Witch King 1

by Nick Harrow

  “Kyr?” Ayo’s voice was small and distant, little more than a whisper on the wind.

  Its hunger sated, the catfish dove back to the bottom of the river. It offered a silent thanks for the meal I’d provided and headed downstream with a flick of its tail.

  I let it go, and the connection between us snapped with a crystalline chime. The creature’s presence vanished from my thoughts the instant I released the bond, but some part of its essence remained within me. My stomach ached with an unearthly hunger. It was time to feed.

  I turned to the spirits and licked my lips.

  Oh, yes.

  They would be fucking delicious.

  Chapter Fifteen

  AYO AND AJA BACKED away from me, eyes wide, hands held out in front of them defensively. Yata fluttered its wings from the top of the cabin and unleashed a raucous caw of alarm.

  A flash of anger raced through my thoughts at their defiance. I needed these fuckers inside me, and their resistance was infuriating.

  “Kyr?” Aja’s voice was low and dangerous. An uneasy mixture of anger and fear flickered through the spirit’s eyes and stoked the fires of my hunger. I wanted her, all of her.

  In my belly.

  “Come here.” The words sounded strange to my ears, as if there was something wrong with my mouth. I crooked my finger toward the spirit to make sure she understood what I wanted.

  The redhead shook her head and backed toward the boat’s prow, arms held wide as if to protect Ayo, who was behind her.

  “What the fuck are you three doing up there?” Jaga shouted from the back of the boat. The pilot’s voice was tight and ragged with a violent mixture of anger and anxiety.

  “No concern of yours.” After I finished with the spirits, I’d deal with Jaga and her foul mouth. She’d make a delightful dessert.

  The river’s roar ate her reply, and that was fine by me. I was so fucking hungry that nothing other than filling the void inside me mattered. My tongue was swollen with need, and my teeth itched with an overwhelming urge to bite and tear.

  “Kyr, stop.” Aja had dropped into a ready crouch, her hands raised into defensive claws, teeth bared in a predator’s warning. “Let us help you.”

  “I don’t need any help.” I let my club fall to the deck and stretched my arms out. I’d never felt stronger or more powerful. There wasn’t a damned thing anyone could do to help me that didn’t revolve around feeding me.

  I stalked across the deck, dragging my nails along the gunwale. The wood held an exquisite texture under my fingers, the glossy lacquer smooth and satiny. Its touch sent shivers racing up my spine. The hunger inside me made everything sharper, clearer. I couldn’t imagine how I’d ever lived without this.

  Aja and I were a yard apart. Her retreat had trapped Ayo behind her against the prow, and another step would put the spirit into the river.

  The thought of losing all that tasty spirit flesh dragged a guttural growl from deep in my chest.

  “Don’t do this,” Ayo pleaded. “There’s something wrong.”

  “It’s never been more right.” I lunged forward and snatched Aja’s wrist in a grip like an iron vise.

  The spirit wrenched her arm back, and her struggles rocked the boat, almost knocking all of us into the river’s swift current.

  “Gods fuck you all!” Jaga shouted. “If you capsize my boat, I’ll chase the three of you straight into the Frozen Hells!”

  Aja stared up at me with wide, wet eyes. The wind tossed strands of her hair across her face, and the red streaks looked like threads of blood.

  The sight sharpened my appetite. I couldn’t wait any longer. With a snarl, I dragged her wrist to my lips, opened my mouth, and—

  “Stop!” Something bony with sharp claws slammed into my face and slapped the sides of my head. “Stop or I’ll claw your eyes out!”

  Yata’s threat wasn’t idle. The three-legged raven’s talons flashed in front of my face, and their black razor tips could have plucked my eyeballs clean out of my skull. How dare my familiar attack me?

  “I dare because your core is overrun with feral rin, you asshole,” the raven cried. “Didn’t that bear slut teach you anything other than how to fuck?”

  Yata’s rebuke was as shocking as a bucket of cold water thrown into my face. I’d saved the sampan by sucking up all the catfish’s rin, and I’d gotten more than I expected out of the bargain. The creature’s hunger technique had come along for the ride with the sacred energy, and now it was tied up with my core.

  Knowing all that didn’t keep the desire to feed from pushing its way back into my thoughts. Yata’s panicked thoughts brushed against mine through our connection and kept me from falling back into primal hungry-man mode.

  For the moment.

  With a guttural roar that caused the spirits to yelp with surprise, I tried to push the feral rin out of my nodes. Unfortunately, that’s not where the dangerous sacred energy was rooted. It had flowed through me during my struggle with the catfish, and was now lodged deep in my muscles and bones. The only way to get rid of it was to burn it out with more raw senjin. Lots and lots of raw senjin.

  “Help,” I croaked to Aja and Ayo. I gestured at my solar plexus with one hand, shaking from the effort of holding the hunger at bay. “Have to purge my rin. Need to cycle senjin.”

  Aja looked skeptical, but Ayo pushed past her and threw herself into my arms. Her lithe blue body squirmed against my torso, legs wrapped tightly around my waist. She kissed me, hard, her tongue stabbing at mine, and tangled her fingers in my hair. Her core pressed against mine, a cool and comforting presence next to the burning heat of my hunger.

  My hands shoved the thin straps of her top off her shoulders and cupped her firm breasts. I pulled away from the heat of our kiss to swirl my tongue around one stiff blue nipple, then the other. The taste of seawater danced on my tongue, and the intimate contact drew our cores together. For a split second my thoughts merged with Ayo’s, and our shared sensations inflamed our desire.

  Ayo reached between us, her slender fingers cool as they slid down my stomach and under my belt. Her fingers found Aja’s fist already wrapped tight around my rock-hard rod, and together they squeezed and pulled me toward the edge of blinding ecstasy. The red-haired spirit kissed the side of my neck, then sucked at my throat and nipped at my skin with her sharp teeth. Ayo groaned as the motion of their hands brushed against her cleft, and her legs tightened around me.

  “What in the Frozen Hells?” Jaga asked, one eyebrow raised curiously at what she saw. “First you almost capsize my boat fighting a giant catfish, and now you’re rutting on my deck like a bunch of wild animals?”

  Yata cawed at that and flapped its wings in a rough approximation of a human shrug.

  “Have to,” Aja drew in a sudden gasp as my fingers found the nub of sensitive flesh nestled between her legs. She clung to my shoulder, breath hot and heavy against my ear. “Shaman shit.”

  All three of our cores glowed at the heart of my mind’s eye like perfect pearls. Rin gushed out of my nodes and the sacred energy flowed between us in throbbing channels of power. My thumb traced a circle around the edge of Ayo’s stiff nipple, and more power flowed from my overstuffed core into her center. The crimson sacred energy combined with the swirling blue shio in her core and produced a sudden burst of senjin that shot through our trio in a shuddering, ecstatic wave. That pushed some of the feral rin out of my flesh in a rush of animalistic passion.

  The patch of naked flesh between Jaga’s breasts flushed red and her eyes locked with mine. She licked her lips, uncertain of what she wanted, and I reached for her with my free hand. I had no idea what would happen if I brought another person into our magic circle, but I was eager to find out.

  The captain hesitated for a moment, breath caught in her throat. The heat from her thundering heart brought a rosy glow to her deeply tanned cheeks, and her mouth dropped open slightly as if she couldn’t get enough air.

  Ayo pulled herself higher up my body
and braced herself with one elbow on my shoulder. She guided the head of my cock toward the hungry opening between her legs, trembling with need. She eased onto me, her weight carrying the slick, tight sleeve of her sex down my length in a slow, languid stroke so exquisite the sensation bordered on the painful.

  “Oh, Blood God,” she groaned. Another pulse of sweet agony washed through the three of us, drenching our bodies with sweet, pure senjin.

  My index and little fingers parted Aja’s swollen lips, and I thrust my ring and middle fingers into her depths. My thumb worked at her throbbing pearl, and she whimpered against my throat.

  Jaga’s eyes went glassy, pupils dilated to cavernous black holes. She shucked her vest off and pressed herself against my left side. Her full lips found mine, tentatively at first, then with increasing urgency. She cupped the back of my neck with one hand and twined the fingers of the other with mine. She pulled back after a long moment, her eyes wild and heart hammering against my side.

  “My cabin,” she whispered, and nodded her head toward the rear of the boat.

  “Here,” I demanded, and pulled the three of them to the deck with me.

  Ayo rode me in a desperate, fierce rhythm, and I met her strokes with my own thrusts that lifted her knees off the deck. She swirled the tips of her fingers across the deep blue nub of her clit, and her first orgasm sent a blast of senjin rocketing through the four of us. The spirit collapsed against me, her face hot against my chest, her arms cradling my head. She rode my thrusts with faint, dreamy moans, lost in the crashing waves of pleasure that bound us together.

  Jaga laid on the deck to my left, her heavy breasts pressed against my arm. She squirmed as my hand found the damp crotch of her tight shorts and groaned wordlessly as I stroked her through the thin fabric. She kissed me, hard and hungry, caught up in a passion she’d never experienced and couldn’t yet understand. She thrust her hips forward to grind the damp mound of her sex against my palm. Lost in a desperate, driving need, she pulled at the golden ring through her left nipple, stretching the pink nub taut. The blue serpent tattoo that encircled her breasts heaved with every shuddering breath as if swimming through a storm-tossed sea.

  Aja suddenly clamped her thighs around my hand and shuddered. A long, ragged moan emerged from her parted lips, and she threw her head back as she came in a ferocious, muscle-clenching spasm. She ground herself against my fingers, riding the crashing wave of pleasure until shooting stars of senjin blazed through us all.

  “What the fuck are you?” Jaga moaned. She shoved her shorts down with one hand and dragged my hand to her dripping slit with the other. “Oh, Blood God, yes, right fucking there. If you stop, I’ll tear out your heart with my teeth.”

  Can’t fault a lady for knowing what she likes.

  Jaga rose to a kneeling position beside me, legs spread wide, then leaned over to brush the stiff tip of one nipple across my lips.

  I got the hint and swirled my tongue around the pink bud, then pulled it into my mouth. My slippery fingers thrust into the tight and yearning juncture of her thighs, stroking her walls with smooth, steady strokes.

  “Faster.” She humped my hand, head down, long black hair hanging around our faces like a glossy curtain. Her sweat trickled down her breasts and onto my lips, hot and salty. “Faster.”

  Aja watched the pilot from my other side, her heart racing along with mine, eyes hooded with contented exhaustion.

  Ayo’s sex clenched around me in convulsive waves, her moans of pleasure growing louder with each of my thrusts. Our bodies moved together in perfect rhythm, pushing us both toward a peak beyond anything I’d ever imagined.

  “That’s it, there.” The pilot clamped her hands over mine and rocked her body against my fingers and palm. She cried out and a shudder ran through her body from the tip of her head down to the deck. “Fuck, oh, fuck.”

  A sudden flood of her juices drenched my hand and coursed down my arm in sticky streams. Jaga shouted and cursed as wave after wave of pleasure crashed through her. Her enthusiasm was infectious, and I bucked under Ayo with an increasingly feverish need.

  I came, twitching and spurting deep inside the blue-skinned spirit. Her skin puckered into goose pimples as my seed splashed inside her, and she joined me in another shuddering spasm. Senjin coursed through our bodies, purging the last of the feral rin from my system.

  Jaga sagged to the deck and laid her head on my chest. She brushed her hair out of her face with a calloused hand and blew out a gusty, satisfied sigh.

  “Next time, I’m the one getting fucked.” She tweaked my nipple. “If your fingers can do that, I have to find out what you can do with that magic stick.”

  “Next time?” I chuckled and clasped my hands behind my head. “Aren’t you getting ahead of yourself?”

  “You wanna start swimming?” Jaga clicked her teeth together.

  “Speaking of swimming, who’s piloting this hunk of junk?” Aja flicked the end of the pilot’s nose with her index finger.

  “This stretch of the river’s wide open.” Despite her assurances, Jaga lifted her head and looked out over the boat’s prow. “We’re fine.”

  “I’ve been watching,” Yata croaked. “And now I’ll scout ahead like I’ve been doing since we had to run from the fire. Not that anyone notices all my hard work. You four just keep fucking yourselves stupid.”

  The three-legged raven took flight with a noisy flap of its wings. It vanished into the mist a few moments later, and soon I couldn’t hear the sounds of its flight over the gentle pounding of my pulse in my ears.

  “I like you.” Ayo lifted a hank of Jaga’s long, black hair between her fingers. When she saw Jaga’s raised eyebrows, she chuckled, a soft and throaty sound that reminded me of the burbling of a brook. “Not like that. You’re pretty, but I’m not interested in women like that.”

  “Good for you.” Jaga sat up and combed the tangles out of her hair with her finger. I watched her dexterous hands secure the long dark strands into a tight braid. “My river doesn’t run for ladies, either.”

  “Well, that’s good information to have.” Aja stood and offered her hand to Jaga, who took it gratefully and stood up on the opposite side of me. “Is there somewhere I can wash up, or do I need to take a dip in the river?”

  “Sure.” Jaga gestured toward the cabin near the aft end of the sampan. “There’s a little toilet in there. It’s not much, but it’s enough for a whore’s bath and a piss without hanging your dainty little ass over the edge of the boat.”

  “Thanks.” Ayo slid off me and scampered into the cabin, leaving me sticky and exposed on the deck.

  “Damnit,” Aja shouted after the blue spirit.

  “Snooze and lose,” Jaga chuckled.

  She and Aja took my hands and helped me back to my feet. The pair of them bumped into my shoulders, sly grins on their faces. I wasn’t sure what had passed between them, but they were definitely up to something. I’d have to keep an eye on the trouble twins or there was no telling the kind of shit they’d get up to.

  “Now that we don’t have anyone trying to kill us or eat us, and we’re all fucked out for at the least next ten minutes, let’s talk a little business.” I threw an arm around Jaga’s shoulder. That earned me a raised eyebrow, as if we were strangers and I hadn’t been diddling her into a stupor a few minutes ago. “How far until we get to the lake?”

  “You could get there by tomorrow morning.” Jaga glanced at the wide river’s current and nodded. “Yeah, current’s good, river level is just right. We’ll need to get a room at Luysi Station for the night, though. Not enough space for all of us in my cabin.”

  “I can sleep on the deck.” I shrugged.

  “Good for fucking you, asshole.” Jaga punched me in the shoulder harder than seemed strictly necessary. “Maybe your companions and I would like to get fucked in a proper bed. You ever think of that?”

  I blushed more than a bit because I honestly hadn’t. I’d spent so long with the crimson bear that I al
most never thought about shit like that at all. If living in a cave for close to a century was good enough for me, why wouldn’t it be good for everyone else, too?

  Fuck, I’d been such an idiot.

  Pretty much. Mielyssi’s voice was light and good humored, despite the words. Part of being a shaman is your connection to the world. And that world includes people.

  It would have been awesome if Mielyssi popped these little nuggets of wisdom into my thoughts before I made an ass out of myself, but that had never been her style. The crimson bear, like every mentor in every story ever told to a wide-eyed kid, wanted her pupil to figure shit out on his own.

  Fine. Be that way.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, and meant it. “We’ve got some loot in my satchel. I’ll get you the best room we can afford.”

  “Good to hear it.” Jaga wagged her finger at me. “I’m looking forward to it. My knees are still knocking after that bit of finger action you gave me. I’ll be laid up for a week if your dick measures up to my imagination.”

  “My pleasure.” I wasn’t sure if I should hug Jaga or shake her hand. My arm was still around her shoulder, though that seemed more because she didn’t want to bother moving it than because she enjoyed it. “I’ll be happy to fill more jugs for you on the second leg of our journey south. It’s the least I can do for you after I almost got us killed by a giant catfish.”

  “Second leg?” Jaga snorted. “I never agreed to take you all the way to the lake, man. Once I get paid for this load in Luysi Station, I’m heading back north.”

  “What? I thought—”

  “You woke me up out of a dead sleep, made me evict my now second-favorite fuckboy from the cabin, brought my boat to the attention of the Jade Seekers, almost capsized us, nearly got me killed by a giant catfish, and somehow made me so horny I didn’t even make you wash your hands before you fingerbanged the ever-loving fuck out of me.” Jaga glanced at my hand on her shoulder, then blew me a kiss. “Did I miss anything, or should you be glad I didn’t already stick a knife in your gizzard?”