Cut and Run, Chapter 6 (Allen Belushi Cycle 6)

Cut and Run, Chapter 6

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Gravid, gravid, what does gravid mean….? Oh wait! Yeah, she’s uh,” it finally hit me “…she’s saying she’s…PREGNANT!’ I thought to myself. I hugged her real tight then.

“Uh, Wow Babe!” I said, trying to keep my cool. “That’s….that’s…wonderful! But, I just want to let you know, that I’ll treat her like she’s my own!” I said, trying to reassure her.

Frazziss then struggled out of my arms with a MAJOR growl! Oh, she was PISSED! Then she hit me on the arm, HARD!

“ALLEN!” She roared, blowing smoke. “I haven’t been with anyone else!”

“wait, WHAT?!” I replied hoarsely, as my world fell out from under me.

And then, my brain just sort of …shut off. My world, came to a halt. Deep down, I knew what she was saying: that I was a Daddy, again. That I had sired another kid.

All that I could think of was, another kid like my first one?

Lots of kids get conceived every day. Me? I couldn’t even do that right. I just kept fucking up everyone else’s shit. I betrayed my wife, I killed my kid. I even ended up hurting that one Security Guard at the Mamono Man-Prison who liked me a lot: Angelique the Were-Cat. The last I heard of her, she thought I’d killed myself.

And now I had gone and fucked things up for Frazziss. The one lady who taught me how to love life again. She’d already gone through the hell of losing her first kid. I just knew, that she was about to go through that hell again.

Because of me.

“What?” I whisper. I inhale. I exhale. I just keep doing that, with my mouth hanging open. It was all I could manage. I was just so flabbergasted with the realization of what I had done. Again.

Frazziss, with her nostrils still slightly smoking, looked at me like I’d grown a set of Ryu Antlers.

“Allen! What’s wrong with you?” she huffed, her purple eyes flaring slightly red, her tail lashing/thumping against our bed frame. (ka-thump, ka-thump). She then grabbed me by my scaly ears with her claw/paws.

“You’re. Going. To. Be. A. DADDY!” she spoke clearly and concisely, tweaking my ears painfully to emphasize every word she said. All the while staring at me in the eyes.
Me? I’m frozen. I can’t. I can’t do anything more than just stand there like a statue.

“Allen! Allen!” she said trying to wake me from my spell. “ALLEN! ALLEN!!” she yelled.  I stay silent as my mouth dries up from my fear.

“Allen! Don’t just stand there like a George! Don’t you have anything to say!?” Finally, after she finishes talking, my jaw starts moving but nothing comes out. I’m like a big prismatic goldfish (with wings). She nods her head in an effort to get me to start speaking.

“I….I…I’m….”, is all I can manage. She stops smoking and she starts to smile. She thinks I’m overjoyed with the news. She’s wrong.

“I’m sorry.” I whisper finally. Frazziss’ gets a furious look on her face.

“What do you mean, You’re Sorry?!” she hissed while clenching my ears HARD. I yelp, she lets go, then she stares at me with a confused look. I reach up and grab her by her shoulders.

“I’m sorry Babe.” I start to babble. “I’m sorry I did this to you. I had no idea this would happen.”  I don’t see the effects of my words on her right then. Because if I had, I would’ve shut up. But I do see her shut her mouth into a tight line, as she drew her wings in tight. I try not to hyperventilate, but I fail. Miserably.

“Wait.” *pant* “We…we can get through this.” *pant pant* I feel her shifting around under my paws. I look over at the wall with the plastered hole, where I punched my hand into.

“It’s early.” *pant* “It’s early enough in the pregnancy, that we can take care of this now.”
(Oh man, I really should’ve shut up right then. But I didn’t.)

“What do you mean: ‘Take care of this,’?” she asked me- QUIETLY.

“I know it may be hard to find one, but I’m sure we could find an abortion doc…”

And that, was when she clobbered me. 

I had no idea she could move that fast. One second I’m saying ‘doctor’ and the next second- I’m flying from the right uppercut she deals out. Well, maybe not technically ‘flying’, more like sailing. Into the far wall, knocking a whole bunch of stuff over.

It was then, when I was struggling to figure out why the floor was so close to my face, that I realize what I just did, and said. 

Yeah, it took a punch from Frazziss to get my brain back into whack. (Now, I understand what they mean by: Out of Whack.)

‘No, no, no, no, no, no, NO!’ I’m thinking to myself, as I see her with her fist/paw still raised, and she’s looking at me with…hatred. Such anger, such….loathing. She was quivering with rage so badly that her purple hair was in a tussle. I saw then that her eyes were flaring bright red, and the smoke from her nostrils was billowing out.

I realized (finally) that I done fucked up.

Big Time.

So, what do I do?

I run.

Yeah, real mature huh?

But that was the only thing I could think of doing right then. Before I fuck up some more shit.

The next thing I know, I’m outside the dormitory. It’s deep at night, and I’m just running through the trees in the dark. Brush and crap whipping and stinging painfully into me, but I ignore it all. I thought I heard my name being called over the sound of tree limbs breaking around me. Maybe even someone telling me to stop. But it just made me run all the faster.

‘I fucked up. I fucked things up, AGAIN! I just hurt the love of my life by saying the A-word, I can’t stay here, now. I’d just make things worse. I always do man! Everything I touch, I JUST FUCK SHIT UP!’

 Somewhere behind me I can hear Frazziss stomping along behind me. She’s shouting something, I don’t know what.

And then, I try to start flying. Without her. Like I said I wouldn’t do. Like I promised her. I just had to get away right then, to not fuck up anymore shit. I know, it doesn’t make any sense right now. But it did then.

I don’t get far, or high. I get maybe ten, twenty feet off the ground and then I smack into a cliff wall.
What can I say man? I didn’t have the night vision that so many of the other Dragons did, then. But fuck man, even if I did, it’s hard to see when you’re fucking crying.

Ow.

It wasn’t a direct into a wall smack, like a bird into a pane of glass. It was more of a glancing blow. So, I was lucky in that regard, I just bounced off. But it hurt more when I hit the ground and rolled to a stop. When I do, I don’t move. I couldn’t. I didn’t wanna.
So, I just lie there in a heap, on a pile of small boulders and gravel with one of my wings folded uncomfortably underneath me. I don’t think. That would take too much work. And I’d probably end up fucking that up too.

“ALLEN!” I could hear her shouting, her voice shaking. Judging by the sound of twigs crunching underneath her paws, she’s not far away, but I don’t reply.

‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!’ I start to think to myself over and over. I wanted to say it to her, but I can’t. I don’t dare to. After a bit she walks off, still calling out my name every now and then.

“Allen! PLEASE! Talk to me!” I hear her say. After a few more minutes of calling, I hear her whisper defeatedly.

“allen”, then I hear her start to cry.

“Frazziss,” I croaked.  Then I hear her catch her breath and stop crying, as if she’s trying to listen. I start to snivel then, and then the next thing I know, I hear the sound of her feet crunching along towards me in a direct line.

I knew when she found me, because that’s when I felt her paw on me. Without thinking, I flinch at her touch. Of course, she lets out a small gasp at that. (Yeah, sure enough, I hurt her again! FUCK!)

She doesn’t say anything then. She just lay down next to me in the dirt and gravel, and wraps me in her wings, as if we were snuggling in our bed. When she lay her head on my chest, I could feel her tears on my scales, chilling them as they dripped and slid down my chest.

It’s just her and me for a while. Finally, she spoke.

“Why don’t you want our baby?” she asked with a whisper, loud enough to cut into my soul. “Is it because of me and my little girl?” she asked, her voice breaking. (Her little girl never developed proper wings).

“NO! Not that!” I snuffled as I put my arms around her and pulled her close, she didn’t resist. “I’ve always wanted kids.” I paused. “I just didn’t want to make…another…” I trail off. I could feel her shift her head around in the dark to look at me.

“Remember? When you asked me why I wanted to kill myself?  Back in that crevasse when you were caught in the roots?” Frazziss just shook her head at me uncomprehendingly.

“About my little girl…?” I said quietly.

“Oh.” It’s all she says, as she lay her head back down on me. “I forgot about your first daughter. The one without…”

“Yeah!” I interrupted, I didn’t want to hear my crime spoken out loud again.

“Allen!” she said after a few more moments of silence.

“Yes?”

“Let’s go back inside, I’m starting to freeze my tail off out here.”

“Ok.” I replied weakly. Well, it took a bit of her leading me around, what with my shaky legs, eventually we go back to her…our rooms. There, after brushing each other off of the dirt and twigs we picked up. We lay back down on our bed. It was noticeably warmer there.

After a while longer, she asked me a question.

“Allen, did you think that you wouldn’t be able to father any more children?”

“Well, I thought I wouldn’t. My vasectomy and all.” I started. At that point, she didn’t say anything. Instead, she pushed herself up onto her arms and lay herself on top of me, then looked down at my chest scales. She started tracing them with one of her claws. But she didn’t say anything. She just kept gently touching the outlines of them, occasionally I’d twitch as she brushed me lightly enough to trigger one of my tickle spots. Which would make her smile once in a while.

“Nice scales.” She whispered. I didn’t reply.

After a bit of that, she pushed me over and began feeling my wings.

“I like your wings, they’re nice wings.” She whispered. I tried to say thank you, but she just ‘shushed’ me. She then had me sit up, and traced my head horns with her paws.

“Nice double horns.” She whispered. I tried to say something again, this time she ‘shushed’ me with a wing claw on my lips. She then started tracing my tail. (Which felt nice. I have to admit, that she was quite good at massages.) I didn’t say anything, as I was all confused. Finally, she traced her paws up to my dicks. She lingered there quite a bit. I let out a bit of a huff/giggle then.

“I definitely like these.” She purred. Finally, after what seemed the longest while, she embraced me from behind and spoke into my ear.

“Allen, the Great Maou made you into a Dragon, didn’t she?”

“Uh-huh”, I said with a nod. Not getting it.

“That’s some pretty powerful magic, don’t you think? Turning a human into a Dragon?” I nodded again, still not getting it.

“Don’t you think she’d be powerful enough to fix that problem your family had? The one with the Anencephaly?” She whispered into my ear, I started to shiver nervously.

That’s when it hit me. (Honestly, no. It hadn’t occurred to me.) I don’t say that to Frazziss. Instead, I just grabbed her arms with mine and started crying, and pressed my head to hers.

“You sure?” I begged her. She nodded.

“I’m sure.” She said faintly.

“Ok.” I whispered. We just stayed that way for the longest while.

“So, what are we gonna call her?” I asked suddenly.

“Call her?” she sounded confused.

“Don’t Dragons have a list of baby names?” I asked, shakily.

I guess my asking that meant it was her turn to cry. Because that’s what she did then. A lot. Tears of happiness, and relief. She fell asleep in my arms, eventually.

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Yeah, we made it through another crisis. I was happy about that, so I was able to relax enough to begin falling asleep myself.

But just as I was almost into dreamland, I woke up with a nasty thought.

‘That Yes/No question,’ I thought to myself, as my mouth went dry with the realization, ‘it was about making babies!’ I finally got what that secret was, that the Great Maou had withheld from me. My breath caught in my throat, as I tensed up at the thought of this power I now had. I could now make babies.

At Will!

At first, I was all ecstatic at the thought, and I rolled my head over to give Frazziss the news! Then another thought occurred to me. (Damn all these thoughts!)

‘She couldn’t keep her trap shut about my dicks.’ I realized. ‘Would she be able to keep quiet about my being able to make babies like that?’ Then all of the consequences for it started to pile up. Making babies was by and large, a crap shoot for either human or Mamono.

‘What if the Mamono knew of a sure thing?’ I contemplated. ‘It’s bad enough the amount of attention I’m getting now. If they knew I could give them a baby from just one time…’ I swallowed at the thought. ‘They’d ALL want a shot.’

 It wasn’t a nice thought. Not one bit. Because I knew just how ruthless some…ah fuck! Damned near ALL of them could be, when it came to getting what they wanted: Men to make the babies they so desperately desired.

‘Sooner or later, I’d get turned into a forced Stud-slave.’

 Oh yeah, I liked getting laid. Don’t get me wrong there. ‘But, I’d want to know if the woman I was giving a baby to, was worthy of being a Momma to my kids.’

So, I concluded that if I told Frazziss my new ‘ability’. Then there’d be a good chance that eventually, I’d be coerced into giving a kid to a hellion. I still remembered that Green Ogre/Oni from that Man-prison I was at. I sure as hell wouldn’t give her a kid willingly.

So, I made my decision. I knew that there was eventually going to be hell to pay for it. I decided, I wasn’t gonna tell her.

‘Sorry, Babe!’ I thought, as I looked at her in the dark, feeling her drool puddle slowly widen on my chest.

And I, felt like a total shit for that decision.

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The next morning. We had a bit more of an adult type conversation concerning babies. But before we did that, I got up before her to make breakfast.

Me? I went into the kitchen to get started. But what I ended up doing, was just to stand there and look around the place.  All I could think about, was how small it was. Not just the kitchen, but the entire joint. Then, that’s when it hits me.

‘I have no fucking clue how Dragons go about getting a place ready for their babies.’ I thought to myself.  I mean, my first wife had her own ‘nesting’ phase when she was pregnant. I couldn’t even imagine, how much a pain in the ass a pregnant Dragon would get. But, I guess I was gonna find out soon enough.

I had so much on my mind that I didn’t notice Frazziss come in, until she slipped her arms around me from behind and hugged me close. Since I was standing up this time, I had to lower a wing to let her rest her head on my shoulder.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked, after kissing me on the back of my neck.

“Well babe, I’m thinking that I’ve no clue about how to raise a baby Dragon. In fact, I don’t even know the proper term for one is.”’

“A whelp.” She said helpfully. “Then once they start trying to fly, they’re fledglings.”

“I guess that makes me a fledgling then, huh.” She just giggled.

“So, do we have everything we need to raise our little girl here?” Frazziss tensed up, then sighed and hugged me tight then.

“No.” she said all quiet.

It turns out that what we would need, was going to be a whole lot more than what her set of dormitory rooms could provide. She was going to need a nest definitely, and a warm place to keep her laid egg to brood. Normally, the Dragons have themselves a dedicated set of ‘Brooding-Caves’ for each family that date back to ancient times. The problem was, Frazziss and I didn’t belong to any of those families. Her anymore, me unknown for.

Talking things over with her, she wanted to keep her job there with the Forestry Service, and me? I just wanted to help her in whatever way I could. But I had little to no idea, what to do or how to go about it. It’s not like Yosemite National Park was brimming over with caves, let alone Dragon sized ones. Ah hell, not even our collective ‘hoard’ would’ve filled out a couple of Goldschlager bottles.

Yeah, we had ourselves a whole host of problems to overcome. But, I guess that fate decided to throw us another curveball. While I was in the shower, and Frazziss was doing the dishes, we got a knock on the door.

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I stepped out of the shower when I got done. I didn’t hear the knocking, so instead of dressing immediately, I saunter over to the main room buck naked. I was toweling off, when I clomped over to where Frazziss was.

“Allen!” I hear Frazziss shout, as I was drying my head off. “Put some clothes on! We have a guest!” she said indignantly. I think she was indignant, because I had a nice long HOT shower. Of which l liked because it made it easier to clean off my ‘dynamic-duo’, if you get my drift. (My double dick, if you don’t).

I whip my towel off of my head and what do I see? Frazziss is in conversation with another Dragon. But before I cover myself, the other Dragon turned around with a half-smile on her mug. Then she sees me, and her mouth drops open in surprise.

This new Dragon, well she’s ‘Nice’, despite being a head shorter than Frazziss. As in, she was very nice looking. She had braided brunette hair, and green eyes. Oh, she had such a nice bod, with shapely wings and shiny black scales everywhere on her, Wow!
She even had a Nice Rack- of gold and jet striped horns that spiraled tightly, like a conch shell, (Spiral Horns are such a rare trait for Dragons!)

Not that I was, you know, scoping her out right then or anything. Because I could tell that she was definitely scoping me out something fierce. If the way her eyes lingered over parts of my anatomy, be any indication.

She was so intent on it, that she didn’t notice her dropping something she was holding onto in one of her paws, clattering on the floor.

About that point, she had tilted her head with a shit eating grin staring at me silently, with her tongue blepping a couple of inches. I chose that moment to wrap my towel around my hips, and Frazziss was switching her attention between me and the newcomer with a wry look on her face. After an uncomfortably long time, I finally said something.

“Uuuuhh,…Hello?” I ventured to Miss Black Dragon. Then she decided to lift her gaze from my towel area, and make eye contact with me. (Finally).

“hi”. She said quietly. “Who are you?” she cooed.

“My name’s Allen Belushi…” I offered, and waited for a response, and waited, and waited, until finally I continued. “Who are you?”

“Single.” She replied dreamily. I guess that was when Frazziss decided she had had enough of that show. Because that was when she whacked the newcomer lightly on the shoulder, but hard enough to knock that dreamy look off of her face. She then looked wildly around for a second.

Then I got to see the rarest of rare sights: I got to see a Dragon blushing. (Hot-Damn! An embarrassed Dragon!)

“My apologies!” she said then, with just a hint of shakiness. “My name is Qirri.” She sighed with a small frown.

“Query?” I asked.

“Close enough.” She smiled without looking at me. Before I could say anything else, Frazziss started in.

“So, what do we owe the pleasure of your company, Qirri?” Frazziss asked.  Qirri then frowned in earnest, as she glanced over at her. (It was almost as if she didn’t want Frazziss there.)

“I come here,” she sighed again and getting a serious look on her face. “on the business of the Council.” She said as she bent over and picked up what she had dropped to the floor. It looked like some kind of fossilized bone with words written on it.

“So, what business does the Council have with Allen and I?” Frazziss asked.  Qirri looked at Frazziss with a sad smile.

“Frazziss D’Aragon,” she intoned formally, as she presented the bone to Frazziss. She hesitated for a second, then clutched it tightly in one paw. She didn’t look at the bone, instead she seemed to wilt when she received it. Naturally this got me all riled up. Qirri continued.

“You are hereby summoned to appear before the Council, on the charges of breaking your word.” Qirr said formerly, then added, “I’m sorry.” Frazziss looked ready to cry then.

“BABE! What’s wrong? What’s going on!?” I demanded as I stepped over to put myself between her and Qirri. Suddenly this brunette Dragon wasn’t so good looking anymore.

“What’s this all about?!” I shouted, as I raised an arm at Qirri. I was about to grab her, when Frazziss reached out with her other arm and interposed it between me and Qirri, and started shaking her head.

“NO, Allen!” she half yelled. “Everything is all right. Qirri is just doing what she’s tasked to do! Leave her alone!”  Qirri, for her part did seem a little afraid of me. But also, just a bit…wistful? Frazziss laid her paw on my arm as I began to speak.

“What council? What summons? You’ve not done anything wrong!” I started to jabber, looking between Frazziss and Qirri.  Qirri looked at me then, like an adult would with a child, then gave Frazziss a questioning look. Frazziss continued from there after catching it.

“Allen. Qirri is an Envoy from the Dragon Council. Remember, my telling you about them? Several months ago?”

“Yeah, I think. Kinda…something about having to face them because you…I can’t remember what.”

“I broke my word.”

“Oh yeah. That.”

Well, back when Frazziss and I first met, I demanded she promise to not save me from jumping off of a cliff anymore, if I told her why I was so determined to off myself. She made that promise, and subsequently- broke it. Personally, I’m glad she did now.

 But, as far as the Dragon Council was concerned, apparently they were not. I thought, (and just about everyone else I knew, also did) that Dragons weren’t capable of breaking a promise. It turns out that they can. But if they do, usually there’s hell to pay.

“So it’s time for you to face that charge.” I stated.

“Also,” Qirri piped up once more. “I came here to investigate rumors about someone pretending to be a male Dragon.” She said, with an open mouth smile, glancing at my towel once more.

“Well as you can see,” I grunted, “Or saw, I’m not ‘pretending’ in the slightest.”

“I’m glad to see that those rumors can be laid to rest.” She licked the corner of her mouth before continuing. “And maybe something else can get laid too.” She finished, with a quick lift of her scale-eyebrows up at me.

‘Oh Maou. I guess I’m gonna have to get used to that.’ I sighed. Qirri then looked at me sadly again. (Geez Louise! This Dragon’s moods were like a weathervane!)

“As an Envoy of the Dragon Council, I have the authority to deem who gains access to the Council. Normally, an Adult-Dragon has earned her right to gain access.”

“BUT You,” she pointed to me with a claw. “have left me in a quandary.” She looked at Frazziss and me, then went on to explain.

“The Council will still want to see you, Allen-Belushi. The quandary lies in the fact that you’re definitely a Dragon, and grown up, but you’re not technically an adult.”

“Wait a sec…” I stop when I saw Qirri raise a paw.

“Allen.” Frazziss whispered, as she touched me with a wing claw on my shoulder. This was her way of asking me to be patient. So, I clammed up. Seeing that, Qirri smiled at Frazziss fondly. (A ‘I see you’ve got him well-trained’ smile.)

“The problem Allen,” Qirri continued, “Is that the Council is located in the Dragon Realm. Which can only be accessed by Adult-Dragons. Non-Dragons, or non-adult Dragons such as whelps or fledglings, can only get there as a guest of an adult.” Qirri smiled.

“And you’re not quite either.” She finished. I growled lowly at that. Frazziss put a paw on my shoulder to settle me down again.

“Then let me in as a guest of Frazziss.” Qirri shook her head.

“I can’t do that, guests have to either be non-Dragons, or children. Once again, you’re not either.” I harrumphed for a bit thinking. ‘Dragons sure do like to make things complicated.’

“What about, say…orphans? Technically I have no Dragon parents.” Qirri looked thoughtful for a second and replied.

“The problem with that, is that even though some Dragons do get orphaned, they’re already registered in the Annals.”

“Annals?” I asked, looking over at Frazziss. She explained.

“A registry of every Dragon who is ever hatched, and her parents. My daughter, Nocturnimpetu is listed in the Annals there.” She frowned sadly.

“I’m not registered.”

“Correct.”

“So, why not go ahead and register me then?” I said patiently.

“Because a proper registration requires at least one relative.”

“Let me guess, who can only be a Dragon.” I interrupted with my eyes clenched shut in exasperation. Once I opened my eye, I saw that both Frazziss and Qirri were nodding their heads, almost in unison.

“Well, I’m an exceptional Dragon! Why not make an exception for me!?” I demanded with a growing frustration.

“That’s not the way Dragon Law-Magic works, Allen-Belushi. Dragons have traditions that date back millions of years. In order to get you into the Realm, I have to follow Dragon Code.” Qirri answered.

“So, what can be done then!? I don’t want Frazziss to face charges alone! I want to be by her side!” Frazziss looked at me happily then. Qirri was silent for the longest while, with a thoughtful look on her face. Then she brightened.

“I think I may have a way.” She smiled wickedly. “But you may not like it!” she ended, with her teeth grazing her lower lip. Despite the chill the sight of that gave me, I continued.

“So tell me already.” She did. And she was right, I didn’t like it one bit.

“I’ll have to place you under arrest.” She said quietly.

“WHAT!? What for?”

“For impersonating a Dragon, a male one at that.”

“Which don’t grow on trees.” Frazziss snarked with a grin at me. I stuck my tongue out at her then.

“Don’t stick it out unless you intend to use it!” she ‘threatened’. She smiled when I replied with a quick growl. Qirri, just watched us both while rolling her eyes. When she did that, I switched my attention back over to her.

“But, you’ve already decided that I am a male Dragon!” I huffed.

“Well, technically yes.” She grinned again. “But, my decision is based upon a quick visual examination.” She glanced down at my towel once more, while moving up real close to me.
“But, I’d have to have a much more…shall we say, thorough examination to be absolutely sure!” she ended with a smoldering look while raising her paws and wiggling her fingers (?). I sighed.

So, in the end, that’s what we settled on: I would be ‘arrested’ for impersonating a Dragon. This would allow Qirri to gain me access to the realm without a whole bunch of ‘splitting hairs, or scales, or whatever the Dragon Legal system called it.

Apparently, the bone that Qirri gave Frazziss was a Summons that all Mamono owned companies recognized. So when Frazziss requested time off for her and me, it was automatically granted. (Cria was annoyed. It was just about time for our weekly ‘quarterly’ performance review again.)

Once we had that squared away, we stomped over to a field near the base of Yosemite Falls. There was no need to pack, since everything we’d need would be provided for, apparently.

“So, are we flying there or something?” I asked when we came to a halt.

Qirri looked at me then over to Frazziss who started to explain.

“We’re going by Portal, Allen.” She said sheepishly. “There’s a lot I’ve not told you about being a Dragon. The first one is that the Dragon Realm isn’t in this world.”

“So how do we get there?” I asked all dumbfounded.

“Humans would call it an Einstein-Rosen bridge.” Qirri prompted, Frazziss nodded. I just continued to give them a dumb look. Finally, Frazziss sighed.

“Just call it a wormhole, like that TV show you like to watch. Star Trek.”

“Oh! I guess that would make it a: Wyrm-hole?” I quipped. Frazziss and Qirri both growled at me then. I just smiled.

Qirri opened her satchel, from which she produced a pair of manacles big enough for me (Dragon-acles?)

“Are those really necessary?” I asked nervously, as she unlatched them. Maou, they looked positively wicked. Barbs and spikes everywhere, I’d swear that there was porcupine in its ancestry.

“Well, you’re supposed to be under arrest, Allen-Belushi.” Qirri grinned at me, as she carefully latched them onto my wrists. Frazziss looked over her shoulder and commented.

“Oooh! They look good on you Allen! Where do I get a pair, Qirri? You know, for later.” She grinned evilly at me. I made a raspberry at her, which just made her laugh.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t like a test run with them before we go? We do have the time!” Qirri added with a leer directed towards me. Frazziss scrunched her lips and tilted her head in thought.

“Ooooh, maybe! Do you have a matching collar and leash that goes with them by any chance, Qirri?” Frazziss blinked her eyes at me rapidly.

“OH, COME ON! Let’s get this over with already!” I fumed. They both laughed. (Maou, I hope they were both kidding. I mean it’s one thing to watch 50 Grades of Hay, it’s another to actually face that shit in real life!)

Qirri had herself a shit eating grin when she spoke again, this time pulling out another one of those written-on bones out of her satchel.

“Allen-Belushi and I will go first, Frazziss. Then you follow when ready.” She said cryptically. With that, she lifted that stone-like bone she had in her paws and poked herself in the arm with the pointed end, till she had some blood ooze out of the wound.

After getting the point wet with her blood, she looked over at me and began a short incantation. After a second or two, the blood sunk into the bone, and it began to glow a yellow hue. When it did that, a circle of sparks appeared in the air next to us, and expanded large enough to show a strange looking landscape beyond. It was like looking into a lake from above. I could see shapes, but not details.

Qirri latched a paw firmly onto the manacles and dragged me through the ‘Wyrmhole’. When I looked over to see my woman, I saw that the gate had already closed behind us.

“HEY!” I shouted, “What about Frazziss!”

“She’s taking a different route, Allen-Belushi. She’ll be along shortly.” She replied, still tugging on me. I stopped and wouldn’t let her drag me anywhere, because I was about to give her a piece of my mind, (whatever little I could spare). I paused, as a really weird sensation hit me.

This Sensation. This place, it wasn’t Earth, I knew that instantly. This place. It felt different. I just looked around, and it appeared like I was at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. (been there, twice!) But only the cliffs and walls of this place were higher, much much higher! What Yosemite was to the Grand Canyon, in terms of grandiose cliff walls, the Grand Canyon was to this place!

The walls here were like stacked columns of hundreds of different kinds of stone, a panoply of colors and patterns that would have been a geologist’s wet dream.

There were weird looking plants growing everywhere but on the courtyard we were standing on.  I noticed a few other Dragons walking and flying about. Most of whom paid us no mind. (Though one or two of them did seem to notice me, and ended up walking into other Dragons, or walls. Apparently, I was that distracting.)  The sky above, was this weird shade of green and gold, with purple clouds! I counted at least three crescent moons next to each other, in between the columns and cliff faces that receded off into the distance all around.

I was in awe. I noticed then that Qirri was standing next to me with an indulgent smile on her face.

“So, Allen-Belushi. How do you feel about this place?” she asked me innocently. I looked directly over at her and tried to formulate an answer. After a bit, I closed my eyes and breathed in the air. It smelled…great! Then it hit me! What this place felt like.

“This place, it feels…it smells like…HOME!” I said as I opened my eyes. Qirri smiled happily at me.

“That’s because it IS home Allen-Belushi.” She said with her eyes misting. “This is where the First Dragon came from.” She said quietly.

I turned to her and started to speak. She raised a paw to shush me.

“All your questions will be answered, Allen-Belushi. But for now, since technically you’re under arrest, you must go into confinement.” I fumed at that.

“Fine, I’ll go under confinement, but only AFTER Frazziss shows up! What’s taking her so long?” Qirri sighed then.

“That’s because she’s taking a different route Allen.”

“What?!” Qirri raised her paw again.

“Anyone who comes to the Dragon Realm, has to do so one of eight different ways. There are the Seven Paths that are referred to as: The Gullet. The way you and I came in, is the eighth. For council business only.” She paused then continued.

“The rite of passage into adulthood, requires a Dragon to prove her mettle by traversing one of the Seven Paths. Once a Dragon has passed through one successfully, she is considered an Adult.  She can then enter the realm again, without too much problem. But only on one of the paths that she has won the right to pass through. Frazziss is right now traveling on whichever her adult-path was.”

“What do you mean, ‘without too much problem’?” I demanded with my voice rising. Qirri didn’t say anything, instead she looked over my shoulder at someone I couldn’t see.  Turning around, I saw who she was looking at. It was a Wurm. The Biggest godsdamned Wurm I’d ever seen! She towered over us both. I noticed that she had all white scales, and her human body was at least one-half size bigger than Frazziss’.

She looked down at Qirri and me, and spoke.

“Is there a problem here?” she rumbled deep enough that I could feel her voice in my chest.

“Not yet Bailiff Ramoth” Qirri replied. “Nor will there be, Allen-Belushi?” Qirri said, glowering at me with her lips in a line.

“No there will not, not after Frazziss shows up!” I glowered back at her.

“Detainees should follow orders!” Bailiff Ramoth said, putting one of her oversized mitts on my shoulder. “Envoy says for you to go to confinement. Then you go!” she said with her grip tightening painfully on my shoulder.  With that, I twisted my shoulder around and lifted up my manacled wrists, then let my body fall down out of her grasp. (The weak point of any grasp.)

“NOT WITHOUT MY FRAZZISS!” I growled loudly with a nasty glare toward Qirri, as I rolled myself around and then stood up.

I didn’t make any moves at anyone. But Ramoth grabbed me with both of her mitts, quickly. Try as I could, I couldn’t break free of her. I noticed then that she had an angry look on her alabastrine face which was framed by snowy white hair. She pulled me close, and got a weirded out look on her face after she sniffed me, ignoring my growls as she did.

She blinked a couple of times, then she lifted me up and gave me a more thorough examination.

“Dragon.” She huffed. “MALE!” she grinned, “I will keep you well detained!” she added, with her tongue licking her chops.

OK, that did it! I started pulling up a Fireball!

“Allen-Belushi! Stand down!” Qirri shouted then, as she placed a paw on one of the Ramoth’s arms. “Will you keep yourself out of trouble, until when Frazziss shows, Allen-Belushi?” She then asked me with steel in her voice. I nodded.

“Bailiff? Will you stay here with my detainee and keep him intact until his MATE shows up?” she emphasized for her. Bailiff Ramoth was reluctant, but eventually she too nodded.

“Very well then. Bailiff, I leave him to your custody.” She said with a nod towards me. “I have things I need to do NOW! Ramoth, put him and his mate into the same cell once she gets here, understood?” With that Qirri sauntered off, with one last glare at me.

After a bit Bailiff put me down, and I only gave her a dirty look or two. We were silent for a while, but I didn’t give her any grief. I got the feeling she could’ve broken me in two without trying too terribly hard.

She just stood there quietly, with her arms folded and her tail coiled up behind her. She looked relaxed, but I got the feeling that she was ready to spring into action. Since I had so much time on my hands I decided to look around.

I noticed then, that we were on a courtyard of some sort. It was like standing on big round football field with a whole bunch of columns, pyramids, and ziggurats rising up around us for what looked like miles.

 The different columns that were situated here and there, I saw now, weren’t necessarily just stacked rocks, but appeared to be buildings. They all had arches, balconies, and doorways, all built to Dragon scale. Off to the side in the direction that Qirri took off to, I could see one massive flat topped-ziggurat.  Up and over, I saw a couple of Dragons coming in for a landing atop it. On the courtyard we were standing on, I noticed a couple more Wurms slithering about. One was deep red, and the other was an emerald green.

Glancing back down to the stone area where Bailiff and I were standing, I started to get a queer notion about all of the construction. I couldn’t quite put a claw onto it, but there was something wrong here. That everything seemed as if it was natural for it to be where it was, yet somehow wasn’t. My being a Mason myself, naturally I was curious about what was nagging me. Then I noticed one edifice off to the left. It appeared to be half-built. But there was no sign of anyone working on it. Which was odd.

The sight of it gave me a stir down to my core. That there was something important about the joint. Not the place itself, but the meaning behind it being unfinished. 

But before I could ask Ramoth about it, I heard some familiar flapping sounds. It was Frazziss! She landed with a stumble nearby, and shuddered.

“Frazziss!” I said, then stopped. She looked over at me, and oh my Maou she was a sight! She looked all banged up. The few clothes she had on just a half hour ago, were mostly missing. The few pieces left were torn and shredded. Her purple hair was in a muss, and she had a black eye! I noticed then that she was scratched up in a dozen places, all of them bleeding!

“FRAZZISS!” I shouted concernedly, as I lurched towards her. I was restrained by Bailiff then.

“Stay still!” Bailiff Ramoth said.

“My woman!” I said, trying to shake Ramoth off. “I’ve got to help her!”

“Detainee! Stay Still!” she spoke again. I kept struggling in an effort to get to my Frazziss, and that was when I got knocked out.

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When I came to. I found myself lying on something warm. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Frazziss. No, I was lying on some kind of rock. After getting my bearings and checking the sore spot on my heard, I moved and examined it. It appeared to be some kind of sandstone. Touching it with my fingertips, it felt like a fine-grained sandstone that had been soaking up sunshine for hours.

‘The perfect spot for a Dragon to take a nap.’ I judged. It was then I realized that my manacles weren’t on me anymore. It was good to have them off, they’d been starting to chafe.

Lifting my sore head, I looked around and noticed that I was in a large-ish round room. It appeared to be some kind of volcanic cave cul-de-sac. It was rather gloomy in there, so I couldn’t make out much in the way of details. Perking up my ears, I could hear the sound of someone breathing, as if asleep. Turning over, I soon found the source. It was Frazziss, she was snoring ever so slightly snuggled up behind me.

So, naturally I turned over and tried to get a better look at her. Twisting my body around I caught sight of the source of light. It was some kind of crystal hanging from the ceiling. But it was the kind of crystal I’d never seen before. But I didn’t pay it too much mind then, as it seemed uncomfortably bright, and I had someone much more enjoyable to look at.

Once I got myself into position, I noticed that she was looking a whole lot better. Her black eye was still there, but she seemed to be OK, resting. It did my heart better to see her there with me. Though, I decided that if someone had given her that black eye, they were going to PAY!

After a couple of minutes of relaxation and enjoying the view, I decided to get up and search the place. I would eventually have to take a whiz, after all. So, as carefully as I could, I got up and off of what turned out to be, a raised slab of sandstone. Idly, I tried scraping at it with a claw, but I didn’t leave so much as a scratch.

‘Interesting, it’s tougher than a Dragon claw.’ I mused. Yet it too felt familiar, not like a ‘I’ve felt it before familiar’ but, more of a sense of Déjà vu/not natural familiar.

“So, you’re awake.” A voice called from somewhere in the dark room. I jerked my head around in the direction of the voice.

“Yes, I am. Who are you?” I called back.

“My name is Urmat, which means Eternal.” Said the caller, as she stepped closer. When I saw her, I gasped. For this Urmat was an OLD Dragon. She was stooped over to the point, that she had to crane her grey-haired head to look up at me. She seemed frail as all hell, even her wings looked ready to snap. But I sensed her nobility. Shakily, she took another step towards me, and I sprang into action.

Mysterious Dragon out of the dark or no! This was an old lady who needed help. I tried to offer her a hand (paw?) but she waved me off. Though she did give me a gap-toothed smile at my offer.

“What is your name, whelp?” she demanded once I was within reach of her.

“Uuh, err, Allen Belushi, Ma’am.” I replied hesitantly. She looked up at me and grinned.

“Uuherrallenbelushimaam?” She chuckled hoarsely. “That’s hardly a proper Dragon name! I would’ve expected a Dragon-Impersonator to have had a little more imagination!”

“Well actually,..” I began.

 “I know what your name is whelp!” she grinned again. “I’m just poking some fun at your expense!” she chuckled again. I couldn’t help it, but I started to like this one. She had the kind of Sass that I admired.

“Walk with me, Allen-Belushi.” She said as she began hobbling in the direction of the far wall. What could I do? I followed. When I did, I soon found her in a hallway that connected to our room. There were no bars or anything that spoke of confinement.

Urmat saw my questioning look and told me to be patient, that all my questions would soon be answered, then she took off at a slow, yet brisk hobble. This hallway was ovoid in shape. I got the impression that it was supposed to resemble a lava tube cave. But once again, I got the sense that it wasn’t natural, it was too perfect in shape.
I also noticed that there were more of those same crystals lighting the hallway. But not all of them were lit. I looked closely at one of the unlit ones. Urmat then told me the secret of lighting them had been lost a long time ago.

Within a few minutes, Urmat led me into a much larger chamber off of the hallway. It was filled with stone tables and book-cases that were covered in or stuffed with items of all sorts. She went over and sat on a low stool and motioned me over to her. I couldn’t see anyone else around.

Eventually, after much impatient beckoning on her part, I stood really close to her. That was when I noticed that her head was at my crotch. We made eye contact then and she smiled. I sighed and rolled my eyes.

“Oh, come on! Is there anyone who isn’t going to hit on me?” I groused. Urmat just cackled.

“No, Allen-Belushi! I’m not here to molest you.” She half laughed. “In fact, I’m here to make sure that you are a male Dragon. That is one of the tasks I’ve been assigned by the Council.” She explained.

“So, what makes you so special as to get this ‘chore’? I asked sarcastically.

“Because I’m old enough to know what a REAL male Dragon is like, whelp!” She leered. “Now, off with the loin cloth and let me see what the Great Maou blessed you with!” After a heartfelt sigh and a moment’s hesitation I pulled off my loincloth. I guess you could say that ‘stagefright’ was the order of the day (night?), because my Dynamic Duo weren’t up for an appearance.

But, Urmat was a determined investigator. Eventually she coaxed them out and even managed to get me hard.

‘Great! I’m getting jerked off by some Dragon’s Great-Grandmother! Here’s one for the history books.’ I thought to myself- trying (pardon the pun) hard to not blush with embarrassment.

After a few minutes of tugging and teasing, she let up and told me to put my loincloth back on.

“Well, you seem to have done your homework, whelp. Two working dicks. But there’s one more thing I have to do, before I declare you a bona fide Male Dragon!”

“What’s that?” I asked. She didn’t say anything. She just got up and hobbled over to one of the cases and picked something up. She then threw it straight at me, and before I could react, it bounced off of me and fell to the ground.

Maou that thing stung! It was some kind of large rock! The next thing I knew, she just kept picking up and throwing rock after rock, at me. For an old biddy she sure packed a lot of wallop. All the while I kept asking what she was doing.

“Hey! Ouch! Dammit! Whatcha doing? Hey! C’mon! Stop that! I said, STOP THAT!” I yelled.

 Then she picked up a particularly large red stone and hefted it at me two-handed. By then I was pissed and when it arrived, I grabbed it with both of my hand/paws and invoked some of my Mojo on it. I managed to twist it into two pieces like taffy. I then raised them both up, all set to hurl them back at her.

“I KNEW IT!” she crowed. “You are a Male Dragon!”

“Wait! What?!” I asked, all flummoxed.

“You’ve seen these halls, you’ve seen that half-finished building outside of the central landing courtyard have you not?”

“Yeah so?

“All of these buildings! All of these tunnels! They were all made by Dragons. MALE Dragons!” She cackled, then started coughing and couldn’t stop. I dropped my rocks and rushed over to help her. This time she allowed me to do so. After she leaned on me and I got her to a seat, she eventually caught her breath and explained what was going on.

She said that the test of my junk was just a dodge. Her real test was the checking into my ability to ‘Mold-stone’ as she put it. It was an ability that only Male Dragons could ever do. (Apparently) It was part and parcel of their ability to make nests for their female Dragons.

“But I could do that! Well kind of. Even before I became a Dragon!”

“Well then, that just goes to show that you’ve got Dragon in your human-blood, whelp!” She grinned.

“But how is that possible?”

“What do you think happened to all of the Male Dragons when the Great Maou came along?” she said, sticking her tongue out at me. “Not all of them were willing to become Alps!”

“What?! You mean THAT is what happened to them all?”

“Not all, just most.” She chuckled.

“But why go along with that?”

“The Great Maou’s coming had been foreseen by the Dragon Patriarchs. They then set out to prepare for the inevitable. They knew that someday, another Dragon Male would come about, and open the way for Male Dragons to be reborn.”

It seems that even long before the Great Maou’s Grand Plan had begun. Some of the Male Dragons became human males and interbred with human women. Their descendants invariably became powerful magicians and wizards like, Merlin, Abe No Seimei, Vergilius, Abaris the Hyperborean, Simon Magus, and so on. Then she said something that got my attention in the fullest.

 “But the process of interbreeding with human women, often would lead to birth defects in some of their offspring.” Urmat mentioned.

“What kind of birth defects?” I asked intensely. Urmat blinked at me then tilted her head. I spoke before she could answer.

“Anencephaly?” I whispered. She looked at me sadly, and nodded.

“Would that mean, that any child I sired on a Dragon woman, might…?”

“Have that birth defect? No.” she smiled. “Because then you would be breeding true again.” I couldn’t help it, I started crying. Tears of relief. After a few seconds, I felt Urmat’s paw on my shoulder. It felt good to have her there. After a while she spoke.

“I take it that you’ve….?” She asked, I nodded. She smiled sadly then patted me on the shoulder and didn’t say anything more. I think she understood how I felt.

After a while, I regained my composure.

“Well, Allen-Belushi the next few days are going to be interesting times for you and your mate, Frazziss. I dare say that you’ve got a lot to learn about being a Dragon. What would you like to learn first?” She smiled indulgently.

“I want to learn how to ‘Mold-Stone’. Is there anyone who could teach me?”

“Teach? No! Haven’t you been listening? Only Male-Dragons could do that!” she grumped. I felt myself deflating.

“But,” she said as she got herself to her feet, “the Stone-molders kept copious notes, including tutorials for apprentices.” I felt my mood lifting, but they were soon dashed with her next question.

“Can you read Dragon-script?” she questioned, tilting her head to look at me with one eye. I shook my head, ‘no’. She harrumphed deeply enough to blow just a whisper of smoke.

“Well then! Time to get you started learning your runes! Follow me!” She said as she started to hobble somewhere.

“Wait! But what about Frazziss? She’ll worry if I’m not there when she wakes up!”

“PFAH!” she spat, “I’ll have someone slip by and check up on her! You’ve got something important to learn right now!” she spoke as she grabbed me with one of her paws and half-led, half-leaned on me to another destination.

It took a bit of walking through more hallways (not all of them looked volcanic, but that’s another story), until we came to an enormous room full of scrolls, books, tablets and the like, all piled up orderly, as far as I could see.

Urmat introduced me to one of the young librarians there, her name was: Lessa. She was in charge of teaching whelps and fledglings Dragon-Tongue.

After introductions, Urmat informed Lessa what was expected of her. Then once she got over her shock of seeing me, she promised that she would be most helpful in getting me started in learning Dragon-Tongue. Urmat then left, saying she’d go check up on Frazziss.

Lessa turned out to be a cute little number. She was only about a head higher than me, and her hair and scales were amber in color. She also had a rather nice set of large breasts covered (barely) with a string bikini top. and she was a shameless flirt.

“So, what do you know about the Dragon-Tongue, Allen-Belushi?” she sauntered around me and stopped behind my back. I turned to look at her over my shoulder.

“Not much I’m afraid.” I admitted.

“Well, tell you what, I’ll make you a deal! I’ll teach you everything you need to know about Dragon-Tongue; Reading it, writing it, speaking it.” She smiled at me.

“I sense a but coming.”

Lessa smiled even wider, and put a paw on my shoulder. I sighed. It didn’t take a telepath.

“Ok, what do you want?” I asked rhetorically.

“I want to know a Male-Dragon,” she said as she started to nibble on my ear scale. “Including his own Dragon-Tongue, as payment for my oh-so-valuable time.” She giggled.

She then put her other paw onto my other shoulder, then started tracing an outline on my chest scales.

“But, before I begin teaching,” she breathed into my ear, “I want a down payment, right now. As earnest.” She said extending her tongue to wrap around my ear (twice!), after taking off her bikini top. (Well, she was rather nice looking and all.)

Sheesh! She rode me for the better part of an hour in the cowgirl position. Then, she decided that she had enough of a ‘down payment’. (I guess Dragon-Librarians get lonely too.) She then began teaching me the rudiments of Dragon-Tongue. By the time Frazziss showed up, I was well past baby talk.

As it turned out, I was a quick study that evening. I guess you could say I was almost a natural. Personally, I’d say I had motivation, because I needed to know how to make a Nest for my woman and OUR baby!

After all, Molding-Stone was in my blood.

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