Relia is willing to risk it.

"Are you going to take me to the Lord Marshal?" Lady Relia asks as she watches you pull on your riding leathers. You had planned to wear a suit of chainmail with overlapping plates that you had bought off of the family of a dead Rider, but that was before you agreed to carry a passenger with you on this mad dash for freedom. You give the suit of armor one last regretful gaze finding the spot in the side just under one of the plates where a heavy shaft had torn through the chain mail, it was a good reminder that even the best armor was no guarantee. Turning back to where Lady Relia is waiting expectantly for an answer you decide to tell her the truth.

"I don't know My Lady." The answer is better than a simple 'no', but clearly not what she wants to hear so you explain your thinking as you tighten the straps of your gear. "If I get a clear shot to the Western mountains, I still might give it a go, but if the United Armies Riders maintain their discipline and keep the high-guard, I won't be able to get away anyways, and in that case my best bet is to try my luck with you and your information."

Below you in the courtyard a dozen or so irregulars have improvised a battering ram out of two or three heavy beams lashed together and you hear the crashing of wood against wood as they begin to **** the doors of your tower. Relia is trembling with fear as she follows you out to the drake loft where you concentrate on saddling Swiftwing who is jittery with obvious excitement. Like you Swiftwing is well aware of how low the drakes are getting in the skies above Athenapolis and his instinct is to rise up and meet them.

"Where is my saddle?" You guess that Lady Relia's question is her way of informing you that she plans to accompany you in spite of the risk. Not that she has much choice any more because with the one final smash of the ram the heavy wooden doors on the ground level give way and judging by the raucous cheer that follows you expect to have company very soon. With a nod you pull out two curved plates that hook onto the brace that rides high on Swiftwing's shoulders.

"Are you kidding me, Rider?" You wonder for a moment if the noble woman will refuse to ride perched before you on the minimal seat. There is a good reason for her skepticism, but instead of explaining why the seat is so small, you meet her gaze steadily until she sighs in exasperated defeat. The young gentlewoman really doesn't have any choice and she knows that as well as you do but she is clearly not happy about the arrangement. "This isn't going to work. Look at what I'm wearing!" The heavy brocade robes that fall all the way to her ankles would never let her straddle Swift's neck.

"Then take those off" you order "and be quick, they are at the door." Any argument that she might have given you melts like ice on a summer day when she hears the pounding on your apartment door. You leave her to strip down in private as you make a quick trip back to the main room where Relia's two slaves look rightfully concerned.

"Get naked and on the bed girls." You advise them, "and be ready to fuck the shit out of whoever comes through that door." To your surprise the slender blonde follows the lead of her man savvy companion and you take the time to scatter several handfuls of coins over their naked bodies. Hopefully that will slow down the first wave of mercenaries that come through the door. Carrying the rest of the coins still in the chest back to the balcony you close the thin wooden door behind you; those flimsy panels couldn't even stop an angry woman, and would barely slow down a warrior, but every second could make a difference.

Relia's body is far more visible now that she is wearing only her inner tunic. She's as pretty as her **** described, slender with a narrow waist, full breasts fill out the top nicely and the shape of her thigh draped by the long tunic is promising. However, her undertunic, like the stiff outer robes falls nearly to her ankles and is also too tight to allow her to straddle Swift's neck.

"Hold still" you tell her as you draw your long knife. The blade is about eight inches long and sharpened to a razor's edge. The woman steps back in alarm, but thankfully before she screams out in panic, Lady Relia realizes what you intend to do and spreads her knees as far as the garment will allow. The knife rips through her tunic about halfway between her knee and her crotch, slicing the front of her tunic open from top to bottom. "Turn around." Trembling she turns her back to you and a second careful cut opens the tunic from behind.

"That's better. Climb on and hold still as I strap you in." She makes her way up onto the passenger saddle with more agility than most, but protests as you wrap her calves with strong leather bands. Her calf is smooth and tanned, and almost jerks free as you wrap the first leather strap tightly around it.

"What are you doing!?!" She asks angrily. You understand why she is not happy as you pass the strips several times around her ankles and secure her leg to the harness that encircles Swiftwing's chest. Those thin straps are the same ones that slavers might use to bind the limbs of new captures as they prep them for transport; strong, flexible and easy to fasten, but that's not why you are fastening her down.

"Do you think you could stay in that tiny saddle in the middle of Rider combat?" She bows her head in defeat and lets you strap her other pretty ankle too. It is hard to ignore the tension between you as you wrap the leather strap three times around her lower leg and pull it tightly through the ring along the heavy girth that encircles the drakes chest. You're not usually into bondage, but there is something about the way Relia responds to having her legs strapped open that makes you want to try this again when you're not trying to avoid a painful ****. Tucking the tail end of the strap under a billet you finish just in time. The sound of your apartment door shattering open is followed by the scream of one of the slaves. Time to go.

Hurling the chest of coins off the balcony, you leap onto Swiftwing's back. As you slide into the saddle you feel Lady Relia's body pressed against you, her thighs rest on yours, her ass firmly against your crotch and her soft back under your chest, but there is no time to enjoy the feeling though as Swiftwing leaps from the tower. Hopefully any archers below will be scrambling for the coins you threw ahead of you because there is no stopping your drake as he swoops down towards the crowd, gaining speed as he falls.