RPOV

We left early that morning. He said it would take most of the day, and that we should arrive in the late afternoon. But he also calculated a bit of extra time for some of that 'riding' I imagined.

I swear I never knew sex would be this good. I had heard rather disappointing stories from the other handmaidens, but clearly, they had never been with Dimitri. Or was it the fact he was a Dragon that made it that much more intense? I suppose the fact he could go more often and last longer was a general Dragon trait, and if I should believe Adrian, all Dragons were able to 'satisfy a woman thoroughly and often.' But I do think that what made it so special with Dimitri was the fact he was Dimitri and not a Dragon.

We saw the sunset come over the horizon as we flew alongside it. I felt the first rays of the sun hit my skin and a warm feeling washed over me.

"Do you feel that too?"

I wasn't very specific, but I knew Dimitri would understand. Apparently, it was a Dragon thing. Because the sun was the purest form of fire, we felt connected to it. I had always liked the sun, but I realized how intimately our souls were connected to the sun now that the spell had been broken. There were many things I feared now that the binding spell was gone, but I was grateful for every feeling I had missed out on over these last eighteen years. Even if I did end up blowing up, at least I had experienced being me - the true me.

"I always love this time of day. It feels like I had been starving and suddenly I am full again."

I hmphed my agreement as I leaned back on his back spread my arms, taking in every ray of sun I could.

The landscape was changing here. The lush green and great expanse making way for more rocky hills, interspersed with a different kind of trees. I had never been this far away from home, and I was looking around with wonder. It seemed the further we went, the barer the land got, but it was still beautiful. There was something commendable about the people and animals that lived in these environments. I looked at them with respect for even surviving here. Back home we had droughts sometimes that would leave us with little food, but we always had enough in reserve to survive. And the rain would come soon enough to replenish the land.

But here I could only see a few patches of green amongst the rocks. I could see mountains in the distance with snowy tops, but still rocky and slightly green bodies. In the far North, I saw mountains completely covered in snow. When I looked towards those, I knew that was Snow Dragon territory. How I knew this, I couldn't tell. But here, even if the land was harsh, it still breathed life. The mountains to the North felt dead. And as if the sky agreed with me, it had accumulated dark clouds over the top of the mountains whereas here we were enjoying the sun without interference from clouds.

I felt Dimitri's body stiffen as he looked over towards the mountains in the North, and I knew I had been right. I hoped we wouldn't have to go that far to meet with Arthur. The mountains looked very close by, even though I knew they were probably still a few days flight away. But I could already feel their suffocating effects even here.

At midday, Dimitri stopped at a lake. The place was beautiful. It was surrounded by mountains and hills on all sides, so it was very secluded. Almost like a little secret for those that could observe it from the skies. The lake was crystal clear and reflected the blue skies above. The ground surrounding the lake was green with grass and flowers taking nutrients from the lake. It seemed like a little oasis, in these rough lands, and it made me forget the cold air coming from the North.

Dimitri landed beside the lake and transformed into his human form. He put on some clothes, much to my disappointment, but to make up for it, he took out the food we brought. He laid out a nice platter of food on top of a quilt. He had even brought something for us to sit and lay upon.

I looked at the cloudless sky and took a deep breath. This place seemed to make time stop. It was like it suspended us at this point in time, simply to prevent us from moving on to the next moment. And I had a feeling when we would leave here, I really wish time had stopped at this point.

I wanted to take advantage of what this place was giving us. I would enjoy this moment and all it had to give. And I was well aware that what it had to give was Dimitri.

I ate first because I was starving and as much as I wanted Dimitri, he didn't top food. Well, not at the moment anyway. He was stroking my thigh and lifting my dress up higher and higher, he nuzzled my neck and started to whisper sweet nothings in my ear, but I was pretty much unresponsive as I was munching on an incredibly seasoned chicken leg. I moaned as I took another bite, but Dimitri quickly learned it wasn't his action, but the juicy meat that elicited that response from me.

He chuckled, but admitted defeat, grabbing a leg himself and starting to rip the meat.

I turned to him and smiled, my face covered with seasoning and pieces of chicken.

He outright laughed as he wiped my mouth clean with his thumb. He then licked his finger clean. That was the single most sexy thing I had ever seen. And I should have known it would appeal to me. Dimitri mixed with food, now who could resist that?

I didn't hesitate as I pushed Dimitri on his back and straddled him. I threw away the leg bone that I had devoured cleanly and grabbed the rest of the food. Fruit and bread and a tiny piece of meat left. I handed Dimitri a piece of bread.

"Eat it."

My voice was eager and demanding. He simply shrugged and broke a piece of breath off with his teeth. The way he savagely ripped the bread apart made me moan. He looked over to me confused.

"Now the fruit."

He took a piece of fruit and bit into it. The juice dripping down his chin and neck onto his torso. I followed the trail and bent forward. I lapped it up with my tongue, first his chin, then his neck and then the upper part of his chest.

"Roza."

I gave him another piece of fruit, but instead of giving it with my hands, I put the piece of fruit in between my teeth and bent down for him to take it. He bit half of it off and left the other half for me to eat. He swallowed quickly so he could kiss away the juice on my lips. He seemed to have changed his mind about sharing the piece of fruit with me, because he was forcing his tongue inside my mouth, in what I could only assume was an attempt to retrieve the piece of fruit. But his tongue found only mine, since I had already eaten my piece of fruit.

"Delicious. You taste delicious."

I giggled. I am sure he was tasting the fruit.

He was tracing his tongue on the side of my face, down to my neck and into my cleavage following a drop that had escaped my mouth, similar to what I had done to him. But where I had stopped at the top of his shirt, he undid the laces of my dress and went further down until he found my breast.

He flipped me, so I was beneath him and started to take the dress off. Pushing it over my shoulders, down my hips with a little help from me and down my legs until it was discarded to the side.

He took in my naked form, and I saw him licking his lips. He picked up another piece of fruit and placed it just below my belly button. He started at my breasts and licked down toward the piece of fruit. Once he reached it, he chewed on the fruit, letting the cold juices flow onto my skin and move down between my legs. He followed the trail all the way down.

I gasped when his tongue entered me. I don't think any juice would have gotten in there.

He circled my clit a few times, licking and sucking gently. He also explored my folds with his tongue and occasionally ventured inside. But the overall tone was to tease, not to pleasure.

But I was having none of that. He wasn't in control this time. He was still fully clothed. I sat up in front of him and started to take off his shirt. It was thrown somewhere in the general direction of my dress. Then I moved on to his pants. The sizable bulge was clearly visible, and I took advantage of that as I rubbed him through his pants as I was taking them off. His only answer was a hiss.

Once he was naked too, I climbed on top of him. He was seated with his legs in front of him, and I was straddling him.

I hovered above him and guided him inside. Slowly but surely I let myself down on him. I noticed he was having a hard time not bucking up, but he seemed to appreciate it was my game to play. After all, I did promise to ride him, and that was exactly what I intended to do.

Once he was completely sheathed inside of me, I moved up and down and back and forth, trying to find the correct movement and rhythm. I settled on a direction which seemed to elicit moans from Dimitri and was very stimulating for me and started to pick up the pace. I grabbed his shoulders for support so I had a leverage point, and Dimitri assisted me by supporting my ass and helping me distribute my weight as I moved up and down. I could feel the occasional thrust from Dimitri but other than that he simply let me do whatever I wanted to him.

He was groaning and hissing and buried his face in my hair, so I knew he was close. I leaned back a little, so I could move one hand between us and I circled my clit vigorously helping me build me to my peak. I felt Dimitri pull me down on his cock as he bucked up and emptied his load inside of me. It only took a few more rubs and I joined him, my walls milking the last drops of semen from his semi-hard cock.

I fell forward against him in exhaustion, and he caught me easily, embracing me in his big warm arms. We stayed like that for a while. Him simply stroking and caressing my back as I played with the tips of his hair behind his back.

Neither of us wanted to move. There was this big sign in the air, saying this was as good as it was going to get. But eventually, we had to move. I was starting to get a little cold.

I released him from me and felt a trickle of semen down my leg. He too was covered in our juices. We quickly washed ourselves at the side of the lake. It was way too cold to take a dive, but we could heat up the water enough so I could at least wash.

After I was fully clothed again, and Dimitri had transformed back for the trip, we sat there a little while longer, both postponing the inevitable.

"So how do you know Arthur?"

I felt Dimitri's lips pull back in a smile behind me. I was nestled in front of him, between his paws and under his chin against his chest.

"Arthur was a General like me. He is retired now, but he was the only one who always judged me on my character and not any other circumstances. I was the youngest General in Tatiana's army, and others didn't think I had earned it. Arthur knew different and always defended me and helped me where he could. Now my name is established, and Tatiana relies on me more than any other General, but it hadn't always been the case, and back then I was grateful to call him friend and mentor."

"He sounds nice."

"He is. He understands soldiers need discipline, but he also knows they need guidance and occasionally a little fun. He was gentle but could be deadly when he needed to be."

"He already reminds me a little of you."

He nuzzled his snout against my neck.

"That is a large compliment indeed. You'll see when you meet him."

After lunch, we packed our stuff up and flew on the last few hours to Arthur's place. The further we got the more I felt the chill in my bones, but the mountains were as far away from us as they had been a minute ago. Still, the feel of death had made it to these parts. I couldn't explain why. The trees were as tall as before and the patches of grass between the rocky surface just as green. But here it was eerily silent.

I could tell Dimitri felt it too and I pressed myself closer to him. I didn't know if I was trying to console him or take comfort in his presence, but I hoped it would accomplish both.

His wings seemed unsure if they wanted to continue, but they pushed on until we landed in front of a cave.

It didn't look like much, but I knew that the inside of the cave could look very different. Dimitri's cave didn't look like much from the outside, but inside it was wonderful and large.

"Rose, why don't you stay here, I'll go check it out?"

I didn't want to be left alone out here, with not a soul around, but Dimitri was in General mode right now, and I had no choice but to obey.

He moved very stealthily inside the cave. I was surprised such a large creature could make so little sound. He was almost soundless as he entered the cave. I saw him disappear into the darkness and felt terribly alone all of a sudden.

To keep my mind busy, I started to walk around the entrance of the cave. That turned out to be a bad idea. Because even in the fading light of the day, I could see the trail of blood exiting the cave. Whoever had walked out of the cave, they had blood on their hands, or paws, or claws.

I unsheathed the blade from my back and pointed it in front of me, ready to attack anyone. I tried to mimic Dimitri's stealth to not alert anyone to my presence.

Once I walked into the cave, I smelled an overwhelming odor of iron and salt. I recognized it immediately as blood.

I walked towards the light, assuming it was Dimitri who would have lit one of the torches. If it wasn't, I might be in big trouble.

The light became brighter the closer I got, and I moved as quietly towards it as I could. When I entered the large room where the torch was lit, I gasped. I had half a mind to extinguish the torch to obscure the sight before me. As if the fact I couldn't see it, made it untrue.

"Roza?"

I jumped two feet in the air with a loud screech. So much for stealth.

"I thought you would stay outside."

"I saw a trail of blood leading into the cave."

"So you decided to follow it? What if the people that did this were still here?"

I looked at the scene before me. The paleness of the bodies before me, and the smell coming from them, indicated they had been dead for a while. It was hard to count how many bodies there were. There really wasn't a body that seemed to be whole. They were ripped apart. It was hard to figure out where one Dragon began and the other ended. There was blood all over the walls and floor. Some simply flooded out of them, but some of it was splashed on the walls, showing the kind of violence that had caused the blood to be outside of its host.

"This wasn't done by people. This was done by monsters."

Dimitri looked at me but didn't argue.

He sat on his haunches next to a body. This Dragon's face was still somewhat intact. His lifeless eyes were looking right up at me, but they stopped seeing anything a while ago. Dimitri placed his claws over his eyes and closed them. He let his claws linger for a while on the man, and I assumed this was Arthur. Arthur and his family had lived here.

"This is what they are capable of, isn't it? This was done by Snow Dragons."

He nodded. He took a deep breath and when he stood up, he was in full General mode. And I knew I would have to get into soldier mode. Because this was it. There couldn't be a clearer declaration of war.

"This changes everything, doesn't it?"

"Yes."

"So, what now?"

He looked back to the bodies.

"Now, we burn them and prepare for war."

He moved me out of the cave. Once we were clear of it and he had moved me to a safe distance, he took a deep breath and let his flame consume everything that was in that cave. I suppose Dragons were only fireproof in life. Now that their internal flame was extinguished, it no longer protected them.

I stood beside Dimitri as we watched the cave burn. I was cold and was rubbing my hands up and down my arms. It was strange, there was obviously heat coming from the entrance of the cave, but the heat did nothing to chase away the cold that had settled in my bones.

"Come on Roza, we need to go, they may be watching, and we need to inform the others."

I still had my blade clutched in my hand. I simply couldn't remember how to let it go and put it back in my sheath on my back. It seemed my body had completely forgotten how to function. I felt as dead as the bodies currently burning in those caves.

Dimitri seemed to notice my lack of action and transformed to his human form. He must be cold being completely naked, but I think the shiver running down his body had a completely different cause.

He lifted my chin towards him with one hand, while he grabbed my blade out of my hand with the other.

"It's okay Roza. It is going to be okay."

I looked up at him and felt myself come to life again. I felt my flame heat up inside of me, reminding me I was very different from the bodies in those caves.

"Yes, it will be," I said as I pulled out of his grasp, took the sword from him and put it back in its sheath. I let my own flame have free will. It seemed to perfectly reflect my inner state at the moment, as it danced angrily across my skin.

"Because I will make them pay for this."