The metal backing of the cabinet was shiny enough for Pira to see his reflection. Manoeuvring the blue tinged metal helmet down onto his head. He’d never worn one before. It took, a couple tries to realise how he was to work the punctured holes down over his horns. A simple dome with wide rims, it cast his vision in shadow, but it felt, snug. His scaled tail drifting a little. It felt like acceptance, into the Bluerims. The thought made him shiver, the nerves were inescapable. He flashed h

Cages and Caverns 14




Rolf couldn’t help but fidget. From the moment Jason and Richard had slipped out of the tavern he’d been second guessing his agreement. The misgivings had twisted into dread and a fervent wish he could turn back the clock. What was he thinking?

He bounced up from the bed in the little room he’d taken for himself, shifting to the doorframe to peer around at the dozin

Cages and Caverns 13

Rolf tried his best, he really did, to not listen to the… noises, of the dragoness in the other room. Not the growls that softened into an indistinct rumble. The rhythmic creaks of the crushed couch’s remaining structure, the scrape of scale on scale. It all tightened his chest as he sat with his back to the wall in the adjoining room. Every little bit of it flashed memories of being, used to fill that silken, compressing tunnel.

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Afriera slept before he did, the discomfort of a layer of slime over his body keeping Rolf firmly awake. But in the dark of the night, the drowsiness of the night’s drink still toying in his mind he could only really listen to her as he rode out the daze of… well, acting as her plaything.

The scales of her thigh felt thinner beneath him than many of her other scales, mor

Cages and Caverns 11

Rolf felt his heart picking up speed as he stood in the empty room, taking in the hanging portrait lit by firelight. The implications of the warrior’s portrait sinking in as he tried to rationalise it. It could be a portrait of anyone, it didn’t have to be the owner… it didn’t have to be the slayer. Right? But then, who else’s house could this be? The grate they’d climbed up from for that room… that wasn&rs

Cages and Caverns 10




The morning brought rising light, a brisk wind. Rolf, strewn watched for a time the fraying strings on his shirt arm drift back and forth with each chilling breeze. Proper shelter, he yearned for it. Somewhere the weather couldn’t intrude, somewhere soft, somewhere safe. Any thought of complaining aloud though, he swiftly suppressed. His travelling companion would have some suggestions, fleshy, slimy s

Cages and Caverns 9




The first glimpses of light glinted through the trees, falling upon the curled, scaled beast nestled to the back wall of the roadside tavern. Rolf was already up. It had been a process to crawl under her wing and tail to escape the pocket of hot air the dragoness had made. Freshly fed, her breath hadn’t improved.

Still, as he looked back at her, sunlight gradually lighting her,

Cages and caverns 8




The silence behind the tavern was discomforting. Shaded by the trees, eyes keenly on the door while the hot gusts of dragon breath crept down his back, gripped around his shoulders. The thrum of his pulse in his ears was distracting, but how could he help it? This plan was thinner than Afriera’s patience. He had to hope the tavern keeper would actually come out back, wouldn’t flee the sight of Afr