Author's Note

Happy New Year, folks! Let's ring it in properly with a new chapter of C&C! Please note two things: First, this chapter skips ahead from the previous one, as the events the previous chapter initiates are very M-rated, and thus more appropriately handled in Eros. But don't worry. As the events of Eros will be recounted and summarized here (in a T-rated manner), reading it is not necessary.

Please note that this is the T-rated version of the chapter. If you want the M-rated one, go here instead:

38: A New Day (M-rated)

There is some minor adult action hinted at here at both the beginning and end. Nothing explicit, however. This chapter is not about sex, even in the M-rated version, though it at least summarizes what just took place. So expect some mildly suggestive stuff that reaches PG-13 at times as Marco and Gilda have some brief but early fun and an Archon later takes an interest in an eagless.

As always, I thank my superb prereading crew of Silentwoodfire, AJ_Aficionado, ASF, Wechsel and Silverblade5. They enjoyed the chapter, and hopefully readers will as well. Have at it just as soon as I post the standard boilerplate:

This chapter is brand new content, taking place not long after chapter 9 of the original story. You are not only invited but strongly encouraged to check out the original Feathered Heart if you haven’t already, as it inspired many of my own works.

—Firesight

38: A New Day (T-rated)

A New Day
Epic Music Mix - A NEW BEGINNING | Most Epic Emotional Adventure Music by RS Soundtrack

Gilda awoke with a start to the muffled but distinctly piercing sound of human gunfire echoing through the suite.

Though she panicked for a moment, thinking a Cloven attack was underway, a sudden and soothing pressure on her mind that she identified as the now well-known mental presence of Queen Lepidoptes calmed her instantly.

Be at peace, Grizelda Behertz, the Changeling Monarch’s thoughts sounded in her head along with what Gilda recognized as something akin to a mental kiss. The Tribune is simply getting his long-awaited demonstration of human weapons. There is no danger and the Cloven are not currently threatening the city, so please rest as long as you wish. It is only sunrise and you are not due at your new duties until noon.

By your command, was all Gilda could manage as she felt herself relax back onto the circular and supremely comfortable bed, surprised to yet again find herself reacting to the Queen’s presence as a cub would to their mother.

Wow. Am I really thinking of her that way? she wondered anew after the mental presence had withdrawn, then smiled at the answer she got, realizing that the Changeling Monarch was far more motherly than her real one had ever been.

“Hey, Gilds,” another equally welcome voice then whispered in her ear. “How are you doing?”

“Better,” she replied as she snuggled back into Marco’s embrace, feeling his naked and now-clean body against her. After she had gotten back from meeting the Tribune, they had finally bathed—but only after another intense lovemaking session. One that had only been boosted by what she told him of what had happened during the negotiations with Queen Lepidoptes.

Though surprised at the news, Marco had not been angry this time—save that he hadn’t been there to take part or record it with his still-absent ‘laptop’ or ‘smartphone’ devices. When she cautiously asked him why, he answered it was because of who she had been with—Fortrakt and Giraldi. That unlike with the Starshina, he knew and liked them—knew of her bonds to her comrades and shared them for having been with the pair himself, even if he still mostly couldn’t remember it.

“If I got mad at you over that, especially after feeling their mating magic for myself and nearly getting seduced by the Archon in the process? I’d be a total fucking hypocrite,” he told her, to which a relieved Gilda could only kiss him.

That settled, he openly marveled at her description of the events and especially the Queen’s spellcasting, which had stripped them of clothing and inhibitions alike while arousing them beyond all measure. He’d been further mollified by the fact that Gilda had taken pains to save her nest for him, which she swore from that moment forward was for him alone. “I’m good. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I slept so well. What time is it?”

“It’s after dawn,” he told her, wrapping his arms around her from behind and kissing her gently on the head. “I think you were out for nearly twelve hours. You were so tired that you didn’t even twitch when I got up to use the head. Or when Archex came by a little while ago to deliver some food along with your cleaned and restored armor,” he teased her lightly, motioning up to a nearby table where a platter of fruit, cheese and some dried meats sat waiting. They were there along with a bowl and goblet of liquid whose scent told her was some kind of exotic coffee brew, sweetened with a concoction of cream and honey.

She had learned long before that ‘use the head’ was a Marine euphemism for going to the latrine, one that Marco had picked up. That, in turn, reminded her of how long it had been since her bladder had emptied, causing her to grimace at the heavy pressure she felt against her belly. “Uh, speaking of toilets, if you don’t mind…” She suddenly found herself wriggling in intense discomfort against him.

“Helping myself to you? Not at all.” To her surprise and mild annoyance, he didn’t immediately release her, and worse, began putting gentle pressure on her stomach.

“Marco!” she squealed and began to squirm. “I mean it! I really do not want to piss myself here!”

“Fine,” he relented with a kiss and a squeeze. “I’m not ready to get up anyway. By the way, Archex said something odd. He told me to tell you that he and the other Archon really liked what they saw of you. And that their, uh, ‘bet’ is still on?”

“Ancestors preserve us,” she chuckled to herself as she walked away.

After returning, she explained to him that they had made a wager on who would bed her and her human friends first. She might have been offended by being reduced to the subject of seduction, if she didn’t now know that it was in part flattery—that they considered the two of them desirable and had no intention of damaging their relationship, especially for how much love their hive was gaining from their ruts.

“Bed all of us, huh?” Marco almost sounded intrigued. “I can’t wait to hear what Tara thinks of that.”

“Me too. And for what it’s worth, Archex said you would make a good Changeling for how much you like to seduce and break boundaries.”

“Heh. Guess I do. Yeah, I admit it’s a turn-on,” he told her as she felt him start to grow excited.

“For both of us. Crows know I didn’t even know what turned on was before I met you, Marco Lakan. And now I can’t get enough of you…” She trilled happily as she settled herself back into his embrace and felt his soft, warm human fingers settle happily on her in turn. “By the Ancestors, your touch alone turns me on…”

“Just trying to make our hosts happy,” he told her with a twinkle. “So what do you say we give them even more love before breakfast…?”

Another two hours passed before they finished and Gilda finally rousted herself enough to eat, finding that no matter how much sleep she had, it wasn’t enough. Or time together with Marco, savoring every moment of his presence before the call of duty took her away once more.

Crows take it. Well, we were supposed to be in Catlais by now enjoying each other’s company anyway, so… She mentally relented as she made love to him again.

Gunfire had continued to echo through the ship during that time, coming alternately in single shots or long bursts. She assumed the difference was due to Imlay demonstrating how fast their weapons could actually fire, and the immense damage they could do to attacking formations in the process.

Occasionally the sound shifted to louder or quieter pops, which she concluded meant they were demonstrating different weapons to him, including what sounded like the powerful blasts of Tara’s shotgun and the equally heavy thumps of Chris’s wood-wrapped rifle. She could only hope that the Tribune was willing to listen and learn as he had not been before, suddenly regretting that she wasn’t there to guide him.

Or maybe it’s just as well, she silently granted, knowing that the events of the past night had been hard on him. Not just for the intense sex that all had indulged in under the influence of the Queen’s mating aura and sexual superspell that she had used to deal with the Magus threatening her, but for being forced to reveal his own long-kept secret in return for Gilda—and others! —revealing theirs. But the Queen had insisted on it, saying that it ‘simply wasn’t fair to the Centurion’ for her to have to reveal her secrets while the Tribune kept his.

His biggest secret was one which had haunted him for all his life, hanging over his career and family like an axe that could fall at any time. It turned out that he was, in fact, part of a disfavored and long-dishonored line of griffons from the Cheetahean peninsula, as shown instantly by the King Cheetah hindquarters and Imperial eagle plumage he’d been hiding under a layer of carefully constructed coat-altering enchantments the Queen had stripped from him along with his clothes.

Such griffons belonged to a clan that had once betrayed the Kingdom to the Ibex centuries earlier, collaborating with their longtime enemy in advance of an attack to give them control of the peninsula as long as they could keep their station under Ibexian rule. It explained much of his behavior, she granted, as to reveal that secret would likely cost him not just his career and honor, but that of his wife and cubs.

It did grant her at least a small measure of pity for him, given he’d had to hide it for his entire adult life. And worse for his family, hide it among his cubs as well, keeping the avian and feline features they’d inherited from him hidden.

That had not been his only secret, however, as it turned out his proclivities were… unique among griffons. Or maybe not, Gilda thought with a grin at how much had been revealed among all of them the previous night, which had been eye-opening on many levels, not the least of which for what she learned about Changeling culture and history.

It turned out that they had covertly intervened in Kingdom affairs on several occasions to protect their parent society, even going so far as to temporarily replace a griffon Queen with one of theirs. It had happened five centuries prior, when an earlier and far more aggressive incarnation of the Ibexian Ascendancy plotted to conquer the Kingdom by cursing Queen Felicia the First to do their bidding.

After detecting the plot, it had fallen to the great-grandmother of Queen Lepidoptes to replace her in disguise, guiding the Kingdom through the Ibexian threat while her hive worked to cure the real Queen’s magical malady. They finally succeeded, revealing themselves to her before reinstalling her on the Kingdom’s throne.

Unable to unveil their role in saving the Kingdom given how distrusted Changelings still were after they had sided with Equestria during the war with the ponies, Queen Felicia had instead written a sealed proclamation and left it in the Hive’s possession, in the hopes that a future Kingdom ruler would unseal and make it public when the Changelings could finally step into the open.

So maybe that time is now? Gilda wondered idly as she found her mind further reviewing the events of the previous night, including receiving a surprising lesson from Queen Lepidoptes in not just history, but Changeling philosophy.

It had been an impressively deep discussion even amid all the intimacy around her, in which the Queen had outlined the basis of their religion and outlook. The latter had included how they dealt with such difficult dilemmas as needing love, which required openness and honesty to grow and thrive, while resorting to disguise and deception to gain it.

Her answer to that seemingly intractable paradox had been that she saw their proper role not as parasites, but symbiotes, giving back at least as much as they took. That meant helping their hosts however they could, whether an individual lover or their entire parent society—the Griffon Kingdom itself.

That, in turn, led to a surprisingly simple explanation as to why her hive chose to live among griffons—given their merit-based society and willingness to both embrace and reward those who helped them, they saw the Kingdom as their best chance to obtain acceptance.

And to one day finally be able to step into the open, which they desired above all else.

It was not, to be sure, an attitude shared by most other hives, who the Queen had been very circumspect about divulging information on. Gilda had been further surprised to learn that the Changelings were far from monolithic—that different hives often had markedly different cultures and outlooks. And that just like other Tellusian nations, they guarded their territory and sources of love quite jealously from the encroachment and possible poaching of neighboring hives.

That did not preclude cooperation or sharing of resources between them, but just like the dragons, payment would be demanded, for which their currency was the sharing of love or information. There were, however, certain hives they simply would not abide or have any dealings with, not the least of which was the hive of Queen Chrysalis.

Discussing her had been the one time Gilda had seen Queen Lepidoptes get angry, recalling how many Changeling hives and lives her counterpart had hurt with her aborted invasion of Canterlot—and worse, how many Changelings had fallen victim to famine after the entire world turned on them.

Though her hive had weathered the storm of persecution well, being already quite adept at hiding within a society whose intelligence services and magical detection abilities were very strong to start, others had not. It had been bad enough, in fact, that she had absorbed the tattered and often emaciated remnants of two other hives who lost their Queens and had no heir, the surviving drones desiccated and nearly succumbing to not just starvation but despair.

But her mood brightened just as quickly when she related how things seemed to be getting better again. She noted in turn how such hard times showed that they simply couldn’t be picky about their sources of love, even if it meant violating the rules or outright taboos of their parent societies to get them.

That included such rules as fidelity in marriage, which explained why she had no qualms about the Tribune already being in one. In the Queen’s own words, it was simply a luxury they did not have if they wished to survive the hard times as well as the good, and perhaps as a result, Gilda had learned firstwing about just how few taboos the Changelings actually had about love and lovemaking. To say nothing of how dangerously good they were at inducing and extracting it.

Well, I guess when your entire existence centers around making and collecting love from others, you can’t have many hang-ups about it, and much of your magic is designed to relieve others of theirs! she further reasoned, searching her psyche but finding that yet again, she had no regrets about what happened under the Queen’s influence with Giraldi and Fortrakt.

Still, for as enjoyable as it was to watch and experience, even when she was simply a spectator—who would have thought that Obsidian Ire had a longstanding interest in eaglesses that she’d left unrequited for decades for fear of hurting them? Or that Karin Kazal would finally triumph over a Raven by sensually submitting her in a battle of bodies and wits instead of blades? —it was the final outcome that had been most remarkable.

It had resulted in not just a deal with the Tribune that gave Gilda most of what she wanted, but even a request to Queen Lepidoptes to be married immediately from his Paladin and Magus protectors. They’d realized and then requited their own longstanding love for each other under the light of the Queen’s horn, and discovering how deep their bonds truly went, the three had decided then and there that they actually wanted to form a flock!

It was the griffon equivalent of a pony herd practiced in ancient times, though severely frowned upon by the current incarnation of the Kingdom. Fortunately, the Queen had demurred, reminding them that to do so was to run afoul of modern-day laws and customs. To which they said to a griffon that they would swear allegiance to her after the war was finished would the Kingdom not recognize their marital bonds, if that was the only way to make them official.

Though clearly honored by the offer, Queen Lepidoptes had asked them to wait one day, saying if they still felt that way after they were free of her influence, then she would do it according to the customs of her hive.

Customs which, as perhaps befit the Changelings, went far beyond sealing the ceremony with a simple kiss.

Have to admit, I kind of hope it does happen. And that I’m there to witness it! As she ate and chatted with Marco—the fruit and cheese was excellent while the magically-heated coffee was a bit overly-honeyed, which she guessed suited the more sweet-than-savory palate that the Queen said Changelings possessed—Gilda reviewed the agreement that she and the Tribune had finally struck in her head.

In fairness, he hadn’t given her everything she’d asked for. She’d been named the overall commander of the Marines and their escort force as well as human liaison like she’d wanted, but against that, he’d taken away her Knights and Talons except for Decanus Nydia, granting her two decades of elite Paladins in their place from his headquarters century of them to preempt her from using her diplomatic command chain to commandeer them.

He’d also emphatically denied her demand to accommodate the human civilians in the high-end inns in the city, and in the end, she couldn’t argue with his reasons—the population of Arnau was simply too suspicious of them, meaning he couldn’t guarantee their safety without assigning them a large escort that would provoke resentment and worse, mean pulling sorely needed soldiers off the city’s walls.

But he did agree to let the Queen and her Changelings move her airship closer to the Auxiliary Guard base center. It would show the civilian and soldier griffons alike a measure of trust in them, putting them inside the innermost defensive ring along with his headquarters and the civilian leadership of the city. It turned out Archex had also delivered a proclamation with breakfast stating that Tribune Cipio was going to address all of Aricia from the balcony of his headquarters building office later, ordering Gilda to be preened and fully presentable for the occasion along with her human mate.

And though he swore to keep her confidence regarding her revealed relationship with Karin Kazal—he could hardly do otherwise, given not just his own secrets laid bare, but the revelation that the cove it happened in had been designed by the Changelings for the specific purpose of inducing sex in visitors that their hive could then harvest remotely, thus proving that neither Gilda nor Karin Kazal had been acting entirely of their own accord—he’d also refused to back down from demanding punishment for her actions, recommending to higher command in Arnau a formal reprimand and a review of her rank and command chain.

Though such a review could yet cost her both, she had to agree it was a punishment earned, given she had severely abused the authority of her command chain to undermine his at a very bad time. And—as the Tribune finally and somewhat more calmly pointed out at the end of the session—if she had issues with what he’d done, the proper time to tell him was during the debriefing meeting he’d summoned her to, when they were alone.

Flush with victory, he would have been much more amenable to listen to her concerns and learn about human weapons, once she told him about all the engagements they’d won and how.

Now that I’m looking at this more dispassionately, he’s right. Guess there’s still a bit of teenage idiot in me after all, Gilda somewhat ruefully agreed as she finished up her preening using some of the high-end oils they’d found in the bathroom. And last but not least, the final point of the deal they’d reached wasn’t about her at all, but securing the aid of the Changelings and dragons to help turn out fresh weapons and armor.

The former would mine the ore and gems needed while the latter would lend their impressive forging skills to the city’s defense, joining the efforts of the city’s military and civilian blackbirds by infusing griffon steel with dragonfire to boost their offensive and defensive power.

Obsidian Ire had remarked that was a service that they would normally demand a high price in gems and gold for providing, but as the drakina later said, all they could ask for in this instance was simply the Kingdom’s help to defeat the Cloven and liberate their lands.

As for the Marines, they would be given a base barracks and access to everything from bathhouses to training facilities, as soon as the Tribune could sort out his supply situation and fully reestablish his still-shaky chain of command. The former would in large measure be accomplished by Optio Virgo, who had finally gotten her heart’s desire towards the end of the sex-aided negotiations by rutting the Tribune herself.

Gilda would have called her dweeby but for how earnest and honorable she was, wanting to help everycreature equally and lend her organizational skills to the Kingdom’s survival.

Earnest and honorable? She’s just like Fortrakt in that regard, Gilda thought with a grin. And that was to say nothing of her willingness to completely overlook the Tribune’s true appearance and lineage, telling him that she loved him for his mind and military acumen and didn’t care what his bloodline was.

I guess first impressions really aren’t everything, Gilda somewhat regretfully granted, remembering how badly she’d treated the Talon Optio at first—how she’d taken her frustrations at Tribune Cipio out on the young eagless unfairly. She’d ended up apologizing for it at the end of the session, to which an immensely happy Rubens Virgo replied that she didn’t mind at all, given where it had led and all the new experiences and ideas it had gained her.

In the meantime, she and Marco—along with Chris and Tara, who she was increasingly anxious to see again—would be allowed to stay on board the Queen’s airship in their good guest quarters, which Gilda had quickly come to realize tended to be far better than griffon ones. Regardless, it was a generous gesture that Gilda very much appreciated, though by the Queen’s own admission, it wasn’t an entirely selfless act. It was also practical, given how much love Gilda and Marco had already fed her hungry hive, after all.

For saving us and aiding the Kingdom, making more wild and crazy love is the least we can do for her, right? she asked herself in amusement before bidding Marco goodbye with a kiss, extracting a parting promise from him that he would let her be the one to tell Chris and Tara about what happened the previous night.

And speaking of whom… She decided that the first thing she would do was check on the wounded, both human and griffon, before she emerged up top. And dragon, she then reminded herself as she began to don her uniform and armor while Marco left to visit his friends.

She recalled then that Red Hot was severely injured and had an extended stay in a healing pod, while the other four females had all taken multiple spikes at some point during the battle—excepting, that was, the incredibly small but swift Rose Ruby, who had been one of the very few beings that emerged from the engagements around the lake almost completely unscathed.

Stepping outside the suite past two black-irised Silencer sentries, who bared their throats and saluted as she passed before announcing their intention to escort her—“Queen’s orders,” the male-and-female pair of elite shapeshifting assassins told her apologetically, emphasizing that their role was protective—she headed for the makeshift infirmary on the ship’s second subsurface level.

Though she was expecting it to still be crowded with now-treated and recuperating soldiers and civilians alike, she wasn’t expecting most of the Marines to be there, greeting her with a series of whistling cheers and outright applause when she entered. Or a group of them to be clustered around a visibly blushing Marco asking very probing and embarrassing questions about her.

“Oh, uh… hey, Gilds,” he said in a slightly sheepish air as she went taken aback, her cheeks going hot to hear some of the questions they were asking about her anatomy. “They, uh, wanted to congratulate me on bedding you. And know all about it.”

“I see. And do I want to know what you told them?” she asked him with a mock glare, noting her recuperating griffon soldiers wore smirks and even an awake Red Hot showed a blush from where she lay on a floor. She was slowly drinking some kind of thick potion that appeared to contain glittering gem dust, though it was hard to tell what kind from a distance.

Before he could answer, she felt a human hand laid against the back of her neck an instant before the owner’s feminine scent reached her nose. “Just that you’re a lot more passionate and fun than most human women,” a familiar female voice then said with a grin Gilda could hear. “I’d be offended, except I know he’s right. Welcome back, girlfriend.”

“Tara!” Realizing that she was not only standing but walking again without aid, Gilda reared up to hug her, only then noticing that she was clad only in shorts and an olive green top, though she still had a belt with her pistol and a strapped-on blade. “You’re okay!”

“I am now,” she said with a broad smile, and then made a show of kissing Gilda deeply in front of the astonished and shortly whistling Marines. “And I haven’t forgotten about that little chat we had back at the hill. I’m gonna hold you to your word about making it up to us, girlfriend.” She poked Gilda with a stern finger and then trailed it down her body briefly.

Gilda felt her breath catch for a moment at both the touch and the gleam in the gaze of the human eagless, sensing her wings quickly start to rise from her sides. “And I swear to my Ancestors I’ll keep it,” she whispered back, her voice suddenly very dry. “To both you and Chris. Speaking of whom, where—”

“Right here,” Chris’s voice spoke next from a corner he was laying in, his body clean but apparently unclothed, given he was covered with a blanket. “Hey, Gilda. That Changeling healing pod was slimy but really worked. I can feel and move my feet again,” he said in audible relief as she visited him next and sat beside him, taking his talons in her own.

“That’s great news, Chris. Then you’ll be up and about soon?” she asked hopefully as she gently squeezed his digits, to which he gave what she interpreted as a slightly rueful grin.

“Well, they said I can try to walk starting this afternoon, but they also warned me to take it slow and easy because the repaired nerves won’t quite work the same way as before. I’ll have to get used to walking and running all over again. The sooner the better, as far as I’m concerned—I still want to be trained as a sniper by Lance Corporal Henderson, after all. If she’s still willing, anyway.” He nodded over to his left.

“Definitely. And I still want to fire your old Mosin-Nagant, Mister McLain,” the female Marine replied. Gilda was surprised to see her sitting up naked underneath a blanket of her own, her myriad upper body injuries still visibly covered with Changeling chitin. With both her shoulders patched in almost exactly the same manner, it almost looked like they were armored, but that didn’t catch Gilda’s eye so much as the fact she was openly topless before the male Marines, who took little notice of her nudity.

“As soon as I’m up, anyway. I mean, I feel fine, but the bug doctor said to wait four more hours to make sure all my internal injuries are fully healed,” she said in visible disgust as she picked at some form of food from a pouch. “Sure could use some real food, too. Our MREs are already getting old.”

“I see,” Gilda said as she continued to hold Chris’s hand, suddenly wondering if she was aware of Ebon Umbreon’s interest. Speaking of whom, where is he? She didn’t have time to wonder. “You did really well during the battles, Lance Corporal. And you too, Chris. I gather your weapon was old, but very effective. Is there anything you all need?”

“Aside from food? A shower and change of clothes would be nice,” Chris said to some concurring nods. “They cleaned me up, but I still feel really icky after all that time in the pod. And my camo is filthy after all those fights and how much I was sweating in it.”

“You and the rest of us, Mister McLain,” a partially clothed Henderson added to some rueful chuckles from more severely wounded griffons and humans alike, his arm no longer in a sling but still showing patches of healing chitin.

“In all honesty, Centurion, this place is cozy but a bit too crowded. And no offense to the bug ponies, but they’re kinda spooky to look at with all those holes in their legs and it’s really unnerving when they change forms,” he added, to which Gilda had to stifle a grin at what she’d learned those odd holes in their limbs and horn were actually for. “We also need areas to sit and service our weapons. They said we had to stay here for now, but that we’re going to be assigned a separate barracks and bathhouse soon?” he asked Gilda hopefully.

“That was one of the concessions I extracted from the Tribune, yes,” she confirmed carefully, not about to say how it happened. Thinking about it, she found herself suddenly wondering how she was going to teach the Marines about the Changelings.

Queen Lepidoptes asked me to educate them about her hive and especially emphasize that they aren’t associated with Queen Chrysalis. Not sure how I’ll relate the rest of who and what they are, but it’s probably best saved for later, when they’re off the ship and in their new barracks away from the drones, she decided. “We’re still trying to work out the logistics of it, but you should have accommodations by this evening. Though with space running short, you’ll probably have to share it with the griffon soldiers you’ll be working with. I’m still waiting for some of them to be assigned.”

“Good to hear. And, uh, Centurion? We also want to have a formal funeral service for PFC Jenkins,” Jamal said, causing the mood to immediately go subdued. “But with no attack imminent—or so they say—we figured we should wait for that until everybody’s available, including you. And I want some of your whiskey to toast him with, Flip-Boy,” he added with an aside at Marco.

“We all do!” Gilda didn’t know the name of the Marine who spoke, eliciting a series of nods.

“Fine, but… I don’t have much of it left,” Marco said, showing his flask and shaking it to produce a shallow sloshing sound. “I guess it’ll go to a good cause. Will, uh, you be there, Gilda?”

“Of course,” she said, her own voice going subdued as her wings slackened and the last vestiges of her arousal evaporated. “Ancestors know it’s the least I can do after all you’ve done for the Kingdom. I don’t know what kind of funeral rites you offer, but I would be happy to speak and give him the respect of all Griffondom.”

“We’ll hold you to that.” It was Guerrero who spoke this time, leaving Gilda wondering where Imlay was. Not for the first time, she wondered what would have happened if the Corporal had been there for the Queen’s diplomacy the previous night instead of leaving the meeting to attend his wounded Marines, only to just as quickly remember that Queen Lepidoptes herself had said that she would not have resorted to such a gratuitous demonstration of Changeling mating magic if he had been there.

Her rationale had been both simple and reasonable—she didn’t know how he would take it, or how it might damage relationships with such a new and different race that they were not fully familiar with yet. To that end, she had forbidden her drones from attempting any sort of intimacy with the humans.

That rule did not apply to the griffons, however—she had told Gilda at the end of the unlikely session that she and her soldiers were welcome to indulge with her subjects if they wished, given that they would need all the love over the course of the war they could gather.

Her sole requirement had been that they do so out of sight in interior rooms that would shield them from the awareness of other drones who needed to stay alert, where special crystals that had also been present in the cove Gilda had rutted Karin Kazal in would harvest their love remotely. That way, they wouldn’t be distracted and would remain on guard. She also made clear that her drones were not to seduce anycreature in disguise, which could cause breaches of trust, and thus told Gilda to inform her or her Archonsimmediately if they did so.

She hadn’t had a chance to tell her soldiers that yet and wondered if any of them had already indulged. She tended to doubt it, since griffons were still very wary of Changelings as a rule. But if they’re all even half as good at seduction as Archon Archex was, it’s only a matter of time!

The Queen’s rules for griffons also applied to the dragons, she then recalled as she bade Chris goodbye to check on Red Hot in the far corner, who was being watched over by the diminutive Rose Ruby. The pair gave their customary double-fisted salutes as she neared, and after returning the honor, she took pains to compliment them and thank them for their efforts on the Kingdom’s behalf.

They accepted her gratitude somewhat grudgingly in the case of Red Hot, who scoffed with a smoke-filled snort and said that she’d done very little during the lake battles, given how quickly she’d been wounded and had to be rescued by her clan sisters and Marines. Gilda took no offense, as she’d learned well by then from Obsidian Ire that the drakinas generally hated anycreature giving or taking credit for something they didn’t deserve.

To which one of the Raven sentries at the door reminded Red Hot that she’d taken out a score of razorbat forms and a corrupted mage before falling prey to a hail of flyer-launched spikes. “I was there, drakina. They were trying to envelop us and very nearly succeeded. Had you not slain them, none of us might have escaped that trap,” he further told her, to which Red Hot at least somewhat relented but still asked to be left alone.

Gilda took her leave of them then. The five drakinas, she’d had to admit, had been critical to the defense of not just the city, but the battles around the lake, despite an awkward initial meeting. There’s no way in the human Hell or Tartarus we would have survived without them. They’re not just tough-talking, but tough as talons yet also surprisingly tender at times…

Her mind flashed back to Emerald Inferno crying over her twice-fallen father to an almost-tearful Obsidian Ire finally accepting the affections of two Raven eaglesses the previous night—once she’d been promised she couldn’t hurt them, anyway.

Speaking of whom, I wonder how Obsidian Ire is doing now? Crows above, how is EVERYBODY doing now, given this is the literal morning after… she suddenly worried as she finished by greeting her griffon soldiers—many of whom, she was gratified to know, expressed open support for her relationship with Marco, now that they’d seen him and all the humans in action—and ascended the stairs to the main deck, wondering if either her friends or comrades were experiencing regrets or an emotional hangover after the intense and unlikely action of the previous night.

Action that was, this time, fully recalled and remembered. And at least arguably by choice, given the Queen insisted that her mating magic didn’t actually force anycreature to do anything.

It catalyzes, but does not coerce, was the distinction she had made in how Changeling power—even her far more potent version of it—actually worked to enhance existing love and then aid in its expression. And having experienced its effects firstwing, Gilda decided she could accept the explanation.

We are experts in all types of love, and making them manifest, the Queen had further noted, going on to recite the many myriad forms of it there were and how it could underlay everything from a heated rivalry to a previously platonic friendship, just waiting for the opportunity to be given voice. To which Gilda found herself nodding in agreement again.

I think I get that now—especially after seeing Miles Fortuna and Karin Kazal go at it while reciting the sins of each other’s nation and organization the whole time! she couldn’t help but marvel anew, admitting to herself at least a mild pang of jealousy at seeing the Starshina with another griffon.

Guess I gave him a taste for eaglesses! But still, that doesn’t mean we’re automatically fine with what happened afterwards. It’s still a lot to absorb, especially once we’ve had a little time and distance, she reminded herself as she went to the next room to check on the cubs and mothers, surprised to find Gabby playing with and telling stories to the cubs while the two mothers slept. She looked much better than she had previously, though she did blush upon seeing Gilda enter.

Not surprising, if the last time she saw me was when I kissed Marco in the hall! Gilda had to stifle a grin as they began to talk. The gray-furred eagless was at least willing to chat, formally introducing the cubs and foals she’d been caring for before asking out of earshot what would happen to them. To which Gilda didn’t have a good answer except to say that she would take it up with the Queen and Tribune when she got the chance.

She felt her good mood ebb somewhat as she left the side room, realizing that all of Gabby’s charges were now orphans who probably hadn’t had the fate of their families explained to them yet. Though she didn’t look forward to that, it still wasn’t as big a concern in her mind as the mental state of her friends and new allies after the previous night.

Crows take it. I just hope that if we do have any sort of emotional hangover after all that sex, we can deal with it quickly. Given we’re going to have to work together to keep fighting the Cloven, we can’t be emotionally compromised or distracted by worrying about what happened, she fretted, worrying in turn that it would be impossible for all of them not to be hungover—that the Queen had made a mistake in pulling out her sexual superspell if it destroyed whatever combat cohesion they had.

She got her answer immediately as the first sound that greeted her upon ascending the stairs to the top deck and emerging into the hazy sun of midmorning was swordplay.

Turning the corner between another pair of two black-irised Silencer sentries onto the deck—who she belatedly realized she’d never actually seen fight, though they’d certainly proved as sensually able as the two Archons the previous night—she returned the griffon-style salute they offered before blinking her eyes clear, only then realizing how much lower the light levels had been below.

Once her pupils had narrowed enough to see, she beheld several intense training sessions underway, including between some very unlikely sparring partners. Not the least of which was Karin Kazal engaging in a contest of aura with the Tribune’s Magus, the pair apparently exchanging spell and counter-spell in what appeared to be a friendly duel as they finally tested each other’s spellcasting prowess directly.

Though she was no real judge of relative magical strength aside from recognizing the overwhelming Alicorn-level power of the fully charged Changeling Queen, Gilda could see that they appeared evenly matched as the pair suddenly lowered antlers and stave to reduce their contest to one of clashing magical beams, trying to overpower the other with the strength of their aura alone.

That went on for a minute to end in an apparent draw before Miles Fortuna pounced next, attacking him with dual scimitars. The Capricorn adept responded by manifesting aura-created swords of his own to counter her, causing eruptions of sparks from the clash of blades.

The fight was intense enough that Gilda was suddenly wondering if they were angry with each other, only to see their grins and hear their taunts as they engaged in a series of rapid-fire blows, ones that left her appreciating anew just how well-trained and skilled both types of elite warrior truly were.

Further off to the side, she saw Giraldi whirling his war hammer overhead as he battled both Archons at once—she recalled only then he had expressed interest in doing so the previous night, when informed they were as skilled at swordplay as seduction. He was holding his own quite readily, though she couldn’t tell if the two ascended drones were holding back.

At the far end of the deck, a far more sedate contest was underway between one of the two ibex females and Decanus Nydia, who seemed to be practicing basic spellcasting with her new stave. Gilda got the distinct impression that the ibex doe was there to help train her, given they kept exchanging words and the latter repeatedly demonstrated a spell from her own antlers which Nydia then tried to copy.

A series of heavy thumps then sounded. Turning the other way, her guts clenched as she saw the two Paladin tiercels standing back to back wielding heavy axe and war hammer against what looked like a decade of Cloven soldier forms, warding them off or outright smashing them aside.

But seeing the Cloven trooper types had a curious addition of a bright orange band on each of their extremities, and then that they reverted to Changeling drones with eruptions of green fire when they were hit by what Gilda belatedly realized from the softer sound and lighter flashes were stun-level energy eruptions from the hammers, she understood that they were in fact giving the two green-armored guards a very realistic training session and honing their own swarming skills in the process.

And then there was Obsidian Ire and the two Ravens she’d been with the previous night, though the former was still stripped of her armor while the latter had not yet replaced their gray fur dye. It had been sucked right off them by the Queen’s spellcasting along with their clothes, meaning their true coats of ocelot and serval hindquarters paired with kestrel and blackhawk forequarters were fully showing, along with their sleek sky griffon bodies.

But they ignored their erstwhile nudity to double-team the drakina much like before, showing how effectively they could do so with blade and beak as opposed to tongue and talon. To Obsidian Ire’s visible surprise, she was being steadily driven back by the speed, skill and teamwork of the physically weaker pair, who finally succeeded in toppling her with a wide sweep of a spotted wing into her legs from behind combined with the butt of a blade driven hard into her scaled chest.

“Oof!” she heard the drakina’s pained hiss as she hit the deck of the airship with a puff of smoke and flame escaping her snout as the air was driven from her lungs, leaving Gilda wondering why she wasn’t using her wings.

She didn’t get a chance to ask before a sudden call came out from a human voice. “Attention on Deck!” she heard Chief Jacobs shout, turning to see he was speaking with Imlay. His words caused the pair to snap to attention and salute her as they secured the ‘fifty’ from where it had been mounted to the deck. And, to judge by the shredded targets of metal armor including heavy Fortis Knight shields further out, had been successfully demonstrated for the Tribune.

“As you were,” she said as everycreature stopped sparring long enough to salute her in their own manner, forcing her to return the honors in turn. “So, uh, how’s everyone doing?” she then asked in Equish as casually as possible, only belatedly realizing that she’d used the human word in a non-human presence.

A series of looks were exchanged, though she wasn’t sure if it was more due to her odd word usage or the question itself. “We are well, Centurion,” Senior Stave Devi Desiderii replied for all of them, spinning her stave once to bring it to a vertical posture. It left Gilda noting that the casting tool looked none the worse for wear after having been corrupted by the Queen’s spell the previous night—turned into nothing more than a transmitter of her sensual spellcasting and mating aura. “And you?”

Am I…? she asked herself anew, only to find again that her only real fear was that the others weren’t. “I’m fine. But where’s Fortrakt?” she suddenly asked with a look around, to a noticeable hesitation from Giraldi.

“I believe he is still asleep, sir. He was exhausted to begin with, and after the, well, events of last night? Even more so now,” he said with a slight blush, leaving Gilda noticing his eyes go evasive for a moment. “As it is getting quite late in the day, I believe he may be avoiding us given what happened and what he was forced to reveal. Do you want me to retrieve him?”

“No. Let him sleep,” she decided, uncertain whether it was more for his sake or hers; he was perhaps the one being she was having at least a little trouble with over the events of the previous night. He’s honorable, loyal to a fault, and brave beyond belief. And yes, he earned me along with Giraldi, but Crows know that he’s STILL a total dweeb! part of her tried to protest, and she also wasn’t sure how she felt about the revelation that he’d been at times involuntarily influencing behavior, through what was revealed to be yet another ibexian ruse.

It turned out that he had been imbued with some form of ibexian enchantment that his cider-charged body had incorporated. Initially detected by the Queen, it had then been identified by Karin Kazal as a special Adept behavioral influence spell: A subtle and nearly undetectable magic that allowed him to sway the thoughts and actions of others to at least a limited degree, enabling him to mentally suggest or even outright induce desired behaviors in those he targeted with it.

Fortrakt himself didn’t know its origin, only that it had started the night of the cider. By his own recounting, it had taken a long time for him to convince himself that the effect was real and he wasn’t just imagining it, often using it without thinking—whether to make his soldiers in battle obey his orders instantly, or to influence others to give voice to his favorite fantasies, as he’d done to Giraldi to encourage him to be with Ebon Umbreon on the march to Bale.

It explained perfectly why he’d been able to command his aerial force against the Cloven so well, as his soldiers were reacting to his commands even before he opened his beak to say them. That meant that they dodged and weaved on cue with almost instantaneous reaction times to a threat Fortrakt detected, but it also meant that Fortrakt himself was alert and quick-thinking enough that he could not only spot such threats, but the means to evade or counter them.

It wasn’t irresistible, as Karin Kazal confirmed that a particularly disciplined or determined mind could defy it. And as the Queen herself stated, it had other limits in that you couldn’t easily force someone to act against their own heart or code of honor if they were intensely unwilling. His new power might have stayed hidden, but his spellcasting had finally been detected by the Queen when he had tried to influence her. And the Tribune, when she was trying to gently guide him towards the epiphany he needed, not helped by Fortrakt pushing him to do things the Queen knew he wasn’t ready for.

That had earned her former junior partner a sharp rebuke from the Queen herself, but it was only during a late break in the action that Karin Kazal offered a possible explanation for how and why he had gained the ability—specifically, that the Capricorn Adepts who had infiltrated the Winged Hall Inn had learned of his crush on Tara Fields. They then tried to use the spell’s suggestive ability on him, hoping he would not just rut but outright rape her under the influence of both the potion-spiked cider and their magic mental command.

It had failed utterly in that regard, given Fortrakt was about the last griffon who would deliberately hurt somecreature he loved. But somehow, the cider had enabled him to absorb the magic and then take its effects as its own.

Not even the Queen or Karin Kazal knew if he would be able to keep that ability, or if it would fade over time without a great deal more research. But either way, a guilty Fortrakt apologized profusely, saying he tried to fight it but he just couldn’t help it at times—that sometimes a sexual fantasy would enter his head at inopportune moments, and his new ability gave it voice without him thinking or even trying.

Having thought about it a bit, she didn’t really begrudge him that, given tiercels of his age spent most of their time fantasizing about ruts and mating rounds anyway. Nor did Giraldi, given he knew full well he wouldn’t have come close to doing it if the proclivity hadn’t already been there. With him, or with Ebon Umbreon, who Gilda suddenly realized she hadn’t seen since she got up.

Hope he’s okay. Regardless, it’s just one more magical oddity brought about by the cider for the Council of Crows to analyze, she thought as she watched the sparring resume, wondering idly what Talia Tarseus was doing in Arnau just then. She then dimly recalled that the other eagless had proven improbably correct weeks earlier when she claimed that the Council of Crows had detected a growing threat to the Kingdom.

Nogriffon had believed her then, with Tribune Narada speaking for all of them when she said that the Kingdom’s longtime intelligence service was simply jumping at shadows as it so often did. But those shadows had proved all too real, and worse, the attack had come at a very bad time, Gilda now knew, with the entire Kingdom distracted by the crisis with the Ibexian Ascendancy.

Not only had it left them looking the wrong way, but the threat of war had pulled the bulk of the Kingdom’s interior military forces to the east towards the Pearl Mountains that marked their border, leaving the south and west wide open to a sudden invasion.

Then was it just a coincidence that they attacked now? Or did the Cloven take advantage of that distraction to move up their operations? she wondered as she realized from the conversation between them that the two Raven eaglesses were coaching Obsidian Ire on how to fight multiple opponents on the ground if her wings were torn again, then wondered in turn if the Cloven hivemind was capable of such strategic planning.

It was a question for later as she was informed by a passing drone that her newly assigned soldiers had just arrived, presenting themselves to the outer cordon of Changeling soldiers to be escorted in.

All activity on the airship deck stopped, as Giraldi asked if she wished him to accompany her meeting them. But she declined, ordering everycreature to remain on the deck but line it, looking down on the formation from above.

She further directed Imlay and Chief Jacobs to ready another demonstration of their weaponry for the new arrivals, and the mages present to remove whatever sound suppression spells remained on them so they would not just hear, but feel the fifty’s power at full force.

Waiting until they were assembled on the field below the airship, she walked down the gangplank to the field below—she could fly down easily, but she decided she would descend as a leader greeting her new troops.

Somewhat to her surprise, the Tribune had been good to his word, as two decades of Paladins and four of Auxiliary Guard stood in Turma formation in the field beside her, with the Paladins in front—sixty-four total soldiers had been granted her, including two all-important mages, to make good her losses and form her escort force. That gave her roughly a century of mixed troops to work with, but only a third of them had any familiarity with humans. Or her, as she caught several sullen expressions on the faces of Paladin tiercels and eaglesses alike, few of whom would meet her eyes.

The sight caused her to smile thinly, remembering a similar scene with the Paladin decade outside of Arnau. So they don’t like their orders or being put under my command. And this time, I doubt they’re Ravens in disguise, she thought to herself, putting on her sternest expression as she marched up to meet them. She did so backed by the two Archons and her silencer sentries, who stood back from her but flanked her protectively at a slight distance.

Well, my new soldiers are here, just like I asked. Now what do I say to win them over? she wondered with far less anxiety than the question would have given her before as she accepted the Tribune-signed order scrolls of the two Turma leaders, both male earth griffon Paladins wielding oversized war hammers along with the heavy shield and repeater sheathed on their backs. I guess the truth would be a good start, she decided as she returned the salutes, then accepted a borrowed broadcast gem to speak into, holding it to her beak.

“Greetings, honored defenders of Aricia,” her voice boomed out. “And welcome to your new posts. Know that you will be replacing many good and brave soldiers who fell in defense of the Kingdom and the force of humans we were escorting. Soldiers and humans who accounted for several millennia of Cloven soldiers as they tried to kill and corrupt us to no avail,” she recalled, suppressing a shiver at the memories of all the close calls she and her entire force had endured.

“It was thanks in large measure to their skilled and determined efforts that Cloven assaults were repeatedly smashed and the city was spared further attacks, drawing an Overlord into the open where the Hive of Queen Lepidoptes could surprise and kill it. Efforts that were in turn due to the excellent planning and orders of Tribune Cipio,” she hastened to add, having more or less resolved her anger at him the previous night.

When she couldn’t pick up any immediate reaction other than what appeared to be a quickly suppressed sneer or two at her statement, she went on, starting to walk up and down the line. She was trying to get a sense of their bearing and who might be insubordinate, realizing only too quickly that from what she was picking up from their half-ruffled feathers and clenched beaks that all of them might be.

Great. Now what? Gilda wondered again how she was going to win them over, deciding that showing them the company she kept might be a good start. “I remind you that your assignment is at his orders as well. I realize that some of you may doubt these tales I tell and resent your new duties. Perhaps you do not trust or respect the humans and Changelings. Perhaps you do not trust or respect me. Unfortunately, there is little time to coddle or convince you. So if you think I have not earned respect through my command and combat ability, then I suggest you simply look up at the airship deck.”

She waited until they obeyed, if somewhat grudgingly. “I commanded every being you see above you into battle, whether griffons, humans, dragons or even ibex. We all fought together as one regardless of race or rank, service or station. Fought together under my leadership,” she said, noting Obsidian Ire was giving the new arrivals the same disdainful stare she’d originally given Gilda herself.

As she spoke, everycreature else came to attention at Giraldi’s order and saluted her crisply. Even the two Archons offered their own honor in the griffon manner, though a frown on their faces told her they were reading the same attitude issues in the new arrivals that she was.

She returned the respect with equal acclaim before speaking. “That they are here now means they trust me. And that they trust me means that I earned their respect by leading them through battle after battle that we not only survived, but ultimately won against overwhelming odds. I know their quality and they know mine. But I do not know yours.” She stopped to stare one of the turma-commanding Paladins in the eye, who pointedly did not look at her or speak, though his gaze was near a glower.

In attempting to cow him, Gilda was given a sudden flashback to her time in Ponyville, seeing herself trying to intimidate various ponies into obeying her—or in the case of Pinkie Pie, to stop bothering her. Drawing on her remembered resentment for both Pinkie and Rainbow Dash, she ruffled her feathers hard and lowered her head, lashing her tail for emphasis. “Is there a problem, Prime Pike?” she then asked the Turma leader, who remained silent at first. “Speak!”

He made her wait for several seconds before obeying in what she took as an open show of disrespect, doubly so given he still didn’t meet her gaze. “Yes, there is a problem, sir. Or actually, several. First and foremost, a Guard soldier has no business commanding Paladins,” he told her in Aeric through a clenched beak, causing her eyes to narrow.

“Second, we are not impressed by your claims, given we fought for an entire day to save this city, holding off over ten thousand pure and corrupted Cloven. And third, you were assigned a diplomatic command chain and promoted to Centurion years early? Was that before or after you laid with an alien ape, sir?” He made an expression of extreme distaste, resulting in audibly ruffled feathers above and behind her as the Ravens and Giraldi took offense to his statements.

Though Gilda was surprised at how quickly word of that had spread throughout Aricia, she held up her own ruffled wings in a halting gesture. “That depends. Do you mean my first time with him, in which case the answer is after? Or the latest time, which means before?” she answered him unrepentantly, then got in his face, forcing him to meet her eyes.

“I earned my post, Prime Pike—I’ll have you know that my promotion was recommended by Legate Narada of Arnau and sponsored by Queen Molyneux herself! In any event, that ‘alien ape’ is my mate, and you will not slander him or any of the humans in my presence again. We will duel if you do so, and trust me when I say that if the Cloven and a crow-cursed corrupted dragon couldn’t slay me, then you stand no chance at all!” she told him, wondering if she could call up the cider effect on cue to boost her strength and speed. “Is that clear, Prime Pike?”

“Clear, sir,” he said sullenly. “Will that be all, or are there more meaningless boasts and empty threats ahead?”

Her headcrest flaring and vision turning pink at his refusal to offer her even the most basic military courtesy an underling owed an officer, Gilda drew a deep breath. She was about to launch into a long and very vulgar tirade that harkened back to her teenage days—one that would end with a duel demand. But before she could begin, she was stilled by a hole-filled hoof raised between them.

“Your pardon, Centurion. But please allow me to deal with this insulting and useless idiot,” Archon Archex suddenly said, his voice even deeper than usual as Gilda realized he had stepped up beside her without her even noticing. “As the Queen does not wish for needless violence in the presence of our eggs, I believe that Ican put him in his proper place without bloodshed. With your permission, of course.” He bared his throat at Gilda like a griffon, though he never moved his pupiless glare from the green-armored griffon male.

Though she was tempted to tell him no—that she needed to do this herself—she decided that the new arrivals also had to get used to the presence of the Changelings, and even take orders from them if need be. “As you wish, Archon. Know, Prime Pike, that he bears a high rank in his hive that is roughly equivalent to Centurion. So you will show him the same respect due me,” she warned, wondering how Archex would handle him.

“So in other words, none at all?” the Turma leader offered with the first smirk she had seen on his face as Archex stood before him, then openly sneered. “I am ordered to obey her, Changeling. And so I will—at least until the Tribune comes to his senses or I can defeat the Centurion in a duel. But such respect is not extended to you or any of your ilk.”

“Then it would seem you are owed no respect of your own, Prime Pike Erexit Caudam,” Archex informed the other male coolly, causing him to blink at hearing his name recited. “Yes, I know you, and I would strongly advise you to consider why. This is your only warning: you will show due respect to the Centurion and obey her orders without question. Or by both the Griffon Ancestors and our Hive Mother, you will answer to not just her, but me.” He bared his teeth hard in a grin that was anything but pleasant.

“A laughable threat from a shapeshifting abomination, whose only military experience is no doubt seducing easily fooled and weak-willed soldiers in disguise,” the Prime Pike sniffed despite the implicit threat. “I don’t know where you learned my name, but nor do I care. So who are you to give me orders, insect?”

Though a griffon would have instantly issued a demand to duel over such an affront, Archex simply gained a sly smile. “Easily fooled and weak-willed indeed,” he said dryly, and then transformed with a flash of green fire into a red-armored Paladin tiercel bearing the rank and cape of a Praetorian Guard Centurion. His new appearance earned not just a flinch but a look of shocked recognition; the Prime Pike’s eyes went wide and beak fell open to behold the Archon’s altered state.

“B-but… that’s… you’re…” he stammered, pointing a suddenly and badly shaking talon at the Changeling drone.

“Centurion Magus Gallus at your service, Prime Pike. Or more correctly, you were at mine. For as I recall, you served under me for a full year when we were assigned to the Royal Palace three years ago—with an emphasis on under,” he told the other male with a lazy grin which then turned far less pleasant again.

“But… but… by the Ancestors, you guarded the Queen!” the reeling male accused, to which Archex only raised a griffon eyeridge.

“So I did, quite faithfully and honorably. Never once did I shirk my sentry duties or enter her bedchambers, if that’s what you’re thinking. But I cannot always say the same for you, Prime Pike, given I know for a fact that you snuck off for sex or drink on more than one occasion,” he noted idly, eliciting a flush.

Having finally gotten the stunned tiercel’s attention, Archex pressed his advantage, stepping even closer. “And you dare call my combat abilities laughable? As I recall, I not only beat you in spars without fail, but somehow, you always ended up on your back by the end of them. One might almost think that you enjoyed being bested,” he teased, then began to slowly circle the Paladin tiercel, raising his voice for all to hear.

“So, shall I tell your comrades about all the time you spent under my combat tutelage, Prime Pike? Or how, after so many training matches turned mating rounds, you came to crave the claiming of your tail as you laid on your back before me with your hind legs spread wide, begging to be bred like an eagless in estrus over and over again?” he said with no little relish to an eruption of laughter from the airship’s upper deck.

It was all a fiercely grinning Gilda could do not to laugh at the image herself as the speechless and visibly reeling tiercel started to sway. Tellingly, none of his badly blushing comrades said a word, though their wings and tails twitched in visible worry, leaving her thinking that they were terrified of drawing attention to themselves lest their own escapades be laid bare. “I… I…”

“You what? Want me to turn you into my eagless just as I did before?” The Archon then transformed directly into the Prime Pike to pantomime his voice and actions, taking a very suggestive if not outright obscene pose.

“Take me! Rut me! Claim me as your own, Centurion! By the Ancestors above, make me the first of your flock!” he then said in a reedy, needy voice that perfectly matched the Prime Pike, whose eyes rolled back up in his head as he fell forward in a dead faint.

Archex stared at him for several seconds before smirking, still in his borrowed form. “Well. There’s no point in teasing or tucking you if you’re sleeping. After all, I can’t gain love if you’re not aware of it.” Satisfied, he stepped over the suddenly silent soldier and returned his appearance to that of a Praetorian Guard Centurion, turning to face the formation again.

“So, will there be any other challenges to the Centurion’s authority? Or slurs of her human mate?” he then asked them all mildly as he stalked down the line.

“I am aware that Grizelda Behertz can manage her own affairs, but what she said goes for all of us—Changelings are no less loyal to our friends, families and rulers than you. So be warned that any slander of my Queen or my kind will be met by a challenge,” he told them all, suddenly sounding all business, standing tall and looking very much the part of a high-ranked Praetorian officer.

He then stopped right in front of an eagless Decanus in the first rank, who stiffened and visibly shook as he gave her a sly and knowing grin. “For he’s not the only one of you I knew intimately. But don’t worry; I won’t expose others as I did the Prime Pike,” he told them, eliciting some audible exhalations of relief.

Archex smirked at the reaction. “He earned it for such extreme disrespect, but as for the rest of you? We will settle insults to honor in the duel ring as proper griffons. And lest those of you who don’t know me think that Changelings are unable to fight, I will be quite happy to prove otherwise,” he abruptly warned, standing upright and snatching the heavy Paladin spear right off the eagless’s back.

He skillfully twirled it overhead at blinding speed with a loud whistling sound before alternately slashing and thrusting it around the head of the flinching eagless repeatedly, coming within a whisker of her headfeathers each time—close enough, Gilda was sure, that she could feel the wind of its passage and the tug on each barb of her feathers.

Satisfied the message was driven home, he then reversed his grip and drove the spear’s heavy pommel down on the ground hard, embedding it several uncia deep in the dirt before continuing his journey down the line of frozen and fearful Paladin soldiers.

“As you can plainly see, I did not get my post by sleeping my way to the top. I earned my rank and station, as did all of you, through duels and exemplary performance of duty. Sex was simply a sideshow, if a needed one, given I was there to both keep an eye on the internal affairs of the Kingdom and collect love. So challenge me at your peril, my fellow Paladins, and the same goes for any Guardsgriffons who might have such notions as well,” he added, turning his gaze on the Auxiliaris filling the rear ranks.

To little surprise, none spoke. “That’s better. If you know nothing else about us right now, then I suggest you quickly learn this: Changelings are not just shapeshifting seducers. We are skilled soldiers and fighters simply for having to live among griffons and be able to extract love from you, and our motivations are ultimately no different than yours—to serve our Queen, whether that is Lepidoptes or Molyneux,” he continued, this time stopping before the pair of Magi standing between the two Turmas, who stiffened hard as he passed.

He gave them a long stare before continuing, leaving Gilda guessing that he was warning them without words that their magic wasn’t a threat given all Changelings could cast as well. “So I strongly suggest that you not challenge us. But if you do, be warned that much like the Prime Pike, you might well enjoy the terms of your certain defeat far more than you care to admit. I trust I have made myself clear?” he asked them all mildly, to which none replied, standing very stiff and still.

“Good. Now, I admit that I don’t know all of you, but you can be assured that those few I missed meeting or rutting during my tours of service with the Paladins and Praetorian Guard, Archon Skorpios behind me undoubtedly claimed. Though in fairness, he does tend to be a quality over quantity drone, preferring just a few particular long-term partners to extract exceptionally strong love from,” he mused aloud.

“And though I consider this a great pity, he tends to favor eaglesses far more than I do. So, have you anything to say to our esteemed new Paladin allies, brood brother?” he asked with a nod over his shoulder at the other large drone, who gave a toothy grin of his own.

“No. But only because I prefer to let my actions speak for me,” Skorpios said in his characteristic deep Loondon-accented voice as his eyes swept the line of soldiers, only to settle on a single Paladin eagless. He suddenly released an odd bladed instrument from his left arm that rapidly unraveled on a thin enchanted chain to impact the front of the female Paladin’s chestplate.

Though a startled Gilda was momentarily certain that he was killing another infiltrating corrupted Cloven, the odd projectile didn’t penetrate or even mar her armor. It simply attached itself to the front like a magnet and rapidly reeled her startled form in like a fish on a line to be swept up into the other Archon’s embrace.

Just before she arrived in his arms, he reared up and transformed into a dashing Paladin Prime Pike whose helm insignia indicated he was assigned to diplomatic duties, commanding security detachments for traveling ambassadors and their aides.

“It’s you!” was all she managed to say before being silenced by a passionate kiss, bathed in the other Archon’s allure as her wings instantly responded, growing erect as her griffon audience watched spellbound.

It was nearly twelve seconds before the disguised Archon pulled back from her. “It is indeed. Prime Pike Virilis Vespa at your service, milady. It is good to see you again, Apprentice Pike Peritus Amator, and to finally be able to reveal myself to my longtime lover. Perhaps you would do me the honor of a visit so we can get to know each other more properly?” he suggested with a gleam as a wave of pure allure Gilda could all but taste in the air wafted off him, his masculine spoor and magical pheromones suffusing the eagless in his arms.

“Pr-properly?” she echoed dumbly as her cheeks flushed hard.

“Indeed. Now that you know who I am, I can use my full range of magic and shapeshifting abilities on you, fulfilling your greatest fantasies in service of the Queen and Kingdom. Fantasies I know very well,” he suggested silkenly.

She visibly squirmed at the suggestion, but to her credit, she forced herself to refocus. “In service of the Queen? Do you mean Lepidoptes or Molyneux?” she asked him weakly.

“As we have pledged our service to the Gryphon Kingdom in this conflict and going forward? Both,” he answered easily, slowly drawing his talons down her armored body towards her more intimate areas as her eyes went wide and breath audibly caught. Gilda found herself affected as well, both from watching and the allure that had reached her.

It was undeniably potent even at a distance, but having had plenty of practice being exposed to such effects the previous night, she resisted them easily even as she couldn’t help but enjoy seeing another eagless fall prey to the Changeling’s charms.

Especially one as open and honest in his intentions as this one! she granted with her thoughts, impressed by not just his confidence but his outright audacity.

“For such fertile sources of love as yourself strengthen our soldiers and thus, the city’s defense. And when every day or hour might be our last, surely you would not deny either of us the opportunity to experience ecstasy just one more time...?” he asked her fervently as he began to openly caress and kiss her.

“Ancestors…” was all the surprised but sorely aroused eagless was able to say as she saw herself slowly seduced in front of her comrades, who watched in what Gilda read as equal parts disbelief and awe. But despite all the eyes on her—or maybe because of them? Gilda thought with a grin—she didn’t fight it, growing increasingly breathless.

“May my Queen and commander forgive me, but after escaping death so many times two days ago? I say yes…” she all but cooed in a very un-griffon-like manner as she returned his kiss and then simply melted into his embrace, allowing his mating magic to take hold of her.

“So be it. Then let us make such love that would earn the envy of all, my beautiful and battle-tested eagless…” the Archon announced in a growl that was somehow both lustful and loving as he reverted his transformation long enough for his horn to teleport them both away in a bright flash of light. The magical travel method somehow took her with him but left her armor and weapons behind, which fell to the ground off her suddenly missing form with a loud clatter.

Staring at the point they had just been, Gilda could only exchange a glance with Archon Archex, who rolled his eyes while she could only shake her head and chuckle. But she’d barely started to do so before a second flash of light announced the return of the other Archon with a now-naked Peritus Amator, who not only looked very flush but immensely happy; a dreamlike look on her radiant face.

“Thank you for the indulgence, Centurion. I return the Apprentice Pike to you now. Though I really must offer my compliments to Karin Kazal,” he decided as he gave her a parting kiss that took her breath away, this time in his true form. He then turned up to address the surprised but smirking ibex buck still staring down at the scene. “The time dilation spell you demonstrated yesterday is a work of magical art, Starshina. Using it, an hour became an instant.”

“Пожалуйста,” the grinning buck said in his native tongue, presenting the side of his antlers at the compliment. “But regrettably, I cannot claim credit for its invention, Archon Skorpios. It was taught to me by my instructors at the Capricorn Conclave, though I somehow doubt they intended for its use in such a manner.”

“I see,” Gilda added in a wry tone with another glance at Archex, who rolled his eyes and shook his head again, though he never lost his smirk.

“Well. While we’re on such subjects, know that Queen Lepidoptes has decreed that as griffon soldiers, we are allowed to ‘indulge’ ourselves sexually with her drones—as long as it happens away from prying eyes and they do not seduce us in disguise. Which the Archon did not, given he revealed himself to her up front,” she told the astonished and fiercely blushing crowd with a grin.

“It is so they can maintain their all-important supply of love and thus, their effectiveness in battle. They can feed on that love, and when gorged on its power, turn it against the Cloven—they proved that amply by taking out an Overlord and the remnants of its army,” she recalled, wondering if there was any way she could show them directly the events of that battle, like the memory replays she’d participated in the previous day.

Might have to ask the Queen about that? she decided somewhat distractedly, putting the question aside for later before turning stern again. “But—and this is my rule—that is only when off-duty and the threat of a Cloven attack is low. I’m glad you enjoyed yourself, Apprentice Pike, but I must ask that you and the Archon refrain from any further ‘indulgences’ for now,” she told them both with a pointed look, eliciting a grin from Skorpios and a slightly more embarrassed blush from the eagless as she started pulling her armor back on, though her smile never faded.

“Needless to say, we are not here to have sex; we are here to learn and train so that we may all work and fight effectively together—whether human, griffon, ibex, dragon, or Changeling. We have much work to do before the Cloven come again, and in order to be ready to both attack and defend, the first thing you must know is the full power of human weapons. So if you will all be so kind as to turn around and face that line of old armor emplaced further out?” she told them with a motion of her head over their shoulders.

They obeyed pleasingly promptly this time. Once she was satisfied, she turned and nodded up to the airship deck where a slightly befuddled looking Chief Jacobs was manning the ‘Ma Deuce’ with Corporal Imlay, who nodded and shouted for nearby creatures to cover their ears.

Everygriffon in formation flinched hard as the fifty thundered with a series of earsplitting cracks that sounded like close-range lightning, shredding the heavy metal Fortis Knight shields and chestplates nearly two hundred paces out in a hail of shrapnel and molten spall.