by Russ Primo
It struck me, as she spoke, that she'd not referred to herself and Mira in the same class of person before. It also struck me that calling all of them women was the perfect ploy for flirtation. Certainly, it was true; but, now that I had my Debt, it meant that I had to think of women as being potential mates, potential avenues to satisfy my Debt.
I shook my head quickly, clearing it of these thoughts, and tried instead to reason out why elves would be on the Free Isles at all, let alone in such numbers and armed sufficiently to mount attacks on towns and temples.
Perhaps it was that they had designs on opening up new lands, or desired colonies for a reasonably morally-covered conquest. None of it fit, though, with what I knew of the elves.
"I wish I could say, Mette," I admitted after thinking for a moment. "I passed through one elven village, in my wanderings, before I learned of the nature of the Free Isles's magic and made for here. It was a small place, but the elves there seemed more than content.
"They had clean water, and they had good game, and they built their houses high up in the trees. Living in houses made with such excellent craftsmanship that I doubt anyone but an elf, or one welcomed by elves, could have done them any harm. They were helpful, besides, and saved me from a storm-swollen river. I owe them my life, but I didn't expect them to try taking it from me, instead of calling upon me to help them."
Ahead of me, Mira let out a little snort of laughter, and Kacie chuckled at her, reaching up to push her shoulder playfully.
For a brief moment, it seemed like everything was going to be all right, from here on out.
For a brief moment, it seemed that I could win Kacie to my bed, and maybe even Mira, too (I hadn't forgotten about Mette).
For a brief moment, I allowed myself to simply be happy, surrounded by three of the most gorgeous women I'd ever seen, and to have them all happy with me, too.
Then, from behind us, there came a soft, tinny clatter.
And my happiness cooled in my veins to ice.
Chapter Twelve
Each of us turned, in an instant, to look down the way we'd come, our eyes each straining in the blue half-light to pick out some figure in the dwindling distance, each straining to see nothing in the dwindling distance.
"Perhaps it was a rat?" Mette offered. "Surely there must be some, down here?"
I shook my head, still glaring off down the hallway.
"Look on the ground around us, Mette," I urged. "There's soil between the stones, sure. But there's no sign of life at all that I've seen. There's no ants, nor spiders. Nothing. What would a rat eat down here, that would draw it?"
Kacie gulped, and I heard the distinct, muted twang of Mira lifting the bowstring from between her breasts.
A chill stole up my spine, but still I could see nothing down there.
"I don't see anything," I admitted. "But I think it's wise we get going, regardless."
Mette hummed her agreement.
Mira chirped a quiet, "Okay."
Kacie, beside me, nodded silently.
"How far is it, to wherever the end of this thing is?" I breathed to Mette.
"Not far," Mette whispered back. "It's only a few minutes of walking, to Aegid.
Suddenly, my ears pricked up, and a sensation of doom made me raise my shield just in time for it to deflect a whizzing arrow back down the hallway.
"I hope your timing's gotten better, since we escaped the temple!" I shouted to the women behind me. "Else, we're done for!"
Without another word, each of us took off down the hallway, our legs pumping hard beneath us to ferry us as fast as possible away from this new danger.
I stayed in the rear, so that I could try to deflect whatever arrows the elves shot at us, little though I figured I'd be able to. It was hard enough to run down the tunnel without smacking my head against he low ceiling, and our footsteps were so loud that any arrows would be near-impossible to hear coming.
"Keep going!" I shouted after a scant half minute chase down the tunnel.
My cold blood told me to raise the shield again, and I spun on my heel, my feet sliding roughly against the mislaid stones on the floor, my shield raised in front of me, just in time to hear the arrow sail down the hallway and clatter harmlessly against it.
There was no time to adjust, as another followed directly behind it, clattering with its comrade at my feet.
Wasting as little time as I could, I scooped the shafts up and took off after the women.
In no time at all, I caught them up again, and passed the two arrows I'd collected off to Mira, who took them wordlessly.
"I hope your hunting skills are better than mine," I said as we fled.
Her eyes flashed a dangerous, shimmering black.
"They're good enough, Pryvet. I could protect us fine, if the ceiling were high enough to arc a shot, or the elves were close enough for us to see them!"
"Good," was all I said in response.
Truthfully, I had no reason yet to doubt her.
Plus, she did plenty fine the last time we fought elves.
The only time I'd seen her tangle with elves, when she wasn't half-asleep, at least, she'd saved all of our asses, and I trusted her to do so again.
"How can the elves hit us, anyway," Kacie gasped, clutching what looked like to be a stitch in her side and beginning to stagger, "If they don't have magic?"
I chuckled as I ran, swinging my arm around Kacie's waist and hailing her forward.
"I've got you, Kacie," I growled to her, watching her face light up as I said her name. "I think they're using those longbows. The elf who crawled in through the doorway had one, and I don't doubt others do, as well."
We ran on like that for another half minute, before Mette called out.
"Aha!" she cheered. "That's the doorway!"
"Where?" I called out, unable to see anything in front of us, no doubt in part due to the three women ahead of me.
"There!" Mette raised her arm to point to something on the right wall, which was obscured by her body.
I squinted ahead, trying to make it out, and because of that I didn't notice the arrow that came rocketing through the air towards us until it sliced against my bicep.
"Fuck!" I yelled, in spite of myself, spinning around and raising my shield again.
The arrow felt like it had just grazed me, but I felt stupid for having let my guard down.
My shield thumped as another arrow clanged off of it.
These elves really do just keep it up with the arrows, don’t they?
Behind me, Mette's speech was starting to gain speed, as though she were whipping through the words to open the door.
Then, abruptly, the sound of stone grinding on stone told me that she'd gotten through.
"Hurry, Pryvet!" Kacie cried, pulling against my shoulder to haul me through the doorway and the whistling sounds of shot arrows picked up again.
As shafts and arrowheads banged against my shield, I let Kacie drag me backwards through the door, until her foot got caught on the lintel, and we both tumbled backwards through it, into what I could only hope (but was starting to think I would never trust) was safety.
Chapter Thirteen
"Now!" I heard Mette shout as Kacie and I tumbled backwards through the doorway.
I caught a glimpse of Mette and Mira pushing shut two heavy stone-slab doorways, locking them into place, before they sighed and collapsed on top of Kacie and myself.
"Are we safe?" I gasped, feeling the warmth of the women's skin on my own, the softness of their breasts pressed full and heavy against me. “Are the doors sealed?”
Even if they are sealed, are they sealed in the way that nothing can get through? Or, are they sealed in the way that we’ll just end up fleeing a different bunch of elves down a narrow hallway, instead?
In spite of the danger that could at any moment return, I felt my manhood jump at the soft sensations of their breasts pressing into me.
"Yes," Mette breathed heavily. "Only a priestess can
get through that doorway. Not even Mira would be able to open it."
With that, Mette seemed to lose all energy, and laid her head on my shoulder, her eyes closing and little snoring breaths issuing from her lips.
"She's tired, isn't she?" Mira said, stifling a yawn herself. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her fall asleep so fast.”
"Well," I reasoned, "She was up most of the night that you two were asleep, bargaining with The Mother for my Debt. It seems reasonable for her to be tired."
"Speak for yourself, Mr. Man," Kacie grumbled, extricating her leg from under me and swinging it instead over mine, tucking my arm under her neck and laying her head on my other shoulder. "I could sleep for a thousand years, after all that excitement."
I heard her smack her lips as she settled in to sleep, using my shoulder for her pillow.
"Ungh," Mira moaned, glancing down at us. "I'm so cold, but I can't leave without Mette's permission. It's part of a temple maiden's job."
Feeling the soft bliss of sleep creep up behind me, I allowed my eyes to close, trusting Mette enough to feel myself drift off, but not enough that I didn't wedge my foot between the two halves of the door, so that it wouldn't open without waking me.
"There's always warmth for you here, Mira," I sighed, allowing my right arm to tuck around Kacie's waist, even if I wouldn't risk the same with Mette. "But, I'm sorry. I've been up nearly as long as Mette, and I need a nap…"
Without another word, I let my eyes close, and listened to Mira grumble, stomping around the room before I felt her lithe, little frame tuck in between Mette and myself, laying her head on my stomach when she realized there wasn't another open shoulder for herself.
And, surrounded by these three beauties, I finally let myself drift off to sleep, hoping that none of them would feel my member hardening beneath my pants, or hoping that they would…
"Ungh… Pryvet…" I woke to Kacie's soft voice issuing directly into my ear. "Thank you, Pryvet…"
I felt my body fighting to return to sleep, and tried to take stock of the situation as I lay there.
My body was lying on a hard surface that I felt should have been cold, but yet I was warm. A moment later, I began to come to the sensation of soft, warm skin pressing into my own.
Though the sensation of a past danger still tingled at the back of my mind, it seemed that, wherever I was, I was safe now.
And so I lay there, waiting for my memories to come back into my groggy mind.
And, as I did, I realized two things.
The first was that Kacie had to be talking in her sleep. Her voice had that airy, wisp-like quality of the deeply slumbering.
But, the second was much more interesting to me.
What is that I feel on my shaft?
Kacie's fingers were wrapped around my morning wood lightly, but seemed to be working up and down my length on their own.
Gods, but didn't her fingers feel good on me, sliding up and down over the rough fabric of my traveling pants, her long fingers seeming to flex and stretch to get around all of me.
I’ll take this development, over being woken by elves any day of the week.
As I lay there, letting her apparently-sleepy fingers do their work on my member, I began to remember the events of the night before.
Elves' faces, that I'd hoped to forget, buoyed up from the sleepy depths of my mind to the surface, where I could see them.
First, the faces of the elves at Wex's bar, long and thin and handsome.
They were the proud faces of a people who knew what they were about, and what they were about was honor.
Then, the face of the gorgeous elf with the longbow, her long blonde hair and bright blue armor, the massive bolt that I'd somehow deflected (I gave a secret whispered thanks to The Mother, at that memory, for I felt that the art of deflection was down to Her magic, and not to my own skill, though that was profound itself), lit aflame as I recalled setting her face ablaze in the temple, Smoterlich.
In my mind's eye, the gorgeous elf fell to the ground, writhing in pain as the burning oil she'd meant to set us alight with turned itself instead upon her.
Lying there, on that hard ground, with the bodies of Mira, Mette, and Kacie lying upon me, I felt my stomach churn at that memory.
I had come to the Free Isles to seek magic, that I might do harm, yes.
But, I'd intended that the harm done would be only to the mage who came and burned my village, who stole my childhood from me, who stole my family and my friends, the cruel blue fire he spat from his staff a simple thing that could not be extinguished by any means that I knew.
I had not come to the Free Isles to kill or to harm.
But, that appeared to not matter.
If there were those who would kill or harm myself, or kill or harm Kacie, Mira, or Mette (I realized with a pleasant shock), then I would do whatever I could to return the favor.
I would protect those who were close to me, with my life if I could.
They need me as much as I need them, it seems.
Where I'd come with no one, it seemed I now had three people to protect. I wondered whether they each felt the same about me…
Sighing inwardly, I let my thoughts drift off again, feeling the thrill of Kacie's slowly-moving fingers over my shaft.
Hopefully, Kacie felt that way about me.
Hopefully, the dreams that caused her to touch me like this weren't sequestered within her sleeping hours…
Smiling to myself, happy at the attention, I let my mind drift back to sleep.
I would not wake until much later.
Chapter Fourteen
"Good morning, sleepyhead!" Kacie chuckled as I groaned and opened my eyes, finally. "Someone really needed that nap, it seems."
The bright light of morning crashed into my eyes, causing me to squint and blink back its brilliance. To my dismay, I could already tell that the other women had woken up, too, and that none were using me as a human pillow anymore.
Well, that was nice while it lasted, at least.
I wonder how long it will be, before I am able to feel their heads on my shoulder again, cradling their warm soft bodies while they drift off to sleep?
"Well, he did do a lot to get us out of there," I heard Mira reason, from somewhere to my left. "He deserves a nap, I suppose. Probably more than I did."
Her voice sounded inquisitive, as though she were examining something else, and only paying small thought to the words that she spoke.
"Yes, he really did," Mette agreed, from somewhere behind me. "Let's just hope that he won't have to work quite so hard, today. I think he's earned his rest."
Finally, my eyes seemed ready to meet the light, and I blinked them open quickly, trying to let my pupils adjust without the searing headache that usually accompanies such a drastic change in lighting.
As I did, I noticed that Kacie's face was bent low over mine.
Hello, gorgeous.
A thin, playful smile sat on her mouth, and her eyes danced with happiness, whether because she was happy to see me, or because she was laughing at my slow rise, I didn't know right away.
Then, abruptly, her face swept down, and she planted a quick, girlish peck on my lips.
It was almost too fast for my sleep-addled brain to recognize it, to process it as a kiss and not something else.
But the blush on her face, as her head returned to its original position from the kiss, gave her away.
"Thanks," she whispered, making eye contact with me and making me almost lose myself in her gorgeous blue eyes, as blue as the elves' armor, "For saving us. We wouldn't be here, if it weren't for you…"
As she said those words, her eyes faltered, and fell away from mine, as though my stare was too intense for her.
When she looked back at my face, the happy smile had returned to hers.
"Now, come on, sleepyhead!" she laughed, leaning back and offering her hand to me. "Let's get you up and awake! Mette says that her sisters should be here shortly, and t
hey'll know more about what's going on."
As I took her hand, and let her help me to my feet, I wondered casually whether it was the same hand that had wrapped itself around me, and how long ago that had been.
Then I wondered whether either Mira or Mette had noticed the light, sleep-walking hand job, like I had.
I wonder, if they did, whether it turned any of the other girls on, to sleep next to it. To know that the man you’re resting your pretty little head on is being serviced by one of your friends…
Shaking my head, to clear it of those thoughts, and to keep myself from popping a hard-on when I didn't even know where I was, I looked around me to take in my surroundings.
"Fancy, isn't it?" Mira asked, her voice taking on a similar tone to Kacie's, and making me wonder whether she might be more interested in me than I'd given her credit for. "This room?"
I had to shake thoughts of her body from my head as well, now, because I saw in an instant that she still hadn’t put on any pants, and her luscious thighs were so fit and toned that a little pearl of light hung between them, at her mound, where they made a little gap.
Ugh. Going to be hard to get that thought out of my head.
I had to literally shake my head side to side, to distract myself. But, when I was done, I had to agree with her about our surroundings.
The tunnel doorway had apparently let out into a stately, well-appointed room.
If the large desk in the middle was any indication, it was probably an office of some kind.
Soft, golden light fell into the room from the wide, surprisingly tall, stained glass windows set along the wall behind the desk, and on the walls hung vivid portraits of battle scenes, often close-ups it seemed.
Standing creakily, for my limbs still hadn’t forgiven me for putting them through such roughness in our escape the day prior, I went over to examine the portraits on the wall.