Part 2: Chimera Denai stumbled back, her cheek burning and her ears ringing from the heavy handed blow. She was brought up short by the couch along one wall, and for a crazed, insane moment she wondered if that was the entire purpose for its placement there. To halt the tumble of a delicate half-elven maiden. The actual purpose she would ordinarily be perfectly aware of but Duke Mikhail of the Dolor Reaches was a big boned man and though his muscle had gone to flab, it was still muscle. She tried to still the spinning world as she leaned over the couch, her vision framed by her short platinum hair, but the girl's dizziness would not fade. Her uncle's hand gripped her slender neck from the back and she was unceremoniously dragged from the couch and forced onto her knees, held up by the man's brutal strength. While the dizziness stopped, the ringing in her ears was slow to pass, and she caught only half of his words. “....slattern, or so help me I'll ensure you never reach your next anum!” She shook her head in confusion, ignoring the nausea that welled up in her, but the gesture seemed to mollify the massive human noble. “Good. And since you are down there, you may as well do some good, you half-breed trollop.” He unbuckled the thick sword-belt that hindered his girth, and let his embroidered velvet trousers drop to the floor. Still dazed, Denai reached up and loosed his loincloth, her delicate fingers fumbling at the knots. Mikhail snarled something unintelligible to her and yanked his loincloth down with one hand, the other repositioning itself from her neck to her silken hair, which he held so tightly it pulled at her scalp. Nonetheless, she tilted her head and leaned in, servicing the big man as he expected of her, the scent and taste of him salt and sour. Denai was in her twenty third anum, though to human eyes she looked a mere youth, appearing no older than her half-sister who stood at fourteen anums though Denai was taller and more slim; her half brother was at sixteen and would be taking his own coming of age ceremony soon, and stood only a few inches taller than she did. As a result of her slim build and child-like beauty, to say nothing of her nature as a bastard in the eyes of much of the nobility, there were several of the aristocracy who enjoyed themselves at her expense. Duke Mikhail Thorngrove was among the most 'attentive' of them. The elves of Telgi were peculiar in their nature by human standards, but an alliance was absolutely necessary, given the proximity of the Kingdom of Dolor's Reach and the Telgi Forests to the wastelands of the Great Plains. Keeping the monsters that roamed those plains at bay while keeping the Kelemekos Empire off the Five Kingdom's flanks fell wholly upon King Aster Roderick's shoulders. The only way such an alliance could be considered valid by the elves was through blood, and as a result, Queen Genneth had accepted a suitor from among the elven nobility, giving birth to Denai. Denai, by mutual agreement on both sides, could not inherit directly, but she was of noble blood and would eventually be given lands and titles. Though technically not a bastard, the Child of Alliance was still the oldest of the King and Queen's children and that sat badly with a number of the aristocrats, as did the fact she would be receiving lands and titles upon her majority. Despite the feelings of the aristocracy, her step-father looked upon her with a measure of fondness; the queen was affectionate and gentle with her heart, even though it was clear she loved her husband's get best; and her half-siblings both adored her, though she seemed to them to be an unchanging fixture in their lives in comparison to other children they knew. The Church of Sharus had accepted the presence of the Child of Alliance, despite the half-human nature of the child, but also required a coming of age ceremony of her as well. She would be sent to survive hunting one of the chimeric beasts that often climbed the Dolor Ranges, as her half-brother Joren would. Her half-sister Betheni would merely have to bring back a trophy, and would be accompanied by one of the royal guard. The disparity in the girls' rites were oft remarked upon by the nobility and not happily, though a number of the more prominent nobility did not seem troubled by it. It did not escape Denai's notice that these were nobles who were the most abusive of her as well as the most devout to the Church of Sharus. The Duke's fingers tightened in her hair and she was forced to take all of his member – as much as she could manage, given that his belly and thighs pushed at her face – into her soft, hot mouth; almost immediately after she tasted the strange alchemical bitterness of his seed on her tongue. She swallowed, and he groaned happily, the working of her tongue and mouth on him soothing his anger. For the moment, at least. Denai tried hard not to whine in the pain that his grip on her hair caused her, and then she was thrust back violently. She barked her shoulder-blade on the wooden frame of the couch and managed to fling her arm across the cushions to catch her fall. The half-elven girl lifted a hand to cover her bruised cheek, her palm cool against the injured flesh. “Make yourself presentable for your tutor and then get out of my offices, trollop,” Duke Mikhail ordered abruptly, as he squatted to retrieve loincloth and pants. He shambled into his study, leaving her disheveled, aching, and alone. That last she was thankful for; there were others who enjoyed an audience. Denai moved to the lavatory and washed her face in icy water, and smoothed her hair with both wet hands. Carefully she sipped some fresh water from another basin, then spat into the commode to rinse the taste of him and his seed from her mouth. She'd heard he was to marry soon; it was with no malice towards the Duke that she considered warning his bride-to-be of his habits and nature. Looking into the brass-backed mirror, she sighed and concentrated on the image she should have seen, rather than the one she was seeing. A slender, delicate figure, small of breast and lithe; platinum hair cut short and tapered to the back, save for two long locks before either sharply pointed yet delicate ear. A varanese style, demanded of her by her tutor since he was training her in the desert nomad magics. Almond shaped, human like eyes of a color caught between blue and green, a deep teal color unknown among either of her parental peoples. Fixing the image in her mind, she then sought the emotion that should accompany that appearance. Quiet, sweet, gentility; kindness, hope, and warmth for her siblings. As she let the feelings bloom in her heart, the image she saw became the image she sought. The bruising faded, the swollen eye opened, the over plumped lips smoothed and shrank. Slowly she released the spell, and her own emotions came to the fore once more. Resignation, stoicism, and unhappiness. Not shame; she was far beyond shame, and had been for most of the five years past Only then did she slip silently from lavatory through office and into the old stone halls of Dolor Reach. As she walked to her rooms, she mused on her elven tutor's explanation of why humans were so cruel to her. The elvenkind saw nothing terribly inappropriate about her sexual treatment by humans; their own young aged so much more slowly than she, and it was common for direct relatives to take responsibility for the sexual awaking for their quick-growing half-elven young. The pain and cruelty of it was attributed more to their species than the nature of the persons who chose to abuse Denai. “Humans are cruel, little one, because they perceive the world as cruel to them. Time is cruel to their bodies and minds, the elements are cruel to their flesh, the spirits and the other peoples are cruel to their souls.” He had touched her forehead, as though to press the idea into her mind. “Cruelty flows like water – it rises from within, and spills over those around it, and flows from them to those below them, to join the oceans that make up sadness. Sadness rises into the air, and nurtures the word around it, until it fills the voids within those who are cruel and overflows once more.” Denai did not like the explanation, as apt as it seemed, because it lessened the fault of those who were cruel to her. On the whole she was fairly certain that it was far more deliberate than it was incidental. When she arrived in her own rooms, she locked the door and quickly shed her elegant yet ultimately simple dress, and placed it aside. She quickly bathed in the warmer waters of her own lavatory, and washed her hair. Denai applied no scents to her body, save those of the soaps she used in her hair, which were light enough to not offend her elven tutor's senses or his sense of propriety. Then she dried herself quickly, bound her breasts with soft linen and quickly folded a varanese loincloth of the same material, and finally donning the black denim trousers and tunic of the varan. The varan were a nomadic desert tribe that were thought to be related in some way to elves, but their features were nearly human. Their uniformly black hair and jewel-toned eyes hinted at half-elven heritage, but their magics were alien even to the elves, a form of mentalism that seemed to be beyond the grasp of elvenkind or humankind except in very rare instances. Despite their insular and caste-structured society, they would accept almost anyone as a disciple of their strange arts, and Denai's tutor was one of these. Many half-breeds could easily utilize the strange mysticism of the varan, leading some to think they were a true-blooded race formed of lineages from many races. After adding a pair soft black chamois leather moccasins to her outfit, Denai grabbed her signet ring and the pale silver necklace with the simple, naturally-shaped rutilated quartz crystal that symbolized her mystical training. Putting the jewelery on, she quickly slipped down the halls of Dolor Reach, many of them exposed to the crisp mountain air. The looseness of her tunic left her midriff, neck and nape exposed, so she paused long enough to imagine herself warmly clothed, and recalled the feelings of warmth and security sleeping with her mother and father and little brother when she was but a toddler. Fortified magically against the cold mountain air, she increased her pace, lightly jogging through the empty halls. When she rounded the corner near the schooling rooms she came to a dead stop in shock. Several Telgi elves both women and men, a young red-headed human dressed in the manner of an elven huntress, the King and Queen, and several nobles were waiting in the hall, speaking quietly. A small contingent of the royal guard were present as well and two of them immediately separated from the group and moved to stand behind her. Almost as one the group turned to face Denai, and her heart quailed in fear. Part of it was that several of the nobles who regularly 'used her services' were present, as was Cleric Finnan, the reigning clergyman of Sharus in Dolor's Reach. The other part was simply that she had never had so much attention on her at once; she was by and large ignored outside of her few duties and her family. Her tutor was there, looking unhappy about the situation. “Cleric Finnan has received word from on high that your coming of age ceremony is now due.” King Roderick stepped closer and then indicated the elven entourage. “The elves of Telgi have chased a chimera up from the Great Plains to the caves within the boundaries of Dolor Reach, near this keep.” The human girl inclined her head and gave Denai a wry little smile. “Daughter of my wife, your charge is to defeat this creature and bring back proof of it, so that you may receive the blessings of Sharus and thus duly receive your titles and lands. You shall neither be accompanied nor receive assistance outside of one days worth of food and water and a single weapon.” Denai could see upon both her tutor's and her mother's faces that this was not something either of them approved of. Taking the rights of manhood, rather than those of womanhood, and placing her in mortal danger. But it was the voice of the red-headed human that spoke in her mind. ~You look very little like a varan, Denai daughter of Lieiar and and Genneth, though you wear it well.~ “I understand, your majesty,” she replied, forcing her voice louder than she usually spoke. Her sweet, high voice was naturally soft, almost ethereal, and she would never be an effective public speaker. “When shall I leave?” She bowed her head and lifted her clasped hands in supplication, presenting her step-father with her signet ring. ~I only hope that what I have learned can save my life, huntress.~ “As Cleric Finnan requires, you leave at once, escorted to the gates of the keep by the royal guard. Daughter of my wife, Child of Alliance, you have my blessing and good wishes for your journey into womanhood.” The cleric's bland smile faltered as the king continued. “May the ancestors of Roderick smile upon your endeavors.” The red-haired girl smiled wickedly and spoke inside Denai's mind once more. ~Of course, they might smile more kindly on an offering of your own musk and blood given to appease a mother's instincts.~ Denai had no response for that, other than a small burst of confused gratitude. “As the husband of my mother commands, I obey; as my king commands, I obey. As the church demands, I obey.” Denai glanced up at her father. “For the glory of my family, I obey.” That brought a sad, worried smile to her mother's face, and her father nodded sagely. Her tutor's expression softened, and he too nodded gravely, approving of her last words to the people she loved. “My I ask that your majesties inform my part-siblings that I will return to them safely, our ancestors willing?” Kind Aster Roderick of Dolor's Reach smiled kindly upon his wife's child. “Of course, your grace.” The words caused murmurs and mutterings among the aristocracy....it hinted that she would not be given some token properties or titles. The thought was daunting, and more than a little worrisome. How would those who abused her react when she had her own measure of power that she could freely use? Her own speculation on how she might use it seemed a wishful thought. She turned and followed the two guards assigned to escort her to her doom, followed by voices being raised in protest....and a soft chorus of elven voices speaking their native tongue: “Blessed is the huntress who seeks the prey in faith and power!” Later that morning Denai, daughter of Genneth and Lieiar, Child of Alliance, was quietly escorted to one of the keep's less frequented entrances. It was a small hallway at the base of the keep that opened out into the rocky mountainsides of Dolor Reach, meant for scouts, and those seeking shelter. It was guarded well, given the nature of those meant to be kept out of Dolor's Reach, which is why she was not surprised to see a small group of people to see her off. The presence of Princess Betheni and Prince Joren was a surprise, and she was allowed to give them each a hug. Prince Joren also asked her for the spear she'd intended to take and offered her his own dagger, a gift from his father, who had it from his grandfather though three generations of the Roderick lineage. “The elven huntress said that it would serve you better,” he said proudly, “though she looks not at all like an elf!” Betheni laughed and promised to have the tale embroidered for her when she returned. “I may as well use the skills I am learning to good cause!” Denai laughed and kissed her half-sister's cheek, making her blush deepen, despite the cold from the hallways leading to her exit. She took the dagger her half brother offered, and gave him her own spear in return, a weapon she'd forged and carved herself, and then kissed his signet ring. He blushed as well. After heartfelt promises to return, shared with a few of those maids and servants who knew her and at least respected her, Denai made her way through the cold passage and out into the world beyond. A small leather pack with food and water for a single day – two or three if she ate sparingly and drank carefully – was not a particular hardship. Since her goal was less than a days travel by foot, and if one knew where to look and how to look food and water could be found, it was more in the nature of a test of discipline than it was a small cruelty to give the test-takers so little food and water. Though she learned slowly compared to humans, what Denai learned she learned thoroughly, and all children were taught to survive the mountains and the beasts that often haunted them. Once she was well away from the keep, and she could see no evidence of man, bird, beast or chimera, she took out one of the few personal effects that she had been allowed to keep: her pouch of seeing-stones. Unfolding the chamois cloth that contained them, she spread the rune-embroidered cloth before her and then folded the stones in her hands, holding them to her forehead as she crouched on the stony slope of the mountainside. Denai concentrated on the act of throwing the stones, deliberately not imagining how they would land; the feelings she desired were those of the joy of discovery, the wonder of magic, and the confidence that her knowledge would bring. When the stone were warm in her hands she spilled the polished gems onto the soft leather and glistening silk threads. The reading was a simple one, and the question foolish, yet she asked it anyways. The red-headed huntress had been mysterious and yet forthright, even in her sending Denai's half-brother to deliver a much less effective weapon than a spear. It was clear how she felt the encounter should go. Denai wanted to know if it was even feasible, and she stared at the glittering stones as they lay on the pale leather before her. Even the stones hinted that conflict was not the way. It was ludicrous, insane, and hopeless, but she would have to find a way to survive the beast without slaying the beast. Her powers were not those of a mesmerist or enchantress. Yet the huntress' hint gnawed at her. An answer there, true, but it was even more insane and disturbing than her tormentors pleasures. Carefully packing the precious stones away she carefully continued down the mountainside, the magic which protected her from the cold making the effort far easier for her even in her varanese clothing. Numb fingers and toes were the cause of more deaths on the mountainsides than the creatures that hunted them. She drank sparingly from her supply at first, though when she found a trickle of melt water she drank the remainder and refilled her water-pouch. It wasn't long before she found the first spoor of her quarry. Her quarry was large, a beast twice the weight of a horse and larger in build. The claws were accompanied by strange tracks, like those of a mountain goat or ibex. Considering the size and positioning of the marks it had left, the creature had to be over two body-lengths long and more than one-and-a-half arm-lengths tall. The very thought of something that large hunting in these mountains gave the delicate elf-breed pause. A very long pause where she turned her head between her legs and breathed in and out of her mouth for several minutes as she waited for the blood to return to her head. That also made it exceedingly easy to track, and the found the chimera's lair before the sun had started to dip below the peaks. The cave was a good fifteen miles from the keep, and the scatter of bones and flesh around the cavern was impressive. It was the remains of an ibex, a large male, and the bones and flesh were literally scattered around the opening of the caves mouth. Denai closed her eyes, willing the image away as best she could. It did not work well, her training left her vulnerable to such potent imagery. The amount of uneaten meat was peculiar – something so large as the chimera was surely capable of finishing even an adult ibex off, and the equally purposeful placement of the remnants of flesh and meaty bones was strange. As though it were attempting to bring scavengers, rather than hide its presence. The idea of a chimera setting a trap and baiting it was uncomfortable to Denai. It spoke of a reasoning far too close to those of a man or woman. She took a deep breath, trying to clear her mind and ease her racing heart some. It really didn't help, and she could feel panic haunting the edges of her body and mind alike. It took all her will to continue to creep closer to the cave, and more still to manage the varanese mentalism to invoke a spell to protect her soft skin and delicate bones from the awesome strength of something that could so easily hunt the rocky slopes and dismember an ibex. The kill was fresh, fresh enough to suggest the beast would not be hungry, and that alone gave Denai the courage to continue into the cavern itself. The rock shelves that had collapsed and formed the cavern had been caused by a persistent melt, most likely from the permanent ice caps higher up on the Reach. The stream was more than generous; it was easily several feet deep and could easily fill a hogshead in seconds. The small torrent covered any sounds she made as she stalked into the cave, but likewise deafened her to any that might be made by the occupant. She was certain it was present, for the freshes tracks were those of a return. The cave had several sections, and she carefully explored several of them, but they all came to dead ends quickly enough. The collapse had been isolated, apparently, and the bluish light from the cave entrance was enough to see by at first. Denai's fear proved well founded, but her care in scanning every nook and cranny before moving into or out of an area lead her to discover the snake. It was an impressively large snake, as thick around as her arm, and the only reason she hadn't noticed it immediately was because the snake was albino and there was plenty of quartz in these mountains. The eyes were bright pink dots surrounded by lighter pink irises, round and lidless. She froze upon seeing it, though she was still some distance off. It was lying on the floor of the cavern, a foot or so past the corner of a turn. Denai slowly moved out from the wall, keeping an eye on the unmoving serpent, until she could see several feet of it body. It had a faint iridescent shine to its white hide, the scales too tiny to make out from such a distance. It was of course dead. The chill of the cavern would have killed any reptile, and she relaxed, suspecting another baited trap laid by the chimera. Shaking her head she moved back to the wall and nervously started forward once more. Then a bellows like sigh that echoed throughout the cavern made her freeze....as did the sight of the snake impossibly sliding ~sideways~ away from the edge of the corner and somehow managing to ~curl~ away from her as it did so. It didn't turn or slither, but acted like a length of wood or a stiff rope. Stifling the whine of terror that was building in her throat, she slowly moved to the corner, clutching the hilt of Joren's dagger. She carefully looked around, the light from the cavern's entrance reflected enough into the antechamber for the half-elven girl to see quite clearly that it had not been a snake at all. Or a reptile for that matter. Or even an animal. It was the tip of a tail. Denai stared at the massive beast that rested along the back wall of the cavern. Her eyes had trouble differentiating fur from scales, not because of the darkness of the cave but because they mixed so readily upon the hide of the strange creature. The serpent that was the tail of the chimera was longer than the beasts body itself, and like a carelessly tossed coil of rope, lay in several sweeping S-shapes upon the smooth floor of the cavern. It only thickened a small amount towards the very base, but the scales she could barely see at the tip became larger two thirds of the way down its length. These became a splash of white scales that glistened with blue, green and pink fire at the edges along the creatures flank and back. The fur held waves and crescents of opaline fire that gave it a scaled appearance as well. The monster's back legs were powerful and thick, the velvet hide becoming thick fur, which terminated in cloven hooves like those of the sheep and ibex, albeit much, much larger. Scales trailed from the hooves up the legs, disappearing into the fur. The chimera's belly was coated in thin velvet fur up to her mid-belly, where scales once more appeared. These spread in a wide swath to engulf both legs and thicken into powerful, reptilian legs with draconian claws of the same silvery nacre as the hooves. The broad chest was coated in a thick fur ruff, which became more velveteen as it extended up the powerful neck. A leonine head rested along the dragon-like forelegs, the ears long and swept back, almost like those of a lynx. The muzzle was strangely long for a feline, almost tapered. Scales became soft fur along her back, and then again scales, along the top of her head and neck. Her, because she had no mane. Denai stared at the glowing beast, only remembering to breathe when sparks swam across her vision. It was fascinating, almost hypnotic to merely watch her breathe, the play of iridescent fire along her scales and fur captivating. The snake's mouth opened slowly in a yawn, revealing silvery fangs in pale cotton-white flesh for just an instant. Denai wondered if the mouth held such strangely beautiful dentition, and shivered as she realized she just might find out. Pulling back around the corner, Denai slumped against the cavern wall, her hands covering the center of her chest, one over the other as she tried to calm her racing heart. She could barely blink, her eyes seemed stuck wide open, staring, and her mouth was dry. Her nipples pressed into the soft linen and her loincloth pressed into her sex in strange ways. It wasn't the cold that had caused her nipples to stiffen so, and she'd never experienced what was going on below her waist before save after waking from nymph-dreams. Her skin was tingling and she felt heat deep inside her body. It was perverse. It was obscene. It was terrifying. It was desire. She'd never experienced desire before, save in dreams, and those were half remembered fragments of imagination. Yet this....this monster, this beast, this chimera from a hell of monsters where only the most foolhardy would dare try to survive made her NEED, made her want as only another mortal soul should make her want. Denai closed her eyes, but all she saw was burning washes of red and green and blue behind her eyes, the shifting, twisting patterns of strange fire on a black background. Which of course brought to mind the fires which moved across white fur and edged porcelain scale. Her hand covered her mouth as she stifled a cry of frustration. A pair of diamond colored eyes and a flash of red hair flickered through her memory. Musk and blood, to waken a mother's instincts. Her tutors words, how the elven parent would teach the half-elven child. The dagger that would serve better than a spear. Magics that would protect her flesh from cold and injury, spells that could heal and predict. An augury that said conflict was not the way. But most of all, ancestors, how she ~yearned~! Denai got to her feet, discarding rational thought and embracing the insanity that could not not be denied. She was weak, fearful, abused, mastering inhuman magics and that had to be the explanation for her madness. That was all it could be, is madness. Her pack fell to the ground, followed by her trousers and tunic. Loincloth and bindings, footgear, all fell to the ground, and she no longer cared if she was heard. Going to her knees, she pressed delicate fingers to her crux, felt the burning heat there, slipped her fingers into the slick folds of her undecorated sex. Instinct sufficed where inexperience ruled, and she gasped in shock at the fire that erupted in her center, deeper than her belly and lower than her core. Denai fumbled for her half-brother's dagger, found it, pushed the sheath off with her thumb. Clutching the dagger between the small swells of her breasts, her breaths came in desperate, needy gasps as her fingers pressed, slipped, stroked the wet heat of her desire into a molten inferno. All rational through was chased from her mind in favor of imaginings of inhuman, bizarre couplings, tongues, hands, soft fur and smooth scales, inhuman love between beast and girl, mother and daughter. Half-breeds both, natures conflicted between the ephemeral and eternal, vibrant and elegant, male and female.... Before she could consider what she was doing she lowered the dagger to her groin, and grit her teeth, her fingers still working at the near dripping cleft of her sex. A tiny, high pitched squeak escaped her throat, her lips as she pressed the point of the dagger to the bare place above her femininity and cut. She moved the tip of her blade deeper, the pain mixing with the pleasure as she cut the curvilinear mark the varan used to mean 'out-caste'. Runnels of crimson dripped along her bare skin and with a half-choking sob she tossed the dagger aside, her other hand pressing on the symbol as she trembled on the precipice of climax and madness alike. Throwing her head back, she gasped in her pleasure....only to look into the curious crimson orbs of the lioness-head and massive body of the chimera that gazed intently upon her. Denai cried out in bright peals of shock as she experienced her first climax. Her body quaked and she fell back against the wall; her hips thrust lewdly at the monstrous beast that watched her with strange pink and crimson eyes....two sets of them, as the serpent slipped forward, around the massive draconian claws and legs. The serpent's tongue flickered, as she shook in the aftershocks of her violent orgasm, touching the crimson that oozed slowly, the slickness on her fingers, the other slickness that coated her other fingers. Speaking her legs further, and looking up at that noble, powerful creature's eyes, Denai presented herself, a pale, delicate offering decorated in platinum hair, silver and crystal necklace, blue-green tourmaline eyes, liquid rubies, and her own musky oils. The lioness head lowered, the serpent slipping away, and the massive jaws parted, revealing the silver pearl of fangs the length of her fingers, great teeth set in the softest white clouds of flesh. A pale tongue slid out, and Denai cried out as the velvet sandpaper slipped across her bloodied groin. Only later did it occur to her that she had not been afraid at all in that moment. The chimera slowly licked her wounded flesh, the soft-rough slickness burning at the self-inflicted engraving. Denai's hands lifted, covered, caressed her face. Painting herself in her own blood and sexual fluids, she shook her head back and forth, arching into the rough licking....and crying out in relief, her hand reaching out to cover the muzzle before her as the tongue stroked her sex deeply. Wordless cries of pleasure-pain spilled from her lips, and her head shook back and forth violently, in a frenzy rather than in negation. The chimera lowered her muzzle further, the tongue seeking, caressing the cleft of her legs as far back as the rosette of her anus. That brought both hands to weakly grasp the muzzle of Denai's monstrous lover and half-embarrassed cried of 'too much' from the delicate girl. The slippery rough-tongue sliding between her delicate nether lips made her shake even harder as the stimulation started to become too much. Then something hard, sleek, and thick pushed into her sex. Like her elven kin, Denai had never been in possession of a hymen, and her use at the hands of the corrupt aristocrats and lords would have removed any such thing from her regardless. But the sensation of the thick, slick snake's head as it pushed slowly and firmly into her sex was utterly unlike any human manhood. The feline tongue that slipped along the penetrating snake and the soft folds that were now spread around the intruding tail-creature stroked the sensitive nub at the apex of her sex with every lick now. Denai's fingernails dug into her small breasts as she clutched at them, the impossible sensation of the snake-tail's flickering tongue caressing her deep inside as the muscular pulsations rippled along her channel driving her even more mad. She screamed as the sensations overloaded her already overwhelmed mind and body, falling forward to hug the huge beast's head to her body. While her hug prevented the chimera from licking her, the deep, slow pulsations of the snake-tails flesh inside her pulsing, burning sex prevented a quick ending to her agonizing orgasm. The pleasure went on forever, and when the scales slowly rippled, scored her quivering sex as the tail was pulled free she shrieked again before falling senseless to the cavern floor. That scream carried no pain with it. She woke to warmth. Denai was cuddled against the massive beast that lay nearly supine beneath her, one draconian claw across her slender frame. A deep, low vibration, felt rather than heard suffused her body and she wriggled a little, feeling velvet and smooth scales alike along her body. She felt several tiny nubs along her back – teats, though from the feel and position only four, and only where the velvet fur lay, not the swaths of scales. She shifted slowly, turning so that she could hug the massive beast, sighing softly into the strange duality of her lover's flesh. The chimera brought her head up, surprised in a lazy sort of fashion, like a cat who has been petted while mostly asleep. Denai laughed, her throat raw from her loud cries. Already she was warm in another manner, and now she was curious as well. There was no thought involved, no consideration for the danger in what she wished to see. To attempt. Sliding down, she slipped from the huge limb that had held her firmly to the chimera's breast. The creature let her go easily enough, the crimson eyes watching her as the snake-tail slid to caress her leg in passing. Denai laughed, sweet, childish, honest laughter, as she settled between the massive lower legs, gently pushing against the upper leg. Indulgently the chimera rolled further onto her back, the serpentine tail sliding along the warm body of the girl as she moved along the scales and velvet and soft fur of belly, groin and legs before her. The soft vent of the chimeras sex was surrounded by velveteen fur, lit by the opal fire that shone along the edges of scales and fur. Her fingers spread the softness easily, and a strange, inquisitive grunt erupted from the chimera's leonine maw. More pure white flesh, unstained, pristine seeming, damp. Denai applied her tongue to the chimera's sex without hesitation. The taste of the beast was sweet and musk intertwined, as though she possessed the sugar-sickness. Denai found it the most pleasant sex that she had ever tasted, and far kinder to pleasure than the males she'd serviced before. The vibrations resumed, her efforts to pleasure her grand lover rewarded by success. Her tongue slipped inside easily, and her fingers gently prised the softness wider, and wider still, pressing into the heated white flesh eagerly. Wetness and pulsing muscles rewarded her efforts. She explored the sensitive flesh eagerly, tongue and fingers pressing, stroking, licking, massaging. The coiling serpent-tail caressed her leg, her back, her body in a sinuous massage as she worked to please the chimera. The monster shifted uncomfortably, and Denai lowered her mouth to suckle upon the hot flesh at the lowermost point yet still within the she-beast's hot vent. Quivers passed through the body of her beloved, and she closed one hand....and slowly pressed, pushed, giving what she had received in as close to the same manner as her mere human body could manage. The chimera yowled, a strangely melodic sound, as if many flutes had been placed before the calling of a cat in rut. Even as she busied her mouth in the soft white flesh of her lover's sex, her fist, her wrist, her ~arm~ slipped deep inside, pressing, sliding into the heat of the creature's feminine sex. Denai wriggled as the creature panted, yowling once more....and then wetness burst from her lover's sex, coating her face and hair and upper arm, the rippling muscles pulling at her hand and forearm as she enticed her lover to orgasm. The half-elven girl laughed sweetly, licking the sweet-musky liquors from her lips and running her other hand through her messy hair. Extricating her hand was a difficult process, the breast's sex pulled at her soft skin and she admonished the creature kindly. Like the feline she half resembled the chimera ignored her admonishment in favor of curling over and licking her half-elven playmate clean. Denai sang for her lover softly, her head awash in madness and love and lust and joy. A few hours later, the chimera was curled up and sleeping once more, as Denai considered the tasks ahead of her. She sat against the warm body of her lover, and had been forced to recast her protections so as to keep the cold stone floor from abrading her flesh, and to keep any chill from her skin where the creature that she loved did not protect her. She was not a political creature. Denai understood her importance, and knew what was expected of her, but she also knew that sooner or later it would be more expedient to remove her. The hateful priesthood, their grotesque worshipers, the corrupt nobility....they would take her life at the opportune time and the keep might fall. Her parents would suffer, her half-siblings would suffer, the kingdom would suffer. Turning she buried her face in the soft scales and fur of her beloved, a slow, soft sigh escaping her lips. There was nothing for it but to do the one thing that she had been trained all her life to do. She had not understood her tutor's insistence on her learning the secret teachings of the varan before this moment, and now that she did, it was the perfect solution. Her hand strayed to the symbol she had cut into her soft skin, above her sex. Outcaste. Outcast. Alien. Alone. Later that day, the horns of alarm roused the keep. Late into the second day of the trial of Denai daughter of Lieiar and Genneth, a chimera was stalking towards the keep. A pure white beast, glowing with magical fire, bearing a rider in black. The bowmen and spear-men throughout the walls of Dolor Reach looked down upon the sight of the Child of Alliance, riding one of the great beasts of the plains far below, fearless and not merely alive. King and Queen Roderick, their children, a smattering of the nobles, and the elven emissaries gathered atop the keep The red headed huntress, knowing the secrets of the varan, offered to speak afar for the king and the tiny figure astride the terrifying, wondrous creature. ~The husband of your mother greets you, and marvels at your taming of the great beast. Your mother is relieved, and amazed; your half-brother hopes his dagger serves you well. Your half-sister wants one of those for her own, I believe.~ The amused, strangely old voice of the young huntress was tinged with sarcasm as she related the next. ~The priesthood is calling for your execution as a witch with spears thrown from afar. One cannot imagine why.~ Denai looked up, the two strands of hair before her ears, framing her face, now braided and set with lengths of chain taken from her necklace in lieu of beads. Varan marriage braids. ~Inform my father than I have taken my test, and achieved my majority. I have defeated the chimera, and she now serves me, ally and friend.~ Though she did not need to breathe to speak in this mental touch, she paused for the space of a breath. ~I remain the Child of Alliance, and will always be. I carry the ancestral dagger of the Rodericks and proof of my ties to the royal Kingdom of Dolor's Reach, and I bear the blood of my elven father as proof of my ties to the Telgi Wood. But I cannot return to either, for I am betwixt and between. So I will wander, and live my life in peace and joy, traveling between the mountains and the forests, betwixt and between.~ Denai waited as her words were relayed. ~Your father titles you Duchess of the Empty Lands, those places between the keep and the plains. They are yours in perpetuity. Your mother gives you her love, and prays for your safety to her own ancestors. Your brother is most proud of his sister, and hopes that one day you will return with your tales.~ The laughing tones increased as the huntress spoke in secretive tones. ~Your sister says you must promise to let her pet your kitty cat, and I think she means your companion.~ Denai flushed, much to the strange young huntress' amusement. ~As for me, one day we will meet as we wander, I have little doubt. Your family sends their love and hope with you, and I think that hope is well placed.~ ~Give to them my love, and warn them of the treacherous nature of Duke Mikhail, who will undoubtedly wish for his wife – and my half-sister – the bedroom duties he forced upon me.~ She named several others as well, and the red headed huntress gave her reply in soft, grim tones. ~Your father understands, and will ensure those men will receive their just desserts.~ The huntress' inner voice softened. ~Your tutor is pleased that you have learned your lessons so well, and will be waiting here to greet you, should you need to return for more teaching.~ Denai lifted her hand, the dagger within glittering brightly as she caught the sun with it and saluted her family and few friends....and warned her enemies that she was no longer unarmed and afraid. The chimera gave a vast, alien shriek of tearing metal, and there were calls and cries from all across the walls of Dolor's Keep. Turning from the prison of her home, Denai and Tourma made their way down the mountainsides, headed for Telgi and whatever fate awaited them upon the roads there. Pillory smiled. Two down. Two to go. ~XS