A grinning Vorag strode over to where the princess was standing. He leaned forward and for a second it looked like he was going to press his rough mouth to her soft lips.
Another rush of jealousy swelled through Golar, his cock hardening at the thought of fighting for his prize. He already knew he would not be able to wait until they returned to the mountains to breed his new wife.
He watched as Vorag mounted his horse, then scooped the beautiful woman up and sat her sideways so her pretty feet dangled down one side of the animal.
Golar hooked his boot into a stirrup and rose up onto his own animal. Pulling on the reins, he turned the heavy war horse around to face the king. He bent over in a deep bow. “Our friendship will last!” he called out, doing his best to translate the traditional Grahrsh farewell.
Sadon lifted a fragile hand and waved it weakly as he smiled. “Good winds and an easy path!”
As Golar turned his horse back around and nudged his heels into its sides, he saw that Vorag was at the head of the group, one arm still wrapped tightly around Helena.
Jealousy and a hungry lust swirled together inside Golar. He dug his heels in, causing the horse to break into a trot until he’d caught up with his brother.
A wind coming off the hills picked up. Golar caught the faint scent of Helena on it and his nostrils flared to breathe in more of her smell. She smelled like a field of spring flowers after the rain. But there was more to it than that.
She smelled ready.
His cock flexed between his legs, hardening into a stiff pole.
* * *
Vorag glanced over at Golar and smiled. He was enjoying seeing this new side of his brother who was normally so cool and unmoved.
Helena squirmed in front of him, her thigh rubbing against his rigid cock.
He smiled as he saw the blush return to her cheeks, the pale skin turning a bright shade of pink.
“I am Vorag.”
The princess turned to look at him out of the corner of her eye. She looked away as soon as she saw his smile.
He had heard of this behaviour by the valley dwellers. “Shame,” they called it. He had seen it in the raids, the way women would not look into his eyes but always away.
In the caves there was no hiding from anyone. The children slept in one cave with the keepers, the older men and women of their tribe. All those who were in their breeding years shared another and nothing was hidden.
The princess said nothing to his introduction.
“You make my cock harden,” Vorag went on, offering a traditional Grahrsh compliment.
Helena’s eyes popped wide open, as did her mouth. She turned back and shot him an angry glare. “What in the cave of Tardon are you talking about?” she snapped.
Vorag furrowed his brow, confused. He wondered if he’d misspoken, perhaps he hadn’t translated the word for ‘cock’ correctly. Instead of trying to explain, he picked up her hand and guided it onto his crotch until it pressed against his rigid flesh. “You make my cock harden. Cock,” he said, squeezing her hand around his girth.
Helena gasped and her eyes widened even more. They fluttered down his body to where he was pressing her hand against him.
As they rode out of the castle and into the village, men stared in fascination at what he was doing and women turned away.
Vorag wondered at why this was so shameful to them.
“What are you doing? You can’t do that,” Helena whispered, trying to tug her hand away. “Not here.”
Vorag scowled again. “Not here? Why?”
“Because… because that’s… that’s your private, I mean, it’s not something to do when others are watching!” Helena hissed, her eyes darting along the ground.
Vorag shook his head. He let go of her hand, then reached up and cupped her soft breast in his.
Helena let out a tiny shriek and covered herself, trying to turn away from his grasp.
“What do you think you’re doing, brother?” Golar growled next to him through clenched teeth.
Vorag looked over to see Golar’s angry face, the muscles of his jaw solid as rock.
“I told you I would breed her first,” Vorag replied. A surge of jealousy and competition made his chest puff out.
They had left the village and begun the climb into the foothills.
Vorag wrapped his trunk of an arm around Helena and pulled her close. He took a deep whiff of her. The smell of arousal mingled with her delicate fragrance. His cock hardened even more.
Vorag’s horse stopped.
He looked up to see that Golar had ridden ahead and turned his horse sideways to block their way along the path. The whole group had stopped and were now staring at the two of them.
“What are you doing, brother?” Vorag called out. He had some idea. Golar had seemed increasingly more irritable, the further they rode. Perhaps it was jealousy eating him?
“I never agreed that you would breed her first,” Golar said, swinging a leg over his horse in a dismount. He turned to face them, arms crossed.
Vorag gave Helena’s soft hips a squeeze. “You wait here. I’ll be back,” he said, swinging off his own horse. He stepped in front of the animal and in front of his brother. “What’s the matter with you?”
“Matter with me?” Golar retorted. “I don’t like seeing your fat paws all over her over there, that’s what’s the matter with me,” he grunted, then spat on the ground in front of Vorag’s feet. Someone in their party gasped at the grave insult and challenge.
Vorag lifted his eyes from where the hork had landed and up to meet Golar’s eyes. He shook his head. “Now why’d you have to go and do that?” he asked, unbuckling the belt that held his swords in place.
Across from him, Golar began to unbuckle his own equipment, then peel off the animal skins he was wearing until they lay in a crumpled pile next to him and he stood in only his loincloth.
Vorag did the same. The heat of the sun and the gentle breath of the wind felt good on his bare skin. He turned around to look at the others who had formed a circle around them with their horses, the Grahrsh way of settling disagreements.
Helena was looking on, incredulous.
Vorag grinned as he turned to look back at Golar and bent over, arms stretched out in fighting stance.
Golar did the same.
“No harm to you, brother,” Golar grunted.
“No harm to you, brother,” Vorag echoed.
A moment later they fell to the ground kicking up a cloud of dust, their bodies locked together in fight.
* * *
Helena stared wide-eyed at the tangle of flexing arms and legs in front of her. She’d never seen anything like this at Dunkeep. These men really were barbarians, fighting like animals and over what?
The answer heated her cheeks with shame.
Like any male animal, they were locked in combat for who would have the right to have their mate… to have her. It was such a lewd thought but one that tightened soft parts of her she couldn’t ignore.
As she watched wide-eyed at the two men fighting, the memory of Vorag wrapping her hand around his… that place down there wouldn’t give her peace, either. Each time she thought of how hard his flesh had felt, how firm and powerful it was beneath her soft fingers, a rush of lust would flood through her body.
“You are scared? Don’t be scared.”
Helena turned from the two men wrestling on the path in front of her. A young woman who looked to be more or less her age sat on the horse next to her. She had seen her in the castle but been too overwhelmed to do anything about it. “I’m… I don’t think I’m scared,” Helena said, not sounding sure of herself at all.
“It is ancient Grahr tradition. They fight for who will seed you first,” the woman explained. “I am Vala,” she said, smiling and bowing her head slightly.
Even as the men continued to fight in front of her, Helena felt a certain relief that this woman, whoever she was, had decided to speak with her. “I am Helena,” she said with
a smile.
“Helena,” Vala echoed. “That is a very beautiful name.”
“Thank you,” Helena replied.
The bodies dropping to the ground in front of her drew her attention and she turned to look. Vorag was lying on his stomach, cheek pressed against the ground with Golar’s knee driving into his back.
“Erkamesh?” Golar grunted above him.
“He is asking if he gives up?” Vala explained.
Helena nodded, grateful for the translation. She glanced at the woman again. She looked bright, spoke two languages, and could ride a horse as well as any of the men. Maybe it was just the Grahr men who were barbarians?
“Erkamesh?” Golar repeated, louder this time.
“Naga,” Vorag snorted beneath him, spitting out a mouthful of dirt. As soon as he’d uttered the word he whipped his weight to one side, making Golar lose his balance. He rose off his back, grabbed his brother by the arm and threw him down.
Golar slammed into the ground in a flurry of dust and with a dull thud that shook the ground beneath Helena’s feet.
Vorag leapt up into the air and came piling down on his brother, slamming down onto his chest.
Golar’s eyes went wide as the wind left his lungs. It took a long time but he finally drew a breath once again. A massive, greedy pant of air.
“Erkamesh?” Vorag asked.
Golar struggled beneath him but it was no use. Vorag had him pinned. Golar grunted but accepted his defeat. “Fe,” he muttered.
Vorag jumped off him, grabbed his arm, and hauled him to his feet. They stared at each other for a few terrifying seconds before wrapping their arms around each other’s neck in a tight hug. Their bodies glistened with sweat in the sun.
“The disagreement is solved,” Vala said quietly beside Helena.
Helena shook her head, unable to believe that something they seemed so passionate about could be solved so quickly. At Dunkeep it would have been weeks of politicking and debate at court, though the question of who would seed her first, as Vala had put it, would certainly never have come up there.
She shuddered at the lewd way of putting it even as her pussy tightened again and spilled more damp heat.
The loose circle that had formed rearranged into a line along the path as the two warriors donned their furs and weapons. When they were dressed, Vorag walked back up to his horse but instead of mounting it, turned to Vala to speak. “Sehm shmek am Vaani. Golar y ya na verdesheki,” he said with a grin. Then he turned to smile at Helena.
Helena glanced at Vala, hoping for a translation.
“You ride with Vala,” Vorag said, pointing at the girl.
Before she could reply, he’d scooped her off the horse she was seated on and put her onto Vala’s horse, behind the saddle this time. Helena felt herself start to slip off. To keep from falling, she wrapped her arms around Vala. Embarrassment flooded through her at the intimate embrace but there had been no other choice. She would have fallen off the horse otherwise. “I’m sorry… I’m sorry about this…” she muttered, barely able to speak.
As the animals around them started moving, Vala nudged hers with her heel. The horse stirred to life, following the others along the path with dry clops of its hooves. Vala laughed. “Don’t worry. It is how we women always ride together. Only the men will sit you up front.”
Something about the friendly explanation and the fact that Vala wasn’t the least bit upset put Helena even more at ease with her.
“You know what he said to me?” Vala asked after a while.
“No,” Helena answered, shaking her head.
“He said it is better that you ride with me. That way they will not fight about you again.”
Helena sighed, hopeful that what Vala had said was true. Though there had been something exciting about watching the two men fight, knowing they were fighting about her, she preferred that they didn’t. She’d never liked seeing anyone fight.
“That is until tonight,” Vala added with a smile.
“Tonight?” Helena asked. “What’s tonight?” She tried to lean around so she could see Vala’s face as she answered.
Vala looked puzzled. “Tonight… I mean, you are their wife now. You will have to receive them tonight.”
Receive them.
A shiver passed through Helena at hearing the words. “You mean…”
Vala paused for a while, her mouth open as if she meant to say something that wouldn’t come out. “Helena,” she said quietly after a while, “you know happens to a woman once she is married?” she asked.
Helena scowled. What a silly question to ask. “Of course,” she replied. “She becomes a mother. She learns to keep house. I don’t know about your traditions but that’s how it was done at Dunkeep.”
Vala nodded. “Of course. Those are our traditions too. Exactly.”
Helena waited. It seemed there was more to explain, more to be said but Vala didn’t continue. Her mind began to wander back.
Who will get to seed you first.
Ugh. What a filthy way of saying that! Almost as lewd as receiving them. Her mind wandered lower, toward her core where her pussy had begun to clench and glisten again at the thought of the two men and what they would do to her.
They rode in silence for a time longer, until Helena’s curiosity became too much. “Vala?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Yes?” Vala asked.
“Can I ask you something?” Helena’s stomach tightened with fear.
“Yes. Of course. What is it?” Vala asked.
“What do you mean when you say I’ll need to receive them? Or that they’ll seed me? What do those things mean? Are they something in your culture?” Helena leaned forward to try to see Vala’s face again.
Her eyes had widened in disbelief. “Helena, has no one told you about… about what happens between a man and a woman once they wed?” she asked after a while.
“But what, Vala, what, exactly, are you talking about?” Helena said, her impatience getting the better of her.
Vala bit her lip, shook her head, and nudged her horse into a trot. A few moments later they were at the front of the procession heading up into the hills, riding next to Vorag and the other one, whose name she hadn’t even learned yet.
Vala began speaking very quickly to the two of them, waving her arms and gesticulating wildly in the air. She was obviously explaining something important but Helena had no idea what it was.
Vorag scowled. Then the other one did, too, and shook his head.
This sent Vala into yet another round of furious explanation and hand-waving.
Helena scowled, worried that she’d created trouble somehow by asking Vala the embarrassing question.
The two warriors grunted and shook their heads. Then they reined their horses to a stop, both dismounted and stomped off a few dozen feet away.
Helena watched as they argued, shaking fists at each other, their voices echoing in the hills. Finally, the two men came back, faces red. “Esh,” Vorag said, whipping his hand up toward the sky.
The group began to dismount. Helena felt Vala sigh. She couldn’t contain herself any longer. She needed to know what was going on! “Vala?” she asked quietly.
Vala turned and smiled at her. “We will camp here for the night.”
“Here?” Helena asked, puzzled. “But we’re only a few hours’ ride from the castle. Why? When we could have stayed and slept in beds?”
Vala sighed again and gave Helena a sympathetic look. “Come,” she said, swinging herself off the horse and offering Helena a hand to get down.
Helena took it and slid off the horse. “Where are we going?” she asked.
“Let’s take a walk while they set up camp.”
* * *
Golar watched Vala lead Helena farther up the path and shook his head. His cock flexed again at the sight of the beautiful princess. Frustration roiled inside him at what Vala had said, that Helena was an innocent virgin who didn’t even understand what
sex was.
“We are doing the right thing by performing the rite,” Vorag said next to him.
Golar grunted and nodded back. “It might be the right thing but my cock will explode if I have to wait much longer to have her.”
“I’ve sent Dande to fetch the healer. He said he would ride through the night. Vala will tell the princess everything she needs to know in the meantime. If all goes well we can have her at first light.”
Golar nodded all the while gazing up at Helena’s hips swaying in the distance. Right thing or not, it was going to be a long night.
Chapter Four
“A man does what?” Helena squawked. As soon as the sound was out of her mouth she covered her mouth with her hand, embarrassed.
“The men have cocks. Have you never seen one?” Vala asked, incredulity painted across her face.
“No,” Helena whispered, shaking her head. “What’s a cocks?”
Vala giggled at the mistake. “No. Cock. Each one has one cock. Didn’t your mother tell you any of this?” she asked cheerfully.
Helena’s shoulders sagged. “My mother… my mother died a long time ago. When I was young.”
Vala’s eyes saddened. “I’m sorry.” She left a few moments of silence between them before going on. “So you had no one? To confide with or to teach you about life? What about your father?”
Helena shook her head. “Father was… he was king. He was too busy to have time for that. I had Anastas. She took care of me after my mother died but she never said anything like that…”
“Hm,” Vala said. “Very well. Then I guess it will be me.” She crouched down, then took a seat on the soft grass at the top of the hill they’d been climbing. She patted the spot next to her. “Come. Sit with me.”
Helena sat next to her new friend and felt suddenly overwhelmed. It was the first moment of respite she’d felt since learning of her fate that morning. Tears burned behind her eyes and her throat tightened. She breathed through the swell of the emotion until it had settled down.
“You have had a long day, haven’t you?” Vala asked.
Mated to the Barbarians Page 3