Tribe Master

by Noah Layton

  ‘Just because your holy books say nothing about dragons does not mean that they don’t exist. There are a hundred different stories about them.’

  ‘All the same, I’ve never actually seen one.’

  ‘Have you ever seen the gods your worship?’

  ‘Well, no… But…’

  ‘I worship the same gods,’ Eri said, ‘yet I have never seen them. I also believe dragons are real, despite having never seen one myself.’

  ‘A fair point,’ Jeremiah admitted.

  ‘I think we can all agree how incredible it would be to see one, though.’

  ‘Right before it eats you,’ Santana laughed. ‘Or incinerates you with fire… Or…’

  ‘All right, enough talk of dying,’ I said. ‘I’ve been attacked enough in the last few days to last me a lifetime.’

  ‘It is almost time,’ Eri said, looking to the sky. ‘The moon is about to show.’

  ‘Time for what?’ Lara asked.

  ‘The moonseed is blossoming tonight.’

  ‘You have moonseed here?’ Lara exclaimed. ‘How? Why? I did not think that you were the type…’

  ‘I’m not,’ I said. ‘We’re going to sell most of it at the post, presuming we can find a buyer.’

  ‘You’ll definitely find a buyer,’ Lara said. ‘Don’t you remember the den at the cove? Many people cannot get enough of it.’

  Yeah, I’m definitely on my way to becoming a drug lord, I thought.

  ‘Is this the entertainment you were referring too?’

  ‘Well, yeah.’

  ‘Not exactly entertaining,’ Lara remarked.

  ‘Watching moonseed blossom is a wonderful experience,’ Tormus said.

  ‘Ingesting it would be more entertaining.’

  I shot Lara a look.

  ‘Have you done it before?’

  ‘Of course,’ she said. ‘I imagine everyone here has.’

  Everybody shared a shy look aside from Jeremiah and Santana.

  ‘We have not,’ Jeremiah said. ‘My teachings tell me not to.’

  ‘The book tells you to keep your mind sharp,’ Eri said, ‘but it also says that you should do whatever you can to get closer to the gods. Moonseed has been known to allow a peek into another world, one from which the gods may survey us. I have experienced it myself.’

  Jeremiah’s stance had been defensive, but upon digesting Eri’s words a different expression fell on his face.

  He wasn’t just an oppressive religious father. He genuinely cared about his beliefs in an open way, and the thought of getting closer to the gods seemed to ignite some interest.

  ‘It’ll help you sleep at the very least,’ Tormus said. ‘Come. It is time for the ceremony.’

  Ceremony? I thought. What the hell have I gotten myself into?

  While I had grown accustomed to the ways of doing things in Agraria, this was one that I wasn’t too sure about. When I thought of drugs back home I thought of ruined lives and smoke-filled rooms and needles.

  This was being treated like some kind of spiritual experience. Tormus and Eri were productive, free-spirited stoners of the 70s, not the modern-day junkies in alleyways.

  What happened next only gave me more stock in that notion.

  As night fell and the moon lit up the land, Eri worked something with a pestle and mortar before scattering it upon the ground evenly amongst the moonseed sprouts.

  Once finished, she stepped back and spoke a series of words and phrases in a language that I had never heard before.

  Past the nearby stalks of corn, the moonlight creeped over and finally cast itself down upon the sprouts, and together we waited.

  More and more moments passed, and just when I feared the worst, that none of the sprouts had taken, a light crunching sound began.

  It was like popcorn in a microwave. The sound escalated in frequency sharply. It was coming from the hardened shells that surrounded the sprouts.

  Before our eyes they softened and split apart, peeling back limply. From within each, a flower emerged, red petals surrounded a black centre, and from all 25 an innumerable scattering of tiny balls of red light drifted into the air like fireflies.

  They vanished into the air, their lights going out, leaving behind the blossomed flowers.

  Eri plucked one of the flowers from the ground and placed the flower’s head in her pestle and mortar. She ground it gently into tiny particles, then looked up at us all.

  ‘Would anyone care to try? It is best to mix it with milk for the sweet flavour.’

  Everyone took a sprinkling in their canteens – even Jeremiah who seemed reluctant at first, and Alorion, who I thought was committed to his Morinthian’s.

  ‘If you do not mind me likely being incapacitated for a few hours, master?’

  ‘Knock yourself out.’

  ‘What…? Oh…’ He smiled, pointing at me. ‘I remember – to carry out the action, yes?’

  ‘That’s the one,’ I laughed.

  ‘Since moonseed relaxes the body, I would advise that you make to your beds after taking it. To calm your journey I will be playing songs from my pipe.’

  ‘That won’t attract any beasts to us, will it?’

  ‘Fear not, Master Jack; creatures of the forest cannot hear its sounds, and I will play it only loud enough for those upon our land to hear. Sleep well.’

  Jeremiah may have been the cleric, but Eri had taken on the self-styled role of spiritual advisor. She was like an elderly nurse, advising and helping with caring words and a soothing tone.

  After saying goodnight to everybody, Ariadne, Lara and I returned to the treehouse, drinking the concoction on the way over.

  By the time I had closed the door behind me, the sensation had hit me. I was relaxed but not tired. My body felt light instead of something that I was dragging around.

  Any worries that I had had were gone – and the same went for the girls, several times over considering how they were behaving.

  No sooner had I closed the door in the dim moonlight of the treehouse than they had pulled off their clothes. Usually they left their underwear on when we slept, but they vanished too, and without any hesitation.

  There was no way that I wasn’t going to follow suit. I was already growing hard at the sight of their naked bodies, and a huge sense of relief washed over me as I pulled off the last of my clothes and drank unashamedly naked from my canteen.

  Lara stretched out on the rug on the floor, indulging in the softness of it. Her body writhed as she giggled lightly to herself, running her hands over her large breasts as they pooled on her chest.

  Ariadne stayed on her feet, running one hand over her hair and down her body while the other tipped her own canteen back and into her mouth, drinking it dry.

  A phone may have provided entertainment back in my world, but as Ariadne started to sway her hips from side to side, throwing her canteen to the side and bringing her new free hand to her body as she touched herself, I couldn’t think of anywhere I would rather have been.

  ‘We used to have a dance amongst my people,’ she moaned, continuing to sway her hips in time with the music drifting across the land. ‘We would use it to tell a story.’

  ‘What story?’

  ‘The story of the maiden and the master. In a land like this one, there was a beautiful young woman who all men lusted for…’

  Ariadne danced over to me, running her sharp nails over my abs and up to my chest.

  ‘But with so many men falling at her feet, she could not help but push them away.’

  She placed her hands flat on my chest and pushed me back. I landed on the bed, sitting back and taking a sip from my canteen as I enjoyed the show.

  ‘She taunted and tricked and used all that came her way…’ Ariadne continued, turning away and twisting her body in a series of graceful moves, accentuating her round behind and perky chest as her dirty blond hair spun below her fox ears. ‘But none could tame the girl who claimed the world.’

  ‘Tell us,’ Lara
said from the carpet, propping herself up on her elbow and massaging one of her large breasts. ‘What happened to her?’

  ‘With gifts piled at her door and men tripping over each other just to see her, the girl thought herself a god… Until the master arrived.’

  Ariadne threw herself back hard against the treehouse wall. Lara and I both watched, captivated. The music outside became more intense.

  Ariadne bit the tip of her fingernail and stared over at me intensely, her full lips pouting as her other hand slid down between her legs and she touched herself.

  ‘He came from a far-away land and did not treat the girl as a god – rather he saw her as something to be tamed. Something to be… accomplished.’

  Ariadne leaned hard against the wall, her fingers sliding further down until they were inside of herself. She let out a short, sharp gasp.

  If I had been hard already, now I was throbbing.

  ‘In turn, the girl saw the man as worthy. A challenger. A competitor.

  ‘Under cover of darkness they retreated to a hidden cave behind a waterfall, and for seven days and seven nights they pleasured each other without mercy, intertwined in lust and energy.

  ‘But when their bodies finally peaked and their lust spilled out, something terrible happened… The master watched the girl crumble into dust before his very eyes.’

  Ariadne slid her fingers from herself and raised pressed them into her mouth, tasting herself.

  I thought that Lara had been a freak in the bedroom, but both she and I were captivated by Ariadne right now; not just her movements, but the story. The room was alive.

  ‘From the ashes an impossible creature emerged, huge and hulking. It slayed the man and burst from the cave, laying waste to the land and the people. The girl’s heart had become so awash with lust and malice that her soul had transformed into this terrible creature.

  ‘It is a lesson,’ Ariadne finished, moving slowly across the floor to me, ‘that lust should not be mixed with anything else, should not have impurity forced upon it; it should be nothing but pleasure and ecstasy, enjoyed and indulged in.’

  Ariadne sank onto the bed and wrapped her lips around my length greedily. She took no time in teasing me; we were done with that now. She devoured my throbbing cock, taking me deep into her throat and soaking me with her mouth.

  She pulled away after only seconds and moved atop me, guiding my hardness in between her legs and into her soaked sensitivity. Her walls wrapped me up, throbbing around me as she sank her hands into my chest and rode me.

  The moonseed had exacerbated everything. I wasn’t hypersensitive, just tuned in. Everything felt better, felt more relaxed, felt right, especially the sensation of Ariadne’s body taking my length and the sight of her toned figure moving up and down on me.

  I turned to look over at Lara, wondering if she was going to join in, but she was way ahead of us in her own way.

  Stretched out on the carpet and with the last of her moonseed concoction gone, she watched us intently as she touched herself to the sight of us fucking.

  Lost in the haze of the intoxicating night I let myself go. I indulged in Ariadne’s firm body, running my hands over her smooth skin before I grazed my hands over her back and pulled her close to me. With her atop me, our bodies pressed together, I grinded my cock inside of her as she let out repressed gasps into my ear, sinking her fingers into my hair.

  When Ariadne finally sat up, still riding me gently and deeply, Lara appeared by her side. She was still pleasuring herself as she smiled at Ariadne, running a hand into her hair and kissing her as Ariadne continued to take me.

  I had never seen or felt anything so perfect – until Lara pulled away from Ariadne and climbed onto my face, sinking her wetness down onto my mouth. I ran my tongue into her immediately, releasing a pleasured shriek from her mouth.

  With Ariadne riding my dick and Lara riding my face, I was lost completely to the night. The moonseed had turned our treehouse into a hive of sex, and nothing else existed beyond the perfect sensation of their bodies pleasuring me and mine doing the same to them.

  ‘Oh, gods…’ Lara moaned, still rubbing her clit as I tongued between her legs.

  ‘Make her cum, master,’ I heard Ariadne whisper. ‘Mmm…’

  They both leaned forward and embraced, and as I laid on the bed with my girls pleasuring my body, I realised that they were kissing.

  Enthralled and encapsulated in the moment, I couldn’t hold myself back any longer. I pressed Ariadne’s hips down onto me, thrusting my full length into her and cumming hard inside of her.

  At the same time I tongued at Lara with more pressure than ever. Her body tensed up and shook slightly as she let out a shrieking moan.

  My head still spinning with the force of my orgasm into Ariadne, we collapsed sideways in a mess of arms and legs, all of us breathing hard.

  If that wasn’t enough, Ariadne ran her fingers down between her legs, touching herself briefly before licking her fingertips.

  ‘Mmm…’ She moaned. ‘You were right, Lara. Master does taste good… I’ve been wondering ever since you said it.’

  Drenched in sweat in the confines of the treehouse, there was no need for a blanket tonight. Still scattered messily, we drifted off to sleep under the flickering effects of the moonseed, into silent dreams.

  Chapter Fourteen

  I awoke early the next morning with a dry throat; the humidity had only gotten worse, if that was even possible. I snuck out to fill my canteen at the well before returning to the girls and climbing back into bed with them. After they awoke we chatted for a little while before Ariadne brought up something that almost made me spit water from my mouth.

  ‘So what do you think of life with two wives, master?’

  Like I said, I managed to choke back my water and swallow it down before glancing between her and Lara.

  ‘Two what?’

  ‘Two wives,’ she repeated. ‘We are dedicated to you and lie with you each night; surely that is what we are to you?’

  ‘I… I guess,’ I said. ‘In my world wives kind of means something different. People have big ceremonies in front of everybody they know just to show that they’re getting married in the first place.’

  ‘A ceremony?’ Lara said inquisitively. ‘What’s the point in that?’

  ‘You tell me,’ I said. ‘Being a tribe master makes things so much easier this way… So, yeah – I guess you are my wives.’

  After relaxing in bed with my wives for a little while longer I got dressed and headed out, looking out over the land.

  Tormus was examining a patch of tomatoes outside their house, and after circling the tree I saw Santana heading out of her front door with her trusty bucket, ready to supply the piglets with a fresh helping of taurem’s milk.

  From the door she waved to me. I could only wave back as she gave me a warm smile and dragged her eyes from me, heading to the pasture where the animals grazed.

  God, I hope she didn’t hear us last night. In the moment I didn’t care about the girls making any noise – which they had a hell of a knack for – but the morning after was always different.

  Even if I was tribe master, it would still be awkward as hell.

  One thing alleviated that a little, though.

  After returning to the north side of the tree, I found Lara and Ariadne filling their canteens at the well. They weren’t dressed in the attire that I had been used to seeing them in, though.

  ‘What do you think, master?’ Ariadne asked, twirling around. ‘Lara finished crafting them yesterday while you were away.’

  Even if I had had them both naked in bed last night and enjoyed every bit of their figures, seeing them out in the early morning sunlight in their new outfits turned me on all over again.

  The wolf hides had been crafted and cut into fitted strips that covered nothing but their breasts, their waists and their firm behinds. They may as well have been skimping around in their underwear.

  ‘They’re, uhh…
’ I stuttered, trying to drag my eyes away from their sexy forms. ‘They’re really nice.’

  ‘Just nice?’ Lara smiled.

  ‘I think they’re really cute,’ Ariadne added. ‘Certainly much more freeing, and much more forgiving in this heat.’

  ‘Do you approve, master?’

  ‘I… I definitely approve.’

  ‘I’m glad to hear. Ariadne has promised to help with the extraction of the okolla from the wolf’s organs. We’re carrying it out in the stable.’

  ‘That’s fine by me,’ I said. ‘Just don’t make too much of a mess.’

  ‘We won’t.’

  ‘That reminds me, actually,’ I interjected, crossing to the stable. ‘I keep putting this off. Let me upgrade it before you do anything.’

  I tapped into the Stable Totem and activated the upgrade.

  Please ensure that all objects of value are out of proximity of stable.

  I was a little taken aback but checked all the same, then returned to the totem and hit accept in return for 50GP.

  The stable began to shake slightly, then the wood that it was composed of quickly began to jerk out of place.

  In no time the new stable appeared. It was almost twice as big as the previous, with plenty of room for our original horse and cart and that which Jeremiah and Santana had brought with them.

  Now I see why things had to be clear of it. If I was standing in their when it upgraded I would have been crushed.

  The girls headed inside to remove the wolf carcasses from the stable inventory and get to work.

  It was a weird thing to watch, but I was getting used to it; never did I expect girls who looked like that to be fine with skinning wolves and extracting their organs, but that was how they had been raised in this world. It was normal to them.

  Sure, I had killed people and seen some things that people should never see, but skinning an animal was a whole other ballpark. One day I would need to be taught these skills, but in this instance I decided to leave it to the experts.

  ‘Alorion?’ I yelled, approaching the forest. ‘Are you up there?’

  For a few moments there was no response, then-