Chapter 11 A hiding Queen and a deepening bond.

"Phew, that trip was a close one. I thought I had been in there maybe two days, not a whole week."

"Well I think you and I are some of the lucky ones. We still have twenty-seven members still in the library, and thirteen of them are almost declared lost."

"Oh right. How long have they been there?"

"Approximately around thirty-six days, give or take an hour or two." came an sphinxs answer for two pegasus scholars, one helping the other carrying their note filled saddle-bags. Both of the winged equines bore the mark of the Guardians of Knowledge on they travel robes. And both of them got spooked lightly of the sudden answer, combined with the sight of the sphinx herself, holding a dead wild deer carcass on her paw-hand. Talking with your mouth full is not exactly polite.
"Nothing to worry. I don't eat your members these days anymore. That seems to be the Library's thing now. Metaphorically of course."

As soon as she finished saying that, another member of the order, a minotaur, came bursting through the library portal and tripping down on all fours, looking out of breath and also carrying a note filled bag with him, along with a five o'clock shadow.
"What day is this?" he coughed out.

"About twenty-four days after you went in. And take a moment to steady yourself." Hena answered while sitting down and adjusting her glasses a little. After the trio swapped some tales of their trip to the depths of the library and catching their breath, all of them left sphinx alone with her meal. None of them had that strong of a stomach.

Thing had been going rather nicely for the last month and a half, with the visitors from Wissen, with no one in particular raising any stink over the terms of visitations to the library for fact checks and answer finding for specific issues. Or at least no one had come to her to voice any complaints. If there was any, they sure kept quiet either out of respect, or fear. Sometimes the two had a rather blurry line between them.
Few had even dared to visit her just for the sake of visiting, sometimes even tossing in a small session of riddles, first confirming it being no-death bout. Some had also left some goodwill gifts, which were now part of her treasure-pile.

Overall, things were not as lonely for the sphinx as they were before, or could have been if not for the now-expired emotion-dampening. That had been an interesting conversation starter a couple of times, some apparently starting a debate about what it would be like have ones emotions suppressed in any way. Hermes told that the debate was still ongoing, most thinking that it was better to keep most of the suppressions out.

And of course there was Hermes, her mate, mostly due to her liking to call him that more, much to his embarrassment from his co-workers and friends little harmless jabs at him, mainly little jokes about him making her 'purrr' on his visits. Which was partially true. Him visiting, or just contacting her, always made Hena happy. Most they had done physically was some shared preening on each others wings, which apparently was a sign of deep trust and an intimate thing among griffin couples and occasional griffin-pegasus pair.
Other thing Hena had liked doing, was giving Hermes an occasional kiss on the cheek or top of his beak. It usually made him poof-up for minutes at a time, but recently he had managed to shorten the resulting poofiness reaction to half a minute. He also had told her about him getting to work on a major project, which apparently involved some ancient scrolls and a couple of clay tablets about the art of golemancy.

But for now Hena decided to focus on her meal, and leave the dreamy thoughts of her partner for later...

Later after the meal...

"Hmmm... Maybe if I put this one more to the left... Noo, then it might cast a shadow wrong at certain time of day..."

"Um, good day, miss Hena. What are you doing?"

The sudden, yet polite, greeting managed to startle the sphinx a little, making her drop the freshly licked-clean bone she was about to re-adjust next to one of the four pillars outside of her lair. A head turn revealed a new visitor being actually someone familiar; a tall white coated, red maned alicorn, as they were called apparently. Hermes had told her of the subspecies specific term of the Equestrias ruling royalty. She seemed to wearing a travelling cloak and carrying a saddle bag, both looking rather simple, yet practical.

"Oh, hello there Queen Faust. And just trying to make something constructive with the remains of my latest meal." Hena answered as she tilted her head at the direction of the nicely cleaned deer skull, that she had set up on a tall rock to 'look at' where Faust was currently standing. Some older leg-bones of various prey-animals were set up leaning against the said rock.

"I see... At least you seem to consume all of the easily edible parts..." alicorn said, clearly trying to make a conversation but was clearly instinctively a bit iffy about the semi-artistic displaying of bones, both fresh and old. The crunching of her snout hinted the reason most likely being the still lingering smell of blood and such.

"Most of the time, yes. Sometimes I do leave something to nibble on for an occasional scavenger... So what brings you here this time? Chasing a hidebehind maybe?"

"No, I actually gave up on that chase a few years ago... I was actually planning on asking to see the library you are partially guarding, or so I have heard. Would it be alright for me to see its content? Or will I have to answer a friendly riddle first?" Faust inquired politely.

"... Well since you actually asked nicely I can allow you entry. But also since you so politely offered to answer a riddle, we can do that too. And since you aren't trying to go past here, we can make it non-lethal... You are NOT intending go past here, right?" Hena said, while inquiring back just in case, giving alicorn a serious look. There would be no trick-passerby's on her watch.

"No I have no such intent. Please, do ask your riddle, or maybe two if you like." Faust confirmed, and gave a nod for sphinx to begin. Which she did with a smile.

"I move without legs.
I push without arms.
I speak without words.
I howl without a mouth.
What am I?"

Faust sat down and took her time to think over the answer with a thoughtful expression, while Hena waited patiently and finally set the bone she had dropped earlier on a suitable spot, and adjusted two other bone pieces a little to the left. Maybe a ten or so minutes of thoughtful humming later alicorns eyes lit up with realization.

"I think I got it. You are wind."

"That... Is correct. Now lets have another one then..." Hena said, receiving a friendly looking smirk from Faust. Perhaps she was enjoying herself while preparing to hear the second riddle.

"Your hand cannot contain me.
Your eye cannot see me.
I am fleeting when held,
but you can catch me if you stand still.
What am I?"

Once more Faust's face took a thoughtful expression, even bringing her hoof to her chin. Hena took this moment to groom her fur a little bit- This time Faust seemed to mull over the riddle a bit longer, taking almost fifteen minutes this time, until she got a knowing smile on her face.

"Breath. The answer is breath."

"Correct once again. Now then, if you would follow me to the library." Hena said and led the alicorn to her lair proper, both soon going through the misty archway, passing by the two artifacts, and arriving to the vast library. The mere initial sight of the place made Faust's jaw drop as she looked on at all of the gargantuan shelves at a short distance away from the central-entry area, still decorated by a huge golden guide sphinx statue, that seemed to stretch far beyond her sight.

"This... This is amazing. I originally thought that this was inside the mountain, but obviously it is more on its own level of existence." Faust commented, clearly amazed of the sight.

"Indeed it is. With you here, there are now twenty-seven visitors again. By the way, did you perhaps have any specific for coming here? Seeking some of old maybe?"

"A place to hide."

"...Excuse me?"

"I came here to look for a place to hide away for a non-specific amount of time."

"... I see... May I hear the reasons for such decision?"

"Of course... You see, I posses a rare gift of prophetic sight, which allows me to occasionally see glimpses of the potential future... But lately all of them have been consistently that of our kingdom falling into complete and extremely bloody anarchy should I stay on the throne... Or even be on easy reach of anypony... My spymaster also confirmed that several influential groups of nobles were planning on either overthrowing or even assassinating me in order get more personal power, or pave the way for my daughters to take the throne while securing a future for the country and thus for their fiefdoms."

"And if you were to remove those nobles, it would cause a power vacuum and lead into a potential civil-war? Or cause other kinds of waves in your nations power structure, and none of them being good?"

"Yes... And from what I have heard, my eldest is actually supporting some of their public plans, without knowing what they are planning for me... I think?... So after a good while of thinking things through, I decided to spare Equestria, and potentially other nations around it from a bloody conflict, that kept swallowing the known world in all of the visions were I still sit upon the throne. An absolute chaos... Which did not include Discord, for he apparently considers war, and I quote 'the most boring form of chaos'..."

"... Wow... That does sound like good reason to hide away somewhere... So might as well go somewhere with basic necessities and plenty to read?"

"Something like that... And my eldest daughter would never learn to truthfully respect other species properly with me around constantly apologizing for her mistakes and fixing her messes concerning them... I hope you don't mind me hiding here?" Faust asked, looking a little embarrassed for asking such a thing. Even with her reasons. She even let out a sigh of relieve, when Hena gave a positive nod for her.

"Yes, you may. Just don't try break things here and we don't have any problems. And my superiors haven't really given any time limit for anyone staying here. So maybe one day, there might even be unfortunate mummies between some shelves. Not yet I think." she said, making alicorn brow shoot up at the mention of potential mummified remains.

"Weeell... If I ever find one, should I clean it and bring it somewhere for someone to take away or just leave them there?"

"I don't care what you do. Not even if you decide to practice kissing on one."

"I'm just going to ignore that... Sooo... Do you have any recommendations where should i start burying myself in books,scrolls and other works here?"

"Not really. Just pick a direction and go from there."

With the sort-of advice given, Faust gave Hena a thankful smile and nod, before carefully walking to the edge of the central-area, and taking a curious peek over the edge. Not surprisingly, it was a chasm filled with endless shelves of written works with occasional platform area to read and rest here and there.
Just as she was about to say something to the sphinx, her eyes suddenly got glossed over, as if receiving a message of sorts. It did not last long and alicorns eyes returned to normal. And for some reason she also had a light smirk on her face while looking at Hena.

"What? Did you see something considering me?"

"Oh you'll find out soon enough... Well, here I go then. Maybe we meet again sometime."

Having said her piece, Faust climbed upon the lightly elevated edge of the central area, and simply jumped off, like she was parachuting, which did make Hena to come closer to the edge to have final look.

"I TOLD NOPONY WHERE I WAS GOING!!!" Faust called out as she started to shrink smaller as she fell deeper and deeper to the lower sections of the library, finally being just a small white-ish speck, that seemed to glide out sight somewhere between the giant shelves.

"Well, I guess now there will be a long time visitor here." Hena simply commented and started to head back outside. As she sauntered through the doors to her lair, the stylized eye looking amulet on her neck began to vibrate lightly and seemed to whisper her name. This caused a happy smile to appear on her face, as she lifted the amulet closer to her lips.
"I'm here Hermes. How is your little research project going over there?" she spoke softly to the amulet, which also answered.

"Oh it is going great, thank you for asking. I think me and my team might be on the verge of a major breakthrough. If it goes well, it might actually enable us to restore the art of golemancy to the modern day. But the reason for my call was to mainly to inform about me coming to visit by the evening. I was even given leave to stay the night if needed too. Should I bring some beef jerky or some spiced fish? I know you like both."

"Ooh, fish. Definitely fish this time. It really hits the spot after a deer. Think I can fit a little nap before your arrival?"

"Sure thing. I might try wake you with the meals aroma, if that's alright?"

"Yes, you try that, dear. I'll see you then, my little fluffball. *mwah*"

Hena could not help but smile a bit mischievously as she heard her griffin mate stuttering. He tended to do that when called by her pet names for him. Especially if it was accompanied with a little kiss, even via their 'lovers link'. With the little embarrassment done, Hena went to curl up on her usual spot on the stone altar, and slowly let herself fall into a comfortable sleep, as she waited for her griffin to arrive. She did not notice a small pleasant warmth, that had started rise within her...

Later...

Hena was awakened by a small breeze whiffing past her nose, bringing with it a familiar scent of her Hermes. And for some reason, it smelled really, really, REALLY alluring to her. As she stood up oddly fast, she also felt strangely hot, despite it being comfortably cool evening, and weirdly a little out of breath too.
And she felt that she absolutely needed to have her fluffball of a griffin close to her... Right this instant.

Just before Hermes came to the lair area proper, Hena decided for some reason to leap to a random higher ledge, out of sight, while leaving her lairs doors ajar. Soon enough Hermes did arrive, carrying a bag smelling of spiced fish. As he started to look around while approaching the doors left ajar, Hena began to slowly and quietly climb down from the ledge, followed by her silently stalk closer.
Oddly enough Hermes did not seem to notice this happening, with the sphinx approaching him from behind, almost looking like she was just about to intending to leap on top of him. Maybe she was managing to be just that quiet, or maybe the tasty smell from the spiced fish covered Henas scent from him. Or he was just basic distracted looking for her at the direction of the doors and not wanting to potentially rudely wake her up from her nap.

"Hmmm... Odd. Usually Hena naps upon the altar stone or on her bed..." Hermes thought out loud in a quietly while peering between the doors, still not noticing the sphinx approaching him from behind, now being only maybe a few feet away and slowly standing taller, very much focused on him with smile.

"Hello there my dear." she said pleasantly, obviously causing the griffin to let out a startled squawk while poofing up a little, before turning around to see her.

"Oh, there you are Hena. I-I got the fish here with me so... Is something wrong? You look a bit out of breath and... Also your face is a bit red and you smell like a *sniff-sniff*... Griffoness in a serious heat..." Hermes started to inquire, first sounding a little worried, before his tone and expression went through realization. Followed quickly by a mix of different worry and some serious anxiousness, while he took a careful step back. Clearly not trying to leave, but more trying to hide something at his nether regions. Perhaps the sphinxs feminine musk was starting to have an effect on him?

"Well... That might explain this bothersome warmth and my ever growing need to be very close you then... And I don't think I would mind that right now... Think you'd mind staying up further into the night?" Hena said with a smile while slowly walking towards Hermes, who instinctually walked backwards, both of them soon indoors with sphinx blocking the still ajar doorway... Which then got closed shut via psionically powered glance from her.
"Not that you really have choice now... My little fluffball..."

"hoo boy..."

Elsewhere...

"No way Mark. I find it unlikely that would happen."

"What? Are chickening out of the bet?"

"Fine. I bet Hermes just spends the night with his sphinx lady, and nothing else happens."

"And I bet that he finally gets some from his exotic lady, AND returns with some love-injuries on him."

"Okay. Have fun losing your pay this time."

Back to the lovebirds...

'I can't believe this is actually happening. And this is definitely not a dream either. Her scent would not be this potent in my imagination, or her fur being so soft while its smushed against my face... So warm too.' Hermes thought as he indeed was being pressed against Henas chest fluff, due to her pulling him into a loving hug one handed.
He hadn't even dared to resist the said hug-pull. Partially due to their obvious difference in size and strength, but mainly it was due to him not wanting to hurt her feelings while she was in such a state. After minute or so of being snuggled, Hena finally let go of him, allowing Hermes to step back enough to lock eyes with her.

"Sooo... What would you... Like to us to do?" he finally asked, with his growing blush starting to burn through his facial feathers. Metaphorically of course.

"Well, how about first you come over and kiss me? And not the usual little kisses we have given to you..."

With the permission very much given, Hermes steeled his resolve and approached his beloved sphinx and had to stand on his back legs to actually reach her lips, due to her still standing tall. And Hena gladly accepted her fluffball of a griffins tentatively approaching beak.
To her pleasant surprise it was semi-flexible, so she had no fear of any cuts on her lips, which encouraged her to push her partner gently towards her pillow nest of a bed, while opening her mouth a little to allow griffins curious tongue to come and explore a bit. Both of them enjoyed the feeling it brought.
Soon enough Hermes found himself falling backwards, right into Henas bed-nest, even letting out a small startled 'eep'-sound, before calming down when seeing Hena join in, standing above him with a playful smile.

The sphinx then proceeded to kiss her partner a bit more, before starting to slowly move lower. This brought a feeling of potential shame for Hermes, as Hena started get closer to his member, which was already visibly peeking from its sheath.

"Well look who's coming to greet me down here." Hena commented as she adjusted her glasses, while taking a good look at the tip of her griffins member.

"I-I'm sorry Hena. I know I may not exactly really that large enough for you..."

"Oh hush you my dear. To me personally its more about who is wielding it and knowing what you're doing. Good size is merely a plus. Heck, maybe some huge dragoness likes her partners tool small. Oh? Looks like your 'little soldier' agrees."

With her partners confidence boosted a little bit, Hena proceeded to give the slowly growing member a gentle, slow lick, making Hermes gasp at the feeling. As she continued giving more oral enjoyment to the griffin, who was clearly enjoying it, she couldn't help but be a bit more than impressed of his member as it finally reached its full length. At that point she couldn't even fit the whole thing in her mouth.
Nevertheless, she continued with her licking and eventually sucking on it, enjoying the sounds Hermes made during it.
Finally after several long, and very enjoyable, minutes Hermes let out a animalistic screech, sounding like a mix of falcon and mountain lion, and Hena felt him reach his peak as her mouth was filled with his seed.

"My goodness... You're actually quite a well hung male. And a potent one too..." she commented after having swallowed her lightly salty tasting little treat.

"You... You think so? I always thought I was below average." Hermes managed to answer back, clearly being a bit out of breath for obvious reasons.
"Should we have a break for me to recover, before I return the favor?"

"Oh I think I have something in store for that, from the pages of the library." Hena said back to him with a small smirk, before she gently taking hold of his family jewels with one paw-hand and putting other one upon his chest. She then took a deep breath to focus a bit, before speaking out a spell.
"Plena Recuperatio."

The instant word left the lips of his darling sphinx, Hermes felt a potent jolt of energy to flow into him from both touched areas and spreading from there. Soon enough any fatigue he felt was completely gone, including from his 'little soldier'.
"There, that should do it. Now then, how about you get to work? And don't worry too much about details... This heat is starting to feel stronger by the minute..." Hena said as she went to lay down on her back next to Hermes and waited for his next move.

With a excited, if a little nervous gulp, Hermes got up and sauntered into better position, having a beautiful view of his mates belly side before him, even receiving an encouraging look from her to continue. So he did, lowering himself closer to her sweet smelling snatch. It did not take all that long for the alluring scent overpower his more hesitant thoughts, and he just dove in, first carefully rubbing his beak upon those sweet lower lips, receiving an appreciative moans from Hena.
Wishing to hear more, he went in with his tongue, making his sphinx mate visibly shudder with a very audible gasp. This only drove to lick her leonine pussy some more, ending up creating, to him at least, a sweet sounding melody of sorts out of the noises Hena made. Clearly she was enjoying herself, and wanting her to enjoy some more, Hermes kept up being 'a talented linguist' for several sweet minutes. And going by a couple of a little louder moans and even a squeal or two, she reached her peak at least once or twice.

"Hermes... I need you to take me... Please..." Hena managed to finally say after coming down from her orgasmic high, in a pleading husky tone. And Hermes started to comply right away, for it would be rude to keep a lady waiting, especially with both of the participants very much ready for the main dish so to speak.

It took a moment of careful fumbling, due to some barely held back excitement, for Hermes to get into proper position. Not wanting to tease the sphinx any more, the lucky griffin slowly pushed his shaft deep as he could in her soft confines. This caused both of the to gasp in pleasure and shared happiness.
With no words or further guidance needed, Hermes soon got into a nice rhythm of thrusting, feeling like he was on top of the world as he made his beloved make very pleased sounding moans and gasps, among other sexually pleasing sounds.

Neither did not notice just how long they kept on mating, until Hermes felt his peak approaching fast and thus grabbed tighter on Henas hips, soon practically hugging her, with his chin just barely reaching Henas chest fluff with all the forward pushing he was doing at the moment, trying to reach as deep in her as he could.
Hena on her part could not help but enjoy all of the feelings her griffin mates movement was causing, letting it show through her loud gasps and moan, even letting her tongue loll out. As he kept on pushing forward at a faster thrusting speed and took a firmer grip with his claws, she decided to answer in-kind by reaching out and managing to take hold of his rabidly moving back with her own claws, trying not to disrupt griffins quick thrusting motion.

"Do it... Fricking claim me!!"

Just as soon Hena barely managed to say her piece to Hermes, her world went white, as some would say when experiencing an intensive orgasm, arching her back while pulling her griffin closer so tight with her claws that she drew blood.
Hermes on his end felt his beloveds velvety walls grip his dick tightly, finally pushing him off the edge and just let loose a proverbial torrent of his seed. To him all of it felt just so good, that he did not even acknowledge Henas claws making his back bleed, while he was doing pretty much the same to her sides; clawing them and drawing blood, trying to push himself just a little bit deeper.
In other words, both of them were leaving their mark in a couple of ways on each other. And they absolutely loved it all. Finally both of them visibly relaxed and just laid there together, a lucky griffin still on top of a very satisfied sphinx, coming down from pleasurable high and catching their breath.

"...Wow... That was... Amazing... Sorry about your back. I just wanted you even closer to me..." Hena finally said, clearly feeling a little sorry about the back injuries she had caused.

"Yeah... It was... And I don't really mind. I take it as a kind of a badge of honor and as a more visible mate-mark of sort." Hermes said back, while carefully stretching his wings, which were luckily in one piece, to get a feel of the overall status of his back; some stinging, but luckily no overt bleeding.
"So it is okay if I heal both of our love-cuts just enough to stop the bleeding and fix the skin, but leaving a mark?" Hena asked, receiving a nod from her mate. And small healing spell later, both of their wounds were closed, leaving only some scars as a reminder of their loving little romp.

"There, all better now. I take it you stay the night, dearest?" she inquired sweetly. Hermes seemed to think something over before answering.
"Actually, I was thinking if you could use that energizing trick again?"

With a raised brow, Hena did as requested, curios to see what Hermes was thinking. And the answer came in a form of him standing up a bit and taking hold her back-legs with a visible confidence and a small grin on his beak.

"Since you are in heat, and clearly a long lived being, it stands to reason that it might take a long while for next one to arrive, and I might be occupied with the research for a good while. Sooo, I think we should make the most of it... Very thoroughly..."

"Oh dear..."

-

-

-

-

Next day, around noon...

"Hey look! I think Hermes is coming back." Mark called out to other present at the edge of town, after seeing a familiar griffin gliding down the path from the pass.

"Good day everyone. Sorry it took so long, but everything is fine."

"Uh-huh... And where did those scars on your back came from?"

"Uuuuh... We might have wrestled a bit roughly to pass the time... Well I'm off to work now. That golemancy research is on the verge of a breakthrough." Hermes said as he walked by his peers, seemingly wincing a bit on every step of his back-legs, with an occasional 'ow'. He did not notice Mark collecting a pay from another bet won.

Three months later... Hena's lair

"Hena! I'm back. We succeeded! We actually made a set of working golems!" Hermes announced proudly as he stepped in his mates lair, who was looking at him with a loving smile from her pillow-nest bed, with her wings folded a bit differently.

"That is wonderful to hear darling. What are you doing with them at this time?" Hena asked curiously, clearly happy for his teams success.

"Well, currently we are going through basic trials with them doing some manual work, like tilling the soil, building simple things, before trying to move onto more complex orders and try making them from different materials. Currently we have a dozen made out hardened clay... Is there something wrong? You look like you're hiding something..."

"Funny you should ask, my dearest fluffball... Remember our little intimate wrestling three moons ago?" sphinx said, as she beckoned him to come closer.
"How could I? It has been in my dreams all that time..." he started to say while coming closer, as he seemed to realize something. "Wait... Do you mean... That..." he continued, putting two and two together, while watching Hena lift her wing, revealing a visible bump on her lower belly.

-

"That's right dearest... You're going to be a father..."

-

"This is the happiest surprise of my life..."

Author's Note

Aaaand done. With some amateur-level "spice" too. Not sure what level... Maybe level 9 if going by TerribleWritingAdvice Spice Level-chart?