A.O.E.M.: Chasing Dragons Read online

  It was an unfamiliar and not too pleasant feeling, to be set aside for a four-legged creature of legend. Tady felt small and bitchy and not all that proud of himself by the time Lester finally got the Unicorn settled and crawled in next to Tady in the soft bed of boughs and bracken fern.

  They lay there, two men separated by whatever thoughts filled their minds. Tady almost quivered with desire, wanting so badly for Lester to turn to him. He wondered what Les was thinking, if he thought of Tady or the journey.

  It’s all about the journey.

  Aye, but did that mean they had to ignore one another?

  “Lester? Are you awake?”

  Les turned to him, smiling. “I thought you were already asleep. You’re so quiet.”

  “Can’t sleep. Keep thinking of the journey.” Well, he was thinking of it, dammit. But only so far as how it was currently affecting his love life.

  “I’ve been thinking of you.” Lester rolled over and brushed his fingers through Tady’s hair. “I watched you climb down that cliff today and it scared the crap out of me. I was so afraid you’d fall.”

  Tady sighed. “I thought the same of you, lugging that damned creature on your back, so much weight on the vines. Les, I don’t know what I’d do if something were to happen to you.”

  “Don’t think of it. Think of the adventure we’re sharing. The places we’re seeing. Tady…” Les paused. Tady fought the overpowering urge to just grab his mate and pull him close.

  “Tady, I love you. No matter what happens on this crazy journey, please know that I love you above all others.”

  Before Tady could reply, Lester leaned close and kissed him. His hand cupped Tady’s skull, his long fingers threaded through the Elf’s long hair. His amazing mouth worked wonders on Tady’s. Teeth and tongue, lips and soft words, incomprehensible words that made Tady soar.

  He felt so small within Lester’s powerful embrace. Small and protected, yet strong and so aware of his own needs, of Les’s needs. Tady felt the thick length of Lester’s cock rising against his own belly, felt the fullness of his own erection brushing close against Lester.

  It was such a simple thing, really, to shift around within the big man’s grasp and take his beautiful erection in his hands, then guide it to his lips. To his mouth. Tady ran his tongue across the smooth crown, tasted the salty drop of fluid at the tip, then closed his eyes and filled his mouth with as much of Lester as he could swallow.

  As if the taste and texture weren’t enough, Les did the same to Tady. There was something so primal here, the link of mouth to cock to cock to mouth, a link more powerful than Tady could have ever imagined before he’d met Lester. Mated with Lester. He ran his fingers lightly over Les’s full sac, tracing the shape of the solid, egg-shaped balls within. At the same time, Les’s large hands found Tady, cupped him, stroked his sac, his ass, his butt.

  Theirs was a silent joining, a private coupling of two lovers well aware of one another’s needs. Tady knew where to lick, where to touch. So did Les, and when his thick finger breached Tady’s tight sphincter muscle and filled his ass, it was only fitting that Tady did the same to Les.

  Biting back laughter, replacing the sound with sighs of pleasure and completion, Tady didn’t even try to fight the climax that called him. He moaned softly, his lips tightening on Lester’s thick cock as he felt his own climax exploding, racing through his body in slow motion, finding release in the hot depths of Les’s mouth just as Lester arched his hips and exploded into Tady.

  Good. So very good. Almost sobbing with the powerful emotion sweeping through him, Tady sucked and licked at Les’s cock until the once powerful erection slipped softly from his mouth.

  Lester turned around on the bed of bracken. He kissed Tady. Thoroughly, deeply. With as much love as Tady felt for Les. Kissed him, and then grinned.

  “It’s a hell of an adventure, isn’t it?” Les practically glowed.

  Tady nodded, and then had to search for his voice. “Yeah. One hell of an adventure.” He touched the side of Lester’s face, stroked his fingers down until they touched his lips. Lester kissed them, each finger in turn.

  Smiling then, he rolled over and within minutes was snoring.

  Tady lay in the soft fern bed and smiled. They were close to their goal. So very close he could feel the magic. Soon Lester would be able to shift. Soon they would fly together, two Elves of Clan Dragon. Powerful and proud. It was a great fantasy. A wonderful dream.

  One more exquisite life experience to share with Lester Ondáge.

  Tady sighed. Truly a dream.

  He honestly had very little hope they were actually going to succeed.

  * * *

  Dawn broke with a shriek, not a whisper, a scream of pain rather than birdsong.

  Lester struggled out of sleep and saw Tady was already beside the Unicorn, calming the nervous beast. “What the hell was that?”

  “I don’t know. It came from over there.” Tady pointed toward a thick tangle of brush near the river’s edge. “Be careful!”

  Les rolled out of the soft bed of boughs and fern, reached for a stout branch from the pile he’d made near their fire, and quietly crept across the open meadow toward the river.

  The grass was cold and wet on his bare feet, the morning air chilled his naked body, but Les felt beads of sweat popping out on his forehead. He might be big and strong as an ox, but that didn’t mean the unknown wasn’t a fearful thing. He glanced back once at Tady. The Elf stood beside the trembling Unicorn, one hand over the creature’s muzzle, the other stroking his neck.

  Tady looked absolutely terrified.

  For some reason, that gave Lester the strength he needed to move closer to the source of the scream.

  The sound he heard now was almost worse. Moans and sobbing, as if someone suffered great pain. A loud grunting noise, then a deep-chested, cruel sounding shout of laughter.

  Les grabbed up another stout branch. He crept around the edge of the brush with a cudgel in each hand. Slowly, silently.

  The scene that met his eyes took a moment to register. Something large and ugly and terrifying loomed up out of the forest. It was neither human nor Elf. Whatever the creature, it was taller and broader than Les with huge teeth and narrow, pig-like eyes. Its dark greenish-gray skin, rough as the stone cliffs of the canyon walls, appeared tough as armor, and the rough strip of hair-covered leather encircling the creature’s loins gave it an even more sinister look.

  But what caught Les’s attention, what made him want to fall to his knees and vomit, was the sight of the small, feminine sprite trapped in one meaty fist. Bleeding, moaning in pain from gaping wounds on her back where the monster had torn her gossamer wings from her tiny body, she appeared barely alive.

  Les had never truly felt rage in his life. Not like this. Not this overwhelming rush of power and hate, not the swell of strength or the lack of thought. He didn’t weigh the risks, didn’t consider the danger. He saw red. Blind, furious blood-red rage as he raised both stout branches over his head and, screaming an enraged cry ripped from somewhere deep inside, he attacked.

  The beast dropped its victim, turned with a loud snarl and bent thick legs as it dipped into a fighting crouch. Les found a strength he’d never experienced, leaped high in the air and struck the monster with both feet. Somehow Les managed to roll out of the dazed beast’s way, hang on to his weapons and come up swinging.

  With a strength he’d never known before, Lester brought the heavy branches down on the beast’s head and knocked him unconscious with a one-two attack. He jumped back, out of reach with both branches held high overhead, waiting for the monster to rise.

  Nothing happened. There was silence all around… silence but for the soft cries of the small sprite lying crumpled against the base of a willow tree. Glancing behind him, expecting the monster to rise to its feet, Les skirted the great body and raced to the small, bleeding woman.

  Barely two feet high, she appeared pale as death. Her blonde hair was matted with
her own blood, her small breasts barely moving with each shallow breath she took.

  Unsure how even to hold her, Les carefully set his weapons down and scooped the woman into his arms. She cried out when he inadvertently touched one of her wounds, then fell unconscious. Les carried her around the edge of the copse of trees, back to the campsite where Tady and the Unicorn waited.

  “Oh, Les! What’s that?”

  “I’m not sure. Something big and ugly hurt her. I think he ripped her wings off.” Les swallowed back the gorge rising in his throat. “It was like watching a mean little kid torturing a butterfly, except this thing was big and green and ugly as sin.”

  “An Ogre?” Tady looked up from the tiny woman Les held. “Ye bested an Ogre in battle? Is he dead?”

  Lester shook his head. “I don’t know. He fell when I hit him.”

  Tady grabbed another large branch from the pile by the fire. “I’ll be right back.” He stalked away from Lester and disappeared behind the bushes.

  Les lay the injured female face-down on the soft bed. The bleeding had stopped, but the wounds were grievous and he had nothing to bind them. The Unicorn came close, sniffed at the tiny woman and snorted. Then he nudged Les’s back with his nose, walked over to one of Lorcan’s magical packs and waited.

  “You think there might be bandages in there?” There’d been food when he was hungry, grain for the Unicorn, even an apple when the beast needed a treat. Why not bandages?

  Tady popped out from behind the bushes. He held something in his hands that shimmered in the morning light. “It was definitely an Ogre. Ugly beast. You beaned him pretty hard. He’ll wake with a horrible headache, but with luck he won’t bother us again. I’m not sure what to do with these, but I couldn’t leave them behind.”

  Lester stuck his hand in the pack, but his attention was on the items Tady carried. “You brought her wings?”

  “Aye. I don’t know if there’s a way for a Faerie to reattach her wings, but if she lives…” He shrugged his shoulders and sat down beside the small woman. “Poor little thing. The pain must be horrible.” He turned toward Les with tears in his eyes. “What can we do?”

  Lester pulled his hand out of the pack. He held a role of soft gauze and a small tube that reminded him of the antibiotics he’d used long ago for injuries, before Chimera and his journey to the Northern Realm. “Lorcan’s pack seems to think this is what we need.” He set the pack down and moved closer to the Faerie. “Watch her a minute. I need to go wash my hands. We’ll save her wings but I need to bandage her injuries for now.”

  Tady touched his arm. “Then what?”

  Les smiled. “Then we take her to She Who Rules. We’ve already got a Unicorn. What’s one more supplicant?”

  “Ah, Lester.” Tady chuckled softly. “You’re truly a softie, didja know?”

  “I know. Just don’t tell anyone. I’d really hate to mess up my image.”

  Chapter 7

  Les carried the tiny sprite in his arms, cuddling her carefully against his shoulder like a newborn, cautiously avoiding the thick pad of gauze covering her back. She remained unconscious, though at one point he felt her slim arms come around his neck so that she hung on to him.

  The Unicorn, blind though he might be, led the way. Tady covered the back, carrying a stout pole with a pointed end. They’d gone into this journey without thought of the dangers they might face. Les had worried about high mountains and thick forest, but he’d not worried about the inhabitants of this land.

  Tady hadn’t killed the Ogre. He’d merely gone to check and make sure the creature was unconscious while they cared for the Faerie. Les wondered if that was a mistake, but in another way he was relieved that neither he nor Tady had caused the death of an inhabitant of the land of the Fae.

  “How’s the wee one doing?” Tady caught up to Les and peered around his arm. “Her eyes are still closed, but she’s not moaning. Do ya think the medicine is helping?”

  Les shook his head. “I don’t know. I hope so. Are we far enough away from the Ogre to think about setting up camp? I don’t want to tire her too much. She’ll need her strength to recover.”

  Tady looked away and Les saw his shoulders rise and fall with a huge sigh. “She’ll ne’er recover without her wings, Les. A Faerie’s meant to fly. I imagine she’ll eventually waste away unless She Who Rules agrees to help her.”

  Les felt a chill crawl along his spine. The little bundle in his arms was already precious to him. He would find a way to save her. This was a land of magic, after all. “She’ll have to help. This little one is a resident of her land. One of her citizens. It’s her duty to help.” Les wasn’t sure if that was right or not, but dammit all, he couldn’t imagine any ruler unwilling to try and save the Faerie’s life.

  “Well, that’s something for She Who Rules to decide. Now, though, we’d best be off. I want more distance between us and the Ogre. They’re not real bright, but they never forget a wrong done to ’em.” Tady peered back along the trail. “Not only did we take away his play thing, we left him with a bump on the noggin that will hurt for a long time. When he wakes up, he’s going to be one pissed-off Ogre. A couple more kilometers will make me much happier.”

  Les nodded in agreement and headed down the trail. He carried the Faerie. Tady led the Unicorn. Lester couldn’t help but think what an odd group they made, traipsing through the land of the Fae on their way to the Seat of Magic -- a tough but tiny Elf, a grievously wounded Faerie, a blind Unicorn and one large black bodyguard hoping for his very own Dragon’s wings.

  * * *

  She Who Rules, known only to her very closest family and friends as the Good Witch Glinda, late of the Land of Oz, sat alone in the huge throne room with a tattered copy of a very old book in her lap. She tried very hard not to cry, though at this point tears made no sense whatsoever.

  She’d been so long in this place where time had no meaning and her good deeds were merely a prerequisite of the job. If she’d only known then what she knew now…

  “Dammit!” Glinda stood up and paced angrily away from the throne. Her footsteps echoed eerily off the stone walls as she tramped across the flagstone floor. By the time she came to a stop before a large mirror hanging against the northern wall, Glinda was ready to put her fist through the image that faced her.

  Still blonde, still beautiful, still bored to tears. She stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry at her image. When she’d been offered the job as magical ruler of the Northern Realm, Glinda’d been so sick and tired of the strife in Oz she’d jumped at the chance.

  “Idiot.” What she wouldn’t give right now for a flying monkey or two. Glinda spun around on one satin-shod foot and paced the length of the huge room, wondering what to do to take her mind off the never-ending lack of excitement. It wouldn’t be so bad if she at least had someone around to listen to her gripe, but her troops of maidens had remained in Oz, and of all her amazingly powerful, supposedly loyal women soldiers, not one had elected to come to the land of the Fae.

  Glinda found herself back in front of her golden throne. She spun around and plopped her butt down on the bright red cushion and hooked one leg over the arm. So what if it wasn’t the pose of a powerful ruler? Who the fuck was going to see her, anyway? It wasn’t like there were scads of petitioners beating a way to her door. There had to be strife and bloodshed, privation and a bit of pestilence before anyone willfully made the long and convoluted trip to the dreaded Seat of Magic to beg an audience with She Who Rules.

  If they only knew! As bored as Glinda felt right now, she’d welcome anyone or anything at her doorstep.

  Even a flying monkey or two.

  * * *

  One moment they were walking briskly along a narrow trail along the river’s edge, the next their world erupted into chaos. Lester turned a corner when a huge roar echoed against the canyon walls. Les spun around with the Faerie pressed against his chest, just in time to see the bruised and bloodied Ogre grab Tady and hurl the terrified Elf o
ver the edge of the cliff, into the boiling, churning river below.

  “No!” Les must have set the Faerie down. Must have grabbed up a thick stick to use as a weapon. Must have given total leave of his senses to rush an eight foot tall Ogre on a narrow trail high above the river.

  It was like swinging at a mountain. The Ogre grabbed the end of the cudgel in one meaty fist and stopped it dead. Then he growled and lifted it high over his head. Les hung on and went with it, turning the useless weapon loose at the last moment and flinging himself at the Ogre’s throat.

  Les saw the Unicorn, head down, his single sharp horn aimed true, race directly toward the Ogre. Thick-necked and powerful, the Ogre threw the cudgel aside and grabbed for Les with both hands. Suddenly he shrieked in pain and reached for his back. The Unicorn danced away, out of the Ogre’s reach, but the tip of his horn dripped blood. It was all the time Lester needed. With strength he didn’t know he had, Les wrapped his legs around the Ogre’s neck, grabbed the creature’s jaw and the back of his bony head and twisted.

  There was a sickening crunch. The Ogre shuddered and toppled over, face first. Lester let go at the last moment, hit the ground running and raced to the edge of the cliff. Far below he saw Tady, his small body caught in a tangle of reeds at the water’s edge.

  Biting back a sob, Les grabbed a handful of vines and quickly climbed down to his mate. Tady’s eyes were open, his breath came in short, sharp gasps, but at least he was alive.

  Barely.

  “What the hell, Tady? Oh my God… where do you hurt?” Les reached under the Elf’s small body and carefully lifted him out of the brush. Tady cried out, then clenched his jaw.

  “Everywhere, Les.” He gasped for air as Lester placed him in a patch of soft grass. “Things are broken. I’m not sure what. ’Tis hard to breathe.”

  Les quickly ran his fingers along Tady’s ribs and over his arms and legs. His left leg was horribly twisted and bent. Les knew it would have to be set before attempting the climb up the cliff. Tady’s ribs might be cracked or broken, too, but it was hard to tell. At least his toes and fingers seemed to be moving.