Chapter 4 - Spark the Flame

Raenbu walked astride Galatea, smiling wide under the afternoon sun. The light from the star reflected off Galatea and gave everything around her a soft glow. As close as he was to her, Raenbu felt like he was just inches from the sexiest, most fuckable, heat rock he'd ever known. Course he hadn't known any other heat-rocks biblically, so that was a crap comparison for him.

But soft! As the pair wandered out of a town, a stack of classified ads exclusive to adventurers tucked under Galatea's arm, they were being followed. A wagon that had hurriedly off loaded some dubious barrels at the market and taken on some ambiguous crates almost immediately. Now the wagon, pulled by two horses that looked, together, overkill for the load they were pulling.

A hooded man drove the carriage with two guards in the back, a dwarf and a man with a green cloak. The horses were trotting slowly, enough that they never closed the gap between the carriage and the golem/dragon-kin pair by more than a mile. On the open road, in the rolling hills, on one of hte only roads between that town and anywhere of worth, it was a respectable distance.

"So are those guys following us or what?" Raenbu thumbed over his shoulder.

"Would it matter if they were?" Galatea smiled and flexed her arms. "I'm feeling better than I have in all my life, and your a bit bigger yourself." She eyed his wings, tail, and other dragony features. His 'forge molt' had left him an extra inch in height.

"It never did that while I was... when.. um...  you know." He tugged at the collar. Galatea's smile softened and she stroked the side of Raen's face.

"Hey, if this keeps up, maybe you'll be as tall as me by next year." She said with a grin, and a hope to cheer him up.
The idea banished the old memories from thought.
"I could fuck you even harder than I ever have, I could.." His face blushed a dark red. "Never mind."

Galatea laughed. "You just shouted how you could fuck me, what's to blush about?" She asked, genuinely curious.

"I just." Raenbu. "I wanna hold you." He stopped and looked up at her, she stopped and looked down at him. "I wanna hold you like you held me, just... carry you." He stopped himself. "I mean I don't wanna get so big, your like a kid or something." He shook his hands in front of him and Galatea laughed at his reaction. "I just...I dunno." He slumped and sent a rock into the air with his tail. "Its stupid."

Galatea sank to her knees and wrapped her arms around Raen. She didn't say a word; she just kissed him softly on the lips and held him. Raen stuttered something and returned the hug, and kissed her back.

-

"Wot  they doing?" Green cloak asked between bites of bread.

"Hugging." The hooded man was looking through a double spyglass, one for each eye. "Hm?" He saw something that caught his attention and he looked far to the right.

"Hugging? Fuck, if they start shagging right in the road," The dwarf started when the Green cloak man looked up.

"Incoming!" he shouted, leaning back. The stone struck against the Dwarf's head and sent him reeling.

"Oi-yo-yo-yoi" The dwarf groaned before falling on his ass.

The hooded man sighed and returned his gaze to the pair, who were setting of again.

"We're not going to bother with the kid. I'll knock him afield while you two to drop the golem."

The green cloaked man's eyes narrowed at this, and a grim look on his face. "You sure this kit is proper?" He tapped a dubious looking crate.

"Boss doesn't hand out faulty goods to his employees." The dwarf groaned, "Newbies shouldn't complain."

"Caution is the nanny duchess of Success, Flinter." The green cloak grumbled. "So shut your gob."

"Both you shut it." The hooded man growled. "Zeke," he looked at the green cloak man. "The rods will work. Especially on her."
-

That night, Raenbu and Galatea skipped the wild and tumbly sex, and simply cuddled by the fire. Galatea was sitting lotus position, legs crossed with Raenbu seated in her lap, his wings folded over his shoulders like a bishop's mantle. Galatea was grooming his hair with a pair of shears and a smirk on her face.

"I just don't see the point." He grumbled. "I like the wild man look." Galatea chuckeld behind him.

"It works on you," She swept aside stray hairs. "Believe me. But we'll be getting into some territory that demands a certain shade of respectability."

There was a short silence before Raenbu spoke. "The fuck, Galatea?"

"Yeah that was a curious line, let's not dwell on it." She groomed his side burns, leaving them, but keeping the hair short as it framed his face. "Point is, before we handle some of these jobs," She pointed at one of the piles of papers. "We're BOTH going to need 'normal' clothes."

"Fuck." Raenbu sighed. "Wait! This means I get to put you in a dress!" He laughed mischieviously. Galatea have the Dragon-kin a look from behind and patted his shoulders. "Alright, that's all of it. Go rinse off in the stream."

"Join me?" Raenbu asked/ Galatea shook her head, and he shrugged before he leapt off into the night.

Galatea looked into the blaze of the fire for a solid minute before she let the smile on her face melt away.

"Alright, you lot. Get out here." She stood up from where she was, as Zeke and Flint emerged from the shadows opposite where Raenbu had left. "Okay, so what's your story?"

"Bounty hunters," Zeke answered. "Settling other people's scores for fun and profit." He swung a metal stave in his hands. It hummed in the air. The dwarf held one in each hand.

"Bounty hunters?" Galatea sighed. "Really?"

"Really." Zeke replied, smiling.

"Really?" Galatea frowned, unconvinced. "Pretty shabby for bounty hunters. Did I see you two at the tavern?" She pointed between the two of them. "Yeah, you had front row seats."

"It was quite the show," Zeke smirked. "Shame we can't see a repeat performance. My buddy here-"

"ENOUGH TALK!" the dwarf bellowed and leapt at Galatea, Zeke moving to flank.
-
Raenbu stood in the river, water falling from his wings and hair. The hooded man stood on the river bank. The moon was up above.
"We have no quarrel with you, dragon-blood. However my mast- employer has desires of the Golden Golem, so she will be leaving with us."

The water boiled around Raenbu's waist, His eyes glowing like hot embers.
"IF you're after Galatea; then I'd say we have a fucking quarrel!"

There was a shout in the direction of the campsite and the Hooded man turned his hidden head. Raenbu swung his leg up at a curious angle, and instead of resistance from the stream, the boiling water flew according to the arc of his kick.

The hooded man brought down his hand and split the wave in twine. Raenbu was already flying, his leg on fire and swinging for the kill.

"PY-RO-KICK!" He roared.

"Pyro Wha-?" is all the Hooded man managed before the explosion enveloped them both.
-
Galatea had blocked the Dwarf's attacks with her sword, but she'd caught Zeke's square on the shin, and she felt the cold sting of an old world 'magic' weapon. Runes like her own shone on the stave and sparks flew into her skin when they struck.

Thousands of razor sharp, electric needle bite tore through her. The pain was worse than anything she'd felt in her life, and her scream of pain reflected that. She fell to one knee and shuddered, sword raised to block.

"Give up, Gal!" Zeke warned. "I'd rather not to do again." He seemed genuine.

"Fuck you." Galatea hissed, there was an explsion behind her. She turned to look, and Flint moved in to strike.
-
The explosion ebbed and revealed a shocked Raenbu, his kick stopped with the back of the Hooden man's arm.

"No seriously." The man repeated. "Pyro-what?" He clenched the hand into a fist.

"Pyr-oh-crap" Raenbu whimpered.

"I thought so."  and the man punched Raenbu. Hard. How hard? Well Raenbu had taken a LOT of abuse up to this point in his life. This punch? Felt like only one other in all that time. It wasn't an orc punch or a troll's or any martial artist human or elf's. That punch felt a LOT like Galatea's.

And the golem man's eyes shone purple as he sent Raenbu flying ass backwards over the tree line.

"Rigo!" Flint's voice carried over the bushes. "We saw the sprat go flying! Nice!" The purple eye golem smiled as he walked through the bushes to the campsite.

Zeke was, slowly, putting Galatea into a set of manacles that had the same glowing runes as the staves. "I mean wham! Boom! POW!" The dwarf gesticulated "Straight to the moon!"

"Could you pick up the pace, Zeke?" Rigo rolled a dark metal wrist. Zeke didn't look up from his work.

"Done." He clamped her legs together. "But She's all the weight of a woman her size made of solid gods-damned gold." He looked up. "How the hell're we... gonna move her?" He saw Rigo's eyes glow from under his hood, and his golem arm.


"My job, actually." He effortlessly scooped the gold golem up and hoisted her over his shoulder. "I mean I can't expect you two to break you backs over something like this." He lead the way and spoke over his shoulder. "Someone put that fire out?" 

-

Raenbu dreamt of the sea, which struck him odd because he didn't usually dream at all. He was washed up on a shore unceremoniously, and coughed up sea water and what looked like a crab.

He ate the crab raw while he looked around, and almost immediately saw a woman at a waterfall. To him she was just a spectacularly beautiful female, to most anyone else, she was a colossal platinum-silver dragoness.


Raenbu looked to the sky, and saw a massive sphere of oranges and yellow stripes. "Huh" he managed. "Neat."

"So rarely are you phased by the vaster wonders."  He heard a voice like song in his head. "Small surprise, you've lived your life surrounded by extravagant danger."

Raenbu felt the urge to respond to this, despite his fear of how this dragoness was speaking into him; it didn't feel like telepathy. "Just because I'm overwhelmed doesn't mean I don't appreciate a pretty picture." He moved forward, naked, onto the beach. "So... where am I? If I might ask."

"You, are imbedded in a tree three leagues north of the town of Edithburgh." The Dragoness pointed at the pool beside the waterfall with her claw, and Raenbu rushed to her side to see.

Closer, he could tell she was of royal birth. Her scales were smooth and showed signs of gentle 'grooming' that nobles underwent in their formative years to style their scales' growth in further forgings. Her deep eyes sparkled like the night sky and her whole form was as relaxed and carefree as a floating cloud. 

"My lady," he bowed to her, before looking into the pool. Indeed, he saw himself ass first in a tree, looking like a dragon kin cannon shot him out and into the bark. "Well. That'd be embarrassing, if I had an audience."
 
"Well I was watching. I can't say I was at all amused." The Dragoness Goddess frumped, turning her snout up at the thought.

"You're always watching." He turned to look her in the face. "I don't remember a ferryman, so may I take it I'm not dead?" Raenbu asked, calmly. 

Io was as quiet as the dead. Raenbu blanched pale. "May I?"  There was a quiet moment then the Goddess burst out laughing. It was like stars falling, and indeed the sky above shimmered with dancing lights.


"Aha- Aheh, Ahm..." The Goddess came down from her laughter and looked Raenbu in the eye. "Indeed, little Raenbu, you still live. But you are near enough to death that I might speak to you directly." The waves began to surge and grow closer to the two of them. "We've little time, so I'll speak to the point. You have allies in the enemy's den: loose them. For the sake of your victory, you must not fight alone." The waves formed a dragon's maw and it lunged forward to swallow Raenbu. 


It did and before the darkness swallowed him, the dragon-lad heard another voice once, as Io's but this one had a different accent, like from the east. "For the sake of your heart, you must not live alone."

Raenbu awoke to the smell of fire. He growled as the burning wood around him clung to his scales and held him back. He roared and surged forward, and he could feel the tear of scales as they fell away. He looked 'smoother' than he normally did after a molt. The sharper scales would grow in later, but for now he had a more streamlined look to him. His horns had shucked a layer and were steaming his tail was thicker and he'd grown another inch in height.

He looked to the horizon, from where he'd been thrown, and narrowed his eyes. "I'm coming for ya, Galatea." His wings exploded outward, double their former size, and he leapt into the sky.

/end chapter (no sex but plot and action!)
 