Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2010 17:08:04 +0000 From: john aldridge Subject: The Wolf 10 This story contains sexual scenes between males of different species. If this type of material offends then you should not read it. Additionally, if you are under 18 years of age--no matter where you live in the world--you are not to read this story by law. This story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead or to events that may have occurred, is purely coincidental. The author claims all copyrights to this story and no duplication or publication of this story is allowed, except by the web sites to which it has been posted, without the specific consent of the author. Copyright © 2010 EJA THE WOLF By EJA From Chapter Nine: Marrok and Davy looked up and saw three dragons launch themselves down into the chasm, their intention to kill the pair obvious. Davy pointed to a cave just up ahead. **Let's get in there!** he said as Marrok sprang onto another spur of rock and narrowly avoided them being burned alive. The three dragons were gathering for another attack and began their descent as the wolf, with his naked burden clinging tenaciously to his furred body, leapt forward and vanished into the cave. The frustrated roar of the hunting beasts came clearly to them. **We should be safe in here,** Davy observed. **This entrance is too small for them to squeeze into.** But here, the boy was wrong and it didn't take them long to find that out. Darkness obscured the entrance as the third dragon--considerably smaller than the other two--squeezed himself into the narrow aperture and moved determinedly toward the pair. Chapter Ten **Don't speak!** The voice came so unexpected to their heads that Marrok and Davy gave a gasp. **Don't speak out loud, at least,** said the voice, **at least not until we're well away from my brothers.** Curiosity got the better of Davy and he asked, in his and Marrok's language, **Why not?** **Because their hearing is very acute--and they understand the human language.** The younger dragon appeared in the dim light filtering down from above. **I don't want to give away the fact that I'm going to betray them.** **Why would you betray them?** This from Marrok. The dragon then proceeded to tell them a tale about how three brothers came to be living together and the elder siblings treatment of their youngest. A story filled to the brim with painful nips to his tail and wings, of his body being "accidentally" raked with fire and of generally being a gofer for the older dragons. **I was expected to find their meals for them as well as wash and bathe them. I truly despise them!** he finished. **But why would you help us?** Davy asked, curious. **Because I need to get away from them. I spoke to your eagle a while back and he told me what you planned on doing. I've been watching your approach and listening to your conversations as you've travelled,** the dragon said. **I could have made contact sooner but figured this way was better,** he added. **This cave has a more direct link to the Pool of Life,**--he had indeed been listening--**that was why I encouraged my brothers to attack outside, rather than waiting until you got to their favourite spot--a more open area where you were sure to have been killed.** They could hear the bigger beasts breathing, waiting on their sibling to kill them. **They'll have a long wait,** the dragon said. **Still they're nothing if not patient.** He gave a short puff and a small gout of flame shot from his muzzle. It lit up a darker area than the place they were in. **We go that way,** he said and moved off; for such a large creature, he was remarkably light on his feet. **Oh,** he added, **here's your bearskin. I moved it away from the entrance. My brothers might have seen it.** He lit up an area and, sure enough, there was Davy's skin. The boy quickly donned it; it was quite chilly inside the mountain. Wolf and boy followed him--they had no other option. Instinct told them that the dragon could be trusted, but that they would be wise to be on their guard, at least until the beast had proved himself worthy of their trust. **I've been through this mountain from end to end,** the dragon told them, **and I think I know every cave and cavern inside it. Don't worry about us getting out, I know any number of ways out.** With occasional puffs of flame to light their way, the dragon led them into the mountain proper. He stepped unerringly on the easiest terrain for the wolf and his companion until they finally reached a cavern that was at least two miles across. Again light filtered down from an unknown source above and lit up a pool with an ethereal glow. A lone figure sat in a rock that was shaped like an armchair. **That's Kupala,** the dragon said, identifying the figure, **she's the Goddess of Fertility. She's also the guardian of the Pool of Life. You must both bow when you reach her then request permission to enter the pool. If you frame your request properly, she'll let you. I'll wait here,** he finished. Wolf and the boy approached the figure who was wrapped in a voluminous cloak. She looked up and they saw that she appeared to be not many years older than Davy. `Greetings,' she said, speaking aloud. `My name is Kupala. Ask me what you will.' `My lady,' Davy said, speaking aloud for the first time in many months, `I wish to bear this wolf's child,' he added, gesturing to Marrok. `And why would you wish that?' the Goddess asked. `Because Marrok and I are in love,' Davy told her, `and we wish to give the world an amalgamation of our two species. I know that a boy or a man becoming pregnant goes against the norm but, since we are in love and have been many months past, would you grant us this request?' the boy finished. `Step forward Marrok,' the Goddess said then. `I must discover if you are worthy to receive such a gift.' Marrok, understanding the Goddess' speech, did as he was bid. An alabaster hand appeared from below the cloak and settled atop his head; a glow suffused both hand and head. Finally she nodded. `You are worthy,' she said. `You may step in the Pool and bathe yourself.' This to Davy. The boy quickly shed his outfit and, watched by Marrok, Kupala and the dragon--whose name the travellers still didn't know--stepped gingerly into the life-altering Pool. Davy thought the water would be cold but was pleasantly surprised at its warmth. He settled down, submerging the majority of his body in the water, and closed his eyes. He began to sense changes occurring within his body and on its surface. He opened his eyes and looked into the clear water surrounding him and was surprised to see a long line marking his body from his pubic hairs--sparse at this time in his life--up to his chest. `That's long enough, young Davy,' the Goddess said to him. `Any longer and you'd lose your masculinity entirely. I got the impression that that wouldn't sit well with either of you.' Davy rose from the pool at the Goddess' bidding. He was soon back with Marrok and dry without needing a drying cloth. He studied the line on his abdomen then looked curiously at Kupala. `You'll need some means to extract any of your offspring, won't you?' the Goddess said by way of explanation. `This method makes it less painful, too.' She then explained the means by which to remove the resultant child from his body. Two raised edges would appear when the infant was about to be born and must be pulled apart; this would expose the child and enable its removal. The line, she added, would always be there until such time as he was unable to bear any more children. `And now you must leave.' The Goddess raised her hand and beckoned to their dragon friend. `Bear them home, Xxik[pronounced Kezik]' she said to the dragon, `and guard them well. In the fullness of time they will become precious and there will be many who will want to experiment on them, Davy particularly. You are their guardian. Keep them safe and free from harm.' `Yes, my Goddess.' Xxik told her, lowering his head. `They will have to kill me before they'll lay a hand on these two.' The Goddess placed her hand on the head of the dragon and another glow suffused the contact. `I've given you extra powers,' she explained when the glow faded. `These will enable you to protect them--and yourself--better.' The audience was at an end. The trio left the vast cavern and made their way through the labyrinth once more. `I'm taking a different route to the outside,' Xxik explained at one point. `It'll take longer but, if we're to avoid my brothers, it's necessary.' `It would seem that I've been given new talents, too,' Marrok said a few caves further on. `What talents?' Davy asked. Then the truth dawned. `Good grief, you can speak! And understand human speech!' To say that he was startled would have been an understatement. `And there was I thinking I would eventually lose the power of speech altogether.' **But thoughtspeak can still be useful,** Xxik had been listening to their conversation, **especially while my brothers are around. Neither of them have the talent to thoughtspeak,** he added. `I suppose so,' Davy agreed and saw Marrok nod his head. `Have we much further to go?' he asked; the constant darkness, albeit interspersed with bursts of flame from Xxik's muzzle, was beginning to wear on him, he wanted nothing more than to be in the open. `Two more caverns and a passage between them and we'll be out,' Xxik told him. `No more than a couple of hours, at most.' Xxik was off by about a half-hour but eventually light from outside became stronger the closer they got to the mountain's exit. Finally the unlikely trio left the caves and took in the vista before them. `I don't recognise anything,' Davy said. `I can't see the jungle.' `That's because we're on the opposite side of the mountain,' Xxik told him. `Now I know one of the more important talent's my Goddess gave to me and I'm going to use it to see if my brothers are still waiting outside the cave. I won't be long.' And with that he took off and was soon out of sight. `I suppose we can trust him, can't we?' Davy asked, looking at Marrok. `I mean, the Goddess Kupala has charged him with our well-being. It'd be as well not to anger her by betraying us, wouldn't it?' `I would think so, my love,' Marrok replied. `Besides that, he's coming back.' Davy looked up and saw Xxik approaching, his wings beating lazily as he descended onto the ledge they had waited on. `They're still there,' he said with a grin that displayed vicious-looking teeth. `It looks as if they've settled in for a long wait.' `Did they see you?' Davy wanted to know. Xxik shook his head. `No. I told you the Goddess had given me a talent I was going to use. I'm even going to use it to transport us to your tree.' `What talent?' Davy pressed. `She has allowed me to become invisible--and this will apply to anyone I give transport to. So I suggest you climb aboard my back and we'll be off with my brothers none the wiser.' Davy grinned and Marrok's tongue hung out in his own simulation of laughing. `Oh, that's awesome!' Davy said as he climbed on Xxik's broad back, closely followed by the wolf. `I get the feeling that this particular talent is going to become very useful in the future.' With a beat of his leathery wings, Xxik rose into the air and soared aloft. He rounded the mountain as his body vanished from view--along with his passengers. In seconds they were flying past the cave they had entered previously and saw Xxik's brothers still waiting patiently for their absent sibling to come out with his prize. The smaller of the two even looked up at them as they passed overhead but gave no sign of having spotted them. Xxik laughed in the silence of their minds and headed out over the plain. They flew over the copse where they had had the encounter with the Wyvern and saw that there was nothing left of the female save for a few bones and the barbed tail. Evidently the father and his offspring had found the meat of the mother quite tasty. Due to the rush of the wind over them the trio found it easier to continue their conversations in the confines of their minds. **I'm wondering just how long your brothers will wait there,** Davy offered, **if, as you say, they've a great deal of patience.** **I know not, neither do I care,** Xxik replied, **I'm just glad to be out of their sight. I'm never going back.** **Not that you really can,** Marrok rejoined, **if your job is to be our protector.** Xxik nodded his lizard-like head. **That, of course, is true.** Although it took several days to cover their return journey, Xxik, Davy and Marrok made it back to the tree within a week of starting out from the Pool of Life. Given that they had been away from it for more than half a year Davy advised caution. **I'll have a look round and make sure no-one found the tree and where we live,** he told the wolf and their transport. **Is that wise?** Xxik asked. The invisible trio descended to the plateau. **Stay invisible,** Davy said. **That way, if I get in trouble, you'll be able to get me out of it.** He descended via the dragon's leg and, as soon as he was on the ground, the boy became visible. The tree looked as if they had left it yesterday. Nothing and no-one appeared to be nearby. Treading cautiously, Davy reached the rent at the base of the tree and peered inside. No-one was waiting to pounce so he descended into the base, looking cautiously around the familiar place. Then he rounded a corner and came face-to-face with his father. Before he could cry out rough hands grabbed him and pulled him further into the darkness--into the home he had made with Marrok. `You be quiet now,' the big man growled in the boy's ear. `Where's that bastard animal?' There were three of them as well as his father. `Take off and see if you can see it,' his sire ordered the nearest one, who nodded. This one headed back the way Davy had come--but failed to return. One down. `Three months we've been waiting here,' his father told him. `Where the hell have you been? Never mind, keep quiet,' he said, still with his hand over his son's mouth, `I'll find out later.' The remainder of the men reached the same conclusion as Davy; the first hunter had encountered the wolf and come off second best. `Go and find out what happened to him,' Davy's father said to a second hunter. `If he's dead, I suggest you exercise more caution.' This one seemed a trifle more reluctant to follow his colleague's footsteps. Nevertheless, he went. He, too, failed to return. Now it was only his parent and one other. Finally, when his patience had worn thin, Davy's father addressed the remaining one. `Look, you're the one who tracked this one to here. Just get out there and kill that bastard for me.' As soon as the tracker was out of sight Davy felt himself lifted and hefted over his father's shoulder. Then the man moved out and went deeper into the cavern. `While we was waiting for you to come back, me and my men did a lot of exploring. We found several exits from these caves and I'm not gonna wait around for that wolf to come after me. I'm getting you out of here and we're gonna go to a place where no-one will find us.' ##To be continued## KUPALA [extracted from the "Encyclopaedia of Things That Never Were" by Michael Page and Robert Ingpen: Paper Tiger©1985]: The Goddess of Fertility. In appearance she is tall and smiling, with eyes blue as the summer skies and hair as golden as the ripening wheat. Her strong round arms are creamy as the milk of young cows, her bosom deep with promise and her hips curved like the swell of the earth itself. The people of ancient Russia worshipped her because her favours bring increase to all the crops and animals. If she does not receive the correct devotions then her displeasure causes barren herds and empty fields. The correct time to worship Kupala is on Midsummer Day. Men and women should bathe naked together in the rivers, jump hand-in-hand over bonfires, and make wreaths to cast on the waters. The ceremonies include the sacrifice of a cockerel at the foot of a tree stripped of all its lower branches, and as the cockerel dies the worshippers should dance around the tree with songs of praise for Kupala. She shows her pleasure in these festivities by causing women to become fertile and bear children in the following spring. And so ends Chapter Ten. Chapter Eleven will follow soon since I'm as eager to find out what happens to Davy and his father. My apologies for the lack of sex in this one but I wanted them to get back to the tree as quickly as possible. Xxik will play a vital role in several of the following chapters, of that, I'm sure. Let me know what you think. EJA e-mail: pegasusunicorn52@msn.com