Page 23 of Riding My Dragons

Later, I let myself out the back way of the pub, ignoring the laughter, the gaming, and the naked dancers in dragon shape entertaining in the back section.Needless to say, I wasn’t in a party mood.

In the alley behind the pub, I sat on the outer steps in front of the rear door and looked up.Between the buildings was a night sky that right now I wouldn’t have minded getting lost in; just flying up and disappearing.I thought about my father, who would have understood the way that I felt about what they were expecting me to do, and how I didn’t want to become a criminal.My father would have helped me, found some other way for me to serve the family.I missed Dad now more than I ever had before.

If I got caught doing this thing, it could mean prison.I’d end up sacrificing my freedom for family duty.And if I didn’t do this thing, it meant sacrificing my family.This was the last night of my life as I’d known it.

I turned my thoughts back to my friends, and to Jenna.I knew how I wanted to spend my last night.

CHAPTER 10

Jenna

Byron’s idea for forgetting my troubles was to go sailing away—for an overnight excursion, at least.

Certain things about life on Tellus were definitely better than anywhere on Earth.My world could have learned a few things from this one.On Tellus, when the human race and the Scalers worked out ways of coexisting peacefully and unifying the world, they also made special laws to make sure that every citizen was somehow provided for.They had something like what we on Earth would call Universal Basic Income, which guaranteed every citizen unconditionally the means to provide for their basic needs at all times.No one ever starved or went unclothed or unhoused, no matter what their situation in life might be.It was a very civilized way to run a civilization.

But even in the kind of system they had on Tellus, there were people at different economic levels.Some were better off than others, and some were very well off.Even here, there was such a thing as being fabulously rich.Byron, being a member of a high-ranking political family, came from fabulous wealth, and knew a lot of people who were just as rich.That included the Scaler politician who lent Byron his yacht for him, Elliot, and me to take a nighttime cruise down the Cadmus River.

As yachts go, it was a modest one, with only an outer deck, inner cabins and rooms, and a bridge up at the top towards the stern.But it was a beauty, all cleanly powered by the Ambience and non-polluting, of course.And as modest as it was, it still looked like the most romantic thing in the world,sailing down the river, all lit up with golden lights on its rails.Byron served as pilot, and we all sat on the bridge, Elliot and Byron with shirts off, and me wrapping Elliot’s shirt around myself.Byron took the wheel and steered the craft down the river, grinning widely to entertain me, looking every bit like the proud Captain.

Elliot and I sat at the window, holding hands and watching the waves wash by in the glow from the ship’s lights.They’d promised me that my secrets, my reason for being here in their world, were safe with them.And I believed them.They had never done anything to hurt me or frighten me.Far from it, they and Cade had given me pleasure greater than anything I’d ever imagined.I felt safe with them—protected by them.I had the feeling that I could trust them with my life the same as I’d trusted them with my body.

Byron brought the ship to an all-stop at a place on the river looking out over the gleaming, multi-colored towers of Pendrake City beyond the shore.The city shimmered in the night, and if I looked closely I could just make out the soaring bodies of Scalers having a night flight between the buildings.Above the boat, away from the glare of the city, I could make out many of the stars and a hint of the Milky Way that would have been visible from Earth.Byron had come up with just the right thing.

Turning from the wheel to look back at Elliot and me, Byron said, “We’re here, my friends.Let’s hit the deck.”He stepped down from the steering platform and undid his trousers, removing them and his shoes, making himself deliciously naked in the lights from the ship’s instruments and the starlight from outside.

Next to me, Elliot did likewise, pulling off his bottoms and boots, and helped me out of his shirt and my own clothes.Byron took a soft leather bag out of a cabinet next to the helm, and westepped out and down the little stairway leading to the deck at the bow of the ship.

Standing out on the deck in the cool but not chilly air with Elliot and Byron, I was quietly amazed at how casually at ease I was, being nude and exposed with them this way.But I thought, When on Tellus with Scaler guys, do as the Scalers do.Besides, they were just so wonderful to look at.Byron produced from the leather bag a collection of straps, nine of them, with disks on them and held them up for us to see.My eyes widened and my breath froze.I took an instinctive step back, thinking, Oh no, are things about to get kinky?Is he going to want to tie me up or bind me, right out here on the deck?I had thoughts of those books about the billionaire with the bondage fetish.Was that where we were headed?

As we watched, Byron touched the buckles on the straps, and the disks on them all lit up, glowing brightly.They were all LEDs.Byron said to me, “The water will be dark.We’ll be needing these.”

Now I saw what this was about.Each of us took three straps and buckled them around our arms and waists.Now we were all properly lit up for a nighttime swim.There was a little gateway in the rails on the port side of the boat.Byron opened it, and the guys morphed to dragon shape and folded their wings tightly against their backs.They looked like such magical beings, a couple of two-legged dragons wearing lighted bands.It all seemed so enchanted.Byron launched himself over the side first, making a big splash in the river.Elliot followed him, doing likewise, with a proud swish of his tail.I went in last, the guys swimming apart to make a space for me.The coolness of the water made my muscles brace, but I enjoyed the feeling, as I’d been enjoying so many other feelings in the past couple of days.The guys lifted their heads above the water, looking like mythical sea serpents, and made raucous dragon noises that made methink of the calls one would imagine dinosaurs might make.Then each of them lunged up, partly out of the water, making big splashes, and dove under the surface, splashing again.I guessed that they were calling out to me to follow them.Giggling a bit, I pushed myself forward and made a splash of my own, diving beneath the gentle waves of the river.

Now under the surface of the river, we were all in another world of dark blue hues blending into blackness; of the waving shapes of the vegetation of the river bed, and the lighted keel of the boat above us casting a warm glow over it all.I swam ahead, training my eyes on the wondrous sight of two lean and powerful reptile shapes that looked as if they were wearing little suns on their sinuous bodies.Elliot and Byron moved with such effortless grace, their arms against their sides, their legs straight back, their curving tails propelling them along as they swooped up and down and twisted from side to side.I admired them in these scaly, horned shapes almost as much as I did in their human bodies.They were creatures of such beauty and power.It saddened me a little to think how humans in my world would react to seeing them, the fright and shock that my two friends would bring.To Earth humans, who are so filled with fear of anything different, Elliot and Byron would be monsters.They would be hunted down and either caged or destroyed.But they weren’t just creatures; they weren’t just beasts.They were two of the most beautiful things I’d ever seen in my life.Nothing should ever attack or hurt my two dragons.They were good.They were sweet.And I was truly growing to care for them.

I swam to them and moved between them, and they playfully swam in circles around me.I felt a slight burning in my lungs, and began to kick and stroke my way up to the surface.My need for more air reminded me of one difference between humans and large reptiles, which must be as true on Tellus as it was on Earth.Big lizards and snakes, like the Marine Iguanas,can stay underwater for much longer times than humans can, almost an hour at a time.As a mere human girl, I had to come up for air much sooner.With powerful swishes of their tails, the guys followed me up, and in a moment we all broke the surface.Once again, I floated in the waves of the river current, taking deep breaths, while the necks and proud, horned heads of my two sea serpents curled upward at the night sky and they trumpeted their dragon calls at the stars.It made me laugh to see how my guys loved showing me their prowess here in the water as they did elsewhere.

Soon they dropped back down beneath the waves, and I followed them.Together we stroked and swooped about, following each other’s lights on our paths through the dark water.It seemed as if all my troubles could just melt into the river and flow away.Byron’s plan, for now, was working its magic on me the way he intended.Presently we all headed back for the surface and swam back to the boat.

Using hand holds on the port side, we climbed back up onto the deck.Once we were there, Elliot and Byron morphed to human again and Byron said, “Let me get us some towels.”He went into the interior cabins while Elliot and I took off our light straps.

Standing proud and naked and removing his light straps, Elliot mentioned, “There’s something we should have said to you.”

”What?” I asked.

”Welcome to Tellus.”Smiling, he held out his hand to me.

Elliot let his straps fall onto the deck at his feet, while I, probably looking more bashful and modest than I felt, went over to him and took his hand.He pulled me to him and moved his mouth to mine.As we joined in a kiss, Elliot undid my own straps, first on the arms and then on the waist, letting them fall away as well.With one hand I grasped his ass and with the otherI stroked his hard, gorgeous cock.As he fed me his tongue, he played with the folds of my pussy.Kissing and feeling each other while we were both soaking wet reminded me of being in Elliot’s shower, and then the further spontaneous screwing that he gave me from behind, up against his bathroom vanity.There truly was no end to the sex that he could provide.

We heard Byron’s voice from behind me.“Couldn’t wait, huh?”

Breaking the kiss, we looked in that direction and saw that Byron had removed his own straps and come out with a handful of towels, and over his shoulder, a towel that he’d used on himself.Brushing his fingers on my muff, Elliot chortled and said, “Fuck no.Could you wait for this?”

“Not a bit,” Byron agreed, and tossed us a couple of towels.“I talked to Cade.He’ll be along soon.He can join us in progress, so to speak.”

Hearing them mention Cade reminded me of what they’d told me about him.I decided to push it out of my mind for the time being.Besides, Cade was their friend.Being their friend spoke well of him, no matter what he did.

Byron, Elliot, and I went into a huddle together, rubbing the soft, warm towels over each other while they took turns helping themselves to kisses on my mouth.Their toweling off of my breasts, stealing little squeezes as they did, made my nipples almost as hard as their cocks, which throbbed so excitedly at me when I ran my own towel over them.

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