by Logan Jacobs
“Aerin’s very business-minded,” I explained as I wrapped my arm around the redheaded elf’s shoulders.
Aerin tossed her head proudly. “I’m just saying, she could probably get a pretty good setup if she haggled a bit.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Emeline said thoughtfully. “Thank you for the advice.”
By then, we had reached Ovrista’s high gate, and Emeline’s steps slowed. I recalled what she’d said about never having left the city before, and I wondered if her enthusiasm for it had waned now that she was faced with the prospect. I thought she might freeze entirely, but then she laughed and broke away from our group as she ran through the gate past the startled guards and disgruntled merchants who were in line ahead of us.
When we caught up to her again, she blushed slightly and twisted the strap of her pack between her fingers.
“Sorry,” she said quickly. “I know I shouldn’t rush ahead. It’s just... well, I’ve never been on this side of the walls before.”
“It’s alright,” I assured her. “It is exciting, you should enjoy it.”
“Your enthusiasm is quite refreshing, actually,” Maruk added. The orc heaved a sigh. “I remember when I first left home. Oh, to be young and carefree again...”
“What are you talking about? You’re like two years older than she is,” Lavinia said with a skeptical frown. “Besides, I don’t think you’re even capable of being carefree.”
“That’s preposterous,” Maruk scoffed.
“Maruk, you have opinions about everything,” Aerin pointed out. “Remember last night when you were so upset that the innkeeper at that tavern gave you-- what was it? Two salad forks?”
“Oh, come on, you can hardly blame me for that!” the orc cried. “They claimed to be a high-end establishment, and that is basic table etiquette. Who doesn’t know the difference between a salad fork and a fish fork?”
“Everyone!” Aerin insisted.
Emeline laughed, and I was glad to see that she could appreciate our group’s antics.
“You’d like my brother, Maruk,” the panthera woman said. “That sounds like just the sort of thing he’d get upset about, too.”
Maruk looked vindicated. “Well, he sounds like a man of class and refined taste, unlike these two uncouth ragamuffins.” He gave a pointed look at Aerin and Lavinia, who were failing to suppress their snickers.
All this time, Lena had been consulting the map, and I fell back slightly to look it over with her. Before we’d left to pick up Emeline, we’d plotted out a route that would take us mostly along the main roads and through cities and towns. If it were just us, we might have opted for a shortcut that involved a bit more hiking and camping, but since we didn’t know how prepared Emeline would be for that sort of thing, we decided it would be better to stay on the road. To be honest, it was nice to have an excuse to take it easy for a few days, and I was looking forward to getting to stay at inns with real beds and hot food that we didn’t have to prepare ourselves. Since it was already getting late in the afternoon, we planned to stop for the evening at the first major town along our route, Veden.
“I think they have a festival this time of year,” Lena remarked when she noticed me beside her. “We do in Morelia, anyway, and I had a cousin who lived in Veden for awhile who wrote to me about it.”
“What does it celebrate?” I asked.
“There’s a certain type of flower in Morelia that only blooms for one week out of the year,” Lena explained, and there was something sort of wistful and nostalgic to her tone. “It’s supposed to bring good luck to see it bloom, so everyone plants the flowers and lines the street with them. There’s always food and music and performers, too, though it might not be as big of a deal here as it was back home.”
“There are performers?” Aerin asked with sudden interest, and even before she’d said it, I could guess what she was going to say next. “Do they let anyone do it? We could earn some coin while we’re there, I’ve been teaching Merlin some tricks.”
Perched on my shoulder, the puca lifted his head at that and chirped haughtily as if to say that he was above doing tricks in the street.
I laughed and scratched him behind the ears. “I don’t think Merlin is a show-puca.”
“Wouldn’t kill him to try,” Aerin pouted.
Emeline’s ears perked up at that. “A puca?” She looked with wide eyes at Merlin. “I didn’t even think those could be domesticated! That’s fantastic!”
Merlin preened at the praise even as I flashed her a faint smirk.
“Oh,” I mused, “I would argue that maybe he’s domesticated us a little, but Merlin’s smart, brave, and a real friend.” I glanced at him sidelong. “Isn’t that right, buddy?”
The puca enthusiastically nodded at that, much to the panthera woman’s delight.
The sun was beginning its descent in the west by the time we saw the lights of Veden flickering ahead, spots of orange and red against the deep purple of the gathering night. Just as Lena had predicted, it seemed that there was a festival underway, and as we neared the town, I could hear music in the air. Despite the late hour, the streets were still crowded with people. Most were dressed in various shades of orange and red, which matched the bulbous paper lanterns that were strung between the building and the feather-like petals of the flowers that bloomed in every available space. Garlands were strung up alongside the lanterns, the streets were lined with planters and urns, and there wasn’t a single person who wasn’t wearing at least one flower in their hair. A carpet of petals was strewn across the cobbled street up to an inch thick in places, and they swirled like embers when people walked through them.
Down the road in a plaza, an elf played a cheerful tune on a flute by the edge of a fountain. She was accompanied by a lively drummer who danced while he tapped out a rhythm on the surface of a frame drum, the head of which was stained bright red. The pair wore gold jewelry that sparkled in the lantern light and jingled in time with their playing.
“This is amazing!” Emeline gasped, and she dropped her pack and skipped forward to dance alongside the drummer. Her robes swirled around her ankles, and she laughed and kicked up petals while she twirled. For a few moments, she seemed totally lost in it, but then she turned back to our group where we waited on the edge of the plaza and waved us forward eagerly.
I took Aerin’s hand and nodded out toward the plaza. “Care to dance?”
The redheaded elf’s face broke into a somewhat surprised grin, and she dipped a small curtsy. “I’d love to.”
I looked over my shoulder to Lavinia, but before I could speak, she raised her hands as if to ward off the question and shook her head.
“I don’t dance.”
“Oh, don’t be such a stiff, Lavinia,” Maruk said as he butted her on the shoulder. Then he extended his hand to Lena. “Shall we?”
Lena smiled and placed her slender hand into Maruk’s, and the four of us joined Emeline in the plaza. Others followed our lead until the whole plaza was full of people, and the engagement of the crowd seemed to reenergize the musicians, who started up a new song for us to dance along to. I didn’t recognize the tune, and I didn’t know what sort of dances were common here, but I just let the music guide me and improvised as I twirled with Aerin around the plaza. Around us, no one was doing the same dance, but there was a sort of unity between all of us anyway, an infectious, carefree energy.
Between the red and orange lanterns and the light of the setting sun, the plaza was washed in gold as the musicians played the final notes of their song, and Aerin leaned against my chest with a breathless laugh.
Emeline skipped by us and grabbed each of our hands in hers to spin us in the last few steps, her slightly pointed teeth bared in an exuberant smile.
“That was so fun!” the panthera woman said. “I love this festival!“
“It was,” I agreed. I hadn’t really thought about it before, but it occurred to me then that I hadn’t really taken much time off since Theira,
the elven goddess of luck, had first brought me here. First, we were focused on saving our guild, and then on increasing our status and renovating our guild hall. It was nice to get to enjoy the festival while we were here, and I appreciated Emeline’s enthusiasm.
Lena and Maruk joined us then, both of them still slightly out of breath as well, and we regrouped with Lavinia as we left the plaza to see what else the festival had to offer.
Although the sun had now fully set, the abundant lanterns seemed to have trapped its last rays and continued to spread them throughout the city. It seemed that the vendors and celebrants would be out all night as well because none of the earlier energy we’d witnessed was lost as we passed through the streets in search of an inn that still had a few rooms to spare.
The festival had drawn tourists, of course, and most places were already packed. Fortunately for us, it was custom to reserve some space for guilds during such times, and we were able to rent a few rooms for the night at a place called the Slumbering Dove. With the festival ongoing, we decided to get dinner from the street vendors so that we could see more of the city, so we only stopped in long enough to drop off our weapons and packs in our rooms before we headed out again.
There was no shortage of options among the vendors, and many other shops had stayed open late for the festival as well. Rather than force ourselves to choose, we decided to make the most of the celebration and bought something from just about every stall and shop that we passed to share amongst ourselves.
“Try this!” Lena urged as she passed around hunks of bread to each of us. The roll was shaped to resemble a seashell, and the honey glaze dripped from the still-warm crust onto my fingers as I took the piece Lena offered to me.
I had been expecting it to be sweet because of the honey, so I was surprised by the hint of spice when I bit into the bread. Still, it was wonderful, and I craned my neck back to make a note of the bakery so that we could get more the next morning before we left.
Aside from the bread, we got skewers of roasted meat with peppers, onions, and some slightly sweet vegetable that I didn’t have a name for, as well as pies filled with sticky berry jam and little paper cups with spiced nuts. We ate while we walked and took in the rest of the festival, which showed no sign of winding down any time soon.
There were more musicians, street performers doing acrobatic feats, and even a mime. We took our time to enjoy the festivities fully, and I figured it must have been past midnight by the time we reached our inn again. After the early morning fighting harpies and the day’s travel, we were all exhausted. After a mumbled exchange of sleepy goodnights, everyone trailed off to their own rooms, and Lavinia and I were the only two left in the hallway.
The beautiful ladona woman leaned against the wall with her arms crossed, and she cocked her head slightly as she looked me over.
“Tired?” she asked as her red eyes flicked back up to my face.
“Not really,” I replied with a grin.
Lavinia’s mouth curved up in a flirtatious smile and she inclined her head toward her door. “What do you think about continuing the festivities?”
In answer, I took two steps forward, caught her face in my hands, and kissed her.
Lavinia made a slightly surprised but nonetheless pleased sound in her throat as she returned the kiss and grabbed my belt to pull me closer.
My thumbs brushed against the scales that shimmered on the ladona woman’s cheekbones while my fingers tangled in her silky white hair, and we stepped back into her room without breaking our kiss.
I moved my hands away from Lavinia only long enough to close the door behind us, and then I started to undo the clasps of her tight leather armor while she unfastened my cloak. We kicked off our boots and shed the rest of our clothes as we shuffled over to the bed, and within moments we were naked and tangled together beneath the sheets.
Lavinia moaned as I trailed kisses along her jaw, then down her neck and to her collarbone where a few scales stood out against her skin. I kissed each one individually, and Lavinia trailed her fingers down my spine and pressed my hips to hers.
“Someone’s eager,” I teased, and Lavinia nipped at the skin of my neck in response.
The ranger inhaled sharply as I pushed inside her, but her hands didn’t stray from my back as I began to rock my hips.
I moved my face back to Lavinia’s for another, clumsier kiss, and she moaned as I slid my tongue past her teeth. Her nails scraped the skin of my shoulders as I picked up the tempo, and within moments we were both gasping.
And we spent the next hour turning our gasps into moans of passion that finally crescendoed into a mind-numbing release that left both of us panting, giggling, and dripping with sweat.
“Wow,” she sighed after we finally calmed down.
“Wow is right,” I laughed, and then we kissed passionately.
I was still inside of her as I shifted onto my elbow on the bed, and Lavinia reached up to push a lock of hair away from my forehead.
“That sure beats watching that stupid mime,” she murmured, and I laughed as I slipped out of her soaking wet vagina and then settled down next to her.
“Making love to you beats pretty much everything,” I whispered.
“Damn, you are good, Gabriel,” she laughed lightly. “If you keep talking that way, I’ll probably fall in love with you.”
“You aren’t already?” I raised an eyebrow and smirked at her.
“Maybe,” she chuckled, and then she wiggled her body against mine, flipped her long white hair so that it covered my chest, and then began to drift off to sleep.
The next morning, I was pulled out of my dreams by the sound of someone singing in the street outside. As I tried to rub the grogginess out of my eyes, I became aware of other voices as well, and I realized that the festival had already started up again for the day if it had ever really stopped at all during the night.
The light through the little window in the room was tinged with gold, and for a moment I took it to be the rising sun before I realized that the window faced west and reasoned that the light must be coming from the lanterns.
As I shifted up onto my elbows, Lavinia stirred and looked up at me through the shadow of her dark lashes.
“Morning,” I greeted as I reached over to sweep a strand of the ranger’s pale hair away from her face.
“Waking up next to you makes it a great morning.” She propped herself up onto one elbow as well, and as the sheet fell away from her breasts, I found it difficult to look away. When I met her eyes again, she smiled and leaned in to kiss me.
As soon as our lips met, however, a lively shout announced the beginning of another song down in the street, and Lavinia pulled back with a growl of disgust and threw back the sheets as she got out of the bed.
“What are you doing?” I asked as the ranger pulled her tunic over her shoulders and picked up her bow and quiver from where they’d been leaning against the wall.
“I’m going to put that miserable creature out of its misery.” Lavinia blew out a frustrated breath. “I’d love a reprisal of last night with you, but not with all that yowling going on in the background.”
The singer was really starting to get into it, and he interspersed his song with exuberant cries. I had to admit, it wasn’t exactly what I would have liked to wake up to, but we were visitors here.
I stood as well and put my hand on Lavinia’s arm. “We knew there was a celebration,” I said gently. “Just come downstairs with me, it might be quieter.”
The ladona woman held my gaze for a moment, then heaved a sigh and nodded. We dressed, then I took her hand, and we made our way downstairs to the tavern.
The pale purple light from the windows on the eastern side of the building told me that dawn was near, and the innkeeper waved cheerfully to us from behind the bar as we made our way over to the sitting area in the back. There were a few armchairs pushed up around the crackling fire, and a well-dressed man sprawled awkwardly over one of them. He snored con
tentedly with an empty goblet on his chest.
“You know he had fun last night,” Lavinia remarked. “Couldn’t even make it upstairs.”
We set our packs on the floor, and I pulled her with me to the armchair furthest from the man. She sat on my lap as I opened the book I’d brought which detailed the history of magical developments in the realm.
“Wait, I want to read it.” Lavinia then grabbed the book. She straightened up and looked down her nose at the page, then in her best impression of an old scholar, recited, “Commercial enchantments didn’t become popular among the general public until the year twelve-hundred eight when the Mage Academy began selling them for everyday use.”
Lavinia cut off with a laugh, and I chuckled as well.
“How do you read this stuff?” the ladona woman asked. “It’s so boring.”
“I don’t think it’s boring,” I replied. “It’s all new to me still. I didn’t grow up with magic.”
“Right.” Lavinia leaned her head on my shoulder. “You’re such a natural with it that I forget sometimes.”
“Hey, was that a compliment?” I asked, brows raised.
“Yeah, yeah, you’re a badass and a sex god, don’t go getting a big head about it,” Lavinia warned as she turned and pressed a kiss to my cheek.
“Sex god?” I grinned and turned to kiss her on the lips.
“Ugh,” she groaned after our lips parted. “See? Now you have a big head.”
“Big head and a big shaft, or so you said last night,” I whispered as I leaned into her ear, and the dragon-woman let out a surprising purr of pleasure as she pressed her lithe body into me.
“Damn, I really wanted a second round this morning.” Her breath was warm and husky against my neck, and I felt goosebumps crawl down my spine.
“Can I get you two anything to eat?” the innkeeper interrupted, and Lavinia and I broke apart as we turned to the woman, who had left the bar and begun to wipe down the tables nearer to us.
“Uh, I’ll have some tea,” I answered, a little awkwardly, and caught Lavinia’s teasing grin out of the corner of my eye.