Travels with a Yellow Bird Part 12: Second Favor

“How are you so sure? What is the truth?” I press Elsa. “There’s no way for me to honor a promise like that without knowing for certain.” I barely manage to cobble the sentences together with my exhausted mind.

The lizardgirl nips my ear. “I’m telling you it doesn’t matter. You could bring back a whole army and it won’t make a difference.” She turns her head away, pointed ears brushing my shoulder.

My adrenaline ramps up, and I start to get angry. “Not this time Elsa. I need more.” I step away from her. “I can’t, nay, I won’t play games on this.” I’m almost glowering at the stunned girl.

The Lizarda looks wounded, then she gets angry. “Hope is so fragile. Do you really want me to smash it that badly?” Elsa flashes a toothy smirk. “Fine. If that is what you choose. This time, there will be no favors. I will take my payment in advance.” Before I can act, her claws grasp my arms in a grip of iron. She shoves me against the deck railing. Her knee drives the air from my gut in an involuntary grunt. Sometimes I forget the vast strength that simmers just beneath her surface. Similar feelings of helplessness in a jungle cave wash over me and I kick at her, connecting with a hard scaled shin. I’m rewarded with a low hiss.

“If you can’t stop me when I’m going easy on you now, how do you expect the worst case during a full moon to go?” She whispers in my ear as she forces me to the deck and pins me to the railing. I hear the drum of boots thumping toward us. The nightwatch comes running to check on the commotion.

>Wave off the nightwatch, stop resisting Elsa
>Wave off the nightwatch, fight back on your own
>Call for help
>Other

The crewman is literally shaking in his boots when he sees the look Elsa gives him by his lanterlight. I wave him away as best I can with my wrist and tell him to keep anyone else away that might wander by.

He nods once and backs away slowly. I watch as he leaves, his lantern finally disappearing back down to the foredeck. Elsa never slackens her grip as I try to wriggle out from under her. It's like fighting a rock.

She leans in close and I see my chance, smashing my head forward with all my might. Blood smears across my forehead and I hear the crack of bone followed by a curse. Her grip on my arms tightens to a vice, my bones protest in screaming pain. I feel her slacken a little immediately, her reaction seemingly instinct to the hit. She coughs and spits some blood on my face, eyes burning with fire while more blood runs down her slightly crooked nose.

With her focus upward, I try again to wrest out from under her. She has me pinned too tightly, and I only manage to wiggle a boot brushing the underside of her tail where it meets her back. Her grip slackens slightly and I see her eyelids twitch.

I try it again, and this time I see her breath quicken as she loosens further. The third time she falls on top of me, pinning my torso and freeing my limbs. Her eyes are heavily lidded as she's pants heavily.

Never one to give up an advantage I press the attack with my hands. My calloused hands attack her soft underscales far more effectively than boot leather ever could. The Lizarda tries to suppress a moan.

Elsa tries to speak and has to swallow a mouthfull of blood first. "Stop." She begs. "I yield. I yield."

I stroke her underside one last time with a flourish and let up. Elsa gasps and falls limp on top of me. After a minute the lizardgirl sits up and I hand her a strip of my torn shirt to staunch the bleeding.

"You never fight fair." She smiles, wiping dried ichor off her chin. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't love you more for it."


The Lizarda picks mournfully at the red splashed on her dress as she sits next to me. "I'm sorry, truly." She apologizes as she leans against my shoulder, those sinewy muscles calm and scales cool. "I had to know in my heart that first fight wasn't a fluke, that I wasn't going crazy over nothing." She flashes her fangs. "I had to be absolutely sure you are worth everything." She brushes a soft kiss against my cheek. "Consider it a final confirmation."

I apologize profusely to her as well. I got too much into the fight and hurt her. She laughs at me and says she should have taken me as a more serious threat.

Elsa snuggles next to me, her three claws intertwining into my three remaining fingers on my right hand. "You sail east do you not? To the continent?"

I tell her our destination.

"This is what I know." Elsa begins. "All of the continent is Dragoon. It has been since I was a little girl. The crusade started from the far sea and ended on this one." There's fading pride in her voice as she continues. "It united all scales under the same banner and displaced, enslaved or extirpated everyone else." Red eyes search into mine. "That's how I know there is no longer a place called Jiro." She pauses, lets the despair sink into me. "Do you want to hear about the golden harpies? It will cost you a new favor." She rubs my hand over the skirt on her thigh. "I need a new dress."

>Comfort her instead
>Hear her out
>Wait until you hear from Flit

"Tell me about Jiro and the harpies." My leaden heart demands I push forward.

The lizardgirl fidgets in her stained dress as she tries to figure out how to begin. "Even in Auk you heard stories of harpies didn't you? Are they anything like your bird?"

I admit that I'd always heard they were freespirited and kind but often dim.

"They are. Even in ancient times they were in Jiro. By chance, long ago, a brilliant harpy was born. They made her their queen, and she instituted a set of reforms that would be carried down to the death of her kingdom. Only intelligent men were chosen for husbands, picked carefully through tests and quests. The competition for husbands was even more aggressive than the Dragoon. They bred themselves smarter. You see these cannon? That was pioneered by Jiro, and even greater wonders." The Lizarda sighs. "But their numbers were small compared to the scale nations, and stayed that way."

She refuses to look at me as she works up the courage for the next part. "Around sixty years ago, the last King of the old Dragoon order went to war with them. We called it the Harpy War. Remember my great grandfather was the last true husband in my lineage? My grandfather was one of the rare captures there."

"Men are no match for scales and harpies are no match for real dragon and wyvern. We had almost won. Then our King fell in battle to harpy guns."

Elsa lowers her head in shame. "Queen Olivia Ironscale, was inconsolable. Her mind cracked and her heart dove into a deep darkness. She bent her whole fury on them. 'Leave no home untorched. Leave no clutch uncrushed. Leave no bird alive but the queen.'" Elsa shudders. "It's said she ate golden harpy every day from then on, eggs, chicks, mothers, with a smile on her face until there were none left."


“When they captured the last royal harpy, they brought her to our queen. She kept her in a cage in her throne room to remind her every day of her victory. Even when her daughter overthrew her, the harpy was kept as a curiosity in the royal aviary.” Elsa buries her face in her arms. “There is naught left of Jiro but a wasteland in the Scarred Mountains near the capital. You will find nothing there that can change the fate of your own home.” I can tell it hurts Elsa to tell me this. If it’s a lie, it’s one she honestly believes. “I don’t know where your bird is from, but she may be the last of her kind. She alone can’t save you.”

The air suddenly feels chill around me. My hopes hang only by thread.

>Call it a night, think things over in the morning
>Comfort Elsa
>Wake Flit and demand an explanation
>Other

Elsa stares expectantly, trying to read my face. I know she was afraid I would break.

"I did ask for candor." I say finally. "Thank you. That's worth far more than a dress."

I let go of the lizardgirl’s hand and draw her into my arms. My aching muscles envelope her smooth shoulders. I hold the former Dragoon in a comforting hug.

"Don't" Elsa protests weakly. She makes no move to push me away. "I warned you." The Lizarda trembles. The fire in her eyes lays smoldering, reflecting the banked coals in her heart. "Love is slowing me down. I won't be able to carry on if I love much more. Stop."

"I told you 'no more games.'" I whisper in her ear. I rub my good hand over the base of her tail, where scale meets skin, gently this time.

Her red eyes enkindle now. "I swear I'm not playing with you. I swear it!" Leathery ears flush as she returns my embrace. "Damn you. Don't you understand? I'm trying to do what's best for you. Yet time and again you tempt me to give in to what I want. You push my fortitude to the limit."

The Lizarda straddles my lap. She wraps her hard keratin-armored arms around my neck. The weight of her toned warrior’s hips press down on my thighs. A scaly tail bumps back and forth against my shins. Elsa's serious gaze is belied only by her dirty face and nose, already starting to swell to a healthy purple. "This is the very last time I will say no.”

>Hug her again. Tell her this conversation isn't over. Then get some sleep
>Kiss her
>Leave and get some sleep
>Other

I place a finger to her lips to quiet any more protest. Her eyes widen as I slip my hands to to her back, the soft textile of her dress bunching between my fingertips.

I feel her heart beat fast under her clothes as I hug her tight to my chest. Elsa begins to hyperventilate as my lips approach, her breasts rising and falling rapidly. The Lizarda screws her eyes shut like little girl when my mouth meets hers, her old scar making a bright slash in the moonlight. She tastes like blood, but I don't care. I dip her down and kiss deeper.

Elsa's eyes fly open and I can almost feel something snap inside her. The bright red orbs glaze over. She begins to kiss me back, soft at first, then progressively harder with what I can only describe as a primal hunger. The lizardgirl explores my whole mouth: my gums, my cheeks and even my teeth. She sucks on my tongue, and intertwines it with her own. Elsa finally breaks away when I have to breathe out through my nose. The air tickles her and she titters. Then she swoops down and kisses my neck hard, the suction leaving a red welt as she pulls away.

The scale lowers my good hand to her tail and directs me to pet it as she begins to grind her hips against me. Her skin slides smoothly over my pants, while her talons grab tenaciously at the deck.

Even with my body ready to give out for the night, I feel myself engorged with blood down below for the first time on my own since the jungle. There's more here than just lust. My own memory flashes hazily to Elsa's face when she rescued me, when she cried for me. My heart races as I go on the offensive, encapsulating her firm breast in my maimed hand and kneading. The lizardgirl moans into my shoulder and licks my neck, red saliva staining my shredded shirt. I continue to grope and tease and am awarded with cute low exclamations of pleasure.

In the back of my mind I worry about the small size of our ship and all these noises on a quiet night.

Elsa humps the bulge on my hips harder. A wetness soaks through my pants as her cries increase in frequency and volume. I feel the breath squeeze out of me. Talons dig into my back as she approaches climax. She mashes her lips against mine as she finally spasms. I feel a wave of juices permeate my waist.

She gives me a true predator's grin as she lets go of me. She crawls backward, working her way down my torso. Her heavy breathing prickles my sweaty skin. Her lips leave hickies on every bare spot where my shirt is torn through.

Elsa undoes the three small buttons on my pants with dedicated effort. She beams with victory when my manhood springs free and erect. "The best Lizarda are known to bring men to heaven with their claws alone. I have old hard warrior scales, so you'll have to make due with other pleasure." Her voice vibrates with a sultry rumble.

Elsa opens her mouth and explores my member with her dexterous tongue. The unique texture works it's way from head to glans to shaft, from dorsal to ventral. She's guided by straight instinct. Her lack of experience makes her clumsy. The lizardgirl tries to power through it with sheer will. I almost snicker when she tries to swallow all of me at once and gags terribly, coughing and sputtering.

She starts again, slowly this time. Elsa takes in the head and sucks hard, working the rest as best she can with her slimy tongue. It feels good, something I've never experienced. No woman has ever gotten on her hands and knees to service me. Monsters always just wanted to breed.

I have to resist grabbing her head as I get close to finishing, for fear of slamming her nose against me. Reading my twitching hands, Elsa takes the cue and picks up the pace. Reaching my limit, I arch my back. I cum hard, thick tendrils of whitewash canvasing the inside of her cheeks.

Elsa's almost chokes. She stops and I feel her tongue work the remaining hot gel out of me. On her second try, the lizardgirl swallows. The lizardgirl coughs, a few drops of semen dribbling from her lips. She wipes her mouth with a black claw. Looking me dead in the eye she licks it clean.

There's happiness there mixed with guilt as she gets up from the cold deck. She rubs her arms subconsciously. "Lizarda mate for life. I'm proud enough I won't share a prize like you." She plants her feet on the deck and towers over my prone form. She's shaking with the force of will to ignore me still flying a flag at full mast. "I can't force that decision on you now." Dedication and love shine from her like the light from the moon. "I'll know your answer if my new dress is for a wedding." She gives me a smile. "Regardless, consider my second favor. You need not follow it if I'm wrong. But the end will be the same. I can wait. I will always be your loyal knight and servant."

My heart pounds in my ears as I see her turn and go. I ponder her words and wrestle with my feelings as I go grab a bucket to dip in the sea. I halfheartedly wash off before collapsing in my bed.
>Choose your shore party for Squamus
>Elsa+Jenna+2 more slots

I’m sore all over when I awake to Flit’s shrill willet. My sheets are stiff and rough from going to bed wet with saltwater. I feel a scab tear away when I roll over, the blood solidified to the sheet. My aches remind me my body isn’t thanking me for putting it through the ringer again so soon.

Dark sleep-deprived patches lay under the harpy’s eyes. The gold irises shine bright, alert and angry as she contemplates the red marks on my neck and the bruise on my forehead. I see her holding the remains of my bloody torn shirt clumsily between her thumb and forewing. “What did that animal do to you?” Flit demands, her tone grim.

I rub my fingers through her shining hair, earning a fluffed up pout. “She gave me some new information.”

I groan as I throw my covers off and swing my legs over the edge. Purple bands in the shape of claws wrap around my forearms, and half-healed cuts cover my back with new bruises to compliment the old ones from the jungle. Flit gasps and looks like she wants to hold me. Her wings flare outward and twitch, then shirk away.

“Wait until you see what she looks like.” I joke as I reach for a new set of clothes from my sea chest.

Flit bobs her head close and flits in for a quick kiss on the lips. Her tan face shows a faint flush of embarrassment. “Don’t act so cocky when I can still taste lizard blood on your lips.” She admonishes.

I gather the crew and go over their responsibilities for the next few days. When I next see Elsa, she has a black handkerchief tied around her face to hide her nose. I observe she has raided some of the old sailor clothes from our original stores to fit a Lizarda. If anything, she looks more terrifying to the crew now.

I decide to let any current issues with Flit lay as I prepare the expedition to carry off their mission without a hitch.

We fly the false colors of the Dragoon flag the next two days as we near the city. Making good time, we have to loiter in a small cover until sunset before we can slip past the harbor gates.

I double-check our strongest ropes one last time before we truss up Elsa. Jenna keeps an eye on her, costumed in the Dragoon's armor.

Flit is locked in the brig, much to her chagrin with complaints of lizard smell.

I thank my stars for the gentle current when the wind dies as dark settles on the coast. We drift silently, sails furled, towards our destination.

Soon the light of the Squamus lighthouse shines in the distance. The bonfire reflects off a massive mirror, beaming orange and yellow across the bay.

My men stand ready to lay oars and bring us through the gate. Waves push us toward the shore, jutting rocks near the sea cliffs passing almost catastrophically close to our small boat. I pass the order down below to our men. The rowing is coordinated to a small signaling lantern. We can't afford singing or drums this close to the watchful guard.

Minutes later we clear into the calm waters of the harbor, and the lights of Squamus greet us in all their splendor. The city must be three, no four, times the size of Limus. Merchant ships and escorts of all kinds and countries occupy the docks. Each bare mast stands backlit by the the town. It seems the lunar party is in full swing out there. We can hear the cheers and carousing all the way out here.

Working our way around the northern edge of the harbor, we've almost reached a small group of islets when the first sliver of moon peeks over the land. Everyone breathes a huge sigh of relief when we find a dark hole in the lee of one and drop anchor.

I see the large pirate wish Stan well and give him a goodbye kiss. The big man blushes and proceeds to load Elsa into the longboat. The Lizarda eyes me hungrily but remains quiet as Jenna and the last crewman get in.

Our crew finally casts off and rows toward the docks. Stan dips the oars expertly into the calm cove as they disappear into the night.

I only hope the longboat alone is large enough to carry all we need. It’s going to be tight.

I turn back to fathoming the dark water again. I want to be sure this high tide won’t drop us on the rocks when it recedes. As I pull the rope into a spool, it occurs to me that Flit will be twisted by the moon’s influence. She might accidently let something slip.

>Expedition Priorities: Money for 2, Space for 3, Robbing/Stealing is an option
>Food for 3 weeks
>Fishing nets for more sustainable food
>Lamp oil (used up a lot in the jungle kits, reserves are low)
>Imported weapons suited for humans (bows and spears for 4 crew)

>Bonus: Do you get Elsa her new dress, determine what kind


>Shipboard options:
>Keep Flit company
>Try to weasel some more info out of the harpy
>Other