Swing and Thrust: A Harem Fantasy (Sword and Sorority Book 2)

by Scot C Morgan

  "I know it doesn't matter to you." She decided to shift tactics, to remind him why he'd been helping her in the first place. "You are already a great sorcerer." She relaxed her body and walked toward him seductively. "I'm here for you to tell me what to do." She noticed his pupils dilate slightly.

  "And teach you, I shall," he said. "But I brought my tower here for a reason. I must focus to get the preparations done."

  "That's his plan." She leaned her head against his chest and looked up at him. "But he can't do the magic you can. Can he?" She caressed his stomach through his shirt.

  "No. He can't, but that's not the point."

  She looked at him coquettishly.

  "He's brought order to the land across the sea. You never saw what it was like before."

  "If you say so." She rubbed her hand up toward his chest, toward the medallion necklace he wore.

  He put his hand over hers. "Going against such a powerful man is a very dangerous thing to do."

  She smiled at him. "I just don't want to see you taking orders from someone else, when you should be the one giving them."

  "Things were a lot easier when it was just me living here. Now I have that Balinite down below to deal with and you questioning my life choices."

  "I think you'll find in time, especially when I'm more capable, that I will be a great help to you." She glanced at the fragments of the broken pitcher on the floor. "And I will try to stop breaking things."

  He chuckled then kissed her on her forehead. "Break all the pitchers you want. Just not on my head."

  "I have a temper. Sorry."

  "Mm hmm." He sighed. "Once I've gathered what we need, we will go north. If you allow me to go now and do the work I must without disturbing me, I will return to you when I am finished. But that means no interruptions. I can't have you standing at the door to my room while I'm opening a passage to another realm to negotiate for recruits. It just doesn't look good, you know. Besides…" His eyes drifted down to her breasts. "You're very distracting."

  "But you'll still show me more magic, won't you?"

  He sighed and stared at her.

  "Then after, you can have me again," she said. "And she will join us." She looked across the room to Victoria, who was curled up on top of a pile of large pillows against the wall. She was watching the conversation. She looked confused, but not scared. "Is that alright with you?" Ms. Thompson asked her.

  "You know I'll do whatever you want." She smiled coyly.

  Ms. Thompson looked at the old man. "Do we have a deal, my sorcerer?"

  He glanced at Victoria, then back to Ms. Thompson. "I'll show you things you can't yet imagine."

  She smiled and slid herself off of him. "Go do what you to do. We'll be waiting for you."

  Chapter 19

  In the haste to get all our stuff and haul ass out away from the tower, I managed to put my shirt on backward. The fact that I kept questioning the entire time whether Alara actually thought I had played an equal part in the decision to get buck naked with Victoria while everyone slept had me flustered, to say the least. She said she believed me, but Monica persisted in her take on what happened, meeting each of my innocence protests with a comment like "You sure are a hot lover. I'll give you that much." Or "I've heard of carpet burn, but wow."

  She talked like she was convinced Victoria had gone back to Earth, whether I'd sent her there or something else had. I privately told Alara not to argue with her about it, saying Monica's reaction might be just what she was telling herself to cope with what happened. Thinking Victoria—a woman from Earth like herself—had only been transported back home was a lot easier to accept than the reality of her being engulfed in supernatural flames and vanishing into oblivion. Alara agreed to leave it alone.

  Despite how large the flames of our campfire had been when Victoria had me pinned down so she could do her fire sex dance on me, only half of the large smoldering log remained. The smaller branches earlier surrounding it had burned into ash. I kicked some dirt onto the log right before we walked away from our campsite.

  Nobody had a watch, but it had to be the middle of the night still. We used only light from the stars to find our way—hurrying as much as we could without stumbling…too often. I asked Alara not to light up the top of her staff, as a precaution until we were farther from the tower's view. Ms. Thompson had been transported to Galderia and evidently had gotten deep into some dark shit in the short time she'd been here. In all likelihood, that's where she was, probably with whoever helped her do what she did to Victoria.

  We made our way toward the forest. My plan was to get close to it, so we'd be harder to spot, but not to go into the woods. We were going to head north, following the tree line, until we couldn't see the tower. Besides, that was the way to Yedia. I wondered if we'd make it all the way on foot, with little food left, but I knew we had to get out of the reach of Ms. Thompson's magic, if that was possible.

  Once we'd cleared the plain most of the way to the forest, we slowed our pace. I looked back to the distant tower, feeling a little safer.

  Monica, Tara, and Nithia walked a little ahead of Alara and me. We walked single file, which pushed a path through the tall grass, making it progressively easier for each person down the line. It also kept our footprint smaller, in case anyone might be out looking for us.

  "What did she want from you?" Alara asked me as she moved beside me, still mostly keeping to our trail.

  I could see from her expression she'd dropped any notion that Victoria and I were simply stealing some fireside sexy time. I felt relieved to know she was on my side.

  "I don't know," I said. "I wish I did, but I need to tell you something."

  "Den, you don't have to apologize. I trust you."

  Wow. You find me naked with an equally naked woman on top of me, and you trust me? I'm one lucky son of a bitch.

  "I mean, you're a little foolish sometimes," she said.

  "Hey."

  "But you're not that foolish." She smiled.

  "No?"

  She shook her head.

  "Thanks, I think. But that's not what I wanted to say."

  She raised her eyebrows a little. "Oh. Okay. Go on."

  "When that was happening…"

  "You mean when you were about to have sex with Victoria?"

  "Hey!"

  She laughed. "Sorry."

  "When I was about to not have sex with Victoria," I said, looking sternly at Alara. "She said some things to me."

  "What did she say?"

  "You need to be quiet and let me do what I need to do."

  "I am."

  "No, not you," I said. "That's what she said to me."

  Alara shrugged and shook her head slightly.

  "I recognized those words, and the voice she used. It wasn't Victoria's voice. Someone I know used to say those exact words all the time."

  "Who?"

  "My English Lit professor, Ms. Thompson."

  Alara said nothing for a few seconds. I waited for her to respond.

  "So," she said, "that teacher you have the hots for was magically possessing Victoria, here on Galderia, so you two could have sex?"

  "Well, it sounds kind of weird when you put it that way."

  "No. Not really," she said.

  "Uh, thanks."

  "What I mean is she obviously came here the same she did." She nodded toward Monica.

  "Yeah. And apparently, she met up with somebody who knows his way around this magic stuff."

  "Or her way."

  "Yes."

  At the same time, we both looked back toward the tower, though we couldn't see it any more due to the darkness and the distance we'd put between us and it.

  "She's smart enough," I said. "And always seemed a little off-center and into her power, but I can see how she could convince…"

  "You were going to say she could get what she wanted because of her looks. Weren't you?"

  I shrugged and gave her a look to plead my innocence.

&nbs
p; "It's fine."

  "She's got nothing on you."

  "I said it's fine."

  "So, what are we going to do about her?"

  "I don't know. It sounds like she shouldn't be at the top of our rescue list."

  "Agreed. She certainly didn't sound like she was in any sort of trouble."

  "When she was trying to have sex with you from a distance, you mean?"

  "Yeah, uh." I decided to cut my losses in the conversation. "I'm going to head up there and see how Tara is doing. I want to see what's over the ridge too. Decide our path. Make a plan. You know."

  We had been walking up a gentle slope for the last hour, and it crested ahead. So, my excuse was legitimate, and well timed. I smiled at her and she nodded toward the top of the slope, signaling for me to go ahead.

  I must have been wrong about what time we left our campsite. The night sky began to give way to a hint of the morning light, though the Galderian sun hadn't yet risen above the horizon.

  I gave Nithia a pat on her ass as I went past her.

  "That's all?" she said.

  "Hey, Monica." I prudently skipped the ass pat on her.

  "Dennis," she said.

  I slowed down when I came up beside Tara.

  "Hi, Den. Are you as tired as I am?"

  "Yeah."

  "I wish we could've slept a little longer," she said.

  "Me too, but given the circumstances." I hadn't actually slept at all. I dreaded how tired I'd feel by the afternoon, though I'd pulled more than a few all-nighters studying for tests. So, I knew I could will my way through the rest of the day.

  "Yeah, I talked with Alara a little about that. Sad about Victoria." She glanced back at Monica. "How do you think Monica is handling it? I mean, it disturbed me too, but life on Galderia isn't without…"

  "I know what you mean. I know you've seen your share of terrible things. Earth isn't without them, but most of the time, people don't face things like that up close." I glanced back to look at Monica, but tried to make it seem casual. "She looks okay to me. I don't think they knew each other before. I guess that helps."

  "What about you?" Tara asked.

  "Did I know her? No, not really. I'd seen her around campus. We weren't friends."

  "You could have fooled me. Looked like you two were pretty friendly back there."

  "No. That's not-"

  "Don't worry. I'm kidding. Alara and I talked. I know you were only accidentally naked underneath Victoria."

  "You too, huh?"

  She laughed, then shrugged. "I can't blame you. She was hot." She smirked.

  "Oh, that's just wrong."

  I heard something coming from behind us. It was a distant voice. Tara and I turned around and saw Monica, Nithia, and Alara looking back the way we had come.

  "Wait!" A young man ran toward us. "Wait, please!" he said, waving his arm above him as he ran. He was alone. He looked about fifteen years of age. He wore a dark brown tunic over a muted green shirt with long loose sleeves. He had tan pants and boots, and a short sword sheathed on his belt.

  "He looks harmless," Tara said, but I could…" She reached back for her bow.

  I gave her a disapproving look. "No. You can't shoot him."

  She chuckled. "Your call."

  We walked back to join Alara, Nithia, and Monica.

  "What do you think he wants?" Monica asked.

  "Don't know," Nithia said. "But he seems to want our help, maybe."

  "Or to warn us of something," I said, preparing myself for yet more trouble. Lack of sleep made me a little moody.

  The young man stopped running when he got within fifty feet of us. He walked the rest of the way up the slope, but at a hurried pace.

  "I'm…" He paused to catch his breath. "I'm Gulny. I mean you no harm."

  Monica and Alara chuckled.

  He seemed gravely serious.

  I stepped between my women and approached him. He took a quick step back as I got near. I raised my hand. "We're not your enemy," I said. "You won't need to use your sword on us." I saw him glance at mine. "And I will keep mine sheathed too."

  He appeared to relax a little. He nodded to me. "Glad to hear it. I've come for your help."

  "Our help? With what?" I quickly scanned the land behind him and the edge of the forest which was only a hundred yards or so to our right. He came across as honest, but I didn't want to fall victim to an ambush—especially not on zero sleep.

  "My father," he said. His eyes darted around to each of us. I could tell he was trying to read our sympathy for him.

  "Is he hurt?" Nithia asked, coming to my side.

  Gulny shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe. I hope not." He glanced back toward the tower, which was again faintly visible. The morning light shone on the top of the building, and it reflected back like a beacon. "But he will be if I don't rescue him soon."

  "Crap." I shook my head, looking at the ground.

  "No?" Gulny sounded upset and a little angry. "You have to help me."

  "He's right," Nithia said. "We can't ignore his plea."

  "Hate to agree on this," Alara said, but she's right.

  I sighed. "I'm not saying no. I'm just being pissed off for a second." I looked up and addressed my women. "We did just spend the last hour or so getting as far away from that place as possible. And for good reason. Remember?"

  "Please," Gulny said. "You must help me."

  Alara walked over to me. I could tell by the look on her face, she knew we were going to do it. She was right. We had to help. Gulny was just a kid, I thought. And being alone in this world wasn't something I'd put on a kid, if I could help it.

  "At least you'll get to see your girlfriend," Alara said to me before grinning.

  "She's not my girlfriend," I said. "And if there's any way we can do this without her unleashing her crazy fire sex magic on us, that's what we're going to do. In and out." I realized my verbal misstep and hoped Alara didn't catch it.

  I hadn't noticed Tara had stepped behind Alara and was listening to what I thought was between the two of us. "Uh, huh," Tara said, joining in on giving me a hard time. "In and out. She won't even notice."

  "Will you?" Gulny said, looking at us, evidently to see if he could tell what we might be deciding.

  I took a step away from Alara and Tara. "What's your father's name?"

  "Galim," he said.

  "And he's captive in the tower?" I glanced toward it.

  "Yes," he said. "Held by the evil sorcerer."

  "Of course, he is," I said. "Any chance of getting in without getting spotted?" I needed to know what the kid knew about the tower. "What was your father doing there?"

  "He was part of a group of the bravest Balinite men sent to retrieve a stone, which the sorcerer stole from our people."

  "A stone? Seriously." Then I thought of the rock Indiana Jones had to get back for the villagers in the Temple of Doom. "Magic rock. Am I right?"

  "The Stone of Balin is the heart of our people. It was sent to us by the sky hundreds of years ago."

  "And it makes the plants grow or the water taste better? Something like that?"

  "You know of the Stone of Balin?"

  "Yeah, I think I do," I said. "What happened to the other men." If we were going to play hero, I wanted as many other swords fighting with me as possible. Even then, I thought, steel against magic isn't a fair match up. I glanced back at Alara. But they probably won't expect her in the mix.

  Gulny looked back toward the plains. "I buried them. That's what my father would have done."

  "So," Alara said, "they were attacked outside the tower?"

  He nodded. "Yes." He pointed back to a distant spot across the field, near the edge of the forest. "We camped too close to the woods, resting before went tried to enter the tower. But the sorcerer called his creatures out of the woods. They caught us by surprise. Killed most of us before we could draw our swords on them. I only escaped because my father fought back the one that came at me. I hid and watched the
monsters tear my father's friends apart." He looked down at the ground and seemed to be fighting back a tear. Then he turned to the distant tower. "For some reason, they spared my father, and one of them bound him with webs and dragged him to the tower. I wanted to stop it, but the others would have killed me."

  "Shit," Monica said, under her breath, but not discreet enough.

  I knew Gulny's story would upset Tara the most. I turned to her. "Are you okay?"

  She looked pale but determined not to let what happened to her shake her now. "I'm okay." She nodded toward Gulny. We have to help him save his father. We will, won't we?"

  Why did it have to be the giant spiders?

  "Yes," I said to her. "We'll try." I looked up to him. "We'll do what we can to help."

  He appeared overcome with emotion. "Thank you! Thank you."

  "I don't want to go."

  I turned around. Monica stared at me and shrugged. "I'm sorry, Den, but I don't want to go. After what happened to Victoria," she glanced at Alara, "and what she felt about that tower…I just can't." She glanced at each of us. "I shouldn't even be here." Her eyes settled on mine. "I just want to go home."

  I don't know how everyone else was taking in what she said, but I didn't blame her. It had surprised me when she first decided to postpone going back to Earth. I got used to her being around after that, and thought less about her eventual return trip each day.

  "I understand," I said. "I think we all understand. This isn't your world."

  "Or yours," she said.

  "You don't have to go with us to the tower." I looked at Nithia. "She'll stay with you until we return."

  Monica's lip began to quiver. "What if you don't?"

  "I will."

  "What if you don't, and I can never go home?"

  I hadn't thought of that, but she had a valid point. Every time I risked my life, I was gambling hers too. I'd let her know I had the power to send her home, but left it up to her to decide when she wanted to use that ticket. And now she was asking me to fulfill my promise to her.

  Worst timing ever.

  Or maybe it was the right timing, I thought. She knew it might be now or never. Great. I looked at everyone else watching the two of us.