Unlikely Alliance-Closed

Perplexia

Romance embellisher
Joined
Jul 25, 2007
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Princess Rosalynn Chambers sighed in great contempt as she received another lecture from her head counsel that she wasn't equipped to run the kingdom of Delsopherlies.

"You are but a girl, it is a mans job, and yours is to produce heirs." Count Webster scolded once again. "Unless you marry you will lose the kingdom to your cousin Peter. He is second in line. You know this, your time is running out. Three months left and that is all. Marry Prince Edgar, Calvin, Horatio, Rubenstein, any of them are sufficient suitors which would create a handsome alliance."

Rosalynn scoffed at him. "Prince Edgar, as the IQ of a tubular slitherer (worm), Prince Calvin thinks my name is Jocylynn, and Prince Horatio and Rubenstein, are old enough to be my grandfathers. I will hear no more from you of what my duties are. I am more aware of what the rules state then anyone.” Somehow she would have to either find a loophole, or find a husband she could tolerate.

Her parents had died in a carriage accident a year ago. She had taken over and bided her time. But now time was running out. Leaving the room she took one of the many secret passages down to the armory. She had a trunk that simply remained out of site that she unlocked with as much stealth as possible. She would show them all that she was as good as any man.

Placing on her suit of armor and tucking her long red locks up under the helmet she put the visor down. Her 5'8 Frame stood as tall as only a few of the men. In armor her curves of her 19 years were hidden. The only way it would be possible to tell she was a woman was for her to speak, or be unarmored.

Making her way to the stable she stepped up on the lift waiting for them to bring her a horse. This armor was heavy, but she would manage. With her sword holstered and a package of a few days supplies she set off. She was as skilled as any knight, and as brave as any man. She would show them by bringing back a dragons head. That was her quest, her mission, find one of the several scaled villains and slay him. Then they would have no choice but to step aside and over turn that silly rule that said she had to be a man.

Night came quickly and stopped her midway through the desolate forest. She was far enough away to lose some of this armor. She decided the legs and boot covers could go. It would give her more mobility on horseback. The trousers she wore were big enough to still help conceal her curves. It took her a bit to lose what she needed to. Placing the other items to the side she now looked for twigs to start a fire with some flint.

She built the fire up enough to keep the critters at bay. She refused to let her nerves get the best of her. One of the two suns rose waking her, the brighter orb of light trailing behind. Getting her helmet gauntlets and chest piece on she got on her horse and began again.

The islands were all connected. From the stories she had heard. Most dragons would burrow deep in the cave walls of volcanoes or mountains. So this is where she would start to look. She didn’t relish in the idea of killing one of the noble creatures. But the significance of it would allow her to stay in control of her kingdom. It didn’t seem as though she had a choice.
 
Ahn pumped his hips in and out of the little blond woman's pussy. She writhed and moaned beneath him, as if she'd never been fucked before. Perhaps she hadn't. Maybe her young, absent husband was a terrible lover. It could account for the lack of children running around their meager farmstead.

This was perhaps his favorite part of his human form. Human women were so soft, so pretty, so tasty. Not like his kind. His kind tended toward rough, scaly and ever so against mating. It was part of the reason his kind were becoming rare in the world. Well, that and the fact that the magic that sustained creatures like him was beginning to leave the land. It was gradual, but for one who'd lived as long as he had, the power he'd known when he was a pup was planet-shattering in comparison to what he wielded these days. And the humans... the ones who felt they had something to prove, and the wherewithal to prove it, had something to do with his kind's numbers. Fortunately, when it came to his kind in their natural form to even a human clad in metal, the balance was tipped greatly against the human. On occasion, the human got lucky.

Ahn's prodigious cock plowed the farm girl's cunt over and over. They'd been at it almost all afternoon. He'd seen her from above, feeding chickens, his eyesight able to make out her rustic beauty even from the height with which he flew. It was necessary to fly high to avoid being identified for what he was and causing panic. When he'd determined she was alone, he'd gone to a more birdlike form so he could descend without rousing suspicion, then shifted to human when he landed.

The girl (for she couldn't be much past twenty or so – these humans coupled so young) was reluctant to let him near. However, his powers of persuasion, joined with a slight glamor or two, had her trusting him before she'd emptied her basket of corn. Her husband was away trying to buy a pair of oxen to plow the fields. It had been two days already and she wasn't sure when he would return.

Not long after this, she was fucking him. Human women were so compliant. Oh, he helped them along, at least a little, but after an initial nudge, they sensed his power, and after his trousers came down, he couldn't have kept them away if he'd wanted to.

Ahn had cum at least four times, and it seemed the girl was in a constant state of orgasm. His power gave her the stamina to keep up with him, although when he left, her pussy would feel enormously stretched out and empty. One thing was sure, her young husband would be hard pressed to keep up with her after this. She'd want to fuck him over and over again, in the attempt to re-live the sensation of having her cunt worked over the way he was working it now.

The sun was beginning to settle itself in the mountains when Ahn finally pulled out of the girl for the last time, his cock dripping with both his and her copious fluids. Cum drooled out of her in a white cascade. If her young husband was incapable of impregnating her, it was a good bet that in nine months, this couple would have a strong baby with a rather violent temper and a great interest in shiny objects. In rare instances, there might be patches of fine scales somewhere on the child's body. Sometimes, the children were capable of commanding some degree of the magic Ahn himself was able to tap into, but those children were rare, indeed.

As he buckled his belt and prepared to leave, the young wife – still nude and leaking – asked, “Will I see you again?”

“You never know,” Ahn growled. His voice, regardless of form, always had a deep rumble to it, hinting at the immensity of his true shape and size.

“Please say you'll be back. My husband has never been so good.”

Ahn chuckled. “I don't imagine he has.” He then saw a glint of silver on a shelf beside the door. Picking it up, he saw it was one of the religious tokens so many of these people carried with them. Why her husband had left it behind, he wasn't sure, and didn't care. It was solid silver, and probably the most valuable object in the ramshackle hut the young couple called home. Ahn pocketed it while the farm wife looked on, then opened the door.

The sun was merely a glow above the crags in the distance. Ahn started toward it when the girl started, “My name is...”

He interrupted her before she could finish. “Don't. I don't want to know. I know where you are.” He then stepped through into the dwindling twilight and closed the door behind him.

Stepping around the side of the house, Ahn called on the power and within moments was winging his way toward the mountains and the cavern he called home...
 
The ride to the mountains was a long one. She hadn't seen any signs of a dragon. But then, no one really had in a very long time. As the suns began to set she could make out the tips of the first set of mountains. It would probably be another day or twos rides. Leading her horse to a stream she dismounted and let him drink and graze greedily while she set up camp.

It was so quiet and peaceful, and although she generally was not one that supported hunting for sport. She did recognize that if she was going to survive she would need to do it for food. With her bow she made her way into the wooded area with stealth until she found a rabbit grazing with paranoia.

With her kill and some firewood she returned to the place she had set up and fetched her horse to tie him up for the night. The fire was a bit harder this time to start, but eventually she got it going feeding it now and again as she skinned her kill.

She laid back looking up at the dancing stars as she rubbed her full belly. FoWar a brief moment she thought she had seen a shadow of a large flying beast in the moons light. She stood up and turned looking in the direction she thought it went. 'that may be our dragon' she said to her horse that was chomping on a piece of bark he stole from the tree.

Walking over to him she padded him down and removed the saddle to give him some comfort. Making her way to her make shift bed she laid down and eventually fell asleep. Once again the two suns rising woke her with their morning light. Taking an apple from her bag she fed it to the horse before taking him for some more water before they left.

Once again fully disguised in her armor they began their journey. "there really has to be less cumbersome armor our guards can wear." she said to her horse as they continued toward the mountains.
 
Ahn flew to his mountain to deposit his new-found trinket. Reaching the opening that would take him to his home, he shrank down to a size roughly that of an oversized horse and zoomed in through the maze, until the tunnel opened into a broad room. There, he saved his magic, allowing his body to resume its natural size.

The myth that his kind continued to grow, until eventually they became the size of the mountains in which they lived was merely that: a myth. However, that didn't mean they didn't grow to enormous proportions. Ahn was merely middle-aged. He had emerged from his egg about the time the humans below were leaving their caves and started hunting the enormous, shaggy creatures that roamed the plains.

At one time, he'd been told, there were no humans. The Drachón ruled the skies and all the world was theirs. All the animals that roamed the land and swam the oceans were their prey, and for centuries all was right with the world. Even when the naked bipeds did finally start to populate the land, it was no worry for his kind, for their meager stone points could not pierce their armored hides.

Trouble was, humans didn't taste very good. Oh, sure, they could be eaten, but there tended not to be a lot of meat on them, and what meat there was, tended to be rather stringy and hard to digest. The positive side to it was that, when the ice came, they didn't hibernate, so even though the eating was no feast, starvation was not a concern.

The humans graduated from stone tools to metal, but their early metals were still no match for Drachón armor. It wasn't until they discovered iron, and then steel that the troubles began.

Once humans knew steel, it gave them bravery (and at times, foolishness) that surpassed the superstition and fear the centuries had instilled. Their steel could pierce Drachón hide - not easily, but it could be done - and an age came where steel-clad humans galloped across the plains and into the mountains where his kind tended to reside, in an effort to prove to the other humans just how brave they were, by entering a Drachón home and attempting to end it. It didn't matter to the short-lived creatures that they may be destroying a being who'd watched their ancestors stand on their hind legs for the first time so they could see enemies coming from farther away. They didn't care that this being they were murdering, left to itself, would see their children grow old die, and their children, and on into the distance of time.

These days, the food was much smaller than it had been when Ahn was growing up, but in many ways, it was tastier. With the recession of the ice, the hides - and particularly, the fur - got thinner, so you got more meat for your kill than you did a mouthful of hair.

He'd placed his reminder of the afternoon with the farmer's wife on his pile, when he felt the presence of an intruder. Felt his steel, more precisely. Ahn and his kind had become sensitive to the humans' new metal, the one that had the capability of ending the life of one of the Drachón. However, the person inside the steel didn't smell right. Usually, the humans who came to challenge were large, smelly things. He'd come to recognize their scent. This one smelled different. Oh, there was sweat, of course. These humans were so delicate, it was necessary for them to cover themselves in layers of padding, to protect their own thin hides from having them scraped right off by the very armor they relied on. This made them sweat, giving off a distinct odor that carried for miles. The odor of this one's sweat was different. The body chemistry was different than the ones who usually came to challenge him. This one almost smelled... female. That was absurd, though. These humans didn't let their women put on steel and go out to battle the Drachón. No, they locked them inside, forced them into layers and layers of choking fabric, attempted to shape their bodies with that fabric into forms only the rarest human body ever assumed. In his human form, he'd seen what a production it was for a woman to divest herself of all this clothing. Certainly, it had been worth it. He'd found, after several centuries of living among them at times, an appreciation for female humans. They were lovely creatures, and sex with them, in particular, was a delight.

He flew back out into the moonlight, to investigate. He found her beside a sputtering campfire, the smell of a cooked rabbit rising into the night sky. Somewhere along the line, she had removed much of her armor. What she still had on wouldn't protect very well against talons that stood nearly as long as her leg, or a bite, or even a shot from his tail. The fact that it was a woman intrigued him, though, so he flew to the ground in silence, then shifted into his human form once more, and walked into her camp.

A simple bit of magic kept her horse from making undue noise and waking her as she slept. Ahn watched her sleep for a bit. She was lovely. Her skin showed signs of a diet much richer than the one the farm girl he'd had consumed. She was also much paler, an indication that this one spent quite a lot of time indoors.

A crest on the breastplate of the armor she still wore indicated this one was some degree of nobility, possibly even royalty. Of which house, Ahn had no idea. These humans splintered into factions so easily.

It would have been a simple thing to place the suggestion in her mind to abandon her quest and go back home, but Ahn decided to see where this would go. She wasn't a large person, not like some of the hulking men who were the typical ones who rode out looking to make their names by attempting to defeat one of Ahn's kind. He couldn't remember seeing a woman in armor before, looking to prove herself in such a manner.

With a quiet snort, Ahn backed out of her camp, taking care to wipe out evidence of his presence. He then flew back to his lair, keeping this one's odor in his memory. He suspected he'd be seeing her again...
 
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The suns began to fall once again. This was her third day and she had finally made it to the mountain. She would camp near it's base and start her ascension up it's walls in the morning. After making her fire and getting everything set up, she set out to find another rabbit. Sitting before her fire as she skinned it she sang to herself.

Chorus:
It's a great pity that I'm not, that I'm not
It's a great pity that I'm not Páidín's wife
It's a great pity that I'm not, that I'm not
And the woman that he has to be dead

I would go to Galway, to Galway
And I would go to Galway with Páidín
I would go to Galway, to Galway
And I would return in the boat with him

(Chorus)

I would go to an Clochán
And west by Béal Á' na Báighe
I would look in through the windows
I would spot Páidín's wife

(Chorus)

May your legs be broken, be broken
May your legs be broken, Páidín's wife
May your legs be broken, be broken
May your legs and your bones be broken

(Chorus)

I wore out my shoes, my shoes
I wore out my shoes, after Páidín
I wore out my shoes, my shoes
I wore out the soles and the heels

She looked up at the mountain. There was no way that she would be able to scale in in her armor. There wasn't really a way to summon it, she was sure 'here dragon' , wouldn't work.

The moon shone down brightly for her this eve, as she pondered life and the crackling fire. She had to be successful, or she would have to marry and become a breeding mare. Her country had been ruled long enough by the nobles and their whims. Things had to change, and she was willing to risk her life to ensure they did.
 
Ahn could smell this steel-clad woman as she drew closer, even from the depths of his cavern. He'd gotten her into his senses and now he'd be able to track her from hundreds of miles if need be. In any event, it certainly would make it quite difficult for her to take him by surprise.

He smelled her camp fire as she set herself up for the night. It would be the last of those she'd have for some time, as there were few trees to be had in the rocks and crags. Unless her people had learned how to make fire from cold stone, her time in his mountains would not be pleasant.

Ahn settled in for a nap as he waited for the possible appearance of this woman. Her finding him was no guarantee, as the entrance to his caverns was well-hidden, and would be barely large enough for her to enter. Only Ahn's shape-shifting ability allowed him to easily make his way into the open rooms within the mountain. As well, even if she did find one of the entrances, there were dead-ends, drop-offs and innumerable other false paths.

If she came, she came. If she got lost and died, she could at least say she tried...
 
Rosalynn awoke once again with the two suns. She yawned and rubbed her eyes as she got a better look to where she was. Dragons were notorious for their magical abilities, and shape shifting as being one of them. She had just finished putting back on her armor when her horse neighed distressingly and pawed at the ground.

The earth vibrated beneath her as about six armed horseman from another realm descended upon her. "We are claiming this land on behalf of our king" one of them announced. "There for you are trespassing and are under arrest"

"This land and this mountain belong to the kingdom of Delsopherlies." She said lowering he voice to sound more manly and drawing out her sword.

"Our king is that pretenders cousin, he will soon have all her land once he weds her. He's the rightful heir, no woman should rule." One said dismounting and unsheathing his sword.

That lit a fire under her as she took her stance. A couple other men began to dismount as well. "She is the rightful ruler, and has my full faith she can rule as equal to, or as better then a man. Even if she must marry, it will never be to that traitor you call your king" she hissed blocking the first blow of the mans sword and kicking at the other that started to attack.

"Like your traitor you have no honor, 6 against one. Well i've had worse odds" she said again taunting them. Being calm cool and collected the battle of her against six began. The clanking of swords, grunts, gasps and cries of agony began to shatter the silence of the quiet mountains base.

So far she had done well slaying three, injuring one, and now pinned by two.
 
Ahn smelled more steel enter the valley the metal woman currently occupied. He doubted they were together, as these came from the opposite direction it seemed she traveled.

Then, he heard the clamor of steel on steel. While he didn't really care if any of them lived or died, he'd grown quite fond of the idea of human women, and even if this one, by all appearances, was looking to prove herself against him, the odds for her seemed greatly against her getting that chance.

Taking flight from his cavern, he soared out over the scene. It looked like the woman was doing well against her assailants, but now they had her.

Deciding to throw a twist to their battle, Ahn swooped low, making himself visible to the fighting humans. He then quickly zipped around a high crag, shifting into a mouse and peeking over the side to see what happened next.
 
Rosalyn thought she was done for, until a dark shadow overcast. The soldiers looked up and one cried out "DRAGON!!!". It provided her enough of an opportunity to slash her sword over two of the soldiers as the other ran for his life. Running to her camp she grabbed her bow and shot the now mounted man through the back of his neck as he rode off.

She watched as the rider grabbed his neck and fell off the galloping horse. Dropping to her knees she took off her helmet. Over the years she had done a lot of training. But until now she had never killed a person. This weighed heavily on her as silent tears fell.

Wiping her face she slowly rose and removed her armor. The dragon had chosen not to kill them all. It baffled her for the reasoning. He could have easily set them on fire. Or eaten them. She could not in good conscious continue with her quest for his head. She would simply have to find another, or accept he fate of marrying. Setting up her fire she took her bow and went hunting for her meal. Another rabbit met its end as she took a seat and began to prepare it.

"Well fargo" she said to the horse. "We have a choice to make, either we find a different dragon, or we accept the fate and watch our kingdom slowly destroy itself."
 
As Ahn soared off, he heard the sounds of the fight being decisively won. With the camp behind him, he wasn't sure which of the humans had prevailed, but he knew that turning around would give the impression that he hadn't noticed them before and was now coming back to finish them.

When he was sure he was out of sight, he flew to the ground, shifting into a form that he could cover much ground in, since he was some miles from the woman's camp. If she'd met her end, it was a good bet that whichever man remained would have decided to hole up - no sense in wasting a perfectly good fire - until he was ready to resume his trip to wherever he'd been going.

As a rabbit, he was able to travel some way until he felt he should take another form, as he'd smelled charred rabbit as he'd passed over, and when he'd investigated her camp the other night. Not that, even in a smaller shape, she would have an easy time of killing him, but it was probably best not to give her the chance to try.

Taking his human form, he hiked into her camp, finding it abandoned. Her things were still there, and the fire remained, so she must be out hunting.

Sitting down, he began poking the fire with a stick until it came back to life, then laid a few more sticks on it and waited...
 
Taking the reins with the rabbit hanging from the saddle she began to walk back to her camp. As the grew near she saw a form sitting by her fire stirring it to keep it alive. He wasn't dressed like a soldier, and didn't seem to hold an aggressive posture. Still he was a stranger.

Taking out her bow she held it up with an arrow posed. "You're in my camp" she said a bit stand offish. Her eyes roamed over him. He was one of the most handsome men she had ever seen. "Are you here to kill me and put your king on the throne?" she questioned wondering if perhaps he was a mercenary.

Yet he didn't seem to be carrying any weapons that she could see.
 
Ahn heard the footsteps long before he saw anything. As expected, a defensive stance had been taken to a stranger appearing this far from any manner of civilization. A part of him hoped she'd loose that arrow, then watch in astonishment as it glanced off him. He was quite sturdy in this - or any - form. Not quite as much as when in his natural form, but regardless the shape, he was still Drachón.

"Your fire was going out," he said simply, not worrying himself over her arrow.

"I have no king," he replied to her accusation. These humans and their desperation to lord over something, anything, even if it was just a hovel in a mosquito-ridden swamp. He refrained from rolling his eyes at the idea. "No queen, no lord. I am what I am."

Letting the stick he was using to husband the fire along drop to the ground, he held his hands out to his sides, palms open. "Come, sit. I mean you no harm."

She eyed him warily. Most people out in these wilds would at least have a knife. Ahn carried nothing. She probably wondered how he had gotten all this way without being killed by brigands, wild animals, or both.
 
Right away she could see he was naturally charming. There was a way that his lips moved when he spoke that was naturally disarming. His voice was thick and smooth. "You'd be the first today that hasn't" she said moving her horse over to the tree and tying him up.

She had lowered her bow to tie her horse, yet still she watched him cautiously. Slowly she walked toward him with her hand on the handle of her sheathed sword. The other hand carrying the skinned rabbit. Going to the other side of the fire she glanced back and forth between him and what she was doing with putting the rabbit on it's spit.

"Had I known I was to have company I would have brought back more then one. Still if you wish I will share what I have." Slowly she sat on the other side of the fire watching him.

"No King, no Queen, then where do you come from?"
 
Ahn continued stirring the fire as the woman warily lowered her bow and sat across from him. As she started skewering the rabbit she'd caught, he said simply, watching the flames dance:

"I come from wherever my feet have brought me. I claim no loyalty to a flag or a person. Those who try to subjugate me into their limited philosophy of the world find that to do so is folly."

He then looked up from the fire and at this woman. In his previous foray into her camp, he'd looked at her, but she'd been asleep. Now that she was awake, he got a better impression.

She had very fine features, her skin quite smooth. It was not at all what he'd suspected of a female warrior. There was a sophistication and haughtiness about her that told him some manner of nobility. The crest on her breastplate had told him that much when he'd looked in on her before. Regardless, she'd had training. The way she moved in the heavy armor told him that. She was used to wearing it, even if she didn't really like it. It went on to reason that the sword and bow she carried were familiar to her hand. If her face was as lovely as it was, he wondered what the rest of her really looked like.

"If you don't mind my asking, what is a fine lady like yourself doing all the way out here in these mountains, alone?"
 
Rosa listened to his manner of speech. It was refined and yet not commonly phrased. She determined at some point he must have had ancient teachings. He didn't seem intimidated or edgy at all. In fact he appeared to be rather calm and at ease. She had heard of nomads before. Those that simply existed traveling from place to place calling no place in particular home.

She flipped the rabbit and listened the sound of the sizzle as its juices hit the flames. He had asked her a question and she thought for a moment of her answer. "I am on a quest of great importance, the result could impact thousands of lives if I fail. Though I cannot bring myself to complete it here. I must continue onward with hopes of finding the strength to do so despite my likely demise. But there doesn't seem any other way. This is my last chance."

Keeping her eyes on the rabbit she didn't look up to see if any reaction crossed his face. In truth it didn't matter, she was still going to have to move on to the next mountain with hope of finding a different dragon to slay. The one that owned this mountain had earned her gratitude for not frying her alive. He had inadvertently saved her life. She didn't want to kill a dragon at all. She found them fascinating noble creatures. Everything she had read advised her they held an intelligence that was far beyond anything humans could ever hope to obtain.

"do you often save travelers fires?" she questioned hoping to avoid anymore questions.
 
Ahn continued to prod the fire as the woman spoke. These humans and their quests. He was glad he was not human. It always seemed they had to prove something to each other. It seemed they held very little self-esteem, that their worth had to be decided by others.

The odor of the cooking flesh reminded him of the last time one of the woman's kind had come to challenge him. It didn't matter what the animal was, char was char. He ate human food when he had to, but he didn't quite understand their need to burn everything, when hot and dripping, preferably still quivering in its death throes, was the finest dining available.

When she asked if he always went around helping out guttering campfires, Ahn laughed. "I think this is the first. This looked like a good place to stop walking for a bit, and if you were coming back, I thought you'd appreciate if your fire was more than merely glowing embers."

He then looked up, across the sizzling rabbit and directly into her eyes. "Hunting Drachón to prove yourself to someone, aren't you.?"
 
Rosa let out an unintentional regretful sigh. Her eyes locked with his she responded. "Regrettably yes. I am left without a choice." she hung her head and shook it before rising her eyes back up to his. "It is either that, or get married and take a back seat and watch my people suffer."

Today had been a trying day. She was emotionally and physically drained. Half of her wanted to weep, the other half wanted to scream and slash something. "In my kingdom, woman are not allowed to rule alone. The only loop hole is if they accomplish something that a man has a hard time doing. I find the idea barbaric and repulsive. But it's the only thing i could think of that they couldn't dispute."

She kicked the ground stubbornly with the toe of her boot. "There is a good possibility i will die, but then they will be no better off then they would have if I married. Woman arn't valued for anything but breeding where I'm from. Despite the fact i killed my cousins men, and was out numbered. Of course i have the dragon from this mountain to thank for that. Which is why i must move on to another mountain."
 
Ahn shook his head at the woman's explanation for her presence in these mountains. There were Drachón everywhere: most resided in the seas, but only the men who rode the waves ever saw them. Since they were at even more of a disadvantage when their only foothold was the deck of one of their meager vessels, encounters with waterborne Drachón seldom went the way of the humans. As well, the stories brought back by the few survivors were so fantastic, that believers were rare.

For the humans, the most accessible of Ahn's kind existed in the rocks and crags of the mountains. Any cave in any rock could house one. Legends even among Ahn's kind were that some of the mountains, particularly those that belched smoke and fire, were the ancients, the Drachón that had been when the world was young, who had grown beyond even the ability to shift, and had instead become part of the landscape in which they lived.

When a human did best Drachón, all they took was the head. It was the same story every time he heard it: I must prove myself to my fellow men, because otherwise, I am nothing in their eyes. A single scale from a hide would make a nearly impenetrable shield, and his kind shed those with alarming regularity. Armor made from Drachón scale would make its wearer nearly invulnerable.

"What did this beast do to aid you against your foes, and is there no other way to satisfy the petty egos of such people? It seems to me that people" (he was careful to use such terms - merely calling them "humans" would draw suspicion as to what he truly was) "who need such tokens wouldn't be worth pledging fealty to in the first place."
 
"If there were another way, I would certainly take it. But the mindset of the male gender is that a woman's place is on her back, and her sole purpose is to produce heirs. We are not allowed on the battlefield, nor is it acceptable for us to have opinions or ideas. Being the only heir, I feel it is my responsibility to the people of my kingdom to provide a voice that has long been silenced and discarded." Rosa shook her head.

"There is much I wish to change about the rules that are so archaic the pages they are written upon are beginning to crumble. I would outlaw dragon hunting for starters. These creatures are noble, majestic, even though they can be mischievous as well. At least that is what I've read. I think it would be beneficial to even go as far as creating an alliance with one." she gave a light smile as she looked into the fire.

"As for the one today. Simply not frying us would be enough. But either purposefully, or not it created a distraction for those that fought me, allowing me to slay them and keep my life." a bit of sadness came to her eyes as she recalled having death upon her shoulders.

"so tomorrow i will move on, granting the one of this mountain a reprieve."
 
Ahn snorted.

"It sounds like your men have no imagination. I rather enjoy when the woman rides.

"If you really think about it, the great majority of animals are noble, gentle creatures. They only become other when feeding or defending themselves. Aside from that, they all would just as soon keep to themselves. Humans place their own values on the animal kingdom and label behaviors based on human judgments, ignoring the purpose for those behaviors. It is why certain animals are deemed "savage" and others "sweet and innocent." Humans are really the only creature in the animal kingdom who kill for the sake of killing, or who torture others, simply because of some arbitrary rule they created that says they can.

"Or who kill simply to prove themselves to their own kind."

He prodded the fire a bit more. Her rabbit was becoming too well-cooked for his taste, but if she offered, he would accept with gratitude, since that would be the expected response.

"How would you go about allying with Drachón?"
 
"mankind has always been the more barbaric, in my opinion. We have uses the excuse of 'tradition' to not progress, and to maintain. Anything new is considered undignified, foreign, and met with suspicion and considered to be 'bad'. 'Stick with what we know', has been the way of thing for far to long."

She sighed pulling the rabbit off. "I believe that we need to learn from whats different and use it to move forward. But these thoughts are considered 'radical' un-womanly thoughts. I have to make changes slowly, and gradually or they (the nobles) will rebel. But that goes back to my quest to obtain the throne that's rightfully mine. Honestly, even if I do obtain a dragons head, i'm sure they will try to find some way to dismiss it. It couldn't be possible for a woman to do that. I have to do something. I can't marry my slimy cousin, or some 'traditional' backwards prince. I'm at a loss."

Taking out her dagger she cut off a large portion of the rabbit and offered it to the nomad that was patiently listening to her woes. "I suppose if I had the ability to create an alliance with the Draconian, I would start will one, and offer shiny treasures for their protection year after year. Then I would gradually build it to include more of the ancient ones if I could find them. But It would be difficult. After all the years of persecution and hunting by humans, it would be difficult to trust us. I would make dragon hunting illegal for start though."

Slicing a piece of rabbit off for herself she took a bite and chewed it thoughtfully. Her mind went to the days where she could be carefree, when she could dream of a handsome prince to fall in love with and live a fairytale life. That was gone now. She had a responsibility which was larger then her wants. Her people depended on her for a viable future.
 
Ahn nodded. "Ah, yes. Tradition. As you say, a perfect excuse to justify attitudes and practices that perhaps should have died out long ago."

"Your nobility and royalty lives in constant fear. Face the facts, they know they're far outnumbered by those they rule. The primary thing that keeps them in power is the fact that the lower classes do not have the resources to rise up and pose much threat. I mean, what threat is a man dressed in peasant rags and wielding a sickle against a knight on horseback? However, pit a thousand of those against ten men in armor? The result could be very different."

Ahn took the charred meat and held it while he listened to her plan about how she would unite with his kind and use them to create a new age.

Pointing with the cooling piece of meat, he asked, "What do your people know of Drachón?"
 
"There will always be a hierarchy, but you are right about one thing. The people shouldn't be afraid of those that govern them, it is us that should be afraid of not pleasing the people."

She kicked the dirt lightly with her foot. "The people believe the nonsense that has been passed down from generation to generation. They simply see them as monsters that will eat their children and rape their women." She shook her head lightly.

"I have done extensive reading however, books left hidden and that have been deemed forbidden. I know that they go as far back as to the age where man was able to draw their likeness in the caves. Probably even further. They have many abilities, it is thought they can even shape shift. Their intelligence is far beyond what homo-sapiens have evolved to. I know with little effort they could have wiped us all out and for whatever reason chose not to."

Everything was begining to look hopeless. The more she talked about the dragons, the more she realized that she needed to abandon her foolish quest. She looked over to the man still holding his piece of rabbit. "I should let you eat before your food gets cold. You can have the rest of it, i'm finding i'm not that hungry."
 
Ahn nodded. "Yes, people's knowledge is greatly based on superstition, fabrication and all-out lies. Sometimes, the most far-fetched claims are accurate, while those that are held as absolute truth couldn't be farther from it."

While he didn't particularly care to eat the piece of meat the woman had given him, when she made a point of the fact he hadn't eaten it, he brought it to his mouth, took a bite, then chewed thoughtfully a few seconds before nodding, "Shifting, yes, I've heard that. It is also said that much of the.land you see is actually the bodies of the true ancients, those that were here long before Man abandoned walking on four legs.

"Here, the majority are fire breathers, but did you know there are icers, and even ones that fly the oceans?" It was rare to find a human who believed more than merely the limited falsehoods. He was treading dangerous ground, but he wanted to find out how much she truly wanted to know, and how much of it might be ambition to destroy more of his kind...
 
She listened to what he said and processed it carefully. "Yes, i can actually believe that's a possibility. Not to compare dragons to dogs, but there are several different breeds that excel in different areas. Just as there are several different species of birds, and races of humans." then adding quickly

"so I've read. If the freedom were available to me I might very well go on an exploration and see what I could find to be true and false. However it is not. Though since we've been talking, I find myself unable to continue with my quest. It seems I will simply have to find another way of ruling through a husband i don't wish for. In the morning I'll simply head back and try to find a prince that has half of a brain and is easily manipulated." She shrugged.

"Tell me how did you come by your knowledge of dragons?"
 
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