by Russ Primo
Either way, I couldn't help but cheer as I watched this combination of forces deflect the arrow, and send it hurtling back towards the elf with just as much ferocity as it had been shot at me.
Hissing and spitting as bits and gobs of its flaming oil spat from the arrowhead onto the stones, it sailed powerfully back towards the gorgeous elf archer.
Ha! That should show her for messing with us!
"Few more seconds!" Mette called out, apparently unaware that she'd nearly had her chest ripped open by an arrow.
I would have cheered for our near-escape, had my eyes not been trained on the surprised elf archer.
Her crystalline-blue eyes seemed unable to comprehend the situation until the last second, when she shrieked in fear and rolled out of the arrow's path.
"Oh, damn," I breathed as the huge arrow's massive force cracked into the now-damaged wooden door, pulverizing what was left of it and allowing any elves outside easy access to us.
My eyes flicked briefly back to the archer, who lay writhing on the hard floor as gouts of flame burst from her face, her hands wiping at them frantically.
Though she'd been fast enough to dodge her arrow, it seemed that whatever caused the arrow to burn so hot had fallen onto her, instead.
I tried, briefly, to divine some sympathy for her plight, or at least for the probable loss of those beautiful eyes, but found myself mostly unable to.
As far as I was concerned, she had more than that coming.
Though, it is unfortunate that she wasn’t less pretty to start with.
"Ready!" Mette called from behind me. "Hurry, Pryvet!"
And not a moment too soon, for as I turned to jump down into the open trap door, I saw elves pouring in from the front door, and the side entrance to the bedroom.
"You first!" Mette called, when I went to jump down.
Her hands held the trap door open, but there was no time for her to be the hero.
"You won't last without this shield!" I yelled, wrenching the handle from her, and hefting her down into the hole.
As I made to jump down behind her, hoping Mira and Kacie were safe down there already, I saw an elf with bow drawn lunge at me.
Deftly, I lashed out at him with my shield, stunning him for a moment, enough for me to jump down into the hole, pulling the trap door shut behind me.
Or, trying to.
For, the handle was wrenched from my hand at the last moment, and as I tumbled down into the room below, I saw the vicious, bloodthirsty, heavily scarred face of an elf lurch down into the entrance.
Chapter Eleven
I recoiled at once, from the elf’s face as it lurched weirdly down into the trap-door’s room with me.
Shit. Shit. Shit!
The elf snarled a vicious snarl and drew back his bow dangerously.
At once, the peculiar foresight that seemed to have kept me safe so far told me to raise the shield, and raise it I did.
With a clunk, I heard the elf’s fired arrow clang off my steady shield, for whatever reason not being deflected back at the vicious creature, like the gorgeous elf’s had.
“You bastard!” the snarling elf growled, audibly knocking a second arrow.
Again, I blocked it, and for a moment, I was out of sorts.
“Mette!” I yelled into the darkness around me. “Mette, can you do something here?”
I had no idea what Mette could actually do, and I raised my shield to rebuff the elf's next shot, trying to push him back up out of the trapdoor.
“Yes! Away, Pryvet!" Mette yelled from somewhere to my left, and I gave the elf a last shove before sliding away from him, and readying myself to escape however the priestess demanded.
As I dodged away, I noticed a shimmering, wavering thread of light strung around the trapdoor's edge, fluctuating as though it wanted to draw itself tight, and was only grudgingly held apart.
Mette gave a half-strangled gasp and I watched with fascination as the wavering threads snapped tight, against each other, leaving only a thin circumference remaining, and slicing the elf's head and arm cleanly from its body.
The bow and knocked arrow clattered to the ground harmlessly, and the elf's hand, and most of his arm thudded dully next to it.
But his head and the bit of his neck that had come through, bounced off of the stairs leading down, once, twice, thrice, knocking sickeningly off a dim corner and rolling to a rest in front of Mira.
"Ugh," Mira gasped, her face even in the dimness around us clearly green with disgust.
She raised a hand to her mouth, as though she was going to be sick, and I took the opportunity to give the elf's head the boot, knocking it away from us into the farther darkness, where the black swallowed it up.
"Out of sight," I sighed, allowing myself the first deep, calming breath I'd taken since the assault started, "Out of mind."
I looked back to the entrance and gathered up the bow and arrow that the elf had dropped, then the first that I'd knocked out of his hand with my shield.
"Is anyone hurt?" I asked, feeling the bow.
"No," Mira gulped, clearly still put off by the severed elf's head lying just out of sight in the darkness.
"I don't think so," Kacie breathed.
"I am safe, Pryvet," Mette said. "How are you? Are you hurt?"
That was a good question.
Briefly, I tested felt about myself for any signs of wounds, but found none.
"I think I'm fine, Mette," I said. "That was quick thinking with the… what was that thing, anyway? Some sort of portal?"
"Yes," I could practically hear the smile in her voice. "Some sort of portal.”
She does seem pleased with herself.
"Well, good job. And we have a bow and three arrows, now," I said, turning to what I thought was the rest of the group. "Can any of you shoot? I can, but I think, given the circumstances, and the results of that assault, that I should stick with my shield."
"Hmmmm," Mette sighed. "I have not been hunting in ages."
Though she didn't say anything, I could feel the breeze off of Kacie's hair as she shook her head.
"I can," Mira admitted after a pause. "I've been poaching with some girls before."
"Excellent!" I laughed, trying to get across my pleasure with her answer before Mette could reprimand her, which I figured she might do, being a priestess and all. "Here you go, Mira. These are yours, now."
As I handed the bow and arrows to her, I whispered into her ear, "You could have just said yes, you know. Won't Mette be upset at you poaching?"
I heard Mira chuckle quietly.
"Well, she can get used to a little rebelliousness, given the situation," Mira whispered back.
Suddenly, I felt a warm softness, two warm softnesses press into my chest, and heard Mette exclaim, "Oh! Sorry Pryvet, I'm looking for something."
With a start, I realized it was Mette's breasts that had pushed into me, swelling against my body warm and soft and inviting.
Now, remember Pryvet: you need to clarify the rules of the Debt, first. You should probably do that as soon as you get settled somewhere safe, too.
"Aha!" Mette cried. "I found it!"
There was a low creaking as Mette pulled down on what I later realized was a thick, sturdy rope, followed by a weird, static humming.
All around us, strange floating orbs ignited with small blue flames in their centers, half again as bright as a normal fire, and making me squint after the darkness that preceded their lighting. The flames themselves were not small, about as long as my… well, longer than my little finger.
Thin, silver threads appeared to connect these flame-containing orbs to the ceiling, which I quickly ascertained to be only a little taller than my head, and was thankful that I hadn't leapt out of the way of the elf, but instead feinted left.
More than the ceiling, the orbs' light illuminated the whole area around us, and I quickly took in everything that I could.
It appeared that the trap door had led us down into a long tunne
l, so long long in fact that either end disappeared in the huge distance.
The tunnel was appointed in much the same style as the temple above had been, though of a generally rougher disposition.
Similar stones fitted together to form the floor, walls and ceiling, but instead of the smooth, flat stones that comprised the temple's floor, these were rounded and less exactly fit.
A crude sort of mortar held the walls and ceiling's stones in place, but the floor was left to make do with just dirt brushed into the gaps between the stones. Thankfully, it seemed to be enough to keep any bugs away.
The floor was mercifully free of centipedes, millipedes, worms, or spiders.
Though there was no wind to speak of, the tunnel hallway was very chilly, and Mira hugged her shoulders now, covering her pert breasts with her arms as she shivered.
"Here," I offered, taking off my shirt and handing it to her. "Take this to stay warm."
Her teeth chattered a happy, thanks, as she slipped it on.
Neither she nor Kacie still had any pants on, but I wasn't about to give away all of my clothing. A man needs a certain amount of support down there, after all, especially if we wanted to make a quick escape from anywhere.
It wouldn’t be good to have anything dangling, if we have to sprint away, after all.
I looked around for Mette, realizing that she hadn't said anything since her discovery of the rope, and saw her examining a discolored slab of stone set into the wall on my right some ways down the tunnel.
"Come on," I said to Kacie and the mercifully un-shivering Mira, "We should ask Mette what our next move is.
“As far as I'm concerned, we're better off down here than up there… But, we're still basically trapped down here if they manage to get through that portal thing."
"Oh!" Mira blushed. "Don't worry, Pryvet! They won't be able to get through! Mette and I made sure the enchantment is extra-strong for this one. Only a first-class mage can break our spell, and the elves aren't magical creatures."
That was a good point, but I couldn't help but feel she was just trying to make me feel better, in thanks for me giving her my shirt.
"Still, though," she admitted after another moment, "You're right, Pryvet. We should go see which way Mette wants us to go."
I rolled my eyes as she flounced off towards Mette, pretty sure she intentionally brushed my naked chest with her arm as she did.
Kacie smiled at me and hugged the little cloak tighter around her shoulders.
"Sorry you didn't get the whole shirt," I sighed, as our eyes met. "I didn't really think ahead on that one."
To my surprise, she beamed.
"Pryvet, I don't want you to hear you apologize to me about anything, ever again!" she sounded somewhere between amazed, pissed, and turned on. "As far as I'm concerned, I'd be dead without you.
“Either the elves would have killed me at the tavern, or they'd have killed me up in the temple. It's only thanks to you that I'm alive at all, so you can just hush it with the whole, 'I'm sorry I only gave you my only cloak to keep warm while I saved you from angry, nasty elves.'"
I was totally taken aback by that, but decided to let it drop.
At least it mostly sounds like she’s really happy? Although, I still can’t really be sure.
"Come on, then," I said, extending a hand to Kacie and leading her down the hall to where Mette and Mira stood, examining the wall, "Let's get all of us some actual safety. Because I'm really done with the whole hero thing. I don't think it suits me too well."
Kacie, to my surprise, rested her cheek on my arm as we walked, her face warm against my bare bicep.
"I think it suits you perfectly," she sighed. “My own, personal hero, Pryvet. All of our heroes, as a matter of fact.”
I suppose she did have a certain point, there.
I was willing to bet my whole Debt that the wall Mira and Mette stood before wasn't just a wall.
It had to be the entrance to something, probably another small stairwell and trapdoor to a different temple, just like ours.
A moment later, Mira confirmed my assumptions.
"It's still closed," she whispered, running her fingers along the fine stonework. "Does that mean the elves attacked us first, do you think, Mette? Or does that mean that… does that mean that…"
"The other temples got overrun, before they had time to get down here?" I filled in the silence when Mira's voice trailed off.
Kacie gulped.
"I think," Mette sighed, "that we shouldn't assume anything until we make it to The Mother's palace. They'll know more in Aegid.”
Aegid?
With that, Mette turned and strode away from the stone, as though she feared the worst in spite of her conciliatory words.
“What’s Aegid?” I whispered to Mira, who was still frowning at the wall in front of her.
She looked at me and smiled.
“Sorry, Pryvet,” she chuckled. “You’ve been so cool and collected all the time that I keep forgetting you’re a foreigner. Aegid is The Mother’s main temple, a place which connects all of Her temples to one another, and a sort of headquarters for us.”
With that, Mira set off after Mette, giving Kacie and myself a chance to examine the stone more closely.
“I can’t believe we’re really going to Aegid,” Kacie whispered, examining the rock. “It’s supposed to be a really sacred place, and only the most devout have ever really been. It’s kind of an honor, honestly.”
Unable to really add anything to the conversation, I hummed my general agreement to Kacie, and went back to examining the wall.
It was at least as high as the tunnel itself, a single slab of gray rock where all the stones on either side of it were small.
Though the blue lights in their glass orbs gave off more light than expected, the delicate carving on it would have been difficult to make out, if I hadn't already figured the temple maidens for a bunch of tree huggers.
It was pretty clearly the delicate work of a master craftsman, or woman I supposed, and I'm sure would have shown a delicately carved tree in full bloom, if I'd examined it in a full sun.
As it was, the tree's features lay in thick shadow, as though foretelling some darkness come to swallow it up.
"We should follow them," I said to Kacie, whose cheek was resting again against my bicep.
Wordlessly, she hummed her approval.
When we caught up to the two women, they were already some twenty yards from our entrance.
Mira held the bow in one hand, and the arrows in another. She was shivering something fierce.
"Is the shirt not warm enough?" I asked, unsure of what to give her in addition. I didn't have anything else, but my shield, my pants, and my boots. "I can figure out something else…”
It sucks that warming her up will make her nipples less pronounced though. But, it is worth it.
Mira shook her head.
"No, it's just the adrenaline wearing off. I think I can warm myself if I can rub my arms…"
As her voice trailed off, I was prepared to offer to carry the bow and arrows for her. My hands were larger than hers, and I felt pretty confident I could hold them all in my free hand.
Before I could say anything, though, she handed the two arrows over to Mette, who took them with a look of shock, as though she'd never contemplated holding a weapon before, in spite of just having spoken of hunting.
As though to take my place, now Mette opened her mouth, the frown on her face showing that she was about to complain.
But, before she could do so, Mira had slung the bow around her chest, letting her carry it more easily.
"Thanks, Mette," she smiled, taking the arrows back from her priestess, and giving me a good view of her chest in the process.
I knew that Mette was basically off-limits, but I wasn't so sure about Mira, even though I couldn't tell whether she'd be interested in siring with me anyway.
Have to remember to clarify the rules of the Debt, later. Mira’s said
she’s sworn to chastity, but was she just having me on? Surely, such an oath would only take effect after she became a priestess?
It was still hard, then, to see how the bowstring lay flat between her breasts, pulling my shirt's fabric so tight across them that I got a glimpse of her nipples poking through the admittedly thin material. Her bra, it seemed, as no more up to the task than was my traveling shirt, much to my secret delight.
Or, much to my not-so-secret delight, because as Mira retrieved the two arrows, her eyes glanced over to me drinking in her womanly body.
A furious blush stole flashed across her face, her lips parting in a silent, shocked, "Oh!" before it passed.
She turned back down to face the direction we walked, giving me a good view of her panty-clad rear instead.
"Hey there, Mr. Man!" Kacie whispered to me, a little giggle stealing into her voice as though in spite of herself. "Remember that Mira's off the table. She's a temple maiden, and since you're a foreigner, it's my job to tell you that means there's no better way to piss off The Mother, than to lay with her."
"And what about you, Mrs. Lady?" I whispered back, leaning down to put my lips next to her ear. "You're not spoken for, yet. And it looks like it'll be all the more dangerous for us, if I don't start fulfilling this Debt of mine. Too much magic is locked in the shield, right now. And Mette assures me that more of it will unlock with every woman I sleep with.”
Now, it was Kacie's turn to flush a brilliant red, to hug her arms and shiver what I hoped was cheerfully, and not just from the cold tunnel.
"That's a good point though," I said loud enough for Mette and Mira to hear me.
"What's a good point, Pryvet?" Mira asked, glancing back at me so that our eyes locked for an instant.
"Why were the elves attacking the temple?" I said. "I didn't think any elves even lived on the Free Isles, and to the best of my knowledge, they're not enemies of yours…"
"Hmmm…" Mette hummed to herself, running one polished nail along the rough stone wall as she walked. "I had hoped that you might be able to answer that questions, wanderer. Since you have seen more of the world than us women, I was actually thinking of how to broach the question to you, instead."