Fortune

Mercenaries come and go. It’s in their blood; they follow the scent of money and the call of havoc, wherever it may be. Me, I tell them what they want to hear for a small fee, maybe what they need to hear if they seem like they’ll listen, and then we part ways. That arrangement suits me fine. So you can understand my consternation when one particular mercenary kept coming back like a rotten penny.

She was short, head not quite coming up to my chin, and wrapped in the ashen folds of her summoner’s robes I could almost fancy she was just a ghost inhabiting the cloth. The delicate hand that emerged gave lie to my fancy, deftly producing a small volume which I immediately recognized as the Lexicanum Iber Draconis.

“Where did you find this, Jinali?” I asked, adjusting my own cloak to cover my surprise, “and more important, what happened to those other adventurers you were with last time?”

“Idiots like all the others,” she replied with a hint of irritation, “I told them not to touch anything on the altar, but nooooo, just antagonize the wight why don’t you? I swear.” She handed me the book, waiting expectantly as I flipped through the pages. “So,” she asked, “is it the real deal?” I still couldn’t believe she’d found one; after the dragons left, there were only five left in existence. Six, I corrected myself, giving Jinn a nod. “Thanks Kai, you’re a lifesaver!” she said, giving me a quick hug.

For that brief moment I could feel the intense heat radiating off her slight frame, not entirely unpleasant. I never knew how to deal with Jinali, a fact she seemed to relish. She took a seat across from me and leaned back, letting her shock of flame-red hair free from the confines of her hood. “So what about you? Do you ever get tired of this fortune-telling gig?” She beamed like a crow with a newfound bauble, waiting for my answer.

“It’s a living,” I replied guardedly. “Come on!” she said, “I bet you’re the only one in a thousand leagues of here who can appreciate what I’ve got. I know you can do better than ‘It’s a living’.”

“It’s not that easy,” I said. I wondered briefly if I should tell her. No, safer for both of us if I don’t. “Besides,” I asked, “why do you care?”

Our eyes met, and for an instant she hesitated. But only for an instant. In the next she almost vaulted the table, stopping with her face a foot from mine and both hands on the desk. “Why shouldn’t I?” she said, “I’ve known you for how long now—” “Three years and eighteen days,” I said. “And in that time you’ve been the most interesting person I’ve talked to,” she continued without missing a beat, “you’re smart, you’re interesting, and your advice has saved my life more than once. And besides that, you’re really cute when you get all flustered.” Guh— “Yeah, like that!” By this point her hair was an inferno, a tangle of dancing flames flitting about like snakes.

“I told you it’s not that easy. You know that some stones are better left unturned. I’m one of them.” Even if sometimes it hurt to keep to that.

“And sometimes you’ve got to turn over those stones to find the diamond underneath,” she said, then paused. She grabbed the Lexicanum, tossed it over to me, and stood her full height. I laid it down gingerly as she continued. “Listen, I’m not stupid. I know you’re not human, not even a halfbreed like me. Today confirmed it. No one under the age of three hundred would be able to ID a Lexicanum like it was nothing. I know, Kaira, and I don’t care. I like you.”

I sighed, glancing to make sure the door was locked. “Alright.” Closing my eyes, I let go of the energy coiled around my body. Oracle’s robes melted away into a black serpent’s tail, matching the snakes that slithered into being in place of my hair. “This is the truth. If it changes your mind, I’ll understand.”

“As if! I kind of had you pegged for a dragon, but a naga’s fine too.”

“You could be killed!”

“Story of my life. At least this would be for something worth it.” She looked down at her feet for a moment. “Listen, if you don’t feel the same way, just say so,” she said, then fixed her gaze on me, “but don’t you dare make excuses about what’s good for me!”

When I didn’t answer, she turned, flames dying down to embers. “Fine, I’ll go.” Heart in my throat, I realized I couldn’t do it. “Wait!” I called, snaking my tail around to block her. “I’m sorry, I just wasn’t expecting this. But it wouldn’t be the same without your tales livening things up around here, your discussions giving me something new to think about. What I’m trying to say is, I like you too Jinali. I like you so much I want to be with you, and it’s hard to hold myself back.” Hair sparking to life again, she leapt into my arms and kissed me. “Then don’t.”

Letting my own robe slide to the floor, I coiled my tail around Jinali and pulled hers away. Beneath she was only slightly more substantial than the ghost I’d imagined, her lithe frame in pale ivory contrasting sharply with my own complexion of mahogany on black. I coiled tighter, lifting the little elemental up for another kiss and rubbing sensuously against her body. Every little twist lit my body on fire, Jinali’s heat kindling passions that had long lain dormant inside me. By the way she pressed her hips up against me I knew she was also enjoying it, and that was all the encouragement I needed to increase the pace.

But as good as it felt, Jinali wasn’t one to lie back and take it. Sliding one arm free, she grabbed an ample breast and tweaked it playfully. I moaned in pleasure, drowning in the sensation from those heavenly fingers and loosening my grip enough to free her other arm. “That’s it, more!” I cried, and she enthusiastically obliged. I pulled Jinali in for another kiss, then begin licking her down her body as only a snake’s tongue can. First her ear, then her neck, her collarbone, and then lingering on her petite breasts, until she was gasping with pleasure. “Shall I keep going?” I whispered, flicking her ear one last time.

She moaned an affirmative, and I slid her back, rearranging my coils to hold her in a full-body hug as we lay facing each other. I started moving slowly, each twist of my serpentine body rubbing all the right places, then increasing the pace, using my stomach scales all the while so I felt every. last. shiver. I felt the wetness leaking from between Jinali’s legs, and being little better myself, I twisted around to give her access to my own eager loins. Then slowly I slid the tip of my tail between her legs, delving into unexplored territory and marking a course by each little shudder and moan.

As my tail worked its magic inside her, Jinali worked magic of her own, sliding a hand across my stomach and chanting words to a spell I didn’t recognize. She finished, and I screamed. Every sensation was magnified, and what’s more, I could feel the elemental’s pleasure each time I thrust into her with my tail. She leaned in an plunged her tongue into my pussy, and the flood of sensation almost floored me. “You like it?” she asked, pausing to shoot me a grin. “Like it? I—oh by the gods, don’t stop!” I was fast approaching my limit, but Jinali showed no signs of slowing down. All I could do was reciprocate, driving us both higher into the throes of ecstasy. Mind drowning in a pink haze, I seized up around my lover and held her tight. In that moment I reflected that maybe things really could work out. I was so happy that they had so far. We made love long into the night.

I woke up hours later, running a hand lovingly through Jinali’s now-dormant hair. Sleeping like this, she seemed so fragile, but seeing that made me appreciate her strength even more. She woke a bit later, as I was rummaging through my things. “Kaira, that was amazing! You know when we first met I never would’ve thought it would turn out like this.” “Right? It’s not exactly expected, love at the end of a crystal ball.”

She donned her robes right as I finished packing, then frowned as she noticed me, “Wait, where are you going?” I smiled, “Well you won’t find the secrets of the Lexicanum here, and uh,” I blushed, “that is, I thought it’d be pretty lonely if we didn’t both go. No excuses, right?” “Right, no excuses!” she growled, leaping into a surprise kiss, “From now on, ours days are whatever we make of them!”

~ fin ~