Legacy of Dreams: Freedom

by Thomas J. L. Green

  I can’t believe I fell for this.

  “How subtle,” Lucas smirked as he looked up to her. Merewen was peering down on him from between her breasts.

  “I know… subtlety is my greatest strength.”

  “Care to let me have a drink?”

  Merewen put the bottle to his mouth.

  “I can drink by myself.”

  “Nice try. The second I let go of this bottle, you will grab it, teleport to your clothes and run,” she countered.

  “Perhaps,” Lucas let her feed him the alcohol.

  “This will be really awkward tomorrow,” Lucas remarked and relaxed.

  “Waging war on the rest of the world gets lonely,” Merewen breathed as she stroked his hair with her hand.

  “I’m sorry I got you into this,” Lucas whispered sadly.

  “Don’t be… I would have gotten into it anyway. With you… we might actually win.”

  “It’s more of a team effort... nobody will blame you if you just walk away.”

  “Walk away and start a new life. I have thought of that a thousand times. There is no new life for me… no other path. I was born for this. My only ways out are to die or to win. I don’t want to die,” Merewen stated.

  “Win we shall. No matter what it takes.”

  “No matter what it takes,” Merewen nodded. “But it’s so easy to lose track of it. One bad move is enough to lose years of effort. That reminds me… what is it like to always be one bad move away from losing everything?” she asked while tracing a finger over his chest. It was covered by runes carven into the skin and flesh.

  “You get used to it… I don’t really realize it anymore.”

  Merewen traced a finger around the head of a large rusty nail stuck deep into his chest.

  “Does it ever tempt you? To just pull it out and let the darkness take you? To just give in and sink into the careless red haze?”

  “Of course, it does. To let go of all trouble and just give up… but I won’t. Not for as long as I have something to fight for,” Lucas motioned his head toward his wrist. Wrapped around it was the rosary with six colored beads.

  “That’s the one thing I actually envy you.”

  “Ever thought of making a life for yourself?”

  “What life? I don’t want to bring children into the world as it is right now,” Merewen refused.

  “That’s why we are changing it.”

  “Yeah.”

  “I hope you don’t plan to make the night something awkward we will never want to talk about…” Lucas whispered.

  “Always,” Meweren smiled warmly.

  Lucas flicked his wrist and large pouch appeared in it. He put the pouch down on the ground under the sofa. The heat soon made it catch on fire. Thick brown smoke started coming out of it.

  “What’s in that?”

  “Urushnii call it wyvern weed… I stocked up on it in Ghalkel.”

  “Sounds like fun,” Merewen took a long swig from the bottle and put herself to lie on the sofa on top of Lucas. Lucas tried to struggle, but Merewen overpowered him effortlessly. Their heads were above the burning pouch.

  “I’m usually on top,” Lucas evaluated.

  “The stronger one gets to decide,” Meweren chuckled as she entwined her limbs with his. She went to kiss Lucas softly. He didn’t avoid it. Her tongue was strong and burning. Heat was pouring into him from all sides. Merewen’s body, the kiss, the fire… Lucas felt like his blood was slowly starting to boil.

  Just like home… I guess I can stay for a while.

  “Tell me, does a door made of flame tell you anything? Like what the fireplace looks like now,” Merewen broke the silence after a while.

  “Where have you seen it?” Lucas acted being clueless.

  “I don’t know. When I sleep, I sometimes see things. They are like fragments, fragments of memories. Not my memories though, memories of others. Some are recent, some old, clearly not from this world,” she revealed.

  “What makes you think I might know it?” Lucas pried.

  “You are a dreamwalker. If I were to guess, I would say you have seen more of the Dream World than anyone else in the world. Plus, I felt like I saw recognition in your eyes when I filled the fireplace to look like doors,” she explained.

  “I do know them. They are in the void. Deep in the void.”

  “Who am I, Lucas? Whose memories do I see and why?” Merewen asked.

  “I don’t know. If you want to try something, then stop at Heaven’s Rest when on the way from Cinderwell to Xona. Down in the old armory is a bow. Fully metallic bow with the top half split into a two-pointed fork. Try to shoot from it. If you can, I will tell you more,” Lucas proposed.

  “That doesn’t make much sense. What’s so hard about shooting from an old bow?” Merewen raised her eyebrows.

  “It can’t be drawn with just strength. You first need to heat it up to soften the metal to make it bend. As far as I know, nobody has managed to do that for as long as the Order exists,” Lucas specified.

  “Interesting… I will give it a shot, literally. Now back to cuddling!”

  “I think… we are out of booze,” Merewen announced as she held the keg above them, trying to catch a few last drops of spirits.

  “Meeeh,” Lucas breathed.

  “Time to go to bed,” Merewen sat up on Lucas. Carefully, she put her leg on the ground and stood up. Her world spun and she fell back to the sofa.

  “OUCH!” Lucas shouted as Merewen landed on him.

  “You will need to carry me,” she announced.

  “It would be easier to carry the bed here,” Lucas murmured.

  “I might be drunk, but I can still crush your skull in my palm,” Merewen smiled sharply as she placed her large hand on his head.

  “You are such a romantic,” Lucas wheezed as he got himself up to sit next to her. Slowly and carefully, he raised up to stand.

  “How’d you get that scar on your arse?” Merewen breathed.

  “Why don’t I show you?” Lucas turned to her, put his arms under her hips and back and lift her up. Merewen caught him behind the neck to hold herself as he lifted her up.

  “How’s my damsel in distress pose?” she pried sweetly as Lucas carried her to the bed.

  “Distressing.”

  “You are such a bitch, Lucas.”

  “I know,” Lucas smiled and put her down in bed.

  “Where the hell do you think you are going?” Merewen caught him with her hand.

  “To the toilet?”

  “Nice try,” Merewen pulled him to the bed to the top of herself, “you had your erection poking my belly the whole time we were cuddling. You are not walking away from me just like that.”

  “That was you grinding your body on mine, not the other way around.”

  “Oh, shut the hell up,” Merewen cut him off, grabbed his head and pulled it in for a strong kiss. “That was more passionate than I expected,” she evaluated with a smug smile.

  “You are a nasty woman,” Lucas remarked and slid down her body. Merewen spread her legs wide, inviting him in.

  “Uuuhhh!” Meweren let out a sharp moan as his rough tongue connected with her bottom lips. I’ve barely started. He went on with his tongue, working on the outside. He held down her knees firmly with his hands. He felt every squirm, every twitch, every moan. I shouldn’t be enjoying this so much. Lucas ram his tongue inside her. “AAAAAHHHH!” she shouted a moan and sprung her legs together. Lucas caught them by the knees, clenched his back and pushed them back down. Lucas snarled and plunged the tongue back in. Meweren rewarded him with another powerful moan. This is a lot more fun than expected… a mixture of wrestling an angry lion and having sex with a succubus. Merewen’s body was heated to the point of hurting on touch. He felt his tongue burning. This will make some blisters… let’s make a patience test. Lucas pulled the tongue out, then inserted it only, so the tip of his tongue was just at the entrance of Merewen’s pleasure cave. He started making slow circle
s. Excruciatingly slow circles. He felt the tension build inside of her. The tension that soon turned into frustration. Merewen squirmed to get out of his grasp, but his hold was the strength of steel. “Slam it in already for fuck’s sake!” Merewen commanded him. Not yet… general. Lucas kept going. He loved the frustration bursting through Merewen’s body. He felt the whole bed shake how she trembled on it, holding herself by the sides. With a quick move, he slid up like a snake.

  “Open wide,” he whispered into her ear. Merewen pushed her knees down.

  “Wider.”

  She did. With an excruciatingly slow motion, he started sliding it in. Merewen caught him with her hands and pushed him up. That forced him in. She shouted out a loud moan. Impatient... aren’t you? Lucas smirked and caught her arms to hold them down. He descended for a kiss, stroking her tongue with his. He started making slow but strong circles inside of her. Merewen’s breathing got faster. She clenched her legs around him. Lucas kept going. Slow and steady. He leaned in and pinned her head down with his. Merewen wrestled her hands-free and clenched them around his back. His hips started moving up and down in short, strong moves. That made her grip even stronger. This is one hell of a workout. He went on for the short and passionate moves. He could feel her emotions overflowing. The lust and passion were stronger… stronger than any he could remember. Lucas sped up. It felt like a blazing inferno was trying to eat him. Her moans were getting stronger. Lucas grit his teeth and kept going strong and fast. An overwhelming roar deafened his ears as Merewen reached the climax. Lucas went slack on top of her. Merewen held him softly as they fell asleep.

  “URRRGGGH!” Lucas woke up wrapped in agony. He rolled down from Merewen to

  “Stop whining like a little bitch,” Merewen scolded him drowsily as she woke up.

  “FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!” Lucas wailed in pain as it shot through him.

  “Haaa?” Merewen raised up and looked at him. Half of his body was covered in blisters. His crotch and mouth were the worst. They were more blisters than anything else.

  “I guess you aren’t up for the morning round... meh,” she sighed playfully and lifted him by the shoulder to check his back. Lucas roared in pain. There was a clear shape of her arms and legs burned into his back. The muscles were painfully swollen, some clearly torn by excessive stress.

  “Not bad… you will make a decent boss with benefits,” Merewen smiled.

  “Rrrggggghhhh,” Lucas tried to speak, but the blistered tongue wasn’t very useful. Merewen went to take a bath. She enjoyed the hungry look of Lucas that followed her. Hungry or angry, she couldn’t tell.

  “Should I call a priest to have that looked at?”

  “No,” he refused in a hard and raspy voice that was coming out of a burned throat.

  “Hmm… still being tough as nails. I like that,” Merewen walked to him and kissed him on the forehead. Lucas enjoyed the view as Merewen went to don her full plate armor.

  “Boss with benefits… you don’t have to get that fired up, do you?” Lucas asked softly.

  “No. I can somewhat control it, but it’s way more enjoyable when I don’t and well, I don’t often meet a man who can actually hold me down even when I don’t hold back,” Merewen revealed, “I will go gather the men and head to Cinderwell. I suppose you will stay behind to recover and then catch up.”

  “Yeah.”

  “See you in Cinderwell,” Merewen gave him a provocative smile and headed toward the door. Lucas dug into the bedsheets to not be seen by the guards in the hallway. To their credit, they looked as impassive as usual from what he could see when Merewen opened the door.

  “I will gather my things later. Schedule the room cleaning for tomorrow… and send word to the kitchen that I want triple breakfast,” she told the men and gave Lucas a last sweet smile before she closed the door.

  Boss with benefits… I think I’ve fucked up.

  43

  Luna

  The Poisoned Weald was an absurdly wild jungle filled with a poisonous mist. But the trip to Cinderwell was so boring that Luna went to check it out just for the heck of it. She did buy the antidotes back in Grimdawn, so now she was on the hunt. She needed two things. Firstly, she needed to test her sword – Nightweaver – and secondly, she was hungry.

  It’s a legendary weapon that’s supposed to be able to do awesome stuff. It doesn’t… at least not yet. I guess it needs to be activated in some way and I need to find that way… I mean, it’s the sword of Strauss of the Forsaken Rose, the Immortal King who ruled this world for over four thousand years. He wouldn’t use a mundane blade, would he?

  She caught a scent soon enough. It was faint and flowery but traced a trail through the forest. She followed it carefully, not making a sound. Three people were jumping between the branches of the large trees. Luna followed them and observed from a distance, curious. She had heard of the forest kin but never saw them up close.

  Their bodies had a human shape and were partly covered by clothes but had visible tracks of fur or scale covering it as well. They had animalistic features. One had a bit prolonged mouth and ears of a wolf; another had the back feet shaped like a rabbit and long ears. They looked splendid as they were gracefully passing through the forest. But Luna was hungry. Hunger didn’t ask. She outran them sideways to wait by a trunk of a large tree. When she heard them land on the branch, she leaped up from her hiding spot and ran Nightweaver’s blade through the chest of the first man. He stared at her in surprise. The others shouted something in a language she didn’t understand. They drew their weapons and lounged at her. The weapons were shaped like classical weapons but were clearly made of wood. Luna parried the first strike and slashed the gut of the second man. His innards spilled out. The third one shot from a short bow at Luna. The arrows hit her in the thighs. To her surprise, it penetrated her muscle like an iron arrow would. She welcomed the burst of pain as she leaped toward her. It was a woman. She drew a short blade and thrust it toward Luna. Luna ducked the blow and hit the woman’s knee with a wide swing. She wavered and Luna caught her face with her left hand and smashed it into the trunk of the tree. The woman stared at her, terrified. Luna leaned in to lick the mixed sweat and blood from the side of her neck.

  Delicious!

  Luna enjoyed the horrified scream of the woman when she saw Luna’s mouth turn into the nightmare of teeth.

  Luna rejoined the convoy later that day. She felt slightly sick from the poisoned air, but the forest kin was delicious and she knew she would be fine for the next couple of weeks as three adults were quite a feast for her. She left nothing behind and washed herself carefully in a stream she ran across on the way back. That should be just about enough till her next match. Not a bad trip, but not that helpful in terms of the sword. It worked like a normal weapon, was extremely hard, sharp and light. That made it great at killing unarmored targets but borderline useless against armored ones. There had to be more to it, but she couldn’t figure out how to use the more part. In the book, the Immortal King was pictured cutting armored men into half with a glowing red sword. Nightweaver was that sword, but it neither glowed nor it could cut anyone into half. Not without the shard being activated, apparently.

  The convoy was quite a bit larger than when she left it. Another team apparently caught up with them and decided to share the journey. She saw urushnii riding massive wolves and smiled. Soon enough, she found Iowen riding among them. Luna spent the rest of her journey to Cinderwell chatting with Iowen. This part of the journey was one of the best trips she ever had.

  “What the hell is this about?” Luna breathed in surprise when she saw the guarded outpost set up at the outskirts of Cinderwell. The men were checking everyone entering.

  “I don’t know, but it doesn’t look good,” Iowen evaluated.

  “Just a precaution. We have had a slave uprising in the city and are checking for anything potentially dangerous” a soldier explained as he was checking through their convoy.

  “Uprising?” Iowen brea
thed surprised.

  “Yes, the slaves managed to escape the slave camp and arm themselves. Now they are barricading themselves around the city, which is basically in a state of civil war as of now as the army of the Slaver Union is attempting to rein the slaves back in.”

  “What are you checking for then?” Iowen challenged.

  “That you are armed enough to make it through the city,” the guard revealed, “we need to decide if you need a military escort or can handle it with just a guide.”

  “Thank you,” Iowen smiled poisonously as the guard passed to examine the people behind them. “This stinks,” she announced as soon as the guard left.

  “What do you mean?” Luna asked. The Urushnii and Albertti brothers came closer to listen as well.

  “Cinderwell slave camp is impossible to get out of without a large help from the outside,” Iowen explained.

  “You sound awfully sure of that,” Luna remarked.

  “I was kept there for four years,” Iowen cut back.

  “I am so sorry, I had no idea,” Luna apologized quickly. Iowen didn’t speak much of her past; Luna was slowly starting to understand why. There was nothing good in it to talk about.

  Iowen dismissed the apology with a wave of her hand.

  “So, you say this is a setup,” Tal’Sec evaluated.

  “Yes and I don’t like it one bit,” Iowen revealed.

  “Why?” Eric Albertti asked cluelessly.

  “Do you see any Palai soldiers around?” Iowen asked back.

  Everyone looked around and nobody saw any.

  “If this were set up by Palai, they would have their men all over the place. They are not and by what the soldier said, it is the Slaver Union army that is catching the slaves, not the Order of Palai. Also, I don’t think they are checking if we can handle the trip.”