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Summer came late but hot into the mountains, baking the stones outside Syndranen's lair to a comfortably toasty temperature. It made for the perfect basking ledge, with Syndranen's several tons of glittering green scales draped over them like jewels.
Syndranen did always enjoy watching the sun shine on zir scales. Like all dragons, ze was captivated by beauty, whether natural or in the forms that mortal creatures created. Zir lair was strewn with treasure, packed carefully into the walls of stone until the very walls shone with it. Silver, gold, gems—ze had it all, secreted where no grubby mortal hands could steal it.
Syndranen was not as old as some of zir kind, but ze was clever, and through that cleverness had hidden zir lair away where the mortals might never find it. Ze didn't have to concern zirself with dragonslayers or treasure hunters coming to take it. Nobody knew ze was there, and even sunning outside on the rock held no risk. From a distance, Syndranen's bright scales would be mistaken for the bright emerald moss that grew on the mountainsides.
For all that, though, Syndranen was not yet satisfied with zir hoard. Mere objects lost their appeal after a while, and there was only so long ze could spend sifting through the coins and re-arranging the gems before ze started to long for something differeing, something that was neither the fleeting rainbow in the sky or the everlasting brilliance of a cut diamond. Zir lair was missing something—a crowning jewel, as it were—and Syndranen was determined to possess it.
There was a small village near Syndranen's lair, a quaint little thing where mortals were born, and grew, and died, all in the blink of one of Syndranen's luminous golden eyes. Ze didn't see the village often, owing to caution, but ze had flown over at night sometimes to see the twinkling of candles and fires through the canopy of the trees. More rare still were the times when Syndranen actually saw a person from the village, and it was frequently the same person.
The woodcutter was a steady, boring man. Syndranen sometimes watched him from a distance as ze sunned on the rocks, peering through the trees. Zir hearing and eyesight were far better than a mortal's, and ze could sometimes hear the woodcutter talking or singing to himself as he worked. It was a mild form of entertainment, usually only diverting enough to keep Syndranen interested for a half-hour's time before ze fell asleep to the sound of mortal feet tramping through the brush and a voice—always flat, never on key—idly singing working songs.
That had changed the first time the woodcutter brought his apprentice into the forest.
Syndranen had been dozing, as was zir habit, in the sun. It had been winter, which made zir ledge not quite as inviting as the sun-baked summer, but Syndranen was no mortal lizard to be made sluggish by the cold. When ze heard a new voice accompanying the gravely, tone-deaf woodcutter, ze lifted zir head and peered through the trees.
It was then that ze caught sight of the most beautiful mortal ze had ever seen. Syndranen didn't know how mortals tallied their own beauty, and didn't know whether the apprentice was as comely to his own kind as he was to zir, but ze didn't see how anyone could fail to be arrested by his appearance. His hair, wild around the crown of his head and braided down his nape, was the color of sun-bleached wheat, like a golden beacon through the dense foliage of the trees. His skin was not browned evenly by the sun, but rather creamy-pale underneath a heavy dusting of brown freckles, making him look a bit like a spotted cat Syndranen had seen in the travels of zir younger days. His shoulders were broad and strong, and he swung an ax as easily as Syndranen could leap into the air.
Watching the woodcutter's apprentice had become one of Syndranen's favorite diversions. Yet even as ze watched, ze knew full well that watching would never be enough. Ze needed to possess this human. He would be what Syndranen was missing. Ze hadn't felt stirred by this kind of want since ze had been a young, reckless drake and stolen the crown jewels right off the head of a particularly furious monarch. That crown now held a place of honor in zir hoard, and so would this human.
Syndranen knew ze had to have him. It was simply a matter of waiting. Ze had been too cautious for too many years to reveal zir presence, even to one old woodcutter. Mortals didn't always believe sensational things they were told about a dragon kidnapping an apprentice in the woods, but sometimes they did, and Syndranen did not wish to risk it. So ze watched the woodcutter's apprentice like a hawk watches a mouse in the field each time he and his old master entered the woods, and each time they left, Syndranen simmered with jealous desire.
On this day, though, the woodcutter's apprentice came alone.
His voice sounded even more lovely when he sang only by himself, not held down by the off-key warbling of his master. It was a travel song he sang, something with a simple rhythm to allow focus on the beat and the melody and not on aching feet and the heat of the summer sun. Syndranen had spent a fascinating series of decades as a soldier in a mortal army, and had a fondness for such songs.
Ze listened, slowly rousing zirself from an afternoon doze, as the woodcutter came closer to the base of the cliff where Syndranen laired. Ze had chosen well—the cliff face was sheer, and there was nothing atop it that would be worth the risk of the climb. The woodcutter often rested here, once he had come into the forest and before he truly began his work. So, it seemed, did the woodcutter's apprentice, who slung down his ax and stripped off his shirt, using it to mop his face as he leaned on the relative cool of the stone.
Syndranen would not get a better chance than this one. Slowly, feeling like ze was shifting only one scale at a time, ze stood from the hot stones and unfurled zir wings. The shadow they cast fell across the treeline, but the woodcutter's apprentice was still too busy catching his breath to note the new shade.
Silently, Syndranen tipped over the edge of the cliff and dove. The wind rushed past, tugging at zir wings, but ze waited until mere feet from the ground before snapping them open, cushioning zir landing in front of the woodcutter's apprentice.
He screamed and scrambled for the ax, which was about how Syndranen had expected this would go, but a careless flick of one claw sent the ax spinning away through the brush to thunk blade-first into a tree. Zir prize looked up at zir with wide eyes, pale blue like the winter sky, and scrambled to put his back against the cliff.
It was no work at all to crowd him back with zir bulk until ze could catch him, held fast but gentle in zir front claws. Ze spread zir wings again and leaped, propelling zirself into the air with powerful strokes. Zir captive struggled and beat at the claws that held him, cursing and pleading by turns, but Syndranen did not entertain his protests with a response. He would find out soon enough that no amount of struggle could save him. Syndranen did not relinquish possessions.
Ze settled down on the sunning ledge and slipped into the mouth of the cave, only wide enough to just fit zir bulk through. Once inside, the cavern was vast, much more vast than when Syndranen had first found this little opening in the cliffside. It was not simply one cave but several, a whole system of them wound back through the mountain.
The apprentice had gone silent when they entered, and Syndranen preened, knowing it was awe. Every surface of zir cave glimmered with treasure, from the seams of gold coins Syndranen had so carefully set into the stone that looked like rivers running through the rock, to the disorganized heap of gemstones Syndranen had been meaning to sort for the last century.
Syndranen carried zir prize carefully, cradling his fragile, flesh body in zir claws. Mortals were deceptively lively. They were so boisterous and curious and constantly getting into trouble that it was difficult to remember how delicate they were outside their metal suits of armor. Having finally gained the possession ze'd dreamed of for months, ze had no intention of harming him now.
When the mortal spoke again, it seemed he had calmed, at least a little.
"Please," he said, his voice tremulous. "You won't eat me, will you?"
"That would be a terrible waste," Syndranen replied, feeling him startle in zir claws.
"You speak!" he cried, and renewed his struggles. "Why do you do this? Let me go!"
"Shhhh, little human. You'll injure yourself." Syndranen let the human shove, knowing there was nothing he could do, but was worried he would accidentally cut himself on a claw. "My magic is not bent toward healing."
"Please," the human said again, desperation in his voice. "Whatever you must want with me, I can't possibly—"
"Whatever notions are running through that foolish mortal head, do forget them," Syndranen said, coming finally to the hot spring pools in the bathing cave. Steam surrounded them, the air warm and muggy. Syndranen set zir little human down and hooked a claw into his rough-spun trousers, pulling them away as easily as if they had been down feathers.
The human hugged the tattered shreds of his clothing to him. "What are you doing?"
"Bathing you," Syndranen answered, with a certain tone of amusement. "You smell quite strongly of sweat, and horses, and a bit of manure."
The human's pale, freckled face flushed bright red, something Syndranen thought ze'd greatly enjoy watching for the next few decades. He opened his mouth to speak again, but Syndranen had already found his conversation tiresome, and flicked him into the water of the hot spring with the backs of two claws. He landed with a splash and a sputter, his white-gold hair now plastered to his skin.
"Manure?" he spluttered, entirely indignant. Syndranen ignored him again, shifting closer to the pool. The human scrambled through the water to the opposite wall, not that it would help him any as Syndranen climbed slowly into the pool. It was more than large enough to contain zir bulk, and ze let out a contented, rumbling sigh as the hot, steaming water washed over zir scales.
Ze cracked open one eye to find the human staring, his eyes moving over the powerful line of zir neck to the delicate folds of zir wings, his blue eyes wide with wonder.
"Take your hair out of that plait," Syndranen said, reaching out with one claw to pull the human away from the wall and closer. He yelped as he was moved, but didn't struggle as hard as he had before. Perhaps he was learning it was hopeless.
"Why?" he asked, and Syndranen snorted, hot air wafting over the two of them. He flinched.
"I am not a firebreather, if that is what concerns you," Syndranen told him, even more amused. "It has not been so long since we walked among you that you should be forgetting things like colors and breath weapons."
"Well, forgive me for lacking the proper education," the human said, his voice rather cutting. Then he went pale, as if realizing who he'd been impertinent to. Syndranen chuckled.
"You need not fear me, little human. I have watched you for some time, and I would not ruin my prize now for a few uncouth words." Syndranen leaned closer, breath wafting over the human's hair. "Now take your hair out of the plait, I wish to see it."
He merely stared at Syndranen for several long moments. Just as ze began to grow impatient, he brought the end of his plait over his shoulder and pulled the tie free from it. Wet as it was, it took some effort to pick the strands free of the braid, but once he was done, Syndranen gave him a pleased little hum.
"Just as beautiful as I thought it would be," ze murmured, stretching out one claw to delicately flick the wet strands over the human's ear. "Like silver as it's being fired, or polished gold."
The red flush was back on the human's face, creeping up his cheeks under the freckles. "I—no, I'm not—"
"Not what? Not a beauty—no, a treasure? How wrong you are, little human." Syndranen leaned closer still, inspecting the human from head to toe. "You are indeed a prize."
"I'm, I, I have freckles," the human protested, gesturing at his face. "And scars, and I've broken my fingers enough to make them knobby—"
"Hush," Syndranen said, nudging the human with zir nose. "Have you never heard someone say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder? Well, regardless of what you think of yourself, it's why I've taken you."
"Because," the human said hesitantly, like he couldn't believe what he was hearing, "because you think I'm beautiful?"
"Because you are beautiful, little human, and I do so like collecting beautiful things." Which gave Syndranen an idea that tickled the back of zir mind delightfully. "Stay here, now. I'll not have a problem finding you if you get lost in the caves, but there truly is no way down the cliff save if I take you, and I would so hate for you to hurt yourself. If you would be so good as to bathe while I'm gone, I'll not have to do it for you."
The protest the human had started died in his throat, his teeth clicking together as he eyed Syndranen's formidable claws. Ze would of course never hurt zir human, but he didn't know that, and Syndranen had long since learned to use everything ze could to zir advantage.
Flicking through the treasure proved to be more diverting than Syndranen thought. With every piece, ze couldn't help but think how it would look against the freckled skin of the human. The sun began to sink low outside the cave mouth, with Syndranen twisting delicate bits of jewelry this way and that, before ze remembered ze'd left the human in the bath. Surely he hadn't drowned? Grown humans were supposed to swim. Filled with a sudden surge of anxiousness for zir prize, Syndranen hustled through the tunnels until ze was back in the bathing room.
The human was asleep, stretched out naked on the floor, his head pillowed on the wadded up scraps of his discarded clothing. Syndranen looked on him fondly, watching his chest rise and fall, the way his mouth hung slightly open and his pale lashes brushed his cheeks. He looked like such a delicate thing, though perhaps members of his own kind wouldn't think him so, with the muscle on his frame.
"Little human," Syndranen mumured, zir voice a deep rumble. Ze nudged the human, fascinated by the way his eyelids scrunched and then lifted slowly, only to fly open when he saw Syndranen's scales so close. He went from laid out on the floor to on his feet in seconds, his muscles bunched under his skin like he was ready to fight or run. Syndranen could hear his heartbeat pounding in his chest.
"You're still here," he said.
"Of course I am." Syndranen felt mildly insulted. "As if I'd abandon you now that I finally have you. I do apologize for leaving you alone so long, I lost track of time. Here."
Syndranen let the small pile of treasure spill onto the stone. The human's blue eyes went wide again, and his fingers trembled as he reached out for them. So funny, how close humans were to a dragon's greed. The shine of gold and jewels caught their eye just as easily as it did a dragon's.
"What's this?"
"For you to wear, of course." Syndranen had thought it was obvious, but perhaps not. "You'll look quite lovely all decorated."
"I—no, I don't—"
Syndranen thought ze'd been reasonably patient with the human, but ze was getting rather tired of him saying 'no' to everything. Ze flicked the pile closer with one claw, watching as the human swallowed hard at how close the tip came to his feet.
"You will," ze said firmly. "You're mine now, and I'll do with you as I please."
The human glared at zir, his blue eyes narrowing and his jaw set, like he'd like to say something about that. But then his glare wandered over the claws tapping impatiently against the stone and he apparently decided better of it, crouching down to pick up one of Syndranen's favorite pieces, a gold necklace strung with tiny rubies like winking red stars. Hesitantly, glancing at Syndranen as if afraid he'd chosen wrong, the human clasped it around his neck.
Syndranen made a pleased noise, and the human froze in place as ze touched the necklace with the tip of a claw. It rested very pleasingly in the middle of the human's chest, accentuating the muscles.
"Yes, that suits you quite well." Ze tapped the pile, encouraging the human to put the rest of it on.
He complied, though he handled most of the jewelry as if he felt it might fall apart in his fingers. The rings did not fit, which seemed to distress him, as if he thought Syndranen might be angry at the flexibility limitations of gold.
"Not to worry," Syndranen said, pulling the rings over. It took only a few taps of zir claws before the metal writhed and expanded like it was alive, thinning and stretching. "Try it now."
"Was that your magic?" the human asked, reaching slowly for the rings. They slid onto his fingers easily now.
"Yes. Green dragons have magic for shaping, though not for changing - that would be the purview of purple magic. We can make things larger or smaller, or twist them around, but we can't make them into something else."
"And if you don't breathe fire, what do you breathe?"
Syndranen was more than happy to indulge zir human's curiosity. "Acid, of course. Oh, no need to concern yourself, I'm quite old enough to have it well under control. If you'd been taken by an over-eager hatchling, you might have need to be afraid of them sneezing and accidentally sloughing your skin off, but not me."
"Of course," the human said, sounding a little faint. "I suppose that makes me lucky."
"Oh, but you are!" Syndranen said, the tip of zir tail curling and flicking. "Think of what might have happened if you'd caught the eye of one of my black or red brethren. Much more prone to eating mortals, they are. Barbaric business, in my opinion."
"Thank you, I suppose." The human didn't sound precisely grateful, but Syndranen supposed ze'd take it gracefully. It was only the first day, and ze remembered now that mortals didn't tend to take kindly to being kidnapped.
"You're quite welcome, little human." Syndranen looked over his progress, pleased beyond words. Gold glinted from his neck, his ankles, his wrists, his fingers. He glittered when he moved, and it was all offset by the brilliant white-gold of his hair.
"My name is Karsus," he said, a little sullenly.
"Karsus." Syndranen tasted how it felt in zir mouth, hard at the start and sibilant at the end. "I like the way it sounds. You may keep it, then."
Karsus looked taken aback, like he hadn't thought of that, his cheeks turning just a little red. "Er, thank you. Is there a name I should call you?"
"Possession of a true name is a thing of power," Syndranen told him seriously. "You should not have given me yours so easily, and would not have if you'd been properly educated on the matters of dragons." Still, if the human had need, ze had little love of being called 'dragon' as if ze were some unintelligent beast. "You may call me Syndra."
"Syndra," Karsus said. "Alright. Is there a place I might sleep that isn't a stone floor?"
It seemed Karsus had a little spirit to him, when he wasn't properly terrified or denying Syndranen's regard. It was amusing. More amusing was how he yelped, high-pitched and afraid, when Syndranen scooped him up with one hand and turned to leave the springs.
The portion of the cave system where Syndranen kept zir den was deeper underground than the rest. Very little light filtered down this low, and while Syndranen could still see easily, Karsus swung his head around wildly, blinded by the dark.
"Don't be afaid," Syndranen told him. "I already said I wouldn't harm you."
"Forgive me for not trusting you immediately, you did kidnap me."
That was fair, Syndranen thought. Ze reached the den and settled down on the stones, placing Karsus on zir softer belly scales and wrapping a wing around him to hold him in place.
"Better than the floor?" Syndranen asked, interested to hear the answer.
"...Yes," Karsus said after a moment. "I suppose it is."
The days were more diverting with another person around. Instead of spending hours boredly flicking gemstones into different piles—sorting by color, or by cut, or by size, or by how much ze actually liked them—Syndranen found a new fascination with draping Karsus in pretty baubles, shaping them to fit his body. The ragged clothes, Syndranen had swept over the edge of the cliff with zir tail, chuckling at the open dismay on Karsus's face. He wore only jewels now, and nothing else. It wasn't as if he needed to fear a chill, not with Syndranen's warmth to curl up next to at night.
Karsus had discovered Syndranen's dusty old collection of books at one point, and had exclaimed over them. Books, he said eagerly, were things of rarity in the village he'd come from. He'd only seen one in his life and hadn't been permitted to touch it.
"Can you read?" Syndranen asked, though the question wouldn't have occurred to zir until now.
"A little," Karsus said. "I know my letters. It's slow going, but at least I'll have plenty of time to practice."
The bitterness was in his voice again. Syndranen heard it now and again, though it was getting rarer as the days passed, and ze thought Karsus was growing to enjoy zir company.
"Certainly," was all Syndranen said in reply. "Practice makes perfect."
He did struggle with the books, at first, murmuring aloud to himself as he read. He did it in the main cave, mostly, as Syndranen sorted through zir treasure. When his skill grew stronger, Syndranen asked him to read aloud. He did that well, his voice clear and lovely.
It reminded Syndranen how attracted ze'd been to Karsus's voice in the first place, and ze interrupted a book on the history of some faraway country that might have fallen a long time ago.
"Sing for me."
"Sing?" Karsus asked, bewildered. "I don't know any songs—"
"You do," Syndranon insisted. "I've heard you sing."
"Those aren't songs. At least, they're not proper songs, they're only marching and working songs. I don't know any of the songs that tell tales or fables."
"I know all the tales and fables. And I have a fondness for working songs." Even with zir insistence, he still looked hesitant. Maybe more coaxing was in order. "Please. You have a beautiful voice."
"I, well," Karsus said, and looked nearly flattered. It was the first time he'd flushed like that since Syndranen had called him beautiful in the baths, weeks ago when he was newly captured. "I suppose I live to indulge you."
Syndranen found that quite pleasing. Ze also found Karsus's voice quite pleasing, lifted in a working song about the harvest. It was mostly nonsense words, but the melody was lovely and Karsus's voice made it even better.
The summer days grew shorter, and chillier, until Syndranen finally caught sight of red and orange leaves crowning the treetops as ze sunned on the ledge. It would be winter soon, and the cave would grow cold. Ze would have to see to it Karsus didn't freeze to death.
There was also another matter, which Syndranen had been eagerly turning over in zir mind as the temperatures dropped and winter became imminent. Winter was the time for staying in one's lair and hibernating, but it was also the time for... other activities. Activities Syndranen hadn't had occasion to indulge in for a very long time.
When the first snows fell, Syndranen left the lair. Ze'd done so before, spates of hunting since Karsus required food so much more often. But this was the first time ze'd left for more than a few hours, and while the goal was necessary, ze couldn't help the gnawing anxiousness that when ze returned, Karsus would be gone.
The worries were unfounded. When ze landed on the ledge outside the lair, Karsus was there waiting, arms wrapped around himself and shivering.
"I told you to stay deeper in the caves when it got cold," Syndranen scolded. "Put these on."
The heap of rich furs ze dropped at Karsus's feet had lately belonged to some kind of well-to-do human or another. The ones who built stone castles and flew flags always had the best treasures, and while gold had not been the object this time, the furs were thick and soft, and well-tanned.
Karsus wrapped himself in a dark brown pelt that looked like it had come from a bear, and gradually stopped shivering. "What if something had happened to you while you were gone?"
"Nonsense," Syndranen said. "I haven't met a mortal who could tangle with me since before your grandfather was born."
Karsus looked as if he didn't find that statement very comforting. Perhaps he had been hoping Syndranen would meet an untimely demise, and he would be free. Foolish of him. With no way down from the cave, without Syndranen, he would surely starve and freeze before anyone found him.
Syndranen watched interestedly as Karsus spent the next couple weeks smoking every scrap of meat ze brought home. Since cooking wasn't necessary for a dragon, ze'd become somewhat fascinated by the process when Karsus did it. There was something of a precision to it, and Syndranen most enjoyed watching Karsus's hands as he worked. So dextrous, yet so delicate.
"And you say this preserves it?"
"For the winter," Karsus said. "Game will be thin on the ground as most animals hibernate. I've spent winters before living on roots and potatoes, but I'd rather not."
"I'd rather you not as well," Syndranen said, thinking alarmingly of how wasted and thin Karsus's frame would be if he had nothing but roots and potatoes to eat. The corded muscle that bunched under his soft skin when he moved was one of the contrasts Syndranen truly enjoyed about him.
Winter had well and truly set in before Syndranen started feeling the effects of the season. At first, it only made zir moody and capricious, which led Karsus to avoid zir as much as possible, holing up in Syndranen's library and only emerging to eat and sleep. One night, Syndranen even found him slumped asleep over a book and felt a surge of annoyance, picking him up none-too-gently to carry him back to the den. Karsus had struggled for the first time in a long time, only stopping when Syndranen growled wordlessly at him. Rut was imminent, Syndranen knew. Ze only got this way when the rut was close.
Karsus also grew moody as midwinter approached. Syndranen found him sitting at the cave mouth more often, bundled in his furs and glaring out at the snow-blanketed mountainside.
"They'll be lighting the midwinter fires tonight," he said, on the dawn of the longest night. Syndranen and one of the books in zir collection had taught him how to tell the days and seasons by the stars, and he looked up at their faint remnants now. "If I were still there, I'd be feasting and dancing and leaping over fires."
"Leaping over fires?" Syndranen asked, amused.
"So the sun will bless the new year, and the days will grow longer again. If you jump a fire with a woman, it's an invitation to go to bed with her," Karsus explained, then sighed. "I could be jumping fires and going to bed. Instead I'm here."
Syndranen, whose middle had the persistent tight feeling of a dragon approaching rut, said nothing at all. If this was midwinter for the humans, perhaps Karsus would be able to celebrate after all.
It was lucky, then, that Syndranen woke that night with the tightness in zir middle now an urgency. Karsus, curled up under a leathery blanket of wing and wrapped in furs, slept on peacefully.
Syndranen shifted, allowing him to slide off the bulk of zir onto the stone floor. He murmured like he was half-waking, and Syndranen let zir long, forked tongue slide over Karsus's body from hip to neck, tasting his skin.
Karsus squirmed when ze licked, like it tickled. Syndranen pinned him down, and drew zir tongue all over him, slowly cleaning away sweat from being wrapped in warm furs and cradled against a dragon. Karsus's finery jingled, the tang of gold and the earthy taste of gems only adding to the salt of Karsus's skin.
"Syndra, what—" Karsus mumbled, still half-asleep, and Syndranen pressed him down a little more firmly as he started to wake up proper and try to sit up. "What are you doing?"
"Celebrating midwinter," Syndranen rumbled at him, before curling zir tongue over Karsus's cock and testicles.
At first, it was like Karsus had heard but didn't understand. The stunned stillness didn't last long, and he began to struggle harder than he had since the first day Syndranen had taken him.
"Don't!" he cried, but he was helpless to stop it as Syndranen kept plying him with zir flexible tongue, persisting until he began to get hard. From what ze understood, that was how humans reacted when the sex was pleasurable. Pleased, ze shifted the motions of zir tongue, drawing it between the cheeks of Karsus's ass, flicking the twin tips over his tiny hole.
"You can't!" Karsus protested again. "You're—you'll never—I'll die!"
"Don't be foolish," Syndranen said, zir voice rumbling against his skin. "As if I'd ever let you come to harm."
"It won't fit!" Karsus was struggling in earnest, but there was nothing he could do against a dragon's strength. Syndranen ignored his protests, which only grew louder and more profane as Syndranen's tongue began to push. Ze met resistance, Karsus's body clenching down in a desperate attempt to keep the intrusion out, but it was useless. Once the tips of Syndranen's tongue pushed inside, it was easy to get even deeper. And, when zir snout was pressed against Karsus's buttocks and he was full of zir tongue as deep as it would go, it was easier to begin wriggling it around and concentrating on the magic.
Karsus was not wrong—his body was small, much smaller than that of another dragon, and not built to take Syndranen inside. It was well that Syndranen was a green, with green magic, or ze might very well have killed Karsus, and that would be a shame.
The air of their den was full of Karsus's voice. He cursed, he pleaded, he even tried to threaten. Syndranen could see his fingers trying to dig into the stone for purchase, and when ze drew a choked noise of pleasure from him, he seemed to grow more desperate, renewing the writhing of his body. Syndranen, who made a habit of trying not to frighten Karsus, decided ze simply wouldn't tell him how exciting those struggles were. Mating for dragons was as much about dominance as procreation, and having Karsus wriggle and cry out beneath zir was enough to make zir cock start to evert from its vent.
Karsus's insides were hot and tender, squeezing helplessly around Syndranen's tongue. Ze wriggled and rippled it inside, listening to his hitched, cut-off breaths and how his cursing intensified, which Syndranen was sure meant that it felt good. With every stroke of the long, sinuous organ, Syndranen pushed more of zir magic into Karsus's body, making it pliable. The contractions of muscles around zir tongue grew weaker, the opening becoming lax and leaking saliva. Karsus would be filthy enough to need a bath after this, Syndranen thought. Perhaps the magic would last long enough to have him again there.
Urgency swelled through zir. Karsus's body shook, trembling with either rage or fear, ze couldn't tell. It didn't matter overmuch.
"Please don't," Karsus begged weakly, as Syndranen finally began to withdraw zir tongue, satisfied as to the extent the magic had changed him. "Please, Syndra, please, I don't want—"
"Oh, but I want," Syndranen told him, amused. Karsus looked ready, gaped open from the stretch of Syndranen's tongue and the shaping magic. Syndranen lost a moment simply staring at how ze'd changed zir human's body. It would be even more pronounced when Syndranen was through.
Karsus was too small to mount properly. Instead, Syndranen had to pick him up with the hand ze'd used to pin him, pulling him close. Ze was fully unsheathed, aroused by the sight of him so thoroughly prepared to take zir inside, and with the way he struggled and cried out. He was so helpless, so small and fragile and precious, and ze was the only one who could have him like this without breaking him.
Syndranen's cock was slender at the tip, tapering out wider and wider as it approached the base. Even still, the tapered tip was as big around as Karsus's wrist, and when ze nudged it at the entrance of his loosened body, he made a wordless, furious sound that made Syndranen's tail curl. It sounded like a tiny, weak version of the challenging growl of another dragon, and had perhaps the opposite effect as he intended. Syndranen pushed zir hips, oh-so-carefully, and gave a long, rumbling sigh when the tip slid inside.
Karsus gave a startled little cut-off cry, and suddenly Syndranen felt the touch of clever human fingers on zir shaft. Ze pushed a little more, lowering Karsus a little further on zir cock, and felt those fingers pushing and scrabbling like Karsus thought he could pull Syndranen's cock out.
"Don't struggle so," ze said, even as ze pushed a little deeper. Karsus was so tight, beautifully tight. The inside of his body was warm but not hot, an interesting difference between the human's body and a dragon's. Syndranen pushed again, sliding another few inches and the first thick ridge of zir cock inside.
The noise that came from zir human now was not a curse of rage or a desperate plea. It was soft and choked, but Syndranen knew a sob when ze heard one. Crooning, ze craned zir neck down to nudge Karsus's cheek and snake out zir tongue to lick away the tears.
"Are you in pain, my little human?" ze asked, though ze didn't stop to hear Karsus's answer before ze pushed still more of zir massive cock inside the tight, warm tunnel. "Ohhh, that feels magical."
"I should be, I should—" Karsus sounded like he was in shock, like he couldn't gather enough thoughts to make a complete thought. Syndranen's tongue snaked down his body, over his nipples to lick between his legs again, curling prehensile around the human's tiny cock. "No, no!"
"You shouldn't hurt," Syndranen said, and lowered him a little more. This time, when zir tongue snaked up his body, ze could feel a bump beneath his stomach. Curious, ze gently thrust zir hips, and felt the bump move under zir tongue. "I can feel myself inside you."
That provoked another sob, louder this time. Syndranen was growing impatient with the coddling, the continued denials. Zir magic had surely been enough to prepare him for a proper dragon mating; ze'd been so careful with the shaping, carving out space for zirself. He could take it.
With that thought, Syndranen pushed forward in one brutal thrust to sheath zirself fully in the little body pinned to zir belly scales. Karsus shrieked, but Syndranen didn't smell injury.
Despite the shaping, Karsus was still so tight around zir, gorgeously warm and struggling pitifully again. He was so tight that Syndranen felt a twinge of worry, that ze might still harm zir little human. What a shame that would be, now that ze'd seen just how perfect he was. Just to be safe, Syndranen pushed a bit more of zir magic through the press of zir cock, a little more of the shaping. Enough to make it easy when ze moved again, pulling back to the last, widest ridge before thrusting in again with force.
"Oh yes," Syndranen groaned, hissing on the sibilant. Ze nuzzled the bump of zir own cock through the human's stomach, delighting in how his body was twisted out of shape from the mating, the evidence of the huge cock inside him. Ze could smell Karsus, fear-sweat and tears and the scent of human arousal despite it all. The more Karsus struggled, the more his insides tried to clench down on zir cock, squeezing it in all the best ways.
"So beautiful," Syndranen crooned to him, licking more tears from his cheeks. Now he went limp, exhausted by his attempts to escape, letting himself be moved up and down Syndranen's cock like some kind of toy, limbs loose, chest heaving with rapid breaths. "Beautiful and mine, just like all the things I treasure."
Karsus moaned, a despairing sound that ended on another loud sob, and Syndranen made more soothing noises even as zir thrusts grew in speed and power, punching little huffs of breath out of zir human whenever ze sheathed zirself inside. The bulge of zir cock through his belly was intoxicating, and Syndranen could not keep zir eyes from it. The more ze watched the thin, frail skin bulging from the size of what was stuffed inside it, the closer release felt.
Syndranen never wanted the mating to end, but it was too good, too overwhelming to hold back. Wind buffeted the walls as zir wings unfurled and flapped mightily, and ze had to abandon nuzzling Karsus to stretch out zir neck and roar. The sound echoed through the lair and shook the stones. Ze began to spend inside the little human body stuck on zir cock, swelling him further and further with come until ze began to be afraid that even the shaping would not be enough.
Yet, as Karsus's stomach swelled to an ungainly size, he only clutched weakly at zir scales, still trying to shove against them with limp arms and scratch with blunt fingernails. He took it, and took more, beyond what Syndranen had even thought him capable. He was amazing, truly stunning, with his white-gold hair plastered down against his shoulders, his freckled skin flushed pink and red with pleasure, and swollen with the evidence of their mating.
"My precious Karsus." Syndranen slowly stretched out on zir side, tail uncoiling and flicking lazily. Zir human stayed pinned on zir cock as ze enjoyed the tight warmth in the afterglow of mating. "You are such a perfect treasure."
Karsus rested shaking hands on his stomach. He was trembling all over, but his hands shook the most. The moment his fingers brushed the stretched skin, he made a caught noise, almost like a whine.
"Does it feel good?" Syndranen asked curiously, zir tongue snaking out before he could answer.
"I'm," Karsus gasped, like he was struggling to draw enough breath to speak. "It's so full, it's impossible."
Syndranen licked firmly over the bottom of the swollen curve and he made a noise like all the breath he'd managed had been punched back out of him. Ze liked that noise, and liked more the noise he made when zir tongue licked at his soft cock. He fumbled, trying to reach zir with his hands, but he'd grown too wide.
Ze tasted something salty, and a bit tangy, and pulled zir tongue back into zir mouth to taste better. Delighted, ze asked, "Did you have a good midwinter celebration?"
"No!" Karsus burst out, immediate and sharp. "I don't want this! Let me go, I can't even fathom that you'd—"
He broke off, gasping, trying to catch his breath. Syndranen almost hated that it was impossible to keep him like this. Zir cock was already retreating back into zir vent, the largest ridge tugging at the rim of his hole before slowly slipping out. From the way he shuddered and clenched his teeth against a whine, it was so much sensation he couldn't stand it.
"Poor treasure," Syndranen said, clicking zir tongue before sliding it back out and licking the curve of his belly. Karsus tried to hit, this time, which was rude under normal circumstances, but Syndranen would let it be. Come began to leak out of his hole as zir cock sheathed itself, and when the tapered tip finally slipped out of him, there was a gush of it all over Syndranen's belly scales. The den smelled like mating, and Syndranen wanted to bask in it.
"You've ruined me," Karsus said in horror, and Syndranen cracked an eye that had slipped closed to see what zir human was talking about now. He was feeling between his legs, his face white, his fingers slipping easily inside himself as Syndranen's come slicked the way.
"Oh, don't worry, the shaping will wear off. Flesh isn't as readily shifted as metal or stone. The more complex the material—"
"Will you stop!" Karsus shouted, his voice bouncing off the walls. He slapped a hand down on Syndranen's belly scales. Ze barely felt it, but the sentiment was clearly expressed. "You violated me! You, you took me away from everything I knew and you've kept me here like a plaything and you've used me."
He was angry, but Syndranen also thought ze detected something hurt in his voice, like he felt betrayed. Ze knew that the mating had been unexpected, but ze wasn't certain how to react to this.
"I won't mate again this winter," Syndranen said carefully, watching Karsus's face. "A dragon's cycle comes once a century, and lasts a decade, but the mating is only once a year, in winter. It will be a year until—"
"Until you do this to me again?" Karsus was getting his color back, but this time Syndranen was certain it was a flush of anger. "I don't see any other dragons around, surely you've done it alone before."
"Certainly, but there's no reason for that when I have you." Syndranen carefully, so carefully, brushed the tip of a claw over the strong line of Karsus's back. "You bring me such beauty and good company, and now I know you can bring be pleasure as well. And don't lie and say you didn't feel pleasure, I tasted your spend. I watched you shudder and writhe on me, when I was sheathed inside you."
"I couldn't help it," Karsus hissed, sounding a little like a dragon himself. He clenched his fists and glared, his chest heaving. The swell of his stomach had gone down, and Syndranen was willing to bet the shaping had almost worn off. He would be entirely back to normal, if a little sore, by morning.
"I can bring you pleasure without mating," Syndranen said reasonably. "Certainly you seemed to enjoy my tongue well enough."
"That's," Karsus said, and for the first time he tripped over his tongue, flushing red. "That's, no. I didn't want that either."
"Ah, but you liked it." This discussion was growing tiresome, and Syndranen was exhausted. Ze wanted to sleep. "Go to sleep, little human."
There was a long silence, and Syndranen's eyes slipped closed again, thinking Karsus had listened. Just as ze began to feel heavy, a doze coming on, Karsus spoke.
"What happens when I'm old, and my skin wrinkles, and my hair turns white? When I grow fat? What will you do with me when I'm no longer beautiful enough for you?"
The question was startling enough that Syndranen opened zir eyes again. Karsus's jaw was set and stubborn, his arms crossed. They had years before that happened, surely.
"How old are you?"
"Twenty-three summers."
"Plenty of time, then." Syndranen made to close zir eyes. Ze didn't want to talk about this. Humans lived until eighty, sometimes, when they were healthy.
But his beauty won't last that long, ze thought, unsettled. No, it wouldn't. Karsus would be beautiful for decades, maybe, but not for much longer. His skin would wrinkle. His bones would grow frail. He would die.
"But what will you do with me?" Karsus pressed, and though Syndranen didn't open zir eyes, ze did grumble and shift until ze could wrap a wing around him and pin him to zir.
"When you grow old, I'll let you go, of course," ze muttered, discomfited and tetchy with interrupted sleep. "What use is keeping a treasure around that's lost its lustre?"
Karsus was thankfully silent at last. Syndranen settled, taking a deep breath of the scent of mating and human sweat that surrounded them. Ze would sleep now, and in the morning ze would bend zir mind to the question of how to keep zir treasure beautiful as long as ze wanted. Ze only had the magic of shaping, but bronze magic governed time, and could perhaps craft a spell of youth. Ze wouldn't even be breaking zir word, since ze'd only said ze would release Karsus if he grew old.
The last ze'd heard of a bronze dragon was halfway across the world, but as ze'd said to Karsus, they had plenty of time.