by Noah Layton
‘All right,’ I conceded. ‘Let’s do this.’
‘Good. First things first – try and kill me.’
‘What?’
‘Pick up your spear, point it at me, and throw the pointy end my way.’
I examined my weapon, moving it to the opposite end of the cell and raising it up.
‘Like a javelin, right?’
‘A what?’
‘Doesn’t matter,’ I said quickly, readying it. ‘You’re sure about this?’
‘Sure as I’m ever gonna be. Kill me.’
‘Please don’t say that.’
‘Why, what are you gonna do? Wimp out? That’s okay, it’ll make for a quick fight tomorrow. Actually, fight probably isn’t the best term for it. Slaughter is probably more appropriate.’
I gritted my teeth, tensed my arm brought it back before launching the spear straight at Ariadne.
The instant it left my hand it was out of my control, and a paradoxical feeling of guilt took over my mind.
What if it hit her? What if it hit her straight in the neck and she choked on her own blood?
A brutal thought, sure, but in the six or seven yards that it had to fly even I could pull off a shot like that.
And I would have done – the spear would have hit her straight in the face if she hadn’t darted to the side sharply, ducking away from the shot and sliding up to the wall by the cell door. The spear twanged off the wall and recoiled sharply to the ground nearby, shaking upon the floor.
‘See, you’re not that bad!’
‘Holy shit…’ I panted, my hands shaking like crazy, ‘I could’ve killed you!’
‘You could have, but you didn’t.’
‘And you’re okay with that?’
‘I was okay with my abilities. I put my faith in them, and they saved me. Now it’s your job to do the same.’
‘Why a spear?’ I asked. ‘Surely you’ve got weapons that are easier to wield than this?’
‘They have been a favourite in battle with our people for centuries. Their speed and ranged capabilities allow us to take out the wings of attackers at a distance, and in case you hadn’t noticed already a lot of the creatures on the islands can fly. That said, some prefer swords, and some go for bows.’
‘What about after you’ve thrown it, though?’
‘Then we go to our kill, pick it up and finish them off if need be.’
‘It’s a risky way to fight, isn’t it?’
‘Would be if our aim was terrible. It’s a good thing it’s not.’
We smiled across at each other.
‘Okay,’ I said, ‘But I’d prefer something that I can hold onto. I know those things we’re fighting off against can slice at close distance, but if I throw a spear, even if I do get a good hit by some miracle, I still have to get to it. I don’t have wings, so I’d need to literally run to the spear. It’ll take me way longer. No, I need something that I can keep on me.’
‘Not a bad point,’ Ariadne said. ‘Okay, wait a moment.’
She took off again before returning a minute later with a sword and shield. They were reasonably well-kept, albeit having been unused for a while.
‘Some of our warriors prefer shorter range weapons as long as they’re using heavier armour. Give them a try.’
I did as I was told, strapping the shield across the back of my left forearm and clasping the handle of the sword in my right.
‘How does it feel?’
‘Pretty decent,’ I remarked. ‘I think I could get used to this a lot faster than the spear.’
‘Let’s put it to the test, then.’
So just like that, the holding cell where I was being kept by the Alerian Harpies became my own training zone.
I was in decent shape thanks to years of push-ups and sit-ups on my apartment floor, as well as jogging whenever I got the chance, but all of that was nothing compared to what Ariadne put my through. She began with basic moves, throwing jabs my way and showing me how to return them, alongside swipes and defensive movements. I had watched boxing on TV occasionally and could never understand why they became so exhausted after a few rounds to the point that they were basically grappling with each other in exhaustion, but after a few sessions with Ariadne that took us straight to the sunset, I understood why. A combination of pumping adrenaline and sharp, quick movements compounded one after the other and turned me into a sweating mess. Ariadne’s forehead was similarly beaded, but she didn’t have a shine on me.
‘All right, we gotta stop,’ I panted, throwing my sword and shield down on the concrete slab that I called a bed. ‘I don’t wanna exhaust myself before tomorrow.’
‘You might be a little sore in the morning, Kit.’
‘Sleeping on concrete isn’t going to help much.’
‘True... Let me see what I can do about that.’
Ariadne retreated from the room once more, leaving me alone and unguarded within yet again. This time I didn’t even consider running – not because I was too tired, but because the whole concept seemed pointless.
But that didn’t mean I still wasn’t terrified.
My harpy captor returned a short while later with a stack of cushions, some water and some bread on a plate. She dumped the cushions and blankets down upon the slab and threw a bread roll to me, and a moment later we were sat side by side atop the cushions eating together, staring at the opposite wall absently.
‘You know, you girls really aren’t what I imagined harpies would look like.’
‘What did you imagine?’
‘In all the pictures I’ve ever seen you have clawed hands and talons… The only thing that separates your kind from the people in my world is the wings. You look totally normal.’
‘There are other harpies like the ones you have just described, but we consider them to be enemies. They live far across the archipelago on distant islands. They are a vicious kind.’
‘I don’t doubt it…’
I paused to take some food, chewing at a hunk of bread.
‘So how are you feeling?’ Ariadne asked.
‘I’m okay,’ I replied. ‘Okay, maybe a little terrified, but I’ll be all right.’
‘Really? Your impending death could be right around the corner and that’s all you’ve got to say?’
‘I jumped off a cliff earlier because I thought it would be the slightly less statistically sure way of getting killed. Death has been staring me in the face all day… And kind of my entire life, actually.’
‘Really?’
‘Oh, yeah. No parents, no grandparents, no living relatives that I even know of.’
‘That’s awful. How do you speak so freely about it?’
‘It’s how it’s always been for me. I guess I just… Expect it as the norm. I take things on the chin and deal with them. I wasn’t always like this, but I had to get used to thinking this way fast as the years passed and different things hit me.’
‘I know that feeling.’
‘Did you have a husband? Before… You know, everything happened?’
‘What is husband?’
‘You don’t have that here?’
‘Have what?’
‘It’s like… The person you spend the rest of your life with.’
‘Our kind don’t form relationships in such a fashion. We have, or we had, a free society. The men and the women laid together freely, with whomever they desired. We live too long to form bonds with a single person.’
‘That sounds crazy… In a good way, I mean. So… You just went from bedroom to bedroom sleeping with different men?’
‘And women, sometimes.’
I almost choked on the mouthful of bread that I had been holding on to, but managed to hold it back.
‘You have sex with women too?’
‘As I said, we have sex with men and women.’
I tried to stop my mouth from falling agape, but the more I thought about it the more it made sense. The Roman attire, the Greek architecture – back in both societies bath houses were syn
onymous with rampant fucking. There was no concept of sexuality.
‘So… What about the women on this island? Do you…?’
‘Oh, all the time. The women enjoy each other’s company considerably… But take it from me, almost all are starved of men. So much so that they’ve forgotten how it used to be. It has been too long since any of us have had a man.’
I turned to look over at Ariadne, but she was already way ahead of me. Her head was rested against the wall behind her, her eyes gazing back at me intensely.
‘Now I realise why you’ve been being so nice to me.’
‘Was it so obvious?’
‘A little, but every other time I’ve been snatched up by harpies my inhibitions have tended to be a little off.’
There was no way that a kiss wasn’t going to happen – we were panting for air like hungry animals, having just struck and hit at each other for almost an hour. In the dim sunset light of the cell, the blue of Ariadne’s eyes illuminated, reflecting in the panels of light through my single window, and our lips met.
I couldn’t deny how hot I thought she was. Ever since she had pulled off her armour to reveal her busty chest and tight, round behind, all I could help but wonder was how much of a crime it was to keep her body hidden away beneath steel plates and coverings.
Her luscious lips fought against mine passionately as she moved to sit atop me, the silk of the underwear between her legs brushing against my growing hardness. Even considering the fighting I felt more stifled than ever inside of my jeans, but my mind was on other things; running my hands up Ariadne’s back for one, as our tongues played intermittently and I felt the smoothness of her skin, which quickly gave way to the unbelievable softness of her wings pressed against her back.
It was a weird thing to experience for the first time, but I quickly got used to the feeling and above everything indulged in it. It was pure ecstasy as she pressed her body up against mine, running a soft hand up the back of my neck and into my hair before pulling me closer to her and burying my face in her cleavage, which I relinquished to gladly.
I had thought that it couldn’t get any better, but Ariadne was way ahead of me. She pulled my damp shirt from my body, lifting it over my head and casting it aside recklessly, not that I cared in the slightest. She slid herself down expertly over my body, kissing and biting at my torso as she moved lower and lower, before finally coming to rest on her knees upon a cushion before me. My throbbing length was undeniable, and she knew it; with feverish desire she undid my jeans, or at least tried to, having trouble with them before ripping them open with unknown strength.
‘Such strange garments…’ She said curiously, sliding her fingers into my waistband. ‘We will equip you with new ones before the battle tomorrow.’
‘I was never crazy about those old things anyway…’
‘Good…’ She moaned, ‘It has been too long since I had the taste of a man in my mouth, and I have no desire to wait any longer…’
Ariadne wasn’t shy about it. She pulled my jeans and my boxers down my legs, my hard length practically springing free. She took the base of me in her hand and gazed into my eyes, keeping me locked in the best of staring contests as she brought her tongue to the base of my shaft and licked me slowly, ascending to the head of my cock before wrapping her lips around me.
My body felt tight from the sparring, perhaps a little too tight, but the sensation of Ariadne’s tongue teasing me relentlessly only sent my chest and my abs even tenser. I rested my head back against the wall, letting the harpy take me as she soaked my cock with her mouth, running her lips up and down me faster and faster. I had had a few girlfriends at college, but it had been all take and no give. This was like nothing I had ever experienced; Ariadne wanted to please, and I was more than happy for her to do so.
I kept control of myself as best as I could, simultaneously begging for it to continue while hoping that my mind would somehow withstand the throes of pleasure to last just a little longer, to bask in the perfection of it, when the harpy slid me from her mouth and pulled herself away.
‘You enjoy your warm-up?’ She asked, sliding the tip of a finger into her mouth and sucking at it. She really did want to savour me.
‘That was a warm-up?’ I asked in disbelief. ‘What else did you have in mind?’
Ariadne grinned devilishly before sinking her fingers into her silk bra and pulling it down over her huge, busty chest. She was more perfect than I could have even imagined, her sun-kissed skin extending to her breasts. She licked her fingers, sliding the wetness of her mouth to the space between her chest before raising herself up and wrapping her huge tits around my cock.
This time it was a miracle that I managed to last even a minute. She was merciless in the pumping of her breasts up and down on my rock-hard length, moving into a fast speed quickly. I moved my hips, fucking her chest passionately as we both panted breathlessly. The fight may have taken it out of us, but this was a whole other game.
I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to have her.
I pushed away from the wall, lifting Ariadne to her feet before picking her up in my arms. She wrapped her legs around my back, refusing to let me go for even a second to ditch the rest of my clothes, but I was beyond caring. I set her down on her back on the bed, resting her upon the cushions as I pulled away the garments wrapped around her waist and threw them aside with the same carelessness as she had exhibited.
I understood why, now – it had been less than a year since the last time I had been with a girl, but Ariadne had literally been waiting for decades to experience a man again.
And I wasn’t about to shirk that duty. I would satisfy it gladly.
I brought myself between her legs, revelling in the sound of Ariadne’s pleasured shriek as the head of my cock touched the soaking sensitivity that awaited me. She was so wet that I couldn’t help but push into her immediately, watching her perfect body seize, her slender back arching with pleasure as I steadily filled her up, her huge breasts sticking into the air.
There was no time to do things sensuously; Ariadne wanted it hard and fast, and that was exactly what I did.
In the dim light of my new home I pushed into her over and over, filling her wetness up over and over again as she let out animalistic moans of pleasure, throwing her head back against the cushions beneath her and clenching her eyes shut. I hoped more than anything that there were no guards left in the corridor, because her ecstasy-ridden screams echoed far beyond the walls of the cell. They peaked with a high scream as her body seized again and she threw her head back, her own walls clamping down hard around my shaft as she came around me.
Seeing her submissive before me was too much, and I unleashed everything that had been building over the last few hours, the frustration, the confusion, the ferocity and the passion as I came into her, groaning out loudly as she took every drop that I gave her.
Afterwards we collapsed on the bed together, our arms brushing up against each other as we drank more and breathed deeply, both of us still completely, unashamedly naked.
‘I’d almost forgotten…’ Ariadne panted, ‘how good it was to feel a man inside of me… By the gods…’
My mind was a haze of pleasure and exhaustion, a mess of scattered thoughts that I couldn’t even begin to wrap my head around, and I wasn’t going to try. Our words eventually drifted off into the darkness, along with my mind as the night fell upon the archipelago and a much-needed sleep took hold of me.
Chapter Four
The Warrior’s Rage
Light gleamed through the window when I awoke. In the stupor of waking I only half-hoped that yesterday had been a dream; the rampant fucking with Ariadne had been beyond amazing, but the prospect of the upcoming battle that I was being thrown into came rushing back to me.
I might have been around death my entire life but judgement day had come, and there was no way that I was getting out of it.
I was still naked, sprawled across the cushions atop my concrete slab whe
n the door clunked open and Ariadne appeared. She was clad in her armour once again, straightened up with spear in hand when she laid eyes upon me.
‘Back for a second round?’ I asked, sitting up and briefly wondering where the hell this confidence had come from.
But the moment that Ariadne registered the sight of me, her eyes went wide with shock. I heard footsteps moving along incoming along the passage that led to my cell, and jumped to my feet.
Ariadne moved swiftly to the side, standing to attention, as Princess Evelina appeared. I barely had time to clasp my hands between my legs to cover myself, feeling the weirdest sensation the moment I did – this didn’t feel like me. I chanced a quick look down and saw…
Had I grown overnight or something?
‘My…’ Princess Evelina said, placing her hands behind her back. She was sporting a blue gown now, in a similar style to the one she had been wearing yesterday, ‘I see you’ve made yourself comfortable, stranger.’
‘Uhh, yeah…’ I said awkwardly. ‘Seeing as the battle’s today I thought I may as well spend the night relaxing, you know…’
‘Indeed. And I see that Guard Ariadne has kindly supplied you with some softer bedding. An excellent idea, Ariadne.’
‘Thank you, your highness,’ she said professionally.
‘You claim that you have no experience in battle,’ the princess said, returning to me, ‘but your body would suggest differently.’
‘Well, I don’t mean to brag, but I do the occasional push-up and jog a little.’
‘You can’t mean to tell me that push-ups and running have done this to you, can you?’
I looked at her in confusion as she nodded to my body, slowly looking me up and down. I took to examining myself, dragging my eyes from where my hands were cupped, and suddenly realised the more pressing change; that tightness that I had felt yesterday had exacerbated, but in a good way. I didn’t feel tired or stiff, but my muscles were larger and more defined beneath my skin, as if I had just achieved the greatest pump of my life after a brutal workout.
Pecs, abs, bulging biceps and triceps, and strong quads on my lower half that made my once tall, slim frame much wider and more dominant.