Dragonsapien by Jon Jacks Page A

explosions of delight, each one
more pronounced than the first, building and building, until she
thought she could take no more – but she could, oh yes, she could
take more and more.
    Her waist, her
hips, her thighs; before, they had only ever been relatively
unimportant parts of her body, regarded by her as being more or
less shapeless, neither wonderful nor awful. Now, under Jake’s
flowing touch, she appreciated what he was appreciating, the way
they merged together, seamlessly rolled one into the other. The
smooth indent of the waist, rising into the arc of the hip,
streaming into the less pronounced yet firmer curves of her
thigh.
    Her own touch
too, of course, made her realise and appreciate things about his
body she hadn’t noticed before. The way it was soft here, harder
there, where a muscle or even the edges of bone lay not far beneath
the surface. There was also heat when she ran her fingers over
here, coolness when they drifted this way, more changes when her
touch became firmer, more probing.
    And, of course,
it was all so much more than mere touch and being touched. There
was the amazing sight of seeing your loved one trembling beneath
your hands, even beneath the longing gaze itself. There was the
taste, the scents, the slight hints of milk, apple, depending on
where your let your mouth, your tongue, roam. Then there was the
sighs of pleasure, the quivering pleas for more.
    How could
knowing so much more of Jake make her so much more aware of
herself?
    Why was it that
she felt, at last, as if she truly belonged in the world, as
opposed to always feeling separated, distanced, different, from
it?
    How was it
possible to sense the delight he felt in her, to delight in
herself, in her own beauty, in this way?
    Why was it so
incredibly pleasing to her, because she knew it was so pleasing to
him?
    Everything she
had read had described all this as a discovery, as an exploration –
but no, it was far far more than that. It was a knowing, an
acceptance that rather than being separate, you were now one and
the same, merging one into the other, no longer sure where one
began and the other ended, his touch somehow indistinguishable from
the way she sensed that touch, somehow becoming her touch,
making her alive to her own form, her own being. And as she sensed
his form, his beauty, she felt she was a part of it, that it was
also a part of her, at last, finally, completing her own
being.
    Suddenly, Jake
pulled back.
    He stared up
into the sky.
    ‘They’re back,’
he said, screwing up his eyes tightly as he tried to focus on a
grouping of bright flashes of silver.
    ‘No, it’s not
them,’ Celly said, following his gaze. ‘They’re helicopters; and
they’re heading here.’
     
     
    *

Chapter 16
     
    They ran along
the beach towards the straggle of huts.
    ‘Mrs Frobisher,
Mrs Frobisher!’
    The thunderous,
pounding rumble of the oncoming helicopters drowned out their
cries.
    Of course, Mrs
Frobisher had already seen and heard the helicopters. She was
calmly walking across the sand, as if she were stepping out to
greet the arrival of Erdwin and Perisa.
    The helicopters
came in fast, the smaller ones, mosquito-like in their angry shape,
refusing to land but, rather, swooping around the water’s edge in
great circles.
    The largest
slowed, angled, drifted down in a flurry of wind, sand and
spray.
    Even before it
touched down, the side doors were thrown open. A soldier leapt out
onto the sand, dropping immediately into a crouch.
    As soon as she
saw him prepare to aim and fire his handheld missile launcher, Mrs
Frobisher began to transform.
    The ruby skin
flashed in the sunlight.
    The missile
flashed on its way.
    Mrs Frobisher
flashed in a burst of scarlet flame.
    The ruby wings
crumpled, the flames lighting up the skin in an angry,
magically-glistening blaze.
     
     
    *

 
     
     
    1
year later
     
     

Chapter 17
     
    It was last
year’s computer game.
    And it wasn’t
even the best game from that year either.