had to really concentrate in order to not look over her delectable bikini-clad body. "You know, we thought you only had an interest in men. That's not true though, is it?"

"What!?" Torren's eyes popped wide open. "No! I just-"

"I think," Talina leaned forwards and placed a finger upon his babbling lips to silence him, "that there's another reason you never come to see us."

Torren blinked questioningly.

"You like me, don't you? More than you think you should."

Torren started to shake his head but Talina kept her finger pressed firmly to his lips in order to silence him and he fell still. A bead of sweat trickled down from his brow.

"Don't lie to me, Torren. You've kept your eyes on mine this whole time. Even your father looks over my body occasionally when we talk. It is why I wear this, after all." She lifted her other hand and hooked her thumb beneath the golden strap of her little top where it was pulled over her shoulder. The material was lightly flicked back upon her smooth, creamy skin to highlight her point. "But you? You think you can't look. You think it's indecent, don't you? You don't want me to think you're being a letch because you care what I think about you. So you always look into my eyes. And you never come to visit me because you don't want to be a customer. You want to be more than that."

She lifted her touch from his lips and gently traced her fingertips along his cheek in a way that almost made him melt into a puddle of very happy goo right there and then.

"I... I just think your eyes are pretty." Torren said in a somewhat dreamy whisper.

The admission made Talina's catlike smile widen and her eyes brightened with a beautiful grassy-green shine.

"Torren, you know who I am. You know what I do. You know who my master is. My master, who I am very happy with." The words poured from Talina's lips like tiny chisels that etched their way into the man's heart. Then, just before that fragile muscle shattered on the spot, Talina slipped her hand around his head to interlace her fingers through his hair and pulled him into a gentle kiss. In all his years longing for the woman, he'd never imagined that she tasted so delicious or that the moment would be sweeter than he'd hoped. The kiss was slow and she lingered until she could taste his passion for her rising when instinct guided him to deepen that delightfully intimate touch.




The Missing Dragon Ch. 04



Author's Note: Thanks be to Krissta for editing duty. Thanks to everyone else for your enduring patience. Hope you enjoy!

*****

Ulf Bloodwrath was studying a wooden penis, and he wasn't quite sure why.

It had begun when he'd reported to the training fields earlier that morning only to find Ulag, the proving master, bearing down on him like an oncoming hurricane. The old orc had then spent a good ten minutes bellowing loudly in Ulf's face about the dangers of defacing the training equipment before shoving Ulf into the armoury. It was then that he'd first seen Nullik and things started to make some sense. His friend, pack mate, and occasional bane of his existence had been sat waiting after having already received a loud scolding from Ulag. During the night it seemed that someone had crept inside the proving grounds and had scribbled some very scandalous suggestions about the questionable presence of master Ulag's testicles across the training armour. They had also taken the time to carve several of the fighting clubs to look like male genitalia. Because of this, Ulf found himself in the odd predicament of regarding a large wooden carving of a shlong, wondering what in the almighty shit-pits was happening.

He looked up from the wooden pecker and narrowed his eyes at Nullik.

"It wasn't me!" Oddly enough, Nullik seemed to be quite genuine for once. He was a consummate prankster, but he couldn't lie about his antics without bursting into laughing fits. Not even to save his life.

"Well who else would be this idiotic?" Ulf grumbled before walking over to the bucket of water and taking out one of the rough scrubbing cloths to begin cleaning up the mess.

"I don't know, but I want to find out."

"So that we can beat them senseless for getting us into this mess?"

"Actually, I was thinking of buying them an ale and swapping suggestions." Nullik grinned as he regarded a chest plate that poetically suggested Ulag had enjoyed several improper dalliances with mountain goats.

"Nullik, so help me if I find out this was you I'll-"

"It really wasn't! I know I like a joke, but I'm not exactly this . . . eloquent."

"No. No you're not." Ulf grunted and picked up another chest plate to start scrubbing.

It took the pair of them almost the entire morning to clean off the obscene writing from the armour and then to go out and carve some new training clubs to replace the ones that had taken on a phallic appearance during the night. Nullik was clearly the chief suspect, and given his past actions Ulf could hardly blame Ulag for suspecting him. As the leader of Nullik's pack, it was Ulf's duty to share the punishment. It hadn't exactly helped that his pack mate often stopped to show him some of the more imaginative insults scrawled on the armour with a tone of gleeful reverence. It was like watching an amateur craftsman admire the work of a master.

Annoying as that was, he didn't truly believe that Nullik was the culprit. For one thing, Nullik's usual pranks weren't quite so overt. So he told the younger orc to get some lunch with the rest of the pack whilst he took the final box of wooden trouser snakes to the jungle to be burned. Obviously, Ulag wanted the matter taken care of with discretion and Ulf didn't want to get even further into the proving master's bad side. In truth, he didn't particularly want to get caught carrying a box of dong-shaped weapons around the camp at any rate. Things like that tended to start rumours.

He made his way alone out along the path to the forest, feeling his stomach rumbling in protest at walking in the opposite direction of where his lunch was waiting for him. To pass the time, he thought of numerous ways to beat the living snot out of the phantom trickster that had gotten him into so much unwarranted trouble. He found a quiet and secluded spot and used some kindling and flint to set the box of wooden man-rods alight.

That was when the hand reached out from within the foliage to grab his shoulder.

Reacting without thought, he shifted to the side and grabbed the wrist of his would-be stalker before twisting around to lock their arm in place in an attempt to render it useless. The move was instinctive, well practiced and far too old fashioned to work on the owner of the hand. As Ulf tried to lock the arm, his assailant gracefully flipped backwards to render the twist useless and bent her arm to smash an elbow into Ulf's face. The stunned expression on him was priceless. All that remained to be done was a simple hook of her heel behind his leg, followed by hard shove to send him careening off balance and falling down onto his back.

He recognised the sultry laugh that followed and it immediately set him at ease. That relief only lasted a moment, and he quickly tensed up again as the fear and excitement of battle was replaced with embarrassment. He felt a pleasant weight descend upon him and the world stopped spinning to allow him to see the beautiful jade coloured face of Ulla Strongblood resting over him. She pinned him to the grass effortlessly, pushing his wrists down against the earth over his head. It gave him quite a view of her plentiful chest, snugly held back by a thick strap of fur that couldn't quite contain her curves. Instead, it offered a spectacular view of her deep cleavage merely inches away from his nose.

"Yield?" she asked.

Ulf squirmed beneath her, he was stronger than Ulla and he could have overpowered her. Unfortunately for some reason his heart wasn't quite in it, especially when his struggling caused her luscious breasts to jiggle so enticingly inside her top. She grinned when she saw where Ulf's eyes were fixed and took the opportunity to quickly smash her forehead against his nose. The impact took a considerable amount of the fight out of him.

"Yield." This time she said it as more of an order than a suggestion.

"Fine! By the First, Ulla. What are you doing here?" Ulf growled the words whilst she released his hands so he could rub his sore nose.

She lifted herself up over him on her knees, settling her rump down on his lap and extending her arms above her head to stretch out in a languid victory pose over her fallen opponent.

"Nullik said you'd gone into the jungle to burn something. I followed you out and brought you something to eat, dear alpha." She turned her head and nodded to the linen bag she'd brought with her before seeing the opportunity to sneak up on him.

Ulla was one of the Runts. They were considered the weakest pack in the proving grounds, though Ulla's problem wasn't that she couldn't fight. One-on-one she could have probably taken out half of the encampment. Ulla's problem was that she couldn't listen. Teamwork was an almost alien concept to her and she'd been through five other packs before finally falling in with the Runts. All of the other packs had rejected her because she simply wouldn't do as she was told.

Ulf had kept her, and for that she seemed to have developed a grudging sense of gratitude. Though Ulla's thanks often came with an ass-whupping the like of which he'd just received. If he was honest, he hadn't kept her with them because she was a useful member of the pack. She was headstrong, she didn't get on with anyone, and in a true battle she would probably get them all killed.

He'd allowed her to stay simply because looking at Ulla Strongblood had quite a strong affect on him. She was strong, fast, and a great fighter. It was only right that he should respect that. At least that's what he'd told himself for the past year she'd been with his pack. Lately, however, even he had to admit that it was much more than respect that kept his eyes wandering over to her whenever the opportunity presented itself.

Those wandering eyes of his hadn't gone unnoticed by Ulla. She quite enjoyed the way he looked at her when he thought she wasn't paying attention. Others looked, of course. Why shouldn't they? She was Ulla Strongblood, younger sister of Rowun Strongblood. She would be a prized mate for any male if they could best her. She had already started getting unofficial little challenges for her affection the previous year, and had even begun to accept those challenges two months ago. So far none had managed to claim her affections in direct combat and she hadn't felt that any of them deserved for her to go easy on them.

Ulf on the other hand had kept his interest to himself for some reason. He was the noble sort, with a high name of his own to live up to as one of the son's of the warchief. He hadn't tried to challenge her because it might have made waves in their pack and he didn't want to lose her as a pack mate. It was a shame. Ulla felt Ulf's strong body between her legs and decided that she might not fight her hardest against the idea of rutting with him. When that thought crossed her mind she smiled down at him before pushing her firm rear back to rub herself against the soft lump of his loincloth. It did not remain soft for very long.

"Ulla! What-" Ulf started to ask before she leaned over him and placed her fingers across his lips to hush him.

"I just saw you out here, burning a box of suspiciously cock-shaped clubs and wondered if you collected them because yours didn't work. I'm very glad to report that I was wrong." She grinned wickedly and wiggled her hips to feel him beneath her. "It's a big one isn't it? Perhaps one made for two hands?"

"Will you quit it!" He growled and shoved her off him as she rolled over onto her back and laughed. Instead of pouncing him all over again, she reached over for her linen bag and opened it up to show him the cuts of juicy beef and fresh bread inside.

Ulf licked his lips and walked back to her, urged on by the inviting smell that had emerged from the bag. Within moments he was sat beside her on the forest floor, munching on the beef and bread whilst Ulla watched him curiously.

"I thank you for this." He said after the third mouthful.

"You'd have done the same for me."

"I would." He nodded.

"So, why are you out here burning cock-clubs? Should I be worried?"

The question got an unexpected laugh from Ulf. "No. Someone carved them out of the training clubs last night. Ulag thought Nullik was to blame because, let's face it, it's nearly always Nullik who's to blame for such things."

"Well I was going to-" Ulla started but fell silent when she saw something else catch Ulf's attention.

It didn't take long for her to pick up on it. Battle! The blood warmed at the prospect and she scrambled to her feet along with Ulf to run through the forest in the direction of the noise. The ringing clash of metal along with the grunts and yells of combat called to the young orcs like some sweet siren song.

Ulla was ready to burst right out of the foliage and attack whoever dared to fight in their territory. Instead she was only allowed to let out a strangled gurgle of objection when Ulf grabbed her wrist and pulled her back. It was just like Ulla to run straight into any fight. He preferred to at least check that they might stand some chance of winning whatever brawl they were getting into before diving chin-first into the conflict.

Peering through the leaves, he was immediately glad that he'd stopped Ulla. Largely because a full-on attack would have seen them charge out to lay waste to their newest pack mate. Gregory Hopkins, the first human to be allowed into the proving grounds in centuries, was engaging in a fierce sparring match. It wouldn't have looked favourably on the Runts to have accidentally ambushed one of their own members. They had enough problems already.

The second reason that springing out into the fight would have been a terrible idea came in the form of who Gregory's sparring partner was. Algra Strongblood was one of the most renowned warriors of her people. She had been the life-mate of Rowun Strongblood until he had fallen in battle. Despite having lost her mate and her status it was evident from watching her that she had definitely not lost her skill in combat. Ulf heard a low, dangerous growl rise from beside him. Ulla had lifted herself up having recognised Algra. Ulf knew little of Rowun, other than what his legends spoke of him. He'd never asked Ulla about her brother, but from the way she tensed with a vicious aggression at the sight of Algra it was clear what she thought of her brother's life-mate.

The pair of them stayed hidden and watched Algra deftly sidestep Gregory's strike before closing the distance along his outstretched arm to plant a solid elbow in his chest. Ulf winced, knowing full well that the young human's chest had been badly injured only weeks before on the proving grounds. The move stunned Gregory and he stumbled backwards allowing Algra to press her advantage, kicking him backwards to smack loudly against the trunk of a tree.

"Yield! Yield already. Damn it, Algra," Gregory said, woozily trying to bring his vision back into focus.

"That was pathetic. Slow. Poorly timed and you continue to use your head too much," She gave him a disapproving clout over the back of the aforementioned head in an effort to get him to snap out of it.

"Well, I did consider just taking my head off at my shoulders and putting it to one side, but I don't think that would make me fight any better."

"That is not what I mean, idiot! And if you go into a true battle like this then someone else will soon do that for you." Algra started pacing in front of him. "All warriors need to use their head in battle, but we think of the long-fight. You use your head to think of the short-fight." She stopped to jab a finger into his sore chest.

"Ow! Huh?"

Algra outright snarled.

"Wait! I'm with you. I've just never heard of the idea of a long-fight and a short-fight before. You're saying I should stretch it out? Tire out the opponent?" He looked over Algra's incredible physique. Tiring her out would probably take him several days.

"No! The long-fight is taking into account of yourself, your ground, your advantages and disadvantages. Then finding a way to use it all to put your enemy in the dirt."

"Well that's what I'm doing!"

"No, you are thinking of each punch, each kick, and each dodge. The short-fight. You are letting me set the speed, force you back into bad ground, and take all the advantages whilst you think about these things. The short-fight should not be where your mind is. Act. React. No thinking. Save your thoughts for winning the long-fight."

Gregory considered that advice and then finally brought himself to his feet.

"So, any advice for fighting the short-fight without thinking about it?"

"You already do. That is why it is so vexing that you do not."

Gregory tried to analyse that one but his brain wasn't playing along.

"What?"

"When we first met. You beat me soundly."

"Yeah, but that's because you were desperate, not thinking properly, and you didn't think I knew how to fight at all."

"I was. You saw that. You saw I was too angry and I pressed too much, so when you hit back it was . . . unexpected. I fell. It was a good move."

"Well I was pretty shocked, so it was mostly just-"

"Instinct?"

Gregory nodded, beginning to understand what she was driving at.

"When you beat the mad boy. That was instinct too."

"That wasn't shock. That was out-and-out rage."

"Why do you think orcs use our anger in battle? It helps to keep our heads out of the short-fight. Let the rage and the power and the training carry that. Keep our brains on the long-fight."

"Well, when I lost it with Freddie, I wasn't thinking about any long-fight. I was way too angry."

"Then find balance."

He nodded and took a fighting stance to indicate he was ready. Normally he'd consider which stance to start out in based on his technique but he took Algra's words into account and just opted for something that felt good and solid. She let out a low growl of intent and then launched into an attack. What did he have over her? She was a legendary warrior and he was basically a novice with very little actual combat experience. He studied her as he blocked two of her attacks and dodged the third. Instead of letting her push him back, he shifted to the side and countered. Algra blocked his strike but he hadn't meant to really take any advantage. It wasn't time yet. She was aggressive, agile, and incredibly fast. She was also probably stronger than he was. No advantages there. Wait, that wasn't exactly true, was it? She liked to spend a lot of her time during combat in the air. Her legs were always in use shifting around to deliver devastating kicks and leaping from one stance to another. That could work to his advantage.

With a plan in place, he decided to use another of Algra's weaknesses that had worked for him in the past. Low expectations. They both knew she was the better fighter and she'd gotten frustrated with him for not doing as he was told. 

So, he decided to not do as he was told. 

Her next blow made him shift back onto muddy ground, she pressed her advantage quickly and used his lack of mobility to deliver three hard strikes across his thigh, belly, and chest. That was fine, he was expecting them. They still hurt like hell, but it was a sacrifice for the long-fight. He used all the traction he could get to leap backwards and press his back against a tree. Algra growled with fury as he allowed her to easily take the favourable ground yet again and she leapt up to deliver a finishing kick to his stomach.

Gregory saw it coming. He'd pushed himself back to the tree on purpose. Using it as leverage to push himself off, he went straight for her as she spun in the air and delivered two open palmed blows to her side. The attack immediately unbalanced Algra and though she managed to slam her knee against his ribs, she didn't get the full force of the blow and was instead forced to expend all her energy in finding her feet once again. Gregory was shoved backwards against the tree, but Algra managed to land on her feet and stay upright, though now it was her standing in the mud.

"Better," she approved. Then she launched herself forwards again to continue the bout.

Still hidden in the foliage, Ulla grinned her approval. 

"He learns fast."

Ulf nodded his agreement. Though he wasn't certain that it would be fast enough.

"If he is well, then he should return to the pack," Ulf noted.

"Well if he's as useful as he was last time, we're better off without him."

"That's not the point, Ulla. He has a duty now."

"The human is barely a week out of his sickbed, Ulf. And he looks to be training to fight rather than readying himself to run. Give him another week before telling Ulag he's ready to return."

The idea of letting the human have a holiday whilst the rest of the pack trained together hardly sat right with Ulf. He frowned at the decision and considered that Gregory didn't seem the type to back down. Ulla was right. He wasn't going to run. Then, when she reached out and put her hand on Ulf's shoulder, she made his decision easier.

"He get's a week. No more." Ulf said.

"Good, now come. We must return. Let us leave the human to his fight."

They both heard the sudden sound of a loud thud and a low groan of pain before turning back to see Algra stood over Gregory who she'd just handily dumped into the mud, face first.

"Maybe we should give him two weeks." Ulla suggested.

Ulf let out a passive and unimpressed grunt before turning away to walk back to the camp.

* * * * *

Lydia heard the familiar noises coming from within the tent of the courtesans before she even laid eyes on it. As she moved closer, she could discern the familiar deep male grunts sounding out in rhythm with her friend's almost melodic feminine moans. It did not take a mastermind to figure out what she was about to walk in on, and after knowing both of the suspected subjects for years it would certainly be weird to just drop in on them mid-coitus.




The Missing Dragon Ch. 04



Not that it would stop her from peeking on them, given that she had a good excuse. Reaching the canopy, she flipped open the cover and ducked inside to see the passion driven couple in all their naked glory, busily trying to outrace each other to a climax.

The pair didn't notice Lydia's entrance. Talina's eyes were closed tightly with her lips parted to release lustful pants of air from her lungs. Her head lolled back as she continued to ride her lover toward what must have been a closely incoming crescendo. For his part, the young blacksmith found it quite easy to compare the feel of her clenching sheath sliding up and down his hot steel to his idea of pure heaven. Even after weeks of Talina's erotic attentions, Torren couldn't quite believe she was all his. It was hard to remember there even was a world beyond her in those stolen moments, let alone notice any prying eyes enjoying the show.

Lydia watched the way Talina expertly shifted her hips in quick, sharp movements and found herself somewhat impressed with the way Torren's big hands grasped her waist to help those movements along. She'd known him for a long time, although they hadn't talked much except when she needed his smithing services. He'd always tended to slouch, and he was a dedicated daydreamer. His quiet ways and bulky frame hadn't exactly made him the talk of the ladies of the camp, but Lydia could certainly see why he'd kept Talina's interest. For one thing, he might have been somewhat large framed, but she was shocked to see just how much of that extra weight was hard muscle. He might have enjoyed food a little more than he should have, but he also spent every day working hammer and forge. It showed. What's more, given that she could now clearly see exactly what was giving Talina cause to moan as it slid inside her over and over again, Lydia had to admit she should have given him more attention in times past. The voyeur thought about interrupting the very happy couple for a few moments before deciding she'd take the high road and wait patiently for them to finish.

"Yes! Yes! YES!" Talina's lips curled into a smile that quivered around her cries of pleasure. She pushed herself down hard with each passing moment to thrust every inch of her lover deep inside her. Each gliding movement stoked the fire inside her until she could finally burn no brighter.

The slender beauty pressing her hands to his broad chest and letting her pussy convulse around him drove Torren over the edge. A fiery detonation that he'd been building bubbled up his length to gush into her welcoming body. Heat. Lust. Bliss. The trinity of sensation filled them both as their climax brought them together harshly and then fell away into a soft, relaxing lull.

Talina lowered herself down upon Torren and let out a little laugh of delight before she settled her lips to his and they kissed slowly and sensually.

"My, he has come a long way." Lydia put her hands together in a slow albeit genuine round of applause that the performance.

Talina didn't seem to hear or care about the compliment, but the heavy-framed blacksmith's eyes shot wide open upon hearing another voice in the tent. He broke the kiss in an effort to run off and hide some place where he could comfortably die of embarrassment. The woman currently impaled on his cock was having absolutely none of it. She rudely shoved him down by his shoulders before rising up on him to straddle his lap and absently brush away the long wave of midnight hair that had fallen over her shoulders. Any struggle between the pair should have been overwhelmingly in favour of the powerful blacksmith, yet it was Talina who unmistakably emerged on top. A catlike grin settled on her lips as her fingertips raked down his chest and she gave her bare rear a little wiggle.

She felt Torren's length twitch inside of her with that movement and then she finally looked over to Lydia, mildly annoyed.

"Lydia, when I asked you and Fiona to keep out of the tent this morning so that Torren and I could be alone, did you think it was so we could compare notes on making horse shoes?" Despite the levity of her words, there was a distinctly lethal edge to Talina's tone.

"No, but I'm afraid Emmet insisted on the interruption. Bolut is about to take the trade caravan out into the human kingdoms and it seems that they can't do without you." Lydia shrugged, not quite knowing herself why Emmet required a trained courtesan for the job of counting and carrying goods. It wasn't exactly Talina's speciality. "Perhaps he's preparing you to take over from him. We all know how clever you are, and the poor man is getting on in years."

Talina rolled her eyes. "He's just wanting to check up on something. Tell him I'll be out in a little while."

Torren had turned a very alarming shade of scarlet by that point after having a pair of beautiful women conduct a casual conversation over his nude body. He shuffled his shoulders to try and lift himself up onto his elbows. The sudden slap to his cheek was swift and lightning quick. It wasn't the first time Talina had slapped him like that. It didn't particularly hurt him, except to leave a brief and mild stinging sensation on his skin. He blinked and before he could figure out what he'd done wrong he found himself looking up into Talina's pale green eyes along the length of her finger which was suddenly pointed at the tip of his nose.

"Stay," she commanded.

He didn't move.

"Good boy." She grinned and gave his head a little pat.

Lydia raised her hand to her mouth to try not to laugh aloud at the treatment. Talina had a very odd way of showing affection, though few men complained about it. Torren sank back to lie down beneath her and the corner of his mouth turned up in a little smile. It was hard to be mad at the woman with his cock lodged inside her and returning to its formerly rigid state more and more by the moment.

Talina slid off of him and shifted to his side where she knelt down and lowered her lips to give the tip of his glistening manhood a playful little kiss. After that, she licked their mixed love juices from her mouth and gave him an affectionate wink.

"Stay here, Torren. I'll return soon." Talina lifted herself to stand and reached out to grab her long, hooded cloak and cast it over her bare shoulders. She spent a little time after that affixing her sandals to her feet before blowing her lover a kiss goodbye and departing the tent with Lydia.

For her part, Lydia was adorned in her usual small bronze bikini that highlighted her curves magnificently. Not much modesty could be seen about her luscious frame. Perhaps even more so than her two closest friends, Lydia was quite the exhibitionist. In the heat of the orc encampment, her skimpy attire was a small blessing. She often looked at Torren working the furnace in his tunic and cringed for the poor lad. Although she had to admit that it seemed the gods had finally favoured him as of late.

"I see you've got him well trained." The curvy courtesan quirked a brow toward Talina in amusement.

"He's coming along nicely." Talina lifted her nose loftily whilst keeping her tone tellingly neutral.

"You seemed to be cumming along quite nicely too, from what I saw in there." Lydia contemplatively looked over her shoulder back towards their tent. "Do you mind if I try him? I have to admit, I didn't think much of our resident blacksmith before you took him under your wing."

"He's mine. Train your own," Talina snapped.

Lydia let out a little throaty laugh. "Alright! You can sheathe the claws. I was only curious."

Silence reigned for a few moments as they walked through Bolut's camp at a leisurely pace.

"What are you wanting Torren for anyway? Is the master not keeping you satisfied?"

Lydia frowned at that and offered a shrug of her shoulders that made her sizeable breasts bounce and strain against the tiny arrangement of strings and cloth confining them.

"Gregory has been distant. He wanders off all day into the wilds with Algra. His mind is elsewhere when we bathe him. I've tried to capture his attention. He hardly seems to notice. Between Janette, Algra, and Valise, he has his nights occupied well enough."

"He is a man. Subtlety is hardly going to be his strength. If you want him, then offer yourself more blatantly."

"He saw through one of your masks, Talina. I hardly think he needs help seeing what's right in front of him." Lydia folded her arms across her bountiful bosom and pouted to herself.

"The best place to hide is always in plain sight, Lydia. People don't look for things that are right before their eyes." Talina's gaze shifted forward when Bolut's caravan came into view on the road at the edge of the camp. The other human slaves were busily packing up the wares onto the large cart and the enormous oxen were being settled and fed in preparation for the journey.

"Fine then! I'll just march in his tent this evening and bend over his table after carefully lettering the words "Fuck" and "Me" on my rear end. A word on each cheek. How's that?"

"Perhaps you shouldn't be that blatant." Talina offered her friend a little curve of her lips.

"By the way, I've been dying to ask, how does Torren compare to Gregory?" Lydia lowered their voice to a conspiratorial whisper as they approached the ears of the slaves ahead of them.

Talina's brow furrowed with annoyance for a moment as she looked at Lydia and saw that she was genuinely albeit playfully curious rather than just simply jesting with the question. "He's not as naturally gifted, but he's a good student and we're both enjoying ourselves more and more with each lesson. They're both quite . . . industrious."

Before Lydia could press for juicer details, Emmet shuffled his old bones from around the caravan and laid eyes upon them both.

"There you are! Where have you both been?"

"She was fucking Torren like a wild woman. I watched." Lydia passively replied as she stepped up to the caravan and put her hands on the edge to peek over it and over the assembled array of goods that had already been loaded.

The reply took the wind out of Emmet's sails a little and the poor old man looked for a few moments like he'd just seen a unicorn.

"I'm here now," Talina pressed, "what's the matter?"

Emmet cleared his throat and walked a bit away from the caravan, Talina smoothly fell into step at his side and slid her arm beneath his to help him along. Emmet was a clever man with a keen mind, but the aches and pains of a long and hard life were catching up to him. Lydia saw them moving away and moved to follow but she was stopped when Talina turned her gaze to face her and shook her head. She knew what they were likely about to discuss and it could have put the woman in danger.

"What have you learned?" Emmet asked as they slipped in the gap between two large and currently empty supply tents.

"Nothing." Talina folded her arms and looked away, down at the ground between the tents.

Emmet remained quiet, sensing the bait for an argument was being laid.

"I'm serious! It's all well and good trying to prove something but the proof actually has to be there! I'm certain elder Wren had something to do with what happened to the mad boy but if he did then he's not trying anything else right now. He spends his days at the provings and at the great hall. At night, he sleeps. What more do you want?" Talina's green eyes lit with an angry fire as she turned back to look to Emmet.

"You're sure it's him?" Emmet asked in a carefully relaxed tone.

"No! But if it's not him then I don't know who in all the dark realms it could be." Talina's shoulders sank and her arms unravelled to fall to her sides.

"Don't let your hope fall, girl. There's more than one way to skin a traitor. They've slipped back amongst the shadows, and looking into the abyss for answers is beyond even those with the sharpest eyes." Emmet reached behind himself to rub his sore back as he considered their options. Then after a moment, he looked to Talina again. "Keep your eyes here now, on the camp and on our boy. If we can't seek out our enemy then at least we can defend ourselves. Can you do that without raising anyone's hackles?"

Talina looked around the place. The tents and pavilions that comprised Bolut's section of the camp were made in a relative circle around a central open space with a simple line of stalls beside, bordering the dirt road.

"At night, I can keep watch easily enough but during the day the camp is too busy to effectively guard. Too many orcs and slaves walking through our tents. I only have two eyes. And I need sleep from time to time." Talina rubbed her brow with frustration. 

"Take Fiona under your wing then, show her how to use those feline eyes of hers." Emmet suggested.

"That is . . . frowned upon." Talina pointedly didn't elaborate.

"Do it anyway, and tell anyone who frowns at you to take it up with me. Damn it all, girl! My back hurts. Let's go back to our business. If you need anything, ask me." With that, Emmet turned to shuffle back to his own abode.

Talina watched after the old man before turning back towards her home, considering the conversation she'd just had with each stride. She didn't like being on the defensive, but Emmet was right. There wasn't really any other choice. She also didn't particularly want to show Fiona the tricks of counter spying. Though she liked Fiona well enough, sharing that information would likely make her curious about why Talina knew so much about it in the first place.

Gregory had once told her in passing that curiosity and felines weren't a good mix.

Finally, she thought of Torren waiting for her back in her tent and the image of him laid there ready for her perked up her pace somewhat. At least life wasn't all shadows and eyes in the dark.

Not anymore.

* * * * *

"Ow!" Splat.

Janette winced with empathy as she watched Gregory get lifted into the air and slammed down hard against the dirt for the third time that morning.

"You still think too much!" Algra growled before offering her hand to the fallen young man.

Gregory took it reluctantly and allowed himself to be pulled back up on shaky legs.

"Algra, I promise you, I haven't been thinking in at least two hours. It hurts to think right now." He wobbled from side to side as his aching head tried to focus on his sparring opponent.

Algra's words about the short fight and the long fight had indeed sunk in, but that didn't mean he was remotely ready to fight her at her best. She was damned near unbeatable. Not only did she lay him out on his backside every time they engaged each other, she promptly told him exactly what he'd done wrong each time. The orc made punching someone in the face an art form. Janette had been watching them for over an hour, and watching Algra was more like watching a very talented dancer than a fighter.

A very talented dancer with a partner who had two left feet.

It wasn't that Gregory was bad. He was just way out of his league. If things continued on their route, he wouldn't get back to the proving grounds any time soon. Janette knew the deal he'd made with his orc lover. The first time he put her down, she'd admit he was ready to go back to the provings.

It wasn't that he'd thought it was going to be a stroll in the park. He knew and respected Algra well enough to know she was a formidable opponent. Still, he thought he might get at least one sparring victory in a hundred. He'd lost count of how many times she'd put him on his ass after two hundred and thirty six attempts. That was a week ago.

It took her a full fifteen seconds to win the next bout before she casually stood up and walked over to Janette's rock to grab her skin of water and take a few gulps. The jungle was very hot, and beating the living crap out of people was thirsty work.

Janette hopped down from her perch and walked over to Greg, who was still laid out on the ground and enjoying the moment of rest. The soft grass felt good beneath him and the sky was clear and blue above. He saw Janette's beautiful face pop into that view and he looked over to her.

The warm weather and relative privacy allowed her to shun her cloak beneath which she wore only the skimpiest of garments. A collection of thin threads pulled over her hips and between the bare cheeks of her rear, holding together a small triangle of black fabric that was pulled rather suggestively against her sex. Slightly larger triangles of matching cloth covered her plentiful breasts displaying the rounded curves of her cleavage and the undersides of the soft mounds where the material couldn't quite stretch.

A very convincing part of him demanded that he get up and start a gruelling training regimen of ravenous lovemaking right there in the grass. A larger part of him carefully reminded his libido that he could barely stand up.

Janette crouched down beside him. Bright red hair spilled across her shoulders as she tenderly stroked her fingers across the defined muscles of Gregory's chest. Careful not to aggravate any impending bruises, she caressed what felt like warm steel beneath his deeply tanned skin. She loved his new attire. The trunks put quite a bit of his powerful frame on display and she was more than happy to get an eyeful at every opportunity. Even with the newly earned battle scars across his chest, he looked downright delectable.

"Maybe you should both take a longer rest?" she suggested.

"No rest." Algra took another gulp of water.

Gregory kept his focus on Janette. "This is your fault," he grunted whilst trying to summon the will to get back up again.

"My fault?"

"Yeah. Sat on that rock there looking like that. A guy can get distracted." He managed a somewhat weary smile up at her.

She gave his arm a chiding slap but couldn't quite hold back the grin from her lips.

"Ow," Gregory winced. Everything hurt.

"Wuss."

"Yup, that's me alright." Figuring that Algra would soon be returning, he finally lifted his heavy limbs to sit upright and came nose to nose with Janette.

"So, how did you beat her before?" Janette's hand lightly lifted to stroke his cheek.

"Surprised her." Greg turned his head to kiss her open hand.

"So do it again."

"I'm pretty sure it was a special occasion. She doesn't surprise easily." His gaze shifted over to look at Algra who was pouring more water over her face. The sight of that water cascading over Algra's firm, incredibly athletic figure and sliding between her plump breasts caused his tongue to run across his lips.

"I've seen the way she looks at you Greg. She gets weak at the knees." Janette stroked a few stray blades of grass from his shoulder.

"Nope, I've seen her knees quite close up over the past week or so. Hurtling towards my face, along with her fists, elbows, and feet. I can conclusively say there's nothing weak about them." He finally hefted himself up to his feet and he helped the girl up beside him.

"That's not what I meant and you know it. You know I've been hanging out a lot with Talina, right?"

"Mmmm." Talina. Janette. Hanging out. Yum.

"Well, she says that even the best of warriors are always vulnerable. You just have to find that weakness and exploit it, see?" Janette slipped her foot around behind Gregory's ankle in a smooth motion, the skin of her firm thigh caressing along the outside of his leg.

She'd got so far under Gregory's guard with the mental imagery and the smooth manoeuvre that by the time he realised he was being set-up, all she had to do was straighten out her leg. Doing so knocked him completely off balance and her hands gave him a sharp shove to send him sprawling back onto his butt. Again.

"Hey! What the..." Gregory started to complain, but when he looked up at the mischievous glint in the eyes of the redhead above him, he knew the lesson she was trying to convey almost immediately. He stopped, thought about it and then looked over to Algra, who was now approaching them.




The Missing Dragon Ch. 04



He blinked and looked back to Janette. "Think that'll work?"

"I'm pretty sure you've tried everything else by this point. It couldn't hurt." Jan extended her hand out to help him up and he gladly took it.

"Believe me, it could hurt a lot. Seems like everyone's knocking me on my arse these days." Gregory flexed the muscles along his shoulders and felt the anticipation of the imminent brawl. It was oddly invigorating.

"Yeah, well maybe I'll let you do something to my arse later to make up for it." Janette leaned in to lay a parting little kiss on his cheek before hurrying off to sit back on her rock and watch the show.

That parting hint immediately shifted Gregory's attention from the oncoming orc to look towards the gorgeous red haired vixen with his mouth hanging open in near shock. She was going to let him do what!? That was-

He never quite got to work out what it was since Algra's fist immediately smacked into the side of his head and sent him staggering backwards. The blow was so hard that it almost knocked him unconscious, but by some miracle he managed to stay on his feet with enough presence of mind to hop backwards avoiding Algra's following lunge.

"Hey! No fair, I wasn't ready!" He only realised how much like a five year old he sounded after the words had left his lips.

"Half of your fights will be attacks, half will be defending yourself. Attackers don't give warning unless they're idiots. Don't expect one," Algra advised.

He was about to argue out of sheer frustration, but instead he saw the sense in her words and simply gave a brief nod. Alright then. If she wanted to fight dirty maybe he could return the favour.

She attacked again and he fell into a simple and effective series of defensive manoeuvres. Sidestep, stance shift, block, feint, feint, sidestep, strike. He could have probably done it in his sleep. The strike didn't hit but everything leading up to it had gone pretty well. Algra hadn't managed to put him on his back or make him see double and he was starting to consider that to be a win. It would have been easy to get a little confidence, but he knew all too well that she was only testing him. Like a shark letting its wounded prey tire itself out before going in for the kill.

"So, um, quick question?" Gregory spoke as they circled each other.

Algra didn't lose that predatory look in her eye. Her trained vision was waiting for him to give her an opportune opening. She did let out a brief grunt in the affirmative, however. Gregory took the opportunity to delay getting turned into chum.

"Alright, well I was wondering if you've got any advice on a problem I'm having on focusing." He kept his guard up, knowing that question-and-answer time was also potentially getting-his-ass-kicked time in the orc's opinion.

"You have many problems. Explain." Algra's tone wasn't unkind. It was just brutally honest.

"Well, what happens if I'm squaring off with someone I find incredibly attractive? Like, if I can't concentrate because all I can think about is how good she'd feel pressed against me. "

Algra's eyes widened and she stood a little more upright. Her guard didn't completely fall but Gregory resisted the strong urge to slip into the advantageous position that her surprise offered him. If he pushed his luck, she'd figure him out in a snap and then likely snap something of his to make a point. So instead, he continued to play the innocent and pursue his question.

"I'm just saying, how can I focus on keeping myself in the fight when all I can think about is tearing off your clothes? Is there some sort of trick you use?"

Algra's answer came in the form of a lunge that didn't bear her usual degree of finesse and style. After Gregory had tactfully sidestepped the attempt to get her hands on him, he noticed Algra's gaze fall down over his body to rest on the front of his trunks. He was crazy about the gorgeous orc, but subtlety wasn't exactly one of her specialities.

"See? I mean, I'm trying to stand here in my usual fighting stance but it gets kind of awkward when you're making me so hard. Especially in these tight leather trunks you jammed me into." He lowered his guard to gesture to his crotch where Algra saw a thickening bulge rising out stubbornly against the tough leather.

She lunged for him again, but forgot to take her eyes off of that bulge until it was far too late. This left her with a lot of momentum and little direction, and Gregory swiftly sidestepped the attack and reached across to give her ass a lusty squeeze before she could recollect herself.

"It's like you've got this unfair advantage." Gregory deftly ducked under one of Algra's counter swings for his face before hopping back onto the favoured ground. "In the provings, I'd want to beat my opponents. But you? I associate a hot and sweaty Algra Strongblood with some very happy moments in my life. It's hard to want to put you down when all I can think about is how much I want to pin you up against that tree."

His words had a very alarming effect of making the gorgeous orc lose her sense. The long-fight be damned. She wanted to attack him, to get him close against her and feel him inside her. She also wanted to break his nose. It was a conflict of interest that was making her fighting skills somewhat erratic.

Gregory didn't help matters when instead of dodging her next charge, he ran right back at her. He only broke his momentum the moment before what would surely have been a bone-crunching impact in order to swerve off to one side and grapple her. This had the rather spectacular effect of making him swing around his muscular lover and settle his feet in the earth behind her. Instead of taking his chances and trying to put her on the ground, he instead lowered his head and tenderly ran his lips across a spot on the nape of her neck that usually made her groan. His hands lifted to cup her breasts over that little fur top that barely constrained the voluptuous, green globes.

She felt him behind her, the strong musculature of his broad chest along with the thickness of his thighs leading upwards to that firm rise in his trunks now pressing tightly against her rear. A threatening growl lifted from her throat, but she pushed her gloriously firm behind back against that pleasant lump.

Gregory wasn't stupid enough to press his luck too much. Stimulating Algra's libido along with her battle-lust at the same time was a dangerous tactic. One wrong move and he'd have a very horny orc on top of him and likely beating the crap out of him at the same time. Breaking the slow grind they were starting together, he gave Algra a rude shove forward whilst holding onto her little skirt. The stitches of thread that held it together tore apart to leave her standing only in the small fur top. She didn't seem to mind that she was baring her lower delights and the sight of her almost distracted him enough for her to turn the tables in their little game. Seeing her toned bare legs rise up to that finely rounded ass was very distracting. That wasn't even mentioning the way she glistened in the afternoon sun at the apex of her thighs when she swiftly turned around to face him.

He caught the faintest hint of her musk in the air, and the teasing abruptly came to an end. She saw it in his eyes, that ravenous hunger for her that never quite seemed sated. 

In combat, the male's main problem was a lack of focus. As she said, he spent far too much time planning his movements and not enough time actually moving. Except when something like anger served as a lens to narrow his thoughts into one single goal. Algra had seen it in him before, and knew just how much more deadly her master could be in those brief moments when he lost himself to the fight.

She saw a similar change in him then, as his attentions slipped away from shifting from one stance or movement to the next and he wanted nothing more than to claim her.

What's more, Algra usually found her own focus easily enough in riding her battle-rage after spending two decades mastering the correct mindset for a fight. The problem was that ever since they had met something about him had deftly slipped beneath her guard. Perhaps it was simply because the first time she had laid eyes on him she'd been half-insane with desire, and ever since whenever she saw him something inside her called back to that time when she wallowed in the depths of heat.

That he had so eagerly and thoroughly ravished her soon after, sating that maddening lust and bringing her back to the world in a series of explosive orgasms? Well, that had probably helped.

The end result was simply that Algra didn't have her usual level of focus when she faced him. Sure, even with her mind occasionally running astray it was easy for the trained warrior to best him in open combat, but when he was so blatantly baiting her to the call of the rut?

He was definitely going to get it.

In the same instant, each of them roared their own battle cry and leapt into combat.

Janette's eyes widened in momentary terror as it seemed like her two lovers were about to rip each other to pieces. It was only after the first few blows had been struck that the rising cry in her throat fizzled out and she was left watching in wide-eyed wonder.

Gregory was fighting like a warrior born. She'd seen him try to use his own training before, and it had even proved effective against the likes of Bolut and had doubtless kept him alive more than once since they had found the ring. When he went up against Algra, it just didn't work. In the previous days he'd told her he'd tried everything he could think of from his training back on Earth. Karate, judo, kick-boxing, even a couple of styles of kung-fu he'd been practising before Arolius. Nothing had gotten close to working against the orc. 

Janette didn't know what style or technique he'd adopted. She privately branded it Fuck-Fu and with bated breath she watched a sudden and vicious display of strikes crash between the two fighters. Both male and female moved faster than Janette had ever seen before, shifting without thought or care for anything but each other.

Algra struck him across his shoulder as he feinted to shift his head out of the way. Instead of trying to shift for better footing, he wrapped his arm around hers to hold her extended limb in place before smashing his fist into her ribs with three sharp and powerful blows.

Growling fiercely at the attack, Algra used the grip they had on each other along with her raw strength to shift herself and fling him over her hip. It might have been the end of another bout right there, but this time Gregory moved with the throw and landed on his feet with his hands grasping onto one of her thighs and his head lifting up directly between her legs. 

She practically buckled at the knees the moment his mouth made contact with the silken seams at the apex of her thighs. That delicious green flesh spasmed as his tongue slid across the puffy folds. It gave him just enough of a distraction to get his arms locked around her thighs and his hands firmly clasping her taut backside.

Janette watched the scene unfold in the bizarre position. Algra was still stood upright, one of her arms putting up little fight when it came to rest on Gregory's chest. He was exhibiting quite a bit of dexterity, practically crab-walking with his feet planted on the ground, his arms holding onto her legs and his body resting almost horizontally parallel to the earth. It didn't look like the best position to take any sort of advantage, but somehow he managed to use his footing along with his grip to twist sideways in a powerful move that finally cause Algra to fall.

Apparently Fuck-Fu could be quite effective!

The mighty orc female barely seemed to notice she had been taken off her feet in the midst of combat. Landing on her side, her first reaction was to lift her leg up in the air to give the human easier access to her gushing pussy.

Janette watched Gregory expertly explore the depths of his lover with his tongue and felt quite a bit of fresh heat rising in her own body. She'd seen the pair of them go at it like animals plenty of times since they had arrived on Arolius. It never failed to ignite her own flame of desire. Hell, that flame had gotten so intense the first time she'd watched them that she'd practically offered herself like an orc in heat to the pair of them.

So it was without a thought for decency that she lifted her legs to settle her feet on the rock beneath her and spread her knees wide open. The soft touch of her fingertips descended down between her open thighs to lightly tease little circles around her clit. In moments those fingertips glistened with her excitement, and she pressed deeper into herself whilst watching the lovers in the field.

Algra moaned upon feeling his tongue swirl around the nub of flesh at the height of her slippery slit. Normally he loved that noise, and it was made all the sweeter when she rolled onto her back. All that remained was to pin her shoulders to the soft earth beneath her and victory would be his.

Victory could wait.

He could tell that she needed him now. It was beyond a game or a bout on the training field. If he left her like that and pinned her then she would leave angry and unfulfilled. Angry? He could deal with that, for orcs were notoriously short tempered. To knowingly leave her on the edge in that moment when she needed him? He loved her far too much for that sort of thing. The ring could rust and Earth could wait, for in those moments Algra was all that mattered.

She felt his tongue spear her depths and roll inside her before his lips sealed between her legs and she felt him gently suck her heated flesh. She felt his touch lapping against her silky inner walls, drawing her down into a deep and blissful trance. The shock of him shifting his tongue from massaging her tasty depths to slide up and rapidly flicker across her clit made her back arch and her body tremble.

His arms once again wrapped around her thighs as she lost control and crashed headlong into a powerful orgasm that seemed to erupt through her belly and outward to her fingertips and toes.

Gregory dutifully continued his tongue lashing through that scorching wave and carefully measured her reactions in the build-up to the next. Algra was quite a sensitive creature, and the combination of sex and fighting had apparently made her all the more pliable. Right then, their battle was the furthest thing from his mind, and he released one of her legs to reach down and loose his aching cock.

It felt incredible to feel the tight leather trunks give way to the open air and he certainly had a better place to put it. A lewd wet noise reached their ears as his mouth lifted from her sex and he lifted himself over her until they came eye to eye. It was clear that they had both forgotten all about the training. Looking upon each other with lust drunk eyes, they immediately descended into a hungry kiss. They feasted upon each others taste whilst he tore the fur top from her body and she reached between them to grasp his length and plant the tip between her welcoming lower lips.

When they finally pulled together Algra felt him slide himself fully into her simmering body to almost immediately detonate a small explosion of ecstasy that made her toes dig into the earth. She grasped his firm ass to savour the steady grind of his hips as his thick length slipped inside her tight pussy again and again. 

He felt one of her legs wrap around his own and loved the way her heavy breasts cushioned to his chest. Their bodies gleamed with perspiration and slid gloriously together beneath the sun. Once she had fully accommodated him, he pushed with a deeper and more primal desire.

Janette saw that Gregory had finally won the battle. Algra's shoulders were well and truly pinned to the ground, even as her hands embraced him and her fingernails trailed across his bare back. She was taking defeat admirably, although that was likely because she didn't know about it yet. Janette let out her own victory cry as the sight of the pair of them rutting on the grass finally drove her over the edge and she dug her fingers deep inside herself whilst her thumb teased her slippery clit.

Algra broke the kiss to cry out when his relentless ravishing finally sent her spiralling into another climax that sent white-hot jolts of energy through her gorgeous figure. They watched each other, and she saw him bare his teeth in determination before he slammed into her deep enough to steal the air from her lungs. A last gasp of air was taken before she felt another burst of pleasure deep inside her combined with the familiar pulse of her lover's seed pumping into her waiting body.

They each closed their eyes, needing only the sensation of their touch to guide them along the way before they fell together and tenderly kissed and licked at each other in the open glade.

"Wow. Gregory definitely wins. Flawless victory." Janette did her best video-game fight voice.

He felt Algra tense up beneath him, then had the unique sensation of being launched five feet into the air where he managed to flail about just enough to turn and land on the grass at Algra's feet.

Blinking up at her, he vaguely wondered how the hell it was possible she was that fast to be standing upright above him in the space it took for gravity to get the better of him. Shortly after that he saw the look of cold fury in her eyes as they lowered to his bared testicles and quickly rolled away before she could get any ideas.

"Algra!" Janette materialised between them and rudely shoved a fingertip up against the orc's nose. "You two had a deal. He won fair and square. Your shoulders hit the ground and you were well and truly pinned there." Janette glanced over her shoulder at Gregory before turning back. "Although nailed would probably be a better word for it, huh?"

Algra released a low growl filled with brutal intent.

"Oh yeah, now he's going to go back to the provings you want to give him a few broken bones? Smart. We both know you weren't going to keep him here forever. You lost, and the whole point of this was to make sure he was back in shape enough to defend himself. Judging from what I just saw he clearly is. Now get back to the camp and cool off."

Algra's gaze shifted from Gregory to Janette. The look she gave the girl might have routed a platoon of hardened warriors. It seemed that Janette just didn't give a damn, and she stood her ground without so much as flinching.

After a tense stare down it was Algra who finally lowered her eyes and made a strangled little noise of frustration before moving to grab her clothes and turn from them back towards the camp.

Gregory stared up at Janette, momentarily awed by the sheer volume of pure moxy he'd just witnessed.

"Wow. I did not see that coming." He looked over to Algra again just before she vanished into the tree line.

Janette let out a long, slow breath and turned around to face him. Her hands came to rest on the luscious curves of her hips and her eyes scanned him once out of concern and then again because he looked particularly yummy laid on the grass with his trunks hanging off his right boot. He saw her lick her lips as she took a moment to enjoy the view before she focused back on his face.

"Algra wouldn't hurt me. I'm not a warrior. She's not a bully."

"Yeah, she beats me up a lot but never takes my lunch money." Gregory pulled himself back up to his feet and stepped back into his trunks before pulling them up his legs.

"So that was . . . intense, with you and Algra" Janette said as they started the walk back to the camp.

"I needed to make Algra weak at the knees. It kind of had to be." Gregory reached out to push an overhanging branch out of their way.




The Missing Dragon Ch. 04



"I thought she might kill you for a minute."

"Well it'd be your fault if she did."

"Hey!"

"It was your idea."

"You think she'll be ok?"

"She's worried about what comes next." He turned to look ahead of them where the camp could be seen between the foliage. His expression grew sombre. Algra wasn't the only one troubled at the thought of him returning to the proving grounds.

"Everyone is." Janette watched him closely, unsure of her footing on the subject.

"I'm that popular?"

"You stood up for Valise. You're bringing Emmet's family here. Bolut admires you. Algra and yours truly are both truly yours, and I'm pretty sure Talina would walk over hot coals if you asked her to. Though I'm not exactly sure why."

Gregory took a few steps in silence as he thought about all the people he'd met in the strange new world in such a short time. It probably that meant he wasn't the stalwart introvert he was back on Earth anymore. He turned to Janette as they left the forest and made their way through some open grass toward the noise and bustle of the encampment.

"You know, for such a supposedly beloved guy, I sure do get punched a lot."

Those wise words of reflection brought a sudden laugh from Janette's throat that formed her mouth into a stunning smile. She slipped her arm into his, feeling muscle that had strengthened considerably over the past months.

"We wouldn't want you going soft, now would we?"

"That doesn't often happen with you around, Jan."

"Did you just make a wang joke?"

"Maybe."

* * * * *

They arrived back at the camp and took some dinner by the fire. Algra had stormed past everyone to take her leave in their tent. No one decided to pester her. An angry orc might literally take someone's head off. Instead Gregory and Janette had settled down to the usual helping of meaty broth on offer from the cooking pot. It was a pleasant surprise as he got fresh, tender pork with chopped carrots and onions. He'd gotten used to chicken and beef, but it certainly made a nice change of pace.

"So you are to return to the provings?" Talina asked him as she poured a bowl from the cooking pot for Torren and then herself.

"That's the plan." Gregory had finished his meal just after Talina and Torren had emerged from their tent. He'd scooped Janette up to sit in his lap. She was peeling an apple for them to share for dessert and he'd been busying himself lightly teasing his lips across her earlobe.

"It is not a good one." Talina took her bowl and jabbed a spoon into it almost spitefully.

Gregory turned his attention from nibbling on his favourite redhead to look over at Talina.

"It won't be like it was last time. I can handle myself better, and Ulag's proven his point. So I doubt we're going to be set up against the wrecking machines again."

"The Berserkers," Talina corrected him. "They are the worst you could face, but not the only ones who are dangerous. All orcs fight for glory in the provings. They are young, and prone to excessive violence. Your new pack leaves much to be desired."

"Come on, Ulf seems to have a good head on his shoulders. They can't be that bad."

"One of them doesn't have all his limbs. One has taken too many hard knocks to the head. Two look like they'd get blown away in a stiff breeze. Then there's Ulla, who might kill you herself before the other packs can get their fists on you. I've watched them fight. They are a glorious mess."

"Well, that's something to look forward to then."

"You'll get 'em." Janette unexpectedly spoke up before popping a slice of apple between Gregory's lips.

He blinked at her, then remembered to chew. "You've changed your tone."

"What? Hey, I don't want you going back there but if you are dead set on it then I might as well be supportive." She leaned in and pecked his cheek with her silky lips. The touch left a pleasant tingle on his skin.

"Thanks, Jan."

"No problemo. Just promise me that you won't get your head knocked in again."

That brought an unexpected laugh from him before he nodded obediently. "Alright, I promise I won't get my head knocked in."

"Well, since you two have decided to take leave of your senses, I'll eat elsewhere." Talina hopped up onto her feet and took her meal back to her tent.

They all watched after her before Torren turned back to look at Gregory, "She's just worried about you, sir."

"Torren, don't call me 'sir'. It makes me feel old." Gregory smiled and then shifted his gaze to watch after Talina. "You should go to her."

"When she's in that sour a mood? Would you like to go and spend some time with Algra right now?"

Gregory glanced back to their tent where Algra was likely breaking things. He didn't particularly want to be on the list of available things to break.

"Fair point."

"Talina does speak the truth though, si- um,"

"Don't call me 'um' either, Torren. My name's Gregory, or Greg."

The bulky smith nodded his apology before continuing. "I mean, the Runts are the least amongst the packs. Perhaps you should seek out another alpha to fight for?"

Gregory immediately shook his head at that idea.

"No. Ulf stuck his neck out for me. I'm not going to rub his face in the mud by asking around for better offers behind his back."

Torren didn't seem to have thought about it that way, and that seemed to bother him for a moment before he shrugged his massive shoulders. "Well, if you need any help then I'll do all I can, Greg."

"Thanks. Now, I should really go and let them know I'm ready to rejoin them." He gave Janette's rump a gentle pat. She hopped up onto her feet and then pulled him close after he'd stood up.

The kiss she gave him tasted of apples and her own uniquely delicious flavour. It sizzled with a slow, deep passion. She didn't want to let him go. When they parted, he saw a tear had spilled down her cheek. The girl was obviously more concerned than she let on. After all, the last time he'd left her to go to the proving grounds she'd nearly been left alone amongst the orcs.

"Hey, I'll be back," Gregory said, trying his best to channel Schwarzenegger.

Janette laughed aloud at that, mirth momentarily replacing sadness in her eyes.

"Ok, first you're Conan and now you're the Terminator. Make your mind up." She sniffed and hugged him close.

He smiled and hugged her right back, only to realise that getting that close to a girl like Janette Riley gave a guy the idea to never let her go again. He felt the warm curves of her breasts pressed against his chest, the gentle embrace of her arms around his shoulders and he could still taste her on his lips. It was a hard thing to let her go, especially knowing where he was about to venture off to.

So she made it easier for him and stepped away after giving him one last little kiss to say goodbye. After that, Gregory willed himself to turn away and found that most of the camp was looking at him. Most of the faces he saw seemed concerned, though some were merely curious. He walked through them and onto the dirt path, making his way towards the proving grounds and feeling not entirely unlike someone on his way to meet his doom. Strangely, he found himself smiling at that thought. He couldn't die out there, Janette would never forgive him and Algra would kill him all over again.

"Well then," he said to himself as he walked over the road, "I'd better go kick some ass."

* * * * *

The Runts were already halfway through the morning's practice routine when he arrived at the proving grounds. He walked over to them, trying to ignore the stares of the other orcs around him. When he arrived beside his pack-mates, he gave them a nod of greeting as they each stopped their sparring to marvel at the fact he was still walking. After a brief moment of stunned silence, Ulf stepped forward to extend his arm out to the human.

"You return to us," he said.

"If you'll still have me." Gregory shook Ulf's offered arm in the orcish fashion with each holding to the other's forearm.

"More fists are always welcome."

"The First knows we couldn't do much worse," Nullik added.

Ulf shot him a glare and the prankster immediately shut up. Gregory waited a moment before Ulf looked back to him to size him up. "You will train with Ulla today."

At the alpha's orders, Ulla stepped forwards with a somewhat bloodthirsty smile framing her small tusks. Gregory looked back to her and kept his expression cool. In truth he'd have liked to start out with the slim female orc in the pack, or even better, Nullik. They were at least his size. Ulla was larger and more muscular, though her figure retained a distinctly feminine shape. She reminded him of a somewhat more psychotic Algra.

Off to a brilliant start then.

He stepped past Ulf for Nullik and the slim female to offer him a basic chest-plate and a single club. The slender orc introduced herself as Frelki and on closer inspection he saw that she was quite a bit older than the rest of the pups. He didn't rightly know how orc aging worked, but they shared many features with humans besides the tusks and the rich green skin. The rest of Frelki's features settled her somewhere in her late twenties to early thirties. Even for a pack of supposed "pups" there was an even older orc amongst them. Seated on a fallen log, the massive orc with plenty of grey strands in his black hair was watching him whilst taking a drink from a water skin with his only arm. A dull metal pauldron-like piece of armour covered the shoulder where the other limb had been evidently cleaved away. The question of the one-armed orc in the Runts had been nagging Gregory for weeks, but he'd known better than to ask around about it. Orcs could get very touchy about matters of war and honour, and he guessed that One-Arm wasn't exactly still fighting in the proving grounds without one of his limbs due to his feats of honour and bravery.

Unfortunately, Greg had no time for curiosity or questions as he came to face Ulla. The rest of the pack quickly gave them some space and settled in to watch the impending beat-down. Ulla was happy to get it over with and wasted no time at all in charging him down.

He could see the battle-rage burning fiercely in her eyes as she closed the distance between them. Weeks of training and a natural instinct for fighting brought forth the fear and the thrill of combat. Taking his favoured battle stance, he braced himself to meet that charge head on. It didn't help. He'd given too much ground allowing Ulla to easily dodge his overhead blow and smash her club hard against his chest-plate. The armour just about managed to stop his ribs from breaking all over again. It wasn't nearly as successful in keeping the air in his lungs, leaving him gasping and stunned. Ulla finished him off with ease, casually kicking him off his feet to send him plummeting forwards to the ground and finally turning her back on him.

"Well, that was encouraging," Nullik sarcastically whispered to Frelki.

"Again!" Ulf roared.

Gregory took a deep breath, slammed his fists into the dirt and pushed himself up to his feet. Stupid. Training day and night with one of the deadliest warriors in the camp and it had taken barely more than a second into his first spar with another partner to forget everything he'd been taught. Snatching up his club, he turned back to Ulla who had circled about to face him again.

The second bout lasted a bit longer than the first. It took Ulla an entire six seconds to plant him in the dirt, this time on his back.

"Again!" The command came from Ulf before Gregory had even landed.

"This is brilliant," Nullik said. "He can fall over so much that we'll be out of the provings before the other packs can even get to the rest of us."

Ulla was grinning maliciously as he pulled himself back up once more to face her. "The human grows soft between his bitch's thighs."

She didn't know it at the time, but Ulla Strongblood very probably saved Gregory's life with those words. They had an almost reverse zen-like effect on him, as all his fears and self-doubts seemed to seep away into one focused beam of rage. He no longer felt angry at himself, for he was suddenly filled with a wild and desperate need to beat the living shit out of her.

"Fuck this," Gregory growled before throwing the unbalanced training club into the dirt and raising his fists instead.

Ulla laughed with glee at the human throwing away his weapon. She decided to break one of his bones to teach him an evidently much needed lesson about coming prepared.

Ulf watched the two opponents with a grim expression whilst he waited for the seemingly inevitable. Gregory's performance had been so bad that he wasn't going to be able to take part in pack manoeuvres. It would be too dangerous for him. Ulla was their best fighter, but even she was often outmatched by their opponents when set against the other packs. If Gregory couldn't even take on one orc, how would he fare when it came to fighting three?

It was then that Ulf saw the change in the human. The young man's eyes seemed to clear and he stood upright as Ulla started a final charge of brutal intent. Gregory simply didn't move. He didn't take up any of his fighting stances. He didn't dance around to make himself a harder target. Instead, he simply stood stock still. The thought of what was coming made Ulf wince for the boy, though he resisted the urge to cover his eyes.

Except when Ulla did reach Gregory, things didn't quite go to according to expectations. Instead of dodging back and conceding ground to her, he took a single stepped forwards and jammed both his fists directly into her exposed shoulder. The blow connected like a hammer on a bare joint, and the sudden move caught her completely off-guard sending a sharp bolt of pain up her arms and down her neck. She barely had the time to scream before Gregory moved again and planted his fist squarely in her jaw. The crushing impact sent the unbalanced orc flying backwards to land on her ass in the dirt. Her club landed several paces behind her.

He took a sure step back to where he'd been standing. It took him a few moments for the red mist to clear when he realised what he'd just done. He'd won! Someone else had a mouthful of dirt for a change. Orcs weren't all invincible behemoths of unbeatable force. 

Oh, and he'd just hit a girl.

Crap.

When that last thought sailed through his mind like a mouldy raven his anger faded and he stepped towards Ulla to check if she was alright. She'd tried to get up but he'd clocked her so hard that it was proving to be more of a task than she'd anticipated. It was hard to get her legs beneath her when it seemed as if she suddenly had six of them.

"I'm sorry about-" He started his apology, only to be met with a another roar of rage from her.

She finally found her footing, grabbed her club and ran at him as if possessed by a demon.

Gregory saw the danger, but the fear and the uncertainty of battle didn't return this time. Instead, he reacted exactly how Algra had shown him. No thoughts were cast to the short-fight, and he simply let instinct take him along the sidestep to dodge Ulla's opening blow. Focusing on the long-fight, he saw an immediate opportunity as Ulla was thrown off balance by her own club. This time, he brought his forearm up under her chin and pushed hard to take her off her feet and bring her down on her back. He quickly descended upon her and pressed his arm against her throat.

"Yield!" For the first time it was a command rather than a declaration.

She growled, clawed and spat. Her legs were lifted on either side of him, her heels desperately kicking against his sides. She couldn't get a solid kick on him, and he'd immediately pinned her weapon arm to the ground. Her only free limb was used punched him on his upper arm with her free hand albeit at an awkward angle. It hurt like hell. He could take it.

She didn't yield. He realised that she'd probably choke herself out before giving up willingly. It would take a different tactic to best her, so he grabbed her shoulders and pulled her upright. She wasn't expecting it. Nor was she expecting him to roll backwards with her in tow, plant his foot on her stomach and hurl her backwards over his head and into a nearby empty weapon rack.

She clattered into the wooden beams like a bowling ball hitting a fresh strike.

Gregory looked over to her and got back to his feet. Ulla only groaned before slowly trying to get back up. This time there was no rage or fight left in her, and Gregory was privately very glad to see that she didn't reach for her club again.

Nullik burst out laughing. He'd never seen anyone beat Ulla in single combat, let alone seen it done quite so spectacularly.

"Good." Ulf stepped forward. "Very good. But why did you not press your advantage when you had her on the ground?"

Gregory made an effort to calm his breathing before answering.

"Wasn't a very good way to win," he said with a shrug.

Ulf nodded, looking at the human with more respect. "You learn well. But you must fight with a weapon. Frelki will teach you."

With those words, Ulf gave Gregory a pat on the shoulder and then turned back to help out Ulla. She promptly shoved him away and went off to sit and sulk by herself at losing to a mere human. Frelki approached Gregory a little while later and offered him back his training club.

They spent until sunset practicing. Frelki was a patient teacher and the training was much easier on him than Algra's had been. The slender female seemed to have a somewhat gentler nature compared to most orcs. Although it soon became quite clear that she knew what she was talking about, and Gregory dutifully paid attention.

"Swing with the club. You're countering your weight against it. It won't be as powerful." Frelki advised before showing him the difference.

Gregory wasn't so sure that was the best way of going about things. Orcs were powerful foes, but they tended to be too top-heavy in their charges and if Ulla hadn't put her weight behind her swing in that third bout then he probably wouldn't have gotten such an easy advantage. Deciding it was best to do as he was told, he swung the club as instructed and then looked back to receive an approving smile and a nod from his tutor.

Frelki wasn't built like most orcs, and he supposed that made her all the more interesting to his eyes. Her tusks were smaller than both Algra's and Ulla's, despite her being obviously older than both. She was also the first orc he'd seen that didn't have black hair. Instead, it was a mousey brown colour that looked quite appealing on her green head. She wore it in a simple braid that fell down her back.

Her body was tall, but leaner and far more slender than most of her kin. He'd particularly noted her legs, which were bare and rather gorgeously streamlined. The gentle curves of those long stems had made him cast more than a single thought to what her ass looked like beneath her skirt. Though he tried not to dwell on those thoughts when she was teaching him something that might save him getting beaten to death. It was clear in her demonstrations and her movements that she was remarkably fit and almost eerily agile. She'd just been given the body of a ballerina as opposed to a bodybuilder. Strong, yet perhaps a little too fragile.

Frelki's voice was easy to listen to, without the hard edge that most orc's carried in their throats. Though she did seem a little too gentle, or even timid. It made her stunningly cute, with a cheeky smile and keen eyes. Unfortunately, he wasn't quite so sure that the words cute, gentle, or timid were ideal to describe a companion who he might be going into a straight-up brawl alongside.

As the light started to fall away, Ulag marched out of his own tent to bark fresh orders to the assembled pups.




The Missing Dragon Ch. 04



"Enough playing! Time for a real fight!" The old orc yelled to the quick cheers of the others. Gregory noticed that none of the Runts joined in with cheers of their own. Instead they stayed silent and somewhat morbidly resolute.

That didn't exactly bode well for their chances.

He followed along with them as they fell into line and marched towards the fighting pits. Ulag was still to decide which of the packs would face off against each other. It wasn't exactly reassuring to see the old scarred orc out there again, given what had happened the last time he'd set up a mock battle. It made Gregory's chest hurt just to think about it.

The orc prowled before them and stopped short when he laid eyes on the human in their midst again. There was a quiet momentary snarl that crossed his features before he steeled himself against his annoyance. The brat was supposed to have limped off into the night after what the Berserkers had done to him. To see him standing there just over a month later looking alive, well and even ready to fight again should have been damn near impossible.

Ulag couldn't put the Runts up against the Berserkers again. The warchief had been angry about Ulag's little show the last time. He had some goodwill and an enduring friendship with the warchief, but throwing the Runts into the meat grinder again so openly would have made Grolfir angry. He'd seen Grolfir get angry before. It wasn't a memory he was keen on reliving.

"Runts! You fight the Thorns." Ulag yelled before plopping down glumly into his seat at the edge of the fighting pit.

If he couldn't outright beat the human out of his proving grounds, then he might at least be able to make a case that he shouldn't be there at all. The Thorns were decent fighters with a very strong pack mentality. They liked to test the waters of battle first, and bite into any weak spots they found. The Runts had plenty of weak spots for the tasting.

The human made no complaint as Ulf readied his pack, setting them into position and getting ready whilst the Thorns did the same thing. Around them, the other pups fell into a low chant of anticipation for the first clash of the upcoming fight. Their voices repeatedly shook the air like thunder. The beat of their song grew steadily faster as the packs facing off fell still. Ulag roared his approval and on his signal, the young orcs bolted towards each other. It was a different tactic for the Thorns to charge into the fray so openly, for they usually held off and drew out the fight in an attempt to weaken their foes. Ulag conceded that if the Runts got any weaker, then some of them might not have the strength to breathe properly. The two packs met at the centre of the pit. The human fell in behind Ulf whilst the great one-armed orc took the centre and fought into the fray like the veteran he was.

The Runts didn't do so badly at first, using the powerhouse of their two heavy hitters to centre the battle whilst Ulf, Frelki, Ulla, and Nullik prevented any flanking manoeuvres. It was hardly tactical genius, but the one-armed Wrut was a strong warrior, even despite his disability. Alongside him at the centre of the fight was Frun, a stout yet powerful orc whom Ulag had long since noticed was perhaps a few planks short of a barrel. What he lacked in smarts, he more than made up for in aggression. The Thorns on the other hand were a little too smart for their own good and hadn't quite taken Frun into account. Two of their members had already suffered a number of very powerful hits to their armour for overlooking him.

The human followed Ulf's lead and somewhat annoyingly he wasn't doing nearly as bad as he had done in his previous stint at the provings. Ulag watched him pick his moments carefully, often sidestepping around Ulf's opponents and taking the advantage. He never got much of an advantage, but the Thorns clearly weren't expecting him to be quite as aggressive as he was.

Unfortunately for the Runts, the tide began to slowly turn on them as their wily opponents shifted tactics. The Thorns were pushed back, but they had also spread out and sacrificed much of the impact Wrut and Frun were making in doing so. Both Ulf and the human managed to actually bring down one of the Thorns into the dirt, but by then it was too late.

Ulla had taken the fight too far afield and gotten herself surrounded by two opponents who made quick work of her once she was outnumbered and cut off from help. The next to fall were Nullik and Frelki, who had gone on the attack and couldn't make much of an impact without their larger and more aggressive pack mates to back them up. That left Ulf, Frun, Wrut, and the human outnumbered. Ulag at least noted that they fixed their mistake, drawing closer together to watch each other's backs. Of course, by then it was far too late and the Thorns picked them off one at a time with their advantage in numbers. First, they went for Frun, who charged out of the formation to be quickly tripped and clubbed across his armoured back. After that, Wrut became much easier to outflank where his missing limb could offer him no protection on his left side. He landed in a heap beside Frun soon after.

That left Ulf and the human, back to back and looking understandably worried as the Thorns closed in for the final attack. The orc pups called for blood, just as they always did. Then the human did something no one expected. Instead of letting the circle of his opponents close in around him, he bolted straight for the strongest member of the Thorn's pack. He must have said something to Ulf, because the orc did the same in the opposite direction. The Thorns split their circle and were momentarily stunned at the sight of the human engaging in a brawl with a much larger orc and not losing.

It was clear that the opponent that the human had chosen was skilled, but the man's smaller size was proving to be an advantage in dodging the incoming blows. The orc had moved to swat him out of the way like a fly, and had quickly been taught a swift lesson in not underestimating his enemy. Ducking under the blow, the human cracked his club onto the orc's chest-plate so hard that it knocked him backwards. He followed that up with a hard kick into the side of the orc's leg before taking up a new line of attack. So, all there assembled watched one of their brethren start to limp whilst trying to fend off the attacks of a very pissed-off human male.

It was the first time that Ulag could remember the proving grounds going completely silent.

The advantage didn't last, of course. When the orc realised that he wasn't fighting a ferret, he managed to get back onto equal terms with the human. His pack mates helped and soon enough, the human was sent flying back into the dirt to slide across the pit gagging for breath from where the orc's club had smacked him in the gut.

Ulf had already fallen by then, lacking the human's means of surprising his foes. He'd only managed a few seconds of sparring with his opponents before they'd forcefully put him down.

Beaten, the Runts slowly helped each other get back to their feet. Nullik offered Gregory a hand to lift him up and couldn't quite suppress a grin at his performance. 

"Not bad. Not bad at all," Nullik spoke under his breath.

The human had managed to get air back into his lungs by the time he was standing upright again. Something inside him called out for another bout, and he was ready to push Nullik aside and go right back at the biggest of the Thorns who he'd almost managed to take down before they had swarmed him. Instead, he gave his pack mate a thankful nod and lifted his club into the air towards Ulag. There was a not-so-subtle implication in that action. He didn't speak out against the proving master, but all who saw the gesture knew its meaning.

Is that all you've got?

Normally Ulag would have liked that sort of spirit, but these were no normal circumstances. He couldn't throw the human out of the provings now after his surprising display of skill and bravery. The Runts had been beaten, but he'd made a better showing of himself than some of his allies had. So, the master of the provings stood up and stormed off away from the pits toward his tent.

Below, Ulf walked over to Gregory and patted his shoulder. "Better than your first day. Be here tomorrow at dawn. We'll see if you can last it out."

* * * * *

Gregory arrived back at Bolut's camp just about ready to strangle something. It only came to his notice that a large chunk of the camp had completely disappeared after he'd walked over to one of the storage tents and found it wasn't there anymore. Those particular tents weren't often occupied, and he wanted a place where he could cool his temper before showing his face to his friends. Sure, surviving the day had certainly been an accomplishment but the match-up of the provings had shown him just how truly dire his current situation was. The Runts weren't going anywhere fast, and he needed to pass the proving grounds to get the ring back from Grolfir. If his pack's performance was anything to go by, he might just get it back by the time hell froze over.

The familiar red crop of Janette's hair flitted between the many heads assembled in the orc encampment. When she broke free of the crowd to run towards him, Gregory's frustrations fell to the wayside at the sight of her approach. Even her troubled expression couldn't stifle her allure. She was all the more captivating having taken to wearing the garments of her new friends, the courtesans. A thin veil of sea green material covered her body, though he could easily see her gorgeous figure beneath the fabric. The shapely curves were adorned with simple and delectably skimpy undergarments that barely covered the girl's modesty.

She flung her arms around him only a few moments later and pressed just as much of that incredible body against him as she could. That soft, strong figure of hers felt almost good enough against his hardened muscular frame to forget about his current troubles altogether. It certainly beat stewing in his own frustrations in a storage tent.

"Are you ok?" she asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Just a few bruises this time. Nothing broken."

His assurances did very little to settle her nerves and she immediately pushed at his shoulders to step back and look him over. This wasn't a difficult or remotely objectionable task, as Gregory had quite the appealing body of his own. His training with Algra combined with his time in the camp had bulked up that formerly lean frame quite a bit. He wasn't orc-like quite yet, but his muscles were much more defined. Even as she constantly worried about the scars that now ran along his chest, she couldn't deny that they did make her want to nibble at him quite a bit.

He was still only wearing the boots and trunks that were allowed in the proving grounds. There was quite a lot of nicely toned and sun-kissed bare male on display. By the time her gaze reached his belly button, she'd quite forgotten that she was looking for injuries and was simply enjoying the view.

Gregory spied that look in those bright blue eyes of hers and gently but firmly pulled her back against him. Their lips met a moment after that and only a few seconds later they were settled into a much-needed kiss. The heat of that touch made them both realise how cool the air was, and so they squeezed each other tighter to let their mutual warmth be shared.

It was getting to the point where Gregory was seriously considering taking up the orc practice of wildly rutting out in the open when Janette finally wiggled out from the kiss. Since he didn't want her wiggling away completely, he held her tight and playfully chased a couple of kisses from her lips and along her cheek. His enthusiasm made her laugh and brought a fresh flush of pink to her cheeks before she relented and stayed put. Though she did lift her finger to place on his lips in an effort to get the amorous male to allow her to speak.

"Ok, I believe you. You're not about to keel over."

"I might be about to bend a certain someone over." Greg nipped her fingertip with his teeth to show her he meant business.

"Will you stop!" She slapped his shoulder and looked around for potential voyeurs. Only the backs of the tents could be seen from that part of the camp.

"Nope. Never."

"What happened? Did you win?"

Janette knew what winning meant. It meant getting the ring back, and maybe getting the chance to go home again.

"No. We lost."

"Hey, I don't care as long as you come back in one piece. Alright?" She lifted her hand to stroke her fingers across his cheek.

Gregory let out a slow breath as the nature of the defeat seemed to flood back into the fore of his thoughts.

"We were a mess, Jan. It was barely even a contest. The only thing we had going for us was surprise and that's not going to last." He lowered his head and closed his eyes, touching his brow lightly against hers.

"Hey. Look at me," she ordered.

He did as he was told and found himself looking right into those twin seas of sparkling sapphire.

"Don't let yourself get like this." She raised herself to her tiptoes and settled a tender kiss on his lips to comfort the obviously troubled male. "This was a win. Plain and simple. Bolut didn't think you could beat him, but you did. Algra didn't think you'd beat her, but you did. No one outside this camp thought you'd come out of there alive today, but here you are. Every time someone's put you down, you've stood up to them and here you are still standing. So you're in a faster race now. Don't give up at the first hurdle."

"I kind of thought getting beaten to a bloody pulp was the first hurdle, Jan. I remember literally sinking the landing with my face."

"Hey! I'll tell you what's a setback and what isn't." She flicked the tip of his nose with her finger to make sure he was paying attention rather than letting his gloomy thoughts get the best of him. "Now, Bolut's packing up his camp to head north before winter gets here. Or at least that's the word around here. So, you're going to kiss me, then you're going to see him and wish him well since he's done so much for us. Then Algra's waiting for you in the forest."

"Is she naked?" Gregory's eyebrows perked up.

Janette smacked his bare chest with the palm of her hand.

"Hey, I'm just looking for a happy ending here," he teased.

"Right, that's it. I'm leaving you. I'm packing my bags and going off to live with the leprechauns." Her words might have had a bit more bite had she not been in the process of entwining her arms over his shoulders and lifting herself to kiss his cheek as she spoke.

"There are leprechauns now?" He looked alarmed.

Janette kept the presence of leprechauns to herself, though her laughter at his question eased his worries on the matter. Getting back a magic ring, winning fights against angry orcs, and trying not to die were proving to be quite formidable tasks. He didn't want to add finding a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow to his to-do list.

The girl wiggled herself out of his grip, and her laughter melted from amused to delighted when he put up another little fight on the matter. It involved a moderate amount of tickling and the occasional stolen squeeze of her smooth, firm bum. Eventually she managed to slip away from him and cast him a reproving look that was undermined somewhat by the way her lips quivered with a suppressed smile.

"I'm going to go back to the tent. Valise has been trying to teach me how to speak orc between my dancing lessons with Talina. It's made me really want one of those doohickeys." She pointed to the amulet around Gregory's neck that served to translate the language for him, and allow him to be understood by the green behemoths. "But, at least it keeps me occupied."

"I thought you hated that sort of thing. I remember you could barely stay awake in French class."

"Yeah, well, it beats worrying about you all the time, you big dope. Besides, when am I ever gonna go to France?" She cast him one last little smile before turning around to take her leave.

Gregory waited a beat before calling out to her again. "Hey, Jan?"

"Hm?" She cast a look at him over her shoulder.

"Thanks for the help."

That brought the smile back, all the brighter on her red lips. "Any time!"

With that, she disappeared back into the bustling area of the camp.

* * * * *

Bolut stood at the centre of the camp overseeing a truly enormous caravan of goods. A mere glance at the formidable trading vehicle showed that it took more design cues from a tank than a horse-pulled cart. Four enormous ox-like creatures had been reined in to pull the thing, and were currently chomping away at a box of jungle leaves in preparation for the journey ahead. Their curved horns were larger than anything similar Gregory had ever seen on Earth, and their front forelegs packed a tremendous amount of muscle compared to their smaller hind legs. Behind them, the vehicle itself rose up high enough to comfortably fit several fully grown orcs, though it was instead currently being stocked with various goods from the camp. The frame was clearly made of metal with a toughened wood exterior covered in hardened leather. Signs of wear and tear were evident in scratches on the leather, and a few arrowheads still embedded here and there with their broken shafts sticking out at odd angles.

Gregory guessed that travelling to human territories with plentiful supplies of trade goods wasn't exactly the safest of journeys for an entrepreneurial orc.

Beside Bolut, Emmet was helping to oversee the loading operation from beside the juggernaut. They barked orders out every now and then before turning back to look over a number of parchments that Gregory assumed were the log books of the camp's current stocks.

"Um, excuse me," Gregory took a cautious step forward, deftly avoiding a slave rushing past with several rolls of multicoloured cloth piled up in her arms.

"Not now!" Bolut yelled without looking up from his papers.

Recognising Gregory's voice, Emmet turned and cleared his throat before jabbing Bolut in the arm. It was almost funny to see the frail wisp of an old man getting the huge orc's attention.

"What!?" The orc growled out the word with no small degree of annoyance. After seeing Emmet pointing over to where Gregory was stood Bolut's expression shifted from anger to slightly flummoxed surprise.

"I'm sorry," Gregory held up his hands peaceably. "Didn't mean to bother you."

It took Bolut a full minute to get out of "boss mode" and realise that his master was stood in front of him. He cleared his throat and spread his arms open in a far more welcoming gesture.

"Gregory! It is good that you are here. Forgive the shouting? Busy day," the big orc noted in a much more friendly tone, gesturing around them at the bustling humans and orcs loading up the massive caravan.

"Oh, it's no problem. I just wanted to see you before you left. Haven't had much of a chance to talk these past few weeks, have we?" He paused and looked over the caravan. "This is a bit . . . huge. When you said you were going on a trading trip I figured you'd just be hauling carts with horses or something."

"It was once just so." Bolut nodded grimly and folded his arms. "These days there are many in the human bandits who attack us. Road is not safe. The caravan needs protection. Easier to protect this than a smaller convoy."

"Yes, and mister Rudd tells us that things are not getting better in the north," Emmet said. "The high lord of Uldrin is sowing more discontent towards the orcs amongst his people. Many believe them to be child-eating, bloodthirsty murderers."

"Wait, what? I thought that the southern orcs and the humans were allies? Everyone fighting together in that long war in the northern mountains?" Gregory took another step forwards toward the pair as introductions gave way to conversation.




The Missing Dragon Ch. 04



"We are." Bolut spat at the ground to highlight just how much he thought that particular alliance was worth.

"The orc alliance is with the Empire," Emmet helpfully filled in. "But there are five realms outside the central empire that are virtually their own kingdoms. The high lords of each realm have grown in power as the empire has weakened from the Eternal War. Uldrin is the realm that borders Embervine. We must travel through the territory to get to the central province. The imperial line has been that the southern orcs are friends and allies to the human peoples, but the high lord of Uldrin hates them. He can't outright revolt against the empire, but he does everything in his power to sabotage relations."

"He is an idiot. I have seen the Eternal War. If our warriors walked away from the north, the humans wouldn't stand six months before their lines were shattered and their lands burned." Bolut grunted, shaking his head.

"Quite. The rumour is that the High Lord of Uldrin isn't exactly . . . sane," Emmet said.

"Well at least now I know why orcs don't trust humans." Gregory let out a long breath. At least he wouldn't take the foul looks other orcs gave him all that personally anymore. If he was living next door to a bunch of bloodthirsty people ruled by a crazy guy then he might have had some trust issues too.

"Some humans are good," Bolut noted, his grim expression turning into a hearty smile as he looked back to Gregory.

"Thanks. Orcs aren't so bad either, despite the occasional near-death beating." Gregory flashed a grin before extending his hand out to Bolut. "Anyway, I really just came over here to say thanks for everything. Stay safe out there."

Bolut, who had seen the gesture performed by humans before, reached out and shook Gregory's hand amiably.

"It is good that you are here, Gregory Hopkins. Do not fear for us. We have travelled the route many times and we keep well protected. Then, once we leave Uldrin and travel to the Imperial City, the gold flows like water." It was Bolut's turn to grin. The big orc's expression was similar to the one that the rest of his people took to when thinking about battle. "Emmet will stay here with you, as will Valise and Torren. I know you have become close with them. It is good to have friends with you at the provings to talk of battle and victory."

"Heh! Yeah, victory." Gregory didn't sound very enthusiastic about that.

"Yes! Do not fear, my friend. After all, I managed to pass." He hefted his considerable gut for emphasis and his grin broadened. "You have passed many great tests since coming to us. I believe you will pass this one."

"That's what Janette just told me."

"Then she is wise." Bolut nodded.

"I guess so." Gregory smiled. "I'll let you get back to work. See you in a few months?"

Bolut waved goodbye before resuming his contemplative frown as he regarded the papers before him. Gregory turned to go find Algra and realised that he felt relieved. He was glad that Emmet, Valise, and Torren would be sticking around. They had indeed become friends, and in Valise's case quite a bit more than that. Talina, Fiona, and Lydia would also be staying at the camp of course, given their duties. Gregory had heard around the fire that Bolut didn't take the courtesans into the human lands. Humans were apparently quite a bit less restrained than orcs when the girls started their entertainments. The big orc theorised that this was probably due to their repressed sexual practices of only allowing the act behind closed doors and keeping much of the body hidden under their clothes. Gregory felt he should argue that point, but he was slightly disturbed to find that he didn't quite know how.

Still, he wasn't sure humanity was quite ready for fucking like rabbits in the street just yet.

* * * * *

Making his way to the place he'd unofficially branded the Training Glade, he realised he was feeling considerably better about himself. Janette and Bolut had a point, and he'd done alright for himself. Especially after being hurled into a parallel dimension filled with mythological creatures that mostly seemed to want to either screw his brains out, bash them in, or in some special cases, both. He'd somehow managed to get himself a free pass to ravish a number of beautiful ladies, and if Bolut's caravan returned safely it seemed like he'd have quite the small fortune on his hands. His new pack had accepted him, and he'd managed to face up to some seriously dangerous orcs and survive.

And he'd only nearly died once!

When he saw Algra standing in the glade in all her fierce beauty, he came to another quick realisation: Some things were very much worth dying for.

It didn't surprise him that she turned to knowingly look upon him where he emerged from the tree line. The beautiful orc had the senses of a wolf, and he'd made no effort to silence his approach to the glade.

What startled Gregory was the sight of his favourite emerald-skinned lady standing in the glade without a scrap of clothing covering her body. Even after all the times they had been together she was still breathtaking to behold in her alien beauty. She stood tall and proud, with her chin held high and a little mysterious smile playing around her small, white tusks. The wild mane of her black hair had been given attention for the first time since he'd known her. She had shaved the area about her temples to leave a thick Mohawk of wild black hair rising up across the top of her head and down to hang between her shoulders in a succession of intricately interlinking braids. The midnight colour of her hair contrasted against the gleaming golden rings linking those braids together.

Algra had always been a formidable figure to behold but in that place, with the golden light shining across her gorgeous figure, he saw that she could quite easily hold the mantle of a queen.

Her nude body stood delectably firm and gloriously honed. The radiant image was highlighted by a thin layer of oil coating those appealing curves and scintillating slopes, making her skin gleam in a way that made his mouth water.

Whatever the reason for her newfound attention to her appearance, it certainly had a notable effect on Gregory. Before he quite gathered the faculties to consciously make any decisions he realised he was already running toward her. In fact, he was sprinting so fast that the world at his feet was a blur. When he finally reached her, she welcomed him into her arms as he grasped her about her waist and melded his mouth against hers.

The kiss that followed was downright ravenous. Passion sizzled through his blood and he felt her naked form ignite with a primal lust of her own. Words were quite simply beyond him. His curiosity fell to the wayside in favour of feeling her body pressed to his.

She welcomed him with an eager and loving embrace, tasting the heady flavour of his lips and feeling the familiar flutter deep inside herself at having her lover so close once again. They both enjoyed that moment just after the first contact, where the sizzle of excitement and anticipation melted into a familiar greeting of flesh caressing flesh.

The oil she had lightly applied to her smooth skin had the exotic scent of the wildflowers in the surrounding jungle. He breathed her in, breaking their kiss only a moment to look down into her eyes. Given his earlier trickery, he half expected to be paid back in kind. To find a fist smashing up from nowhere or to be shifted into a painful hold. Both of them knew it was easily within her abilities.

He didn't give a damn.

Instead of pummelling him, she instead reached down between them with both hands to tear apart the leather trunks he was wearing. It might have understandably terrified the average male to have so much raw power working so closely to such sensitive equipment. Gregory proved he was far from average, instinctively shifting his body against hers as his already aching length sprung up into her waiting hands.

It was a unique pleasure to hold him there, with their bodies surrounding her firm grip. She watched his eyes glaze and his breath catch in his throat at the uniquely pleasant feeling of her hand stroking along his bare cock.

"Rise, my master," Algra purred the words forth as a velvet caress to his ears.

It took him a moment to actually understand those words given that as far as he could tell he was very much "risen." Hell, if he arose any more he might put someone's eye out.

It was only when she lifted one hand to gently push at his shoulder that he got the idea and stood upright just how she wanted. Raising herself onto her knees and never releasing his cock from her enclosed fingers, she presented herself before him with a sultry smile.

Gregory got the distinct idea that he was missing something quite important that was happening. If he could have concentrated for more than three seconds he might have actually figured out why Algra was waiting for him in the glade. As it was, she was far too distracting for him to care about the slightly odd circumstances.

Their sex was different to this. It was more a collision of mutual passions and a deep and ever-growing love than anything quite so formal or submissive as Algra was currently being. Even the way she had laced the word master had sounded a lot more like Talina than the beautiful orc woman. Gregory wasn't too ashamed to admit that having such a powerful woman offer herself like that was one hell of a turn-on. If he'd known the full implications of what they were currently doing, he might have thought twice about it.

Except Algra was determined not to give him that chance, and she stunned him with her next action. Lifting herself up on her knees, she grasped her breasts and lifted the jade globes around his jutting length.

"Algra," his utterance of her name fell somewhere between a moan and a growl.

The sound of her name on the air urged her on in her ministrations and soon enough she was enjoying the feel of his hardness slipping between her gleaming tits. It wasn't completely necessary to go quite so far in the act she had planned, but she had seen Janette administer a similar pleasure to him before and he'd seemed to enjoy it quite a bit.

Apparently Janette wasn't the only one who could impress with such an act. She quite clearly had Gregory in thrall as the fleshy pillows bounced with his rigid length resting between them. She watched the plump head of his cock pop out of her cleavage several times before lowering her head to let her tongue softly lap at the glistening bulb each time it appeared.

His hand fell upon her shoulder to steady himself when his knees threatened to buckle. She happily accepted the way his entire body leaned in against her and even encouraged the action by letting his balls slip between her tits and wrapping her lips around the spot she'd previously been licking.

Despite wanting desperately to tell her how good she was making him feel, he found the only sound he was capable of making was a guttural grunt. She understood perfectly, and felt the hot steely cock throb with an imminent release. Sensing the end was nigh, Algra relaxed her grip on him and gave him one final slurp before blinking up at him and seeing his eyes closed tightly in an expression clearly verging on the edge of release.

It was right where she wanted him.

She set off a fresh spark of pleasure by flicking her tongue across the tip of his cock to allow it to bounce between her lower tusks before being ensnared by the soft seams of her lips. Her hands slid up around his strong thighs, gripping the firm muscle tightly and slowly pulling herself towards him. In each passing moment, Gregory had to fight away the urge to let go and spend himself on her tongue. It was almost excruciating to restrain himself, and yet with each passing moment her mouth felt so much better as she suckled him further between her lips.

It was a strangely unique sensation to feel her so tenderly massaging his cock with her tongue, and the way she slowly slid him deeper into her mouth might have surprised him if he could have formed a coherent thought. Algra didn't tend to spend much time on foreplay, presumably finding better uses for his hardened member than as a lollipop. Given the orc female's natural athleticism and incredible pussy it wasn't exactly a problem for their sex life that she preferred to get down to business. The times when she had taken him into her mouth had mostly been exploratory or playful in their nature. This time it seemed more like she was trying to hone fellatio into a fine art form.

The feel of her tongue gently massaging the underside of his length became all-consuming as she took more and more of him into her mouth. That gentle, wet caress halted when the engorged peak reached the entrance to her throat. She had never taken him so far before, and it took two attempts to avoid the reflex to pull away. In the end she used her grip on his thighs to pull herself closer and closed her eyes to swallow him into the tightness of her throat.

"Fuck! Algra that's..."

Gregory quaked on unsure legs at the surge of pleasure she gave him. The experience of feeling her training herself to take him in such a fashion was more than he could take. Three times she slipped him from her throat, only to repeat the action and gulp him down once again. He wanted to tell her how incredible she made him feel, but her actions made breathing difficult. Speaking was almost out of the question. It was fortunate, in a way, because he certainly didn't have a word for the effect she was having on him. He'd probably have said it was "orgazmocreduriffic," and that would just have been embarrassing.

Instead of speaking, his body took the only action possible and sent a riptide of sizzling ecstasy through his body and pulsed fresh, creamy cum through his length. She'd seen the signs and felt those familiar pulses along her tongue just in time to slip her head back with her lips firmly sealed around his cock to drink deeply when he released the first heated gush into her mouth.

It wasn't the flavour or the texture of that lewd drink, but rather the desire to pleasure her mate which put the sudden deep thirst in her belly. He spilled himself across her tongue and she greedily swallowed every drop whilst he rode the wave of white fire through its crest and on to the shore beyond. Algra suckled at first with need, pulling him deep into her mouth before the eruption gave way and she settled her head into a gentle bobbing motion to savour his taste in the aftermath.

Gregory finally managed to open his eyes and watch the gorgeous creature kneeling before him, lapping at his organ with such obvious pleasure. A deep breath was taken before he reached down to run his hand across the large and unruly Mohawk atop her head. He'd never quite seen the style presented as Algra wore it. Instead of a thin like of rigid spikes, it was thick and wild as it swept back into the long braid that now swished across the green curves of her rear. He expected some type of styling agent in the black strands, but felt only the natural softness of her hair lifted only by its own thickness and determination.

"I love this," he admired the style along with the sight of the woman still tenderly pleasuring him.

The compliment finally made her relinquish him from between her lips. She released her grip on his legs to stroke the glistening member with one hand whilst using the other to pleasure herself.

"It is not seen among humans," Algra noted.

"Well it's fucking gorgeous on orcs. Maybe we should try it out." Their eyes met and he smiled down upon her.

The words made her heart thunder in her chest. It was a strange thing to be knelt before a human experiencing a thrill she never thought she would know again. Knowing that he might not enjoy her new look had troubled her twofold. First that he might find her less appealing, and even more so that she found herself caring so deeply about such a trivial thing.

It seemed that she needn't have worried about the former issue, and she was currently working on seeing to the latter being more acceptable to her pride. True to form, Gregory's insatiable length lost little of its rigidity in the moments after his climax. All it took was a few minutes of watching the stunning, naked orc before him for fresh steel to temper through his length.

It was then his turn to take the initiative, giving her bare shoulder a firm push that she allowed to lay her down on the soft grass. Her legs stretched languidly, releasing the tension built up from crouching before him and spreading open her thighs to suggest a suitable target for their next round.

It didn't take him long to take the bait, taking just a moment to enjoy the exquisite view down between those perfectly toned legs to the glistening treasure between them. A quick jolt of elation sent a shiver through her body when she saw him run the tip of his tongue across his lips. His habit of tasting her was definitely a happy perk of taking a human lover. Orc males seldom lavished such attention on their mates. Their tusks were too large, or at least that was their excuse.

She tensed with anticipation upon feeling his hands grasp her knees whilst he laid before her to lower his head between her legs. He always started with a little kiss, as if greeting an old friend. It was a gentle prelude that allowed him to settle her taste on his lips. She watched him with an amused little smile as his head lifted for a moment as he considered her like a puzzle-box. In their first days, this had annoyed her quite a bit given she wasn't exactly the patient sort. After months of being together, she had come to appreciate the little reverie more after figuring out he wasn't holding back so much as plotting exactly how he would force her climax.

It only took a few moments before his lips descended and she could fully appreciate his plan. Making a soft seal of his mouth, he gently lifted her outer lips to slip his tongue across the fleshy lips. She moaned appreciatively and relaxed her head against the ground to close her eyes and enjoy the ride. The hardened tip of his tongue then wiggled its way inside her to slowly lick up the length of her slit and soften to lightly flick across her clit. His hands slipped beneath her thighs before rising across her hips to wrap his arms about her legs. Knowing the strength of his lover, it was much safer to keep a firm grip on her.

Looking up over her taut belly, he watched her breath hitch in her chest as he swished his tongue across her naked sex and swallowed down the rich love juice that flowed from inside her. Her full breasts jiggled enticingly with a natural allure as he watched just how good he was making her feel. A louder gasp followed as he plunged his tongue deep inside her, exploring the deep channel and tasting the flavour of her depths.

Algra ran her fingers through the grass and slowly gyrated her hips in unison with the movements of his tongue. Her lips parted as her breathing matched the rhythm of waves crashing against the shore amidst a rising storm. She lifted her hands from the earth to cup her breasts, pinching her hardened nipples and offering quite the wanton show for Gregory's appreciative gaze.

She felt the touch of his fingers parting her lower lips before his tongue pressed upwards, the thick muscle stroking across her clit in slow movements as the tip continued to dance inside her. A growl of lust rumbled inside her chest, she squirmed in an effort to press him more rapidly against her little nub of pleasure. He happily granted the unspoken request by licking across her sodden folds to quickly swirl his tongue across those tightly packed nerves, sending a sudden shockwave of blissful pressure seemingly right down to the bone.




The Missing Dragon Ch. 04



He pressed further, lifting her legs higher in his arms and pushing his mouth against her to elicit the first moan from her lips. She listened to the soft suckling sounds his mouth made against her quivering pussy and the moan lifted into a scream when his tongue lapped across her clit. The wet, warmth moved with rapid little licks that sent her plummeting over the edge and then soaring upward to her release.

Loving the sensation of her pussy convulsing against his lips, he continued to lick the offered juices that flowed with sudden intensity as she thrashed against him. Despite being only human, and a relatively young one at that, he had enough experience to slow his ministrations to a delicate lull that allowed her to fall back down from those dizzying heights whilst retaining the sensation of his tongue still adoring her.

A laugh of pure delight rang through the air to his ears, soon followed by his lover rising to sit upright in the grass and settle her feet on the ground. Her legs bent at the knee with his arms still ensnaring her thighs, and she looked down at him with a wry smile.

"You seek to impress?" she asked.

His lips had been forced upward from her sex and he'd been busying himself planting little kisses up to her belly button. At her question, he looked up to her and returned the smile. Responding at first by releasing her thighs from his hold to lift himself upright to kneel between her open legs. She enjoyed seeing him rise above her, especially there and especially then. He would have her in more ways he could ever know by the time it was over. Gently bringing his fingers to stroke along her jaw line, he tilted her head back and set a deep and loving kiss on her lips.

She welcomed the kiss with a softer moan and savoured the simmering passion of his touch. The ravenous lust he had met her with had faded into a deeper and richer flame that moved together with tongues entwining slowly as their lips shifted in a familiar and thoroughly intimate dance.

A small reverberating little rumble passed from her mouth to his, and served as the only warning he got before she grasped his shoulders and pounced. True, she would give herself to him more than he could ever know, and in return she'd take an equal measure.

He was pushed to the side and his back pinned to the ground before he quite knew what was happening. When he found her lips no longer against his, he opened his eyes to see the emerald warrior princess mounting him. One of her long legs was cast across his body to plant a knee in the grass either side of his waist and her hand reached between them to grasp his rigid length as it pointed up toward the sky.

"Now who's trying to impress?" he grinned at her and let his hands fall on her bare hips, slipping around to give her ass a loving squeeze.

The corner of her mouth lifted and she actually winked at him before pushing the thick head of his cock up against her saturated pussy. Both their smiles trembled as she slid him inside her. The familiar wet heat and tight muscle wrapped around his throbbing peak. Her hips rolled in a slow little circle to enjoy the way he felt inside her before she finally lowered herself down with a little gasp.

Watching the gorgeous female wiggle so delightfully with his cock inside her before impaling herself all the way down the sizable length was enough to almost make him forget to breathe.

One of her hands settled on the hard muscles of his abdomen as she tilted her body toward him and looked down into his eyes in the same moment her body began to move. It was a soft, gentle rhythm. Unlike Algra's usual feral lust, she started a slow grind that brought fresh heat to his skin.

"My master," she hissed.

That caught his attention. Algra never tended to get all that elaborate about the fact that he'd made her his servant. Talina often purred the word in a way that made him want to do obscenely naughty things to her. Algra usually had a more direct way of going about matters. He'd clearly been wrong to assume such directness meant subtlety was beyond her. Even then in that most intimate situation the way she spoke those two words made him doubt he'd ever be able to put her down again.

It caused his body to move beneath her like a wave, his hips moving in time with her and encouraging the rise and fall of her own. In the time since he'd come to her, his body had strengthened considerably. There weren't many humans that could successfully pick up a female orc in the throes of passion without getting themselves accidentally hurled through a window. The sensation of his hands pulling her down upon himself, the solid musculature across his chest beneath her fingers, and the unyielding steel in his rigid cock wasn't just a match for her. It made her quiver with a seemingly unrelenting lust, made all the sweeter for knowing he could take everything she gave and more.

Although just then it was her that was doing all the taking. She shifted herself to stir that engorged member inside her, rubbing the slippery length against her slick channel and finding the little pressure points that made her gasp and buck with excitement. Gregory watched the beautiful orc woman pleasuring herself on his cock and drank in the sight of her oil-shined figure gleaming in the sunlight.

Normally he would have followed his urges and gotten more involved. The way her heavy tits bounced before his eyes was alluring enough, and her perky nipples offered quite a temptation for his lips. Yet as he watched her he felt oddly as if he shouldn't interfere with her efforts to pleasure him. Considering those efforts were succeeding with astonishingly high grades, it wasn't a difficult sacrifice to make. So, he found himself only lifting his body to meet hers and falling into that carnal dance whilst allowing her to lead him wherever she liked.

Then she opened her own eyes to look down upon him and made him forget those considerations when she started thrashing her hips wildly against him. Even after all they had done together it was difficult to appreciate just how strong Algra was, and unlike most of her kin she could damn well use that strength to move with such speed that she became a blur. It wasn't the first time she'd shown him that power in the heat of the rut, yet it was the first time she'd been in such a dominant position.

If she hadn't been in the process of fucking the sense right out of him, he might have actually been a little nervous at the display. Her hips moved at a thunderous pace, her back arched to thrust her tits out before her and she released a deep roar of lust that served as a signal for their fire to take them both. She felt that blissful release burn through every little fibre of herself. At the height of her climax, she looked down upon him and saw his eyes fixed upon her with unyielding devotion. His own powerful frame now gleamed with perspiration and she almost purred upon feeling his seed erupting deep inside her as she descended from on high. Her body continued to move for him, the slick channel of her pussy snugly engulfing his invading lance as he rode through his own release.

They both fell panting together, Algra's stunningly fit frame settling comfortably on his. Those soft breasts cushioning against his chest as her hands pulled his from her shapely bum to interlink their fingers. The kiss that followed was all too welcome, and perfected the moment as their bodies happily rode the little aftershocks of the intense sex.

Eventually, the kiss subsided into a gentler caress as their mouths strayed to settle loving little touches on each other's faces. Gregory smiled as she nibbled on his earlobe and she squirmed with approval when his hands stroked down her bare back to give her ass a little squeeze.

With the deed done, she finally rolled from him to settle on her back in the grass beside him. She glanced down to see his length was still firm and clearly already missing her. A content little smile crossed her features, and they both looked up the clouds overhead.

"So, not that I'm remotely complaining, but what was that for?" Gregory spoke through long, heavy breaths.

Algra grunted questioningly at him, turning her head from where she'd been cloud-gazing to look back at his appealing frame.

"I just mean you've been kicking my ass a lot lately," he cautiously continued. "Now here you are, looking like some warrior goddess waiting for me here on our field of butt-kicking. This isn't a test is it? Or a distraction? Oh crap, I'm not about to be ambushed by a mad rhinoceros or something?"

Algra's questioning look quickly fell into a roar of laughter before she eventually turned onto her side to face him and propped herself up on one arm. Even then, with the threat of an impending rhino attack, he couldn't help but admire the smooth muscular curves of her truly majestic body. He particularly loved the way the sunlight caught the shine on her skin, spilling shards of golden colour across all that deep green.

"Since you took me," Algra began, "I have been hiding myself. I did not want others to know or to see me. You did not care, and our time together was passion and goodness."

"It was." He nodded. "Still is, from what I just felt."

The interruption made Algra's smile deepen, and her set her dark gaze alight with warmth.

"To many orc men, I am a prize. A way to further their glory and their renown amongst our kin. They would always see me at their side, just as I am now." She lifted her hand to gesture down over her naked body.

"Naked?" Gregory lifted a brow.

"Glorified," Algra corrected him. "Showing the prestige of their victory over me. Their ability to please me. My love for them."

"Sounds like they need to check their egos a little."

"Perhaps." Algra's smile turned somewhat mysterious.

Then it hit him, as if someone had dropped Torren's anvil on his head from a very high cliff.

"So, you just did all this for me anyway. Despite not really liking the idea of it. You . . . um . . . You did it for me." For some reason, he was having trouble speaking without the air sticking in his throat.

She nodded slowly, a glimmer of amusement rising over her cheeks.

"Algra, did we just get married?"

The smile she gave him at that broadened to something quite radiant.

Oh shit.

Upon seeing the look of hesitation in her mate, the orc shifted to pounce. Her long, bare leg was cast over his waist and she quickly took a seat on his abdomen before absently giving his shoulder a powerful shove back into the grass. With him set firmly beneath her, she stroked her hand down from his shoulder to his scarred chest affectionately.

"Rest still, my mate. We are bound together here and now. I have glorified all that I am for you, and you have taken me. It is done." She leaned down to press her mouth to his.

Even then, understandably panicked as he was, he couldn't bring himself to push her away. Instead, his arms lifted to embrace her, and he welcomed her against him again.

Algra shivered with delight.

Then the kiss ended, and to keep him steady she continued to rest against him. Her hands settled in the grass as her large breasts flattened against his solid chest. He caught himself thinking that as far as wives went, this one was pretty great. Upon considering that thought a little more, he finally relaxed beneath her.

"So, you'd better tell me what this means then. Do I have to buy a tux or something?" Though he still sounded apprehensive, she was comforted by the way his hands continued to gently stroke along her flanks.

"You need not purchase anything. You have accepted me. You have given me yourself. What more is there to give?" she asked.

Well, that was a beautifully romantic and moderately fucking terrifying way of looking at it.

"Right. I meant . . ." He paused, trying to explain himself better. "I don't know anything about being a mate, Algra. Hell, in this world I'm not too sure what's required of a husband. I don't want to, um, to dishonour you or disappoint you."

She nodded approvingly, then stroked her hands across his shoulders. "That is a good start."

He let out a little huff of amusement at her usual abrupt answer, then settled his lips on her brow. She watched him carefully for a few long moments.

"You are not angry?" She seemed slightly skeptical.

"I think I'm still in shock, actually. It's a big thing."

"It is," she nodded.

"But, it's you. So I guess it's worth figuring out."

At those words, he felt her hold him tighter for just a moment. The great orc warrior nuzzled her cheek against his chest and he thought he caught the sound of her own breathing hitch in her throat. Despite the fact that he'd just had an impromptu, and highly satisfying surprise wedding ceremony, he was far more stunned when he felt a drop of moisture settle on his chest. It took him a moment to realise what that meant, for he truly never expected it of her. Algra Strongblood was crying.

He did a quick check in the sky, scanning the clouds for the oncoming Four Horseman.

Finding only clear blue sky interspersed with a few wisps of cloud, he settled himself for holding her there gently for a few minutes. When she lifted herself to sit up in his lap, her eyes had cleared of the tears and she looked upon him with determined and loving resolve.

"I should speak of being mates," she finally conceded.

"Well, I kind of wish you'd done that about an hour ago, but I'll take what I can get." Gregory smiled for a minute, then he got a light smack around the face for the wisecrack. "Ow! Ok, well I see that being mates doesn't come with a 'no hitting' rule."

"It does not." Algra lifted her head proudly. "Do well to remember it."

"I will."

"Good. I am now your slave, as was before. Yet now you are also mine. Yes? Your mate is your highest master, and there are none who come before."

"Right, so I do what you tell me. No change there then." He nodded and this time he caught the oncoming smack around the head by her wrist. She let out a little growl of warning, then he kissed the back of her hand and she abruptly decided to let him off with a caution.

"We are bound together now," she continued. "Equals. No secrets. No fears between us."

"I still have to leave, Algra." He sat up with her still settled against him. "You know that, right?"

"Then I will come."

"Algra, you can't."

She growled, low and dangerous.

"It's not that I don't want you to. I really, really want you to. Hell, there's a part of me that never wants to leave this clearing." Her growl faded into silence at the gentle nature of his voice, and the way he lifted his hand to her cheek before kissing her again. "If you followed me to where I come from, you would be an outcast. I mean, you know how humans have different skin colours? There's a lot of people in my world who are still having trouble with that. Add tusks to the mix and it's a whole new ball game."

Gregory paused for a moment and made his feelings on her tusks known by planting a little kiss on her lower lip where each ivory rise lifted out from beneath them.

"We don't have orcs there, or elves or anything else. You're only in stories. They might take you away."

"Let them try."

"It's not about a fight, Algra. It's about a world, and the way that world would see you."

There was a long moment of silence after that. "Would you return here? If you could."

"In a heartbeat."

"Even to leave your world behind?"

It was Gregory's turn to be silent for a while, before he gave his honest answer. "Yes."

"To leave behind your family, friends?"

"For you, yes. But I can't just disappear, never letting anyone know what happened to me. If I don't ever get home, I can live with that, but I can't live with the idea of not trying. People back there loved me. I had a father, a mother. They deserve the effort."

"But there is hope, yes? That you might return to your world and find a way between? That you would be able to come here and see me?"

"I just got thrown in with a pack of underperforming orcs after having my chest kicked in for accidently losing a magical ring that transported me into a land filled with some of the most aggressively violent people I've ever known. I'm seeing a run of luck there that doesn't bode well for that kind of happy ending."

His thoughts on that matter drew an unexpected yet very welcome laugh from Algra's chest. He was left to admire those beautiful green breasts bouncing and jiggling enchantingly with the quivers of her laughter.

Ok. Maybe he didn't have all bad luck.

"There is a belief amongst some that so much bad must mean that good is on its way." She reached out and ran her fingers along his arm.

"Yeah, we have that belief too. It's called karma. It's notoriously unreliable."

"Then we must make it more reliable."

Before he could answer that, she quelled his doubts by leaning in to kiss him and sliding one of her legs over his body. Then she made sure that a great deal of positive karma swerved his way for the next several hours.

* * * * *

By the time they returned the sky had darkened and Bolut had left the camp along with his caravan. The whole place seemed much emptier without the retinue the big orc had taken with him. The stalls were closed for business, and only a skeleton crew of workers remained behind to tend to the place.

Their return hadn't exactly been a speedy one, as they often stopped along the way to fondle and kiss at each other. This led to two full-on sessions of hard rutting against the trees and in the dirt. By the time they re-entered the camp they looked desperately in need of soap and water.

"Algra, before we get back there's one thing about all this that I can't promise you," he said as they made their way towards the familiar pavilions.

"You worry about Janette. Don't." She turned to look at him as they walked and even then she felt the heat rise within her at the sight of his dirty, powerful figure. "I know humans attempt only to rut with their mates. Orcs do not. I have no jealousy of Janette. I like playing with her when you are not here. Though I shall need to approve of any others you lie with."

"Great, I'll draw up a list." Gregory blew out a slightly perplexed sigh.

Algra quickly clouted him over his shoulder.

"Ow!"

"I have no trouble with your lusts, my love. But do not take any partner for granted."

"Oh, right. I'm sorry. I wasn't really thinking about that just then, but you're right that I should have been. Feel free to smack me again if I start taking anyone for granted." He nodded towards her.

"I always feel free to smack you, my mate." Algra returned his serious nod.

He laughed at that. She merely smiled confidently.

When they reached the centre of the camp many of the other human slaves bowed respectfully at Gregory's passing in the same way they had done for Bolut. Before he could move towards a familiar group of his friends, Algra pulled him back.

"There is something you must now know. As my mate, you will be expected to tend the fire," she explained.

"What?" Gregory looked over to the campfire and saw that it was roaring hot enough to cook with. "But it looks fine. Could get dangerous if I put anymore wood on it."

For some reason, Algra found this very funny indeed. Once she'd finished laughing, she shook her head and gave him an affectionate little pat on the chest.

"That is not the meaning of my words. I will speak more later. I hunger. Go. I know how you like to be clean. Wash and then come to eat."

He watched her walk off towards the cooking pot, wondering if he'd ever figure the woman out. Then he looked to where she had nodded and found the courtesan's tent. God, he loved his new mate.

Making his way over to where Lydia, Fiona, and Talina made their rest, he pulled back the canopy and stepped inside.




The Missing Dragon



Her face was the picture of violence. No mortal species that has ever existed can quite match the fury present in the face of a pissed off orc. The moment Gregory saw the way she looked upon him he would have turned and fled if it weren't for the fact he'd been stunned stone still. He saw her dark eyes and the deep downward curve of her brow. Her lips, a darker shade of green than her face, curled back over her white teeth revealing her lower canines that were far too long to be human and curved outward like small tusks made for shredding meat. Wild untamed black hair framed the terror-inducing sight and made her seem almost primal, a force of nature.

He watched as the ferocious female slammed her club against the earth and then bellowed at him some more. When she didn't attack after a while he began to regain some of his wits, although they damn sure returned few and far between.

"I...I'm sorry I..." He tried to speak only to be interrupted by another unmistakable battle cry from her.

"Look..." He started again and lifted his hands up to show he didn't want any trouble.

That was when she finally lunged at him. It only took her two bounds of her powerful legs to close the distance between them. The charging creature sent a shot of adrenaline right up his spine and his instincts flew into overdrive. Her first swing was aimed at his arms and he quickly spun out of the way. The world seemed to slow down as the fight began. Thankfully lady luck took him in her arms and seemed to instinctively guide him past the orc's first three swings. Finally his brain seemed to fall into the routine of a sparring match. Since Freddie had made him take up Karate he'd spent many hours there and that certainly wasn't the only martial art he'd studied since then.

It was time to stop letting her set the pace of this fight. She swung again and this time Gregory found his balance and leapt over her club before delivering a heavy roundhouse straight to the side of her head. Given that he looked so puny and that he'd spent so much time fleeing her attacks the move took her completely off guard. Gregory pressed the advantage with a succession of quick punches that unbalanced her before he moved to heft her clean off her feet. As she fell he grabbed her wrist, twisted until the club came free and claimed the weapon for himself.

The orc saw the human lift the club over his head to finish her off and crossed her arms above her face.

"Yield! Yield!" She shouted.

Gregory hesitated and then stepped backwards, still holding onto the club.

"What the hell are you!?" His stomach felt like it was playing leap frog with his liver.

"Algra! I am Algra!" The orc's tone was pleading.

Gregory didn't know what to do with this information and so he fell into stunned silence for a moment. Algra peeked out from behind her arms to see he wasn't standing over her any longer but had taken a few steps backwards. Her face was much different without her fury twisting her expression. The tusks were still quite strange, with her mouth closed they poked up to rest on her upper lip. Her features were much softer than he imagined possible, her eyes wide now and the colour of very dark chocolate. They struck him as very human rather than the soulless bloodthirsty orbs he'd first taken them for.

Fear gave way to curiosity as she looked him over. How had she ever lost a battle to this one? He was shorter than her by a few inches, maybe an even six feet or just a little more. His hair was long enough to be a complete and utter mess, his recent trip through the foliage contributing to this by adding a few twigs and leaves to the black mane. He was also pale which was usually a sign of bad health in humans but on a closer inspection she saw he was in fact quite healthy. There was a colour in his cheeks, his breath came in strong gasps and his blows had been deceptively powerful. The clothes he wore were overly loose and strange in their design. In fact she'd never seen anything like the fabrics he wore. He had a fondness for the colour black, that was for certain for both his loosely fitting leggings and the baggy garment he covered his upper body with were both absent of all other colour. She wondered what his body looked like beneath those clothes, he must have been very lean and his muscles must have been well strengthened for him to be so slim and yet so strong.

"Why did you attack me?" Of all the millions of questions running through his head, that was the one that popped out first.

"I want you." Algra replied simply as she sat up and tentatively started to brush herself off.

"You wanted me? You mean you wanted my damn skull caved in is more like it!" Despite himself, Gregory lowered the club. He kept it handy though, just in case.

"I not want to break you little man. I need slave. I not get one." She stood up and Gregory noted her simple sandals for the first time. They had notably flat soles.

"You're damn right you didn't get one. Did you..." Fuck, this was crazy. "Did you take anyone else? Anyone like me?"

Algra shook her head.

"I want you. Other humans too big. Carry swords and have thick metal skins." She straightened out her tiny fur skirt before hooking her thumbs beneath the flimsy material and tugging them down her long jade legs.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Gregory's eyes bulged as he caught a look at a small thick patch of thin hairs narrowing down to the bare smooth lips of her pussy.

Algra stopped with her skirt half way down her legs.

"You win battle. You have all that is mine." She explained as if patiently explaining the rules of poker to a novice.

"Yeah because all I'm short of right now is a makeshift bikini top and a furry miniskirt." Gregory found enough frustration in the situation to let a trace of anger into his voice. "You can keep them. I'll keep this so you can't try to beat the shit out of me with it again alright?" He wiggled the club in her direction.

"I would not. You have all that is mine." She explained again with an affirming nod.

She did slide her skirt back into place however. If Gregory wasn't quite so stressed out by then he might have taken some time to marvel at the shapely orc a little more. The fact that he'd just laid eyes upon his first pussy hadn't quite yet fully hit him.

"Well I'll just keep this." He said again, less sure of himself now.

The orc frowned and shook her head.

"You have all that is mine." She said again.

Gregory paused and let the club swing down to his side as he looked at the impossible creature before him.

"What exactly do you mean by that?" He somehow already knew what the answer would be from the way she bowed her head slightly whilst speaking to him.

"I attack you to keep you for slave. You win." She laid out the rules and folded her arms across her breasts impatiently.

"So now I..."

"You have me."

"Well...shit."

- - - - -

It took Gregory a full hour before he realised that Algra was completely serious. To test just how far she'd go with it he ordered her to lift up a large stone resting nearby and use it to break her left wrist. She was half way through lifting it up without any word or hint of complaint before he told her to stop and apologised several times for making her think she had to do it in the first place. She seemed confused by the apology since breaking her own wrist seemed like a completely reasonable expectation to her.

"Alright then Algra I think you can have your club back. Don't hit anyone with it unless I tell you to." He instructed before lifting the heavy branch to hand over to her.

"As you wish, master." She took the club and lifted it to rest across her shoulders.

"So just out of curiosity. If I wanted to ask you some questions and then I freed you, what would you do?" He scratched the back of his head as he said this, hoping for the best.

"I would answer questions as best I could, then I would try to take you as my slave again after I am free. Then I think I would break one of your fingers for causing me such trouble. Then I would lay you on the earth and rut with you for I am..."

"Whoa there! Ok well that was way too much information." He lifted his hands up making a gesture that roughly translated to 'please for all that is good and pure in this world be quiet.'

Algra looked at his hands and frowned with confusion.

"You wish to challenge me? All that I own and all that I am is already yours." She explained. He was a very odd human.

"Challenge you!? No."

"Then why do you raise your hands?" She looked between his open palms and then back to him.

He suddenly clamped his hands to his sides like they'd touched something searingly hot.

"That...that's not a challenge. That's...well it's meant to be sort of a 'stop' kinda gesture." He explained.

"That is not stop. That means 'I wish to fight barehanded'. Do you not know orcs?" She rolled her eyes and shook her head as if chiding a small child.

"Do I look like a guy who knows orcs!? Lady I have no fucking idea how it's even possible you exist. I'm absolutely clueless when it comes to orcs, elves, dwarves, gnomes, fairies or fucking unicorns!" 

"Then I belong to an idiot." She gravely surmised.

Gregory stared dumbstruck at her and then slumped back against a tree, slowly sliding down to sit between the roots in the ground. A long moment of silence passed between them as Gregory came to terms with the idea of all the strange things he'd just mentioned actually existing. It was impossible. It was insanity. It was...brilliant.

"Algra, when you came out from behind the tree screaming you waited before attacking. You were waiting for me to do something weren't you?"

She nodded her head in the affirmative.

"I was awaiting you to pick a weapon. It is not acceptable to challenge a free thing for its freedom without allowing it to fight as it wishes." She said.

"And then when I raised my hands to try and get you to stop..."

"You chose your weapon." She said with a degree of finality.

"I chose to fight bare handed. Right. Just in case, if I make any other gestures or say anything in the future that might cause you to try and beat the shit out of me or take a crap on my head or whatever, just explain in words what I've done first. Deal?"

Algra studied his words for a few seconds before nodding again. "Deal."

"Aright, so where are we?" Gregory lifted himself to his feet again and brushed off his cargo pants to look around the forest. He sure as hell wasn't in England any more.

"We stand in the Embervine Forest in the land of Grulmir." She informed him curiously. He really didn't have any idea where he was.

"Alright and where's the land of Grulmir." He looked back over to where she stood.

Algra didn't answer right away, though she didn't seem to be hiding anything from him so much as she didn't quite know how to answer.

"Grulmir lays upon Arolius." She ventured after a few moments.

"And what's beyond Arolius?" Please say Southampton. Please say Southampton. Please say Southampton.

The female orc scratched her shaggy black mane of hair. She thought for a few long moments before shaking her head and shrugging.

"The stars." She finally said.

Suddenly Gregory needed to sit back down again. He was on another world. Well that made way more sense than he'd have probably liked to admit.

"Ok...ok....ok ok ok ok." He took a deep breath. "Ok."

"What is your name little man?" She asked, her own curiosity finally getting the better of her.

"Hm?" The question snapped him out of his revelation. "Oh I'm Gregory. Greg. You can call me Greg."

"Very well master." She replied with what just might have been a hint of a smirk.

"Look, do you know these woods? I'd just...I'd like somewhere to sit down, something to eat and some water." He looked over to her in much the same way she'd looked at him when he'd been standing over her with her club in his hands.

"Yes master. I live here. Come." She turned and began to walk away.

Having no other option, he followed behind her.

As they walked he kept looking back to his new orc servant. He allowed his study of her to take his thoughts away from his current problems. She was young although she seemed older than him, perhaps somewhere in her mid twenties. Though incredibly powerful, she had an unmistakable womanly figure that was fit to the extreme. Her face also had an odd kind of beauty to it. Though her tusks jutted up from beneath her lower lip she didn't have much of an under bite and her jaw-line was smooth and pleasantly sloped. Her nose was also well sloped and its outline flowed beautifully into the shape of her brow.

Given her small amount of clothing he could clearly see the initial deep curves of her cleavage which undoubtedly flowed into gorgeously proportioned breasts. Since he'd been speaking to her mostly from her front he hadn't initially noticed that the skirt she wore fell notably short of covering her behind properly. He could see the upper curves of her ass and the tight valley they flowed into. The thought suddenly reminded him of his glimpse of those thin curls and those plush soft folds of her labia. Suddenly, he found himself looking at his orc in a very different light.

"We are here." She announced, oblivious to his roaming eyes.

Greg looked about the place. It wasn't much though it was certainly more than he was expecting. A large fur covered tent was sitting in the middle of the forest floor. A good distance away was a campfire with spare wood resting beside it. A bow and some arrows were propped up against the side of the tent. In the far edge of the small clearing was a number of freshly skinned kills that had been strung up. Looking at the creatures didn't exactly do his stomach many favours but he was hungry enough then to eat a dead, scabby horse so he wasn't about to complain.

Algra walked over to the meat and tugged one of the creatures from the line where it hung. She carried it over to the campfire and threw some wood into a small pile in the centre before getting to work on lighting it up.

Greg was pretty much clueless. He'd been camping a few times but even his father who was mad for the outdoors had balked at killing and skinning their own food and using two pieces of flint to start fires. So Greg sat beside the fire opposite her and watched with interest as she peeled the meat from the carcass and threw it in a metal pot that produced from the tent. Water was brought in from a skin and she added various herbs and other ingredients that were found around the forest.

After an hour or so had passed she spooned some of the mixture into a bowl and offered it to him. Cautiously, he took it and took a small sip. That small sip was soon followed by several larger ones that scorched his mouth. It didn't matter. It was worth the pain. Whatever the hell this was it was fifty times tastier than it had any right to be.

"Good?" She asked.

"Excellent." He barely managed to respond between mouthfuls.

He actually finished his first bowl of the stuff before he realised she wasn't eating.

"Not hungry?"

"This is not mine. All that I own is..." She started.

"Ok stop right there. You can eat, ok? Hell I'd free you if I knew you wouldn't turn into the screaming valkyrie again. You don't need to ask me to eat, sleep, or do anything that you need to stay alive ok? Eat when you're hungry, sleep when you're tired..."

"Fuck when I'm horny?" She suggested.

Greg choked on his second bowl of the stew as Algra poured out her own meal. She turned away to hide her expression behind her hair so that he didn't see her grin at his reaction.

"Well, sure. Just stick around me and don't kill anyone unless I say it's alright...or they're trying to kill you."

"Yes master."

They ate until the bowl was empty. At first Algra seemed to have quite an appetite but the simple truth was that orcs could eat almost anything at any time. When they were finished she put away her cooking pot and the bowls inside the tent. It was only when she didn't return after ten minutes that Greg became curious and walked over to the large fur covered structure. Lifting the flap that covered the entrance, he glanced inside. What he saw made his jaw almost bounce clean off the ground.

The inner part of the tent was split into two areas, one half was for storage and it seemed Algra kept a few wooden boxes there filled with furs and other wooden trinkets she had likely made herself. On the other side of the tent was a living space with a thick heavy set of furs covering the ground. It was on these that Algra was currently resting on all fours, completely naked, waiting for him.

"Uh...Al-" He cleared his throat. "Algra? What's um..."

"You wish to rut with me." It certainly didn't sound like a question.

Greg looked at the inviting tight curves of her round ass, his gaze eventually falling to the smooth slit at the apex of her strong thighs. The frilly flesh around her sex was puffed up and glistening with her juices.

"Algra look, I'm sorry if I..."

"Do you have a woman?" She cut in abruptly.

"Well...no." This was getting more embarrassing by the moment.

"Do you not want me?" Dear sweet Jesus was she kidding? She was an orc and she could damn well give most human supermodels a run for their money on the knockout scale.

"I...look you're..." A very nice person? Sure, that'd work. Oh and elephants are generally known for their wonderful talent at figure skating.

"I am yours, you have been fed and watered. You must now take me before sleeping."

"I must?" Was this more strange orcish tradition?

"Yesss." Greg was so shocked and curious about the idea he'd be required to have sex with her to complete their 'deal' that he didn't notice the hint of desire in her voice.

"Is this another orc thing? You think I have to...do this and then you're mine?"

"Mmmhmmm." She agreed. Right then she'd have agreed to just about anything.

"You don't have to you know...I mean..."

"Yes I do!" She screamed so sharply that he mistook primal lust for anger.

"Oh...well I guess...I mean I could. You're...you're incredibly beautiful and all. It's just that it wouldn't feel right knowing that you just did it because of..." Greg babbled, the sight of her was making his heart beat with desire and yet his conscience held him back.

"Greg, get over here or I will fucking kill you!" She growled as he watched her pussy flutter with desire.

"You mean it's got to seal the deal or you're free to do anything again?" He seemed suddenly more uncertain of his situation.

"Yes!" She lied.

Well this was a male fantasy come true wasn't it? Yet watching her there on her hands and knees, it sure as hell didn't feel right. Greg thought for a moment and then decided that if he was going to lose his virginity to an orc in the back end of nowhere then he was sure as hell doing to do it on his own terms.

"Roll over onto your back." He ordered.

"What!? Do you not even know how to..." She started to snap at him before she was grabbed on either side of her waist and pulled sideways. In her lust craze she almost lost her mind and lashed out at him.

It was in that moment that she saw his head fall between her open legs and she gaped in dumbfounded awe as he pressed his lips up against her pussy. She felt her silky flesh yield to his tongue and revelled in the bliss it caused her. Fire flowed through her nerves from between her legs and outwards in constant waves that she was only too eager to ride.

"Gods! Wha...what..." She managed to moan before her body tensed up and her pussy convulsed around his tongue.

He'd barely begun. The taste of her green flesh was initially not the most pleasant of experiences. She was an orc after all. Yet by luck on his part she had bathed only the previous night and knowing the pleasure he was giving her certainly made the effort worth it. As her juices began to flow more freely and he lapped up her nectar her taste became more appealing and he drank it up ravenously. This was his first time with any kind of female and the reaction he was getting was certainly encouraging. It did get somewhat dangerous for a few moments when he centred his attention on the small nub he'd heard so much about and she clamped her thighs around his head. Normally this wouldn't have been so much trouble but this woman could have probably kicked a cement wall into rubble.




The Missing Dragon



After hearing his muffled urgent cries for air, she looked down and parted her legs immediately again to reveal a slightly dishevelled but very pleased looking Gregory looking up at her. He stood up then as she laid back, spread eagle, looking upon him like he was a god that had just given her a lifetime supply of ambrosia. She was gorgeous, flushed with the waves of her climax her skin took on an emerald gleam with sweat and heat. Her bare breasts were seen properly for the first time and he couldn't wait to get his hands and his mouth upon them. They stood proudly as perfect round globes that lifted and fell with each breath and were plenty more than a handful. He didn't know whoever said more than that was a waste but he was sure as hell about to do his damnedest to prove them wrong.

Wasting no time, he grabbed his old hoodie and the t-shirt beneath and lifted them above his head in one smooth motion. Algra let out a soft moan of approval. Gregory didn't have the frame of a bodybuilder but he was extraordinarily fit. Hitting the gym for an hour every day combined with a number of press ups and sit ups in the mornings had certainly shaped him into something lithe, strong and firm. The ripples of his muscle moved with each of his breaths and he soon kicked away his boots and socks before tugging his pants down over his legs.

Algra was both pleasantly surprised by his body and impatient for him to lie with her. The glimpse of his cock jutting up from between her legs brought a low growl from the female. Thankfully she didn't need to wait long to feel the swollen tip of his length slide up against her juicy lower lips. Then, with a sudden sharp thrust, he claimed her and she felt him spread her to her depths. A lusty look of approval was cast up at him, he was certainly not lacking in the necessary equipment.

Gregory was admittedly an amateur at this but he soon fell into a steady rhythm, savouring the feeling of her wet cunt sliding around his cock. She moved with him, rolling her hips in an effort to increase his pace for she was not accustomed to the slowly burning heat he was stirring inside of her. Orc's didn't make love, they rutted and slammed against each other. This human was doing something else entirely and it was making her lose her mind.

Her arms lifted to grab the sides of her head, her fingers sliding through the tousled locks of her own black hair. As she lifted her arms she presented her breasts to him in such a way that he could no longer hold back. His hands reached out to grasp the soft fleshy tits and his fingers squeezed and groped their delights. The magnificent curves felt as good as they looked and she felt him quicken his pace as their bodies slapped together loudly in the tent.

Male orcs tended to view female breasts as little more than a decent place to hold on to as they pummelled away at them from behind. Having her tits teased in such a way with his gentle strokes and the firm squeezes was enough to make her scream with pleasure. Tight slick pussy walls clamped around his cock and attempted to suck him deeper inside her as she bucked her hips wildly against him and felt the explosion of pleasure that left her trembling against his body.

Having a woman so undeniably ferocious and of such a bestial beauty climaxing beneath him was definitely a high point in what had thus far been a difficult life for Gregory. Without thinking, he moved his hands to steady himself in amidst the furs on either side of her writhing figure and descended upon her. His mouth locked upon her open lips and he felt the taste and texture of his first kiss. This time it was Algra who seemed unsure of herself for orcs never expressed desire in such a way. She kept her mouth open and found herself pleasantly surprised at the feeling of his tongue touching hers. It oddly complemented the way his cock continued to pound inside her at a pace that could now be considered to be truly orcish. She definitely approved and lowered her arms from above her head to wrap around his body. Slim, firm, tight...he felt good beneath her fingers. 

Kissing an orc was a strange experience. The touch of her smooth tusks at the corners of his mouth was a constant reminder of her nature and yet between them she was velvety soft and openly ravenous. Yet then, as their bodies moved together, their mouths linked and their tongues duelled, her breasts meshed against his hard chest and her juicy cunt milking his cock, he simply could not last another moment.

The first thick gushes of his hot seed splattered deep inside her slick folds sending her over the edge once more. For a long moment their furious pace ceased and their bodies locked together, shuddering with the might of the pleasure coursing through them. Her enflamed pussy squeezed his cock as it pulsed again and again to fill her with his hot sticky cream. She felt the warmth of his seed and enjoyed the sensation of that heat as it seemed to pass through her entire body. A pleasant relaxing glow of desire that allowed her to fall back a few moments later and lay exhausted and spent beneath him.

Gregory felt the last of himself pouring into her waiting chalice before he released her lips from their constant desperate kiss and rolled off of her shapely frame with the last of his strength. She practically purred as she felt him slide out of her, the heated drops of his rich cum beginning to seep out from between her swollen labia.

Looking up at the roof of the tent, Gregory felt the oddly comforting sensation of Algra turning on her side to nestle her body up against his. A few moments after that he heard her breathing become slower and deeper as she fell into slumber. He might have spent more time marvelling at the bizarrely incredible nature of his first time but within the space of five minutes he too was comfortably snoozing.

When they awoke it was still light outside. In his sleep Gregory had slipped a possessive arm around Algra's waist and held her tightly against him. In turn, she had draped an arm and a leg across his body and pressed herself to his frame. Awakening to feel the immaculately sculpted feminine figure lying with him was definitely a high point of his life up until that moment. Slowly, he stirred and felt the movement of her body in time with his.

"Well that was...unexpected." He came to sit upright as she shifted to settle down straddling his lap.

The position gave him a very close up and intimate view of her gorgeous green breasts. He certainly wasn't about to complain.

"You fuck very well human." The compliment she gave him carried the first words that weren't spoken in a sulky grunt.

"It was my first time." Gregory self consciously looked up to her face and found her watching him keenly.

"If that was your practice I will be very happy as your slave." She commended him whilst running her fingers through his tousled black hair.

"I'll be happy to have you." He replied, not quite knowing what else to say.

Feeling that response was something less than appropriate to the moment he tilted his head back and pulled her into a kiss. Algra's only experience at kissing was an extremely pleasurable one in the height of their passion. She was surprised and equally pleased to find that the act wasn't limited to intense tongue locking. His lips brushed softly against hers, teasing and enjoying the silken surface of her mouth. Then the seam gently parted and she felt his tongue slowly mesh against her own. The duel of before was forgotten in favour of a slow dance that allowed them to savour the tastes of each other.

Finding this experience to be wonderfully enlightening, Algra shifted upon his lap to brush her hard nipples across the taut muscle of his chest before squeezing her soft tits against him and holding him tightly against her. Gregory's own arms encircled the perfectly honed figure of the orc as one hand lifted to rest between her shoulders and the other slipped down to grope her bare bottom.

The closeness was certainly not lost upon him and soon enough she felt him begin to rise between her legs. All it took was a small squirm of her bottom and she felt him settled upon her slippery pussy. The steadily simmering kiss had certainly had its effect for he slid inside her effortlessly despite the tightness of her wet flesh around his cock. The intense sensations pulsing through their bodies were enough to make their lips part as they gasped for air. The corners of Gregory's mouth turned up into a breathless smile which was met with a thoroughly pleased grin from Algra.

The first moments were taken as they savoured a slow grind against each other. Gregory's thick cock spread the emerald skinned female wide and she loved the short sharp jolts of pleasure as she moved her hips in a slow circle upon his lap. Her fingertips raked over the hard rippling muscle along his back and as she began to slowly ride him her large round tits shifted back before his face, bouncing and jiggling before his eyes.

Not knowing where to begin, Gregory threw caution to the wind and plunged his face between the two bouncing green globes and kissed his way slowly up between the gorgeous mammaries. The action made Algra move faster, her powerful legs lifting her up until only the swollen tip was spreading her cunt before slamming herself down and plunging every inch of him deep inside her over and over again.

Gregory moved his mouth across the jiggling flesh of her right breast, letting his tongue slowly lick over her skin and tasting a salty bead of sweat that had trickled down from her neck. His mouth settled around her hardened nipple and he lightly tugged at the fleshy nub with his teeth. The sudden sharp sensation made Algra yelp with surprise and she fucked her body against his harder and harder. He switched nipples, this time slowly swirling his tongue across the pebbled flesh and sucking lightly.

Both of his hands had long since settled on her ass, exploring the taut curves and squeezing the bouncing cheeks encouragingly with each thrust up inside her. With her mouth free Algra let out a feminine bestial cry of obscene pleasure as her pussy began convulsing around his cock. Their bodies slapped rudely together in the tent, taking her through two more thunderous orgasms before he finally relented with a powerful eruption of his hot thick cum right into her waiting womb.

The orc was delighted to find that kissing was just as pleasant after sex as it was before and during. She felt Gregory's hard, thick length slip out of her to land with a wet plop against his inner thigh.

He was certainly pleased to find her lightly trembling against him, an occasional small shudder running through her as she enjoyed the afterglow of her lover's work.

"Aren't you supposed to ask my permission before riding me like that?" Gregory smirked after their mouths finally parted long enough to speak.

"I am. Will you punish me master?" The glint in Algra's eyes was playfully naughty.

A loud smack was heard throughout the tent and the gorgeous orc jumped in his lap before feeling her bottom beginning to sting slightly.

"Consider yourself punished." Gregory kissed the tops of her breasts once more.

"Punish more or I might stray again." She advised whilst wiggling her hips in his lap in a very distracting manner.

"You promise?"

This drew the first full throated laugh from her, a hearty and oddly melodic noise that he instantly took a liking to.

"You are odd. Even for human." Her thighs squeezed him affectionately.

"I am." The reality of his situation suddenly crashed down on him again. "Wait, so there are other humans around here?"

Algra nodded, her expression turned into a frown of concern.

"What's the matter?" Gregory asked.

"Where you come from, master?" She asked finally.

"What makes you ask that?"

"You not know of this world. You not know orc, elf, dwarf...I thought you were slow but you are not. I see this now. But you do not even know of your own kin here. Where else you from if not Arolius?" It seemed this orc certainly had a rather keen mind of her own.

"I'm from a place called Earth. We don't have orcs, goblins, elves or anything like that there...just humans and some animals. I came here after..." His words trailed off before a sudden dawning realisation came over him. Freddie and Janette! If he got transported here then surely they did too. "Algra," His tone took on a note of urgency. "did you see any other humans on the road before me?"

"There were humans. A caravan of traders had humans with them." Algra lifted her leg to slip off of his lap and settled into the furs beside him.

"Where does the road lead?" Gregory turned to look at her as she lounged. He found himself wondering how the hell something with tusks could be quite as stunning as she was.

"The camp of my people. We stay out the summer here in forest and move to mountains in winter." Her fingers idly twiddled with the strands of fur under her fingertips as she spoke. She seemed bored by his questioning but certainly not as grumpy as she had been prior to their screwing like rabbits.

"Algra I need to go there. People came with me from my world and I think they have the way to get back." Though he wasn't exactly thrilled at the idea of running into a camp full of orcs.

"You stay here. I feed you. You fuck me." The counter offer definitely wasn't without its appeal.

"I have to go Algra. I have a mother, a father and a little brother. I can't just vanish." The trace of reluctance in his voice made her look up at him from where her fingers poked and pulled at the fur.

"I take you." She finally said after a long moment of silence.

"Thanks. Really. You have no idea how much you..." He paused and instead of telling her, he showed her by leaning down and kissing her once again. The touch stirred her from her languid pose and her lips followed his as they pulled away. "Algra, is there anywhere to wash up around here? I'm feeling a little gooey."

She looked between his bare thighs to see that she certainly had enjoyed herself. Her clear juices were still trickling slowly down his inner thighs. There was a stream five minutes from their tent that he could wash up in and she was about to tell him about it before her mind turned to his previous attentions to her. He had licked her to a climax. It certainly wasn't a sensation she was accustomed to. She had enjoyed it immensely. Perhaps it was time to return the favour.

Gregory watched as a passing glance turned into something far more sultry and his orc lifted herself up to crawl around him. He watched with near disbelief as she lowered her head tentatively and gave their mixed juices a cautious sniff. Finding nothing offensive in the scent Gregory watches as she lowered her head between his legs and began dutifully licking her long thick tongue over his inner thighs. This hadn't been what he'd meant but he sure as hell wasn't about to complain as she slowly and meticulously lapped up her own juices mixed with his cum.

After a few initial long slow licks that cleaned his thighs she took her tongue to gently and methodically roll his balls across the warm wet flesh. The muffled groan of approval coming from Gregory encouraged her and she slowly began to lick up and down his cock, finally taking the semi-limp organ in between her lips and instinctively giving it a light suck. As she did, she felt him swell between her lips and eagerly sucked him into the back of her throat.

Completely shocked by this behaviour, Gregory grew understandably nervous when he felt the tusks at the corners of her mouth against the sides of his swollen cock. Yet her tusks were only sharp at the points and the sensation of the smooth wet ivory sliding along his cock as her tongue gently massaged him and she sucked him with glee was incredible. An orc maiden, a gorgeous green female with the most incredible body he'd ever seen was knelt between his legs giving him a blowjob.

This world was definitely a marked improvement over Earth as far as he was concerned.

Algra was happily content to continue sucking, the taste of him was far from unpleasant and she certainly enjoyed having the boy so obviously in her thrall. Then she saw him close his eyes tightly and clamp his teeth together. The expression on his face was a warning of his impending release and Algra quickly sucked as much of his length as she could into her mouth. The first thick splatter of his cum against her throat was a pleasing shock. It had never occurred to her to do this before and the perverse delight she found in swallowing spurt after spurt of him was a wonderful feeling.

When she was finished she carefully gave his cock a few final quick sucks before lifting herself up and licking her lips. Gregory looked at her through half lidded eyes that soon blinked their way fully open as he found his wits once again.

"Well I was thinking you could point me to a river but I like your way better." He admitted through a series of deep breaths.

"I do too." She grinned at him, delighted at his response.

"Do you want to get cleaned up?" He reached over to grab his underwear.

"I am content." The look of disappointment that he clearly didn't intend to return the favour was obvious.

"I'm not. If you're going to be my slave you need to be clean." His voice took on a stern tone that didn't quite reach the playful glint in his eyes.

"I wash yesterday. Every week." She defended her hygiene standards.

"Well let's close that down to every day if you can. Is there a place nearby?"

"Stream." She pointed in the vague direction of it grumpily.

"Alright. Well let's go then." Gregory pulled on his pants and got to work getting the rest of his clothes in place.

"Fine." Algra gruffed before she grabbed her own small garments and sandals.

They dressed in silence before Algra slipped out of the tent and Gregory soon followed. She led him on that short walk toward the stream. He heard the water running over the stones before he saw it. It was small indeed but it suited his purposes well enough. The green skinned beauty stepped toward the running water, stripping off her little fur top and letting her breasts bounce free.

"Wait." He called out, bringing her to a halt.

She waited, not turning to look at him. If he wanted her to turn around he could damn well order her to. Instead , she felt him step up behind her. His hands lifted to cup her breasts eliciting a surprised little moan from the woman in the process. She felt his lips on her bare shoulder before they trailed tiny kisses up to her neck and made her melt back against his chest.

"Lie down here." He commanded.

Reluctant to move out of his grip and yet eager to see what he had in mind, she obeyed by sinking down to stretch out over the cool stones that rested alongside the stream.

She was certainly a feast for the eyes, her large breasts lifting and falling with each breath, legs slightly bent at the knee. He didn't waste time in crouching down between her and the stream and rolling up the sleeves of his sweater. She closed her eyes and soon felt his fingers slip beneath the hem of her little skirt and smoothly tugging it down over her toned legs. Playing along, she kicked off her sandals and found herself lying naked over the smooth stones. It was late summer and the air still carried enough heat to keep her comfortable despite the occasional breeze that soon perked up her nipples and pleasantly swept across her skin.

Gregory cupped his hands in the flowing water beside them and lifted out a great scoop of the cool liquid. She felt the slow trickles of that clear water drip across her breasts and sharply breathed in a lungful of air. Her eyes popped open straight away as he splashed the water across her bare midriff and she felt the droplets trickle down between her legs. The chill of the water was soon warmed as his hands fell to rest upon her. His touch gently passed over her collar bone before sweeping down to grope and tease at her plentiful tits, rubbing in the water and cleaning her by hand.




The Missing Dragon



She suddenly changed her attitude to bathing when he lightly pinched her dark green nipples and leaned down to kiss her yet again. Once he had rubbed much of the grime away with the water from the stream he repeated the process over and over again. Each time the cold splashes were replaced with the pleasant heat of his hands roaming across her voluptuous tight frame. He washed her body and then her face before cleaning her feet and up along her legs with more handfuls from the stream. Just as he was about to reach her pussy he ordered her to turn over. Reluctantly she obeyed and he massaged water into her back and paid particular attention to perfectly formed curves of her ass. Then his fingers sank down and tickled over her bottom in a way that made her gasp with shock before she felt his touch between her legs. Algra's thighs parted accommodatingly and she grunted with approval as his fingers stroked over her silky pussy. Here he poured water from the stream down between the parting of her shapely rear and let it spill between her legs. The sensation was now drawing continuous moans from her which he happily savoured.

When his fingers finally sank inside the slippery velvet channel it wasn't long before he felt all of that sensitive flesh clamp around his probing digits. Algra lifted her ass up in the air, pushing back against his exquisite touch. The way her back arched was beautiful and he rewarded her for the gorgeous view by wiggling his fingers inside her. After thoroughly 'cleaning' her pussy through two more peaks of bliss he slipped his fingers out of her and licked away her juices.

She slumped down on the rocks and rolled onto her back to look up at him. Her smile told him clearly that she approved of his way of bathing.

"Wash your hair and rinse away anything I might have missed." He lowered himself to affectionately kiss her brow before he lifted himself to his feet and watched as she cheerfully went about doing as she was told.

Once finished, Algra donned her clothes once again and looked up to the sky. It would soon turn completely dark.

"Night falls. Orc camp near. We get to it before moonrise." She said.

"Alright." Gregory nodded. "Lets get moving then."

The words came easily enough but he felt a pit of worry begin to grow in his stomach. A camp full of orcs would make damn near anyone nervous.

Algra returned to the camp to grab her club and some of her furs which she stuffed into her pack. Then they set off together back toward the road.

"So what's an orc camp like?" Gregory asked.

Algra shrugged her shoulders.

"Home." She said simply. After a few moments and an occasional glance in Gregory's direction she noted his obvious dissatisfaction with this reply. "It is place of hunting and trading. In summer we live here to get food for winter. Warchief lives at camp to speak with others."

"You mean other orcs?"

Algra gave a short nod. "Orcs, yes. Also men. Sometimes elves."

"There are men at the camp?" This clearly surprised Gregory who had read many books that suggested men and orcs didn't exactly get along well under normal circumstances.

"Yes. We trade with humans. Sometimes we fight together. Human emissary will be at camp. Maybe traders."

This was a relief to Gregory who had been imagining walking into a horde of screaming maniacs that killed humans on sight.

"Is there anything you think I should know? I don't want to wave and accidentally offend everyone."

"In orc eyes you are equal. To be equal you must own a thing or be a thing that is owned. You own me. None will deny you." Algra asserted with an odd degree of pride.

"Oh...alright then."

They walked in silence for a while and found that it was a comfortable silence shared between friends. Gregory had more questions of course but the truth of the matter was that he had no idea what was and wasn't going to be important until he saw the camp. Algra didn't seem too concerned about it so he trusted her and followed her lead.

Soon enough the travellers came upon firelight in the distance. A tall palisade wall encircled the camp with the occasional tower rising up over the top to keep an eye on what went on beyond. Algra led him to a doorway in which two orc males, both towering behemoths carrying crudely shaped viciously edged metal swords, looked upon their approach.

The larger of the two guards looked at Algra and let out a large roar, opening out his arms and lifting his hands toward the ever darkening sky. The move startled Gregory but it didn't seem to be any kind of challenge or attack. He watched Algra lift her hand in some kind of salute before speaking in orcish. Their language was spoken in short starts and stops consisting of words mostly one or two syllables long. Despite its apparent simplicity he listened to find that it had a very direct sort of rhythm that was oddly satisfying to hear. It sounded like someone reciting a very angry abrupt poem in gibberish.

The reactions told him more than the words themselves as the guards arms lowered and a look of shock came across his face. The massive jaw of the larger one fell open rather dumbly as he listened to Algra's speech. Finally she turned around and pointed at Gregory before falling to one knee before him. The guards looked at this with disbelief before dumbly looking to each other and then slowly falling to one knee along with her. Gregory looked behind him for the royalty, fully prepared to play along with the kneeling before he realised that he was the focus of the show of respect.

Well he sure as hell didn't expect that.

After a few long moments the kneeling in silence was growing somewhat awkward.

"Um, you can get up?" He ventured.

Algra stood and the guards followed suit shortly after. They looked at him with intense interest before stepping aside and throwing the large wooden gates open. Gregory looked on to see the tents and a few small huts beyond the gateway. Fireplaces were lit and sending dark smoke into the sky as many orcs cooked their evening meals and talked in the avenues between the tents. The place bustled with life as the massive creatures lumbered about with their business. Gregory saw no humans however even as Algra led him through the gates. It took him all of thirty seconds before he saw a brawl break out over something between two enormous male orcs in the distance. The fight led to the destruction of a nearby tent before it was resolved with a familiar loud admission of defeat by the more battered participant.

Gregory was more concerned with the glances they were getting however. Many orcs cheered at their passing, some even stopped to look at him but most of the attention was upon Algra. It was becoming increasingly apparent that she had neglected to mention something very important to him. She took him along the pathways between the tents and huts toward a particularly large building that was unique in that it was made of stone. Everything in the camp seemed makeshift and temporary except this place. Gregory wasn't exactly reassured when he noticed a string of skulls of various shapes and sizes hanging from the walls on either side of the entrance.

The smell also took him off guard. It wasn't as bad as he should have expected but having lived in modern suburbia most of his life he wasn't used to the stench of orcs all living together without any kind of hygiene standards. He came to realise that Algra's one bath per week was likely considered downright overindulgent to most of her race.

For all that however it wasn't so bad, smells of cooking meat and fresh beer often stifled out the fouler underlying odours. When he stepped inside the stone building he found more pleasant smells wafting through the air from burners around the hall. For it was indeed a great hall of the kind he'd seen in old medieval movies. Two large tables dominated the room lined with orcs on each side eating and speaking of things in their odd language.

At the opposite end of the room was the table presumably belonging to the Warchief where indeed an orc was seated. He was muscular even by the standards of his people and though he was seated Gregory wouldn't have been surprised if he stood at well over nine feet in height. He was bald with pointed ears, one of which seemed to have been mauled in the past. A deep scar ran over his brow and down across his right eye. To Gregory's horror, it seemed that this was the one that Algra was making a beeline toward.

Unlike in the streets where they had gained glances and gawps from onlookers, here in the hall as Algra was spotted the orcs fell completely silent. All eyes in the room turned to them as Gregory followed her between the tables toward the great orc who awaited them. He'd noticed them, his blazing orange eyes focused on Algra and then shifted to Gregory.

"You return." The Warchief's voice sounded like low rumbling thunder in the silent room.

"I do." Algra nodded.

The sudden shift from orcish to a language he recognised startled Gregory for it was clear that the great orc was speaking it for his benefit.

"You have been long in your absence from this hall Algra Strongblood." Apparently the Warchief was more fluent in the language than Algra.

"I have." She said.

"Now as you return here with this slave you do not bow to me?"

"I am not yours to bow to, great Grolfir." Algra explained in a respectful tone.

These words brought gasps and roars from the surrounding tables. Grolfir, for that was apparently the name of the Warchief, turned his attention to Gregory with a sharp gaze that seemed to burn right into the boy.

"You claimed Algra?" The tone of utter disbelief was almost humorous coming from the massive creature.

"Well she tried to claim me and I won...so I guess..." Gregory started nervously.

"I do not believe it. Algra, you will speak with me." He turned and pointed at Gregory. "You shall be taken to the emissary until dawn."

"I am not yours Grolfir." Algra's tone had taken on a dangerous note of its own.

"You are not..." The bellowing voice of the orc began as his eyes blazed and his face contorted into a snarl. Gregory damn near soiled himself at the sudden outburst before Grolfir fell silent. "Human, will you allow me to speak with Algra alone?" His voice was calmer though his eyes still looked upon them like he wanted to strangle something.

"If...um, I guess that's alright if it's ok with her." Gregory spluttered before he looked to Algra for any sign of what he should say.

Apparently this was enough as Algra bowed her head and Grolfir shoved his table away from his seat sending a few metal plates clattering to the floor before he stood up and stormed out of the hall. Algra bowed her head and began to follow. Suddenly Gregory found himself in charge of his own senses once again and he rushed up to her, catching her hand in his own. She stopped and turned to look at him.

"You don't have to go if you don't want to." He re-affirmed. "I don't really want to have that guy mad at me but I'm not going to sell you out just to get out of his glare."

"I will be well master. Grolfir will not hurt me. Go to see the emissary. He may know of those you seek. I will return to you once my uncle and I have finished speaking." With that she turned and walked down the aisle between the massive tables and disappeared out the door leaving Gregory dumbstruck.

She was his niece!?

- - - - -

As it turned out, owning the niece of the clan's Warchief gave him quite a good deal of status in the orc camp. He tried to ask where he could find the emissary and was pointed to an orc with white hair and wrinkled skin who led him out of the great hall and through the camp. When he first spotted the humans and their circle of caravans it was a relief to see something in this world that was familiar. Though they dressed in mostly medieval clothes from linen tunics to the occasional chain mail shirt they were undoubtedly members of his species. It seemed that Algra had been right about the emissary and the traders as he was taken through to see the voice of the human kingdoms to the orcs.

The place seemed like a camp within a camp though it was certainly a comfortable part of the area. The orcs hadn't walled in the humans and Gregory saw one of his kin cheerfully sharing a tankard of what seemed to be beer with an orc twice his size. The relations between the races seemed as peaceable as Algra had said which might have come as more of a relief had he not just likely pissed of the damn leader of the entire camp.

The old orc that he followed took him to a large caravan and knocked on the door. A few moments passed before a sleepy eyed man with bloodshot eyes and pale features blearily stuck his head out of the door and looked them over.

"Yes? Can this wait a day?" The man asked as he pushed his long black hair back over his head and scratched his thin beard.

"Grolfir wants emissary to give audience to boy." The old orc gruffed before turning and shuffling on his way back to the hall.

Both Gregory and the emissary watched the grumpy creature take his leave before turning their attention to each other.

"Well, what have you done to ruin my perfectly good hangover?" Despite the beleaguered look on the emissary's face his tone was friendly enough and he opened his door wider to allow Gregory to step inside his caravan.

"I..." Gregory stalled, not quite knowing where to begin. "I was walking through the forest when an orc woman attacked me. I don't really know much about orcs but we got into a fight and I won. Now she says she's my slave and I just learned that she's also the Warchief's niece."

The man had taken a water skin from out of a cupboard and begun to pour it into his mouth as Gregory spoke. When the part came out about him taking the Warchief's niece for a slave however, the emissary coughed up a mouthful of water and spluttered it across the floor. Gregory winced at the reaction.

"You what!?" The man turned to look at Gregory with wide eyes.

"Look I didn't mean to, I offered to free her but she said if I did she'd try o capture me again and break one of my fingers if she did." He neglected to mention she'd also said she would fuck him senseless.

"You managed to get a challenge from Algra Strongblood and you won?" The man seemed to grow paler.

Gregory nodded.

"Well this is certainly unexpected. What's your name lad?" The emissary put down his water skin and shuffled around in an old chest before pulling out a large bottle of something that definitely wasn't water.

"Gregory Hopkins."

"Ha! Good to meet you Mister Hopkins. My name is Rudd Parkington, at your service." Two cups were produced as Rudd poured two drinks for them.

"Could you please tell me just what in the hell I've gotten myself into?" Gregory took a seat and claimed the offered cup after Rudd handed it over to him.

"Well you say you don't know much about orcs?" Rudd walked over to sit opposite from him and took a drink for himself.

"I know they're green."

"Right, well yes they are of course. What you've gotten yourself into goes a bit deeper than that however." Rudd smirked at Gregory over the top of his wine cup. "You see orc slavery isn't like what you might imagine. Strength is what they respect most and they follow a strict hierarchy based on challenges between each other. Grolfir is the leader of the tribe because everyone who wanted to be the leader challenged him and he beat them all in combat. In every challenge the winner claims that which the challenge was called for. So if Grolfir is challenged for leadership and he wins then the challenger must agree that he is the leader thereafter. They see this as a form of slavery for after this Grolfir is entitled to command the defeated to do whatever he pleases. In this way the strong rise to the top and the weak fall to the bottom. It's all very brutal. Slave challenges are issued all the time when two orcs come into conflict. It's how they decide who gets their way. Most orcs out there are slaves to another, though after the challenge is completed and the issue is resolved many slaves are left to go about their lives though they must do as their master says for five winters until they can challenge again.

"You, by sheer dumb luck or a skill in combat that frankly unnerves me, have won in a challenge over Algra. Algra, as well as being the chief's niece is one of the greatest warriors this tribe has ever known. She is the former mate of Rowun Strongblood, an orc considered a hero by most of his people. Rowun won a challenge over Algra years ago and when he died in battle she was given the choice of following all Rowun's possessions into the hands of her uncle or taking her freedom. She chose freedom, which you might be surprised to know isn't the usual option amongst orcs. You see to have any status amongst orcs you must have earned something of value. A slave, a good sword or even a decent garment will do. When a slave is freed however, their possessions pass on to whoever owned their former master. They have nothing and are not considered a true orc until they earn something once again."

"Algra has lived alone and free out in the Embervine Forest for months now. I've heard of at least twenty orcs who went out there to challenge her and came back with nothing but bumps and bruises having been soundly beaten and then gifted back to their former masters by her. She didn't seem to want to return until you brought her back here."

Rudd chuckled and finished the cup he'd been sipping at throughout his explanation before pouring himself another.

"So why did she choose me then?" Gregory found it hard to believe that Algra had willingly sent many of her own people packing but had voluntarily tried to take him on the road.

"I suspect she was in heat and required some relief." Rudd chuckled as Gregory felt heat suddenly rush to his cheeks. "Orc women do that. They're always a rather, ahem, vigorous people but an orc female in heat can be very...demanding. She was probably wanting to use you and then free you." Rudd lifted his feet to rest on a small stool nearby.

"Oh. I see." That explained a great deal. "So I've managed to get myself a highly prestigious slave and piss off Grolfir at the same time." He leaned forwards, drained a good deal of his cup in a few deep gulps and rested his head against his hand shortly after.

"There now old boy, you'll be fine. Grolfir's been known to lose his temper from time to time but he's an awfully decent sort once you get to know him. Algra's refusal to be taken beneath his wing is a bit of a mystery to us all actually. If I might ask, why did you come here?" Rudd's voice turned from amused to sympathetic.

"I came here with two people. I think some orc traders might have taken them. They have something I really need." Gregory lifted his head to look over at Rudd who was studying him curiously.

"I see. Well in orc lands we must obey orc rules of course. Except for me and my friends out there. Diplomatic immunity is rather wonderful you know." He grinned and poured himself another cup. The man certainly put that stuff away quickly. "Though I suppose if you asked you could be taken to see the human slaves. They're usually treated decently unless they're disrespectful. In fact I'm not too proud to say that a few peasants have escaped from our kingdom looking to be taken into work by the orcs. Bloody short crop this year and all."

"Well won't I get challenged if I go out there?" Gregory asked whilst running his fingers through his messy black locks.

"I doubt it. You own Algra and if she's brought you here I daresay she'd step in to fight for you. That's allowed. You might get a challenge from some hot head of course but I doubt any of them would want to step up against Algra Strongblood. She has quite the reputation for brutality." Rudd stood up and moved to the door to his caravan. "Come on, I'll take you myself if you like. I find it hard to resist being part of a scandal."




The Missing Dragon



Reluctantly, Gregory stood and followed Rudd out of the caravan. A few of the other humans looked at them curiously before going back to their business. Rudd led him along the paths telling him this and that about orc society. Despite his current circumstances Gregory was quite fascinated by the ways of the great green giants. They were a hard people to be sure but their odd way of establishing a hierarchy had a great deal of honour to it. Apparently it was considered a very low thing to abuse a slave after winning a challenge. Sometimes a harsh gesture of devotion was required if the challenge was particularly violent such as the loser scarring themselves or breaking a bone to honour the victor. Beyond that however, masters being cruel to their slaves was practically unheard of. Rudd said it had something to do with almost everyone being a slave to someone else. 

They arrived at the trader's tents and Gregory saw a few more humans there going about setting up a cooking spit and a couple more sharpening some orcish swords. Upon spotting them, a heavy set orc stepped up and set his giant fists on his hips. He then said something in orcish that Gregory couldn't understand. Luckily Rudd picked it up easily and replied in the series of rhythmic beats of sound that made up their language.

"He says hello." Rudd explained as he turned to look at Gregory. "What do your friends look like?"

Well they weren't exactly his friends but he wasn't about to point that out.

"They're both my age, a guy and a girl. He's my height, pretty strong, shaven head, pale skin. She's slim, red hair, kind of..." Gregory lifted his hands over his chest and mimed a well endowed pair of tits.

Rudd chuckled before translating to the orc. The descriptions he gave drew a frown from the creature and he started speaking faster in an obviously annoyed manner at the emissary.

"Ah. It seems that your friends have committed a crime. Yes. Apparently after they were taken the bald one tried to cut the throats of one of this gentleman's friends. He's been nothing but trouble since then. They assumed that the pair were bandits and...oh dear." Rudd lifted his hand to rub his temples as the big orc turned and led them across the way.

Fearing the worst, Gregory followed and soon saw the criss-cross pattern of a caged floor resting over a very large hole in the ground. As they approached this pit which was set quite a bit away from the tents the smell hit them like a brick wall. Rudd immediately turned and vomited up his few cups of wine and Gregory nearly followed along, barely managing to keep down the dinner Algra had made for him.

The overpowering smell of shit was daunting as they moved over to the pit and looked down inside. There Gregory didn't see the gaunt faces of unruly slaves as he'd expected but rather a machine. It was a large circular slab of wood with handles coming off in four directions. On three of these handles three large naked male orcs pushed relentlessly and on the remaining handle Gregory spotted Freddie, naked as the day he was born trying to shove his handle along and keep the machine turning.

"What is this?" Gregory asked, placing his hand firmly over his mouth and nose.

"Orc punishment. These are criminals. Most are executed on the spot but the especially annoying ones get put them down there. We gave them that machine years ago. It's connected to pipes that run under the campsite. The sewage system." Rudd explained in a shaky voice.

He couldn't stand there any longer so Gregory turned and led the way back toward the tents. As soon as the orc and Rudd joined him he spoke again.

"Alright then, where's the girl?" If they had done that to Freddie he almost shuddered to think what was happening to Janette right now.

Rudd translated after his stomach had finally settled. The orc didn't seem quite so displeased this time and led them to a tent before opening it up and this time waiting for Gregory to step inside.

"Ah." Rudd suddenly remarked.

"What?" Gregory turned around.

"Yes, well, no go ahead. She's in there." He was nibbling at his upper lip and avoiding Gregory's eyes.

This did nothing to reassure Gregory who stepped into the tent apprehensively. He found it was a sizable pavilion much like Algra's with cushions laid out on the ground and a large curtain parting one half from the other. He wasn't especially thrilled when the flap of the tent closed behind him and neither the orc nor Rudd stepped inside with him.

"Hello?" He lowered himself to sit in amongst the cushions.

The curtain abruptly swept upward revealing Janette laid in amongst the pillows wearing only her bra and a strip of material that could barely be called a thong over her pussy. She was laid back with her eyes closed and her legs parted for his viewing pleasure. Her hands stroked up along her flat belly to trace the curves of her heaving tits. Slowly, she rolled onto her front and lifted herself up onto her hands and knees. Gregory saw as her thighs parted and her bare ass lifted into the air before his eyes, the movement of her body pulling the tiny scrap of material between her legs tight against her pussy. He could see the outline of the soft petals of her cunt through the material. Her snowy skin turned a healthy bright pink at the apex of her thighs and it was obvious that her pussy was smooth shaven. Never in all his life would he have imagined this gorgeous cold hearted redhead displaying herself like this for him.

Rising to kneel upright, her face still looking away from him, she moved her hands behind her back to slowly loosen her dark red bra until the straps unclasped and the flimsy material fell around her shoulders. He glimpsed the sides of her large tits from where he was sat as she lifted her hands over her head and showed off the flawless skin of her back and her gorgeous tight ass for his viewing pleasure.

"J-Janette?" He managed to squeak out after a few moments.

Suddenly she recognised the voice and turned around, her pretty face filled with shock.

"Greg!? What the hell are you doing?" She squealed as her hands came up to cover her bare tits. They hardly covered much.

"What the hell am I doing!?" He stared on with wide eyed awe.

"How did you get here?" She turned away from him and grabbed her bra, slipping it back into place and fastening it once more. Jesus wept.

"I hired a guide. Janette what is all this!? Have they..." He trailed off, not particularly wanting to mention his thoughts right then.

"Uh? Oh! No, no nothing like that. It turns out that these things like strippers. I wasn't exactly overjoyed about it but...well I was considering it back home and it sure as hell beat the alternative."

"So you're not..."

"Whoring myself out to orcs? No Greg. I have standards. Surprised?" She growled.

"Well I do know your boyfriend." He grumbled.

"Freddie!? Is he still here? The fucking idiot got that damn knife out again after we were taken. They tied us up but he got free and went for one of them whilst they were asleep. Turns out orcs are pretty light sleepers. Last I saw they threw him into some stink pit and then I got put in here. They said I dance or I join him." She was looking at the floor, curling her nose at the thought.

"Janette. Where's the ring?" Gregory asked steadily.

"What ring?" She frowned at him.

"The one I found that Freddie made you put on."

"Gregory get some perspective will you!? We're trapped in a camp of orcs for fuck sake. Now is not the time to accessorise."

He rolled his eyes and rubbed his brow. This was beginning to give him a headache.

"You put the ring on and we ended up here. I figure if you put it on again then we go back home." He tried to keep his voice civil.

"Greg this isn't one of those stupid books you read, this is real, we've got to..."

"We're sat in the middle of a camp full of orcs you stupid idiot! None of this should be real!" Gregory bellowed, no longer quite able to hold back.

The sudden outburst made Janette suddenly fall back on her bare butt. She'd given him quite a lot of shit over the years but he'd never spoken to her like that. Sitting and staring like he'd struck her, she watched as he took a breath and shook his head.

"Look, just humour me ok? Where's the ring? You're not wearing it. I swear if Freddie's hidden it up his arse I'm just staying here and setting up a tent."

"It...I don't know. The orcs found us whilst we were out cold. We woke up on their cart and the ring was gone." She spoke in a notably smaller voice than she had before.

"Alright. The orcs might have taken it. I'll ask around." He turned to leave.

"Wait! What about me? What about Freddie? How are you even walking around out there?" Her eyes moved to the crack in the cloth where she could see a tiny sliver of the world outside.

Gregory stopped and turned back to her. In any other circumstance he'd probably just have stormed out but if he had a weakness it was definitely hot redheads in their underwear.

"Look, I'll try to spring you. The guy out here that owns you seems alright. I have no idea how much you cost but I'll see what I can do."

"How much I cost!? You're not buying a side of beef Greg." She folded her arms huffily.

"Hey you want me to complain you're not doing your job?" He wouldn't of course but she didn't know that.

"You wish." She mumbled under her breath.

"Actually I don't need to. That was a hell of a show. Look Janette, orcs don't really seem so bad. You're in here because they think you're a bandit because you turned up with Freddie and he tried to kill one of them." Gregory explained patiently.

"But I didn't! Why do I have to..." She fell silent as Gregory lifted his hand in a peaceable gesture.

"I know you didn't but that's their way. Just be glad you're not with Freddie right now. I'll speak with the big orc about you. I've got some friends around here." He assured her, his expression and tone became a little gentler.

"How are you friends with these things?" She looked him over like he might sprout tusks at any moment.

"It's called 'not being a douche'. I'll be back as soon as I can..." With that he turned and slipped out of the tent.

Rudd and the orc were waiting outside. Apparently they had taken the time to let the orc show Rudd some of his other wares. He wasn't just a slave trader it seemed and had many other items for sale. Rudd was testing the swing of an orc sword that was almost as large as he was tall.

"Ah! The legend returns!" Rudd remarked with a grin as he hefted the sword back onto the table it had been lifted from and turned to Gregory.

"Rudd, why hasn't Janette been challenged? She got caught with Freddie but after what you've told me she has the right to defend herself doesn't she?" Gregory asked as he continued to think about cold weather and large insects in an effort to get the image of the gorgeous scantily clad Janette un-burned from his retinas.

This time Rudd didn't even need to confer with the orc before replying.

"It was her companion's fault. They were going to be taken here and then challenged tomorrow before being put to work but after the boy tried to attack them whilst they slept they forfeited the right to a challenge. Orcs hate nothing more than dishonour and there's not much more dishonourable than sneaking up on a sleeping foe with murder in mind. After he tried that they were both deemed bandits and..." He gestured toward Janette's tent and Freddie's pit as if to say 'the rest is history.'

"Could I challenge the orc for her?" He asked after taking a deep breath and revelling for a moment in his own idiocy at the idea.

Rudd blinked and then laughed nervously before glancing to the orc and then back to Gregory.

"You could but I don't suggest doing so unless you want to get your brains beaten in. This fellow looks like all he'd need to do to squash you into mush would be to sit on you."

"Yeah well." Gregory pulled his sweater over his head to show a tightly fitting vest beneath. The baggy clothes he wore hid the incredibly well built figure beneath quite well. Well enough that one of the passing women was paying so much attention as she walked by that she fell over a man crouching by the fire. "Lets do it anyway."

Rudd seemed half impressed at the action. Of course he also seemed half baffled as to why his new young friend was so eager to get the living piss beaten out of him.

"Very well." The emissary turned and spoke to the orc in a tone that seemed more formal as Gregory stretched out his arms and took a few steps back before turning to face the orc.

The great lug of a slave merchant actually broke into a long deep throated laugh at the words of the emissary. Gregory shifted his weight from one leg to the other, affirming his balance and preparing himself for what was sure to be one of the more interesting battles of his life. The big orc nodded in agreement with Rudd and then gestured absently to Janette's tent. Rudd turned around and slipped inside to return followed by Janette herself a few moments after. She was still wearing that incredibly distracting bra and those barely there panties as she walked over the dirt on bare feet looking unsure of herself. Gregory never took his eyes off of the orc.

That was when Algra showed up followed shortly after by her uncle.

"What this?" Algra asked, clearly alarmed at the situation given the obvious size difference between the orc and her lover.

"The young master Gregory has challenged this fellow for the rights to this here slave." Rudd explained diplomatically.

Hearing this, Algra stepped between the orc and Gregory before turning to her master.

"Why do this? Come. We go fuck. Put silly girl out of mind." Algra announced to Gregory and anyone else in the vicinity with ears.

That definitely got her his full attention. Ever since Algra had arrived the merchant had suddenly become very unsure of himself however, it was unlikely he'd attack without warning.

"Um...no that's not what this is Algra. That's Janette, she's one of the ones I travelled here with."

Algra looked over Janette with a more critical eye.

"You say you not have woman." The female accused.

"I don't. Actually she's more of an arch-nemesis. Still, I can't just leave her here alone."

"I like you master. I not see you broken." Algra put her hands on his forearms, her touch brought with it many pleasant memories.

"I have to, Algra."

"Then I fight for you." She spoke up. Clearly the orc merchant had been dreading these words and groaned audibly at his foul luck.

"No you won't." Gregory said firmly. "I'm not going to let you get hurt for me."

"Hah! This one not give me any sport." She looked at the orc who had turned from a very deep to a very sickly shade of green.

"I figured that, and if anyone here had challenged me I'd let you kick their ass. But this is my fight. I'm not going to hide behind you. Now go stand with your uncle. I'll be fine." He hoped.

Upon receiving the direct order Algra looked like he'd just dropped a bucked of ice down her pants. The sudden feeling of something heavy dropping inside her was almost like a blow as she turned and walked away in stunned silence. When they had fought she had been lust crazed and she had underestimated him. The merchant would certainly have his wits about him and the removal of Gregory's shirt along with the fact that she had shown he had bested her would certainly not cause the merchant to feel overly cocky.

"Greg what the fuck are you doing? It'll kill you!" Was that genuine concern in Janette's voice?

"Thanks for the vote of confidence. You ready?" He turned to the orc he was facing.

The orc didn't understand the words but he understood the challenge. The orc lifted his fists and Gregory did the same a moment later. With their weapons chosen, they circled each other. The camp around them had suddenly fallen silent. Word had gotten out that the human who had beaten the mighty Algra had issued a challenge and since then the surrounding camp had moved in to see what Gregory was made of.

Then the orc charged, its arms outstretched and its mouth open with large tusks bared. He must have weighed more than twice as much as Gregory. The noise of each of his angry steps was like a thunderclap in the boy's ears. The onlookers watched on as the overpowering giant looked about to grind the young human into dust before their eyes. Of course what they didn't know was that Gregory had been routinely dropping guys twice his size since he was fifteen.

The orc charged with most of its weight lunged forwards. Gregory moved half a step to his left before swinging violently to his right. The movement confused the giant bearing down upon him enough that he couldn't rightly change the direction he was charging or slow down in time. Gregory smoothly fell into a crouch, spinning with a sharp grace and extending his left leg out in a powerful arc. The orc felt the impact strike the backs of his knees and was sent sprawling forwards to land in a heap on the ground. The crowd gave a shocked gasp of approval at the action.

Gregory let the orc climb back onto his feet though he probably shouldn't have. This time his opponent lumbered forwards with sure footed steps, the front of his body covered in dirt. Getting into a straight up brawl with the orc would have been akin to suicide and so he quickly dodged back out of the way. He did this over and over again, each time the orc grew more and more angry and tried to swing at him only to find his fist sailing through thin air. The extra weight the orc carried was not muscle but fat and soon the wild swinging took its toll. Gregory saw sweat pouring from the green skin and breaths that came deep and laboured whilst his own were short and controlled. The other orcs were enjoying the display. Gregory wasn't running away, he was dodging with incredible speed and it seemed even the orcs loved an underdog.

By the time he started punching the orc in the face anyone who knew anything about fighting knew it was all over. The orc was so exhausted he couldn't defend himself whilst Gregory was just breaking a sweat. Finally after only a few stinging jabs his opponent fell to his knees and jabbered something in orcish. Gregory bounced out of reach and glanced to Rudd for approval. He found the emissary applauding and nodding. The challenge was finished. Many others joined in with the applause soon after including, much to Gregory's surprise, Grolfir.

Algra quickly ran over and flung herself against him, her arms wrapping about his hard sweaty body. The feel of her breasts against his chest and then her mouth pushed against his was certainly enough of a reward for the young man. Though from the look in her eyes he sensed there might be more in store for him soon enough.

"Had I known he could move like that I would not have spoken as I did." Grolfir's deep voice was heard over the dispersing mob.

"Had I known he could move like that I would have done away challenge and laid back with legs open." Algra let her simmering whisper reach only Gregory's ears.

The eighteen year old flushed pink as Grolfir moved over to them.

"Thank you, Warchief." Gregory humbly nodded his head in thanks for the compliment. When Algra moved aside he stealthily slipped his hand under her skirt and gave her bare ass a squeeze in thanks for hers too.

"I have not known of the way you fight human. It is interesting. I will leave you to Algra now. Come visit me at first light tomorrow, I have a gift for you. Treat Algra well or I may be your next challenge." Grolfir warned with a rather menacing grin before he turned and walked away toward the hall.

As Gregory was considering taking Algra somewhere private and administering a vigorous pounding to her juicy pussy Rudd and the defeated orc sidled up to them. The orc seemed understandably depressed, his eyes lowered to the ground as he spoke. Rudd quickly translated.




The Missing Dragon



"You have all that is mine." The emissary spoke in a cheerful tone that did not match the one he was translating.

The human slaves looked at him curiously, a few of the other tents beside Janette's had opened to reveal the gorgeous bodies of several other scantily clad females. It occurred to him that he could take everything from the defeated merchant. Upon seeing the bare flesh inside those tents it might have even been tempting if he didn't have a very warm willing female already pressed up against him.

"I'll just take Janette, ok? I might be back later though. Until then live well and be happy." Gregory told the orc as Rudd translated.

The merchant listened and seemed to be waiting until the end of Rudd's words as if awaiting the imminent terrible news. When none came except the loss of Janette the beaten orc reached out to grab Gregory's hand and hefted it up and down. Gregory thought that perhaps the orc might have seen humans shake hands once and have surmised in a very orcish way that the greater you shake the hand the more grateful you are. As a result it was a miracle Gregory's shoulder stayed in the socket. The merchant happily turned, walked toward Janette, shoved her rudely toward Gregory and then disappeared inside one of the other tents with the audible noise of giggling females accompanying his departure shortly thereafter.

"Well he seems happy." Gregory chuckled at the abrupt behaviour.

"Orcs don't tend to abuse each other after a challenge but it isn't uncommon for an orc who is victorious over a merchant to take a lot of his stock. As you can imagine orc trading can get very colourful. Anyway, I'll be off. Give me a shout if you need me." Rudd explained before waving goodbye to Gregory since Algra had a certain look in her eye and he knew better to get between an orc female in heat and her chosen mate.

"Greg! Just what the hell is going on here? When did you turn into Bruce Lee? What's this you've obviously been fucking?" Janette's voice cut through the air like a knife.

Referring to Algra as 'this' was, as it turned out, one of the bigger mistakes of Janette's life. As the girl's hand lifted to gesture at the female orc it was quickly caught and swung painfully up behind her back.

"Owwww! Ok, ok I'm sorree! Lemme go! Greg! Help!" Janette whined like a pained kitten.

Greg had been genuinely surprised by Algra's movements but in Janette's efforts to ease the pain of her twisted arm she had thrust her breasts out leaving him to watch as they strained against the confines of her bra. Watching the emerald skinned shapely orc in her little leather top and short skirt pressed up to the fiery haired slender eighteen year old sure as hell made him wish he had a camera more than his conscience was comfortable with.

"Let her go, Algra." He intervened.

The green beauty did as he asked leaving Janette to tug away her arm and rub her shoulder where it had nearly been ripped apart. She shot Algra a very dirty look but didn't say anything more.

"Hey," Gregory turned to look at one of the humans. "can you understand me?"

The balding man he had addressed had been stoking a cooking fire and looked at Gregory with surprise. Clearly he wasn't used to being spoken to by someone so apparently prestigious. After a moment his shock passed and he nodded that he did indeed comprehend the young man's words.

"When he comes back could you tell the merchant I've borrowed the tent Janette was in? I'll be spending the night there." Gregory said.

"Of course master." The man gave him a deep nod that was almost a bow in respect. "Would you like food and water for the night?"

Apparently since this was one of the merchant's slaves he now belonged to Gregory too. Lifting his hand, Gregory idly rubbed his chin. He was getting very tired of being called 'master' everywhere he went. Well, unless it was Algra of course but that was entirely for kinky reasons.

"Yes please. Could you bring it to us when it's ready?" Gregory's tone was clearly something the slave wasn't used to. Orcs weren't cruel to their servants but neither were they overly polite either.

The man nodded and then bowed outright to Gregory who took a deep breath and walked over to the tent. He was followed by Algra and then a few moments later by Janette who didn't know where else to go.

The moment Gregory and Algra had slipped inside they were quickly wrapped in each other's arms and fiercely locking lips with such intensity that it left Janette stunned as she followed them inside. Here was the boy she had known throughout high school falling to the pillows at her feet and rolling carelessly atop a very scantily clad creature with the body of a fitness model. Speechless, she watched as Gregory peeled the few straps of fur from the orc woman's breasts and tugged the garment over her head leaving her topless. Janette's eyes widened as she saw the smooth flawless round tits bounce into view. The emerald colour of Algra's skin darkened at the thick pebbled peaks of her breasts and Janette felt a very disturbing twinge travel along her body as Jamie took one of those little nubs between his lips.

"Greg! What the hell is this!? Fuck, I am so telling everyone about you." The redhead propped her hands on her hips and tried to look imposing whilst standing there in her underwear.

"Janette," Gregory lifted his head from Algra's breast gaining a small growl of protest from the orc as he turned to look at the other human in the tent. "I really couldn't give a shit what you say. Still, when we get back if you want to tell everyone that we got sent to a parallel fantasy universe and I had sex with an unbelievably gorgeous orc in front of you then go ahead. Just make sure you film their reaction and send it to me."

With that, Gregory got back to the business of pleasing Algra by setting light kisses over her breasts, down across her flat belly and finally peeling down her little skirt over her legs to brush his lips through the soft curls of her mound. The pleasant musk of her aroused pussy filled his nostrils as he dipped his mouth to slide his tongue along those smooth slippery pink petals. Algra moaned with delight as she felt him slip his talented tongue inside her and wiggle it around inside her sensitive flesh. She laid back, slowly rolling her hips as she tried to rub her clit against his probing tongue. Her hands lifted to grasp her soft tits as she pinched and groped at her emerald skin.

The sight of Gregory pleasuring the orc with his mouth drew an unwanted tingle from between Janette's thighs. In all the years she'd known him, he'd never spoken to her like that and as much as she hated to admit it there was definitely a part of her that wanted him between her legs. In school he'd always had a problem with acne and his fondness for clothing several sizes bigger than required always made his lithe frame seem skinny. Recently his skin had cleared up and she'd been shocked to find a handsome face with rich expressive features instead of zit-city. Though she would never have admitted it, her cruel attentions to Gregory in the past few years had simply been an effort to get him to pay attention to her. Freddie wasn't what anyone would call good looking but he was strong, respected and even feared. She had been with him because...no, the truth of the matter was she had no idea why she'd been with him for years now. Breaking up with him would lose her all of her friends because all of her friends were his friends more. She had also long suspected what the past day had proven. Freddie was not a stable young man at all.

Now here she was, watching the subject of her deepest desires as he made another woman suddenly tense sharply before her eyes then slowly relax when her climax subsided. Janette hadn't had an orgasm in longer than she could remember that wasn't induced by her own fingers.

Gregory had to admit that making Janette so obviously uncomfortable was giving him a warm fuzzy sensation in the pit of his stomach. This wasn't even considering the already enormously satisfying experience of feeling the tingles of pleasure ripple through the gorgeous creature beneath his lips. One of Algra's hands lowered from her breast to run her fingers through his hair. She felt the sweet vibrations of a low growl pour from his throat out through her cunt as he lifted his tongue to flick the velvety wet tip across her hard little clit. The sudden rapid little flicks across her sensitive nub made her clamp her eyes shut and curl her toes as a sharp thunderous climax ripped through her body leaving her stunned and blissfully numb. Her pussy gushed with her juicy nectar and Gregory happily lapped up all he could before lifting his lips to set a kiss in amidst her little pelt of pubic hair and rising up to kneel upright between her legs.

The noticeable bulge present that was stretching the material of the front of his pants made Janette's eyes widen in shock and lift her fingers to her lips. A few years ago she remembered that Gregory had been carrying something in his pocket and she'd told everyone he'd got an erection. They'd all laughed and jeered at him. As it turned out, judging from what she was glimpsing beneath his pants, if he had gotten an erection he sure as hell wouldn't have gone long without a girlfriend once they laid eyes on this particular weapon.

He caught the look she was giving him out of the corner of his eye and turned to face her, his conscience getting the better of him finally.

"Janette, you don't have to stay here if you don't want. I could ask if they'd clear out a tent for you." His hands lowered to caress their way along Algra's bare legs as he spoke. The orc was still contentedly mewling from her recent orgasm.

"N-no it's..." Janette mumbled.

Gregory blinked, uncertain as to what he'd just heard.

"Jan? If you stay here we're going to be going very hard at it in about two minutes." There was a pleasant laugh hanging in his voice as he spoke.

The girl hesitantly nodded her acceptance. She felt her skin burning with embarrassment as her eyes lowered to that thick bulge in his pants. Everything in her mind was telling her to leave, none of this made any sense, this wasn't how things happened. Yet every part of her body yearned to stay rooted to the spot and watch him and his lover together. The loving care with which he ran his hands over that green skin and the passion that blazed in his expression each time he looked at her was something Janette had never known. 

It was something she desperately wanted.

Gregory hesitated for a moment and then looked back down at Algra. The orc woman's dark eyes fluttered open to look at him and made it clear she was happy to have an audience. Her hands reached down between them and ripped the front of his pants open with the audible tearing of fabric. The young man's thick long cock sprung up immediately making the stunning creature beneath him purr her approval. There was also the small yet unmistakable noise of a distinctly feminine whimper coming from Janette's direction as she laid eyes upon his length. Gregory couldn't help but feel a shiver of ego flush through him as Algra's fingers wrapped around his considerable girth to point his swollen meat at her waiting pussy. He took a deep breath and then thrust his hips forward, sinking every inch of himself inside that tight green flesh. Algra's pussy wilfully sucked him deeper inside of her, the slick folds fluttering with delight around him as he claimed her horny cunt with a short sharp thrust.

Gregory watched the writhing female beneath him lift her hands to rest on his hard muscular torso. His own fingers dug into the pillows at either side of her, using his arms for leverage as he began to fuck his slave. Algra ran her fingers up across his shoulders, enjoying the firm ripples of his muscle moving against each other. Then came another of his lightning fast thrusts before he buried himself to the hilt inside her once again. The quick powerful movements made her pussy quiver with bliss and sent thunder shocks of sweet white hot pleasure through her body.

Janette watched their movements, shocked and thoroughly enjoying the display Gregory was making. With each of those quick movements he affirmed his dominance over Algra. The girl's fingers lightly tickled across her bare inner thighs until she felt her own tiny panties were soaked completely. The lovers now only had eyes for each other, the slow intensity of their fucking grew into a steady rhythm as their bodies slapped together. Algra's long green legs lifted to wrap around Gregory's body as her soft round tits bounced with each of those deep thrusts.

As Janette's delicate fingers slipped under the thin film of her sodden panties to trace tiny little circles around her clit, the sight before her turned downright frenzied. Algra's first scream of ecstasy rung throughout the entire camp as her saturated pussy squeezed and sucked Gregory's relentless cock. The scream was taken as something of a challenge as he slammed into her over and over again. Wet slapping noises filled the tent as Algra's fingernails scratched over his shoulders. They never broke eye contact, the lust craze in their eyes plainly clear as their bodies shook and writhed against each other.

Janette couldn't take it any longer and plunged her fingers deeply inside her own wet pink folds. She wanted Gregory to look up at her lewd display as she spread her thighs open and fingered her juicy snatch in front of them. In all her life she had never been so turned on and soon her body tensed as she lifted herself to her own climax. She buried her fingers deep inside herself as her eyes shut tight and she passed into heat and release.

As Janette found her escape Algra was quickly building up to her third. Even orcs lacked the stamina of her new human master. Yet she saw those tell tale signs as his fingers ripped into the pillows and his eyes blazed with what was to come. Words were beyond her but every movement of her body screamed for his cum and soon enough that need was sated. She felt the first thick splash of liquid heat erupt inside her, sending her over the edge once more. Breathless, she couldn't scream her approval but the roar from his own lungs was sweet music to her ears. It was a battle cry of sweet victory as he poured his thick cream into her tight, slick sheath.

Janette looked on in dazed awe at the boy she knew that had undoubtedly become a man as he gave himself to his lover. Slowly, as the pulses of their mutual climax faded, he lowered himself down atop Algra. The orc's large breasts squashed up against his chest as their mouths hungrily clashed together in a deep and mutually grateful kiss.

Suddenly realising what she'd done, Janette straightened herself out a little. After a few minutes when Gregory finally remembered she was there, he broke his intense lip lock with Algra to look over to the shapely redhead. She was knelt with flushed cheeks and a light sheen of sweat covering her creamy smooth skin. A quick glance between her legs gave him a perfect view of her pussy lips, the thin material of her thong glistened with her nectar making it damn near transparent.

As the heat of the moment died the two humans suddenly became very aware of what they'd just done. Both blushed furiously as they looked at each other.

"You fuck her next, master?" Algra's husky whisper caused her heated breath to fill his ear.

The question certainly got his attention.

"You'd be alright with that?" His tone was uncertain.

The orc grinned back up at him and nodded.

"You are strong warrior, you will rut with many women." She proudly stated whilst affectionately stroking his cheek.

That sure as hell almost made his eyes pop out.

Carefully, Gregory slipped out of Algra's well fucked pussy and caught sight of Janette silently glancing at his glistening cock. It twitched with approval causing her to blink and look back up at his face.

"Come here and lie down in front of me." He firmly told the pretty redhead.

A lifetime of snide comments and petty insults bubbled up inside Janette at this geek having the gall to order her to do anything. All of that was immediately burned away by the fire that arose inside her. He was looking at her like he had looked at Algra. He wanted her, needed her. As the two conflicting sides of herself warred she slowly fell to her hands and knees and crawled over to Gregory. He still wore his pants around his knees and took the time to fix that little problem by slipping out of what remained of his clothes. The scent of their fucking had filled the tent but it grew stronger as Janette neared him. Her pussy flooded with her arousal as she obediently shifted to lie back before him and spread her legs out to give him a prized view of her bare pink pussy.

Algra lazily shifted onto her side alongside Janette and curiously reached over to cup the girl's meaty breast through the lacy bra. The shocking sensation made Janette's body tighten but she didn't complain as Algra curiously massaged the heavy boob.

Gregory slowly leaned forward, his hands descending upon the feverishly heated skin of the beautiful girl in front of him. She took a sharp breath of air when she felt his fingers glide over her long toned legs. Her toes curled with anticipation as his touch lifted over her thighs and he lowered his head to look closely at her sweet juicy cunt. The tug of the string that was pulled over her hips was followed by the feeling of cool open air on her glistening sex followed immediately by a gust of his hot breath. Her panties were stripped down her legs and roughly cast aside.

Algra's hand slipped under Janette's bra and cupped her bare tit, giving the soft meaty globe an affectionate squeeze. The girl mewled softly with anticipation, wiggling her body in an effort to lift her needy cunt to Gregory's lips. He waited a moment, slowly exhaling hot air across her inflamed pussy whilst enjoying the way her body silently screamed for him to claim her. Here was a girl that had long been the centre of many of his fantasies offering herself up wantonly for his imminent ravishing.

Without wasting any more time, Gregory grabbed Janette's hips and forcefully rolled her over. Algra's hand slipped away from her breast as she found herself laid on her front, her soft breasts pressed into the pillows beneath her and her curvy ass lifted up for Gregory's eyes to devour. She felt him shift and pull her legs apart, his right hand reached out and grabbed her shoulder tightly before pulling her up onto her hands and knees. A tingle of fear passed through her body at the sudden roughness and then she felt his thick engorged cock slide up between her legs and slowly rub against her soaked cunt. Her apprehension melted away as he pushed and spread her hot pussy wider than she had ever known and began to sink inside her with a slow, powerful stroke.

When she felt him push right into her core, deeper than she knew was possible, she let out a long moan of approval. Her pussy was unbelievably tight around his length and the feeling of sinking into her was indescribable. When he'd buried himself as far as possible he slowly rocked his hips back and forth in a steady grinding motion that made her squeal with delight. Watching the display intently, Algra lifted herself up onto her knees and ran her hands along the taut muscle of Gregory's body. With Janette holding herself up on all fours and the insatiable male fucking her from behind Algra had much of his upper body to play with. He felt her tongue lick across his nipple and her lips plant kisses up to his collar bone as he fucked the girl before him.

Janette's body cried out for him, her hands pushed into the soft pillows to push her ass back against his timely thrusts. The last few inches of him finally sank inside her and as he felt his balls slapping against her flesh he increased his pace. Janette's screams of orgasm filled the room shortly after as she was given a sound fucking with that impressively proportioned cock. Her body shook with each hard thrust as his hand moved from her shoulder to grab a handful of her fiery red hair. Pulling on that beautiful mane made her lift her head and arch her back into a stunningly obscene pose. Her tits quickly bounced free of the bra, her nipples already hard little nubs tracing circles in the open air as they jiggled to the rhythm of their fucking.




The Missing Dragon



Vaguely in amidst the explosions of pleasure coursing through her and the noise of her own hoarse screams Janette heard the stifled moans of Algra. She knew immediately that the orc was busily making out with Gregory. Freddie had cheated on her a few times and she'd always made him pay for it. The girl he cheated with would pay worse of course. Now here she was on her hands and knees getting fucked like a bitch in heat whilst the man she so deeply desired made out with another woman. It was at that point that another orgasm ripped through her body leaving her gasping. She felt every sensation almost in slow motion, the drop of sweat trickling down between her breasts, Gregory's cock slamming deep inside her pussy as her slippery walls tightened around his length. Everything was incredible, everything was perfect, how could feeling this good possibly be bad?

Spurned on by her little revelation that she didn't give a damn what he did as long as he kept fucking her, Janette began to thrash and buck like a wild animal against him. Her enthusiasm was so violently energetic that it broke Algra's kiss with the rutting male and turned his attention back to the gorgeous redhead he was fucking.

The orc licked her lips with an expression of mild approval. Gregory grinned through heavy lust filled pants as he gave Janette as good as he took. Holding onto her hair was no longer an option and so he leaned forward to reach beneath her. Grabbing a handful of her soft bouncing right breast was exquisite as his free hand lifted up and gave the girl's bare ass a sharp spank. Jannete squeaked with shock as her snowy white bottom turned a shade pinker.

The second spank made her quiver, then violently shudder into another crushing orgasm and this time she was joined by Gregory who slammed his cock deep inside her and found his own release. Algra looked on as the two young lovers seemed to freeze, the only movements between them were the little shakes of overly tensed muscle as they both reached a mutual crescendo. Janette felt the thick gooey cream bubble up from Gregory's cock as spurt after spurt gushed inside her quivering pussy. Their sweaty bodies suddenly relaxed and they began to take air into their lungs once again. Gregory's hand gently massaged the girl's firm pink ass where he had spanked her and she let out a little murmur of pleasure at the feeling.

His body suddenly felt the exhaustion it had been so vehemently denying until now and he released Janette who slumped down to lie amongst the soft padding of the floor of the tent. The girl was breathing heavily, a blissfully contented look on her beautiful face. Algra shocked him when she dutifully lowered herself to lick along the length of his cock and then pop the long shaft into her mouth, sucking away the juices and the cum to leave him clean and tidy. This did not at all seem like a chore for the woman who took to the task with vigor and would have had him rigid again in minutes had not one of the slaves called in to them announcing his presence. 

Gregory quickly grabbed his pants. Upon looking them over it was quite clear that he would need new ones. Algra had ripped open the zipper with such force that it was definitely beyond repair. They would suffice for the moment however and keep him decent. In turn, Algra slipped her own primitive garments back over her nude body and helped Janette wiggle back into her skimpy underwear. The girl was still pretty woozy but was eager to obey.

"Come in." Gregory finally called out when they were half way decent.

The slave entered carrying a tray upon which were placed three large bowls filled with boiling stew and a large loaf of bread. At least they weren't about to go hungry any time soon. The man set the bowl down before the three of them and gave a respectful and discreet nod before turning to leave.

"Wait." Gregory suddenly remembered something very important. "When the merchant captured Janette here and the one in the sewer pit they might have been carrying a ring. That ring is very important to me. Could you see if you can find it?"

The man thought for a moment, obviously tracing in his mind where their possessions had gotten to. Then finally he gave an acknowledging bow.

"Yes my lord. Would there be anything else?"

"If you do find it then whatever you do, don't put it on. It might be dangerous."

"Of course sir, I shall return in a moment."

With that the slave left the three of them alone and Gregory turned to find his two women looking intently at him.

"What?" He asked after a few seconds of pointed silence.

"You still wish to leave?" Algra's voice certainly had an edge to it.

"I wish to stay actually. That doesn't change that I've got family and friends who'll be worried to all hell that I've just vanished. Plus, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the ring if I get it. I have no idea what it is. Sure, I could put it on and go home but what if it doesn't work like that? What if I put it on and I turn into a bowl of jelly or something?" He confided his thoughts, his hand running through his dark messy hair as his brows furrowed with worry.

"There is maybe a one who can help you find out its nature." Algra reluctantly admitted after a few moments. It was unnerving how much the worry in his expression bothered her after only a few days.

"Oh? Well maybe if we figure it out then I could send Janette home with a letter or something." He certainly perked up at this information.

"I'm not going." Janette's voice interrupted them both.

"You are his now, girl. You will do as he says." Algra's tone turned downright murderous to the point where Janette visibly flinched.

"I will." She nodded resolutely. "I'll do anything he tells me to. Except that." Her eyes raised to meet his. "Greg, I know I've been a bitch. I'm screwed up in ways you don't even know. Every time I try to do something it gets all messed up and then just now I let someone else decide what I should do. I don't know what this whole master and slave thing is that they've got running here. I do know that you're one of the good guys. I know you'll look out for me. I know that in twenty minutes you gave me more to feel good about than all those years with Freddie. So I'll do anything you ask me whilst we're here. If you want to go home I'll do it but you've got to come with me. I'm not going to find this and then leave it behind."

"Jan, what about your parents? Grandparents? Your friends?" He was more than a little overwhelmed by her admission and the implications of it.

"My only family is my alcoholic mother who doesn't know I'm there half the time and doesn't care when I am. All my friends aren't really mine but Freddie's. Now I've got you...or rather you've got me. Either way I'm not letting go." She nodded resolutely leaving both Algra and Gregory silent.

"...you'll do anything I say?" He smirked finally.

Janette let out a burst of melodic laughter at the sudden change in his tone. Then she surprised him by nodding in agreement.

"You won me fare and square right? I saw you back there. You were pretty amazing. Where the hell did you learn all that...?" She did a cute little karate chop to emphasize her point.

"Well," He moved over to grab one of the bowls and handed it to Algra, then swiped another to give to Janette before taking the last for himself. "when we were younger Freddie and some others used to like playing 'punch the Greg' so I took some classes to convince them it wasn't such a fun game after all. I stuck with it. I've been learning that stuff for years now."

Janette lowered the bowl from her lips and nodded sadly.

"I'm really sorry for all that. I mean I know I was horrible to you but I always tried to talk him out of hitting anyone." She explained.

"Well let's forget about it. One on one I could wipe the floor with Freddie. Besides you just made up for a lot of being a bitch." His words caused fresh colour to spill onto her cheeks and the tops of her breasts.

"I never knew it could be like that...I mean you're..." She stopped, not quite having the words to express herself.

"He fucks good." Algra supplied a simpler option before glugging down more of her stew.

That made both Janette and Gregory laugh together as Algra shrugged and ate some more.

"You know this isn't half bad..." Janette admired the culinary skills of the cook just as he announced his return from the outside of the tent.

"Enter." Gregory called out.

"Is this the ring you seek master?" The slave carried a pillow in his hands, sat on top of which was the ring itself.

"Yes! Thank you!" Gregory hopped up, set down his half empty bowl and moved to take the ring.

It was the same one to be sure. He looked at the silver band with those strange etchings along the inner rim and then closed his fist over it. Looking to the slave he reached out and grasped the man's shoulder firmly.

"Thanks. Is there anything I can do for you?" Gregory asked.

The man looked at him as if he'd just sprouted antlers. Clearly this was not a question he was used to.

"Well...I-I have a brother. He still lives in the lowlands of the southern kingdom. I have been trying to get him safe passage here but our former orc master could not afford to keep more slaves. It would be just him, his wife, his son and his two daughters. All are hard workers. If you could do anything to bring them here..." Hope ignited in the man's eyes as he looked at Gregory.

"You want them to come here and be slaves?" Janette interrupted, incredulous.

The man looked to her and back at Gregory, unsure as to whether he should answer. The young man nodded and the slave turned to speak with the scarlet haired girl.

"I do not know from where you hail but life in the kingdoms is hard for many. We work the fields but own nothing for they are the lord's lands. A poor crop often means some of us will die that winter and the work is back breaking in terrible conditions. Orcs might be a hard people but they treat us fairly. If we get sick we're taken care of and if they want us to plough their fields then they get of their asses and pitch in. We don't get beaten or taxed. We get fed and sheltered. If it comes down to it most peasants would rather be orc slaves. What's more if we're good at somethin' they keep us well tended to. I can cook and I know numbers so I get a share of what my master gets for using my skills. My son would have died on the fields where I'm from but here he's learning how to shape metal."

"That's a weirdly fair system for one based around slavery." Gregory sat back down in the tent.

"It isn't slavery based on taking away freedom and working the saps to hell my lord. It's more about honourably knowing and bowing to those who earn it. Sir Rudd could probably explain it better than me." The man scratched his stubbly chin.

"I'll ask him and I'll also try to speak with someone about your brother. Thank you for your time." Gregory nodded.

The man gave a deep bow and then turned and slipped out of their tent. Gregory sat and finished his bowl before taking the other empty vessels and placing them outside the tent for someone to take care of.

"So, who's the guy we ask about this?" Gregory opened his hand to show them the ring.

"I will speak of it tomorrow. Your day has been long and you need rest, master. It is a long journey from here to the one whom you seek." 

Gregory hesitated a moment before shrugging his shoulders and slipping the ring into his pocket.

"So I have some questions." Janette looked over to Algra as Gregory moved to lay down between them.

Algra grunted for the girl to continue.

"What will happen to Freddie?" She glanced at Gregory as she spoke, fearful of his reaction. The male didn't seem to mind.

"He will work there with the waste. He will sleep in a cage. He will die young. The work is hard. The air is dangerous." She didn't seem overly bothered about the nature of Freddie's fate as she spoke. "The pit is for traitors, backstabbers and those without honour."

Janette nibbled nervously on her lower lip.

"I'll ask if he can be released tomorrow." Gregory spoke up.

Janette looked at him, her eyes wide with shock at the declaration.

"I...Greg you don't have to. I know what he did. I was just..." She trailed off with a little shrug of her own.

"You don't want him to die down there. I have to admit since the guy tried to kill me his safety hasn't been high on my list of things to do..." Gregory was interrupted by a sudden feral growl.

Algra moved quickly to her feet and started out of the tent.

Gregory and Janette looked between each other and then bolted up after her.

"Algra, wait!" He called after her as the orc marched toward the cages nearby the pit.

She didn't stop, even when she passed a rack of very large swords belonging to the merchant and snatched one up she didn't break her stride.

"I said wait." Gregory's voice was quieter, closer to her ear as his arms wrapped around her from behind. The orc froze, the look in her eyes wasn't entirely dissimilar to the one that had been there when they had fist met. The green beauty quite clearly had some extreme violence in mind.

Janette stopped and watched as the man slowly and carefully took the sword from his orcish lover and dropped it on the ground. He then turned her in his arms and kissed her cheek and then her lips, stifling the inferno of rage within the woman's eyes.

"He should be dead. I will tear out his eyes for trying to kill you." Algra grumbled.

"No you won't." Gregory firmly stated. "But thanks for trying."

His smile made the orc relax and Janette found she could finally breathe again. Apparently Algra didn't take kindly to attempts on her master's life.

"Hey...HEY! Guys! Jan!" A weak throaty voice came from the direction of the cages.

Gregory turned to see the filth smeared face of Freddie poking his head through the bars in one of the cages that he shared with three orcs. He didn't look well.

Algra let out the unmistakable growl of a lioness at the sight of him and Janette lifted her hand to her mouth in sudden shock.

"Jan, you gotta get me out of here baby." Freddie pleaded. "These sick things don't have a clue who they're messing with. As soon as we get out I'm...fuck, is that the freak? What the hell are you doing with him?"

Gregory had almost felt sorry for Freddie as he watched the guy pleading for his release. As soon as he had recognised who was with his former girlfriend however his face took on that expression of inexplicable loathing that it had when he'd hunted Gregory in the park. Madness darkened his eyes and he begun to ferociously rattle the bars like a caged animal.

"You bitch! I'll fucking kill you! I'll rip your throat out! Come here now and get me out of this shit pen or I swear..." Freddie ranted.

"Or what Freddie?" Janette took a few steps up to where Algra and Gregory were watching the caged man with disgust. "You're going to do what to me? 'Scuse me..." She grabbed Gregory's hand and tugged him out of Algra's arms.

Without any further reservations the scantily clad fiery haired vixen leapt up to wrap her legs around Gregory's waist and her arms about his shoulders. The kiss that followed was hard, angry and combined with the feel of her nearly naked body pressed against him it made his cock tingle with desire. Her impressive tits squashed up against his bare chest as they furiously made out in front of Janette's former boyfriend.

Freddie's cage stopped rattling and he fell speechless. Janette always did what she was told. That's why they worked so well.

After a five minute long lust filled snog in front of her ex, Janette unwrapped her legs from Gregory's body and placed her bare feet on the grass beneath her. Then she turned to Gregory with a malicious beautiful smirk on her kiss swollen lips.

"I'm never doing anything you tell me again Freddie. We'll try to get you out of there in the morning before you have to go back into the shit hole but you can stay there tonight. Know what I'll be doing? I'll be sucking Greg's cock. Have a great night." With that Janette grabbed both Gregory and Algra's hands and led the dumbstruck couple back to the tent.

"I would have only broken bones. Her punishment hurt worse." Algra observed to Gregory as they slipped back under the warm canopy.

"She can hit a nerve when she wants to." He admitted proudly.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to get so..." Janette turned around replacing Gregory's view of her tight ass with the generously proportioned curves of her tits inside her bra.

"Hey, feel free any time. I'm still getting my cock sucked right?"

"You bet." Janette's smile turned downright scandalous. "But I have one more question. Is there anything I can do?"

"What do you mean?" Gregory said.

"Well Algra is a great warrior or something with lots of ties around here, you've secretly been a kung fu master or whatever all these years and I'm stood here with nothing to show for myself but my underwear." Janette put her hands on her hips as if to highlight her predicament. "I wanna help. I wanna do something. I mean I'll do what you want me to Greg but..."

"Be courtesan." Algra suggested.

Janette blinked in shock.

"I'm not going to turn her into a prostitute Algra." Gregory quickly intervened.

"She was before." The straightforward orc replied, apparently not seeing anything all that terrible about the profession.

"I danced, I stripped but I didn't fuck anyone." Janette defended what little remained of her dignity.

"Good courtesan is valuable. It gives owner high status. Shows he can keep something so wanted by others. Janette is very beautiful. She would bring you much honour. A gift of her dance alone would bring master great favour with anyone whom you would wish to impress." Algra explained patiently. "It is what merchant was doing with her. She danced for his trade partners as a favour to lower prices."

"Algra, this isn't exactly something we..." Gregory began.

"Wait." Janette interrupted, lifting a hand from her hip to hold up for silence. "So, what? If I hang around with Gregory and I'm such a catch then won't he get challenged for me by every orc in the damn camp?"

"No," Algra shook her head. "combat challenges wouldn't be made for many saw today he is no easy target. What's more it is known that I am in his service and I am definitely no easy target. Finally the chief showed Gregory favour today and no orc with a brain would willingly anger my uncle."

"So I could make Greg look good? All I'd have to do is stuff like dancing and taking my clothes off?"

Algra nodded and moved to lay down in amongst the pillows. She began disrobing without a care for her two companions. The skimpy skirt was thrown across the tent and the leather straps around her heavy breasts followed it shortly thereafter.

Gregory was looking at Janette like she'd taken a crazy pill.

"Come on Greg. I can do that if it'd help you out. I was going to start doing it at a club back home anyway when I started at university." Janette reached behind her and unclasped her lacy bra before letting it drop around her shoulders and then fall to the floor. She crossed her arms over the swells of her breasts and looked at him with a teasing raised brow. "I'll fuck you whenever you want, however you want and show everyone else what only you can have."

With that she unfolded her arms to rest her hands on her hips, letting her soft round tits bounce free in the open air.

"I think I might be persuaded." He finally agreed with a wolfish grin.

Janette beamed at his agreement and quickly settled down into a smooth crouch before him. Her bare feet rested on tiptoes as her long creamy legs spread open in front of him. The beautiful girl steadied herself by resting her hands on his pants and slowly peeling them down over his legs. She felt the ring in his pocket and recoiled from it like it had scalded her. Instead she slipped her fingers under the seam of his pants and tugged them down his legs leaving him standing naked. His cock was already standing to attention and ready for action, its swollen peak bobbing along to the rhythm of his heartbeat. She looked over that gorgeous specimen of male and lifted her gaze to meet his after which she gave him a naughty wink.