by Noah Layton
Her tanned, smooth skin was still matted with moisture from the tiresome work we had both endured.
I pulled my throbbing cock from my pants and ran myself down her ass. Ariadne moaned lowly as I touched my head to the quivering wetness between her legs, before pushing into her tightness.
Ariadne’s body tightened up, holding me within her and shaking her ass up and down on me.
‘Take me…’ She moaned. ‘I need you…’
I commanded her hips in my workworn hands and took her, thrusting into her slowly before breaking into a faster rhythm.
‘Yes, yes…’
I groaned out as I indulged in her body, pulling her close to me and pressing my toned chest and abs to her back. Ariadne shook her pussy up and down on my length, moving her hips in circles as she teased me to finish.
But I was going to resist.
‘My body aches from all of our work… I need something to take my mind off it…’
I knew exactly what she was asking for.
I raised a hand and slapped her lightly on her round ass. Ariadne shrieked out in approval, moving her hips more enthusiastically in response.
Soon enough I realized that I wasn’t doing a thing; Ariadne was grinding herself against me as hard as she could, moaning out ferociously. I couldn’t believe how much of me she was taking.
And the sight of her body taking me was more than I could handle.
‘Oh, fuck…’
‘In my mouth, master… Let me taste a real man.’
I pulled from Ariadne and she turned to me, sinking to her knees expertly once again. She wrapped her lips around my cock, fucking me with her mouth relentlessly.
My body shuddered to completion as I groaned out, finishing into her mouth. I felt my seed course past her lips as she swallowed eagerly.
She took every drop from me, licking me dry before smiling deviously and pulling away as she wiped at her mouth.
‘By the gods…’ She laughed lightly, panting for breath harder than she had done during our work. ‘After all of the attention we have been giving you lately I would have thought you would not have much to give me…’
‘What can I say?’ I replied. ‘You bring it out of me...’
A few minutes later we were on our backs, hidden within the cluster of trees on the small patch of dried ground.
‘Did you ever think after buying me from a trader that you would have created a fully-functioning tribe a few months later?’
‘I was having a pretty hard time getting to terms with the fact that I’d been transported to another world.’
Ariadne snuggled up to my side, resting her head on my chest.
‘Do your miss your old world?’ She asked.
‘Not really. There wasn’t a lot for me back there. Just the regular day to day stuff. I might have flown those giant flying machines I told you about, but like everything, once you’ve done it for a while it becomes commonplace. This world is much more interesting. It’s given me a sense of purpose.’
‘Purpose?’
‘Building this tribe, taking care of you girls and my people… And expanding our kingdom.’
Ariadne turned her head to look over at me.
‘Kingdom?’ She smiled. ‘You see yourself as a king, do you?’
‘Maybe one day,’ I laughed. ‘Right now I just want to focus on making this tribe as powerful and as prosperous as I can. We’re improving the quality of our lives while ensuring that we’re not working our asses off every day, as well as making sure that we’re well-defended. Now it’s time to take the next steps.’
‘What steps are those?’
‘First things first – we’re going to Ichabod’s Cove to check out this ship that Artrix gave us.’
***
After dinner I turned into bed with my wives, getting an early night after the hard day of building that I had endured. My body ached, but the sleep, a hearty meal of meat and vegetables, and the soft touch of my beautiful women at my sides healed me fast.
I awoke the next day, dressing and equipping my new sword and dagger. They were standard iron pieces to replace the weapons that I no longer had at my side; I had lost both my old sword and my Dagger of Concealment during my battle with the tribe master of the wood-elves.
Before assembling my team for the trip to Ichabod’s Cove I headed in the direction of the eastern lookout post, but I didn’t ascend the tower to greet the fox-person on duty; instead I headed into the small shack situated next to the post.
I kicked the door open lightly with my foot, its rebound against the shack wall waking the figure in the corner.
‘Ughh… What? Who is it?’
The goblin turned over, his wrists bound behind his back.
‘How are you, Morok?’
‘Fuck you, tribe master.’
‘I’m great,’ I smiled. ‘Thanks for asking.’
‘I have been in here for a week.’
‘And I’ve fed and sheltered you.’
‘This is not a way to treat a living being.’
‘Yeah, well, firing a crossbow bolt and threatening to blow someone up also isn’t an ideal way to treat a living being, but here we are.’
‘Oh, please, are you still angry about that? I was doing what I could to defend myself from an unknowable threat.’
‘That you were,’ I agreed. ‘Do you remember our little conundrum before?’
‘Which one would that be?’
‘The one where if I let you go you rat us out, and if I keep you here I don’t trust you anyway?’
‘The issue rings a bell.’
‘Yeah, well, now outsiders knowing the location of our tribe isn’t really a problem anymore seeing as we’ve got support from a much more powerful tribe.’
‘So you can let me go? What wonderful new-’
‘Woah, woah, woah, there, buddy. Just because I don’t think you’ll be vengeful doesn’t mean I don’t think you’re spiteful enough to try and get back in here and butcher me or any of my people, even if my guards were ordered to shoot you with a harpoon gun that we once used to take down a mother wolf.’
‘You… You killed a mother wolf? With a harpoon gun?’
‘Well, technically injured her. The killing part was mainly down to diversion tactics and one hell of a sharp drop. Anyway, that’s beside the point. What I really need to do is get rid of you. Lucky for you I’m still too nice to throw you off a bridge or cut your head off.’
‘So… What are you going to do with me?’
‘Take you on a little road trip.’
I assembled my team – myself, Alorion, Lara and Elera, as well as Arabelle and Myranthia, and a cart.
Once we were all equipped and readied, we stopped off at the shack where I picked up Morok and dropped him into the back of the cart.
‘Where are you taking me?’
‘You can shut it or I can get the gag again.’
I didn’t get a response, just a look of absolute and total resentment.
I couldn’t exactly blame the goblin. I’d hate me too if I had tied myself up in a shack for a week. But he had to be dealt with, and with a trip to the Cove I could kill two birds with one stone.
We arrived at Ichabod’s Cove before midday and parked the cart. Alorion elected to keep an eye on Morok while my wives and I headed into the higher reaches.
While Lara and Elera took off to find seeds to begin our production of onions, beetroot and sweet potato, as well as a recipe for the cider that we were going to produce, I made my way to the hidden entrance in the cove’s rock wall that opened onto the moonseed den.
Various figures were scattered about in drug-induced dazes, but my destination was a final domain at the edge of the den.
I arrived and drummed my fingers on the door.
‘Enter.’
I pushed into the Necromancer’s domain, a hideaway stacked with potions and hefty volumes, with an open ceiling giving out onto the blue, cloudy sky.
The Necromancer,
a slight woman with jet black hair and a purple silk gown, was lying on the bed with a pair of glasses set on her small nose and her mind buried in a huge book.
A beautiful woman and a handsome man, both bald, were sleeping either side of her. They were covered in runic tattoos and were sleeping peacefully, although their nakedness told me the situation wasn’t exactly platonic.
‘You know,’ I started, ‘last time I was here you seemed pretty insistent about getting your… Companions out of here before I came in.’
‘I wasn’t insistent on it, they were just in the process of getting dressed when you knocked. These two are still sleeping, and far be it from me to interrupt something so important.’ She set the book down and climbed carefully out of bed, crossing to a nearby table and pouring herself a cup of steaming pink liquid. ‘I imagine you have been quite busy lately.’
‘When you say shit like that it also makes me wonder if you’re some… Mind reader, or fortune teller.’
‘I don’t think so,’ she laughed. ‘I just keep my ear to the ground, and I know that tribe masters like yourself are always getting yourselves into trouble. Not that that’s a bad thing, of course. If you weren’t getting into trouble then you wouldn’t be ambitious, and if you weren’t ambitious in this world… Well, you’d be dead.’
‘What have you heard?’
‘Many nights ago one of my connections informed me of seeing a great winged beast flying across the forests. I do not suppose you would have anything to do with that?’
She turned and eyed me as she drank the steaming pink liquid.
‘I… Might have been in the area.’
‘You must be careful with this land,’ she remarked. ‘Agraria is a living, breathing force. If provoked it will attack.’
‘What do you know about the demi-gods?’
‘What you really mean is Zagor. What do I know about him? Fierce, filled with rage…’
‘But he flew away from me.’
‘So you were there?’
Shit.
‘Yep. Beneath the land of the wood-elves, or what was the land of the wood-elves.’
‘Damn. I would have guessed further south. But if he flew away he will likely be slumbering.’
‘Why would he wake up and then run off to sleep again?’
‘Because you interrupted him. He feeds on sacrifices, but his slumber will not be over yet.’
‘And what happens when he wakes up?’
‘We will see.’
‘That’s comforting.’
‘Don’t worry. He will likely be hiding in a more mountainous area.’
‘What? There are mountains in Agraria?’
‘Oh, how much you have to learn, tribe master.’ The Necromancer smiled. ‘So, what can I do for you today?’
***
After forking over 300GP to learn Spell: Shock, as well as setting the cast word ‘impulsa’ in my mind, I left the den to return and meet Lara and Elera.
Each power stone possessed a maximum of ten charges. Once they were depleted they could be refilled by dipping them in a power well.
Power wells were damn hard to find, but I had access to one not far from my land, upriver beneath the ground within the hidden cave. It was a secret that only I and my wives knew.
The power stone that I had assigned the new spell currently possessed a single charge, left upon it when Artrix had gifted it to me.
As I walked along the levels to meet my wives, I tried to cast the thought of Zagor out of my mind, waiting somewhere in the mountains many miles from this region of Agraria.
Weeks ago this land had seemed small with its scattered tribes, but as our reach expanded, a larger world was steadily revealing itself.
The Oracle herself, a woman who had lived a thousand years ago, had predicted my coming to Agraria.
And for some reason it was so important that she decided to carve a mural out of it.
Mariana had shown me it into the chamber deep beneath the sun-elf land, something crafted in a different world centuries before I was born.
A depiction that showed me standing before… Something.
The final piece of the mural had been cut off, and it could be anywhere in this land. Agraria was enormous, and the more I became aware of its size the less I had any faith in finding it.
But I was just one man intent on looking after my people. It was fine to consider questions of gods and prophecies, but a man could only do what was within his abilities, resources and intentions.
And right now my intention was, of course, to look after my tribe.
I met up with the girls who were in possession of three satchels: one for onions, one for sweet potatoes and one for beetroot. In addition they had managed to acquire a small wolfapple tree that was ready to be planted, and the recipe for the wolfapple cider for only 50GP – apparently it was a common delicacy and not difficult to acquire. Only two ingredients were necessary; wolfapples, yeast, and an optional addition of sugar, but that was difficult enough to find on its own.
That didn’t bode well for the taste, but as long as it had the desired effect of getting us drunk, I was more than happy to run with it.
Together we returned to meet up with Alorion, who was still stationed with Morok where the cart was parked.
I led the horses down to the dock and skirted the dock with my group, searching among the masses of merchant ships for a decent buyer.
Just after I had first arrived in Agraria I had ditched a young bandit called Coron with one of these ships, and now I was doing the same thing again.
I wasn’t doing this for profit; if anything I would pay somebody else to take him off my hands.
I was searching for a buyer, but eventually one came to me.
‘The goblin,’ a centaur loading crates onto a nearby ship said. ‘How much do you want for him?’
‘You really want him?’
‘I will not be sold like some commodity,’ Morok protested.
‘Shut it,’ I commanded.
‘Let me see him,’ the centaur said.
‘He’s a goblin, what do you need to see?’ I asked. I had dealt with centaurs before. They stuck to their word, but they still found ways to be dicks about it.
‘His finger, human.’
The centaur grabbed Morok’s left hand and examined his fingers. I hadn’t noticed it before, but a ring was pushed onto his little finger.
‘Trained by the Goblins of the Eastern Coin. Would make an excellent bookkeeper. How much?’
‘Take him,’ I said. ‘Pay me and that makes me a slaver. I’m not sinking to that level.’
I handed him to the centaur, who cut the binds at his ankles.
‘Onto the ship, goblin.’
‘One more thing,’ I said, ushering Morok over to me. The goblin hobbled over to me. I placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, then grabbed him roughly by his collar and grabbed him by the bottom of his rough face.
‘What?’ He yelped. ‘What is it?!’
‘Listen very carefully to me, goblin,’ I said sternly. ‘Consider this a mercy. I know that you know this land, and I know that you know where my land is. And if you ever lead an enemy tribe back to our land, or anybody that would pose a threat to us, I’ll skin you alive and feed you to my taurem. Understand?’
The goblin gulped and nodded.
‘All right.’
Morok made his way onto the ship, followed closely by the centaur and shot me a look over his shoulder, and for the first time the look of resentment was replaced by one of longing.
‘You think he will be all right, Jack?’ Alorion said.
‘As long as he’s alive and as far away from this land as possible, I can sleep easy at night.’
‘You do not think he will bring this centaur tribe back to our land?’ Elera asked. ‘Our numbers are still small compared to many other tribes. We would be an easy target.’
‘Not with the sun-elves on our side,’ I replied. ‘Now that we’ve got backup, we have a lo
t more freedom of movement on our side. Even if anybody came to our land, the sight of their flag would turn them around immediately.’
With Morok dealt with, I turned my attention to the real reason that we were there. I retrieved the deed from my inventory, and the four of us gathered around the piece of parchment.
The Bastion – Deed of Ownership
The ownership of the vessel The Bastion, docked at Ichabod’s Cove at the time of writing, is hereby granted to Master Jack of the Arakin Tribe.
‘The Bastion,’ Lara read. ‘You know what that word means, right?’
‘A fortress,’ Alorion answered, ‘something strong and powerful.’
‘Let’s just hope the name matches the ship itself,’ I said, looking around at the myriad ships docked in the cove.
Together we scanned the surrounding ships as we traversed the dock, reading the names of the vessels in the bay; The Monarca, Parthian, The Peregrine Galley...
Every time a sizeable one came into view I prayed that it would be The Bastion, but instead it was another false alarm.
Right up until we reached the edge of the cove.
Alorion scampered ahead before screeching to a halt and waving over at us.
‘Here she is!’ He called out, ushering us over.
My girls and I hurried to meet him, and I laid eyes on my new ship for the first time.
Chapter Three
It was a Caravel, the Portuguese style of sailing ship. I knew a little about them; they were used for exploring more than transporting merchant goods, but their slightly smaller size and large sails would mean that the ship would make up for that in speed.
‘A little old,’ I remarked, examining it, ‘but when it’s free I can’t exactly complain. Let’s check it out.’
Alorion headed away to park our horses and cart with the goblin horse master, and my wives and I made our way onto the ship.
The Bastion was firmly docked by ropes so that it wouldn’t drift away. A series of wooden panels jutted from the hull, acting as a workable ladder.
I pulled myself up one rung at a time. Then, arriving at the barrier that spanned the ship’s edge, I dragged myself up and clambered onto the deck.