The student cots rise barely two feet off the floor, so Dani was able to rest his feet firmly on the ground. With that leverage, he began thrusting upward, fucking Ben’s face.
Jon began slowly withdrawing from Ben’s hole, so the novice grabbed the redhead’s buttocks to keep him from pulling out completely. He had adjusted, the pain had gone, so he pulled Jon back into him. With his other fist, he held on to the base of Dani’s cock, and relaxed his throat further to let his face get fucked.
Jon kept trying to slow down, still worried about hurting him. When Ben began meeting his thrusts, however, the redhead lost it. He began fucking Ben in earnest. The two acolytes did their best to keep their moans to a minimum, but it was hard.
“I can’t last much longer,” Dani gasped. “You have to swallow my jizz, Ben. Keep it from coming to life and running to the Masters.”
“Mm-mm-mm,” came the reply.
“I’m coming, too,” rasped Jon.
The two acolytes stiffened at the same time, and Ben began gulping down Dani’s explosion. Jon gave out a final grunt and plunked his full weight on Ben’s back, breathing hard against his ear.
Dani was spent, but Ben still kept sucking, holding onto his cock so tightly, the aristocrat couldn’t pull out. For Ben, it was the old game, once more.
“Enough!” Dani pleaded, grabbing Ben’s jaw and pulling himself out. “Jon, here’s the rag,” he called out.
With a groan, Jon popped out of Ben’s ass, and began catching the cum that was spewing out of it.
The three sat on the small cot, breathing heavily as they watched the rags burn. Grins were plastered on their faces.
“And that’s how you do it,” Jon said. “Now, you must allow us to repay you for your hospitality.”
The acolytes knelt on the floor and began sucking Ben off.
“I love this place,” Ben sighed, as he leaned back and closed his eyes.
* * *
The Fort of the Kings was an impressive construction: partly made of stone masonry, and partly carved out of a granite hill. While the visible portion was breath-taking, however, most of it lay below ground.
The tide of people coming in from the surrounding countryside made their way past the iron gates, and into the tunnels below. Pregnant and nursing women, children, and the elderly made their way into the deepest levels with their wagons and animals; while those who were fifteen and over made their way to the Fort above.
“You need to stay with mom,” Jaru told Miri, his fourteen-year-old sister.
“It’s not fair,” she whined. “I can shoot an arrow better than most of the older blokes you’re with.”
“Miri!” their mother called to her. “Stop being such a pain and help Ahi and I with our stuff.”
Jaru hugged his two sisters and mother, while Gi stuck his tongue out at Miri. With a long-suffering sigh, the fourteen-year-old went to her mother, but not before sticking her tongue out at Gi in return. Jaru gave his brother a light punch on the shoulder, and the two made their way to the public armory.
All around them, people were rushing about to secure the Fort. The sun had just touched the horizon, making everyone work overtime. Despite the lateness of the hour, people were still making their way toward it, trying to get in before nightfall.
“What unbelievable idiots!” Gi spat as he looked out over the plain, testing out his bowstring. “This has been going on for about five years now, and they still don’t know any better?”
Jaru smacked him on the back of his head, “We still have to live, Gi. Those people have farms of their own to take care of, and they live farther away.”
“You didn’t have to hit me that hard, you bully. I’m just saying.”
“Oi! Be smart, there!” barked the tubby Master at Arms who was in charge of their section of the wall. “Inspection begins in ten minutes, so you had all better make me look good, or else, eh?”
He was staring directly at the two brothers. Gi fumbled his helmet on as he avoided the sergeant’s gaze, while Jaru put his on with a grin. All throughout their line, the rest were doing the same, standing upright in a row, each exactly an arm’s length apart from each other.
The last few stragglers were made up of perhaps fifty or more people. They were moving too slow, heavily laden as they were with what looked like all of their possessions in life. Those standing on the walls looked uneasily at the sun as it continued its inexorable downward climb.
“Shit,” said the woman standing to Jaru’s left. “I don’t think they’ll make it.”
“They’ll make it!” Gi said from Jaru’s right. “Look.”
A team of riders shot out of the main gate toward the stragglers. As soon as they reached them, arguments broke out, but all were too far away to be heard. Some of the riders grabbed a few children who were sitting on carts, slung them onto their horses, then dashed back toward the Fort.
Squeals could at last be heard from some of the women, followed by frantic arm waving. The men started waving their fists, and some ran after the riders. Jaru and the rest of his line chuckled at the drama.
Then the howling began.
Everyone stiffened and turned to the north.
Outside the Fort, some of the stragglers renewed their efforts to push their carts forward. Others just abandoned their things and ran. More riders poured out, grabbing those they could and pulling them onto their horses, before whirling back to safety.
“Come on! Come on!” Jaru began hissing beneath his breath, but others took up his call.
Turning to his left, he saw that even the Master at Arms was yelling at the soldiers and stragglers beyond the walls, his hands cupped to his mouth. The sun was now a half-disk on the horizon, as if it, too, were eager to vanish beneath the landscape and avoid the horrors that were on the way. Further off, the howling sounds grew louder.
The riders had succeeded in picking up most of the elderly and children (mostly by force), leaving the rest to their own devices. Realizing the futility of saving their things, the rest cut the leather straps that bound their horses and oxen to their carts, mounted them, then made a dash for the gates. These were the smart ones.
Only two brawny men were left out on the plain. Despite the pleas of two riders, the men refused to leave their cart: one whipped the horses at the front, while another pushed from the back.
The bell towers began to clang, and the smell of fear permeated the air. One of the riders unsheathed his sword, rode up to the man who was pushing the cart, and hit the obstinate fellow on the head with the butt of his sword handle.
“Ooh!” cried everyone in Jaru’s line as they instinctively felt the blow.
The man crumpled, the rider caught him, slung him on his horse, and sped toward the Fort. The second rider was still yelling at the driver, as the first rider flew past.
Turning back to the driver, the second rider unsheathed his sword, raised it in the air, then cut the leather straps of the cart. The two horses reared up, then ran toward the gates.
The driver sat on his cart, gawking at his horses, then turned his shocked gaze toward the rider who had released them. He opened his mouth, probably to give the man a tongue-lashing, but found a sword point pressed to his throat. He surrendered, and got on the horse. Cheers broke out from those who were watching.
To the west, the sun was no longer visible, though its light could still be seen above the horizon. No sooner had the last two men entered the Fort, than the gates banged shut behind them.
Off in the distance, the howling sounds grew louder, and the monsters became visible.
“Positions!” barked the Master at Arms.
Jaru set his arrow to its bow, mirrored by all those on either side of him.
Chapter 2.
“A tulku is nothing more than a mental projection of yourself,” droned Master Pelgau as he walked back and forth in front of the class like some automaton. “The more of your own emotion you put into this mental projection, the more powerful it becomes.�
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The entire class repeated his words verbatim.
“Sexual energy is the most powerful force available to mankind,” Pelgau continued. “This is why we forbid all forms of sexual expression: so we may better direct it toward noble pursuits, instead.”
Ben and his class again echoed the teacher’s words.
“Aside from reproduction, only the lowly use sex for base purposes, such as mere… pleasure,” and here the Master grimaced, clearly disgusted at the idea that people would willingly indulge in pleasure. “To pursue magic, therefore, is to pursue mastery: mastery over one’s self, and mastery over one’s baser nature. Our desires are not our masters, they are our slaves!”
Ben felt only slightly guilty at having to repeat the Master’s words. He comforted himself in the knowledge that he still young, and not some old coot. Then again, Pelgau was over a hundred years old – obviously his juices had dried up a long time ago. Ben’s had not. Fortunately, the same clearly applied to a number of other students.
Late afternoon had come, and while he was already a little hungry, Ben had to wait, since the Masters always ate first. They often took to bed before sunset, rising again several hours before midnight to do their meditations, before hitting the sack, once more.
Leaving Pelgau’s class, he made his way to the subterranean chambers reserved for higher-ranking wizards. Tonight was a full moon, and he would be allowed to fly.
Having spent a little more than two years at the college, the complete darkness of the underground posed no challenge for him whatsoever. He had learned to see in darkness as clearly as if it were day. Here, all light was banned, for it was within these vaults that the college stored most of its magical power.
He made his way toward the room assigned to him, and pressed his right hand against the stone wall. When he felt it give way, he walked into the circular room and bowed before the man who squatted on the floor.
Ben was now an Apprentice. At twenty years of age, he was the youngest to become one. Normally, a person with innate magical abilities spent two years as a Novice, and another four as an Acolyte, before reaching the status of an Apprentice. What ordinarily took most people six years to achieve, Ben had done in only two, making him senior to both Jon and Dani.
The Masters were all impressed with his talents, though he was never given any exemptions from his regular duties. Fortunately, he had adapted completely, which explained why he had the energy to stay up late, and still wake up before the morning call.
It was this success which convinced him and his friends that the Masters were all wrong: sex in no way impeded magical abilities. If anything, they seemed to increase it.
“Begin,” said Journeyman Dreyfus.
Ben sat down on the floor. When his breathing had slowed down enough, he nodded to the journeyman.
“Today, you may cross the Great Sea,” Dreyfus said. “I am confident in your abilities.”
Ben was surprised. His concentration wavered. No one was allowed to cross the Great Sea!
“Return in half an hour. If not, I will come after you. And if I have to do that, boy…”
Ben gulped, then nodded. Closing his eyes, he slowed his breathing once more and regained his focus. Letting go of his body, he felt his essence separating from his physical form, and his consciousness was immediately expelled from the college by its protective wards.
He floated above the rambling complex, then turned toward the south, where the Great Sea lay. Without specific instructions from the Journeyman, he simply willed himself forward, stopping where the sea began.
In the past, any attempts to cross any moving body of water caused him to bounce off of an invisible wall. Approaching cautiously, he held out his hand, and moved slowly forward. He felt a thickness in the air, but mindful of the Journeyman’s order, he willed himself forward.
It was like moving through molasses, but Ben persisted. After a few minutes, the thickness gave way, and he found himself moving forward, unimpeded. Looking around, he saw that he several meters away from the shore.
Ben always felt a thrill whenever he left his body, but this new-found freedom was something else. He was moving above running water!
If death is like this, Ben thought to himself, then I truly have nothing to fear!
His astral body flew faster and faster, till everything became a blur. Only the blueness beneath him let him know that he was still above the Great Sea, at the other end of which was nothing, save the Curve of the Sky. Everyone knew that the world was an inverted bowl, at the bottom of which was the land and sea. This Great Sea eventually curved upward somewhere, becoming the sky populated by the sun, moon, and stars.
It was with a shock, therefore, that he suddenly found himself zooming over the green and brown of land, once more.
Had he somehow turned around? Ben willed himself to stop.
Looking down, he saw that he was indeed above land where none should be. He looked behind him and saw the Great Sea. He also saw his astral chord stretching behind him, confirming that he had indeed travelled in a straight line.
But this land does not curve upward toward the sky, he thought. This is impossible.
Heart thudding, Ben flew down to investigate.
* * *
At twenty-one, Jaru Bahn was the youngest Master at Arms that the Fort of the Kings had ever had, a position he had held for almost nine months. Since taking his post, none of the Night Raiders had yet breached the Fort’s walls. For this achievement, King Sekhavi gave him the honor of dining with him and the other exalted warriors in the main hall. It was not his first award.
While he took his role very seriously and felt immense pride in what he did, none of the praise, medals, and wealth he received had ever gotten to his head. For this, he was called Jaru the Modest, and many adored him.
For Jaru, it had never been about the fame. Last year, his sister, Miri, had come of age and took her place at the walls. Next year, it would be his youngest sister: Ahi. Gi had flown to the Blessed Lands two years before, something Jaru had never recovered from. As such, he vowed to never lose another sibling or person to the horror that had struck every full moon for the last seven years. Each day that he succeeded took him by surprise.
They always came at sunset from the north: wolf-like beings that stood on two legs, tearing apart every living being they could get their hands on. They did not discriminate between human beings and animals, nor did they kill to eat; the Night Raiders killed simply because of some insatiable blood lust, discarding their victims’ corpses only after dismembering it completely.
They would stay for up to three hours after sunset, then vanish mysteriously, as if they had no real form. The only thing that could kill the demonic creatures was iron, the mere touch of which turned them into smoke, and then they’d vanish, like mist.
But they were not mist. Everywhere they went, they left devastation and death, for iron was rare in Jaru’s country, as well as in the neighboring nations.
The first night of the full moon would fall in a few more hours, and Jaru was already making his inspection. Soon, Miri would take up her position; despite being only fifteen, she was already Chief Archer for never missing a mark. In the fort, Jaru never spoke to her if he could avoid it, wary of being accused of favoritism. Nevertheless, his heart clenched in fear just knowing she was there.
A man approached him, “Everything is secure, sir,” said Lekan, his aide.
“Excellent. You look well-rested.”
“Slept like a babe the whole day, thanks to you.”
Jaru grinned as he completed his inspection, enjoying the memory of the previous day. As the Master at Arms, he divided his time between his family’s farm and the fort, and enjoyed the company of his men. Times were hard, after all, and there was nothing like sex among men to enliven their sense of esprit des corps.
Lekan’s wife was five months pregnant, and was in no mood for her husband’s amorous needs. For many of the army’s full-time conscripts, it
was a wonderful blessing. Lekan was massive, after all, and Jaru was still sore from their previous session.
Jaru made his way to his tiny office to collect his weapons, and gave a sigh when Lekan followed, closing the door behind him and setting the lock.
“Lekan, we have no time for this. I still have to…”
“Sunset is in two more hours, sir, and you owe me a fuck.”
“Owe you? You fucked my intestines out yesterday! Now move aside, man. We can do this after.”
But Lekan dropped his pants, stepped out of it, and walked over to Jaru’s small desk. Lying face down on it, he reached out for the bottle of oil that was indispensible to all men.
“Lekan, I really…”
“Come on, Jaru. You know your blood’s already boiling at the thought of tonight. As our leader, you need to relax, make sure your head’s clear. Fucking after a fight’s nice, but why not try something different, for a change? Guaranteed to improve your fighting skills, I promise. Now fuck me, already.”
Jaru was already hard at the sight of the older man’s firm buttocks. Lekan wiggled his ass in the air for good measure, and Jaru laughed. Grabbing the small bottle from the prone man, Jaru poured a goodly dollop of oil onto his hand and massaged his cock with it.
“Well, if you really think it’ll improve my fighting skills...”
“Absolutely. And there’ll be none of your attempts at kissing me, hear? I’m a married man, sir!”
Jaru sighed as he rubbed his oiled cock against Lekan’s butt crack. The last time he had fucked the older man had been during the last full moon. He had forgotten how hairy Lekan was. As Jaru’s tip slid against the soft hairs that nestled there, the aid spread his legs wider, breathing hard in anticipation of being skewered.
“Don’t take forever about it, too,” Lekan ordered. “I’ve resorted to using all manner of vegetables and farming tools for the last couple of weeks since Shili’s change of mood, hear?”
“Aye aye, sir! Your wish is my command, sir!” Jaru laughed as he positioned his tip against Lekan’s puckered opening.
The Night Raiders--A Sexy Supernatural Medieval Fantasy M/M Novelette From Steam Books Page 2