Redemption - Fourth Wing

48. "Come, let us slip away" (~)

Ronny's Pov
Dead.
My partner of heart and mind was to die.
My eyes slid on their body, on their large chest and slender fingers, and wondered how they would die. By a broken spear? By a swing of a claw? By freefall?
Death had many names, and many faces, and I had met all of them during the Rider That Was Not Meant To Be's so-called revolution, until they were so blurred together I could no longer recall any of them.
I thought I'd die, in every ambush Galbatorix lead me to. Broken wing. Sliced neck.
My body would contort mid-air; what things would theirs resemble, in those fleeting seconds before death?
A leaf?
A feather?
Or a mass of blood and steel with no eyes and skin?
I could no longer breathe, and the sky was pressure against my wings.
A gentle touch jolted me awake, and I swung my head to the elegant hand, of a darker brown than my own scales.
I wished to have their same colour, mahogany. When in truth I was no brighter than the grey corpse right next to us.
I didn't even know her name.
-Let's head back to camp,- whispered Aifos, -I don't want them to search and find us.-
Our eyes fell on the fallen dragon. I wondered if someone would weep for her and would remember how to curse us at the stars, and thus stain our fate.
Chex opened his maw, and fire engulfed her.
I remembered I hadn't burned the Brown Scorpiontail I'd killed. I hadn't burned anyone.
Would anybody burn me?
Us?
The flames still crackled when we walked away, and the leaves got rumpled at our footsteps, and branches curled against our scales and arms, and Chex and I kept our wings tucked in.
The sand was far too hot, and the irids' scales too colourful.
Andarna was still lost in her tale, and Tairn swivelled his head to us, his eyes narrow and fiercely golden.
Chex didn't lower his head, and I remembered that he was the hatchling of Belgabad, that his blood was as mixed as Aifos' very own.
We made our way to the group, and Tairn sniped at Chex, but only the closest irid spared us a quick, bored glance.
Aifos was a bit too far away from us, so I stretched out my neck and placed my snout next to them.
But when they refused to meet my eyes, I felt them slipping away, and I wondered if they weren't meant for another time, in the time of the Ancient Order of Shur'tugal, back when dragons were smooth-scaled and beautiful.
-That's why we're here,- said Andarna to her audience, -To ask if you'll come home to fight with us. To see if the knowledge was passed down of how the venin were defeated during the Great War, or if you know how to cure them. And I'd like to know about my family.-
The male in the center narrowed his eyes on Sorrengail, -And you allowed her to channel as a juvenile? You took her into a war?-
I looked at Chex, then at Andarna.
None had taken the siblings anywhere: they were born into it.
But I did take Aifos, and I'd been taken myself.
-It was my choice!- Shouted Andarna.
The female to the right let out a slow, rippling sigh, -Show us your wing.-
After a brief, tense moment, she opened her wing, which struggled at finding its maximum expansion.
-It doesn't usually shake. I'm just tired from flying.-
I had uttered that same lie myself, when I had a sliced wing and the Rider That Was Not Meant To Be's eyes were too dark.
The female glanced away, -We've seen enough.-
-I can fly!- Andarna growled, -I'm just missing a second set of muscles and can't carry Violet. The elders said it has something to do with the delicate balance of wind resistance and tension on my wing, and her weight on the spinal discs that run under my seat. But that's all right because we have Tairn and he works with me everyday, and the elders, too. And when I get tired, he carries me, but only on long journeys.-
The sun gleamed on her harness.
-Please permit the effrontery of our need for a moment of privacy.-
When the group of irids walked to the shore, I was reminded of the council of the Ancient Order, and thought they were alike.
Hopefully, the irids' destiny wouldn't be such.
Gamlyn gestured with his hands, and Aifos sharply nodded. Andarna tilted her head towards Sorrengail, who offered her a smile, albeit a bit strained on the edges.
The water splashed when three irids jumped in the air and then disappeared. Chex rustled his wings.
He would die along us, too. Would his corpse be as glimmering as his living body?
The three left walked towards us, and Andarna asked if she had passed the test.
-Test?-
-You were just testing me, right? To make sure I'm fit to visit our den? Where is it, anyway?-
-You were never the one being tested,- said the female, and her golden eyes fell on Sorrengail, -You were.-
Aifos shifted slightly, and I wondered if perhaps the purple dragon had tested them too, or perhaps me through them.
"I'm sorry?" Spluttered Sorrengail, her head reared back.
-You should be. You failed.-
Tairn's growl was low. Aifos hugged their knees, their fingers flexing.
-Violet has never failed me!- Andarna slammed her tail on the sand.
Sorrengail rose to her feet, "I don't understand."
How could she not?
Because a bond was a promise of the soul, an entanglement of each of the beings' true essence. Where one ended, the other started, and the boundary was often blurred.
We were lucky to have scales and skin and wings and fingers, because should we just be air and pressure and warmth, we'd be way too close to imagination for comfort.
But we'd exist nevertheless.
And I'd made sure we kept remembering it until our time would come.
I nudged Aifos' elbow until their body gave way, and I said, -I want to fuck you.-
They widened their eyes to me, -I'm sorry?-
-You heard me just fine. I want you to open your legs for me.- A low growl, -Just for me.-
-But...-
-You'll call him right after. If you have any remaining strength, that is.-
-I just told you we'll die, and that's what you want to do? Why?-
-Because sex is the loudest picture of life. I want you whimpering and crying and begging, until you can only feel your slick, and my cock in you, and the tremble of your tights. And I'll make you limp, so that should the future burden you again, you'll be reminded at every footstep that we're here still, and alive. We clear?-
Their cheeks were flushed, and they inhaled sharply when I sent down the bond a jolt of desire.
I raised my snout, and blew hot air on their neck, and their curls tickled my nostrils.
-Come,- I whispered, -Let us slip away. We're not wanted here, and I want you now.-
They lowered their head, and then sighed and followed me.
-Where are you going?- Hissed Chex, but I simply said we'd be back soon, and he'd better wait for us to call him.
I took the lead, and brought them back in the forest, and this time every brush of leaves was the taste of promise.
When I turned around, Aifos stopped, and sunlight fell in the brown of their eyes.
~~~~~~~~
-Take your clothes off,- I said, and admired the soft rustle of fabric against their skin, and how it pooled around their ankles.
They were so young, death would be beautiful on them, how it could've never be with me.
-Lay on your back. Spread your legs.-
The grass was soft on their skin, and I followed with the tip of my claw the jagged edges of their wound on their hip bone, and the line of their sliced eyebrow.
-So pretty, and mine.-
I pulsed when they bit their lip, -I'm... I'm sorry.-
-Do not bother with apologies, kid. I want your whimpers, not your words.-
I placed my claws next to each cheek, -Let yourself be just a body. I'll take care of the rest.-
Desire slightly clouded their eyes, and what was desire, if not life? As long as they desired, they'd be alive, and I'd fuck them every night, -If it were for me, I'd keep you nice and warm and wet every hour of every day.-
-And what, you'd keep me naked even when I'd be on your back?-
-Yes. And still dirty of me.-
A small grin quivered on their lips, and I blew a plume of hot breath before stepping back, and I most definitely enjoyed how their eyes drank in every ripple of light across my scales.
-When the sun falls on you,- they whispered reverently, -You have a cherry sheen. I find it quite attractive.-
-I know you do. And you know I don't want you to talk coherently right now. And instead, here we are. Making conversation while you could be just groaning out your pleasure.-
-Make me, then.-
-I already am, kid.- I pressed my nail between their legs and tilted my head, -Your wetness tells me so.-
They flung a leg over my claw, -Just because I'm wet doesn't mean I can't talk coherently.-
-Mmhh.-
I retreated my claw and sat down, -Give me your hands.-
They did, and I flexed them once and twice to establish control, and then brought them to their sexes.
-Body easy,- I said, -Your hands are now mine.-
-I know. I just don't know why they're not your cock yet...- A flash of a grin, -And why I am still talking.-
One hand wrapped itself around their cock, and the other found their heat.
Aifos grimaced at their stillness, and I wanted to bite their lips, to sink into them so deep and for so long they'd be constantly swollen and bruised.
-Your hands are but my sketches with which to get to know you more detailedly, so that I know exactly how to lick you.- I opened my maw and curled my tongue, pressed it against my upper teeth, -Even if my tongue already knows every inch and fold of your pussy.-
I started moving the finger pressed up on their heat, and saw how their head rolled back; I wanted to bite their neck until they'd bleed.
I was heavy already, and I slightly adjusted the angle and the movement of their wrist, and they parted their lips in pleasure.
Their fingers were as elegant as a poet's, and now as dirty as a whore's, and so terribly mine. I wanted them to suck their interest; I wanted to suck it for them, and swap it with my saliva in their mouth.
They jerked when I switched up the rhythm, and I gave one single pump to their cock. A low whimper was dragged past their throat, and I let out a low, rumbling chuckle.
-The fuck you're laughing at?-
They raised their head to try and glare at me, but I just tossed a grin and a wink, -I'm good, and I'm satisfied. You cannot say otherwise.-
They said nothing, and their hips started chasing down my fingers, and their ass jingled and I answered to it.
I roughened up the finger, made the movements long and deep, and they rolled back their eyes.
-Please...- they whispered, -Please take me.-
-Why?-
-Just... Please...-
I slowed the rhythm, and they grunted in annoyance, only to groan when I rubbed quickly and efficiently against their heat, and they started tossing around and planting their ankles and rolling their hips up, and I swept them up and threw them on the first rock I found.
They rolled on their tummy, and I slammed my foreclaws on the edges of the rock and threw myself in their pussy.
My name was broken on their lips, and I hissed and rumbled deep in my throat.
-Your tights are my law,- I grunted as I pushed myself in, thick and spiked and hard, -Your pussy is my code.-
-F-fuck,- they moaned, -Ro...-
-Fos.-
Their cheek was pressed against the rock, and their hair was sweaty, and their cock was hard against the rock, and their pussy was drenched and mine, and they were so loud and so alive.
I snapped my teeth and quickened up my hips, and I hoped I'd get them pregnant this time, so that they'd be full of my eggs, of me, and death would take a step back.
They peaked with a scream, but I heard branches snapping, and I swivelled my head and slammed myself completely deep in their pussy.
"Fuck! Ronny!"
Tairn stalked in, and I pressed against Aifos and flared my wings wide and screeched such a roar the ground shook, and Aifos moaned below and around me.
-This is not the time,- Tairn snarled, but instead of bothering to answer I arched my neck and engulfed him in my copper fire, and Aifos strangled my cock so much that pleasure jolted around myself and I filled them up.
Tairn blinked away the smoke in his eyes, then huffed and stomped off, and Aifos whispered my name and I stepped off them. They huffed and moaned in pain and rolled on their back, and I looked at my come between their legs.
I stretched out my snout and nuzzled their legs, -Call Chex. Show him too just how loudly we're alive.-