Somewhere in the Cathalian wilderness...
Red swept her red cloak out of the way as she stooped down to pick another mushroom. She added it to the collection of its kin in her basket and danced off to find another. Soon it would be too warm to wear her cloak and hood, but her mistress insisted she wear it this evening in case she got caught out after dark in falling temperatures. Spring had just begun, after all, and Winter still thought it ruled the night.
Indeed a chill did seem to be creeping through the wood. The sun was fast setting and the shadows were long. The red dusk peaked through the newly budding branches of the hardwoods and colored the girl's pale skin in bloodtones. Soon it would be dark, and Red did not know that she was being shadowed.
The monster had been following her scent for miles, and now its luminous yellow eyes spied the girl in the gathering gloom. Her red hood bobbed along in the undergrowth as she worked her way toward the cottage in
It was during one of those rambles through the woods that she had come upon the castle. The trees had thinned, melting into brush and then into a meadow, unkempt and overrun, and there it stood ... in the middle of the sun drenched clearing – solid, unforgiving, a wall of unremitting black broken only by thin embrasures from which arrows could be fired at unwelcome intruders. As she stood within the fringe of trees, concealed by the broad trunk of an ancient oak, peering at the battlements, she felt a shiver run down her spine. It was a clear sunny day, but around the castle, the air seemed to thicken and she wrapped her arms around herself against the sudden cold.Her first instinct was one of flight, but her curiosity overcame the sudden rush of panic and she settled herself to survey the place more carefully. The castle was laid out in a rectangle, its smooth straight lines broken only by the swelling of the towers that marked each corner. There was no sign of life.
First light found Red and Makaran seated on the house-sized boulders in the midst of a nearby river. The wood was beginning to wake as the wind changed with the rising of the sun. Small creatures crept amidst the giant rocks, and birdsong began to accompany the rush of the river. There was still a chill in the air and Red saw Makaran's breath in vapor as he spoke."First I must ask a potentially awkward question. How comfortable are you with being naked?""I have nothing to be ashamed of," Red shrugged."Good. I spend so much time in other skins, that I do not actually own any clothes. Obviously I had to borrow these from Mother Hannah. Shape changing in clothes does not work at all. They do not change with you when the Spirit transforms your body.""Spirit?""Aye, Spirit. That is what Mother Hannah and I have reckoned this to be. I have a very strong animal part to the Spirit inside me, and it allows me to wear its skins.""How many?"
Once upon a time in a land far away there lived a princess in a castle on a hill overlooking a quiet little village. In the forest beyond the village lived a great and terrible dragon. The villagers lived in fear of this dragon. They all knew the dragon would not be satisfied until he had fed on virgin flesh...That is how all the fairy tales begun…but not this one.Crimson walked the path with determination. Out of the village, through the fields and into the forest. She knew the location of the dragon's grove, everyone did. The one shepherdess who foolishly entered the grove last month stumbled i
Iris cursed as the car rolled to a stop. Typical, she thought, miles from anywhere civilised, time was running out and she was dressed most inappropriately for late October. She'd had no warning that the car was dying other than the engine stuttering several times, recovering for a brief; hope filled moment and then cutting out completely.Iris steered the car close to the grass verge as the vehicle lost momentum and eventually stopped.Silence.More silence except for the ticking of the engine as it cooled.Iris sighed and quickly assessed her situation. She was warm enough for the moment due to the car's heater being full on prior to the vehicle's unexpected demise, bu
Following Faolan's lead, unsure of the etiquette; Iris drained her glass as well and felt the viscous liquid slide easily down her throat. Not knowing what to expect, Iris was pleasantly surprised. The liquid had a texture that wasn't as thick as syrup, but was close to it. The taste was... well, it was... Iris couldn't describe the taste; it was like nothing she'd tasted before in her life, by no means unpleasant – just different. It felt as though the liquid had coated her tongue and throat, once again not in an unpleasant way, but in a way that left the taste of the stuff lingering.'Good isn't it?' Faolan asked with a smile.'Very,' Iris whispered as a glow spread outwards warmly from the centre
Iris sighed and pushed herself against her new lover's mouth when she felt his hot breath on her secret folds and his tongue slide between her labia. Faolan's tongue wriggled and squirmed insistently as he pushed into Iris's quickly oiling sex. He flicked at her clit and caused the girl to sigh loudly and then gasp as the hot pulses shot outwards from that sensitive little island.Faolan took his face away from Iris's body and he moved up along the front of her until his face was level with hers. Iris looked into the enigma of Faolan's now brown eyes and remembered how blue they'd been previously.In fact, as she studied him, Iris noticed more changes. Faolan's face had changed shape, only subtly, but it was definitely different. Once again, Iris felt no alarm; she still had that same curious sense of surreal contentment in spite of the
The dragon was at least 50 feet long and must've weighed twenty tons. Its head alone was easily the size of a full grown man. Each of its four legs was as thick as a small tree trunk, with claws that could grasp a full grown man easily. It had massive, bat-like wings that probably had a greater wingspan than the body's considerable length. The dragon's head towered at least ten feet over Seth. Seth just stood there and stared for a moment."It's not polite to stare," the dragon said in its deep rumbling voice.Seth looked away. "I'm sorry. I've just never seen a dragon before."The dragon sighed. "Perhaps you should look at your reflection.""Huh?" said Seth. He had a habit of running his hands through his hair when he was confused and tried to do so now... but he didn't have any hair. Instead he felt two horns on the back of his
"You said that there are no absolutes, correct?" Seth asked. The dragon nodded, so Seth continued, "Then I have just one question: are youabsolutelysure there are no absolutes?"The dragon blinked several times, opened its mouth to respond then closed it again. The dragon then cocked its head to one side for a few moments, opened its mouth to answer, and then closed it again."Here's the problem," Seth said. "Saying there are no absolutes is an absolute statement. Even if you were right, you would be wrong because you are contradicting yourself."The dragon rested its head on it forelegs for several minutes before responding. "Well done boy, though perhaps I should not call you boy anymore. Very well, take the wood elf and go. I should like you to come back though. I might enjoy conversing on this topic further."