Thrax

Chapter 2

Random chance had served Agena well.  It had brought her a Knight of three colors, a Lacertan peacekeeper of the highest standing.  The red, black, and silver uniform that so sexily accented the muscles of his amazing body showed him to be just below a Mentor in rank.  She browsed through her memories of all the other Knights of Lacerta who had pleased her in bed. 

She had always loved the way their uniforms looked on them, the way the top fastened itself at the back of the strong, corded neck and formed a seam along the waistline at the front and the sides, leaving the back completely open and the arms bare except for the shiny foil-membrane armbands.  His badge with its regal-looking dragon’s head emblem adhered to his suit, appropriately, right over his heart. 

The hilt of Thrax’s powerblade hung from his belt as if to suggest a second phallus, and Agena could only imagine that his actual member was equally as big.  She had never heard of a Lacertan Knight, or any Lacertan male, being less than formidably hung, and the ones who had bedded her in the past were certainly not for the fainthearted.  There were times between partners when she had lived on the memory of being plundered and impaled by them.

Looking Thrax up and down, Agena had every belief that he would measure up to any of her previous Knights.  She smiled at him and was pleased at the courtly smile he gave her in return.

However, the thunderous roar and bellow of the crowd made a verbal greeting next to impossible.  Dispensing with manners, Agena tried to shout at Thrax that it was all right with her if he wanted to morph to dragon form and fly them away from the Stadium.  Thrax squinted and leaned in at her, unable to make out her words in the din.  She leaned in closer and repeated her shout into his ear.  Thrax leaned away, understanding, and for the first time, Agena saw her prospective partner morph.

The Lacertan mutation did not enable them to become full dragons.  They always took on a form half-human, half-dragon—and wondrous to behold.  Thrax in his other body was a thing of resplendent scales in what Agena guessed must be a half dozen shades of green and some hues mixed in with blue, with tiger-like stripes of azure and emerald up and down his arms. 

His horns were majestically curved, his snout festooned with sharp spines, and his neck and back adorned with a trail of softer, more cushiony spines that stood up proudly in the sunshine.  His tail descended to the floor of the platform and curled like a massive, flattened python, a thing of purest muscle.  His reptile skin glistened like polished leather, and she could only imagine how it must feel to the touch.

In a moment, she did not need to imagine.  He extended his hand to her again, and she noticed that the fingers of his gauntlets had extended to accommodate the powerful claws at the ends of his digits — claws that could rake and gouge solid steel.  It helped her understand why the Lacertans had created the Corps and the Knighthood to protect themselves from each other as well as any foes from outside.  She took his hand, and he pulled her to him with a gentleness that belied his reptilian power and scooped her up in his arms. 

Thrax lifted his head, unfolded his huge wings, and beat them mightily.  He gave a leap that made Agena feel that her stomach was falling away, as well as the platform beneath them, and in a second, they were climbing toward the upper rim of the stadium, Thrax’s wings whooshing powerfully in the air with every power-filled beat.  In a minute, they were high overhead, and the din of the Stadium crowd was dwindling beneath them, to be replaced with the sonorous sound of the wind of the Lacertan sky.

*****

Thrax flew them just far enough that they could speak comfortably without shouting.  He landed in a small park not far from the Stadium, touching down on a lawn of green grass studded with trees shaped like giant cauliflowers with green and violet leaves.  Here, he set Agena down as gently as he had picked her up and morphed back to human.  He offered her his hand again, and this time he bowed when she put her hand in his.

“I am Sir Thrax Helmer of Lacerta, Milady,” he said.

Both touched and amused by his knightly gentility, Agena replied, “How do you do, Sir Thrax?  I suppose I should just call you Thrax, under the circumstances.  I’m Agena Morrow.  I’m a professional Sphereball champion.”

Thrax’s eyebrows arched, casting a look of surprise on his amazingly handsome face.  Agena thought he looked impressed and hoped her assessment was true.  “Sphereball,” he said.  “That’s a very challenging sport.  You play it professionally, and you’re a champion?”

Encouraged at finding she was right about his reaction, Agena said proudly, “Two-time winner of the Pleiades Cup.”

“I see,” Thrax nodded.  “The randomness of the Lottery, then, has brought me an extraordinary woman.”

“Not quite so random,” Agena replied.  “You must know the Lottery for the Knights and the Corps is reserved for certain people — that is, the people in the best shape—people in the Terran Fleet, people in sports.  You sort of have to be someone like me to be entered as an aspirant for someone like you.” 

“Yes, that is true,” Thrax mused.  “There’s a necessary…elitism, I imagine you’d call it…about who is made eligible for Courtship with us.”  For the first time, Thrax really looked at her, looked her up and down.  Agena could tell that the dragon man was now giving her the once-over with his eyes as she had done with him at the platform in the Stadium.  She was happy to find no frown on his face, no hint of disapproval. 

His impression remained even and constant; he was still impressed.  A hope kindled inside her that she could yet turn his apparent sense of intrigue to arousal.  But an edge of formality crept back into his voice as he went on, “Agena Morrow, under the laws and customs of Lacerta, I am to court you and be your attentive suitor.”  His tone sounded almost like the tone he would use for a perpetrator that he was apprehending.  Agena was not sure she liked that, but she smiled back at him anyway.