by Laura Wylde
“You’ll try anything,” said Macy, shaking her head with amazement.
He chewed off a piece with satisfaction. “Walking chemistry labs. That’s what we are. What can I do for you, milady?”
She told him she wanted to let the fish go. He spat, crinkled up his eye and shook his head woefully. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. We can carve them out and freeze them if you’re worried about them dying.”
Macy knows exactly what to do when one of us says no. She wriggled up close to him, that thick cascade of hair falling over his neck, drowning him in her scent. She nuzzled his ear and laughed in a warm, husky voice. “Reuben, you have enough food in that freezer to feed an army.”
“It might come down to it,” he said, burying his fingers in those sheaths of copper-studded hair. “You never know.”
“We are lost. If we let the fish go, they might show us a way.”
“Did they tell you that?”
Her lips snuggled close to his. “Call it womanly instinct.”
His hands stayed in her hair as he breathed in her aroma, then strayed reluctantly to her waist. “Can’t never argue with a woman when her instincts are up. If you think we should let the fish go, we’ll let them go. Get Kazan to help you. I ain’t going to. If foolishness come, I’m not to blame.”
That was to say I would be the scapegoat as the one who aided and abetted Macy. But, women! You don’t argue with them once they’ve set on something. I led her up to the hold and peeled back the canvas. I cranked the metal basket used to transfer fish to the cannery bins and dipped it into the tank. The jaws opened wide, scooping all the fish but one. Macy imprisoned it with a net. She held her fish over the side of the boat. “Let them go!” She shouted. She dropped her fish in the water and I released the basket. The fish tumbled and squirmed into the water.
What happened next was amazing. The fish were apparently all female. They all gave live birth as soon as they were in open water. Instead of sixteen fish, there was a school, swimming off into the ocean, the mothers in the lead. My knees wobbled and I sank down on the deck. “The magic of the gods is still here.”
Maybe some of the gods had not yet left. When we told the others, they were cautious. Where there are gods, there is magic. Where there is magic, there is enchantment. Enchantment is like a drug. You cannot trust your senses. “It was Poseidon’s magic,” said Reuben after hawing and humming. “He takes care of the fish in the sea. This means we are on the right track.”
We began striding along the beach as we talked, looking for god-dwelling clues, but more involved in our conversation than our search. Kauris, who only half-listened to anything and fully watched everything, suddenly stopped. “Look. There’s a path.”
We halted as a single unit and stared at an opening in the forest canopy. It was a nice path, bordered on each side with rocks, and swept clear of debris. A brilliant collection of wildflowers crowded close to the rocks and ran away into the green and yellow forest. It’s the kind of place you would take your girl on a romantic stroll – if it were available on Earth. There was enchantment here, the way there was in fairy meadows. We all felt it and drew in close together, wrapping our arms around each other. Enchantments could make you forget; and we could not forget each other.
The path ended at a terrace. Whatever structure lay beyond it was completely covered with vines and leaves. The terrace had gauze curtains flapping loosely from an awning. It was supported by thick, marble columns. Inside the curtains was a luxurious hall filled with silk drapes, hand-woven rugs, velvet cushions and fountains for bathing and ornamentation. A table filled with food was set in the middle of the hall, with benches all around it.
The food looked so delicious, I sat down to eat. There were pomegranates, oranges, sweet, puffy bread, olives, and oysters. Kauris grabbed my wrist. “It could be enchanted. We should eat from our packs.”
David and Reuben had been silently casing the hall. At one end, not far from the table, was an enormous bed; at least thirty feet wide and forty feet long. It was piled with every type of fluffy pillow, silky throw, and feathered ornament imaginable. It was meant to be flopped on, rolled in, and dived into. Reuben sat on the edge and let the bed billow up around him. He chortled and plopped once more before returning to the table.
David popped a few olives into his mouth. “This is Aphrodite’s Hall. I believe her enchantments are usually considered desirable.”
“That’s a fact,” said Reuben. He sat on one of the benches. “Nobody has ever complained about Aphrodite.”
Kauris wasn’t one to argue with that type of logic. He let go of my wrist and filled his plate. “Who are we to argue with the will of a goddess?”
The food was incredible. It seemed I could never stop eating. However, with the food, came another craving. The more my stomach filled, the more appealing the bed looked. When I was unable to eat another bite, I stumbled over to the bed, kicked off my shoes, and fell face down on it. The feathery mattress underneath billowed up around with an aroma of early spring mornings.
9
Macy
There was plenty of food on board the Dragon Queen, but packaged and frozen food is not the same as fresh fruits and appetizers. The smorgasbord sparkled with freshness. I savored every bite, rolling it in my mouth. I had never eaten such sweet pomegranates or juicy oranges. The oysters were plump, the herb-soaked breads savory, the honey as thick as molasses. I didn’t feel full. I felt satisfied. It was as though every cell in my body sucked in nourishment. Flavor. It lavished me. I craved more. I craved every blissful sensation imaginable.
The silky drapes billowed and whispered. The bed spread out, large and inviting. Incense filled the room, something resembling sandalwood, but slightly sharper and more subtle. It was like a drug, or was it the food? The shadows flickered as though by candlelight, although the room had its own luminous glow. Through a haze, I saw Kauris leave the table and stand by the bed. There appeared to be a soft glow around him. He took off his shirt slowly, his corded biceps glistening in the seductive light. I wondered why I hadn’t realized how gorgeous he was before.
David had the kind of looks you noticed immediately. It didn’t matter if you didn’t care for blondes or if you didn’t like men in authority positions. You could be seventy-nine years old and nearly blind. One look at him and you’re salivating. Reuben was a character through and through; and a lady’s man; an adventurer, and just about anything else you might want to say about him that had to do with charisma. Reuben had charisma in spades.
Nor was it possible to overlook Kazan. You could smell his freshness. He was as sweet as summer hay. His spiked hair, the interest in biology he tried to cover as he set out to become Rueben’s favorite bad boy, made me want to pull him closer to me than my pillow-sized, stuffed unicorn. I loved wrapping around him. He was a shade shorter with a long torso and short legs, making him a good fit for my short waist and longer legs.
But Kauris was like a shadow, dark and silent. He was there when I needed him. The rest of the time, he was just there. His eyes were black, liquid fire, his nose aquiline. In the ruddy light, his muscular chest shone a warm chestnut shade. He slid off his pants. Not many men have beautiful legs. They have skinny legs, squat hairy legs, legs with big, knobby knees. Some men have shapely, womanly legs. Kauris had perfect man legs; not too long, solid in the thighs, with muscular calves and strong ankles. In a trance, I drifted over to him.
I got to my knees and pulled down his boxer shorts, cradling his manly member. It was solid and thick the way his thighs were thick, and surrounded by black, springy curls. I kissed and nuzzled the flesh. His scent was musky, his taste salty. He sank down on the bed and I followed him, my head still buried in his crotch. He groaned and stretched out, his cock swelling, the blood pumping into the head.
The bed fluffed up around us, a soft billowing cloud. The satin sheets rustled and slipped as I drew my knees under me and sucked his magnificent shaft deeper into my mouth. Behind me
, I felt a pair of hands unsnap my halter, letting it dangle loosely. The hands massaged my bare back, raised my butt higher, and held out to my exposed boobs, kneading them, and rubbing the nipples between two fingers.
Kauris was becoming fully aroused. The blood was pounding into his cock. It stood as stiff as a soldier. Behind me, the pair of hands had moved down. They unzipped my shorts and pushed them down to my knees. As the hands slid between my legs, I wriggled the rest of the way out. A finger tracked the crack in my butt, sliding along it until it had found my dripping vagina and the little joy bud. One finger sank inside while the other massaged the bud. I shoved my ass high into the air and felt a head slip under it. The fingers pulled the vagina lips apart and a tongue dived inside. I moaned in frustration. I needed a whole cock to fill me up.
Still, Reuben was starting to come, and this fired me up hotter than a pancake. I worked my head up and down, tasting his desire. Behind me, a cock slid in where the tongue had been. My vagina lips remained pulled open while the delicious dick slid in and out of my crotch from behind, the fingers squeezing the joy bud against the shaft. Kauris was coming. I was coming. The person behind me was coming. We burst together in magnificent ecstasy.
It wasn’t enough. I lay sprawled out on the bed, eyes closed, the silky sheets sliding sensually over me. Somebody nestled beside me, his hands roaming over me. The sweet, nearly virginal smell told me it was Kazan. He held my breasts, imprisoning the nipples. They were swollen and so hard, they fitted between his fingers like ripened peas. He rolled them and an electrical current ran through me that was both pain and pleasure. I moaned. My breasts felt like they would burst. He climbed over the top of me, wedging his youthful tool between my legs and burying it in my snatch.
I rolled in his freshness. I rolled in the enormous, down-filled bed, the pillows, the satiny sheets, the silky drapes rustling over us drowning us with pleasure. He released my breasts just when I could take no more and crushed me to him, pounding into me again and again.
The rest of our time became the type of blur you get when you’ve been partying too heavily and you know longer remember details, just bits and pieces. We couldn’t stop. For hours, we explored each other’s bodies, learning every touch that delights and excites, every erogenous zone. We ate when we were hungry and after we ate, we wanted more sex. We slept only when we were so exhausted, we could not squeeze out one more touch or kiss. My dreams were erotic.
I was startled rudely awake. “Ouch! By the gods! Something bit the hell out of me!”
I sat up, feeling as fuzzy as the others looked. “Something bit you?”
Reuben tugged at his ear. “Damned right it did. Look. It’s punctured.”
It did look irritated. “Fuck!” David did a little jump and rubbed the back of his neck. “Something just bit me, too.” He looked about him rapidly. Something flitted away.
“Shit!” Kazan jumped out of bed, slapping at himself. Something small and quick bounced away. I felt my ass pinched and then a boob. Whatever had invaded, moved so fast, I could see nothing but a small, zipping blob.
Reuben swatted one hard enough to bounce it off the silk-covered wall. It shook its head and scurried up the drapes. “Imps! We have imps!”
He switched into dragon mode; his tongue ready to lash out at the mini tormenters. In a blink of the eye, the others shifted. They squatted on their chubby, but powerful hind legs, hissing. A tongue flicked out and touched an imp. It howled with pain, flew into the air, then lay limp. The others chittered with fear, desperately scrambling for a hiding place. A dog ran inside, barking. “Please don’t kill them! Please! They are wicked but don’t kill them.”
The dragons were getting ready to do some major damage. “Don’t kill them!” I shouted. “Just stun them.”
They heard the desperate tone in my voice. There wasn’t much time for argument, so they just did as I asked and demanded explanations later. They barely had to chase the imps. Their tongues were so quick, they lashed out at the tiniest movement. The poor imps became so confused, they tangled in the drapes or huddled under the table where they were easily trapped. The tongues were like fly swatters, knocking the mischievous imps to the floor, where they appeared lifeless except their chests moved up and down rhythmically. “Alright,” said David once the imps were sedated. They had made a terrible mess. The drapes were ripped, pillows torn apart, the table overturned, and food scattered. “They are down for the next two hours. Why shouldn’t we kill them?”
The dog barked again and wagged its scrawny tail. I coaxed her to come closer and patted her head. “She said the imps don’t know how to be anything except what they are. They cause mischief. They won’t bother you again because you frightened them. But they are innocent because they don’t know right from wrong. You don’t have a good reason to kill them.”
“The dog told you that?” Asked David, looking at it skeptically. She was an ugly dog, thin and mottled colored, with sagging, puppy-worn tits. She had one blue eye and one brown eye, one half-cocked ear and a floppy one and legs too short for its body.
The dog whined at me and I translated for her. “Dogs happen to be intelligent animals. It’s not always a dog eat dog world, you know.”
“I know that,” he sniffed and folded his arms. “Can your dog help us find the trident?”
The dog yipped and stretched her legs in front to sit down. She yapped out a long story beginning with a visit from Persephone. Amphitrite and Aphrodite had been using the vacation resort for entertaining their friends and hosting family gatherings. Persephone appeared in the middle of a celestial music festival and pretended to join in on the celebration.
“But I saw him draw Amphitrite aside and whisper to her,” said the dog. “As you know, dogs have very good hearing.”
“I do know,” I said encouragingly, handing her a piece of bread that had rolled to the floor.
“Thank you,” said the dog. She ate the bread before continuing. “Poseidon wanted to hide his trident. He knew Triton was planning to kill his own father and take it so he would have full god powers. His idea was to leave it here and fight Triton god to god on an uninhabited world.”
Poseidon hid the trident without detection but there had been an informer at the celebration who slipped word to Triton he had seen the ocean god. Triton invaded the party. The women and children were barely able to slip away before Triton and vengeful Hyperion cracked open the veil and descended on the House of Ageless Antiquities, destroying it with a single flash of lightening. In retaliation, Persephone raised up a great wall of water, smashing it into the lesser god and enraging Hyperion, who destroyed the Nautilus Palace.
The dog yawned. “The last I saw was Hyperion and Triton chasing after Poseidon. He had done what he set out to do. He hid the trident and diverted his son away from its location but at a terrible price for Nautilus.”
I handed her another piece of bread. “I don’t suppose you know where the trident is hidden?”
The dog scarfed down the bread and chuckled. “Of course, I do. There isn’t much you can hide from a dog.”
David was growing restless. The longer we stalled, the less distance we’d be able to put between us and the imps. They might be afraid of us, but we weren’t willing to take chances. He interrupted our conversation. “Can you tell the dog we need it to stop a war among the mer people?”
I explained what I could to the dog, not knowing if she understood anything about politics. She scratched at her ear and grumbled to herself before answering. “Poseidon won’t like this. He won’t like this at all. The mer people fighting between themselves. If it will help, I’ll take you.”
The imps were just starting to come around when we started on our journey. The dog turned once, bared her teeth, and snarled at them. The imps scampered off, shrieking and chattering. The green and yellow forest grew thicker, the trees taller. Neon colored flying insects wafted between the branches and were snapped up by round-headed blue lizards hiding in the dark blue twis
ting vines. Something pink and furry, that looked like a two-foot rabbit hopped through a meadow of purple daisies.
The dog was tracking through scent alone. The trees, the flowers, the meadows all had a uniform look. The softly undulating hills were all the same size. It was like a scenic pattern that had been repeated over and over. The dog stopped at an indistinguishable tree and sniffed all around it. She scratched and sniffed some more. “It’s here,” she said.
The same electrical charge of excitement zapped through all of us. Kauris’ black eyes snapped. David’s mouth trembled and turned up at the ends. Reuben rubbed his hands together and said, “let’s do this.” Kazan spiked up his hair and started digging.
They dug with their hands, pawing out the earth in soft clumps. Soon, they came to what seemed to be a gravel bed of three-inch rocks. These rocks were easy to scoop up, so I squatted beside them to help. A glint of gold shone under the pile. It was there! The trident was there. A thin gleam shot out and we dug faster.
The rocks began to move. They flattened out and grew legs. They swarmed over us, hundreds of them. They marched over us. They were weighing me down, crushing me. I waved at then feebly, but there were too many. They were covering my face, my eyes, my nose, my ears, and neck. They were choking off my breath. I clawed at them as they crawled up my arms and swarmed over my face. I kicked out. They were clinging to my legs, moving up my thighs, holding me down. I was being buried alive by living rocks.
We were helpless. The rocks piled higher and higher over us, pinning us down. From under the mound, I heard the dog howl. The sound echoed in front of a second howl. A few seconds later, I heard chortling and cackling. I heard crunching sounds. The rock creatures milled across my body in panic. One by one, they dropped off and scuttled away. They were abandoning their attacks for greater concerns. I smacked away one that was still clinging to the front of my face, sat up and rubbed my eyes.