System Break

The night sky was dark, and the stars shone through the opening in the glade. Everything was quiet, even Dark Bear and most of the people had retired for the night.

Gisael led me to the willow by the hand and sat beside me. She leaned against my shoulder and whispered, "I will wait and help you to bed."

On the ground there were dozens of three foot sticks. They were straight and could easily be mistaken for arrows if they weren't missing the heads.

Gisael pushed some black leaf between my lips. "Chew," she said softly. "It will help with the pain."

"I doubt it," I said. I knew this was going to fucking hurt.

Mother appeared and smiled at me. She was a sadist. She sat down facing me and said, "Stomach or back first?"

"Back," I said, and she nodded at the ground. I sighed and lay on my stomach.

Before she began I said, "If you ever lose your day job you should become a torturer. You're very good at it."

"Shh," she said and pushed the first rod into my skin and across my back. I swear the first one was always the worst. Until then I only imagined how much it hurt, now it was real.

Gisael sat in front of me and spread her legs either side of my head. I couldn't even enjoy it because as soon as one rod was in place Mother began with the next. Gisael stroked my hair and tried to soothe me. I just wanted to bite her so she could share in the pain.

I don't know when I started to cry. Was it the fifth or seventh rod in my back? Mother softly said, "I know, I know but it is necessary."

I think I blacked out wondering why the fuck it was necessary.

When I woke I was on my back and Mother was aligning rods with my ribs. The rods in my back were excruciating and knocked me out. The ones on my ribs were worse, so much so they woke me from being blacked out.

I tried to breathe but it hurt like hell. The ones in my back still hurt and I was lying on them. My head was in Gisael's lap, but I couldn't see her face because my eyes were full of tears.

Gisael said, "This is too much." And I could hear the worry in her voice.

Mother said, "He is strong." What an impassive bitch.

I wanted to scream at her that I wasn't, but I could barely breathe let along speak. I was in so much pain I lost the track of time. My mind began to wander outside of my body because it sure as hell was no fun being inside it.

Mother was wise, she'd proven it again and again. She knew that we should consume a little concentrated qi each day to grow our cores. And I suspected she knew I could enhance the wood with my qi. My qi loved it and it was effortless to run streams up and around the living wood inside my body.

First she enhanced my arms and fists. Then she protected my head, which was my favourite because it didn't require a painful insertion and it looked scary. Now it was my back and chest. I didn't want to think that it was only my legs and feet left to go, because I didn't want to acknowledge this would happen again.

Gisael leaned over, kissed me and her hair fellow over chest. It didn't weigh much but I winced. She straightened immediately. "I am sorry," she said. Which meant a lot because she never apologised when she hurt someone.

The words were a struggle, but I couldn't help myself. "Why don't you get this treatment?"

She held her hair in one hand and kissed my forehead then my lips. She said softly, "I am not on this path; I walk my own."

I was in too much pain to work out if she made sense or was just talking in riddles. The only thing I was thankful for was that the ordeal did not include forty or so wounds. When Mother pushed the wood into me my skin opened to receive it and then closed behind.

I don't know how we made it back to bed up in the trees, but we did. It hurt when I lay on my back and when I lay on my stomach. It even hurt when I lay on my side. I sat in a chair and Gisael fed me some more black leaf before I dozed off.

When I woke I felt much better. She was asleep on the floor with her head between my legs. A feeling of elation overcame me. When you're in a ton of pain and it goes away you can't help but feel relieved. And the relief was so intense I felt awesome.

I stroked her hair and she stirred. "You can go to bed," I said.

She looked up at me and smiled. "You are feeling better?"

I nodded and she touched my dragon. It was only then I realised she had pulled off my leathers at some stage. My dragon was soft, and she kissed it before taking it in her mouth.

I was going to say it wasn't necessary, but I kept my mouth shut and enjoyed it. She sucked and licked and sucked until the dragon was hard. She stood, turned her back to me and sat down in my lap. I was in a little pain, but the gorgeous Svartalfar butt was sliding up and down on my dragon. It wasn't anything I couldn't handle. I felt like a child being rewarded with a lollipop after seeing the doctor as she bounced on the dragon. Her ass was sublime. Its curves formed the perfect round shape. She was fit, taut and tight.

She had the stamina to ride me all night and her tightness ensured the dragon felt every inch. "Does this hurt?" she asked.

"Don't stop," I said.

She squeezed and the dragon lost control he breathed into her without warning. She continued to squeeze as he throbbed inside of her. She slid off, dropped to her knees in one fluid motion, opened her mouth and closed her lips over the sensitive dragon's head. Her tongue lapped across and down him as her head bobbed.

There were a few reasons I would never forget this night. And Gisael had turned what was an ordeal into a night to remember.

She looked up at me and asked, "Better?"

I had no words. I just leaned back in the chair and grinned.