Dragonheart

CHAPTER 2: DESTINY

High in the peaks of the bordering mountains, ever-watchful eyes had followed the progress of wagon and riders after the warning from the crow. The eyes watched, piercing the great distance with a clarity of sight far better than any hawk. The eyes watched from both sides of the valley, waiting, anticipating, hoping that finally, the marked human female would come to them.

They watched as the human males mated with the female. They watched as she was used, even abused, in the activities below. They watched for a clear indication, a sign, a view that would tell them if this was the one. How long have they waited? Generations of humans are too long. Why had the humans rejected them and brought such suffering to themselves?

Then, one saw it. At least, it looked like it in that flash as the female was turned over and put on top of the male. ‘There. I think I saw the mark. This might be the one.’ The voice wasn’t even a voice but a thought that crossed the valley and up and down the mountains to the others also watching.

* * * *

Two guards had fucked her and she knew the other two would do the same. She hadn’t anticipated something she had never experienced before, though. She was again forced to straddle a guard, his penis sinking into her pussy as she mindlessly, resignedly settled over it. She then felt powerful, rough hands pressing her shoulders down to the man below her. She felt his penis move inside her as she was pressed down until her breasts were flattened against the guard’s chest. She sensed another guard behind her but couldn’t look back as she was pinned by arms, her ass lewdly exposed. It still meant nothing to her until she felt hands on her ass cheeks spreading the cheeks apart and another penis probing between her cheeks. She was confused. She already had a penis in her pussy. Then, the awful reality hit her. The penis was pressed against her asshole!

“NO!” She squirmed in the grasp of the man below her and the hands of the man behind her but for all her struggle she was a relatively small person compared to the bulky men she was against. She felt the penis at her asshole somehow force it open enough to begin entering her ass. She cried out as she felt a tearing sensation. Worse, she was dry there. With a mighty thrust, the man behind forced his penis head past the tight gripping restriction of the sphincter muscle. Her scream of shock and pain seemed to reverberate across the valley between the two tall mountain ranges.

The pain never stopped in her ass. She was being fucked by two penises at the same time in adjoining passages of her body, an act of defilement she would never have imagined. Her degradation, disgrace, and humiliation seemed now complete. It was an act that told her she was nothing but the lowest form of a woman to these men. The penises sawed back and forth in her body but, except for the searing pain in her ass, she was numb.

When the men came, pumping their semen into two holes that might now be used by others, she felt nothing as the one in her ass pulled out and the other underneath her pushed her to the side, his penis sliding out as she rolled to the side. The men laughed, commenting on the blood mixed with the semen escaping from her ass.

The flowing water of the river was nearby. She heard it before her eyes fixed on it. She crawled to it and entered the cold water fed by the melting snow from the mountains. As she lay on her back in the shallow water, she sighed at the cool water washing over her abused holes. She rose to her knees and splashed and rubbed water over her still aching asshole. She saw some blood mixed with the water as it dripped and flowed away from her. It quickly seemed to stop, though. The water felt good and she wished to stay there even though the temperature of it made her body shiver, quickly becoming covered by goosebumps. She glanced at the men and turned away, not wanting them to wrongly think her erect nipples might indicate arousal. She saw the men already dressing and assembling the swords and daggers that hung from their belts. She knew she would be called out of the water soon but she relished each moment the water gave her soothing relief.

Anticipating being called out of the water at any minute, she lowered her hips back into the water and closed her raised eyes as she again felt the coolness relieve the pain in her ass. The sun beating down from directly above against her closed eyes, she thought something caused a shadow pass over her and her bare body felt a swoosh of air, the water lapping against her thighs in the wrong direction from the current. A sudden scream from a man followed by shouts and urgent calls for help followed by more screams seeming to surround her with shadows passing rapidly over her causing her to drop her body into the shallow water. But as she lay crouched in the shallow water now fearing whatever caused the screams and cries more than the guards themselves, the only sounds she was aware of were the gentle motion of the water and the movement of leaves in the trees nearby as they fluttered from the breeze. It seemed utterly quiet, quieter than she had remembered it before. No birds were calling and singing, no sounds from the horses tied by the road. Nothing but quiet.

She peeked to the shore where the guards had been gathering their belongings and where the wagon and horses were tied. Nothing. The guards were gone, the horses were gone. As she rose higher on her knees, she saw the wagon bouncing and jolting across the valley away from the road, pulled by the horse in a panicked flight. She looked up toward the mountains to see dark shapes … large birds? … with something hanging in their feet below them. Her mind still not making a connection. When she heard the powerful beating of wings nearby, though, she looked up into the bright sun which became completely blocked by a massive shape with widespread wings beating against the air to slow its approach. When it settled softly in the shallow water directly in front of her, her mind was slow to acknowledge what had just happened.

She turned her head to gaze toward the mountains across the valley and the retreating figures in the air. Then, she turned her gaze back to the image in front of her. Her mind slowly adjusted to the change of events and the new reality of her condition. A dragon. A large, gray scaled dragon stood in front of her, its wings now folded against its body, its long neck and massive head stretching out toward her, its powerful legs and fearsome claws, its long tail slowly waving behind it. The shapes in the air retreating were dragons … carrying the guards away … away from her. Dragons. Dragons exist. They really exist. The myths are true. So, wasn’t she afraid? Shouldn’t she be afraid? But her mother told her to believe, that she was the only one who might still save the people if she believed.

This was her destiny … for the people … to be sacrificed for the people. She slowly stood on shaky legs before the dragon. “I am ready to be sacrificed,” she announced. She noted the dragon’s head turn to the side like she might have seen from a curious dog. It inspected her up and down. She stood naked before it but proudly with her mind accepting her fate in the belief that what she was doing was for the good of the people as her mother had explained. The dragon, though, splashed in the water as it moved around her, its head only a few feet from her body. When behind her, it snorted a powerful blast of air against her back causing her long hair to fly up. She flinched at the sudden sound of it loudly trumpeting, a sound that bounced from one mountain range back to the other until it seemed to fill the valley with the sound. In a moment, four additional dragons, all similar in their gray coloring and size were circling above her, their powerful wings moving the air around her.

What was happening? Did they return to join in feasting on her body? They remained in the air, though. They were watching her but also watching around them as if providing protection. The dragon in the water with her lowered its head to the water surface but not directly at her as if to bite but alongside her so its neck was near her. It wanted her to get on? It wasn’t going to eat her? Maybe the sacrifice had to be accomplished somewhere else.

Her nudity no longer held any consideration to her. Yes, perhaps it normally should since she was in the countryside but she was, after all, with a dragon. Dragons, actually. Could anything possibly be considered normal in such circumstances?

Nervous, but resigned to whatever fate awaited her, she climbed onto the dragon’s lower neck and slid back to its body forward of the wings. She found it surprisingly easy to hold on. It jumped mightily into the air and its wings beat powerfully. She was both shocked and in awe. It rose powerfully into the air and she soon found herself looking down at a receding image of where she had so recently been abused by the guards for their simple pleasure. She looked back up in the direction of the rising dragon to see it was aimed for the center of the other four circling above. As she passed through the others, she looked back to see them pull out of their circling and take new positions. One moved to the front, one behind, with the other two on either side. She saw them glance over to her and, if she could believe her eyes, it seemed they had smiled at her. This no longer felt like she was being taken to her death but as if she were being protected as she was being delivered safely.

Ariana had spent her life trapped in the castle. She had very infrequently even stepped outside and never outside the courtyard. Seeing the land her ancestors had once governed filled her with both wonder and sorrow. The land was so beautiful as it seemed nestled between the protective mountain ranges. She saw the farms with crops and animals, the fishing in the river, and the small towns and villages. But she was filled with sorrow and despair, also, at seeing how the King had taken from the people. Despite their hard work on the land their homes and land suffered visibly from the care and upkeep they could no longer afford after paying the King’s taxes, which she heard cut into half of what they produced.

She soon found the mountains rising before her until she felt the dragon gliding, no longer trying to rise any further. She craned her neck to see beyond the massive head in front of her and found a large, level ledge before what appeared to be a series of massive caves. The dragons tilted their wings and slowed their approach and when they touched down it was smooth.

Again, the dragon dipped its head and neck. Ariana slid forward and off the beast. “Pull your hair away and show us.” The voice came from no place in particular. She looked around. Dragons were coming out of the caves and others landing nearby. All seemed curious. “Princess, pull your hair away and show us.”

The second time was when it hit her. She couldn’t tell where the voice came from because it wasn’t a voice. She heard it in her head. Nonetheless, she obeyed. She pulled her long, golden-colored hair to the front. It served to cover one breast but also exposed her neck. She held it that way as she slowly walked in a tight circle inside the crowd of dragons while others circled in the air above them. She saw dragons on perches on the mountain as the ledge was already too crowded. She saw gray colored and brown colored dragons. There were maybe dozens. The browns were slightly smaller than the grays. She thought the grays were large but they suddenly parted from the mouth of the largest cave and a huge dragon immerged. It was a tarnish gold color and there was something about it that indicated great age.

“You are the Princess! But you are almost too late.” Neither its mouth nor lips moved as the words were ‘heard’ in her head. “You were taken from those human males. They were abusing you?” She was stunned by everything happening, her rescue, that dragons exist, standing in the midst of them, the voice … all she could do was nod her head in reply. “Are you here willingly, though? Are you ready?”

She gathered up all the strength and resolve she could muster. This was the moment. For the people, as her mother encouraged her. “Yes. I am ready for the sacrifice.”

His laugh was booming and surprised her. “Sacrifice? Do you think you come here to be sacrificed? That’s why Princesses stopped coming?” He lowered his head to a foot from hers. “You humans can be so arrogant, so conceited. You think you know better than traditions of hundreds of years that held this region together in peace and prosperity when everything surrounding it might be in conflict and hardship.” He straightened to his full height. He towered over her. “Why do you come now?”

She was truly intimidated. He had a low opinion of humans, yet they, the humans down in the valley, needed their support, needed to return to the old ways. She decided her only and best option was complete honesty. She was shamed by the actions of her ancestors but, if she was the Princess as they believed, she must take on that shame as her own. She explained what her mother had told her over time and at the end. She told him about her great-grandmother’s decision. She told about the army that invaded, the King that took control and subjugated the people. She told, regretfully, how she only just recently learned of all this, learned of the mark on her neck, learned of its meaning, and was told of her destiny. She hoped it wasn’t too late to make amends for the terrible decisions her ancestors had made.

The old dragon considered her. The others stood still. Clearly, they all deferred to this one dragon. He turned back to the cave but spoke over his shoulder, “We will see if you are ready, if you are truly willing to serve your people … and us. Come.”

Serve us. It said ‘serve your people and us’. She followed behind the giant dragon while very wary of the twitching tail she was sure could flip her dozens of feet with ease. She was overwhelmed but encouraged at the same time. The stories her mother told and reinforced as they parted were true but had elements very wrong. The Princesses all left and were never seen, again. It came to be assumed they were being sacrificed to the dragons for protection. But there was no ‘sacrifice’, not in the death way of thinking, anyway. There was something else. There was something that involved serving the dragons that in turn served the people.

The cave was indeed massive. The entrance was large, obviously enough for this largest of dragons to easily walk into. But the interior opened into a cathedral-like chamber that towered up and opened into a wide space. A separate passage led further into the mountain and Ariana followed the great, old golden into that passage. Soon, it stopped at a ledge. Ariana cautiously stepped up alongside it and peered over the ledge. About 20 feet below was a chamber with a floor of sand. This chamber was very warm, heat radiating up from below. She looked up and found narrow shafts in the ceiling where most of the heat seemed to dissipate. Below, walking in a circle around the outer rim of the chamber, was a brown dragon that appeared to be very swollen.

The great dragon sat and began explaining the real story of the dragons, the humans of the valley, and the Princesses over their long, shared history. The long history was broken by Ariana’s great-grandmother. Not even the dragons with their long, shared memory knew how the amazing relationship was formed. Or, why. They believed this was one of the last strongholds of dragons remaining. They were, are, hunted by monster hunters everywhere else. This was their last refuge and they thought this one was lost, too. If Ariana was indeed committed to rebuilding the alliance between them, there could be hope for both the dragons and the people of the valley.

The brown circling below was a female. All browns are female. It is swollen because it is due to lay its eggs. The few browns remaining are expected to lay only a couple eggs each. The warm chamber with deep sand is their incubation room. Barring intercession by a Princess, all dragons hatched are gray or brown. The grays are hunters for the pride. He was quiet for a long moment as if considering if he dared believe in Ariana’s intentions for a shared future. Finally, he continued. Only a committed Princess, a human female marked by some ethereal realm of destiny, might have influence over the clutch of eggs.

It all seems surreal to Ariana. This is nothing like the sacrifice she was led to believe it was. Over the next days, she continues to receive a crash course in what is about to happen. Dragon roles are established by their color. The browns are females, give birth, and attend to the young communally. The young have an amazingly fast cycle to maturity of one year. At that time, the browns could begin the cycle of birthing, if the conditions were right. The grays are hunters who have the primary responsibility of finding and bringing food back to the browns and young. The silvers, of which there were none presently, were the only fire-breathers for warring needs. Then, the gold. The Gold was the leader of them all. There was only one gold who was matched to one Princess. It was rare for a gold to live as long as this one had and why it was almost too late. Only the old Gold can teach the new Princess what it is she must do to continue the cycle.

Ariana was having trouble with all this sinking in and accepting it all. It seemed that the Gold was the only one to be able to communicate with the human. But once the commitment was complete between the new Princess and new Gold, she would gain the ability to communicate with all the dragons. She asked why. She was told because she then would be in the leadership of all the dragons alongside the new Gold, her mate. That was the connection, then. That was the connection between the dragons and the people. The Princess could wield influence to help the people in times of need. The people never again saw the young woman who became Princess once she left. They misunderstood what happened.

There was one word in all that she didn’t focus on, though. Mate.

Ariana not only spent her time with the old Gold to learn everything she could, but she also put it into practice. She spent the rest of her time in the incubation chamber with the browns. They seemed to be in physical distress and the circling in the warm was indicative of that. Ariana began walking beside them, touching their bellies. Finally, one stopped and allowed her to stroke and massage her distended belly and soon the others allowed the same. She heard movement above on the ledge and found the old Gold. Again, it seemed weird, but it seemed like he was smiling.

If this was intended to be her destiny, it would be what she would do and do it with her entire dedication. The dragons brought her food, though she had to cook the raw meat chunk presented to her. Thus, her time with the dragons passed and she found herself in peace and serene. Though she was free to go anywhere and periodically even took flight with one of the grays along the mountain range, she mostly spent her time with the browns. Her nudity, once a source of anxiety, humiliation, and shame, was now merely a matter of course. The dragons were also attentive to her. She loved sitting on a ledge overlooking the valley below, especially at night. The night sky was filled with stars on moonless nights and the valley where her people lived looked peaceful and serene, though she knew it wasn’t for them. She was surprised by the presentation of a blanket by one of the dragons as she shivered one night. Blankets had no purpose for the dragons so she knew it was something they had sought just for her. But except for the chill of the night high in the mountains, she was content to remain naked and part of nature in a natural way.

When the eggs are finally being laid in the sand, Ariana was surprised to see the browns simply leave, but she ‘hears’ a monologue about the eggs, their development, and hatching. A glance above her to the ledge reveals the old Gold dragon. It is clear his remaining time is ebbing quickly and he spends less time trying to sit regally and more time lying with his massive head overhanging the ledge to pass on his wisdom and advice. The eggs contain all the nourishment they require. The sands are heated by thermal ducts from deep in the mountain that keep the eggs warm. The eggs will produce grays or browns naturally. A gold will be produced only by the presence of a Princess. The strength of the gold and any silvers are entirely up to the commitment the Princess evokes from her heart. The true intentions of her heart and soul at the proper moment of development arouses the metamorphosis into the dragon types needed.

During the week of her arrival, Ariana has searched her soul and heart. Was she doing this because her mother insisted she had to? Was she doing this so she could be the one to save her people from the retched King? Or … as she came to see within herself … did she want to achieve a balance in the natural order in the valley for both her people and the dragons? She had learned the truth about dragons and humans. Dragons were once plentiful in the world. They coexisted and cooperated with each other. In time, though, as happened in recent generations in the valley, human arrogance drove away cooperation and coexistence. Humans wanted dominance as they evolved with new inventions and desire for power and wealth. Dragons were driven away from every corner and retreat by turning the impression of dragons into monsters to be slain. Soon, there were human hunters, brave men who made a living by seeking and killing the dragons for kings and rulers. Her valley had become an isolated sanctuary where humans and dragons still coexisted for the betterment of both. Her great-grandmother had ended that. Now, she understood, was the opportunity to right that misguided wrong, not just because of the invader King, not just for the dragons, but to return the natural harmony of coexistence.

As a result, she spent long hours stroking and massaging each of the eggs laid, pulling the warming sands uptight around them. She became oblivious to all else and often needed to be pressed out of the chamber by a brown to sleep, eat, and drink. And all the while, she heard the instruction of the old Gold dragon in her head and she understood everything. And none of it scared her, any longer. The word she had easily avoided earlier was now a part of her understanding and expectation. Mate. It was through mating with the new Gold that balance would be achieved. The instruction from the old Gold was unflinching, uncompromising. Mating a dragon seemed impossible. The heart and intention of the Princess was again the decider. After the mating of a new Gold with a Princess, the dragons would serve as protectors. That would be true if the Princess died by the ordeal or suffered greatly never to repeat the action. The pure Princesses dating back many generations, though, achieved harmony with her mate and true harmony existed between humans and dragons. In those cases, the will of the Princess was equal to the will of the new Gold.

Dragons came to the ledge in groups, alternating positions to watch as Ariana moved from egg to egg, loving and attending to each in turn. They saw the metamorphosis before she recognized the change. Seven eggs had been laid by the browns. The shell colors transformed into a mottled Gold on one and the others silver. A chorus of wonder and exultation rose from the ledge through the groups. The entire clutch of eggs was special.

When they began hatching, Ariana was the first to greet them. She cleaned them of fragments, then watched as the browns licked them clean as they took immediate first steps. She had been startled to learn that newborn dragons walk within minutes, are fed solid food in mere weeks, and reach maturity in only a year. They hatch nearly as tall as she. She watched their first steps taken to a brown, it didn’t seem to matter which, to begin nursing. The first to hatch was the silvers, she didn’t know if that meant anything. Their bodies nearly glistened in the light as the silver scales of their body shone. The audience above on the ledge was as hushed by the sight of them as she was.

When the now shiny golden egg began shaking and cracking, though, Ariana found herself somehow standing beside it, her hands lightly caressing the surface and crack lines. As the shell broke loose and the young gold emerged, she gasped, a gasp that was joined immediately by others above and around her. She hadn’t realized her breath had been held in anticipation. The young golden dragon shined like highly polished, newly minted gold. She was overwhelmed emotionally. It was a feeling she couldn’t have anticipated or prepared for. There was something special, a connection that immediately was felt and known by her and it. There was something more. A physical connection to the event that she didn’t even notice until the young dragon took action. His first steps were not toward a brown … but to her. She watched it take tentative steps to her, then was stunned to see how her body was reacting … drops of milk had formed on her nipples and the young Gold brought its lips to her breast and began suckling.

Audible sounds filled the chamber and she ‘heard’ the old Gold, “Never has this happened. Never has a clutch been all silver with the gold. You are special, Princess, you can achieve anything.”

After that, everything changed for her with the dragons but there lingered a powerful sense of anticipation. There was an undercurrent of suspense among the dragons as the days, weeks, and months passed. The kind of suspense that is felt when you are sure a wonderful thing is going to happen but until it actually does it is too much to accept fully. Ariana spent almost all her time with the young dragons but specifically with the young Gold. They grew with amazing speed and after only a few months were towering over her. A few more months and they took their first tentative flight off the main ledge like a small bird dropping out of the nest. Ariana would stand on the edge of the drop-off initially very anxious as they practiced their flight. Soon, though, she was in awe of the magnificence of the sight. Seven unbelievable creatures rose, dove, and glided with silver and gold gleaming in the bright sun.

The old Gold continued the education but the young Gold was as much the student as was Ariana. It was obvious to all that the old Gold was weak and declining quickly as if the very act of instructing sapped the little strength remaining within him but it was imperative that the young Gold learn and the most important lesson was how to tap the consolidated knowledge and wisdom ancestrally passed down from Gold to Gold to protect and guide the others.

As for Ariana, all she had done and shone the dragons of her commitment as the chosen one, the Princess, still hinged on completing that singular act with the mature Gold to bind them with her people. The act weighed on her over the entire time. From the initial moment of understanding the ‘act’, it produced a sense of revulsion (with a dragon?), to more curiosity as she watched the young Gold grow, to a feeling of eagerness and desire the more time they shared as they both understood the teaching of the old Gold leading them to a life together that might be bound only by themselves. As the young Gold entered his last month of maturing, they acted like teenagers not sure what to do with the feelings rising up between them. As the last weeks and days passed, their attention to lessons waned, their actions drew bemused glances and smiles from the other dragons, and Ariana found herself looking to the time with increased anxiousness.

It was no longer lost on Ariana that she was naked. She remembered the time of being used and abused by the King and his advisers. She remembered her inability to feel anything that might approach the wonderfulness of what she was told it could be like. But her body was telling her differently now. She frequently blushed around the young Gold when she found him gazing at her. She felt her body reacting to his attention, her nipples hardening, her body shivering with new excitement, her pussy flooding with lubrication. And her eyes, her own attention on him, shifted, too. She found herself more and more curious about his body. The shiny gold of his protective scales, his wings, and his massive strength held her initial attention, but she was finally interested in his softer underbelly. She found her hands stroking and exploring, especially when they were separated from others. His underbelly was softer, without the heavy scales, much like a fish. She was rewarded by his tongue flicking over her breasts and nipples and they both seemed to go back in memory to the times when he suckled at her breasts.

Their mutual curiosity and increasing excitement remind Ariana of hushed talk from young women around the castle of courtship and pending marriages. The excitement the women felt about finally ‘being with’ their man. She was feeling that way now.

Of course, those feelings growing between them also gave her insight into what lay in store for her … and it was intimidating. Their willingness to show their arousal with each other gave Ariana her glimpse. His penis might slip out of the sheath, suddenly dropping as a horse’s. On occasion, if her hands played over his belly too long, it might even become hard. She had often heard the term ‘cock’ and the King and his men would frequently use the term regarding their penises. But they didn’t have cocks, her Gold did, though. It was huge. The length of her arm or more if there might still be more inside if fully aroused. It was 2 inches at the tip but increased along the length. How much could a human female take, she wondered. The wondering changed from intimidation, though, to anticipation and desire for discovery.

The old Gold confided in Ariana about the mating. It had started eons ago as a supreme act of bonding the two species. In some cases, it was a sacrifice. His belief was that those Princess’ feared it and their bodies couldn’t adjust. Most others felt degraded by the act, perhaps. They remained with the dragons and never ventured back to the people from shame. The dragons protected the people but it has been a long time since a true harmony between the two was achieved through the Princess. Ariana understood he was preparing her, allowing her to feel intimidated, feel fear, feel resigned to the task as most before her had felt. That wasn’t how she felt, though. She couldn’t explain it to herself much less to anyone else. Could she feel the same way about doing this with a dog or horse or another animal? She couldn’t imagine it. Her Gold was different, though. He wasn’t an animal, he wasn’t a thing … he was hers, her golden partner, her mate. She felt it deep inside her more powerfully than she had ever felt anything. The past year had led her to this coming moment. It had overshadowed her desire, her devotion to helping her people. But she also understood this coming moment was also the means to helping her people by renewing and strengthening the bond and purpose between the two species.

When the moment finally arrived, it could have had a feeling of the bizarre, if Ariana wasn’t so excited. The dragons were gathered not on the ledges of the mountainside but at a high alpine meadow and lake. Perpetual snow clung to the tops of nearby peaks and the lake formed by the waters from the melting snows shimmered in the sun. The meadow was covered in new flower growth as if it were a multicolored carpet laid out just for the occasion. The atmosphere was one of anticipation and excitement. It reminded Ariana of something like a prince and princess being wedded for ascension to the throne, a fairy-tale event she heard of but never saw. That’s what this was, though, and it overwhelmed her. She, the Princess, was about to ascend to lead with her golden prince who would take leadership over the dragons.

There was a touch of sadness along with joyfulness. The old Gold had finally but peacefully succumbed to his extreme age. But that void left behind seemed to only increase the joyful expectancy of the moment with the new Gold. It was a simple ceremony if it might be called that. Ariana fashioned wildflowers into her long streaming hair that lengthened impossibly in the past year and now hung well past her butt. The cool alpine breeze caused her hair to rise and fall, trailing behind her almost as if trying to duplicate the swaying tail of her Gold as they walked side by side between the parallel lines of trumpeting dragons. At the end of the line, the six silver dragons filled the air alongside them with their magnificent fire. Ariana and her Gold stood before the others quietly, their minds filled with images of the past and promises of the future. It was one of those scenes where the future is looked at with all the glorious opportunities possible but in this case, it somehow seemed truer than merely good wishes and hopefulness. She had the sense it was from her Gold, but perhaps it was a lingering message from the ancient one.

Ariana stood transfixed by the emotions of the moment finally coming to fruition after all the preparation and anticipation. And the emotions soared deeper and higher when her Gold, who towered above her more than any of the others, bent low to put his massive head in front of her. She reached out with her hands, their foreheads coming together. The other dragons were utterly silent. For that moment, they could have been alone in the mountain meadow, the breeze rolling over the peaks rustling the leaves in the trees, the sounds of birds singing back and forth.

Then, it was broken. One trumpeting voice sounded, then the rest joined in to fill the air with their own song, the wild noise crashing into the walls of the alpine bowl and resonating back in a crazy mix that seemed to vibrate the air around them. He pulled back his head from hers and she again saw that funny smile and she was convinced that’s what it was. He then shifted his weight to one leg, wrapped the other around her, and leaped into the air, his mighty wings beating the thinner air, seeming to gain height with ease. Always before she had been on his back as they soared together. This time, held gently, but securely, to his chest, she felt the pumping of his heart, the intake of air into his lungs, the flexing of his muscles. But they were up for only moments before gracefully landing again amid the others. It was as if this was their walking down the aisle hand in hand to the reception.

The dragons leaned in to touch foreheads with the Gold, their new leader. Then, each lowered their head to Ariana. The line was led by the browns, perhaps because none knew for certainty which might have laid the egg resulting in their new Gold. It was amusing to Ariana. Unlike the human society she knew, these dragons held their females in positions of honor.

When the procession of honoring came to an end, the group parted and Ariana saw what her eyes had not registered before. Near the lake was a boulder surrounded and covered with masses of wildflowers ripped from the ground and piled. This she wasn’t prepared for … the act, the representation of ultimate commitment, wasn’t private.

A blush washed over Ariana’s body. Maybe she shouldn’t be surprised. There has been little that seemed private since she has been among them. They even ‘speak’ in group-speak mentally with private conversations possible with much effort through dedicated focus. So, why wouldn’t this act that represented so much for them and their dedication to the humans be a part of the communal celebration? Why wouldn’t it be a joyful celebration? Like the public kiss at the end of a marriage … only much more.

Ariana turned to her Gold and raised her hands. He lowered his head to fill her hands. “I am yours, my Gold master.”

He thought back, “And I am yours, my golden-haired mistress.”

A soft murmuring filled her head. She knew it was from the dragons surrounding them and smiled. Little is private. Even not being private, though, this moment was filled with only anticipation and excitement. There was none of the regret, distaste, humiliation, or degradation she had felt with the King and his men. She was both calm and excited. She was filled with a sense of peace with this but also the wildest arousal she ever felt. She turned and walked to the flower-strewn boulder with purpose in her steps. She had been fucked by men repeated against her will and her body had never once responded. Now, she was to be mated by a monstrous dragon and her body was already responding in anticipation. Her nipples were hard like pebbles; her pussy was leaking with her lubrication; her body shivered with excitement. The monstrous dragon was her mate, though, not a monster at all. He had brought out feeling from her she never expected to feel. She had felt committed to being the Princess before, but once this Gold had suckled at her leaking breast, taking her miraculous milk of nourishment from her body, she’d known with her body, heart, and soul this was what she was intended for. Not a sacrifice, at all, but a wondrous bonding of their species.

Reaching the boulder quickly, she turned to the trailing Gold. Her eyes flicked self-consciously to the other dragons who had stayed back but were intently watching. She found herself pleased to find his massive cock had dropped from its sheath as he approached her. Not only was she excited but he was as well. She moved up to him, stepping underneath his body easily. As she grasped his cock and lifted it, he rose upright, a rumbling groan rising from his chest above her head and escaping his opened mouth. She held his long cock in her stroking hands. She had secretly glimpsed it before as their intimacy grew between them but remained restrained for this moment to arrive. She had initially panicked that it might kill or permanently injure her. But her body’s immediate reaction told her it would adjust … it would find its own way … and she had accepted that.

Now was the time. Images flashed in her mind. She didn’t know if they were transmitted to the others or not. The images were of other penises being forced on her … small penises. She had regretted having to hold them, to touch them, to use her mouth on them. It had been degrading. She marveled at this one, though. This monster of a cock in her hands filled her with lust; filled her with need; filled her with a powerful desire to please the one whose cock it was. The Gold was her mate, the only one she would love and his cock would be the only one she would ever again desire to have, to please, to have please her.

All the dragons were hushed. It seemed eerie that such massive creatures could be so quiet. Perhaps her musings had been transmitted. She blushed at the thought of such intimate thoughts about her Gold being so openly shared. But it also somehow seemed appropriate. The old Gold had said she could achieve anything and she was intent on fulfilling that.

During her musing, her hands had not stopped stroking his cock for the length her arms could reach which was not far enough to cover its entirety. Her lips and mouth had unconsciously found the tip of it and his cock was hard in her hands, the tip seeping precum into her mouth. Her tongue licked the tip and savored the taste of his precum. It was maybe a little different than men before. And, maybe not. She only really knew that her reaction to it was very different. She found herself greedily sucking at the tip to taste more of it and she wondered what it would be like to take his cum into her mouth. A soft giggle escaped from around the cock at the thought and knew she would indeed find out sometime. She immediately, now grasping and loving his cock, imagined all sorts of ways to worship his cock and to bring pleasure to him and it. The reality that she lived among them naked now took on an exciting element for her.