Chapter 13
Vera
I sat in front of the little portable space heater with a fur curled around my shoulders.
Otherwise completely naked, I had no plans for moving for the next while, my thighs still sore and shaky from the strenuous activities from the past hour.
Hours? Zathar wasn’t here with me or I wasn’t sure if I wouldn’t have attacked the poor guy for another round, it was a little frightening to realize that.
He’d left a few minutes ago to track down the source of water he could smell, and he’d taken my clothing with him so he could wash them for me.
He’d given me his waterskin to wash myself with which I’d done as soon as he’d left.
It had been a little painful and embarrassing how much I’d been covered in our combined essences and he hadn’t even done any actual fucking.
I didn’t know how he’d restrained himself, I was pretty sure I’d begged for his freaky, sexy cock more than once.
Oh boy, he had to be right, his seed contained some kind of aphrodisiac that I responded to.
Too bad, I liked it when I gave him pleasure, and I loved how shocked he’d been by the blowjob.
If I responded like that to the taste of him, I really shouldn’t risk it again.
I definitely didn’t like how out of control I’d been the past few hours.
What kind of filthy things had spilled from my mouth?
I was afraid to look at my memories too closely on that front.
I hoped we didn’t have to do too much walking today, I was pretty sure my legs weren’t up to much.
What I wanted to do most was just curl up under the blankets to go to sleep and pretend I hadn’t been a total sex fiend before.
What was Zathar thinking, right now? I knew he’d come too, several times in fact, though he hadn’t let me touch him.
As if my thoughts had summoned him, he appeared in the doorway to our little nest. His wide shoulders filled up the space, his head almost reaching the tall lintel above him.
“Vera,” he murmured, his voice filled with warmth.
He was carrying two waterskins he’d refilled and my wet clothing was draped over his arm.
I offered him a smile in return and watched as he draped my things over the little heater to help them dry quickly.
Of course, the tip of his tail had already found my ankle beneath the furs and curled around it.
I knew it was to help us speak but I still felt a warmth unfurl in my chest at this sign of wanting to be close.
“How are you feeling?” he asked carefully.
“Better?” His tongue flicked out to taste the air and I felt a flush rise in my cheeks, he was checking to see if I was still in the throes of intense arousal or not.
I was pretty sure things had calmed down and rational thought had returned to me.
He seemed to conclude the same thing and looked almost disappointed about it.
“Better,” I said and then I asked the question that had risen in my mind.
“Why didn’t you, you know? Actually fuck me?
” My eyes dropped to his groin where his scales now lay flat once again, not a hint of his cock visible.
I couldn’t believe he could hide such a big cock just like that, but there really was no trace of it now that he was relaxed.
Zathar sat down at my side, his arm curling around my shoulder to draw me closer.
So close that I was almost in his lap with my still very naked ass.
“It wouldn’t be right. You did not seem to know what you were asking of me, and once I seed you, our mating bond is complete.
I did not want to take that choice from you. ”
I was pretty sure he’d seeded me more than once, but I got what he meant.
It was very thoughtful, he’d been looking out for me in far more ways than I could count since the first day we met.
My chest felt tight with a feeling I didn’t really know the name of.
Was this what it felt like to be loved? But how could he love me when we’d only known each other for such a short time?
“Thank you,” I said to him, and then I was happy to just sit there in his arms and rest for a while.
He seemed to feel the same way, happy to just hold me as we stared at my drying clothing, lost in our own thoughts.
Neither of us wanted to break out of this bubble to get moving as if this time in this ancient city was like putting the rest of the world on pause.
Of course, it couldn’t last and the noises that intruded on us made both of us shiver in response.
It sounded like the slithering of dozens of snakes, voices filling the silence with their hissing and growling.
Zathar raced for the doorway while I scrambled to get into my still slightly damp but thankfully clean clothes.
“Did they find us? Is that that Naga woman?” I asked his back, knowing he’d understand me because his tail was still around my ankle. He shrugged one shoulder, his hand going for one of the swords on his back, hovering there as if he wasn’t sure if he needed it or not.
He tried to tell me to stay behind while he went to investigate but I wouldn’t let him.
If we needed to run, we should be sticking together.
Leaving the safety of the building we’d taken shelter in, the two of us followed the sounds further into the city.
We ducked through the tunnel leading beneath one of the buildings edging the square.
Then followed several streets until we were suddenly standing on the edge of a grand balustrade with a ramp spiraling down to a lower elevation.
We didn’t need to keep moving to see what was going on though.
From the top of the stairs, we looked out over a city plaza that was lit up with thousands of glowing, pinkish crystals.
A procession of Naga was making its way across it to a huge sprawling building on the other side.
It could only be called a palace, made of shimmering, rose-colored stone.
It sounded like they were singing, or chanting something but we were too far away to be able to make out what.
Each of the elegant Naga gliding across the plaza was dressed in a long flowing robe, their tails tipped with gold or silver.
Their scales varied in shade and color, covering each facet of the rainbow in a dazzling display of diversity.
“What is this?” I whispered, rubbing my eyes in confusion. Was I dreaming or was this real? Zathar looked as baffled as I felt, staring at the beautiful, stately procession with huge eyes, his mouth opened in surprise.
“Ghosts,” he said, “They are ghosts.” I was almost inclined to believe him when I realized that they weren’t completely solid.
They were specters crossing the plaza, not fully there, just transparent enough to see the square tiles beneath them straight through their otherwise real-looking bodies.
They had almost reached the palace, its gates closed and forbidding.
They passed right through it, and Zathar flinched back.
“We have disturbed their rest, we need to leave.”
They winked out of existence during the next heartbeat. Just vanishing like they were never there, the lights of the crystals slowly dimmed all around the plaza until we were once again stuck in complete darkness.
“No, not ghosts,” I said to Zathar as he rushed to gather me in his arms and race back to our hiding place.
“A hologram, a recording that is stuck on an endless loop, replaying that procession. I am sure that if we are here at the same time tomorrow, it will play again. Never changing until it runs out of power.”
As I spoke the words, I was certain I was right.
Technology slumbered all over this place.
I’d seen the evidence of light fittings, screens, and the remains of unfamiliar machines all over the building we’d slept in.
It was no different for the rest of this place, and some of it still worked. That was all it was.
Zathar’s rapid pace slowed down as he processed what I said. “Not ghosts but a picture? A moving picture?” he clarified and I grinned at him and patted his cheek, happy that he got it. That was exactly it, and it was nothing to fear, even if it was a little creepy.
“Yeah, no need to rush, they can’t harm us.
They don’t think or feel anything, they’re not real.
” He tried to act like he was reassured by my explanation when we returned to the ‘nest,’ but I wasn’t fooled.
He still hurried as he packed up all our things in his giant backpack.
The ghostly procession had spooked him and he didn’t want to linger any longer than he had to.
I guess it was a little cute that he was superstitious like that, but I was sure that with more exposure he’d come around. I was dying to figure out what happened in here, who were the Naga that had come before Zathar? Why had they disappeared? And how long ago had it happened? Thousands? Hundreds?
When he swung me up in his arms, I didn’t protest, relieved he wasn’t going to make me walk more when I was still so tired.
I was not going to complain about being curled up against his chest if he didn’t mind it.
I just held the lantern to light our way as he zigzagged across the completely abandoned city.
The longer we were inside it, the more I had to admit it was creepy.
Everything was so quiet, with only the sound of water breaking the silence when we crossed underground rivers or streams. The place was strangely preserved too, each building still immaculate and undamaged by time or the wear and tear of weather.
Just a thick layer of dust and fine debris that had settled everywhere.
I suppose I was grateful that there were no remains, no piles of bones that lined the streets. Had they simply completely disintegrated with time? Were they the dust that covered everything? Or had there been some kind of mass exodus of this place?