WIEDERGEBURT Act IV: Chapter 19

It was late at night. I stood outside with Qawuin, staring at the stars as he and I shared a drink. I wasn’t sure what kind of alcohol we were drinking, but it had a nice burn as it went down my throat, and it warmed my insides as it spread through my body. Behind me came the sounds of chatter from Jasmine, Qawuin’s and Neisha’s daughter.

“So you’re really a dragon?! That’s so neat!”

“W-well…”

“Hey! Hey! What kind of powers do you have?! You’re really strong, right?”

“Er… my powers are…”

“Can you transform into a dragon?!”

“U-uh… that’s…”

Jasmine had warmed up to Siv a lot during dinner. Perhaps the dragon girl’s timid nature helped the young lamia feel more at ease. The moment I left Siv’s side to speak with Qawuin, Jasmine had come up to my wife and began bombarding her with a series of rapid-fire questions. I didn’t even need to see Siv to know that she was overwhelmed.

“It seems my daughter is giving your wife a hard time.” Qawuin had a mild smile on his face, as though he was both amused and aggrieved. “My apologies.”

“Naw. It’s fine,” I said. “This will be good for Siv. Even after years of living among humans, she is still very shy. Whenever we go out, she always hangs in the back and tries to remain unobtrusive. Having someone pay attention to her like this will help build character.”

“If you say so.” Qawuin didn’t seem convinced, but he dropped the subject.

“By the way, I noticed your daughter is a lamia, but your son is human. How does that work?”

“I do not understand it myself,” Qawuin admitted with a resigned smile. “Neisha doesn’t either. However, it seems the child birthed from a lamia and a human has a fifty percent chance of being either lamia or human. At least, that is what I am assuming. No one else I know is married to a lamia--never mind the children.”

“Hmm…”

I was a little confused regarding Qawuin and his wife’s incredible luck. Even though I didn’t really want another child right now, Lin and I had been trying to produce one. We hadn’t had any luck. This made me wonder if there might be an issue of compatibility between me and Lin, or if Qawuin and Neisha were just ridiculously lucky.

“Are you interested because of your other wife?” asked Qawuin.

I gave him a nod. “I would be lying if I said I wasn’t.”

“Well, I don’t think that is something you should worry about for now. You and Lin are still quite young. Me and Neisha did not have a child until ten years after we were married. In either event, you mentioned you had something important you wanted to speak with me about?”

“Yes.”

While he gave me this opportunity to speak, I didn’t say anything at first. Mentally reviewing everything in my head, I debated how to present my purpose for coming here, how to make him understand what I needed to do. Yet even as I thought, I realized nothing I had to say would be easy for him to hear.

I should just be honest in that case.

“In about half a month’s time, a caravan filled with captured lamia will be coming to Muqadas, where they will be sold at the slave auction house. These lamia were kidnapped directly from the lamia village.” Qawuin sucked in a breath, his eyes widening in shock, but I wasn’t done. “The ones who kidnapped these lamia are from the Red Scorpions, who we learned have been working with a man named Isotep Malik. There seems to be some connection to Isotep and a lamia named Muhammad, who is a former member of Queen Medusa’s Elder Council.”

I paused to make sure Qawuin was still following me. The man looked like he’d just been hit by one of my lightning bolts, so I decided not to say anything more and let him calm down instead.

“So…” He took a deep breath. “I am going to take a leap of faith here and say the reason you returned was to rescue those kidnapped lamia.”

“And bring Muhammad to justice, if at all possible,” I added.

“Well… this is a bit of a problem.” Running a hand through his hair, Qawuin looked both awkward and resigned. “Slavery is, of course, perfectly legal within the Endless Desert. However, I also understand where you are coming from. Those lamia were kidnapped from their homes and have been unjustly enslaved. He might not be committing any crimes, but I cannot help but feel like what Isotep is doing is wrong.”

“So what are you saying?” I asked.

“I’m saying that it is only my personal respect for you, King Menes’ favor of you, and my King’s warning not to antagonize you that is keeping me from arresting you right now,” Qawuin said.

“There is also the fact that you are not strong enough to arrest me,” I added.

“There is that too.”

An introspective silence grew between us, broken only by the noise occasionally coming from inside of the house. Jasmine was no longer talking. Perhaps she had gone asleep.

Instead of conversation, the sound of footsteps reached my ears, seconds before I turned around and found Siv wandering up to me. She walked over and buried her face into my chest. Her arms wove around my back. She was shaking. I guess leaving her to Jasmine’s tender mercies was not a good idea, after all.

“It seems your wife has had enough,” Qawuin said.

“Seems so,” I muttered, turning just my head to him. “Tell me something.”

“What is it?” he asked.

“You said right now that Isotep is not breaking any laws, so there is nothing to be done. If I tried something, you would be obligated to arrest me. However, what if I found evidence that he was breaking the law? What would happen then?”

Qawuin rubbed his jaw as he studied me. “… I suppose it would depend. If evidence has come to light that he has broken the law, then it would be the job of the army to arrest him and present his crimes before the King.”

“And if a private citizen who was not apart of your kingdom brought him to justice and presented him before the king?”

“Then I imagine he would earn King Menes’s favor.” Qawuin narrowed his eyes. “Are you planning on trying to bring Isotep to justice? Do you know how to find evidence of his wrongdoings?”

“Of course not.” I waved my hand as if to ward off his suspicions. “I have never met Isotep, so there’s no way I could find evidence of his wrong doings. This was all just a hypothetical scenario.”

“I somehow doubt this scenario you speak of is hypothetical at all, but… well, I suppose we can leave it at that for now.”

“Right.” Siv was still clinging to me, so I hooked one arm under her knees and kept the other around her shoulders, mindful of the massive wings jutting from her back as I scooped the dragon girl into a bridal carry. The only thing I couldn’t carry was her tail, which rested on the ground. “Well, I’m going to get some sleep. Hopefully, I will see you again some time.”

“Have a good night, Eryk,” Qawuin said.

“You too.”

I nodded at the man, then turned around, walked out the front gate, and began the journey back to the inn with Siv in my arms.

***

I woke up because a slight chill had crept down my spine. Glancing around, I looked at the threadbare ceiling made from sun dried mud bricks, unpainted and ugly. A weight on my chest and the sound of someone gently breathing in my ear alerted me to Siv’s presence. The two of us were wrapped in a blanket and laying on the futon inside of the inn room I had rented for eight days.

Nothing seemed out of place.

At least, nothing inside this room.

“Siv,” I whispered to the woman sleeping on me. “Siv, you need to wake up.”

“Mmm… no more… five more minutes…”

I rolled at my eyes when I heard her mumble. Mumbling nonsense in their sleep seemed to be something all cold-blooded creatures did.

“No. Not five more minutes. You need to wake up.”

“Hmm mmm… huh?”

Siv finally lifted her head and blinked her sleep-crusted eyes at me. We stared at each other for a few seconds, and then Siv tried to place her head back on my chest.

“Siv. Don’t fall back asleep!” I said with a harsh whisper.

“Eryk?” Siv jerked back awake, blinking several more times, ridding her eyes of sleep. Perhaps she’d heard the urgency in my voice. “What is it? What is wrong?”

“Several people just entered this inn,” I said. “They are coming up the stairs. I sense hostile intent directed at us, so it’s safe to say we are the reason they’ve come.”

“Oh. What should we do?” Siv looked a little nervous, but that was just how she was. Unlike my other wives, she detested battle.

“First, I need you to let me get up,” I said with a smile.

“Right.”

Siv seemed reluctant to move, but however reluctant she may have been, she still removed herself from me.

I stood up and got dressed, though I didn’t put my shirt on. My pants were enough for now. I just needed to be somewhat decent. Once I was dressed, I knelt beside Siv and wrapped the blanket around her naked body, then leaned forward and kissed her lips.

“I’m going to deal with these intruders. If anyone comes in through the window, just blast them away with wind.”

“Okay.”

Siv might not enjoy combat, but she could fight when she had to, and seeing her nod reassured me that she would if such a situation came about.

Standing up again, I walked out of my room and into the hallway. It was a small hall. I’d say there was just enough room for two people to stand shoulder to shoulder, which meant my maneuverability was hampered. I’d have to be careful. I didn’t want to accidentally destroy this inn.

The people who’d come up the stairs appeared in the hallway, dressed in black cloaks that hid their bodies from view and cowls pulled over their heads. There were three of them. A slight glow emitted from within their cloaks. Not an aura. Just a glow. They had only just reached the Second State of Spiritualism recently. I couldn’t see their faces, but I wasn’t concerned. There were only a few people in this city who would dare to challenge me. In fact, I already had a few guesses.

“Did Isotep send you?”

All the people present paused, their muscles stiffening. I guess that answered my question. That said, they seemed rather uncertain of themselves, like they didn’t know what to do.

After the pause, they regained their bearings, unsheathed their khopesh, which had been hidden by their cloaks, and advanced on me. I slid my dominant foot forward and raised my hands in a defensive position. Since I was inside of a building with innocent people, I didn’t want to use my element and accidentally destroy the building.

Since the hallway was so narrow, they came at me one at a time. The first one lunged forward. He or she thrust out the khopesh they were holding. The blade glinted silver in the sparse amounts of moonlight filtering in through the window.

I sidestepped and knocked the blade aside. Then I took one step forward and thrust out my fist. A loud crack echoed in the hallway as my fist connected with my attackers face. It felt like I’d hit their jaw. I could feel the bones in their face shattering, caving in and turning to mush before they crumpled to the floor and didn’t get back up. They were dead. I could already tell at a glance that my punch had killed them.

I didn’t pay him any mind.

The next person hesitated when they saw how easily I had disposed of their comrade, and since it looked like they weren’t going to attack, I decided to strike first.

A single step forward took me over the corpse and into my next enemy’s guard. Of course, that single step had been me using the Flash Step to close the distance. The man--woman?--didn’t even have time to register my presence before I speared my hand through their chest. Their warm insides coated my hand and arm before my hand emerged from their back. Loud croaks echoed from within the hood, the khopesh clattered to the floor, and the person died on my arm.

I pulled my hand from their chest.

The corpse fell backward and struck the floor.

“It looks like you’re the only one left,” I said to the last remaining figure alive.

The cloaked figure stood there in shock for all but one second, then tried to flee, but I used the Flash Step once more to bypass him and block the staircase. While I couldn’t see this person’s face because of the cloak, I could imagine the way their eyes widened as I appeared before them like an apparition.

“Did you really think I would let you leave?” I asked, taking a step forward. This person took a step back. “If you wish to get out of this alive, I suggest you tell me who sent you and why?”

The cloak shook. It took me a moment to realize this person was shaking their head.

“Is that ‘no, you won’t tell me’ or ‘no, you can’t tell me?’ Nod if it’s the first and shake your head if it’s the second.”

There was a pause before the cloak shook his head. So it wasn’t that he didn’t want to tell me, but that he couldn’t, which meant…

“Did Isotep remove your tongue?” I asked. “Nod for yes, shake your head for no.”

The man nodded.

I placed my hand against the back of my neck and rubbed it, wondering if the stiffness I suddenly felt there was natural. This was the kind of situation I didn’t like. Now I was sure these people weren’t attacking me because they wanted to, but because Isotep was somehow controlling them. I didn’t know what he was using to control them, however. And even if I did know, I wasn’t sure I’d be willing to help them.

At the same time, I couldn’t just kill someone who no longer had the will to fight.

“Did Isotep send you to kill me?” I asked.

A headshake. No, huh? That wasn’t what I expected. However, if this man and the group with him was not here to kill me, then…

“Did he send you to spy on me?”

A nod.

“I see.”

So this was just a simple intelligence gathering operation. It reminded me of something the Assassins Sect would do. They were quite adept at stealth operations and were often used by various other sects to spy on their enemies. My guess was that these people had been sent to learn more about me so Isotep could figure out how to deal with me. The only question I had now was: How had Isotep discovered me?

Either way, I wouldn’t get an answer out of this man.

“Leave now,” I commanded.

The man didn’t need to be told twice. He ran right past me, so scared that the idea of attacking with his khopesh in a surprise attack didn’t even ocurre to him.

I scratched my head, wondering if it was okay to let that man go, but… well, it should be fine. It didn’t matter if someone like that lived a little longer. They could not harm me or my family.

I looked back at the two corpses still on the ground. Wandering up to the one I’d speared through the chest, I knelt and turned them over.

“Now to find out who you are,” I mumbled as I removed their hood.

This person was male, his age indeterminate. He looked like he was in his twenties, but he could have been older, since people who had reached higher states of spiritualism tended to age more slowly.

I opened the man’s mouth and channeled lightning to my eyes. Just like I had suspected, this man had no tongue. It had been cut out because people couldn’t speak without one. If you couldn’t speak, you had no way of telling someone’s secrets to someone else no matter what form of excruciating torture you went through. I was sure the other man was the same, but I didn’t want to look at him. His face was likely messed up from my punch.

There was nothing more to be gained from staring at these corpses, so I stood back up and headed toward my door. A loud howl ripped through the night just as I reached my door. It was the howling of wind. Hearing that noise caused me to quicken my pace and slam the door open. I ran inside and paused upon surveying the room.

First I looked at Siv. She was standing in the center of the room, her back facing me, and the blanket still wrapped tightly around her body. I could see the bulges from where her wings and tail were causing the fabric to stretch. She had her hand outstretched, and the wall she was facing had a massive hole in it.

“Were you attacked?” I asked, coming up behind her.

Siv turned to me as I walked over. She nodded.

“There were three men in cloaks,” she said. “They came in through the window, so I hit them with my wind.”

“I see. It seems the three who came up the stairs were just a distraction. I bet their real goal was you.”

“Why would they be after me?”

“Because they can use you to force me into compliance.” I shrugged. “The best way to force someone to do what you want is to hold someone they love hostage. If Isotep managed to kidnap you, he could blackmail me into following his orders.” I grinned and rubbed her head. “It’s a good thing you’re so strong. I bet they weren’t expecting that. Did any of them survive?”

Siv closed her eyes and nuzzled my hand as she answered me. “I don’t know. I just sent them back outside.”

“Well, that’s fine too. It doesn’t matter if they survived or not.” I hummed for a moment before switching topics. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Siv answered.

“Really? You don’t need me to reassure you that everything is okay?”

At the suggestive tone in my voice, Siv opened her eyes and stared at me. Her cheeks and the tips of her ears turned red. Her eyes grew half-lidded as she looked at my face, then let her gaze wander down to my naked chest.

“I do…” she finally breathed. “I want you to reassure me that everything is okay.”

Siv’s face was still tilted down as she stared at my pecks, so I placed a hand under her chin and lifted it back up. I gazed into her bright, emerald eyes, then leaned down and kissed her. A soft mewling noise escaped her muffled mouth as she wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me back. The blanket fell away. The cold night air hit her skin, causing her to shiver.

“Let’s head back to the futon,” I suggested.

“Right…” Siv said, still breathing heavily from our kiss.

I had Siv kneel on the futon and spread her legs. Her hairless pussy was already exposed. Her small chest was also visible. Her nipples had grown stiff.

I leaned back in for a kiss, pushing my tongue past her lips, past her teeth, and stirring up the saliva in her mouth. Siv released a nasally gasp, though it turned into a much longer moan when I cupped her sex and began rubbing her with my fingers. Her pussy lips were squishy and soft. I guess I could call them pleasantly pliant. A trickle of juices ran down my fingers as they became wedged between her lips. I didn’t insert my finger inside of her, instead choosing to saw my finger up and down her slit.

“Hrrn! Hnn! Hrrn! Mmmnnn!”

Siv ground her crotch against my hand. The way her hips moved was like an erotic dance timed to the rhythm of my fingers. Her flat stomach flexed like a belly dancer’s with every movement. When I pulled back from our kiss and saw this sight, my dick began to strain against my pants.

“That… looks pain… ha… ahn… that looks painful!”

Siv was staring at the tent in my pants. She reached out and undid the belt keeping my pants on, then slid them down my hips. I was kneeling, so she couldn’t take them off, but she slid them far enough down that my dick sprang free.

It looked like she was going to kneel down and take my dick into her mouth, but I didn’t want that right now. I used my free hand to raise her head and began kissing her again. Siv got the picture. As our kiss became more voracious, more heated, she reached out with a hand and wrapped her soft fingers around my throbbing cock.

“Ha… ha… ahn… It’s twitching… It’s so warm… Eryk… I… I…”

Siv couldn’t speak well, locked as she was in the throes of pleasure, and I soon made it so she couldn’t speak at all. I pressed my finger against her opening and finally pushed it inside of her tight passage. She released a strangled moan that I muffled with my mouth.

My first finger fit fine, but the second one was a lot harder to push in. It felt like she was pushing against me.

“Haaa… haaaa… ahn! Ah! I-ish too much!”

While Siv claimed it was too much, my dick was several times bigger than this and fit just fine. I was soon able to fit both fingers inside of her tight pussy. She was breathing heavily now as I pumped my fingers inside of her, getting her juices flowing. The wings on her back flapped like they were spasming. The sound of her tail thumping against the floor echoed around us. Her own hand moved faster. Some precum appeared on the head of my cock, and she used that to try and help lubricate her hand.

It was a bit painful having my dry dick rubbed, I realized. Since that was the case, I removed my fingers from Siv’s honeypot and used the juices staining my hand to help her. I rubbed her pussy juice over my shaft, which helped lubricate it. Siv became more enthusiastic once it got easier to slide her hand across the entire length of my dick. I went back to plunging my fingers inside of her wet cunt.

“Hrrn! Hnn! Haaa! Ahnn!”

Siv’s voice was music to my ears, and I wanted to hear more, but I realized there was a good chance anyone else staying at this inn could hear her too. Actually, I wondered why no one was here. I’d have expected people to come running out of their rooms after all the noise we made from that fight, but no one had appeared.

Well, whatever.

“Eryk! I’m--!!”

Siv was unable to tell me she was cumming because I curled my fingers inside of her and rubbed the most sensitive spot on her rigid walls. Her entire body stiffened as she came. At the same time, I released my own flood of cum, which spurted against her hand and got on her stomach.

With a shudder, Siv pitched forward. Her head came to rest on my shoulder. Since I couldn’t wrap my arms around her back because of her wings, I wrapped them around her waist and pulled her tight against me. My cum on her stomach mixed with her sweat and created a slick coating between us. While my dick had gone slightly flaccid, coming into contact with Siv’s small body made me hard again. My once more erect dick came to rest against her pussy.

“Eryk…” Siv breathed out my name like a sigh.

“Do you want me to reassure you some more?” I asked.

“Yes. Please.”

I was still on my knees, but I sat back at her words and placed my hands on Siv’s naked hips. For her part, Siv climbed onto my lap, moved her legs until they came to rest on either side of my body, and sat within the nook of my crossed legs.

Like this, I could see Siv’s body a lot more clearly. Her glistening skin illuminated only by soft moonlight seemed almost translucent. Small breasts moved up and down. They didn’t jiggle much because of how tiny they were, but her puffy nipples made it clear she could feel everything happening to them just fine. Her hair was a bit messed up. Several strands had become caught on her wings. It was one of the few problems that came with having long hair and dragon wings, I guess.

I reached behind Siv and grabbed her asscheeks with my hands, kneading them. Siv gasped, then moaned as I lifted her off my lap and maneuvered her over my dick. Once I could feel my head nuzzling against her wet pussy, I lowered Siv onto my dick.

“It’s… it’s going in! Hnnn! I’m being split in half by your dick!”

Siv cried out before leaning down and biting on my shoulder. Had this been anyone else, she would have drawn blood, but my body had been refined with alchemy pills and natural treasures now. Even if it didn’t break the skin, I still felt it. Her bite actually sent a thrill of pleasure through my body. She had latched onto the dragon symbol on my neck.

Because she was sucking on the dragon symbol, her fangs were not breaking skin but scraping against it in a way that felt pleasant, her moans and cries were muffled as I began to move. I rocked my hips and lifted her off me at the same time. Siv’s cries grew as I increased the pace. She locked her legs around my waist as I impaled her on my stiff cock.

Siv’s tight passage was difficult to move in. She was so tight it constantly felt like I was being forced out. At the same time, because she was so tight, her walls rubbed against me in ways no one else’s pussy could. I felt everything. It felt like every crevice of her hot passage was rubbing my shaft.

I came in no time.

Maybe it was because I had cum, but Siv’s entire body grew stiffer and the legs locked around my waist clenched so tight it was actually a little painful. Her loud moans, even muffled by her mouth on my shoulder, echoed around us. Then she seemed to lose all her strength. Her legs grew weak, her mouth left my skin, and she fell backward.

I caught her with my hands. However, even though I was holding her, Siv was still limp. Had she passed out? Her eyes were glazed over and drool leaked from her mouth. She was still shuddering with post-orgasmic bliss, so I guess she was just basking in the moment. However, the sight was making me hard again.

With such a sight before me, I had no way to resist. I leaned down and placed my mouth against her tit. It was so small I could suck her entire breast into my mouth. Siv screamed. I’m sure she would have thrown her head back if it wasn’t already in that position. She gritted her teeth as more drool escaped her mouth and ran down her cheeks when I began flicking my tongue over her nipple.

“G-growing bigger?! H-how?!”

She was probably referring to my dick, which felt like it had swelled even more than before. I was still inside of her. The feeling of her walls expanding to accommodate my sudden increase in girth almost made me cum on the spot, but I resisted. I wanted her to cum first this time.

Having sex in this position was hard. I managed by flexing my butt, but Siv wasn’t able to do anything because her body had already given out. All she could do was ride out the waves of pleasure. I could actually feel her emotions through the bond that had formed from her bite mark, which acted similarly to the Ring of Marji. I wondered if they were connected. However, those thoughts and more fled when Siv’s pussy twitched and tightened around my cock.

She had cum.

Knowing that I had made her orgasm, I felt my own will to resist my impending release crumble. I came inside of her again. Spurt after spurt of my hot cum filled her vagina, but despite that, none of it came out.

“So… so warm…” Siv mumbled. She was still hanging off me, her back arched, hair dangling against the futon. I pulled her forward so she was resting on my chest instead of in that uncomfortable position. “Eryk… let’s remain like this.”

“Sure,” I said, smiling as I buried my nose into her hair. “We can remain like this for a little while at least.”

The sun was actually beginning to come up, but I figured we could stay like this for a few more minutes.

***

“What happened to my inn?!”

So, it turned out the bartender and his wife who owned the inn didn’t live there. They lived several blocked away, which explained why they didn’t show up when Siv and I came under attack--or when we were having admittedly loud sex.

I stood next to the man and his wife as they gawked at the hole in the wall, which Siv had created when several people tried to sneak in and attack her while I was dealing with three other intruders. They didn’t look angry. I was certain anger would be coming soon, but for now, at least, they appeared too astonished to actually feel much of anything.

Well, aside from shock, that is.

“This might not be my place to say it, but I think you should invest in better security,” I told the two in a serious voice.

“You… did you cause this?!” asked the bartender, who only now seemed to become angry.

“Of course not.” I scoffed, even as Siv hid behind me, her face pressed against my back. “The ones who caused this were the people who attacked us last night.”

“Attacked? Who attacked?”

I withheld a smile when I saw the man’s rapidly paling face, shaking my head and feigning concern for my own well being.

“Several people snuck into your inn during the middle of the night and tried to kill me and Siv,” I explained. “We managed to fend them off, but they created that large hole in the wall.”

“Is that really what happened?”

“That’s really what happened.”

The bartender seemed skeptical, but then he sighed, scratched his head, and began muttering to himself about how, “it couldn’t be helped.” Meanwhile, his wife was just now recovering from her own shock.

“It’s gonna take a lot of money to fix this.”

“Don’t worry.” I summoned a sack filled with coins from my storage back. “There are 10,000 valis in this bag. I’m sure that’s more than enough money to fix your wall and maybe even have your entire inn renovated.”

10,000 valis was a lot in the Endless Desert. Even a noble family could not afford to toss around that much unless they were one of the Four Great Families.

The man accepted the bag with a stunned expression. As he and his wife tried to stutter out their thanks, I turned back to look at the hole in the wall and sighed. Siv and I would have to find a new inn to stay at. I guess we’d be visiting Kazanufa Lodgings again.