| Curious as to what is going to happen with the Demon, but not as curious as to what is going to happen the moment Sönke succeeds in making Faela so jealous that she snaps. |
MetallumOperatur said: Curious as to what is going to happen with the Demon, but not as curious as to what is going to happen the moment Sönke succeeds in making Faela so jealous that she snaps. The way you say it makes it sound like Sönke is intentionally egging her on... Also, when have demons ever warranted attention... :P |
| Chapter 38 “Well, well. Look who it is,” the demon cooed, her gaze fixed squarely on Vela. “I hardly thought I’d see you again and yet…” Vela, her arms crossed before her chest again and, a scowl fixed on her face, did not reply. Was there some bad blood between them as well? Perhaps no.,Tthe dragon’s attitude seemed largely in line with how she treated most people. “We’re actually here on a different matter,” I said. Better to get right to the point I thought. Her eyes focused on me. Somehow the utter blackness of her eyes was making me feel quite uncomfortable. Maybe it had something to do with the way she looked at me as well. It wasn’t hostile, nor the often seen hungry look. It was something else, but not something pleasant, I sensed. “I’m aware,” she stated matter of factly and my bad feeling started to get worse. “Of course I’m aware of what you’re here for. I also know who you’re traveling with.” Her expression turned to one of disgust “She may not have showed up in person, but still, she’s expecting something out of me. And to send her boy toy to me of all people.” Anger clearly burned behind her eyes now. Perhaps a little too late I regretted not being more insistent on demanding Kasumi share just why exactly she was on bad terms with this woman. I tried to repress the bad feeling that was steadily growing in intensity. My eyes flitted to Vela. Having her here was certainly something of a relief at least. “We need information on someone called Harbinger Melnik,” I continued on, finally deciding on ignoring Melira’s previous comment. Melira stepped around the desk and walked a circle around us. “I’d hate to do anything that helps her, but…,” she mused as she stopped behind me before prodding me with her finger. “I suppose there is a bargain to be made. And it would at least be… partial payback. I happen to have the information that you are after,” her voice took on another note, not the anger from before, but certainly a level of wickedness. “And the price?” Vela asked. Melira prodded me again. “A lover for a lover.” ”You have got to be joking.” I fixed her with a resolute stare. At least I hoped it was a resolute one. “You are the price, human. Kasumi took something precious from me, so I’ll demand something precious in return.” Standing before me now, she ran her hand over my cloak, exactly where the brand covered my chest. “I sense you are branded already, but the one I’ll give you will be somewhat… different in nature.” “Not ha…” I started, but stopped as a chill ran over my spine. I turned to look at Vela. Her pose had barely changed, but where it had spoken of impatience and annoyance before, it was now threatening. The low growling that emanated from her chest certainly helped as well. Melira seemed to feel the same way, as she took a few deliberate steps back towards her desk, out of my personal space. “Stop wasting my time. We both know that is not going to happen,” Vela said in a dangerously calm tone. “Name your price, demon, lest you incur the wroth of house Nightshroud.” Melira put a confident and mocking smile back on her lips. “It is a great woman that threatens others by the name of her family,” she said off-handedly. Vela took a thundering step forward and the wooden planks beneath the carpet audibly cracked. Melira stood her ground, but I saw a single bead of sweat forming on her forehead. “What do you know about that cold bitch? Or do you lay claim to that human yourself?” Vela’s eye twitched at that question. “I could also refuse to give you what you seek.” “I would not recommend that,” Vela said, maintaining her threatening posture. Melira’s confident façade showed some cracks as her smile wavered. Another bead of sweat joined the first and her eyes flicked to the entrance of the room. Demons were powerful in magic from what I remembered, but pissing off a dragon did not appear to be a desirable outcome. “You think that little elf out there will protect you if you anger me?” Vela asked threateningly. Don’t overdo it. I thought to myself. It’s not like we can just murder everyone around here and expect to get away without a hitch. Besides, she has something we need. Melira narrowed her eyes, but finally cracked. “It will cost you severely,” she said. I breathed a sigh of relief as Vela’s threatening aura subsided somewhat, I had barely noticed how every muscle in my body had grown tense. Vela and Melira engaged in a short negotiation for the price of the information. Kasumi better remember to do a travel expense report. I would have to work a long time at the Wet Scale to earn anywhere near that kind of money, I thought to myself as the two women threw numbers at one another. Vela agreed to return later to hand over payment in exchange for the information, unwilling or unable to put out that kind of money. I hoped Kasumi was carrying enough with her and even if she was, I imagined our budget for the remaining trip would be severely depleted. Vela was looking satisfied enough with her ‘victory’ though and I was just happy to leave as we stepped out of the unpleasant demon’s office. Still, the vile smirk she regarded us with as I turned to regard her one last time made the apparent victory leave a bad taste in my mouth. --- “You could have saved us a lot of trouble by just agreeing to her first demand,” Faela complained scornfully to Vela. “What is he good for, if not for such situations?” I chose to ignore her, difficult though it was. Instead I studied the map that Vela had brought back. It marked a number of supposed hideouts and safe houses that this Lycylla woman supposedly kept. A few of them were marked as being in the mountain range separating Elizabeth from Kaori. To my dismay, the one Melira indicated was the one we wanted was there. I had heard enough about Kaori that I had no desire to get anywhere close to it, especially that particular region. But it appeared we would be unable to avoid it. “We’ll head out right away,” Kasumi decided to my further dismay. After those days spent on the road, I had been rather looking forward to some deserved rest. Especially considering that we had arrived just a few hours prior. I would also have liked to explore the city a bit more. “We’ll arrange for transport by the river, it should save us a few days at least.” There was no accusation in her look, but it was clear enough that I was the primary reason such a time saving measure was necessary in the first place. “Vela, would you fly ahead and scout out the situation? I don’t want to give them a chance to move the target. I would not put it past Melira to decide to warn Lycylla of our intent.” “If she already knew what we were after, couldn’t she have done that already? And what if Melnik isn’t where she said he is?” I wondered cautiously. “I could just go and retrieve the target by myself right away,” Vela declared boisterously. “No,” Kasumi refuted. “We should not be reckless. If we mess this one up, who knows how long it’ll take for us to find our target again? We will work together to do our task and ensure that everything goes off without a hitch. We’ll meet here in seven days.” She pointed out a spot on the map, a bit north of the mountain range, some distance west of a city called Lochroch. “As for your question,” she scrutinized me. “I wouldn’t put it past Melira, due to our personal history. But if she decides to betray us, it’s not us she has to worry about, but Marchesa. I want Vela to have a look out just in case. I would prefer no unnecessary escalation of things.” “Fine,” Vela said indignantly. “I’ll make sure they don’t run off with the man, but if they try, I WILL get my claws on him.” I just shrugged my shoulders. Asking questions was well and fine, but it wasn’t as if I had much of a clue of what we were doing here anyway. Kasumi agreed and without further ado, Vela spread her wings. All it took were a few powerful flaps and she was catapulted into the air. I looked after her somewhat wistfully, almost wishing she’d take me along. If she did, that would spare me the time spent with the damnable elf. But alas, it was too late for that now and as Kasumi gestured for Faela and me to follow I could do little else but heave a wistful sigh. We headed westward, out of the city and once we had left it behind, we followed the river for a short distance before we reached a pier where a fair number of small boats and larger riverboats were moored. After a short negotiation with a rather bored looking werewolf, Kasumi handed over a few coins and the werewolf pointed out one of the smaller boats. We wasted little time stowing our baggage and ourselves into the boat before untying it and letting the river current pull us downstream towards west. At least Kasumi said it was and the map supported her. It wasn’t as if I had any idea how to tell the cardinal directions. As our small wooden vessel gently rocked in the current, I supposed that this wasn’t too bad. Not a day of proper rest to be sure, but at least there wouldn’t be any more walking for a while. It had been a lot of walking lately and my feet were starting to feel seriously worse for wear. That and the occasional cramping in my calves. I’d hoped that, by now, I would be sufficiently used to walking all day long, but I had had no such luck. As the hours dragged on, I was mildly surprised how much I missed Vela. With just Kasumi and Faela, silence once again fell over the group as our boat traversed the river’s flow. While at first I had been quite happy at being able to rest my feet, I soon turned bored with the lack of stimulation. It wasn’t as bad as it had been shortly after my arrival, but perhaps my brain was still damaged by a world filled with distractions and instant gratification wherever you turned. Or maybe slowly following a river’s current for hours on end was a boring affair. There was not much to see, that much was certain. The landscape surrounding the river offered little variation. It was trees, the river bank, foliage and, wouldn’t you guess it? Trees! I spent most of the time gazing at the people that were traversing the road that loosely followed the river, though as Elewyr grew more and more distant, the number of people steadily declined. Perhaps the most distracting, and thereby most entertaining, event of the first day of our boat journey was a fairly large riverboat that was pulled against the stream and towards Elewyr. Multiple centaurs wearing harnesses attached to ropes were pulling the boat against the stream on the left-hand side of the river, where the current was not as strong as on the right-hand side. Somehow, I found it amusing that centaurs were performing work that on medieval earth might’ve been performed by horses. Then again, humans had also been used a lot for that kind of work in medieval times, peasants being cheap labor and all that. It still made me consider how weird I thought it was that many mamono didn’t consider such work degrading at all. I even remembered a carriage being pulled by a Nightmare back when I was still in Bestallion. As evening loomed over us, I wondered why Kasumi, who had taken on the role of steering the boat, wasn’t making for the shore. Instead she just kept on going. ”Aren’t we going to stop for the night?” I asked eventually. “No,” she replied simply and silence fell over the three of us once more. When I kept looking at her with expectant eyes, she explained, “We’ll keep going through the night.” “Will you be alright without sleep?” I asked. Will my bones and joints be alright? Was the part I didn’t ask. Who could’ve known that sitting on a shitty, hard wooden plank for eight hours would result in a sore ass? “Don’t worry about me,” she said in an even tone. “But you should probably sleep tonight, we’ll be back on foot tomorrow.” I considered the boat with an even more discontented look. Sleep sounded fine and dandy, but given the limited dimensions of the boat, along with the bench I’d been seated on, I seriously doubted I could lie down to sleep and not wake up stiff in all the wrong places. Or rather, even stiffer than I felt already. These considerations swirling in my mind, I resolved to skip sleep that night. --- “Urggghhhh,” I woke with a pained groan. Give me a raging hangover over this.Contrary to my decision, I must’ve fallen asleep after all. I lay splayed out over the bench and as I tried to right myself, I felt a stinging pain shoot up through my back and neck into my head. I fell back and after a few moments, started righting myself once more, but took things much slower. Judging by the sun, it was well past noon already. “Finally up? Did you sleep well?” Kasumi asked, sitting seemingly unmoved since the night before. “Yes… and a big fat no,” I said after trying to move my head and noticing sharp pangs of pain every time I tried turning it to the left. “At least you didn’t sleep with the fish,” She said and sounded like she was in a good mood. I shot her a look somewhere between questioning and ill-tempered, which prompted her to continue. “What I mean is that you almost fell out of the boat when you fell asleep, Faela caught you and put you down.” So I have her to thank for my neck. I thought to myself. I then considered the boat though and had to admit to myself that it would’ve been impossible to put me down comfortably. “Thanks, I guess,” I said reluctantly and Faela only snorted derisively in response. Is this… progress? I wondered, albeit not very hopefully. I spent the next few hours moving as little as possible, to avoid the stings of pain jolting into my head, but the boat offered little opportunity to sit comfortably. At least for part of the way I managed a modicum of distraction by once more looking at the landscape passing us by, but overall it was still a fairly miserable affair. Just a few hours after I woke, sometime after the forest had started giving way to marshland, our trip on the river came to a merciful end. We moored on the side of the river, where yet another werewolf took possession of the boat and, after a short inspection, handed Kasumi a few coins. We were set to continue on foot. The problem with that was that even leaving the boat was a struggle. My thighs cramped and my knees ached. Naturally, my previous strategy of moving as little as possible was not viable anymore either. “Why did we leave the boat behind?” I forced out the question as another jolt of pain arched from my spine into my thighs and up my neck. “The river flows towards the Black delta and Blackmoor and then into the sea not far from here.” Kasumi explained. “We will have to take the rest of the way on foot once more.” I groaned in displeasure as I tried to keep pace with the other two. “Why did we have to go through the night anyway?” “Because of Melira,” Kasumi said. “I thought we talked about that already. That’s why Vela went ahead, no?” “To avoid the target slipping through our fingers,” Kasumi explained. “But I wouldn’t put it past Melira to arrange for an unpleasant surprise for us.” “Wouldn’t that be bad business practice for her? Does she hate you enough not to care?” “I’m not sure, but I’d rather not give her the chance,” Kasumi admitted with a stern expression. As we walked, I kept on falling behind.Kasumi and Faela maintained a brisk pace, but not much worse than on our way to Elewyr. I was hampered by my attempts to spare my neck and my general state of soreness also tempered with my speed severely. Though she didn’t say it out loud, I could sense that Kasumi was growing impatient with our slow pace. Needless to say, so was Faela. And the elf was much less apprehensive about letting me know what she thought of me holding them back. Breaks were few far and between, the longest one came when we had to wait for a ferry to carry us across yet another river. We kept walking until after dark, until finally I dropped to the floor and refused to take another step. “Can’t we just leave him here? You can try to pick him up on the way back,” Faela suggested dismissively. “Someone might get some use out of his useless hide in the meanwhile.”. “Screw you,” was all I could be bothered to say. It was true that I was holding them back. And yet, why did she have to be such a bitch about it? “We won’t be doing any of that,” Kasumi assured me. Not that I was worried she would actually consider such a course of action. “We’ll stay here for tonight and leave again early tomorrow morning.” She took a measuring look at me. “In the meantime, I want you to fix him up, Faela.” Faela snorted. “Why should I be expected to…?” “Because we want to make better progress tomorrow,” Kasumi said in a tone that brooked no further argument. Faela’s lips broke into a pout that could almost be called cute. At least if it was on someone else’s face. The elf harrumphed and then addressed me with an angry glare. “Take off your shirt and lie on your stomach.” She reached into her pack and produced a number of long, slim needles. I looked uncomfortably between her and Kasumi. Letting that psycho stick me with needles seemed like a poor idea. And yet, Kasumi just nodded for me to do it. With an unhappy look at my wife, I removed my cloak and shirt and laid on my stomach. “Don’t dare to move or touch me,” Faela warned abrasively as she crouched over me, tracing along my neck and back with a deft hand. She then took the first needle and gently pierced my skin. She pressed it down a little ways before tracing along my neck with her fingers again and picking up a second needle. As she continued her treatment, my reservations slowly melted at just about the same pace as the tension escaped my overburdened and sore muscles. I couldn’t help myself and let out a contented moan. “Stop that,” Faela exclaimed, punching me on the back of the head. I fell quiet, but even that hadn’t been enough to make me stop enjoying the treatment. Almost enough to improve my opinion of her, I thought to myself as I slowly drifted away into dreamland. I awoke feeling more rested than I had at any point in recent memory. I opened my eyes and saw Kasumi crouching over me. “Time to get up, we have a long way to go today,” she said. “Sure” I said and got up. The twilight that filtered into the tent told me that it was still very early morning. In spite of that, I felt well rested. I crawled out of the tent and I stretched with a wide smile on my face. I rotated my neck and hips and flexed my spine and none of it caused any discomfort. “Thank you for yesterday,” I said to Faela and was actually sincere in my gratitude. For once I actually did not feel like strangling her. “You’re welcome,” She answered. And she didn’t even sound sarcastic. I raised an eyebrow, stunned for a moment. What’s going on? She seemed to realize that she’d just been pleasant and added. “Personally, I’d have preferred to see you in pain for longer.” I nodded. I guess nothing much has changed then, I thought and made a dismissive gesture at her. Kasumi, in the meanwhile, had taken down the tent and so we were clear to start back on our way. We ate some of our provisions for breakfast on the go. Just a few kilometers from our camp, we came across a curious and quite grizzly sight. A cadaver lay on the side of the road and someone must’ve been very cross with that person, operating under the assumption that it was a person. The head, an arm and most of her legs were missing. What was left of the body was covered in a multitude of shallow cuts and other wounds. Kasumi and Faela thoroughly inspected the body, but with how mutilated it was, they had trouble even making a definitive guess of her species. Deciding that there was nothing we could do, we headed on, leaving the bloody scene behind us. Was this some sign of us coming closer to the savage lands of Kaori? I remembered tavern stories of bloodthirsty savages, slavers and worse coming across the border to ply their twisted ways. As the morning progressed into the day, even though I was much better rested and was generally feeling better, I still had trouble keeping pace with my two companions. They seemed to push on even faster than the day before. While that kept me from contemplating our earlier discovery in too great detail, it also quickly ate away at, the comfort and relaxedness I had felt in the morning. “How long until we’re there?” I asked sometime around midday while we were taking a small break. “Not long now,” Kasumi assured me. “We should reach the foothills in four days.” “And that’s where we’re meeting up with Vela again?” “Yes, and hopefully she’ll have found our target hideout already,” Kasumi confirmed. “I still don’t understand why this Lycylla would store the guy we’re looking for somewhere in the mountains, on the border to Kaori of all things. I assume she… acquired the guy to make, well, use of him. Wouldn’t that be… unwise?” “Perhaps she plans to sell him and wants to keep him in a safe space for the moment. She might consider storing something valuable in such a remote place as safer. These mountains are full of hidden places.” “Alright, sure.” I conceded. After all, it was pointless to argue, especially since I wanted to get this all over with as fast as possible as well. “Let’s head on then.” |
mugen91Aug 12, 2023 3:23 PM
| Aha! Arcadia has acupuncture! Good to know! And finally some civility from Faela -- I was really starting to dislike her. One quibble; the use of the word disdain. Dis*dain: the feeling that someone or something is unworthy of one's consideration or respect; contempt. I think the word you're looking for is dismay. Dis*may: consternation and distress, typically that caused by something unexpected. |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
tygertyger said: Aha! Arcadia has acupuncture! Good to know! And finally some civility from Faela -- I was really starting to dislike her. She's still pretty annoying :P tygertyger said: One quibble; the use of the word disdain. Dis*dain: the feeling that someone or something is unworthy of one's consideration or respect; contempt. I think the word you're looking for is dismay. Dis*may: consternation and distress, typically that caused by something unexpected. You are quite correct |
| Chapter 39 “We will wait for Vela to find us, then we will plot our next course of action, depending on what she found.” Kasumi decided when we finally reached the foothills of the vast mountain range. With that decision made, there was nothing much to do, aside from settling down for a spot of a rest. Not that I was complaining. Both Kasumi and Faela had continued to force a brisk pace and while I was already in much greater shape than I had been when we departed from Bestallion, resting my legs was a welcome change of pace. I was in a fairly good mood, the goal of our journey seemingly soon reached. In addition, Faela’s insults had started to gradually decline and the hateful looks had slowly begun to lose their intensity. I suspected we would never be friends, but she actually hadn’t insulted me once the previous day and occasionally her tone even turned what might be interpreted as neutrally friendly. If it continued like that, we might actually have a conversation at some point in the far future. I gestured for Kasumi to come over and when she did, I grasped her by the hips and pulled her into my lap. Then I wrapped my arms around her and squeezed her tight against me. I enjoyed the closeness, breathing in deep and smelling her faint, pleasant scent. With the pace we’d been going, there hadn’ been much opportunity for all that lately. “What’s gotten into you?” She asked playfully. “I’m looking forward to finishing this mission, we’ll spend a few days in bed,” I promised her playfully and cupped a feel of one of her breasts. “We haven’t had a lot of time to ourselves,” she agreed. She took my hand and guided it lower instead. I shot a worried look over to where Faela was looking at us. It just now occurred to me that she became less hateful the last few days when Kasumi and I hadn’t slept with each other. Was that what had somewhat softened her up? Still, our relationship was something she had to accept. And I didn’t care enough for her to really give a shit in any case. Kasumi had guided my hand between her legs, where it was evident she didn’t much care about such considerations or onlookers either. It was nice to know that my proximity had that effect on her still. Perhaps my own erection pressing against her from below was helping? Either case, it seemed the kunoichi was at least as in the mood as I was. “How about you go and scout around the area for a bit, Faela?” Kasumi suggested as she began using my hand to stroke herself through her clothes. Faela narrowed her eyes and looked reluctant, but didn’t complain as she got up and headed out. “Since when do you care about having an audience?” I wondered. “You’re the one who’s bothered,” she said, starting a low moan. “Besides, it would be counter-productive to fan her jealousy.” “I think just knowing what we’re up to will be enough to accomplish that.” I laughed. “I wouldn’t call this particularly subtle.” “You want to stop?” She asked coyly. She stopped pleasuring herself with my hand.. I grinned and shook my head. “I’m just saying, sending her away will only help marginally. If at all” Kasumi turned around, freed one of her well-formed breasts from her tunic and fed her nipple into my mouth. “Hush now, I’d prefer for her to join us, but I doubt she’ll be ready for that any time soon. For now, we’ll enjoy ourselves.” I looked up into her eyes and hoped my assent was conveyed appropriately with the look I was giving her. My teeth teased a stiffened nipple as her hands began nimbly unfastening my belt. Ordinarily, getting my pants off with someone in my lap would have been a difficult task but Kasumi’s smart fingers got the job done with only a little help from myself. All the while I smiled to myself around the nip in my mouth. I was rarely inclined to argue against having a spot of fun and this was certainly not one of those times. --- Our bodies still laid entangled with one another, though we had dressed again, when the sound of heavy wing beats could be heard approaching quickly. Soon thereafter, the black scaled form of Vela landed just a few steps from us. I got up and stepped towards her. “Hi Vela, good to see you.” She stepped closer and for a second I had the weird impression she was going to pet me with her big claws or perhaps hold me. But before I could figure out what she had been about to do, she aborted the motion and only somewhat awkwardly laid a heavy claw on my shoulder. “Hello Sönke,” she said before rapidly turning away from me. I blinked in astonishment, considering it was Vela, this kind of greeting still seemed exuberant. “Have you located the target?” Kasumi asked. A raised eyebrow was her only concession to the unusual gesture. “No, I have not. But it was difficult, I only flew at high altitude, so as not to attract too much attention. I am aware of some areas where I am sure this hideout is not.” “That is something, I suppose. From now on, you can also fly lower, if we’re searching at ground level detection is likely unavoidable anyway.” The look she shot my way seemed to indicate that the inevitability of detection was mostly due to myself, though I would argue that I could probably be more inconspicuous than the dragon. Besides, how much stealth could really be involved moving about narrow mountain paths, no matter whether one was a kunoichi, an elf or a human? A moment later, Faela also came jogging back, nodding to Vela and ignoring me. At least she’s not being as hateful as I’d expected, I mused to myself quietly. “Are we ready to continue then?” Faela asked. “It seems we are,” Kasumi nodded in agreement. She retrieved the map we’d gotten from Melira. “Now Vela, what can you tell us?” Vela spent a few minutes going over her scouting efforts of the past days, which were not very successful. The map given to us by Melira was also not exactly detailed enough to clearly show every mountainous peak, meaning that we might have to search multiple mountains for this hideout. Vela’s process of elimination had been focused largely around accessibility. If what we were looking for was a smuggler’s hideout, there would need to be some path to get goods in and out at least. But since Vela had not located our target yet, we’d need to search these mountains in more detail. I was somewhat nervous as Kasumi outlined our course of action, as for the sake of speed we would be frequently splitting up to search and later reconvene. I would be waiting at the meeting point. If everything worked as intended, I would never be alone for much more than an hour or two, but that seemed more than enough time for something unpleasant to happen. After all, these mountains represented the border between Elizabeth and Kaori and after everything I had heard about that savage place, I had little desire to risk a one on one meeting with one of those locals. I said as much, but Kasumi assured me that nothing would happen to me. It didn’t really convince me, but I also didn’t want to be the one holding us back. When everything was discussed, we headed out into the mountain range. We passed by and over the foothills that steadily grew taller and more difficult to traverse. Soon enough I was cursing that this hideout had to be located in a mountain range. The only saving grace was the fact that our target area was not too far into the mountain range. You could even argue that we barely passed from the foothills into the mountain range proper. Yet it still took us a day and a half to arrive in the area indicated on the map. Once more I felt like I was being a burden and it was a shitty feeling. In the evening, we made no fire and otherwise tried to remain inconspicuous. After a short nights’ rest, we headed towards the first mountain my three companions had chosen for searching. Vela would be flying over, close enough to the ground to spot any irregularities, while Kasumi and Faela would go on the ground to find anything that might indicate a hideout. Given that there was an abundance of caves in these mountains ranging from tiny to quite large and the size of these mountains, they would only scout a portion of the mountain on each run before we moved on to the next area. They left me partway up the mountain on a path a few meters wide, a ravine going almost straight down to the right side. I nervously paced back and forth while I waited for them to return. There was something about the place that was making me damn uncomfortable about being by myself. Even in the bigger cities, there was only so much protection for a man, but out here? Especially given the fact that we were looking to rob some kind of criminal underworld boss. No, there was no use denying that I did not care for being alone around these parts. I strung my bow and pulled an arrow from the quiver. I doubted that it would do me too much good, but at least I didn’t want to appear as an entirely unprotected morsel. Normally one might expect that waiting for a few hours would provide an excellent opportunity to rest, yet I soon felt tired from my constant pacing and turning around my own axis, from flitting my eyes from crevice to crag, nervously and constantly scanning my surroundings. If there was something to be said for my paranoia, at the very least this meant that I immediately noticed the harpy that suddenly swooped down onto the ground a few steps away from me. I raised my bow, it was easy enough to guess what she wanted, given the lustful look on her face. At least it wasn’t the look of a homicidal maniac. “Oh how lucky to find a lone man here of all places. The job has perks after all,” She exclaimed excitedly. She fluttered her wings and strutted towards me in a display that might have been enticing under different circumstances. I noticed a satchel she carried, was she some kind of messenger perhaps? “You have found no mate here,” I told her briskly. “I’m not interested. You can leave.” She smirked at that. “Don’t be like that. I’ll make sure you enjoy yourself just as much as I will, honey.” She dropped her satchel to the ground and quickly removed her very short pants. “There’s no shame in admitting that you want this too,” she cooed and I raised my bow higher, drawing the string threateningly. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to actually shoot and so I hoped she wouldn’t put me to the test. She narrowed her eyes in response. “Now now, no need for that,” she said soothingly and took a small step towards me. She had stopped prancing, but still seemed very much intent on doing the deed. “Stop,” I told her as she kept stepping closer slowly. Instead of stopping, she proceeded slowly and with great reluctance, I let fly. She seemed to see it coming from a mile away and easily dodged before the arrow was really in flight, or perhaps the arrow would’ve gone wide regardless. I was still not sure if I actually wanted to hit her or not. The harpy however was far from amused and while I fumbled to get the next arrow out of my quiver, she flapped her wings and quickly launched herself towards me. She grabbed me by the shoulders with her talons and the points of her claws pricked into my skin painfully. I dropped my bow and tried to disengage from her, but she quickly flapped her wings and carried me up into the air. Mildly panicked, I struggled vainly as she carried me over the edge of the ravine and slowly started to release one of her talons. That changed things and Instead of trying to get loose, I was now holding tightly onto her leg and shouting for help. “Will you behave?” She asked huskily. Was the damn woman still trying to get in my pants? My eyes darted between the abyss below and the harpy above, or more like the harpy’s privates, which was all I could really see of her at this angle. “Yes,” I finally pressed out between my lips. “Just don’t drop me please.” She flew us back over to solid ground and dropped me from a height of perhaps two meters and I impacted the ground somewhat painfully. She didn’t waste any time, certainly not enough to allow me to get back on my feet, getting on top of me. Her legs wrapped around my head and my face was buried in her nethers before I even had a chance to take a deep breath. To my own annoyance, I could feel my member stiffen as I tasted her sweet nectars on my lips and breathed in her aroma with the little air I could draw in our current position. I was sorely tempted to bite her but the memory of the abyss looming beneath me kept me in line. She roughly ran her wings over my head and complained. “Is that the thanks I get for saving you? You are close to Kaori, you should be thankful I found you. I will take good care of you.” I felt her slip my sword from its sheath and heard it clang to the ground some distance away. I’m being taken care of, well, more or less. I tried to say the words, but could only produce muffled sounds. The harpy started to moan. “Yes, I knew you’d see reason, lick me harder.” Was she ignoring my attempts at communication or did she actually mistake that for enthusiasm on my part? I made an annoyed sound, but decided that the best way to get this harpy off my face for now was to get her off in the literal sense, so I got to work. Luckily I had gotten a lot of practice in the last months and after a short while, I felt her muscles clench up along with high-pitched yips and chirps. She held me in position between her legs for a while longer but then released me, only to turn around and seating herself back on my face. I let out another muffled sound of annoyance as I felt her fumbling with my pants. With her wings, she seemed to have some issues with my belt however and I cringed as I heard her rip through the fabric with her taloned feet. So much for taking good care of me. What the fuck are you ripping up my pants for? I wanted to shout, but once again my words were muffled beyond understanding. She was light enough that I should’ve been able to throw her off easily, but she was keeping an iron grip around my head and neck with her thighs as she leaned over and began lapping at my stiff member. Proving impatient however, after just a few licks, her thighs released me and she turned to stand over me. I tried to get up, but she threatened. “I can still drop you, you know.” I gave her a dirty look, but didn’t try to fight back as she dropped her hips and quickly devoured my member, a happy look of contentment on her face. She shook her hips wildly, occasionally fluttering her wings to rise up and drop down once more. Her tongue lolled out of her mouth as her pussy clamped tighter in preparation for her release. This harpy, it seemed, was easy to please. “Gonna give me lots of babies?” She babbled. “A whole clutch?” I heard the sound of more wings beating and I sighed. Were there more coming? Was this going to turn into some kind of gang rape? But no, the sound was different, heavier. The harpy didn’t seem to register it as she was enjoying herself. She did notice when Vela thudded down beside us however. Her movements froze entirely and she looked at Vela. The happy look of contentment was quite lost and replaced with one of fear. “Would you mind getting this rapist off me?” I pleaded with the dragon. Vela scowled at me, then the harpy for a second, then kicked the harpy off me. She let out a mixture of a pained and scared scream as she sailed over the edge of the ravine. The scream held on for longer than expected, before cutting off rapidly. Had she actually hit the ground? I looked over the edge of the ravine with some worry. I hadn’t actually wanted her dead. As much as I hated the feeling of helplessness, killing her seemed like overkill. My worry was unfounded, however, as I saw her fluttering her wings further down, quickly moving away from us. I let out a snort and spit in her direction, then turned to Vela. “Thanks,” I said. She nodded and pointedly looked away from my still proudly standing member, jutting from my ripped pants. I went over to where the harpy had left her belongings. I opened the satchel and revealed a few letters, so my guess that she was a messenger seemed to be accurate. Her pants had a surprisingly full purse strapped to it. I turned to Vela to show her my find, when I heard the sounds of wings flapping coming closer once more. Shortly after she appeared from the ravine, flapping her wings to stay in place. She looked at Vela warily, the reason for her weariness was quickly blossoming into a painful bruise on her side. I did not feel sorry for her. “I need my things,” she said to Vela, ignoring me for the most part. “And I need not to get raped,” I told her indignantly tone. “I was going to take good care of you,” She whined. “You could have said that you had a dragon watching over you!” “So you threaten to kill me if I don’t cooperate?” “You threatened to kill him?” Vela asked in a dangerously low tone. She bristled and the harpy widened the distance a bit. “I wasn’t actually going to do it. But he shot an arrow at me!” She whined. Vela thought for a moment, arms crossed before her chest, then said. “Give it back to her.” I snorted angrily, but then said. “I suppose these aren’t yours, so you can have them back.” I held up the satchel. “But I’ll keep these, so we’re both out of a pair of pants.” “You can’t just…” The harpy started, but I just threw the satchel down the ravine, forcing her to dive after it. “And don’t come back.” I shouted after her. I turned to pick up my bow and sword, already worried about the cold I could feel through my ripped pants. Nominally, it was still summer, but we were high up enough that it was chilly nonetheless. Vela laid a claw on my shoulder as I passed by her and forced me to face her. I angled my head up to look in her face and saw that she was strangely red in the face. “Are you alright?” I asked. I had not seen her like that before. She didn’t reply, just put a claw around the back of my neck and pulled me closer insistently. Is this what I think it is? I felt my erection surge at the thought that Vela finally wanted to fuck me. Wanted to fuck me and was sober in the bargain. In the hope that I wasn’t somehow misinterpreting her intentions, I reached around her and let one hand run over her ample backside and the other over the small of her back. She mashed my face in between her large breasts, an act that already required to lift me off my feet. I took this as enough affirmation. My hands roamed between her legs. I navigated past the black loincloth she was wearing and felt her literally hot sex. She radiated heat, even from just the outside. The dragon froze when my fingers touched her. I froze as well, afraid that I had inadvertently done something wrong. Then she grabbed hold of me by the waist and lifted me up further. A few steps later, she roughly put me down on a roughly even-surfaced rock. She disposed of her loincloth without much fanfare and showed some unfamiliar hesitation in her movements. But then quickly held onto my shoulders for support (which was no small matter given her considerable mass) and slowly dropped herself down onto me. She moved very slowly, very deliberately as I penetrated her surprisingly tight confines. To my great surprise I saw a small trickle of blood flowing from her as I did so. I turned my head up and saw the conflicting emotions on her face. A little pain, a great deal of lust, some reluctance. “You’re a virgin?” I asked in surprise. The thought that any mamono, even the not overtly lustful Vela, was a virgin at an adult age seemed weird to me, though it made sense that there were probably numerous women that waited for a long time, given the low number of men available. Unless they went to a whore for their first time. But surely a dragon wouldn’t have such issues normally? She knocked me over the head, though she luckily controlled her strength and gave me a seething look. “Sorry, I didn’t think,” I apologized. “I’m happy that you consider me… worthy?... Of you.” “That’s right, be thankful for this honor I bestow upon you,” she said, a bit of the haughty air that was characteristic of her for most of the time I’d known her returning. And still, there was a hint of unsteadiness in her voice. Her cheeks were slightly reddened and she radiated even more warmth. She was now resting on top of me with her entire weight and it hurt my ass proficiently, sitting on the somewhat even, but far from smooth surface of the rock with our combined weights. Saying that, I was sure, probably wouldn’t let me finish the experience though. I was determined to make her enjoy this and ensure it wouldn’t be a one-time thing. She raised herself up and slowly lowered herself again, still very careful and controlled in her movements, though she seemed to be warming up to the task. I loosened the cloth she wore around her breasts and freed the magnificent orbs, still held up by a growth of scales that acted almost like half a bra. Her buds were exposed however and I craned up my neck to take one of them in my mouth and gently suck on it. It was a funny experience, with most women I had to crane my neck down to get at their breasts as they were riding me, with Vela I had issues reaching high enough. She seemed to like my efforts, as I could hear faint indications of approval issuing forth from her throat. I reached my hands around her again, feeling along her legs, her back, feeling where her skin transitioned into scales, some rough, some smooth. Her pace was still building, her hips slamming down hard enough now that I was hoping that she wouldn’t increase the force much more. I released her breast from my mouth and looked up at her. Still red in the face, her expression was now otherwise very controlled, though concentration showed on her face. Her excitement was betrayed by the slowly rising moan though. I wanted to kiss her, but in this position, it was impossible for me to reach her lips, so I cupped her breasts with my hands, kneading them while I traced kisses across her stomach. When I finally felt a climax coming closer, I realized that Vela had been riding me for quite a while. Her inexperience is showing. Kasumi could’ve easily milked me three or four times with this much time, I thought and somehow it was refreshing. I still worried that I would finish without giving Vela an orgasm and looked for any advantage I could find. I reached around her and slowly moved a finger to her ass. Hesitating while I weighed whether I should dare, I lightly brushed her rosette and she said a brisk “No.” I made a face and quickly retreated my finger. My hand moved to her powerful tail, hoping that perhaps there was some excitable region there. I lightly stroked along the base and thought that she was indeed tensing up a little. Seeing it as my last chance, I started to further caress her there and met her hips with a few thrusts of my own, although I grimaced every time her hips slammed me back onto the rock. Finally, I was rewarded as she growled in pleasure, enclosing me with her powerful arms and squeezing me against her strong enough that I could feel my body creak. The pain temporarily faded my impending orgasm, but as she winded down, releasing her grasp of me, I felt it returning with a vengeance as I released a torrent of seed into her. She let out a surprised yelp as I finished inside her, perhaps surprised by the unfamiliar sensation or not expecting the volume. I wonder how it feels to have ‘spirit energy’ injected like that, I thought idly. I was no mamono though, so I would likely never know. Doing the injecting was plenty pleasurable though. My toes curled and my thighs flexed and relaxed in tandem with my release. When I finally finished with one final pleased groan, she slowly got off of me and felt along her stomach and then her nethers, collecting some of my seed on her claw and licking it up with her tongue, a contemplative look on her face. “That was adequate,” She said with a nod. “Adequate?” I asked incredulously. I tried to get up but my legs felt like jelly under me, quite exhausted from the ride. Vela caught me and held me up. “Pleasurable then,” she corrected. She tried and failed to get her customary haughty tone back. “I might allow you to do this again.” I smiled at that, but then rubbed my aching backside. “Perhaps on a more comfortable surface next time though, eh?” |
mugen91Aug 26, 2023 12:12 PM
| Well if it is Vela's intent to not grow feelings for this lowly human, then she has lost the battle already. This can only result in a hunger for more. Not that I would disapprove of such a thing, on the contrary, I welcome it wholeheartedly :-D As for the passport update, I'll have to owe you the update. Think I have to edit a picture first to get the right Black Dragon look. |
| Dang... a guy just can't hold onto a pair of pants on this bloody island. :) |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
MetallumOperatur said: Well if it is Vela's intent to not grow feelings for this lowly human, then she has lost the battle already. This can only result in a hunger for more. She would certainly disagree! :P (for now) MetallumOperatur said: As for the passport update, I'll have to owe you the update. Think I have to edit a picture first to get the right Black Dragon look. I have my strategy now. I don't need to look for pictures, just right an H-Scene and have you search for/edit apppropriate pictures :P tygertyger said: Dang... a guy just can't hold onto a pair of pants on this bloody island. :) Maybe some of these mamano are just allergic to a good pair of (whole) pants. |
| Chapter 40 Before long I was sincerely regretting not having a proper change of pants with me. It had been fine at first, with all the distraction, but having my junk hanging out would not only be considered an invitation by every mamono I came across, it also got a bit drafty. Vela did not have anything on her that could serve as replacement. For the time being I merely had my cloak tied around my waist to cover up. Speaking of Vela, ever since she finished grinding my butt into a very uneven rock, her attitude towards me seemed to be shifting constantly. Every time I allowed my eyes to drift towards her it was a toss up between being regarded scornfully, somewhat longingly or just being flat out ignored. Then again, none of these were truly new, I supposed. Except for the longing bit perhaps. An awkward silence had taken hold between the dragon and me. A silence that was only broken when Kasumi arrived back with us about half an hour after Vela had finished with me. Somehow it took the kunoichi only a few moments to suss out the important bits of what had happened. To say that she was disappointed about missing the action would be an apt statement. While she chided me about not waiting for her, I still felt the need to shift her focus to the fact that I’d been raped by that Harpy, who probably would’ve carried me off if Vela had not turned up when she did. That soured her playful mood considerably. She was forced to concede that in her eagerness to be done with our business, she had not taken my concerns seriously enough. Faela, who had arrived a little later yet, was about as indifferent about the incident as one might expect. The biggest surprise was really that she did not suggest that me being gone would be a good thing. In spite of the incident leaving my confidence somewhat shaken, we headed on not soon after, so that the others could search the next area. --- It was already the fourth day since we started searching for the hideout and we had moved on to the final stretch of mountain among those we had estimated were our likely target areas. I sat on a rock, my arms wrapped close around myself in an effort to remain warm against the chilly wind that had been blowing for days. It was supposed to be summer stillI. Late summer to be sure, but I felt the temperatures these last few days were not reflective of that. I shot an envious look at Vela, who, in spite of her scant clothing made no indication of being cold at all. The contrast became even more pronounced when I couldn’t suppress an inadvertent shiver. Things had been awkward these last few days and I wasn’t sure how to feel about her. We had scarcely exchanged a word since we had been together and I had a creeping suspicion she had still not decided how she felt about what we’d done. I felt my teeth clatter as a particularly fierce gust of wind came by and Vela sighed. She took a few long steps over to me. “What’s up?” I asked, forcing my teeth to stop clattering. She didn’t dignify me with a reply. Instead she lifted me from my feet and sat down on the uncomfortable rock I had occupied before. Then she wrapped her large, black wings around me. Immediately there was relief. Most of my body was shielded from the gusting wind and I felt the comfort of her body’s warmth slowly envelop me. With a grateful sigh I leaned my head back against her ample rack. I judged that to be a safe enough move since she’d been the one who initiated the contact. “Do you want to talk about it?” I asked after the silence stretched on for another long while, but I received no answer. With her wings wrapped around me, I could not fathom her reaction and so I pressed on. “Ever since we had sex it seems you’ve been… undecided on how to feel about it.” She remained silent for a while longer, then let out another drawn out sigh. “It’s shameful for someone like me to be interested in someone like you.” Interested? I thought to myself. I suppose I’ll take it. “Why is that?” I wondered. “You’re a whore. And a weakling. I’m a dragon. Need I say more? It’s unnatural.” The response came in an uncharacteristically even tone. It seemed almost like she forced herself to maintain it that way. “I never took money for sex, so at best I’m a slut,” I argued. There was no point in bothering to deny the weakling part, but I would not stand for the rest. “Why is it unnatural? You had a father, didn’t you? What does your pride have to do with it?” “My father was no whore, he....” She said defensively. “Huh?” I wondered. “Men just cause complications. After everything that’s happened, I just don’t think....” “Is that who you’re looking for?” I wondered, feeling like I might be able to get her to open up a bit right now. I felt her body tense up, but she remained quiet for a while. Deciding it was probably best to let her take her time, I waited until she finally said. “In a way.” I continued to remain silent. I had a feeling that trying to make her say more would only make her withdraw again. After a long, strained silence, Vela continued. “One day, my mother’s sister, my aunt, came to her hoard. I was… I was young then. She had taken a liking to my father and desired to possess him for herself. My mother was too weak.” The last words were spoken with a weird mixture of sorrow and anger. “My mother died and when I tried to keep her from taking father she beat me half to death. I swore to find her, to avenge my mother’s weakness and that I would never be weak.” The sound of splintering rock accompanied her last words. “And your father?” I asked, carefully. “I doubt he’s alive. He was not… well.” I had a hard time imagining anyone beating her half to death. “When was this?” I asked. “Eleven years ago. That is when my childish notion of the world died.” “Childish?” I asked, unsure of the connotation of her words. “I was… eight.” She sounded almost ashamed. Like there was something wrong with being young. I couldn’t help but recall Kasumi’s words from weeks ago. She had said that Vela was likely very young and I had had a hard time believing her. “So you’re nineteen?” I asked. I knew I shouldn’t. Not after she had just finally opened up about everything. But I couldn’t help myself. “So what?” She asked in turn, a raw edge to her tone. “I’m sorry, it’s nothing. I just thought you were… older, you know. Your bearing is so different from others your age I’m used to.” “Of course, they’re just humans,” she retorted and there was clear contempt in her voice. Silence fell over us again until she finally spoke once more. “Now do you see why I cannot feel attraction towards you? Someone like you? I cannot allow such weakness within me.” “But you are attracted to me? Because I am attracted to you, in spite of your… let’s call it occasional derisiveness.” In spite of my attempt to frame my words diplomatically, she nudged me with a disgruntled snort. I considered my words carefully as she urged me to continue. “Then this ‘weakness’ as you call it is already present, isn’t it? Wouldn’t it be worse if your attraction became a distraction because you can’t satisfy it? It’s not like you love me, it’s a simple physical desire. It’s completely natural. You are a mamono, after all.” I felt her body tense as she considered my words. “You would have me use your body to satisfy my… urges?” She asked and as she said those words she sounded almost befuddled at the implication. Is that what I want? I thought privately. No, it isn’t. But it’s a start. “If that’s how I get you to, you know, indulge me again,” I said with a hint of a shrug. I still couldn’t see her face, but had a distinct feeling that she was looking at me thoughtfully for a long moment. Then I felt her relax as she seemed to come to a decision. “In that case,” Vela said and she opened her great wings. Then she quickly put on the floor and onto my back. There was a hungry, predatory gleam in her yellow, slitted eyes. “My hunger requires sating.” I gulped as one of her big claws, larger than my head, settled against the rocky ground next to my head. Whelp, I guess that’s what I wanted? --- Both Kasumi and Fiora returned while Vela was still busy sating her hunger. Kasumi’s reaction was somewhat predictable, though Fiora too seemed to struggle to keep her eyes away. Which of course did not mean she couldn’t throw in a denigrating comment. I was somewhat dismayed though that, when Vela was done grinding me into the ground and I was feeling about as sore as you’d expect, we did not call it a day. Kasumi and Faela both insisted that we carry and were soon joined by Vela, who seemed still conflicted about things, but nonetheless almost seemed to be glowing following our copulation. It was hard to argue with them. After all, they had still not found the target on the latest run either. Slowly we were forced to consider that the information we received from Melira might’ve been false or at least inaccurate. Or the hideout was better hidden than anticipated. We made camp only late in the evening, when the light faded so far that there was little point in continuing. Camping at this altitude was not a particularly pleasant experience. We were up high enough that there was no firewood to be had and the hard floor made sleep less than comfortable. Although, I supposed, it was a great deal more comfortable than lying on bare rock and having Vela grind you further into the ground with every slam of her hips. The thought made me run a hand over my aching backside. And yet I definitely preferred having the dragon atop me over trying to sleep with nothing but thin blankets separating me from the sheer rock. In spite of my tiredness, all these factors made sleep hard to come by that night. And so it was that I was still awake when Kasumi placed a hand over my mouth and shook me gently. I gestured to her that I was awake and she removed her hand. “Closing in on the camp,” she whispered quietly. I nodded and extricated myself from my covers. After brief deliberation I decided to at least put on my ripped pants, belting my blade and stringing my bow. When I came out, Kasumi and Faela were already standing ready. “Who’s coming?” I asked in a whisper. “Not certain, but they moved towards us with intent. It’s safe to say this is their destination.” Kasumi whispered back. I tried to stifle a yawn as I notched an arrow, joining the others in silent anticipation and dimly wondered where Vela was. The best thing that could be said was that we were not forced to wait long, although the few minutes seemed to last much longer than that indeed. When they came, they announced themselves with an arrow shaft that Kasumi’s superhuman reflexes barely deflected. I instinctively ducked and scanned along the ledge the arrow had come from, but was unable to make out anything beyond non-distinct shapes in the dark of night. The same seemed not to hold true for Faela, who drew her bow and let fly, a curse sounding from up above right after. A moment of silence followed before I could see five shapes jump down the ledge above. One of them caught one of Faela’s shafts mid fall with a grunt of pain. Kasumi’s wrist flicked just as the first form hit the ground before us. The figure let out a pained grunt, but nonetheless reared up to her full height and raised a large club. I saw the glint of moonlight reflecting on a knife, embedded in her neck. She stepped towards us, raising her weapon and Kasumi’s wrist flicked again, a second knife embedding itself in the woman’s throat. She clutched her free hand to her throat and took another step before dropping to her knees. While I was distracted, the four others had landed and spread out around us. I drew back my bow and let fly against one of them, but she foresaw my move and deftly dodged the projectile. Taking this as a signal, the women rushed forward. I drew my bow again, while Kasumi rushed to meet a lithely moving woman, short blades held in both her hands. Faela dropped her bow and drew a shortsword to meet another woman’s charge. That left two more I noted and let lose another shaft, once again to little effect. I cursed as those two moved in as well. I figured the bow would most likely be useless and dropped it. My own sword hissed out if its sheath and I silently cursed myself for not keeping up my practice recently. Though I would have been outmatched either way, it certainly could not have hurt. Before anything else could happen though, there was another dark shape that hurtled from the sky and I could swear that the ground was shaking as Vela crashed to the ground. The engagement had been quiet up to that point but no more as the dragon released a ferocious roar. She grabbed the foot of the first woman to fall, evidently still alive as she was still clutching at her throat, and effortlessly swung her entire body around. With a sickening crunch of breaking bones, she smacked her into the stunned form of the one Faela had already stuck with an arrow. I ground my teeth as I watched the battle unfold. I had sheathed my blade once more and picked up the bow again. I waited for a clear shot to present itself, one that did not risk hitting one of my companions. But everyone was moving so fast I did not dare to lose another shaft. So focused on the fight was I that I didn’t hear the quiet flap of wings above and only noticed the werebat when she grasped my shoulders. Not again, I thought determinedly. I quickly pulled out my sword again and stabbed upwards, not keen on being dangled above the abyss again. I felt resistance as the point of the sword connected. The talons released me and I felt warm liquid dripple upon me as the werebat let out a pained shriek. She continued flapping her wings, but her strength quickly drained and she crashed to the ground shortly after. I looked at her writhing silhouette with a mix of horror and fascination when another pained cry drew my attention. It was Faela, fallen to the ground, her opponent standing above her with an ax raised high. On instinct, I started moving forward when I heard a grunt and a dark shape sped towards the silhouette of the attacker from where Vela was fighting, crashing heavily into her. She screamed as she went over the edge of the ravine. And with that, the engagement was already over. I bridged the distance to Faela and, up close, could see that she had a deep cut running across her thigh that had blood pouring forth. Vela beat her mighty wings a few times and returned to the sky, presumably to look for more attackers to squash. Kasumi meanwhile slowly walked over, leaving another corpse behind her. It was a good thing Kasumi was more proficient in first aid than I was. She treated Faela’s wound with quick, practiced movements. Much as I disliked the elf, I still didn’t want her dead. Still, with that wound she suffered, I doubted she would be very quick on her feet for a while. That is unless we could find a healer. “Who were they?” I asked finally when I couldn’t bear the silence anymore. “With any luck, they are who we have been looking for. If so, we should be able to follow their tracks back to their hideout,” Kasumi said. “We’ll wait for dawn, then move to see where they came from.” We spent the rest of the night in anticipation for a possible follow up attack. I too stayed awake, in spite of the fact that I wouldn't be able to see anyone coming. When dawn’s first rays started to illuminate our campsite, I gulped at how vividly it showed the bloodbath of the previous night. I had smelled it for the past few hours, but seeing it was another thing yet. The most gruesome sight was the orc that Vela had abused as a club. One leg was ripped off, presumably the one used as a handle, and her torso and head were smashed to a pulp from being swung against her comrades and the ground. With frightful trepidation, I walked towards where the Werebat I had stabbed had gone down. She was covered in blood and her wings covered her lower abdomen. I reluctantly lifted up on those wings to see the wound and retched. I covered my mouth and took deep breaths to calm myself. Somehow a deep breath of corpse air did not alleviate my roiling stomach. I looked at her face, frozen in a mask of pain and that did not help either. And yet I could not bear to turn away. I took Kasumi to take me by the hand and pull me away for me to finally unglue my eyes from my bloody work. Kasumi looked at me with some worry, but did not say anything. I felt immense relief when we departed soon after. The camp had already been packed up, so we didn’t have to waste any time on that. We looked for a way up to the ledge where the women had jumped down from. Kasumi could certainly have made the climb and maybe I could have succeeded as well, but Faela would not be able to climb well in her condition. Since we still needed to be prepared for possible attackers, the task of aiding Faela had fallen to me. Needless to say that neither of us were particularly enamored with the arrangement and yet I was astonished that she had barely balked at the notion of being half carried by me. She had let out no more than a few snide remarks. It took us more than an hour to reach the point from where our attackers had launched their assault, where Vela was waiting for us with a scowl on her face. In retrospect, things would have been much easier if the dragon had simply flown us up a few meters to reach the ledge. “I hope you haven’t trampled all over,” Kasumi scolded her. “It will be hard enough to make out their tracks in this terrain.” Vela’s scowl deepened, but she kept her tone even as she replied. “I do NOT trample.” “Good,” Kasumi said simply. Then she bent down and inspected the ground before nodding to herself. “There are two sets of tracks. One of them was made by multiple mamono of varying sizes, the other is just one, light of step.” “The archer perhaps?” I suggested. “Perhaps she lost her desire for a fight when she saw how it was going.” “Might be,” Kasumi conceded. “Our best bet is to follow the first set of tracks anyway.” No one had any complaints about that and so, led along by Kasumi, we began to follow the tracks. The kunoichi occasionally knelt down and inspected the ground. Whenever she did so, I too looked at the ground, but whatever Kasumi was seeing, I was not. For all I could tell, we were just blindly stumbling up the mountainside like we had been doing these last few days. I sincerely hoped that we would soon arrive. Faela was not exactly heavy, but supporting her weight combined with the slope had me breathing heavily. That and I still felt unsettled about what had occurred the night before. The trail eventually led us to an inconspicuous rock formation, hidden behind which was a hole in the ground. “I guess this is it then,” I said with a clammy feeling. Then, considering Vela I added. “I’m not sure you’ll fit in there.” She gave an indignant look but was forced to concede the point. There was no use in arguing the obvious. “You will all wait outside,” Kasumi decided and made to enter the hole in the ground that offered plenty of space for her lithe body. “As if. I’m going too,” I said defiantly. I set down Faela and followed after my lover. |
mugen91Sep 10, 2023 2:56 AM
mugen91 said: MetallumOperatur said: She would certainly disagree! :P (for now)Well if it is Vela's intent to not grow feelings for this lowly human, then she has lost the battle already. This can only result in a hunger for more. The mighty dragon (or should I say Fledgeling given her age) didn't even manage to last a single chapter... Those poor girls... It seems if you're born an Orc or a Werebat in this world, you're doomed to become someone's badguy (badgal perhaps a more appropriate name, though) Also that Faela seems to be slowly warming up to you. Looks like I drastically need to speed up my chapter releases, lest you beat me to the first H-scene with an Elf :-D |
MetallumOperatur said: Those poor girls... It seems if you're born an Orc or a Werebat in this world, you're doomed to become someone's badguy (badgal perhaps a more appropriate name, though) Was about to say that you can add Arachne to the list, then I remembered that there is a fair number of positive depictions of them, while I can't come up with a single for orcs or werebats (although it looks like the first orc might be joining an mc soon in em's story^^) MetallumOperatur said: Also that Faela seems to be slowly warming up to you. Looks like I drastically need to speed up my chapter releases, lest you beat me to the first H-scene with an Elf :-D Yes, anything to make you hurry up :P |
mugen91 said: MetallumOperatur said: Those poor girls... It seems if you're born an Orc or a Werebat in this world, you're doomed to become someone's badguy (badgal perhaps a more appropriate name, though) Was about to say that you can add Arachne to the list, then I remembered that there is a fair number of positive depictions of them, while I can't come up with a single for orcs or werebats (although it looks like the first orc might be joining an mc soon in em's story^^) Yeah, but even there she's mostly an antagonist. There is one Orc side character in my MSG short story, but that's also the only one I can come up with. As for Werebats... nada. |
MetallumOperatur said: Yeah, but even there she's mostly an antagonist. There is one Orc side character in my MSG short story, but that's also the only one I can come up with. As for Werebats... nada. Yeah, she's an antagonist, yet she is still to be the closest we've gotten in any of the stories^^ |
MetallumOperatur said: Those poor girls... It seems if you're born an Orc or a Werebat in this world, you're doomed to become someone's badguy (badgal perhaps a more appropriate name, though) Werebats get a sympathetic portrayal in dcw2021's story; the two doctors who perform the ultrasound on Tally are werebats. |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
tygertyger said: MetallumOperatur said: Those poor girls... It seems if you're born an Orc or a Werebat in this world, you're doomed to become someone's badguy (badgal perhaps a more appropriate name, though) Werebats get a sympathetic portrayal in dcw2021's story; the two doctors who perform the ultrasound on Tally are werebats. Halleluja, the werebats are redeemed, then I guess it's just orcs that are bad gals all around |
mugen91 said: tygertyger said: Werebats get a sympathetic portrayal in dcw2021's story; the two doctors who perform the ultrasound on Tally are werebats. Halleluja, the werebats are redeemed, then I guess it's just orcs that are bad gals all around Werebats can be totally cute. For reference: https://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/3092989 |
emeraldtryst said: mugen91 said: Halleluja, the werebats are redeemed, then I guess it's just orcs that are bad gals all around Werebats can be totally cute. For reference: https://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/3092989 No one said they couldn't be cute, just that they are (almost) always portrayed as the bad gals :P Also: that werebat is totally cute |
| Chapter 41 In spite of my bold declaration, there was a slight feeling of unease as I followed behind Kasumi. I was by no means claustrophobic, but being this closely surrounded by thousands, if not millions of tons of rock on all sides in swiftly deepening darkness had my heart racing before too long. Again and again the thought occurred to me that I might get stuck in a particularly narrow part of the passage. My only relief was that I was not going in front and could be relatively secure that wherever I passed through was safe to go. I wondered if all the mamono that had engaged us last night would really have fit through this place though. “This can’t possibly be the regular entrance. You couldn’t bring anything in or out of the place otherwise,” I said in a low voice. Really I was more concerned with distracting myself than I was genuinely interested in the answer. “Shhhh,” Kasumi shushed me. She did not halt in her steps, nor did she react to my statement in any other way. I hung my head and continued moving after her. I swallowed as the ceiling lowered further and crouched into a lower crawl. Sweat covered my neck and back and I moved my shoulder blades to somehow alleviate an annoying itch when I crawled headfirst into Kasumi’s rump. The darkness and the silence with which she moved had made it impossible to tell that she had stopped. I held onto her, glad to hold onto something familiar. With her not making any sound while moving, I had almost started to feel like I was alone. “Why are we stopping?” I whispered. “Light ahead,” Kasumi whispered back, almost too low to hear. I narrowed and strained my eyes but could not make out anything. Of course that could have had something to do with Kasumi blocking the tunnel in front of me. My grip on the small of her back was shrugged off as she continued on and I was alone in the darkness once more. I gave her a moment to get a head start and then continued to follow after her. It took a moment, but eventually I could see a faint, flickering light beyond her nimbly moving shape. Around the same time, I noticed that the passage started to get wider. Not long after that reassuring revelation we were standing in a room and I was rubbing my aching knees while looking around attentively. Kasumi looked dubiously first at me and then the two other exits to the room. One was a door, the other was another tunnel, much like the one we’d arrived through. Stacks of crates were strewn throughout the room. I was tempted to check out what was being stored here, but Kasumi took a determined step towards the door and I followed, not keen on being left alone. Outside was a long corridor that was certainly not a natural formation and we passed quite a few more openings on both sides. “What is this place?” I asked quietly. “I’m not certain, but I’ve heard of ancient defenses worked into these mountains. Networks of tunnels and caves, designed to hide entire armies. Built for a war long in the past,” she whispered back. “How are we going to find our target if this is a huge network of tunnels?” I asked the obvious question. “I imagine our target won’t be too far from where we came in.” I hoped she was right. At least it was better than nothing to go by. Nonetheless, we stalked through the silent tunnels for more than an hour, with no indication beyond the lighting that anyone was here at all. After a while the tunnel we initially followed ended, we had walked back to where we came in and started to systematically scout the various passages that branched off from the main path. It was only a matter of time and so, eventually, we got lucky. Once again it was Kasumi that stopped suddenly, gesturing for my absolute silence while she listened into one of said passages. Eyes closed, she was straining with intense concentration. Finally she nodded to me and gestured for me to be as quiet as I could be. Only then did she proceed into that passage and I followed, careful to be extra silent. This time, it did not take long until I became aware as well. From up ahead, there came the noise of careless conversation, laughter and moaning. Kasumi gestured for me to stay behind as we reached a corner and she crept ahead, utterly silent. I waited in nervous anticipation, yet I was still startled when I peaked around the corner to see Kasumi having appeared there once more. “I found them,” she whispered. “Four mamono.” “Damn,” I cursed quietly and still earned a reproachful look. I lowered the volume of my voice a little more. “Faela is out I think and we won’t be able to fit Vela in here, unless we can find a different entrance.” “It should not be an issue,” Kasumi said confidently. “I’ll bring you outside and then finish this alone.” I vigorously shook my head. I may not be worth much in such situations, but if I was going to be the only available backup, I sure as shit wasn’t going to go back. I drew my sword to affirm my point, although I still felt a bit sick when I remembered that werebat I’d killed earlier. I wasn’t sure if I’d have it in me to do it again so soon. But really, there was only one way to find out, wasn’t there? She looked at me dubiously and her teeth played with her lips thoughtfully. FInally she nodded and bade me to follow her lead. We stayed close to the wall until we finally reached the edge of a more open, furnished cavern. I peered in and saw the four mamono Kasumi was talking about. Two inari, a salamander and a nekomata, as far as I could tell. Any attempt at being stealthy seemed woefully unnecessary, the mamono were talking and laughing loudly, all but one of the inari, who was presently bent over a table and being thrust into vigorously by, who I assumed to be, our target. It was much easier to think of him as a target, rather than a man. Though seeing him now made that piece of mental gymnastics more difficult. He finished noisily inside her and collapsed onto her back, breathing heavily. They remained entangled for a moment, but eventually she got up. She looked quite disheveled. Melnik, if that was him indeed, collapsed on the table once more, still breathing heavily. “My turn again,” said the nekomata as she got up and made her over to the table on unsteady legs. Giggling at her own lack of coordination, she sat on the table in front of Melnik, legs spread wide, though he was still breathing hard. The nekomata then took a long draw from a pipe before sticking the mouthpiece into the man’s mouth. He took a few deep draws of his own and seemed to perk up slightly. The woman retrieved the pipe and gave it another pull of her own. Finally she took hold of the back of his neck and insistently, but not too gruffly, pushed his face between her legs. From there things quickly devolved back into him thrusting with seemingly everything that his hips had to offer. While I was distracted by the sight, Kasumi had started an eerily calm walk into the cavern. It took them a conspicuously long while to take notice of her. Even when they did, everyone but Melnik and the nekomata reacted sluggishly to her presence. The latter two did not react to her at all. The salamander rose to unsteady feet and picked up a large, cleaver-like blade that leaned against her chair and started charging. Whatever that they were smoking, it seemed quite strong stuff, as the salamander could barely keep her balance and ended up running headfirst into the wall next to Kasumi when the latter sidestepped her. She collapsed and didn’t get up again, though she was groaning. The two inari barely even managed to rise from their seats and the copulating couple still seemed unaware of our presence. “What now?” I asked, having stepped out as well. “We’ll tie them up, take Melnik and get out of here.” I nodded, glad I wouldn’t have to use my sword. And also that Kasumi did not have to use hers. There was a row of manacles lining the walls and, after having to get slightly rough with one of the inari, everyone was fastened to the walls. Finally, Melnik and the nekomata seemed to become aware of our presence. The woman jumped up and tried to make a run for it. While she seemed to be better on her feet than her companions, Kasumi caught her with ease and secured her like the rest. “Are you next?” Melnik asked, his words, like his eyes, unfocused. He took an unsteady step towards Kasumi, his erection pointing her way. This somehow bothered me a lot more than I’d have thought. I stepped in his way but he barely seemed to register me. He just tried to brush me aside. I grabbed hold of his shoulder to halt his advance and was caught off guard when his fist caught me in the stomach. I doubled over, more in surprise than pain and he pushed past. I righted myself once more and spun him around by his shoulder. Now it was his turn to double over as my fist collided with his side. He cried out in surprise and for the first time seemed to really take note of me. He looked up at me, panting and looking confused. I kept my guard high. Who knew what he was going to do? “Are you alright?” Kasumi asked with a raised eyebrow. I followed her eye to my clenched fist. Probably fair enough that she was surprised. It was one thing to keep myself in check when I knew that I had no shot against most mamono. But taking shit from him seemed to be a step too far. Not to mention his insinuation that Kasumi was going to be next. The hypocrisy was not lost on me. Melnik, and by the description we had gotten I was reasonably sure that this was the guy, looked up at me and then at Kasumi with wide eyes, his pupils dilated. I wondered what he might do and then suddenly started to sob. “What?” I wondered. But there was no response coming from him. “This is more severe than I expected,” Kasumi admitted as the man began crawling towards her. She took a few steps back to maintain her distance as he weakly grasped at her legs, still sobbing. “What kind of curse exactly was put on this guy?” I wondered but Kasumi could only shrug her shoulders. “Put on some clothes.” Kasumi told him. She seemed to have decided to ignore his sobs, so I did likewise. Even if I was starting to feel real sorry for the guy. Or rather, more sorry than I already did for the fact that he was headed for Marchesa. “I have none,” Melnik said, surprising me with his surprisingly gruff voice. “Take their clothes?” I suggested, pointing at the manacled mamono and he slowly got to his feet, working down the salamander’s pants. I chewed on my lip as I watched him and turned to Kasumi. “I don’t know that I like this, leaving them shackled here. Who knows when someone will find them? It doesn’t seem right to leave them here to die of thirst.” Kasumi scrutinized the scene herself for just a moment before turning back to me. “We can’t leave them free or we risk pursuit. But if you think this is too cruel…” She held out a knife to me. My eyes went wide at the insinuation and I vigorously shook my head. She regarded me calmly, but a slight smile played around her eyes. “We’ll leave enough in hand’s reach for them. Give an anonymous tip to the authorities when we’re out of the mountains. It’s no guarantee anyone will act on it, but will give them a chance.” I swallowed hard. Again my eyes regarded the four women. All in various stages of incapacitation. Neither option seemed great, but I was forced to concede that she was right. The night time attack had left little doubt that they were willing to come to us, so we couldn’t leave them free. And I would certainly not just slice their throats. I didn’t want Kasumi to do it either. “What is this stuff anyway?” I asked, pointing to the still smoldering pipe now lying on the floor. Kasumi picked it up and inspected it, taking a careful whiff. “Some strain of dreamweed,” she said with a slight shudder. “Appears quite strong.” “The name and the smell seemed familiar. I had seen plenty of similar smelling pipes in a seedy gambling den, I recalled. “Is this stuff… you know, legal?” “Depends on where you are. It’s fine in Kaori and Teremir, not so much in Amarante or Elizabeth. In Kioko… it’s a bit of a gray area.” I once more considered the four women unhappily. “Can’t we… I don’t know, rig something up so they can free themselves in a reasonable time frame?” “Sure,” Kasumi’s eyes bore into mine. “If you can think of something?” I returned her look unhappily, but was forced to shake my head. In the end, we moved tables and chairs around to place jugs of water within reach of the unfortunate women. Although, one of them seemed to be getting lucky. “What the hell are you doing?” I hissed at Melnik. “I can’t stop!” He almost screeched as he attempted to find the right angle at which to thrust into the salamander in her awkward, still knocked out position. I walked over and roughly pulled on his shoulder, throwing him to the ground once more. He shrieked, half in anger and half in desperation. I grabbed hold of the salamander’s pants he’d discarded and threw them at him. ”Put those on and then take a shirt from that pile,” I instructed and pointed at a small pile of discarded clothes. I guessed they likely belonged to the other three. They were in various states of undress after all. “He’s going to be trouble,” I mouthed to Kasumi and she nodded her agreement with my assessment. --- The day had turned to late afternoon by the time we finally got out of the bloody tunnel network. “And that’s what we came all this way for?” Vela asked, sounding anything but impressed. In the daylight, I could see that he seemed like a younger man than I initially thought. There hardly was anything extraordinary about him, except perhaps his red eyes. He took a few unsteady steps towards Vela, a bulge showing in his newly acquired pants. I stopped him, though this time it was more to save him than the other way around. I had an inkling that Vela would not be kind if he tried to get right to business with her. It had to be said that Melnik was not very fond of the idea of us taking him away. Sort of surprising, considering his presumed status as a prisoner / sex toy. As we continued to move away from the tunnel system’s entrance, he kept asking to be returned to the caves and his company. When he wasn’t talking about going back, he tried to make advances on the three mamono and some hypocrystal part of me was glad they rebutted him. I knew how hypocritical I was being, given the number of women I’d been with even after meeting Kasumi, but I didn’t want her to be with other men, nor Vela for that matter. We were hardly an item, but I felt like something was developing there. Or had a chance to, at least. As far as Faela was concerned, well, he could have her. It might make her more bearable. We were moving at a brisk pace. All of us were eager, now that we had retrieved our target, to get on with things. Melnik walked in front. Not necessarily by choice, but because he almost had to be herded. He had the tendency to stop or lag behind if he was walking in the back. The first night, after I got done setting up mine and Kasumi’s tent, Melnik tried to get in with us. Part of me felt bad about his wretchedness, but no small part of me was looking down on him. Not the proudest part of me. I was kept awake for half of the night by his incessant mumbling, weeping and incoherent monologuing. Even the next morning, I awoke to much the same melody. I still felt bad for him, but the other part of me was growing the more my patience began to run thin. “What’s your problem?” I asked him angrily, as I made my way out of the tent. “Can’t you behave like a fucking normal person?” I stopped for a second when I saw him. Where before he had only acted like a wretch, now he looked like one. His eyes were sunken, his skin ghastly pale and his face was twitching like crazy. I blinked. “Is that supposed to happen?” I wondered. “I’ve never seen someone suffer such ill effects. Not from dream weed, anyway,” Kasumi leaned over him and laid the back of her hand against his forehead. “He has a fever, but not a serious one, he…” She was interrupted when he lunged forward and tried to wrap his arms around her legs. “I need some,” he pleaded. “Need what?” I asked. “Sex, weed, death, I don’t care anymore,” he screeched. “Why are you acting so… fucked up?” I asked. We had not taken any of the dream weed, death was out of the question and unless Faela developed a spontaneous love for men, sex was likely out of the question as well. “It’s not my fault,” he shrieked. For a moment, there was a hint of steel in his eyes and even of hatred. “It was them! The filthy… They took it from us. We only tried to get it back. There are deaths in war. It’s not fair, not fair, not fair at all,” he raved, repeating himself over and over how it was not fair. “Cursed me, not fair. But I can’t stop, oh why can’t I stop?” As his raving went over to crying I had no idea how to respond. “You’re just batshit crazy, aren’t you? If you want to die, why haven’t you just killed yourself?” His eyes went clear. “You think I haven’t tried? Kill myself, kill those dirty monsters, but I can’t.” He thrust his hand towards me, a bracelet fastened around his arm with no obvious mechanism to release it. “I tried, but all I can think is breed, breed, breed,” he seemed on the verge of tears again. “I have no idea what Marchesa wants with him.” “If breeding is all that is on his mind, I imagine she’ll find a use for him,” Faela said callously. She didn’t seem to care too much either way. Meanwhile, I was precariously teetering between annoyance and pity. Something bad had obviously happened to him that broke him so badly. And it seemed whatever that was had not been unintentional. But what was all that stuff he said about a war? Nonetheless, I decided that it would be for the best if I did not get too friendly with him. We’d be handing him over to Marchesa when we got back and who knew what she had in mind for him. But maybe Faela was right. If breeding was all that was on his mind, he might just get what he was after. When we left the mountains behind us, Kasumi left the group for some time to get information about our prisoners to a nearby town. We judged it best that we avoid such places with Melnik now in tow. While we were in no way responsible for his state, that might be difficult to explain. Not to mention that if he initiated an impromptu breeding session things could get awkward. To my relief, his advances towards Vela and Kasumi waned somewhat over the following day. But that was no because his clearly artificially induced need to breed was subsiding. Instead, and to my immense surprise, Faela became the target for his advances. And to not only my own astonishment, he was not summarily rebuffed. She was still verbally abusive. Quite severely even. But one night, only about a week into our return journeyIn the night, we could hear them getting busy. I had never imagined Faela capable of letting out such sounds. And, as unexpected as this development was, it really was the ideal outcome. Quite a satisfying outcome. Melnik was further concentrating his efforts on her and I had less on my hands keeping him away from Vela. At the same time, Faela’s hostility towards me, which had already been conspicuously decreasing, seemed to disappear for the most part. That was not to say that she was being nice to me. Far from it. But for the most part she had taken to simply ignoring my very existence. Most of the time, at least. We were eleven days into our return journey and walking through a heavily forested area of Elizabeth, en route towards the northern coast, when Melnik’s mood turned darker again. He would often rave about how unfair his life had turned out to be. How he had only been doing his best and that his punishment was unjust and that they should just have killed him. I was still not entirely certain what this punishment was, aside from being horny all the time, but his constant whining was grating on my nerves. “Here,” I finally said and slid a knife out from its sheath on Kasumi’s side. I held it up to him. “If everything is so shitty, why not end it?” No need to mention that I didn’t actually want him to do it. I was reasonably certain he would not do so. He had deliberated at length earlier about how much he would love to, but could not. I was simply hoping it would shut him up for a while. He looked at the knife with an appraising gaze. He licked his lips nervously before tentatively stretching out his hand and taking it from my hand. He slowly raised it towards his own throat. Kasumi gave me a hard stare and was now watching his slow movement, ready to stop him. But that seemed unnecessary. His hand trembled worse and worse the closer the blade came. Just a few centimeters short of his throat his motion stopped fully. He strained and yet he did not manage to move it forward any more. Then the determined look in his eye shifted. He held the blade up before his face. He stared dumbly, like he had no idea what it was he was holding. Then he dropped it to the ground. I had a satisfied smile on my face, certain that this had to shut him up for a bit. But I had obviously made a miscalculation. Instead of shutting up, he blinked a few times, then stared at the knife on the ground and started crying in earnest. I groaned and rubbed my temples in irritation. The last eleven days had slowly battered away at the part of me that took pity on him and I was trying my hardest to suppress the urge to punch him. I looked into the round of my companions, who similarly did not seem fond of the situation. I turned back towards him, to try and calm him down, but before I could get a single word out, a swift moving, winged shape swooped in, grabbed his shoulders and quickly carried him off. Vela stared on as dumbfounded as I was. Kasumi’s response was slow, hampered by Faela, who somehow got entangled with her as she was trying to set her down, still not recovered enough from her leg injury and needing support. Kasumi gently disentangled herself from Faela and swiftly ran off in pursuit. Vela finally overcame her surprise and unfurled her wings a moment later. With a few mighty beats of her wings, she launched into the air to follow, leaving me alone and somewhat dumbstruck, together with Faela. |
mugen91Sep 25, 2023 1:45 PM
| Oh, dang! He's one of the survivors of Haktiva! Way to bring in canon lore, mugen! |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
tygertyger said: Oh, dang! He's one of the survivors of Haktiva! Way to bring in canon lore, mugen! Yeah, was looking through some of the threads in the forum to find some inspiration and thought that seemed like something someone like Marchesa might want to own :) |
| Chapter 42 When I woke I found myself lying on a bed of furs. I was drenched in sweat and I felt my breath coming in weak and labored, shallow bursts. Every part of my body ached and I felt strangely weak. I wanted to open my eyes, but only succeeded with one of them. Something was obstructing my left eye and simply attempting to open it resulted in a lance of pain shooting through my skull. I raised my right hand to feel what was causing the obstruction, but gasped as more pain shot through my body, particularly as I tried to move my fingers. I swallowed hard and brought my hand up before my eye. It was wrapped in bandages cut from old cloth and only a stump remained where my ring finger had been. That did not make sense. The world spun around me and I felt sick. What was happening? Where was I? And what had happened to me? I blinked a few times and returned my attention to the hand. What the hell had happened to my finger? Finally, I managed to wrest my focus from my hand and raised it to my face. A poultice lay over the entire left half of my face. A throbbing sensation sparked as I softly brushed across the poultice and quickly grew into stabs of pain with every beat of my thundering heart. Suddenly, a hand grasped my wrist and gently pulled it away from my face. I was startled. I hadn’t noticed anyone with me, though I had been hyper focused on myself and trying to figure out what was going on. I turned my head slightly to the left, which was surprisingly difficult and stared with one wide eye at a woman with a head of curly blonde hair. “You shouldn’t touch that,” she said even as she stifled a yawn. She looked tired. I pulled back my hand and she released my wrist without a fight or argument. I tried to scramble backwards weakly, but was forced to realize that I could barely lift up my body and the pain that immediately sparked everywhere quickly put an end to that notion. I only half managed to stifle a pained groan as the woman got up from the wooden chair beside the bedside and kneeled down onto the furs next to me. “You’re safe, you don’t need to be afraid.” The woman, she seemed human, lifted her arms in a disarming gesture, showing she was not a threat, but it was difficult to feel consoled by her gesture. “Safe from what? Who are you? What did you do to me? Where are the others?” I meant to shout, but my voice had no power behind it. It came out as a weak rasp instead. The edges of vision started to darken. The woman’s eyes widened briefly as though she was surprised. Then she caught herself and put on a calming smile. “These are not questions I can answer,” she said calmly as I was struggling to put my torso upright. She watched me struggle for a moment, then she sighed. Ignoring my weak protests, she gently pushed my back down to lie flat on the furs. I didn’t have the strength to resist her. Even then I felt my eyelid flutter and I struggled to keep my eye open at all. She sighed and smiled calmly once more. “You should rest,” she said. “The time for words will come later.” I watched her for a moment longer, tried to discern her motives, but my eyelid grew heavier and heavier. It was a losing battle. --- When I woke up once more, there was a vague picture of teeth in my mind. But not an animal’s teeth, nor really a person’s. Filed or ground to points they seemed to be. The motion caused a feeling of dread to wrench its way through my gut. As the pain reasserted itself, I grew more confident that I was awake and that this was not some twisted dream. With great effort, I partially lifted my torso from the furs and looked at my surroundings wearily. There was no one with me this time around. I found myself in a large room much longer than it was wide. It was sparsely furnished, save for the bed of furs I lay in and further decorations of various animal pelts and a few weapons decorating the walls. I clenched my hands into fists and immediately regretted it as my right hand responded with white hot pain shooting up my arm. I groaned and resolved not to do that again. With some more effort, I set the furs lying atop me aside and found that helped me move a bit more surely, though it still took nearly all of my strength to sit up. With some hesitation, I slowly moved my legs out of the bed and put a little bit of weight on them. Though my weakness was not the only thing that made me hesitate to rise. My eye was caught by further bandages wrapped around my legs and patterns of criss-crossing, half-healed cuts that covered my legs, my torso, my arms. I moved a hand up to my face, the left one this time, and very carefully palpated the left portion of my face. It was still covered in a poultice. It felt a bit more numb this time, but still my probing fingers were met with pain. I froze as the only door to the room opened and sunlight streaked inside. My eye narrowed as the woman from earlier stepped inside. “I thought I told you not to touch that,” she said in a tone of mild reprimand. She really did appear entirely human. Or at least I could not make out any immediate non-human features. That didn’t necessarily mean anything though. She stepped into the room, but stopped a short way from the bed when she saw how tensely I watched her approach. She had an open face with a friendly smile on her lips, shoulder length, curly blonde hair and a well-built body. “How do you feel?” She asked, her voice now turning more friendly. “Terrible,” I answered honestly. My voice was a sad, cracked affair and I broke into a coughing fit that felt like I was being pelted with fists all over. She took a few steps closer, but halted once more when I immediately tried and failed to put more distance between us. “You don’t need to be afraid of me, I won’t hurt you,” she promised. She sounded very sincere. And if she meant me harm, I felt there was little I could do to offer resistance at this time. “So you say,” I said anyway and put as much hostility and suspicion in my tone as I could manage. “Where am I? Is this Kaori?” I hadn’t a clue why anyone would do to me what they seemed to have done to me. At no point had I been under the impression that I had to fear this kind of violence from a mamono. With the exception of sexual violence, of course. But many people had spoken of Kaori as a land of bloodthirsty savages. Of course, that left the question of how I had ended up in that forsaken place. “You are with the Ano’sal,” she said, which drew a blank gaze from me. “An amazon tribe in Elizabeth,” she clarified. Elizabeth rang a bell and it was decidedly not Kaorian. I remembered that we had been traveling through Elizabeth. Still, how did I end up at this place? “And how did I end up here?” “Two of my sisters found you, badly hurt and brought you back here,” she said. Once more she sounded sincere. I stared into her open eyes, but could see no lie there. And yet there was something strange. Sisters? Didn’t she say this was an amazon tribe’s village? She doesn’t look much like one. “Can you tell me your name maybe? You can call me May,” she said and pointed to herself. I narrowed my eye, but couldn’t find any reason in particular to refuse her my name. “Sönke,” I told her softly. “Thank you, Sönke. You look tired, perhaps you’d like to sleep some more?” I looked at her uncomfortably and she continued. “Don’t worry, we won’t do anything to you.” And what could I do to stop anyone right now? I wondered. “I think some more sleep might be good,” I agreed hesitantly, if only to buy myself some more time to myself. I had to think. I had to recall what had brought me to this place. I let myself slowly sink down onto the furs again as the woman retreated through the door. It took me a long while to fall asleep again. All throughout I kept watch on the door to make sure that indeed no one was coming back in. --- I dreamt of being in a dark room and I lay on a big slab of wood. A blurry figure was standing on my side. No matter how much I tried to make out details, I couldn’t see anything but a set of teeth, ground to points, grinning down at me madly. Though the scene was still and nothing happened, I felt a sense of pervading anger, helplessness and despair. After a night of troubled sleep, I was ripped from even more troubled dreams by a loud knocking on the door. I waited, scrutinizing the door, wondering if May had decided to come once more. But no one came in and so I hesitatingly said “Come in.” And in came May, the woman from the day before. She carried a bag over her shoulder and a platter of food in her arms and smiled at me from the door. “May I come in?” She asked and I nodded after brief consideration. She stepped inside and took care not to make any too sudden movements as my eye remained locked on her. “It’s time to change your bandages,” she explained as she nodded towards the bag on her shoulder. I nodded again and she stepped closer. She set the platter and the bag down onto the bed, then grabbed the furs and slowly pulled them back while still leaving my midriff covered. With a supporting hand on my shoulder, she helped me sit upright and lean against the wooden wall the bed of furs was next to. A strange, uncomfortable shudder raced across my spine as she touched me and I could not discern a clear reason. I doubted it went unnoticed, but she made no comment on it. Instead, she efficiently went to work removing my bandages, inspecting the wounded skin and flesh beneath and applying fresh ones after putting some kind of salve onto my wounds. “You’re looking much better,” she commented freely. “For a while we weren’t sure you were going to make it. Many of your wounds were infected by the time you came here. We had to use a lot of our diluted mermaid’s blood. Though the undiluted thing would have worked much better. Daena still had a hard time with you.” I shot her a questioning look and she elaborated. “One of my sisters who found you.” I nodded and let her continue her work in relative quiet. It appeared she had done this sort of thing before, as she worked with practiced ease. The most problematic one was my face. Beneath the poultice, there was a sort of dried, dull green paste and it was quite sticky. Removing that hurt and I could barely restrain myself from thrashing or lashing out at her as she worked on cleaning it off my face. I barely endured it with clenched teeth, my breath coming in short, strained bursts. “Sorry about that,” she said and appeared all genuine. “This one is the worst of the bunch, much worse than the others.” I raised my hand, intent on probing whatever damage had been done to my still unseeing eye, but she caught my hand. “I wouldn’t. Give it some more time,” she advised. I bit my lip in consternation. “Will my eyesight come back?” I asked in a hoarse voice. She gave me a pitying look that was all the answer I needed, but she still shook her head. I sighed wearily, the pity in her eyes stung, though not as much as my eye. At least the pain somewhat overshadowed the discomfort that her touch seemed to elicit in me. She inspected my face with an unhappy look, but finally nodded her contentment. Then she applied some vivid green paste to my face and covered it with another poultice. With her work finally complete, she nodded, appearing satisfied. “Try to eat something,” she said and nodded to the platter of food she had brought in. I gave it a first good look. Strips of dried and fresh looking meat, an assortment of berries and some nuts. I swallowed dryly. I felt so weak, yet there was no hunger. Still I nodded and after another moment the woman rose to her feet and made for the door. As she opened it, I broke the silence, though she cut me off before I could finish a sentence. “I’m sorry that I...” “Don’t worry about it. You’ve been through quite some ordeal, take your time to get better,” she gave a wink and stepped through the door, then pulled it closed behind her. Through the door I could hear muffled voices. There were at least three, but I could barely make out the words they spoke. “[...] looking? [...] more [...] infections?” A calm voice spoke in the tone of a question. “[...] I’m doing. Don’t [...] recovering, but…” The second voice sounded like May. “But?” “[...] scared [...].” “Really?” The third voice cut in, a bit louder than the others.. “ [...] as well take care [...] mother sent May only because [...] afraid.” “May will [...].” The first voice retorted. “We will have to see how [...]” The rest I could not hear, as the voices moved away from the door, out of my ear reach. Great, I thought wearily. So I’m in some unknown village, with a bunch of people I don’t know. Someone had a field day with me and I can’t remember how or why. I have no idea where Kasumi or Vela are. Hell, I would welcome Faela at this point. But how am I going to find them? I don’t know anyone in Elizabeth. And will these people even let me go when I’m better? I clenched a fist, the right one, and the ensuring lance of pain helped cut through the confusion as I tried to put my thoughts in order. Panic would not serve me. Not now, not here. At least so far it appeared as though these Ano’sal people were not hostile and their care to make a good impression seemed promising, at least. Still, what the hell had happened to me? I only remembered that savage, mad grin, made up of teeth ground to points. But when I tried to remember more, I was only rewarded with an increasingly intense headache. |
mugen91Oct 8, 2023 6:02 AM
| Well someone here has been slacking for a week. On the upside, two chapters to read! :-D Chapter 42: An elf getting laid!? What madness had this world plunged into!?!!! Chapter 43: Sönke might be better off not trying to remember what the fuck happened, and just focus on getting his girls back. And to make it up to you, I finally got around to make this. I hope it looks somewhat like the Vela you have in mind. |
MetallumOperaturMay 2, 2018 5:20 PM
MetallumOperatur said: Chapter 42: An elf getting laid!? What madness had this world plunged into!?!!! Haha, beat you to it :P (Although nothing was written out, so you can still claim that) MetallumOperatur said: Chapter 43: Sönke might be better off not trying to remember what the fuck happened, and just focus on getting his girls back. That might be easier said than done, but who can really tell? :P MetallumOperatur said: And to make it up to you, I finally got around to make this. I hope it looks somewhat like the Vela you have in mind. Woohoo, passport update. Comes close enough :) |
| Chapter 43 I was back in the dark, lying on the slab of wood, chained down. I felt fear, but the sense of pervading despair from before was missing. “What do you want from me?” I asked and the venom in my voice poorly masked my unsettled state of mind. A little girl, black of hair with dull red eyes was standing next to me, grinning maliciously. “I’m just here for my bonus,” Her smile turned sly before grabbing me by the balls and squeezing down. I groaned in pain as she continued. “As for what's in store for you… I’ll just promise you won’t enjoy it,” She kept that smile on her face as she said that. “Now, my little slut, I’m not like that dried up elf, it’s time you give me some sugar.” --- I’m so bored… I thought to myself. My injuries had largely kept me from leaving the bed during the last few days and even when I did rise, I hadn’t actually left the house I found myself in just yet. And it wasn’t only because of my infirmity. The strange thing was that when I was alone I craved the distraction of company, yet when May came in to change my bandages or to bring me food or drink, my anxiety quickly rose to uncomfortable levels. I was at once eager to go out and irrationally afraid of what I would come across there. Logically, I was reasonably sure that this was an unconscious reaction to what had happened between now and my separation from Kasumi and the others. I had not regained any significant memories though, aside from impressions of rape in a different, though equally dimly lit place, along with far more unpleasant things. “Where are you from?” May asked me on the fourth day since my awakening. “I’m not from around here, not Arcadia I mean,” I replied curtly. She leaned closer, enough to make an uncomfortable shudder run down my back, and continued. “You’re an outworlder then? How long have you been here? Where are you from? How was it like there?” “Hmmmm…” I mused to myself. My experiences since arriving on Arcadia played back in my mind as I mentally tallied up the days and weeks. I recalled what Kasumi had told me about the arcadian calendar that was different from the one back home. It had been close to exactly half a year when we left the mountain range with Melnik. Now I did not know how much time had passed since. “Around half a year,” I said, giving my best estimate. “And have you found… someone during that time?” She pointed at the markings on my body, proof of my being bonded with Kasumi. “Yes,” I nodded and smiled when I thought about her. “Yeah, we’ve been together for a little while, ever since I came to Bestallion.” “And why would she do something like that to you?” May’s tone turned serious, provocative. I shot her a sharp look as my mood, which had lifted a bit from thinking of my previous time on Arcadia and of Kasumi, plummeted. “She didn’t,” I said in a tone that could certainly be interpreted as hostile. “Yet you do not remember what happened to you,” she pointed out. “Then how do you know?” I looked at her with a narrowed eye. Was she trying to goad me somehow? Of course I wanted to know what happened. What happened to me and what happened to Kasumi and Vela and even Faela. But to claim Kasumi had done this was absurd. “Why would she? Everything was going fine. Besides, the titbits I dream of that I can remember are not of her, or any of my other companions.” Though one of them referenced the ‘dried up elf’. That could refer to Faela, I thought privately. Then, wanting to not have her be the only one that got out with some new information, I asked. “What are you doing here? You said this was an amazon village, right?” She smiled. “And you wonder what a decidedly non-amazonian human woman like me is doing here? Well, I was born and raised here. My mother came to share my father with the elders of the village, though there wasn’t much of a village back then from everything I’ve been told. I’m sure one of them would be willing to share the story with you, if you ask.” She gave a noncommittal shrug. “You could come out and take a look for yourself.” I squirmed uncomfortably. She had been suggesting similar things for a while. My unwillingness seemed to be showing on my face as she quickly backpaddled. “Whenever you’re ready of course, just know that everyone is on alert to not harass you. For now.” “For now?” I asked incredulously. “For the time being, no one will touch you unless you agree to it,” she promised. “For now, perhaps you should rest some more.” She waited a moment for some confirmation from myself, then she got up and left. I heaved a long and frustrated sigh. On the one hand I had to get out of the house at some point. I couldn’t hide forever. But I was not sure if I was ready just yet. I was not sure how I’d hold up against the incessant attention that would probably be lavished on me, even if May assured me that they would leave me alone for the moment. My experiences with mamono made it difficult to believe and considering how uncomfortable things felt with just her I wasn’t sure I’d be able to deal with that just yet. --- “She’s gone soft, to be tricked so easily.” I turned and saw a familiar sight. A kunoichi with a distinctive scar running from her forehead over her left eye and down to her chin. The bad feeling in my stomach turned into a pit and I turned to run in the other direction, only to be stopped by two more kunoichi that had crept up soundlessly. I stopped and looked around in a mild panic. When one of them grabbed my wrist, my body seemed to recall what Kasumi had taught me. I turned and threw her over my shoulder. She made a graceful pirouette in the air and landed on her feet with equal graceful ease. Then, faster than I could react, she closed the distance and struck me on the side of the head. The next thing I knew I was lying dazed on my stomach. I was confused and struggling to coordinate my limbs as I desperately tried to think of a way out. The woman held my arms behind my back and pressed a painful knee into my spine. I was fast running out of ideas. --- Three days later I still hadn’t gone outside. I was steadily recovering and growing stronger, faster than I would think possible given my injuries. Mermaid blood, even strongly diluted, and other remedies performed far better than I’d have guessed. But at the same rate as I grew stronger, I also ran out of excuses to make to myself for why I was still in bed. “I think maybe it’s time for me to… go outside,” I said carefully when May came with the breakfast. Her face lit up a little. “That’s good. Very good. If you’d like, I could show you around after you’ve eaten something?” I nodded and slowly ate the simple breakfast made of fruit, nuts and some cold meat. Even before I had finished, I regretted saying something and when the good was gone I was near to calling the whole thing off. But I knew I could not postpone it forever and I was easily strong enough now. I grabbed at the furs covering my lower half and hesitated. I looked at my naked chest. “I should probably not step out butt naked.” That might have been bad. “My sisters will be disappointed,” she sighed theatrically, then smiled. “But I suppose that’s fair enough. I’ll go and get you something to dress.” She stepped outside and left me to wallow in my uncertainty if stepping foot outside really was what I wanted. Luckily she returned before I rationalized myself into remaining shut in for a while longer. I quickly got to work dressing in the simple tunic and pair of pants she brought me. But even with all the weight I had lost since whatever had occurred, there was no missing that things were quite tight. While I managed to squeeze myself into the tunic, the pants wouldn’t budge and after struggling for a while I gave up. “This is not going to work,” I complained. May gave me a contemplative look, tactfully, avoiding to look at my nethers and shrugged. She stepped over to a chest standing against the wall and produced a leather skirt of sorts and threw it over to me. “This should fit.” I gave the thing a critical look and then extended the same to May, who simply shrugged again. She seemed to say ‘What’s the issue?’ I growled in annoyance, but resolved myself. I couldn’t hide forever and I certainly couldn’t go out with my balls dangling in the breeze. Though with this, that’s actually what they’ll do, I thought to myself quietly. The skirt was easy enough to put on and at least it wasn’t girly. In fact, it was rather heavy and went well over my knees. Still, my hands kept going down to ensure everything was sitting right. I hadn’t seen myself wearing a skirt at any point in my life, and certainly wouldn’t have imagined going commando. But a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do, I supposed. I flinched against the bright morning sun as we stepped outside. my eye had already grown unaccustomed to bright light, it seemed. Of course, half my face was still covered in a poultice, so it really was only the one eye that caused me any issue. After my eye adjusted, I carefully looked around. The village was small, tiny even. Eight houses of varying size, some proper longhouses, others, like the one I was in, smaller. I also noticed that the temperature seemed to have dropped considerably since my apparent accident. Perhaps we were finally going into autumn proper? “As you can see,” May explained, “it’s not the biggest village, but it’s still nice, all around.” “Sure,” I agreed half-heartedly. Then wondered with a look around. “But where are the other inhabitants?” “I have an idea,” she said with a look of slight annoyance on her face as she led me around the village and towards the tree line that started not too far away. The trees confirmed my thought that the season seemed to be finally turning to autumn. The leaves had began to change even around the time we left with Melnik, but now the vibrant greens were turning to yellow and red and brown in earnest. After walking for another five minutes, she announced. “And this is one of our nicest features, our own little lake!” We passed the last few trees and indeed, what came into view was a small lake, perhaps 30 meters across. In and about the lake were around fifteen naked women, lounging about or washing. I came to an abrupt halt as I felt my heart thundering in my chest. May, with a sigh, said. “That’s what I figured.” Aren’t they cold? I wondered in an attempt to distract myself from my still growing discomfort. And it was true that just seeing them like that gave me a little shiver. That and maybe the stiff breeze that was blowing past my balls. I looked on, somewhat torn between arousal at the display of so much naked flesh on display and trepidation as I felt my anxiety levels continue to rise. While I contemplated a quick retreat, we were spotted and a few of the amazons started to walk towards us. I noted two of them in particular, mostly for the fact that they looked close to identical. The only visible differences were the different styles in which they wore their light brown hair. They made quite a picture, both with deeply tanned skin, large breasts, well-defined muscles and large poles dangling from between their legs. I took a deep steadying breath and my thigh twitched in readiness for flight. Most of them kept at a distance, but the two twins kept coming. That was something at least. “That’s Danna and Daena,” May told me as they arrived, eyeing me with obvious interest. “They are the ones who found you and brought you back here.” Why would you give twins such similar names? You’re just asking people to mess up the names. “I should thank you then,” I said, not quite sure where to look with both of them in their birthday suits. “I know just the way you can thank me,” one of the women with shoulder length hair said with a grin. She put an arm around my shoulder and pulled me in without being bothered by my resistance. For a moment I was too surprised to do much beyond a mild struggle. But after that moment passed, I felt my heart rate spike to an uncomfortable level and intensified my efforts to scape her grasp. Before the incoherent jumble of sounds I produced could turn into more coherent words, May stepped in. “Danna, you remember what the chief said. Give him space!” She scoffed and, with some reluctance, released her tight grip, all while giving the human woman an annoyed look. “Easy for you to say. We found him and so he should belong to one of us. Yet mother only lets you to him so you can seduce him.” “Relax, Danna,” the other, who had refrained from coming too close, said. “He came out today, give him some more time. Or maybe ask before you squeeze him too hard.” The effect of her words was somewhat overshadowed by her bobbing erection pointed at me. In spite of everything, I couldn’t help but wonder how that would feel inside me. She was a fair bit larger than Kasumi or any other endowed partner I had had. But that wasn’t exactly important just then, so I tore my gaze away and the woman, Daena gave me a wink. I decided that it was a question better left untouched. “Well, alright then,” Danna finally said, then pointed a finger at May. “But I’m watching you. Remember who he belongs to.” She crossed her arms before her ample chest and turned around, walking back towards the lake, all the while swaying her hips in a way that had been deliberate. “See you later cutie,” Daena said, her voice somewhat husky, but otherwise simply friendly. She refrained from touching me, but blew me a kiss before she turned as well to join her sister in creating a tantalizing picture. May looked at their backs for a moment with a slight frown on her face, but then she turned back to me and said. “Let’s continue then, you probably want to get a bath at another time.” “Maybe that’s for the better,” I agreed. Neither the temperatures nor, for the moment, the company seemed agreeable with me. I followed her back to the small collection of houses that was their village. “Do you want to see some more or prefer to go back?” She asked. “I don’t know, going back sounds pretty good, but wouldn’t it be rude to not see this chief of yours?” “Don’t worry, she’ll come to you if she decides it’s time or she gets impatient. And you can always go see her tomorrow.” I mulled it over for a moment. “Let’s do that then,” I agreed and contemplated for a moment. “Is there any truth to what Danna said?” “You’re asking if I’m trying to seduce you?” She asked, a twinkle in her eye. I nodded. “Well, I mean. I’m not necessarily opposed. You have no idea how it is to be the only human woman here, all of them with their flawless skin and perfect tits. I don’t have any mana augmenting my strength and my speed and my endurance. Still, I’m every bit the warrior they are,” she said proudly. “But I guess you have to crane your neck a lot,” I said, a little chuckle on my lips. She was easily one and a half heads shorter than I was, while both Danna and Daena had been at least a head taller than me and the others hadn’t looked much shorter than them. She pulled a face, but then chuckled a little and agreed. “That as well.” She escorted me back to the hut and left me to my own devices. Even though it had only been a short walk, I felt a bit tired and I realized, with a pang of annoyance at myself or perhaps at my body, just how weak I had become. In spite of being tired I began to pace back and forth when I was alone. The trip outside hadn’t been so bad as I had expected. The danger that my subconscious seemed to constantly expect had not materialized. Still, it wouldn’t do to get all anxious from seeing a couple of naked women. Not in this world. Not in any world, really. I had to get more comfortable around people again. But how does one overcome an irrational fear? I supposed the best way to achieve that was to expose myself in controlled doses. I resolved that I would continue to go out. Perhaps I should sleep with some of the locals after getting a bit more comfortable? But what then? Try to get back to Bestallion and hope to find Kasumi, and perhaps Vela, there? Wouldn’t they be looking for me? How could I find them while on the road? Would Vela even care? She seemed to like me, I thought, but would she put her quest for revenge on hold for me? Would these amazons even let me leave? Danna’s obvious claims of ownership were troubling. And while I knew that mamono tended to not present a physical danger to myself, whether they would consider my needs and opinions on the same level as their own was an entirely different matter. Of course, I could not forget what happened to me either. Whatever it was that had happened to me had involved mamono. Even if my memory was a jumbled confused mess of barely remembered details, I was reasonably sure of that. I was also unsure how the legal situation in Elizabeth was in regards to keeping a man against his will. What could I realistically do if they chose not to let me go? Even in prime physical condition I was no match for an amazon. And I was far from prime condition. Could I perhaps move them to help me find my companions again? But what manner of incentive, beyond my own body, could I even offer them? --- I breathed heavily as I desperately looked for a way out, but the shackles holding my hands and feet left me with little room to move. The scarred kunoichi, with her teeth ground to points, grinned menacingly at me from above. I winced in anticipation of another hit, but instead she walked around me and pushed a little table into my field of view. "You’ve got to be kidding me," I exclaimed and my fear rose several pitches higher. What had come before was beyond what I might endure. How could I manage this? The next punch hit me in the face. It was barely enough to keep me quiet and subdued as she slowly presented her tools. Blades, hammers, tongs and more in varying sizes were neatly laid out. She brushed her hand thoughtfully across her tools and finally settled on a small scalpel-like blade. Her pointy grin became even more demented as she closed in and she seemed to delight in my desperation as I wildly thrashed in my bonds. --- Looking around frantically, I saw May standing over me. She held me in place. “Are you alright?” She asked. Worry dimly showed on her face in the candlelit darkness. Breathing painfully, my body slowly released its rigid tension. I closed my eye and wiped my forehead while cursing at myself in my mind. I reopened my eye and considered the woman standing above me. “What are you doing here?” I asked. I still struggled to control my breathing. “I was just going to see if everything was alright. Are you alright?” She asked again. I pushed a finger into my eye and sighed in loud frustration. “I’ll be fine,” I said without much conviction. Then I yelped in surprise when the bedding shifted slightly and May leaned in. She didn’t fully commit and gave me the chance to accept her or to push her away. The desire to be alone and the desire to be with someone warred inside me. I swallowed hard and my mouth still had a bad taste in it from my sleep. Then I closed my eye in acquiescence. The woman continued to lean in a wrapped me in a warm embrace. As she pressed my head against herself just above her chest, I felt a brief impulse that it should be I who held her and not the other way around, but it quickly passed. Still my heart thundered in my chest as I felt torn between comfort and discomfort. My own weariness eventually decided the conflict and when I began to relax, my eye close once more and I drifted off into a blissfully dreamless sleep. When I finally woke up I felt pleasantly rested. More so than after previous nights where I had started awake from a nightmare that I only remembered figments of. My sleep appeared to have been calm as I found myself in nearly the same pose as when I fell asleep. Still my head was softly pressed against May’s chest and I could hear the slow beats of her heart. I realized that my disquiet at her presence, while not gone, was not bothering me quite so much as during previous days. It gave me hope that exposure was indeed what I needed, even if I knew that things would take time. The realization filled me with a sudden gladness to be alive and I hugged her. I felt the need to share in my mundane realization that there was hope, but I also did not want to wake her. I was startled when her hand began to brush across the top of my head. Hair had began to sprout there and would need to be cut again, another sign of the passage of time. Her fingers brushed across my scalp. Back and forth, sometimes more gently and sometimes a bit firmer. My own hands gently traced across her bare back. I dimly wondered why she had been naked, if all she intended had been to check on me and why I hadn’t noticed it the night before. She stopped stroking my head and disengaged from the close contact. Our eyes met and I saw a flush on her cheeks. I swallowed. I had seen these looks plenty of times since coming to this place and my suspicion was confirmed when she rolled me onto my back and stroked her fingers across my chest and belly. Her other hand gripped one of mine, the left one that was not so crippled and guided it between her thighs. I stared at her as I felt her heat and then my eye drifted down to see the small patch of groomed pubic hair above her pussy. My eye returned to hers and I wondered. “I thought you weren’t seducing me?” She had said she wasn’t necessarily opposed, but that was two different things. “I never said that,” she said as she guided two of my fingers inside of her. I didn’t aid her in what she was doing. But I didn’t fight against it either. “You just have to say ‘no’,” she told me. She withdrew my fingers stopped stroking my chest. Then she said astride my abdomen and I felt the smear of her arousal wet against my skin. I still looked at her uncertainly. My erection seemed to indicate that I was physically able. I had thought about sleeping with one of the women to see if it might help me. But was I ready for this? While I was left unsure, May slowly shimmied down towards my jutting erection. Her eyes never left mine as she left a slightly wet trail across my abdomen. Finally I felt my cock against her backside and she lifted herself up. My tip poked at her and she seemed ready to take the plunge. My heart thundered and I felt consumed with indecision. “You ready for this?” She asked huskily. Her toned body was flexed, ready to go. The heat of her sex on my tip urged me to plunge in. Her flushed cheeks told me what she wanted. “No,” I whispered and I shuddered. I saw her swallow and she seemed caught in indecision herself. Then she lifted herself off of me. “Sorry,” she said. “I thought it was… Nevermind, I shouldn’t have.” She grabbed a handful of clothes lying on the ground beside the bed and hurriedly made her way out of the small house, leaving me with a confused jumble of conflicting emotions. |
mugen91Oct 20, 2023 4:15 AM
| Uh, oh! Someone didn't mention to Sönke that the spell that makes it so hard for monster girls to get pregnant does not work on humans... Well at least he's got a new passport entry :-) |
MetallumOperatur said: Uh, oh! Someone didn't mention to Sönke that the spell that makes it so hard for monster girls to get pregnant does not work on humans... Well at least he's got a new passport entry :-) Don't worry, just like all the rolls since leaving Ahmose, my rate of hitting pregnancy remains at 0% :P |
mugen91 said: Don't worry, just like all the rolls since leaving Ahmose, my rate of hitting pregnancy remains at 0% :P Ah, but there is always the Author Fiat option; if the plot demands a pregnancy, a pregnancy occurs. :) |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
mugen91 said: MetallumOperatur said: Uh, oh! Someone didn't mention to Sönke that the spell that makes it so hard for monster girls to get pregnant does not work on humans... Well at least he's got a new passport entry :-) Don't worry, just like all the rolls since leaving Ahmose, my rate of hitting pregnancy remains at 0% :P Hey, blame the WotC dice roller. Though if you were going to take issue, it would make more sense for it to be with the initial rolls. It's been a lot more average lately =) |
emeraldtryst said: mugen91 said: Don't worry, just like all the rolls since leaving Ahmose, my rate of hitting pregnancy remains at 0% :P Hey, blame the WotC dice roller. Though if you were going to take issue, it would make more sense for it to be with the initial rolls. It's been a lot more average lately =) Yeah, though for this one the roll should have like a 25% chance, rather than the usual 5% ;-) |
emeraldtryst said: mugen91 said: Don't worry, just like all the rolls since leaving Ahmose, my rate of hitting pregnancy remains at 0% :P Hey, blame the WotC dice roller. Though if you were going to take issue, it would make more sense for it to be with the initial rolls. It's been a lot more average lately =) No complaining, just noting how I marvelously managed to lose all rolls since leaving Ahmose :P TsunamiSeeker said: I'm loving your story so far Mugen! I've only read to the point where your MC has made the deal with Kohaku and Rin for safe passage but I'm looking forward to reading the rest of it! I have a lot of reading and catching up on general to do... 😂 Thanks :) I can imagine that, if you only recently found this forum, you have quite a bit of reading to look forward to :P |
| Chapter 44 About an hour had passed since May left me in bed, wondering whether I should have let her do her thing or not. A gentle knock sounded on the door of the house and it was pushed open. “Everything alright?” May asked. “Hmmm,” I mumbled. “Yeah.” “Are you feeling up for a chat?” “Sure,” I shrugged. “I’m talking about the chief and the others,” she clarified. I frowned. I couldn’t say I really felt like it, but I could hardly hide forever, could I? Not to mention that these amazons might not show patience with me forever. “Yeah, let’s do it,” I agreed. I rose from the bed with some effort, though I had grown much stronger since first waking up. I dressed in the somewhat inappropriate clothing and we left the hut to head straight for one of the longhouses. Within the house built of weathered wood was a single large room with a fire blazing in a pit in its center. Seated on rugs around the fire were four women, Danna, Daena, who had apparently saved my life, and two others I did not recognize. Finally, there was an old man sleeping in a chair close to the pit, snoring lightly. One of the unfamiliar women spoke up when I remained standing in the door frame to study the room. “No need to be shy now. Have we not proven already that we have no unbecoming intentions with you?” One of the unfamiliar women said in a somewhat stern tone. Daena quickly scooted a little to the side and tapped on the rug beside her. With some reluctance, I sat down next to her. As May was about to seat herself beside me, the woman continued. “May, please get something to drink.” I looked from face to face and felt a nervous anxiety building in my chest. I gave it my best shot to suppress it as I waited for the woman to continue her little speech. “My name is Shyan,” she finally continued in that same somewhat stern tone. ”And as you may have guessed, I’m the chief around here. Though I am chief, decisions that do not require quick action are usually made in plenum of my sisters and me. This is one of my sisters, Lya, and this here is our husband Egon.” I considered the second woman she had gestured to and the sleeping man, then nodded and supplied my own name. “It’s nice to meet you.” Even if the circumstances are questionable. “You have my gratitude for your… hospitality.” She nodded with a hint of a smile, but didn’t say anything in return. Silence filled the room for a moment as the four women looked at me intently. “May suggested that there was something that we needed to talk about?” I decided to just let the cat out of the bag and skip over the awkward part. Before Shyan could answer, May came up to us with a few large mugs and handed one of them to everyone present, except for the old man. I took a deep sip and let out a pleased moan. Shyan’s lips curled up slightly in seeming approval. “A healthy appreciation for mead bodes well on your recovery and perhaps your character.” I wasn’t sure how enjoying their mead correlated with my character, but took another deep sip anyway. I figured that a light buzz might only help me with whatever she wanted from me. That and it might help disperse some of this intense discomfort I felt. So long as I didn’t drink too much. Finally, Shyan continued. “We have asked for you to come to discuss your future. As you have already been told, it was Danna and Daena who found you and brought you back here. And while Elizabeth’s laws have made the proper, or rather, forceful claiming of a man problematic, our rule is nonetheless that the woman who finds a man has the right to be the first to…” she thought of the right word for a moment, then gave a smile. “…convince him of her charms. My eye flitted to the two women in question. Like the other two amazons, they were tall and strong. Pretty, to be sure. Charms certainly were not the issue. The issue was whatever the hell happened to me and where Kasumi was. While I thought about her words, Shyan turned to May and continued her little speech. “While I understand your desire to take your chance, May, these two rightfully feel cheated, especially after you have been given the task to care for him.” May frowned at those words, but nodded. “While you are a human as is he and the law does not permit any mamono from stopping human reproduction, at least the consensual kind, the rules of our tribe stand nonetheless. However, if you will take a step back for the time being and since your advances were rebuked at this time, we feel there is no need to talk of punishment.” The two exchanged another long look but didn’t say anything more. “How would you have handled this before Elizabeth came around?” I asked. I had a pretty good idea what the answer would be, but was curious how direct they’d be about it. “Unless extraordinary circumstances were present, you would not have been given much of a choice,” Lya said. “If the two could agree to share, that would be the end of it. If not, a duel might have decided who got to claim you as their own.” Her tone was matter-of-factly, but there was a hint of regretfulness in it as she said it. The idea that they might have kept me here against my will rankled, but it seemed at least that they respected the laws of their Lord. At least while I cooperated. I couldn’t dismiss the possibility that hospitality might fly out the window if I started being too much of a contrarian. I knew it wasn’t fair to judge them by the standards of my erstwhile home and yet… “We found him and one of us should have him!” Danna exclaimed. Her voice sounded like those words had been stewing in her mind for a while. I twitched as one of her muscles arms wrapped around me and I tried to squirm out of her hold. “He’s obviously well enough that he doesn’t need to be pampered anymore. I say we get this over with so that either Daena or I get what’s ours!” Lya shook her head and gave her a stern look. “Shyan just said that ain’t how it is anymore, girl.” Danna deflated a little at that and her grip on me loosened enough for me to squirm out of it. I scooted a little away from her. That brought me closer to Daena, but at least that twin seemed uninclined to manhandle me just then. “Who cares about the laws?” Danna demanded proudly. “Who is going to enforce that law? It’s not as if I would mistreat him.” “Oh, I don’t know, maybe I care? Who says that I want to be with you?” I asked sarcastically. Maybe not the most diplomatic outburst, but what else could I do? “Shush now,” Danna said in a demanding tone, which didn’t serve in the slightest to break my rising anger at the condescension. Danna meanwhile continued her tirade while I glared. “It’s normal for men to be reluctant, isn’t it? We take care of them, we protect them and we fuck them and in exchange, they serve our needs and love us. Are those not our ways? What right has Elizabeth to tell us how to handle our men?” Shyan shook her head. “As I said, that’s not how it is anymore. Your logic might apply if we lived somewhere in the deep woods, far from civilization and with no rule of law beyond our own. That is not even mentioning that this man is clearly claimed already,” Shyan replied. “Which means, at some point, someone will likely come looking for him. Are you going to murder them? Are you going to fight the enforcers of our Lord’s laws when a complaint is lodged against us?” Danna deflated visibly, but still had her chin tilted proudly. Shyan’s gaze switched to me. “In spite of what I said, we hope you will show your gratitude and give them both a chance to prove their worth though.” I turned my head to the left and to the right to look at Danna and Daena. The first did her best to show me a lascivious look in return, though she was obviously rankled at the tongue leashing she had just gotten and the other gave me a more laid-back smile, though her eyes seemed somewhat thoughtful. “As you observed already, I already have a wife and… well, something else. I’m not sure what you might call it.” “Where there is room for two, there is room for three or four, right?” Lya reasoned. “Now, I’m not telling you to marry ‘em right away, just to give ‘em a chance. That and maybe a good romp in the sheets. The last part you could extend to most of our girls ‘ere.” She grinned lewdly on the last part. I looked at her, unsure of how to respond. Was she just trying to lighten the mood? “I don’t see why I can’t give them a chance… talk to them at least. It’s the least I can do, I suppose,” I conceded. I sincerely hoped that ‘giving them a chance’ was not speak for ‘I’ll marry them’ to them. “Terrific. Now, I hope we can avoid any further unpleasantness and I hope you girls are set at ease now, nothing is lost yet,” Shyan’s stern tone softened and she smiled. Danna and Daena nodded and spoke their agreement and rose from the furs they were seated on. After a short hesitation, May followed their lead as they went for the door. “I’ll find you later.” Danna promised before closing the door. I stayed where I was. I had a feeling like they were not quite done with me. Shyan then heaved a deep sigh and set a sharp look on me. “On to more serious matters then. We’ll need you to tell us exactly what happened to you. I’d say that you’ve been tortured and left to die. Needless to say that is not something many mamono around these parts would do lightly to a man. Even if he were deserving of it in some ways. I’ll need to report this and I’ll need to include more details than what I’ve gleaned from Danna and Daena’s report.” I grimaced. I still didn’t remember enough to make a coherent statement. There was no disputing her assumption of torture, but beyond that? After our ‘cargo’ was taken, Faela and I must’ve gotten ambushed or attacked. A few kunoichi and that little black-haired girl at the very least. A dark room, a slab of wood and shackles. Beatings and torture instruments. Luckily, I didn’t remember much of the actual torture. I could live with it if that particular part of my memories did not return. My speech was halting as I told the two what I remembered, both because I strained my memory to give them details and because of how thinking back on things that hard set my head spinning. They both looked serious and didn’t say much to interrupt me while I spoke. Almost as an afterthought, I told them who I was traveling with before my patchy memories started. They both raised eyebrows when I mentioned Vela, but made no further comment. I imagined that hearing I was traveling with a dragon was unusual enough to raise an eyebrow at. I decided to leave out the part with Melnik, since I was reasonably sure, after that verbal leashing Danna had received, that that kind of thing would be entirely illegal around these parts. To be fair, I hadn’t imagined that it would be entirely legal before either. When I concluded my story, there was a mixture of concern and controlled anger on their faces. There wasn’t too much in the way of pity to be seen, but that was fine with me. Pitying myself was bad enough, but I didn’t want strangers to pity me as well. When I finished, Lya said. “There are many gaps in your story. Are you certain that is all that you recall?” “It’s all I can remember. Every time I focus on remembering my head starts to hurt,” I admitted. “I see,” Shyan said. “ Then it will have to suffice for the time being. If you remember any additional details, I expect you to tell us immediately!” “Leaving that aside, what’re you gonna do now boy?” Lya changed the topic. “I’d like to find Kasumi and Vela, though I have no clue how to go about that. I might go back to Bestallion, though I’m doubtful I’d find them there.” “If they’re searching for you, which you seem to assume and I think reasonable, it might be hard to locate them,” Shyan agreed. “I also cannot recommend making the journey by yourself. Whil Not everyone you meet in the wild or on the road will be as generous in their following of Elizabeth’s law as are we. A man by himself always presents temptation.” “I’m aware of that,” I said through gritted teeth. “So what do you propose?” Shyan’s stern facade vanished and she grinned wide “We could always help each other out. If you were to find a bride or two among ours, she might be willing to help you find your other lovers. It would be a much safer journey.” I frowned at her and then I sighed loudly and rubbed my remaining eye. “I don’t know if I feel comfortable choosing a bride just to make sure I can safely travel. That seems, I don’t know. Cheap?” “Take your time,” Lya suggested. “And if Danna or Daena cannot convince you, there are others who have been anxious to get a chance to convince you of their merits.” Almost as an afterthought, she added. “Do feel free to show them a good time, but be aware that mounting a man is the traditional way an amazon claims a mate. There is a limit to how much we are willing to break with tradition.” I pictured May’s earlier attempt at getting on top of me and wondered if that mentality applied to her as well. “I guess there’s no damage in going out on a date or two,” I relented, though I hardly felt convinced. “Ha, you’re alright then. You’re gonna like this place, you’ll see. It’s simple enough, but that’s nice in its own way” Lya laughed and clapped me on the back with enough force to make my teeth rattle and my largely healed wounds ache. I frowned nervously. I had previously basically whored myself out in a not entirely different situation, but marriage? That felt like a bridge too far. Still, I felt that I had no other choice but to play along for the time being. And who could say, maybe I could get away with a similar arrangement as I had the time before. I excused myself soon after and headed back to the hut, where I lay on the bed and tapped my feet and thought about my situation. Perhaps an hour later, the door was once again abruptly opened and Danna waltzed in without waiting for a reply or really waiting at all. I couldn’t quite tell if she had switched her clothes. Before she had basically worn a fur bikini. Now she still wore a fur bikini, only with less fur. I hated to admit it, but she had a great rack. “Are you ready for a good time?” She asked suggestively. I stuffed my reluctance deep, deep down and asked. “What do you have in mind?” I had promised to give things a shot. So long as they didn’t go past what I was comfortable with, I would play along for now. “You’ll see,” she said with a smirk and grabbed me by the hand. My right hand, luckily I noted. That would have hurt otherwise. Somewhat forcefully, she led me out of the small village. I noted that she had a bow and quiver and a bedroll on her back and a sword on her hip. “I wanted to thank you for helping me,” I told her. “It’s an amazon’s duty to take care of and protect her man,” she said in response, her tone almost like she was explaining something to a child. “Your appreciation is still appreciated in turn.” Her man? I wondered. Already I was starting to get a bit of a bad feeling. We walked through the wooded terrain until she finally stopped on a clearing when the sun was starting to set. “You go and collect some kindling,” she commanded as she unstrapped her bow and walked off into the woods. I sighed and looked around. Alone in the woods. Not far from the village, sure, but still not ideal. A little annoyed I complied with her comm… request. I reminded myself that I had decided to play along for the time being. Luckily, I did not run into anyone else while I was collecting kindling and before long, I returned to the clearing, where I got to work on getting a fire started. Danna seemed to have planned ahead a bit and collected the actual firewood already. By the time she returned, I had a small fire going, even if my crippled hand had caused me a lot of consternation. She carried a rabbit by the ears and handed it to me. I gave her a quizzical look as she sat down on the bedroll she had brought. She answered my quizzical look with an expectant one of her own. Then a spark of realization showed in her eyes. “Oh, I’m sorry, you need this of course.” And she handed me a small knife. “You want me to cook for you?” I asked, a bit perplexed. “It is the duty of the woman to provide for her man and the duty of the man to take care of the household,” she said in the same tone as she used earlier. “Cooking surely falls in the domain of the household, does it not?” I shook my head lightly. “I’m not your man,” I reminded her and her smile faded a little in response. Again I reminded myself that I had decided to play along for the time being. I felt grateful to Kasumi for teaching me how to prepare different small animals during our trip. I gutted the rabbit, though my right hand continued to give me a fair bit of trouble. Finally, I had the rabbit ready and suspended over the fire. “Good, good. Now, would my little man like a little appetizer?” I heard Danna ask from behind me. I turned and saw that she had gotten undressed and was sitting, leaning back on one elbow, her legs splayed wide. She was stroking her impressive tool as the secretions of her female sex glistened on her thighs in the firelight. I frowned. “Let me guess. it’s a man’s place to please… a woman?” I asked. The sight would normally have been very arousing, I could muster no enthusiasm in my voice. Instead I felt my heartbeat quicken and I barely suppressed another flashback. She smiled wide. “And whoever said that men were slow to learn? I heard that outlanders sometimes don’t get it, but clearly you do.” She invitingly ran her hand down her smooth stomach. While my anxiety was acting up again, that wasn’t all that kept me from appreciating the display this time. The thought that I ‘knew my place’ as a man rankled my sensibilities. That and I could help but be curious how she’d react to rejection. “Yeah, I’m going to have to take a rain check on that one,” I said in a measured tone that I hoped did not betray the different strands of thought. Her face fell for a moment, then settled into a frown. “Why?” She demanded. She rose to her feet and closed in fast. “I have saved your life. I have shown my skills as a provider. Clearly you understand your place!” Before I could defend myself, she was on me. She stood at more than two meters tall and was heavier and far stronger than I was. She pressed herself against me and one of her hands quickly trailed lower, down to the skirt I was still forced to wear. I tried my best to push her off of me, but she was so strong. She easily forced me to the ground and I felt her hand roughly grab at my shaft and stroking at it. Then her hand wandered to my ass and squeezed it. “I heard it feels special to stick it in a man. I can’t wait to find out!” --- I was back in the darkness, three women took their turns brutally raping me, beating me, taunting me for my wretched helplessness. Doing everything in their power to destroy any hope of better days. Far from sunlight, the only way to track time were the repeated torture and gangraping sessions. --- I shrieked in pain as a lance of agony shot from my balled fist all the way up into my shoulder. One of my hands had gotten free in the scuffle and I had socked her in the chin. Of course it had to be my crippled hand. The scream made her pause and finally look at my face. She stopped when she saw the wide-eyed, fear addled look on my face. She held me down for a moment longer and looked deeply uncertain of herself. Finally got off of me and I scooted away from her before wrapping my arms around my knees. Sobs were violently attempting to break out of me and I desperately tried to suppress them. “What’s wrong?” She asked. She squatted down in front of me and put a hand on my shoulder. I struck at her and even after the first one, she didn’t seem to expect it at all. With a resounding smack, my healthy hand delivered an open handed slap. She made a pained exclamation and looked even more confused as I shrugged off her hand and wordlessly rose to my feet. I started back towards the small village. “I didn’t expect you to reject me. You’re supposed to want it too! I thought you would…” she said and sounded a little desperate then. I ignored her. “Come on, we can still…” She grabbed my hand from behind and forced me around. I reached back to strike at her again as I tried to suppress the uncontrollable panic roiling in my chest. The second slap did not connect. She caught my arm as I struck, but she didn’t press that advantage. Instead, she hung her head and took a deep breath. I tugged and tried to get free of her hold on both of my wrists. My crippled hand was screaming in agony. Finally she released her grip and I wrenched myself free of her. I turned and started back once more. I wasn’t even sure why I wanted to go back to the village. That’s where she was going, wasn’t she? But where else was I meant to go? The amazon remained silent for a moment, then spoke up again. “Wait a moment and I’ll bring you back. I need to put out the fire.” I almost ignored her again. But I was at the edge of the clearing and beyond was a dark forest. Would I even pick the right way back? As she returned to extinguish the fire and scoop up the bedroll and the rabbit on its skewer, I waited impatiently. She caught up with me and we walked back to the village in silence. I walked a few steps behind her the whole way. A few curious women were awake as we came back, but it seemed the mood was obvious enough that none of them attempted to strike up a conversation. “Good night,” she said as I pushed open the door. I looked back at her, but didn’t say anything and went inside. I tore myself out of my clothes and went into the furs of the bed. I shivered and trembled and cursed at myself as I rolled into a ball. What had I expected, really? Amazons were known well enough to hold for being conservative in a mamono kind of way. Add to that the fact that Danna had clearly been jealous and was anxious not to miss out on this opportunity that I presented. I had allowed Shyan’s words to lull me into a false sense of security. The unfortunate truth was that many mamono did not view rape as a major issue. Hadn’t Shyan herself even seemed regretful of the fact they had to do things differently now? And how much of my reaction really was a matter of the attempted rape. I had been coerced before, hadn’t I? I had even been raped before, hadn’t I? Had I reacted like that before? Would the me from before have reacted like that? He might have just slept with her anyway. He wouldn’t have broken down from being fondled a bit, would he? He might have been annoyed, though. He wouldn’t have thought it was right. Still, the incident clearly indicated that, while my body was steadily recovering, the same could not be said for my mental state. Rather, it seemed like the more memories I recovered, the more my mental state deteriorated. With my thoughts consumed by worry and still trembling softly, it took me a long time to finally fall asleep. --- The next day, no one came to me for what seemed like many hours. It was hard to gauge the passage of time with the little light that entered the place after all. But the muggled sounds that had been entering the place for what seemed like hours seemed to indicate that it was much later in the day than usual when someone finally knocked on the door. I expected May, had feared it might be Danna, but was surprised to see Shyan, the chief herself, enter after a brief wait. There was a troubled look on her face. “How are you doing this morning, Sönke?” She asked. There was a sternness in her tone, but also a hint of softness. “I’m fine,” I lied unconvincingly. Though I had had plenty of time to myself, the lack of sleep and my general state had to be apparent.. “I am here because of…” she started, but I interrupted her. “Don’t.” I interrupted her immediately and she gave me a curious look. “Let’s be honest, measured against the average behaviour of the women I’ve met on Arcadia, she hardly did anything bad. She forced me down, but didn’t follow through on the whole rape thing. It’s just that I…” I broke off, not sure how to continue. “I did warn her to take it easy,” She said with a sigh. “But the girl is more stubborn than an ass. She had been disciplined.” “Disciplined ho…?” I shook my head. If I was honest, I didn’t even really care. The chief leaned against the wall and looked down on me from her high vantage. There was a moment of silence between us until she finally spoke again. “It would be nice if you could tell her what you told me. She is quite broken up about it.” I stared at her, but finally didn’t give her more than a noncommittal shrug. She remained leaning against the doorway a while longer and seemed to wait for something more. But there was nothing forthcoming. At least not from me. Finally she asked. “Would you prefer to be alone?” I nodded and she turned and left. I wasn’t actually sure I preferred to be alone. But I had been curious if she would leave and she had. All things considered, it really seemed like I had been lucky to end up in this place. I should probably take care not to be so rude, especially to the chief. I imagine if her goodwill runs out, it might get a little less comfortable around here, I mused idly. Some time later, there was another knock on the door and Daena walked in after I gave the ok. I twitched as she reminded me of her twin. The only real difference was that her skin was slightly more tanned and that her shoulder length hair was longer. She carried in the food that May had brought me until the day before. The selection was much the same as before; fruits, nuts and dried meat. She sat the food down on the side of the bed and grabbed an apple. “I hope you’re hungry.” She said with a lazy smile. I forced myself to smile back half-heartedly. “My last meal was a while ago,” I confirmed. In spite of that, I wasn’t sure I was hungry. “May I?” she asked, gesturing to the bed. I looked at her suspiciously, then scooted to the side and nodded. She sat down beside me, but kept her distance. “I thought you were probably not in the mood to be taken on a trip right now,” she said. I considered her. Was this her idea of a date then? She grabbed a piece of the dried meat and held it over my mouth. I frowned at her, but she insisted. “It’s good!” As proof, she put some in her mouth and chewed in exaggerated delight. “That’s not what I… ah fuck it, whatever.” I opened my mouth and waited for her to deposit some meat in my mouth. “I must admit, I just love feeding meat to cute guys,” She said shrewdly. I looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “That was bad,” I finally said and a weak snort came out of my mouth. She grinned in response and held out some more meat for me. I sighed and looked at it, then opened my mouth. She kept feeding me, which was pretty weird, but not unpleasant either and didn’t make much conversation, which was just fine with me. I wasn’t in the mood to be talking. As I ate, an appetite slowly began to assert itself and eventually, most of the food was gone. When I indicated that I was done, she rose from the bed. “I’ll be back with more later,” she promised and sauntered out the door. |
mugen91Nov 3, 2023 4:53 AM
| "I love feeding meat to cute guys," Daena? Srsly? If you're too subtle, he might not know you're flirting with him! |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
| Danna might be a jealous and eager, but she does seem to genuinely care for him. Kinda feel bad for her. |
tygertyger said: "I love feeding meat to cute guys," Daena? Srsly? If you're too subtle, he might not know you're flirting with him! Little know fact - Daena recently won her third consecutive title in 'almost too-subtle to notice innuendo!' MetallumOperatur said: Danna might be a jealous and eager, but she does seem to genuinely care for him. Kinda feel bad for her. Who knows? Maybe she still gets a chance? |
| Chapter 45 Daena continued to bring me food for the next few days, sometimes she would feed me, other times she just watched me eat. She made idle small talk or joked around. Occasionally we would eat together. In the meantime, I barely bothered to leave the small house. As a result, aside from May who dropped in almost as often as Daena did, I had few touch points with the amazon tribe aside from those two. As the days progressed, I slowly began to feel more and more at ease around them. This was most apparent in the fact that I didn’t mind that they tended to inch closer and closer and made sure to establish body contact for prolonged periods of time. Neither of them ever propositioned me for anything overtly sexual, instead they would ask seemingly innocuous questions or touch themselves conspicuously or let out a too pleased moan when they ate a piece of sweet fruit. At first I wondered if I wasn’t reading too much into it after I’d been conditioned to expect sexual antics from mamono at any point. Of course, May wasn’t one, but she’d grown up among them, hadn’t she? But after a few days, it became very difficult to deny that it was more than my overactive imagination. The sensual motions did not cease and neither did the pleased moans. Rather, they became more common. I felt strangely ambivalent about it at first, but couldn’t deny that it began to have an effect on me. And a far greater one than if they had simply begun more overt actions. Though I believed, in the hours I was alone, that the fact that they seemed neither bothered nor angry when I continued to not take the bait. And it wasn’t as if there were only those attempts at seduction. Most of the time we would genuinely just spend talking about this and that or just spend the time in silence. Though eventually, Daena in particular had to leave when her own arousal was clearly getting the better of her. I felt strangely bad about it. Much worse than I had about denying Danna. Which was not bad at all. Wasn’t I basically teasing her at that point? But she was the one who kept coming back, wasn’t she? She did come back every time. And every time she left with obvious difficulty to keep from jumping me. It was the evening a few days after Danna’s poor attempt at seduction when I was once more lying on the fur covered bed with Daena. May had been there earlier as well, but had to excuse herself to attend to some duty. I expected that Daena would soon follow, judging by the way her bosom heaved with her breaths and the way her already bronzed skin was flushing darker still. Of course, the most obvious part was the way her heavy skirt was threatening to capitulate the fight against her straining erection. I was thinking about her and what I was going to do. I was largely recovered by that point. Physically, anyway. I was eager to be gone and to search for Kasumi and Vela as well. Part of me even wondered what had become of Faela. Though I wouldn’t go as far as to say I would be sad if I didn’t see her again. I thought back to the chief’s words. That search would go much easier with some protection at my side. But to marry one of them for that reason? Not to mention doing so without the knowledge and agreement of Kasumi? No matter how much of a manwhore I was at that point, that didn’t sit right with me. I shot Daena a sidelong glance as I slid one of the final strips of meat into my mouth. Before… whatever had happened, I would have been on her, or more likely, under her, in a heartbeat. And even through my own nervousness, my own arousal could hardly be denied. Part of me was afraid of what might occur if I gave in. Another part of me reasoned that, even if marriage was off the table for me, I had to give up something if I wanted a chance to move on. Absently, I scooped the last bit of food from the platter. “Already done?” Daena asked unexpectedly. Her voice was hoarse and low and inviting and made me swallow nervously. She looked at me intently, then added. “I should probably get that out of here.” She grabbed it and rose, but I didn’t let go. She raised an eyebrow at that. “What are you planning to do now?” I wondered. I wasn’t sure where I was going with it myself. “Oh, I think you have a good idea about the first thing I’m going to do,” she rasped. I swallowed again. I did have a pretty good idea. “Say it.” My own voice sounded raspy and I saw her pupils dilate even as she licked her lips. She let go of the platter and rasped. “I’m going to make the one-eyed woman cry.” My eye drifted downwards for a moment and the tent in her skirt jumped as if in response. “What’s she crying about?” I wondered. Was I really going to do it? She smiled sultrily. “She has no one to catch her tears.” Again my gaze drifted down for just a moment. I remembered how May had taken me out of the small house the first time and how I had seen Daena and her twin naked. The tent gave me a good idea, but how big was she when she was fully aroused? I’m not going to do anything drastic. But I can give her something, I decided. I patted the bed beside me and she sat back down. She bit her lower lip and raised an eyebrow in an unspoken question. My tongue slipped out to nervously lick across my lip. “Why don’t you make her cry right here then?” I wondered. “Oh?” She wondered and her lewd smile turned into a wide grin. “Would you mind if I…?” She nodded over to my legs, but she didn’t quite wait for a response. She took the platter from my hands and threw it to the side, then she scooted over until she sat between my legs. “Help me with this,” she asked in a throaty tone and gestured at the leather vest she wore. I helped her slip out of the vest and felt her soft skin under my palms. Her skin was soft, even if the muscle underneath was anything but. Then she shimmied out her skirt down her legs and leaned against me mostly naked. Her long snake bobbed upwards. “You like that, don’t you?” She had craned her neck and turned her head to whisper right in my ear. There was some uncertainty in me, but it was slowly superseded by arousal. “Yes,” I admitted. “I knew it,” she continued to whisper in a hoarse tone as her hand wrapped around herself and slowly stroked herself up and down. She took a deep breath. “You smell so good, did you know that?” She asked. At least I had had a few baths in the cold lake. Otherwise that comment would have left me very self conscious. But there was really something more interesting going on in front of me than to worry about that. How big is that thing? I wondered to myself. Out loud, I said no more than. “Damn.” “We grow big around here,” she moaned as her hips twitched. “Though I feel like this is not quite right, is it?” She stopped stroking herself and changed position until she could comfortably lay her head on my shoulder. She placed a steamy kiss on my neck and took hold of my functioning hand with her own. Without resistance from myself, she guided my hand between her legs, past her big balls and against the wet furnace hidden behind. “A little help?” She said in that same throaty tone. Her tongue softly teased my neck as I sank first one, then two fingers into her hot folds. “Hmmmmmmm,” she moaned into my ear and her tongue intensified its teasing of my neck. “Try going harder and faster!” She soon asked as I pushed in and out of her with my fingers. I followed her wish and slowly increased the pace of my own movements. She bent her head further back over my shoulder as her hips began to vibrate with suppressed motion. Her moans grew louder and more needy. “Almost there!” She pressed out between moans just as I sank a third finger into her. Her body went more and more rigid and began to vibrate even more until finally, she went fully rigid, then limp, then rigid again as her whole body flexed and relaxed repeatedly. “This was a bit poorly thought out,” I said a few moments later. She’d made quite a mess all over herself. “Sorry, but you could say I’ve been a bit overstimulated these last few days,” she laughed a full bodied laughter that I couldn’t help but join in on. Then she took a hold of my hand again and licked my fingers clean of her own juices. “That was nice, but I can’t help but feel a little backed up still,” she commented after thoroughly sucking my fingers clean. Still she was holding on to my wrist and slowly she began to guide my hand back down. Once again I did not resist as this time we stopped earlier. She guided my hand to her still semi-hard member. It was hot against my hand and some of her viscous cum that had slid down her length, rather than shoot all over her stomach and breasts clung to my hand. It felt good in my hand and I squeezed it softly, then massaged it lightly as it began to pulse in my hand. Daena’s moans returned and I felt through my hand how blood rushed back into her dick and made it grow hard and long and thick once more. Not much of a refractory period on that one, I thought to myself. “Is that how you like it?” I teased her. “Hmmm…” she started kissing my neck again. Then she craned her head to slowly work her way up to my mouth until she finally placed a light kiss on my mouth. “This is great, I would love to put it there though.” I ceased stroking as I considered her words. It was hard to deny that part of me wanted to taste her. She seemed to misinterpret my pause and quickly changed course. “But we can save that for another time.” I chose not to correct her and resumed my stroking, though much more slowly than before. I quite enjoyed seeing her twitch as she held back from bucking her hips against my hand. Not to mention her tongue that kept running along my neck and the teeth that occasionally nibbled on me. Even though I made sure not to overstimulate her, it didn’t take that long before I felt the throbbing that announced the imminent approaching of her second climax. As she did, she held out her hand so that a sizable portion of it splattered into her palm, instead of all over herself. She held it out and let the viscous mass slide back and forth and then held the hand up before my face. “Want a taste?” Again she affected that hoarse, lewd tone. Looking at it objectively, that was not a very appealing sight. And yet it was. I nodded slowly and wondered when I had started to develop such tastes. Then again, Kasumi had fed me hers quite often after overcoming her initial strangely shy attitude. And I had indulged with a fair number of other futanari, aside from her. Her index finger separated from the others and softly probed against my lips and I let it pass. The taste was much as I had come to expect. Slightly bitter, somewhat tangy and a little bit sweet. And yet it was strangely sensual. One by one she had me clean her fingers, then the palm of her hand and when that was done, she scooped up more of her cum from her breasts and stomach and made me lick that of her fingers as well. And I took all of it and enjoyed it. When she had been made relatively clean, she exclaimed. “Oh my,” and repositioned herself to sit comfortably next to me, then grabbed a hold of me with her tail and somehow effortlessly lifted me into her lap. I was too subdued with arousal to really give it much thought beyond enjoying her soft breasts against my back and her strong arms wrapped around my torso. She repositioned me slightly until my head rested in the expansive valley of her chest. “Wouldn’t it be wrong if we left things off with only myself feeling good?” She asked sultrily. One of her hands reached out to brush against my erection hidden beneath the skirt I still had to wear in lieu of a decent alternative. “But I won’t do it if you don’t want to,” she added. I bit my lip. I wanted her to do it. And she wanted me to say that I wanted her to do it. “I want to feel good as well,” I said hesitantly. “Hmmmm,” she purred in satisfaction and flipped the skirt over onto my stomach to reveal my own needy length. She expertly began to stroke it up and down and her other hand closed in on my balls and started to lightly massage them. She seemed to enjoy this almost as much as our previous activity as she hummed to herself contentedly. She slowly increased her efforts to coax my own seed out into the open. And she didn’t exactly have a hard time. I hadn’t touched myself since first waking up in this place and the subliminal stimulation of the last few days combined with the very overt stimulation of the last twenty minutes had me quickly reach the edge of my endurance under her skilled ministration. There was probably something to be said for a moment to have a dick of her own to know what to do with it, but then again, it seemed to come naturally to most mamono. “Almost there,” I warned moments before the point of no return, but she continued without abating. Expertly, she had me spurting my load just a moment later and I wriggled and gasped as she continued to stroke me throughout my orgasm. The hand that had been busy with my balls had moved just in time to catch my entire load. I felt slightly light headed when it was done and I relaxed against her breasts as I breathed deep, contented sighs. Daena meanwhile busied herself licking her hand clean of what I had just flung into it. “This was great. I’m proud of you,” she purred from above me even as her arms wrapped around my chest and she held me close to her. I wondered why exactly she was proud of me, but it made me feel good nonetheless. But as a severe drowsiness came over me, I decided that it didn’t really matter. --- Hours later, I awoke lying on my side. My face was held tightly to Daena’s breasts by her strong arms reaching around me and something hard was poking into my midriff. “How are you feeling today?” Daena, who seemed to sense my waking, greeted me in a cheerful voice. I groaned and barely suppressed my first instinct of pushing her away. Or struggling out of her embrace, at the very least. But I suppressed it, even if she certainly sensed my sudden tension that I only slowly coaxed back into relaxation as I remembered what we did before I slept. “Surprisingly good. I actually slept through the night,” I said after a moment of consideration. It was true. Either no time at all had passed, or we had spent the rest of the evening and the entire night together, judging by the slivers of light that entered the house through the closed shutters. “Good to hear,” she said and it sounded like she was smiling. “I have to say though, we got quite sticky yesterday. What do you say we take a bath?” “Sounds good,” I agreed after another moment of consideration and she slowly, almost reluctantly, released me from her embrace. While I got dressed, though I could not quite recall getting undressed, Daena did not bother to get dressed at all. She just scooped up her things and stepped outside naked. I followed behind her and was greeted by knowing looks and more than one propositions for who I might spend the next night with. Somewhat tight lipped, waved them off. I knew they did not mean harm, but it made me uncomfortable still as we headed towards the small, cold lake. “Still not quite comfortable, huh?” She asked and put an arm around my shoulder to pull me closer to herself. “Not quite,” I agreed quietly. “I feel like a few days of close contact helped but… well.” She frowned and looked thoughtful for a moment. “You’ll get there,” she finally said and in good cheer once more and I nodded. What else could I do? We arrived at the lake and I pulled a face as I considered the very cold bath I was about to take. Though the hygiene was appreciated, none of my baths so far had been anything even remotely pleasant. But we had gotten quite sticky, so I reluctantly shrugged out of my clothes and slowly followed Daena into the water. “H-h-how are y-y-you not bo-bo-bo-bothered by this co-co-co-cold?” I asked through chattering teeth. I took a quick dive into the water, gave my body a cursory wash and quickly stepped out again, wishing myself in the bathhouse of the Wet Scale or perhaps back in Grey Gardens or Umbra. I began to curse loudly as I realized I hadn’t brought a cloth to dry myself with. Cursing even more, I tried to rub my skin to get some more warmth back into it as goose bumps formed on my skin. Daena came up from behind me and embraced me, which didn’t help as her skin was just as cold, if not colder than my own. I let out a startled yelp. “Stop that, that makes it worse.” “You should wait for winter and then go for a dip, then you’ll know what cold is,” she said playfully, but still let me go and I quickly put on my clothes, not a comfortable task with me being wet as I was. “Come on then, let’s get you warmed up then,” Daena said mercifully after getting dressed herself and we headed back. Not back to ‘my’ house, but into one of the longhouses I was not yet familiar with. By appearance, it seemed to serve some form of communal function, as we found seven other amazons sitting around a fire pit inside, similar to the one I had found in the elders’ longhouse. This meant that seven pairs of eyes instantly glued onto me and started competing for attention. It was a bit too much, really, but at that moment my desire for warmth far outshone my sheepishness. Daena, seemed to sense the warring priorities and scooped me up from behind and sat us down by the fire pit, placing me on her lap. I thought it was a bit embarrassing, but the others didn’t seem to pay it any heed, so I decided it was not an issue. Besides, I had long learned not to be embarrassed by things that would probably have been very embarrassing back on earth. And really, was it so embarrassing to sit in the lap of a muscular amazon standing more than two meters tall? “Hey sugar. Don’t you think you could use some different company tonight?” “Why don’t I warm you up instead?” I heard from all sides, but for the moment, I figured that one woman would have to suffice, so I politely declined them. “Soo,” Daena then suddenly started. “I was wondering if last night means it’s alright to move back into our house?” “Our house?” I asked. “Well, mine and Danna’s. You didn’t think we had fully furnished houses standing around in case we found a man that needs some privacy, did you?” “Oh, I guess I didn’t really think about that,” I admitted. It certainly made sense, but somehow, I had not even considered that it was someone’s house. A few of the women snickered at that or chuckled, but I paid them no heed. “Does that mean both of you will be moving back in?” I asked. I was reasonably confident I was not comfortable sharing a bed with Danna. My previous reaction may have been blown out of proportion by the onset of a flashback, but I still felt it was unacceptable. Her attempt to force herself on me did not exactly speak well for her character as far as I was concerned. Even in a world where such things were considered relatively par for the course. “She could,” Daena said. “But we always said that whoever got a man first would get the house to herself. At least if we’d be living in the village.” “You didn’t consider…well, sharing?” “No,” she replied simply. “Chances are, if you find a man you’re going to have to share. But Danna and I have shared everything. We shared a womb, we shared a crib. We learned to fight together and we lived under the same roof and slept in the same bed for a long time. We learned to hunt together. But we were also rivals all our lives. Obtaining a husband is a goal we all pursue and so, this is also a point of competition. Besides…,” she heaved a sigh. “Ever since she’s been away she’s had these ideas that a husband should be serving and cooking and cleaning and looking after the kids all day and never dare look at someone else unless she allows him. You know, that whole thing,” she shrugged with a somewhat displeased expression on her face. “So you don’t want that?” I wondered and considered my feelings on having Kasumi or even Vela being with other men. I might be a hypocrite, but I did not enjoy the thought. “I don’t see the big need for a subservient husband,” she said with a shrug. “Of course it would be nice to have a man for myself,” she also admitted. “But not probable. And it wouldn’t work with you anyway.” “Not likely,” I agreed. “What does your… partner think about that whole affair? Sharing, I mean.” That seemed like a leading question, but I let out an amused chuckle in response anyway as I thought about Kasumi’s thoughts about that whole affair. “Kasumi is pretty fine with that. Well, I’m not sure about marrying other women if I’m honest, but she likes to watch me get fucked, at least.” Then I considered Vela. “Although there is another one, though I’m not entirely sure if there is something real or not. And I’m not sure she’s the charitable type when it comes to sharing.” Again my thoughts returned to what I might do now. No matter how nice I thought Daena was, I couldn’t see myself marrying her just like that. Even if marriage by mamono standards was often a little less formalized than it had been on earth. I shouldn’t forget that my primary goal was to reunite with Kasumi and Vela. IBut i didn’t seem right to consider marriage just for that purpose. Was there any other reasonable way though? If I set out by myself and that was if they would let me, how high were the chances that some other mamono I met on the road wouldn’t try to take advantage of the situation? And even if most of them might not, all it took was one. I was painfully aware of the fact that, physically, I was outclassed by just about any mamono. So, was there another way to have a reasonable chance to even reunite with them? Leave the village, reunite and then what? I still didn’t entirely remember what this entire episode was about. The only things that returned to me were the memories I felt I could live without. But without anything to go on about why these things had happened, reuniting was all I had to focus on. Again I considered Daena. Perhaps she would be willing, if I played my cards right, to help me without that commitment Shyan had talked about? She seemed nice and she genuinely seemed to want me to like her. It seemed we would be able to enjoy each other’s company at least. But wouldn’t it be cruel of me to string her along? I was suddenly torn from my thoughts when a mug was pressed into my good hand. I looked up and saw that it was Danna, who looked a bit abashed. As I stiffened at her presence, she took a seat next to Daena and me, displacing a chagrined amazon that was previously next to us in the process and looked at me with a thoughtful expression. I narrowed my eye and at her as an awkward silence ensued. I considered the mug suspiciously, but couldn’t find any reason why something should be wrong with it. I drained a few big gulps and shuddered softly as the warm alcohol quickly got to work warming me from the inside. “I wanted to apologize for what I did,” Danna finally said after a long pause. I looked at her and did not say anything in reply as I waited for her to continue. She looked at me as though she expected more of a reaction, then set her jaw and continued. “I thought thing were going well and expected you to… well I thought you would want to please me to repay your debts and so I… well, you know.” “Thought you’d just take what you wanted?” I asked, a bit surprised at the coldness of my tone. “That’s the way it is done,” she said and her visage turned stubborn. “A man’s place is beneath a woman. And I didn’t do anything, did I? Aren’t you just overreacting?” “Well, I don’t know, I did just get gangraped and tortured half to death, but I guess when the next woman forces herself on me, that should just conjure up pleasant recollections,” I said venomously. I tossed the mug at her face and splashed some of the onlooking women in the process before rising from Daena’s lap and turning to leave the house. I was halted as my wrist was caught in a vice-like grip. “You don’t get to just…” I turned to spew some more venom, but was halted when I saw that Daena had risen and had taken hold of Danna’s wrist just as Danna had taken hold of my wrist. The two twins sized each other up and the other amazons, even the ones who had just vocalized their annoyance at getting splashed with warm mead, regarded the confrontation with tense expressions and bodies. “I have as much right to him as you do,” Danna told her sister. “And you fucked it up,” Daena replied calmly. “So don’t fuck it up even worse now.” “He thinks he can just toss mead in my face after we saved his life?” Danna demanded angrily. “And just because he doesn’t know his place, I’m supposed to smile and be nice about missing out on what is mine by right?” “Let go!” Daena said calmly, but her other hand was clenched into a fist. “Let go of me,” I demanded as well, putting as much venom into it as I could. Part of me had wondered if I hadn’t been too harsh with her. Her idea of the right dynamics between men and women did not sit right with me, but she had saved my life along with her sister. But how could she seriously not understand or refuse to understand why her idea of a ‘date’ had ended the way it had? “Danna, let go,” one of the other amazons finally said in a serious tone. “Stop embarrassing yourself.” “What do you…?” Danna was interrupted when Daena used the shift in her attention to wrench her hand free of my wrist. “Go,” she told me as Danna faced her sister once more with an even angrier expression. I shot the two a final look and turned to leave. There seemed to be something in my urgency that stopped the three other women I met outside from pestering me at least. Inside the house, I began to pace up and down the small space. I had half a mind to leave then and there, but the rationale of the necessity of help suppressed that thought. It just wasn’t a reasonable choice to make. As much as I wanted to forgo reason, I could not if I wanted a reasonable chance of seeing the others again. Some time later, someone knocked on the door and without awaiting a reply, Daena stepped inside with a difficult to read expression somewhere between annoyance and worry on her face. When she saw me pacing, she gave a sigh and took a step closer. “She was trying to apologize, you know.” “I don’t know,” I said and didn’t manage to keep my foul mood out of my voice. “Seemed more like she was trying to justify, rather than apologize.” Daena sighed deeper. “Maybe,” she agreed. She picked me off the ground with ease and carried me over to the bed where she laid us both down. “I’m not in the mood.” I said preemptively. Daena sighed deeper yet. “I thought so.” She let go of me and quickly discarded her clothing without asking for my assistance this time. Then she wrapped her big arms around me and pulled me in close. “I thought I said…” I started, but was quickly interrupted. “Just sharing in each other’s warmth, nothing more.” I thought about arguing further. To tell her I wanted to be alone. But I really didn’t want to be alone. I relented, though reluctantly. I prompted her to release me so I could get out of my own clothing. “You know, we grew up together,” she said. “But she only recently came back after living with our mother tribe for fifteen years. They are a bit more traditional in how they do things.” I made a questioning sound and she continued. “It would be very abnormal there to ask a man if he is wants to fuck, traumatic experience or not. At best, you would ask his wife for permission. There are many women there, my sister, and I for that matter, look up to and she has taken on many of their behaviors.” “Where are you going with this?” I asked. “She didn’t just take you. She could have and no one would have punished her too badly for it. I would have punched her for it. Mother would have disciplined her as well, but some might say that is a small price to pay for… Well. Anyway, mother would still leave the ultimate choice to you. Danna knew she screwed up, even if she didn’t go through with it and that her chances went bad. Many others would have taken the ride just to make sure they get something out of you.” “Why are you arguing for her? I thought you didn’t want to share with her?” “I don’t. But she’s my sister and I love her even if she’s being stupid. I had the advantage of going second and knowing that you were…,” she suddenly stopped talking. “That I’m what?” “Very delicate right now. You said it yourself. Normally her behavior wouldn’t have bothered you as much. Besides, I have more experience than her.” “May didn’t have to be told that,” I grumbled. “May is one of us, but at the same time she’s different from us,” Daena said. Her tone did not indicate she was looking down on the human woman. She sounded earnest. “She doesn’t have the same… I don’t know how to describe it. Hunger?” I grumbled at that and remained quiet for a moment. “So how are you more experienced?” I wondered. “It didn’t sound like you had a man before.” “Hmmm.” Daena sounded a bit embarrassed. “I met a man once, an outlander like you. There were twelve in our party trying to win his favor.” Was she trying to distract me from her arguing in favor of her sister? Still I was curious. “What happened?” “I was too pushy and he was having a hard time dealing with twelve women who were all bigger and stronger than he was. I think my extra equipment was, not the only, but the final nail in the coffin.” She shifted her hips so that she was poking me. “I guess it can be a curse or a boon,” I allowed. Her boon was now slowly starting to swell up against me and Daena started huskily. “Having a man is desirable, but having one that doesn’t mind doing it either way is much better for me, so how about...?” “Still not in the mood,” I shot her down immediately and, to her credit and despite her growing excitement, she did not persist in her quest to claim more than my hand this night. “How old are you anyway?” I asked, trying to distract her from her disappointed excitement. “Where is that coming from?” She wondered. “Well, it’s an interesting topic. I can’t really tell from appearance. If I didn’t know how old mamono can get, I’d have said you and your mother were the same age. But you’ve apparently lived together with your sister for a long time, on top of the fifteen years she’s been gone.” “I’m 83, or something like that, if you must know. That’s not an issue for you, is it?” She asked, huffing slightly. Come on, asking a woman’s age should hardly be inappropriate here on Arcadia, I complained internally. Unless they are self-conscious about being too much older than you are? “Still living with your parents at 83,” I finally snickered a little to myself. “What’s funny about that?” Daena wondered. “Nothing, I guess. Would just be very strange where I’m from. So, am I to understand that you and your sister are 83 year old virgins. When it comes to men, at least?” “Of course not. We’ve been to a brothel before. But that’s hardly as nice as this.” “How so?” I wondered. “Unless you have the money to spend big, most brothels are a rip off. You pay way too much and it’s over after half a dozen thrusts.” “You wouldn’t recommend it then?” She sighed in contemplation. “I wouldn’t do it again unless I suddenly come into some serious coin, but if you’ve never had a man inside you…” She looked a bit thoughtful for a moment. “But if I had you, I wouldn’t go to a brothel of course, even if I ended up filthy rich.” “That’s nice of you,” I said half sarcastically, half sincerely. Then I thought it over a moment longer”You said you’re 83, right? Then how old is your father? He looks old, but…” “98,” she said. “He had you at fifteen?” I asked, a little amazed. “Is that normal here?” “He got married to my mother and her sisters at fourteen, though he was already married to Joceline before that.” It was hard to fathom, being married before the age of fourteen. Though… “Isn’t the arcadian year much longer than an earth year?” I wondered. “How would I know about that?” She wondered in return. “Fair point,” I conceded and strained my bran to recall the calendar Kasumi had explained to me way back in Bestallion. “Sixteen months, right? Twenty-four days each?” “Yeah,” Daena agreed. “That isn’t much longer,” I said as I crunched the numbers in my head. I remembered something Tony had said to me. About how the days felt longer in this place. But how was I going to confirm that? And did it really matter right now? “Well, it’s not as if I have to worry about having sons that end up being married off too early…” I finally noted. “You never know,” Daena encouraged me. “There’s someone right in this village who I’d bet wouldn’t mind an attempt at making a little baby boy.” |
mugen91Nov 10, 2023 2:47 AM
| “You never know.” Daena encouraged me. “There’s someone right in this village who I’d bet wouldn’t mind another attempt at making a little baby boy.” Dang, now there's a thought. Our illustrious protagonist contributing to the number of humans on the island. |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
tygertyger said: “You never know.” Daena encouraged me. “There’s someone right in this village who I’d bet wouldn’t mind another attempt at making a little baby boy.” Dang, now there's a thought. Our illustrious protagonist contributing to the number of humans on the island. Hmm... Foreshadowing perhaps? :P TsunamiSeeker said: I figured it was high time I tried to catch up with your story again. Just got to the point where your MC and the rest of the group have officially left Ahmose! Excited to see where you go from here! XD Making steady progress I see :) You also reading all the other stories, or going for one at a time? |
TsunamiSeeker said: mugen91 said: I'm only really going for one at a time for now. If a new story starts I'll read that too but I'm only trying to catch up with some of the more active stories first before I start reading through older ones. XDMaking steady progress I see :) You also reading all the other stories, or going for one at a time? Woohoo, so I'm the "chosen one"? :P I suppose my story is the most active :) |
| Ah Danna her chances grow slimmer every time she opens her mouth. She might be old fashioned, still don't think she deserved to get rejected this harshly. Alas, can't update your passport right now as I'm on my laptop, rather than the desktop. |
MetallumOperatur said: Ah Danna her chances grow slimmer every time she opens her mouth. She might be old fashioned, still don't think she deserved to get rejected this harshly. Well, under the circumstances her words were not picked ideally :P |
Chapter 46 “Don’t leave us yet. We’re not quite done yet.” The woman said in an amused tone. “How is she to know that you suffered for her if we don’t let her know? Do you think a hand will suffice?” she mused. “I suppose a finger might do, I’m not an unreasonable person after all.” She chuckled to herself, though there was no humor in it at all and made a directing gesture. Quickly, a shadowy figure behind her moved to extract my right hand from its shackle. “How nice am I? I’m taking it from the hand that’s broken anyway.” I glanced through a teary eye at the hand that she had shattered a few days before. An almost unrecognizable blue, black and red mess with broken bones jutting out from swollen tissue. I screamed as she roughly handled what had been my hand and finally approached the blissful darkness of unconsciousness as she removed my ring finger. “Ok girls, pack it up, we’re done here. And make sure to send that to Bestallion.” Was the last thing I heard before the comforting dark was finally allowed to claim me. --- I awoke and the pained scream from my dream carried over to the waking world. I was drenched in sweat and shaking. I tried to jump up, run, hide, but something was constricting me, holding me down. I screamed and struggled even more until my brain finally came to full wakefulness. My body went limp and the phantom pain in my hand dulled to the normal throbbing I experienced at any point in time when I dared to move it in the wrong way. More calm now, I realized that Daena was holding me tightly and whispered calmingly into my ear in an attempt to calm me down. I felt my breath go hard and ragged and my heart hammered with abandon in my chest. I hadn’t had a recollection that had felt as vivid as that one in days and had hoped to be done with them. I held up my mangled hand up before my eye and recalled what it had looked like in the dream. By comparison, the slightly crooked shape and crisscrossing angry red scars seemed like a minor miracle. Even if the hand was as good as useless. “Are you alright?” Daena asked as she ceased her calming whispering. I took a few deep breaths. “I’m fine,” I lied. She remained quiet for a moment. I doubted she believed me. Perhaps she was wondering whether to call out the lie? “Are you sure? It seemed like you were having a rough time,” she finally said, still in a soothing tone. “Happens pretty regularly. Still hard to get used to,” I said dismissively and tried to act less shell shocked than I felt. In response, her arms gripped me just a little harder and pulled me closer towards her. The back of my head was enveloped by her soft breasts and I thought I could feel the beating of her heart through them. It was beating much faster than her quiet voice suggested. “Then why don’t we stay like this a little longer?” She asked. I swallowed dryly. Part of me still wanted to get up. To run or to hide or to fight. But now that I was awake, that seemed stupid. With some difficulty, I controlled my instinctual urge and forced myself to settle down. I tried to relax into her embrace and slowly managed to calm down. Daena had returned to whispering soothing words but I barely heard her as my thoughts once more returned to my current predicament. I couldn’t imagine just marrying someone so I could have them help me out. It would feel like betraying Kasumi. There was plenty of empirical evidence she didn’t mind me screwing around, but marrying another woman without at least talking to her seemed wrong. I thought it was probably best to be upfront that I had no intention of marrying anyone, although I was still unsure of exactly what kind of reaction that might provoke. So far, Daena’s people had been hospitable, incredibly so, even. Considering the stereotypical reputation that amazons carried, I might have expected more of them to act like Danna, even if my personal experience so far had not confirmed those stereotypes. I had to assume that this was, at least in part, because they expected that one or more of them would get a man out of the deal. Still, even knowing that, I could not hold this decision off forever. In fact, I was growing increasingly restless now that my wounds had healed for the most part. I was also bothered by the fact that, though I felt like I remembered most of what had happened, I was still clueless as to why this had been done to me. That was only one of the factors that I felt was stoking a growing desire not just to know the why, but also for revenge. “I think we need to talk to Shyan and Lya.” I told Daena after a long lull in the conversation. She hummed in a tone that I interpreted as curiosity, but rather than ask what I wanted to talk about, she made an affirmative sound and soon after we had left the bed and gotten dressed. We headed for the longhouse where I had met Shyan and Lya before. Only a few of the tribe’s women could be seen around. I shook my head at their invitations and knocked on the door before heading in without waiting for a reply. Looking around, I saw that neither Shyan nor Lya were around. The only living thing in the longhouse was the old man who was once more sitting in his chair. “I’ll go and see if I can find the two,” Daena promised and headed out again. I considered following after her, but felt it was unnecessary. I looked over to the man sitting in his chair and he cleared his throat just then. I had thought him to be sleeping, but his eyes looking at me proved the opposite. “Sorry for barging in here,” I said. He squinted at me. “You’re that man my girls found, aren’t you?” He asked in a scratchy voice. I shrugged. “Haven’t seen any other guy around, except for you.” He nodded and then waved for me to come closer. As I approached, he coughed loudly and then waved me off when I asked if he needed something. “These are queer times. With such terrible things happening,” he said. “Terrible things. They shouldn’t happen. My girls wouldn’t do that. I’m sure you know that. They’re good girls.” “Daena has been good to me. As has May,” I agreed. I didn’t say anything about Danna. I wasn’t sure I’d have something kind to say about her at that point. “Good girls,” he agreed, before breaking into another coughing fit. Once more he denied my offer of assistance. Even if I wasn’t sure what exactly I might do to help him. “So, how did you end up here?” I ended up asking. I had been somewhat curious about that since hearing that May shared a father with Daena and her sisters. And also what it might be like to be the only man among these mamono. “I’ve been here a long time,” he said, seeming to misunderstand my question. “I mean, how did you end up with a human and two amazon wives?” I clarified. “Three amazon wives,” he corrected with a soft chuckle. “But well, Joceline, she was the first of my wives. Only humans in the village. I was thirteen, she was twenty and darn if she wasn’t beautiful.” “And the other mamono in the village didn’t… well, mind?” I asked, a bit surprised. I knew that many mamono were eager for humans to have children, but I could also well imagine the temptation the only man in a village full of them might cause. “They had their use of me, but only Joceline was my wife. ‘Expecting offspring as soon as possible’ they said.” He laughed, then coughed again as his expression turned dour. “The peace was short-lived and the village was raided.” “Raided?” I asked. “By whom?” He shrugged. “Back then, before Lord Elizabeth took the throne in Elewyr, this land was a more dangerous place for the common people. And our village were common people with two valuable targets living in it.” He heaved a sigh and his eyes turned distant as though he was remembering something unpleasant. I gave him his time. I hadn’t expected him to share his life’s story, not to such a degree, but felt it might be rude to interrupt him now. “They didn’t get very far,” he finally continued. “The raiding party was noticed, of course. But more crucially, they were noticed by the right people. Barely a day passed before we were rescued. Joceline and myself and the others who were captured. When the sisters came, our bandits were too busy enjoying their booty.” “Your wives? They freed you all by themselves?” He nodded. “So they did. And afterwards afterwards they offered us a chance to remain with them. I’m sure those among our neighbors who had been freed would have liked to object, but it was hard for them to argue. At the time, I had a sense of bitterness at how easily our lives had been turned upside down and unjustly blamed those others for failing to protect us. But I admit freely that I was also enamored with their strength. In the end it was Joceline who made the decision. And it wasn’t too long after that, that this first house here was built.” He gestured around at the house we were in. “And, as these things go, it wasn’t long after that before the first children were on their way.” “So all of them are your daughters?” I asked. He laughed loudly, which turned into another fit of coughing. It took him a moment to catch his voice again. When he did, he said. “Oh, by the Lords, no. Most of my daughters are not here right now. Neither are my sons. No, most of the women outside are those that joined my wives. Some came from their mother tribe. Others were tribeless. Others are friends. I nodded and thought more about the story he had given me. “It seems everyone has their sob story,” I muttered under my breath. It made me thoughtful. So much about this world was wonderful, but rarely were there no dark undertones to be found. “And you had the option to refuse them? I mean whether or not you wanted to marry them?” I asked aloud. He gave a smug smile. “I never asked.“ That doesn’t help me, I thought and sighed. After he was finished telling his story, he began to ask me to share something about myself and I answered, though it was hard to focus on his questions as my mind still revolved around my conundrum and the story he’d given me. Finally, as I considered his wrinkled face, something curious struck me. “You said your wife was seven years older than you are, right?” He nodded his agreement. “May can’t be older than her early 30s, right? Your wife would have had to be at least 70. How does that work, exactly?” His face broke into a wide smile as fond reminiscence came over him. “It was a small miracle,” He said cheerfully, “No one truly expected it, but my Joceline was youthful even in her old age. I’m sure you of all people can appreciate the restorative effect of Mermaid blood.” My brow crinkled in confusion. “What do you mean?” I wondered. Now it was his turn to crinkle his brow. “Are you confused about the effects of mermaid blood? You are aware you would have died had we not used up most of our stock, right?” I swallowed. I had, in fact, not been aware of that. He saw my expression and seemed to read my thoughts well enough. “Don’t worry. Any decent person would have done what we did.” “It’s expensive, right?” It had to be, I imagined. Even if mermaids were among the most populous of marine mamono. He shrugged. “We don’t normally need much of the stuff. You’re lucky actually. Since my two girls were only coming back with it from Westholm, we hadn’t even diluted the stuff yet.” “Well, still I’m sorry,” I said. And now I’m feeling even more terrible about telling Shyan and Lya that I cannot take them up on their offer, I thought with chagrin. Again he shrugged. “Anyway, May was a bit of a miracle, as I said. All of her siblings are a good deal older than her. The human ones, anyway.” He added the last part with a wry wink. That made me forget a bit about my bad conscience. “Where is she, anyway?” I wondered. “I’d like to meet her, I think.” His smile faded and his face set into a stony expression. “She’s gone already,” he said. “A few years ago.” Fuck! I could have - no, should have seen that coming. Way to go, Sönke. Way to go, indeed, I chastised myself as I struggled to give my proper condolences. Still I wondered. I knew that humans tended to live much longer in this place and I knew that a hundred years wasn’t considered THAT old. Before I could think of a diplomatic way to formulate those thoughts, he said. “Don’t worry lad. That’s how life goes and I’m not too long for this world either, I believe.” “You’re not checking out just yet, Egon.” It was Shyan’s was that rang out as she pushed open the door and stepped through, followed by Lya. Both of them came up to the old man and gave him a kiss. “Haha, don’t ya worry darlins’, it’s the way of the world,” he laughed, before breaking into a cough again. The two smiled at him in response, though there was a hard set to their jaws and in their eyes I could see concern and sorrow. Still I wondered how to formulate the question, but felt it even more difficult with these two now here as well. “I hear you’re growing restless.” Lya was the first to break the ensuing silence and definitively pulled me away from that line of questioning. “Where exactly did you hear that?” I asked, slightly taken aback. I had hoped to breach the topic more delicately than that. “Your nightly companion.” Lya said with a raised eyebrow. Obvious enough, of course. And yet I had hoped that my intentions hadn’t been quite so obvious to Daena. Am I really that transparent? I wondered. “Well…,” I hummed and hawed. “That’s not how I’d have opened this particular conversation. But at its core… yes. I believe the time has come where I must leave. I wanted to say that its by no means a criticism of your hospitality. However…” “...Your problem remains the same. However,” Shyan ws quick to remind me. “Am I to understand that I will get a new son in law then?” “No,” I said firmly and before they could object, I explained my line of reasoning. “And why would anyone want a husband who jumps into the next boat just because it’s convenient?” “I see,” Shyan made no comment on my reasoning. “I take it you wish to depart alone then?” I made a long pause during which I chewed on my lip and rubbed my temples. “I intend to ask Daena if she will accompany me. If she will not, I will go alone.” “And what do you intend to offer her in exchange? What promises will you make?” The tall woman asked and though she barely moved, she seemed much less friendly and inviting then. “Nothing,” I said, just as firmly. And I was glad that I managed to keep my voice as firm as I did. “I like Daena, but I will not - I cannot promise anything.” Muscular arms crossed before their chests, they both gave me hard looks. And yet I felt there was no way for me to give in to what they wanted and still respect myself. “Heh.” Shyan’s dour expression turned into a wry smile “It was worth a try. I can respect that reasoning. I might have killed a woman who strong armed Egon into marrying her without my permission.” I breathed a small sigh of relief. “If you are firm in your decision, I recommend that you head out and see if my daughter will be swayed by your reasoning,” Shyan said and I nodded and said my goodbyes to Egon before I left the longhouse once more. I cast my gaze about and it did not take long for me to find Daena, half hidden behind one of the houses. There were many more amazons around compared to before and some of them were there with her. She had her arms in the carcass of deer up to her elbows. Part of me had wondered why she had not returned with the other two and that answered the question of where she had ended up. I stayed back a few steps and watched her pull the intestines out of the animal. But it did not take long before she spotted me and left the work to one of the others as she walked over to me. I noted that there were more than a few looks of jealousy and petulance thrown at her back. “We’ll eat well tonight,” she said with a wide smile. “Looks like it,” I agreed. I then took a deep breath. I knew what to ask and though I was a bit dubious on the right way to bring my point across, I figured there was no use beating around the bush too much. “You’ve told Shyan and Lya that I was getting restless.” Maybe not the best entry into the conversation, but the first step was made. I noted a slight shift in her posture that made her seem a little more distant. I suppressed a sigh and forged on. “There is no nice way of saying it, but I have to go. It’s not that I don’t appreciate everything you have done for me but…” “But you have to go,” she said and a mild frown appeared on her striking face. “I assume you have given thought to my mother’s words? What have you decided?” Again there was a subtle shift in her posture. Her back arched just slightly to emphasize her impressive bust and the swell of her ass I chewed on my lip and resolved that I was too far in to start getting second thoughts. “I can’t marry you. Not just like that. Not just to have a safe ticket out of here. It wouldn’t feel right. I’m already bound to someone else and it would feel like I am betraying her, even if it is in the service of reuniting with her.” She frowned, but also nodded like she had expected something along those lines. “So you won’t offer yourself. And still, you do not wish to depart by yourself, do you? You want me to accompany you as a guard?” I bit down on the inside of my cheek to keep my face from showing too clearly that I knew how selfish I was being. “What about…a bodyguard with benefits?” I suggested and emphasized the benefits. Her eyes glossed over momentarily and her lips split into a lewd grin. Then she focused her eyes on me once more as she stepped closer without saying a word. Her thick arms reached around me and her hands gripped tightly. Simultaneously, she pushed me against her and lifted me from my feet until we were eye to eye. “It seems I’ll have to make it worth my while then.” Her head came forward and she gave me an aggressive kiss. Her tongue battered my own into submission and left me breathless when she finally retreated. She set me back onto my feet and, with a wry smile that emphasized her familial resemblance to her mother, she added. “And it occurs to me that you said nothing about not wanting me. It seems to me that things might be more a matter of convincing your wife than it is of convincing you.” “That… might not be entirely false,” I said slyly and she grinned. “We leave tomorrow then. I have preparations to make,” she proclaimed and quickly headed for her small house with a skip in her step. I looked after her until she disappeared and thought about what I might do in preparation of our departure. It had gone so much easier than I had feared. Then I figured that I should probably say my goodbyes to the few people I’d gotten acquainted with in this place. I shot a look to where the other amazons were still working on the deer Daena had worked on earlier. Whose blood now stained my borrowed clothes. Although, perhaps it would be more prudent to say that they pretended to work, as they had all been watching with great interest. Their faces ranged from mildly jealous to sad and genuinely happy. When they saw me watching, most of them quickly resumed their activities. Still, the way many of them stuck out their asses and chests made it obvious it was meant as an invitation as much as it was about actually cleaning the deer. After a brief moment of hesitation, I made my way over to them. “Do you need anything, cutie?” One of them quickly offered. She rose from her squatting position and put a heavy arm across my shoulder and all but pushed her cleavage into my face. “Not today, sorry,” I said to mutterings of disappointment. To my relief, my anxiety was not acting up too strongly. Perhaps I was getting better or perhaps I was just getting used to this particular group of mamono. I certainly hoped for the first but feared the latter. “Actually,” I said. “I was wondering if one of you could tell me where to find Danna?” With pursed lips, they directed me to one of the other houses. One whose main purpose was to to accommodate sleeping tribe members without a house of their own. Inside, sitting on a stack of furs, I found Danna. She looped up when I entered and I saw her eyes light up a bit. She wasted no time gesturing for me to sit down beside her. “I’m sorry,” she started before I had a chance to say something. “I… I didn’t consider how my trying to take you would make you feel after you, well… you know. I was only thinking of finally being with a man without paying for it.” “I accept your apology,” I said after a moment’s consideration. “It occurs to me that outside of my… particular circumstance, what you did may not have been as bad. Well, it’s not good, but… you know.” I took a deep breath. God, this was awkward. “Tip for next time. I don’t know about men from Arcadia, but forcing yourself on someone right after they refuse you is a sure way not to endear you to them.” She rolled her eyes in a ‘you don’t say’ way, but before she could speak, I continued. “Anyway. The reason I’m here was to say thank you. Without you and Daena, I’d be dead. Regardless of… any unpleasantness, I won’t forget that.” She stared into my one eye and frowned. But finally it was her who turned her gaze away from me first. “You’re welcome,” she said softly and turned back to me. She opened her arms. “Can I hug you?” She then asked. If I was being honest, I didn’t want her to and in spite of my words, I felt a sense of animosity towards her. Still, I made a decision and opened my arms. She quickly crushed me into a hug and I could hear her sniffle. I stroked her back soothingly until she stopped. I quickly broke the hug when her hands started to move further down than I was comfortable with. --- A few hours later, we sat around a fire and large pieces of meat roasted above it. “And where have you been all this time?” I asked May. “I haven’t seen you for a while.” She shrugged the question off with a smile. “Don’t you worry about me honey. I heard that you settled on Daena?” I shook my head. “Well, ‘settle’ might be too strong a word. But it does look like she’ll accompany me.” “Heh,” she chuckled. “I suppose she’ll be a good companion. She knows how to handle her hammer well. And she’s alright with a weapon.” “Heh, I bet,” I agreed. Her eyes took on a different look as she tilted her head. “So, has she given it to you yet? I’ve never seen a man take it before, you know?” “What?” I asked, taken aback by her directness. She shrugged. “I’m just curious. But if you’re still uncomfortable, I can shut up.” I swallowed and looked around. “No, I just gave her a handjob,” I admitted. Why was I getting embarrassed now of all times? Daena was hardly the first futa I had ever been with. And it wasn’t as if I had ever had an issue admitting that I enjoyed myself with them. “Oh?” She wondered. “I wouldn’t mind seeing that either. You could always supply some entertainment for the others. Give them something to remember you by, if they can’t have you themselves.” Again I swallowed and considered the people around. Seventeen amazons, along with May and Egon. Exhibitionism still didn’t seem like my type of deal, though it was hardly surprising that mamono might consider public fornication as entertainment. Even if May wasn’t, strictly speaking, a mamono. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. Wouldn’t that just lead to jealousy?” “Maybe, but getting a show is better than getting nothing,” May insisted. “And who knows, if you get into the spirit of things….” I thought back to how she’d hovered above me and licked my lips. I hadn’t been with a human woman since arriving in this world. “Have you ever been with a man?” I wondered. “Nah.” She shook her head. “Haven’t had a chance. And my wife is not like Daena or Danna.” “You have a wife?” I asked and she shrugged. “It’s not exactly unusual,” she said. “I can’t exactly sit around and hope a guy falls from the sky and is not instantly fucked into the ground by someone else.” “Hmmm,” I mused. “Makes sense. Is she here, or…?” “No, Trim isn’t here. She’s out on patrol and will be back in a few weeks. She has me visit the family whenever she’s gone because she doesn’t like leaving me alone in the ‘big city’.” She said the last two words in a way that indicated the ‘big city’ was not quite so big a deal in her estimation. “So she wouldn’t have minded if… you know?” “If I’d have fucked you? No. We said if one of us gets the chance to fuck a real guy, we’d use and tell the other what it was like. Though she would never admit that to you.” That last part gave me an idea of what species that ‘Trim’ might be, but I left it at that. The evening progressed and I found myself looking back to May on occasion. It was a strange world indeed, when considering a human woman was an exotic thing. It occured to me that, even with the severe gender imbalance, mamono lived long enough to have a decent chance of finding a man at some point. The same thing could not be said for someone like May, though she might become a mamono herself one day. But surely that seemed like poor motivation to have sex with her. Even if she wanted it herself. “Why don’t you join us tonight?” Suddenly I felt my shoulder grasped from behind by a strong hand and pulled towards May, who was grabbed in equal fashion by Daena. “What?” I asked the amazon who had come up from behind us. “Sure,” May said. “Though I’d hoped he might be the one to ask the question.” “Pff,” Daena scoffed. “The looks he’s been giving you are enough, don’t you think?” “Well?” May asked, looking at me. “Were those looks enough?” “I’m not sure it’s right when…” I started, but was interrupted. “You know, you’re not taking advantage of me. I’m taking advantage of you!” May declared with a superior smile. “I’m not asking if you think it’s inappropriate. I’m asking if you’ll let me take advantage of you.” I chewed on my lip. There was no denying that I was curious. Even if she couldn’t match the women around her, she was gorgeous still. Back on earth she’d probably have been way out of my league. And that was before I got myself cut up. “If you want to,” I finally said. “I’d be happy if you joined us.” “Well, what are we waiting for then?” May immediately retorted and rose from her seat. “Calm down. We have plenty of time. Besides, I’ve been waiting for that food.” I tried to curb her enthusiasm. Despite what I said, it did not take long before we reclused ourselves. Part of me was uncertain whether I was ready for what I had agreed to. But another part of me told that part to shove it. The biggest reason I ended up leaving early was the fact that, after I agreed to May’s invitation, other women began their spiel to rope me into giving them a little something to remember me by. Finally inside the small house that belonged to the twins, Daena wasted no time shrugging out of her clothes and picking me up. She carried me to the bed and laid me down almost gently before she began a heavy barrage of kisses. The furs beneath me shifted as May laid beside us, propped up on one elbow. Daena broke the kiss and helped me get out of my clothes. quickly devouring my member when it was freed from its prison. “Don’t hog it all to yourself.” May complained as she immediately devoured my member when it was freed from its prison. Quite a sight, I thought to myself as the strawberry blonde woman joined in. May’s blonde locks and Daena’s light brown hair intertwined as they serviced me. Considering her claim that she lacked experience with men, May’s tongue wasn’t that much clumsier than Daena’s. In fact, it did not take them long to begin working in concert to coax moans of pleasure from my lips. Yet, before I could get anywhere near close to climax, they both stopped. May quickly returned to her previous position beside me and propped herself up on her elbow once more. “I think I said already I had never seen a man take it before, haven’t I? What do you say you two give me a little show?” She asked. I noted that her face was slightly reddened. My look turned to Daena, who was stroking herself with an eager look on her face. Damn, she really is big, a lot bigger than Kasumi or Cleo or those dark elves, I thought with mild trepidation. Sucking on it was one thing. Getting fucked by it seemed, in that moment, like a more daunting thing. “Is there any lube?” I asked with a hint of nervousness. “We have no need for that,” Daena said with a tsk. She grabbed hold of my hips and turned me onto my stomach. “I think we do need …woah,” I exclaimed in surprise as I felt Daena’s tongue brush against me. “What’s wrong?” Daena asked. “I’m fine doing it, but taking it is kind of, I don’t know, weird, embarrassing,” I said. Daena chuckled. “I’m about to put this in you, but a bit of tongue is making you queasy? You’re so cute.” I shut my mouth in embarrassment as she got back to work until she judged me sufficiently prepared. Feeling exposed, yet bold, I went up to my knees and arched my back for her. I was rewarded with the feeling of something decidedly larger and harder than her tongue prodding against me. “Holy shit,” I exclaimed as she got the tip inside and started slowly pushing. “Take it easy back there please.” Daena stopped moving and gave me some time to get used to her size. “Come on then, this’ll take your mind off her until you’re ready.” My attention was grabbed by May as she moved to sit in front of me. As she spread her legs widely, I felt enticed and somewhat thankful for the distraction. With practiced motions, I brushed my lips against her honeypot and eagerly licked away at her folds. I didn’t even bother to start slow and it did not take me long until May reciprocated my efforts with small moans. Though, when I turned my gaze upward to look at her face, I saw that her gaze was fixed further behind, or rather, on my behind. It seemed she hadn’t been joking in her interest in seeing this particular act. Eating her out had caused me to relax enough that, though there was no denying a certain strain at the sensation, I soon felt Daena’s thighs press against my own. Her fingers were running along my back and I could practically feel her itching to get started. Still she had the wherewithal not to start hammering away and wait for me to indicate a state of readiness for what was coming. “Go on then,” I said as the sensation deep in my guts awoke in me a need of my own to feel more from her. “But start slow.” I felt the need to add the last part, just in case. May’s hand brushed over my scalp and I was reminded that my face was buried between her legs and it would be rude (and difficult) to ignore her. I gave a low moan into her wet folds as I felt Daena’s rod slowly pull out and move back in. “That’s nice,” May purred as her breath came quicker. I wasn’t sure if she was talking about me or Daena and didn’t particularly care either. A hand darted past my head and joined my tongue in pleasuring her, whose moans came louder and ever more unrestrained. I could not help but join her, as Daena slowly but surely quickened her pace and lewd slapping sounds were produced by her hips against my thighs. My focus shifted again when May cried out in pleasure and her legs tensed and closed around my head to tightly hold me in place. Slowly, I felt my knees grow weak and I found it increasingly difficult to keep my ass in the air for Daena as she crashed into me again and again. And if I were honest, it was not just the physical force of her thrusts that were making me weak in the knee. May had been onto something when she said that Daena knew how to handle her hammer. “You said you liked giving it, didn’t you?” May asked from above me. I didn’t dare answer, for fear of what sounds I might produce if I opened my mouth too far. She didn’t wait for my approval anyway as Daena quickly pulled out and flipped me onto my back, grabbed me by the ankles and lined herself up to resume her reaming. Even if I didn’t enjoy the sensation so goddamn much, the look of ecstatic abandon on her face alone might’ve been worth it. On one particularly deep thrust, I let out a slight squeal and covered my mouth in embarrassment. “That just makes me want to fuck you harder and harder,” Daena moaned. “And I don’t want to wait anymore,” May said. She crawled over my body and had Daena readjust our position so she could sink down on top of me, while Daena kept doing her thing. I might have expected a virgin to be more shy about it, but the way she dropped her hips up and down did not suggest inexperience to me. “Surprised?” She asked with a grin. “Just because Trim doesn’t have one of her own doesn’t mean there aren’t tools and toys we can play with.” That made sense. Not that I was in any position to do anything about it anyway as her round, taut cheeks repeatedly slapped into me. It didn’t take the two women long to settle into a rhythm where every downward thrust of May’s hips was met by a strong forward thrust from Daena that made me clench my teeth and moan. The double stimulation was way too much for me. Especially when I considered that I hadn’t had much action recently. And though all three of us were moaning without much reservation, I felt that I was the loudest of us. [i]This was not a good idea. I won’t be able to walk properly tomorrow,[i] I thought to myself as Daena, in lieu of not being able to swing her hips much faster, seemed to put more force behind each thrust. It was that, in combination with May’s tight womanhood suddenly clamping tighter, that finally drove me to release. I bit the inside of my own forearm and groaned my pleasure when I felt my balls grow taut. “Give it to me!” May demanded loudly and with nowhere else to put it, I gave her what she wanted. My dick flexed and jumped inside her and she moaned even louder as I flung rope after rope of cum into her waiting sex. “So fucking tight,” I could hear Daena cry out, as the cadence of her thrusts slowed to a crawl, but each hit with enough force to correct my estimation of how sore I’d be the next day. She finally hilted herself and I could feel her pulsing as a familiar comforting heat spread through my gut. With both mine and Daena’s moaning coming to a halt, May slowly pulled herself off of me. A mixture of my own cum and her own juices were left on my dick and some of it dribbled down from her pussy and onto my abdomen. She had a supremely satisfied expression on her face “That was great,” she purred and gave me a deep kiss. “Trim and I need to get us a man as well.” “I don’t think I want to live without this,” Daena said and I saw a thin trail of saliva running from her lips. “If you were a whore, you could earn good money with that ass, Sönke.” “Ehmmm, thank you?” I said, not sure if that was really a compliment. “You know, you can pull out?” “Just a bit longer,” she promised and rotated her hips just a bit before she bent forward and licked up the bit of seed that had seeped out of May from my dick and abdomen. Then she collapsed on top of me with a contented look on her face. “Well, it’s not like it feels bad,” I said. In fact, even as it slowly began to shrink, it felt pretty good. With a regretful sigh, Daena finally pulled out, leaving a weird sense of emptiness in my gut. She moved up and pulled me close to her to take the role of the big spoon like before. May snuggled up to me from the front and rested her head on my arm. I sighed contentedly and draped the remaining arm around her and soon fell asleep. |
mugen91Nov 16, 2023 11:41 AM
| Heh. I'm still waiting for the scene (much later, I grant) in which Sönke meets May's child. Or just sees her with a baby bump. I'd be happy with either. |
| "When you have bought your own load of hooey, you know exactly what it is worth." -- Bruce Sterling |
tygertyger said: Heh. I'm still waiting for the scene (much later, I grant) in which Sönke meets May's child. Or just sees her with a baby bump. I'd be happy with either. Well, that is for the RNG gods to decide :P |
| Glad to see you uploading chapters again now that the forums and club are back! “I could be like a body guard… with benefits?” Writes down idea for a possible business venture. tygertyger said: Heh. I'm still waiting for the scene (much later, I grant) in which Sönke meets May's child. Or just sees her with a baby bump. I'd be happy with either. Yes, Sönke might very well become the first guy in the MSG with male offspring :-P Also time for a passport update. Decided to keep a few entries from the previous page as I suspect we haven't seen the last of them. I do hope this is roughly what you had in mind for Daena :-) |
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