A doorway was just ahead and he stopped to listen, but Willow shook her head, indicating she hadn’t heard anything yet. If you were going to be trapped in an underground cave, an elf or dwarf were the best races to have with you. Though, a dwarf might not be able to squeeze down this tunnel, he’d probably get stuck crawling with his butt and stomach pinched together.
The image in his mind almost made him laugh. Then he got a gulp of the nasty air surrounding them and he instantly clamped his mouth shut.
Cautiously, they walked through the doorway and found themselves on a ledge that ringed a giant pit. Another doorway was positioned on the opposite side, but seemed to be only accessible by inching their way around the precipice without falling to the cavern below. Not that they’d have far to drop. The floor of the pit was about twelve feet down and it looked to be a dining area and kitchen. One side had a butcher’s block and lots of cutting knives, while the other was open with rectangular dirt tables and mounds for chairs. The size of whatever sat there had to be small, the tables would only reach to Tristan’s knees. His eyes traced the wall to his right and he found the source of the horrible smell that had been choking them to death.
There were skinned body parts lying around a butcher’s table, flies buzzing over the exposed muscles. Some of them looked humanoid, but he recognized the sight of a horse carcass near the rear. A large pot was beginning to boil under a fire and he knew what the ingredients for the horrid stew was going to be. He gagged, and motioned for Willow to start moving along the ledge. He wanted to be out of here before whoever set this meal to boil returned to add them to the rancid stew.
She was stuck in place, her eyes fixed on something he had yet to see. He followed them and noticed that a brown leather hat was lying discarded in the corner. He had seen a hat like that before.
“Hey didn’t Token—?” he began and she nodded quickly in horror, her eyes fixing on the dismembered body beneath them.
“I need to get out of here,” her voice trembled as she took a quick step away from him and along the ledge.
He struggled to keep up with her, but she wore lighter armor and had elven agility, while he was a clumsy human in bulky armor. He felt his foot almost give and both hands gripped the sides of the wall to keep himself from plunging forward. He was hovering just over the boiling pot, and would have gone right into it headfirst if he’d kept sliding off.
Willow was standing in the doorway, looking at him with fearful eyes, and he cursed his sluggish movements. He just couldn’t move any faster.
When he finally reached her, he saw her eyes fix on something behind him and the look upon her face made him turn as well. Sliding through the wall below were twenty or thirty brown short creatures. Their entire bodies looked to be made of dirt and you had to really squint in order to make them out against the walls surrounding them. The only thing not brown on their entire bodies were their light-yellow eyes and white glistening canines. It was eerie. If they stood still they would be nothing but floating eyes and teeth.
She began to pull him away and the sound of his armor twisting echoed across the pit, making his stomach turn over in despair. Over sixty yellow eyes suddenly flashed their way and he thrust Willow down the tunnel; away from the screams of fury.
The tunnel was angled upward and he could just make out a hint of wet ferns starting to fill the air. They might be close to the surface. There was enough room to run standing up and his fiancé was soon sprinting ahead of him. He felt a tug on his leg and without thinking he pounced. He whipped his sword around and caught one of the monsters across its head with his flashing blade. The teeth were all points and had been inches from impacting the back of his helm; not that graphene would taste very good. Yet it was frightening how swift and silent these creatures were.
More hands were reaching from below and he ran harder, letting his footfalls snap against any hand stupid enough to try and touch him. There were impacts on his back and he inhaled grains of fine sand as it buffered around him. Turning once more, he swept his sword in the faint light, kicking at any sign of yellow, bellowing with rage in an attempt to scare whatever they were off.
“Tristan get up here!” Willow called to him and he saw that she had made it to the end of the tunnel and appeared to be in the forest once more. Well, what good would that do? They weren’t limited to tunnels; they’d learned that firsthand.
Still, he couldn’t argue with her. This felt like a losing battle as he struck creature after creature, each bursting into gushes of dirt only to be replaced by another nasty vermin trying to bite through his metal skin.
He burst from the tunnel exit after kicking another creature in the head and sending its soiled ashes back at its roaring kin. Hundreds of eyes now stared at them from the darkness and he felt terror at what might lay in store for them should they get caught again.
Willow had a very large claymore in her hand and as he cleared the tunnel, she brought it crashing down to the earth, plunging the blade deep.
The world shook violently around him and he felt his teeth chattering as his body was thrown in multiple directions at once. Trees cracked and pine needles began showering like a torrent of rain. He could hear broken trees crashing in the distance and hundreds of screams echoing out of the tunnel they had just escaped from.
Richter’s blade vibrated and the earth moved with every wiggle of the impaled sword. He tried to say something to Willow and only ended up biting his tongue; blood flooding his mouth.
Damn that hurt.
He was unable to regain his feet and he saw giant tree above him begin to split and lean their way. “Willow!” he managed, blood spraying from his outburst.
She twisted the blade as if tearing into a heart and every creature that had been screaming and clawing their way, exploded into clouds of dirt and rotten teeth. Then the tunnel collapsed. As he got to his feet and stumbled her way, he watched trees suddenly drop out of sight in the distance and knew that pit had just been buried for good.
He felt the crack above their heads and grabbing Willow, yanked Richter free of the ground and flung her out of the path of the falling tree. Lunging after her, he felt the rush of wind and the loud thump mere inches from where his body landed.
Breathing heavy, his lungs overjoyed with the fresh air flooding his body, he looked over at his fiancé and smiled. They had made it. Looking around the decimated forest, he saw that the moon had risen. They’d lost the entire day and the moon was halfway across the sky, so who knew how long they were truly lost beneath that horrific spectacle?
He noticed that Richter was lying against his inner thigh and he hurriedly lifted the blade and handed it hilt first to his fiancé. “Please put that away, I almost lost my manhood.”
“We wouldn’t want that, would we?” she purred and he noticed that she was slowly moving his direction.
He was lying there in his armor, barely catching his breath, trying to hand a magical sword to his fiancé, and she was crawling to him like that shapeshifter cat? She had stripped off her gloves and he watched as she began undoing her pauldrons as well.
“What are you doing?” he managed, voice quivering, laced with surprise, as she worked her way forward and began yanking off her armor.
“I’m horny,” she answered simply with a mischievous smile.
He felt stunned. “Right now? With those things right there?”
She chuckled. “Don’t think they’ll be coming back for more, if there are any of them left alive that is. We almost died, do you realize that? If we had gone out that way—look, if you don’t start taking that armor off, I’m going to do it, and I won’t be gentle.”
Wide eyed he couldn’t believe what he was hearing, but his hands were already stripping his armor free. He felt a sudden panic begin and he forced it down, her eyes were drawing him in, and the helplessness he’d felt at that witch’s touch was quickly forgotten; replaced by the lust and love he felt for the naked elven girl pawing at his quickly exposed skin.<
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As her mouth found his, his hands shoved the rest of his armor aside and pulled her close. Her leg lifted over his waist and he felt himself slide quickly into her. The violence of the rape he’d been put through slid free of his joints as the warmth of her waist pulled him deeper. He moaned into her mouth, the only feeling ravaging his mind was ecstasy. How could he have waited so long for this to happen once more?
Gripping her breasts with one hand, he used the other to hold her waist down upon him while he moved up to meet her. Her tongue dove in his mouth and he felt the fierce passion behind every movement of her lips, and the frantic pull of his hair as her hands clinched in orgasm. She moaned loudly, riding him harder and he felt his own climax beginning to build with her. It had been so long that before he couldn’t help himself, his head was exploding and the rapid movements of their hips intensified. They were one. Their bodies were joined, working together, a burst of energy made up of love and passion exploding all at once; their voices crying to the heavens.
Then it slowly died off.
Sweating in the humid air, he looked into her eyes, and kissed her fiercely once more. Her hair hung in his face and her thin naked form rested upon his now exhausted body. Her hips didn’t move, leaving him softening within, as she snuggled against his neck, kissing him softly.
“I love you,” he whispered, his head fuzzy and unable to focus.
She nipped him in the neck and he felt a tingle down his spine. “I love you too,” she cooed as she began kissing her way down his neck to his chest.
He tried to raise his head but didn’t have the strength. “What are you doing?”
“I’m not done yet,” she whispered back, making her way to his waist.
He leaned his head back and his eyes rolled upwards towards the sky as her mouth found him. With her persistence and his lack of will to do anything but enjoy her, he was soon ready again and she pulled him on top of her, pulling his waist into her with her feet.
This time it was slower, more powerful, and when they lay there out of breath, not able to move from each other’s arms, he became aware of just how much she really meant to him. Nothing in the world would ever make him stop loving her; wanting her. She was truly everything he’d ever want and need, that would never change.
As he lay on top of her with their stomachs pushing one another with their shallow breaths, he felt something push against him and he rolled over with surprise. “What was that?” he whispered softly, eyes wide, hand reaching for her stomach.
Her hand found his and led it to where he’d felt the push. Something was shoving her skin out and moving along just below her belly button. She giggled and pressed his hand to her belly. “Your child just wanted to say hello.”
“My child—,” he broke off, stunned by the sudden press of flesh against his palm. Until that moment, it had only been a concept, now it was real, and his mind was racing. He was going to be a father. They were having a baby. And they had just escaped a group of carnivorous creatures hell bent on eating them. He had to get this over with and get her to safety; it was more than just her life now that he had to worry about.
Something moved in the ferns and he broke from his trance of feeling their baby move to glance in that direction. If more of those creatures found them, they were in trouble. Now they were completely exposed and his swords were—uh—buried under the armor somewhere.
A black nose poked through the underbrush and then he heard a familiar whine. A wolf’s head poked through and eyed them suspiciously. The nose lifted in a sniff and Tristan forced a smile. Then he glanced up and saw white hair flop into view and knew that Kylee had found them.
She stepped into the soft moonlight, her albino eyes following Tuskar’s eyesight, then a look of embarrassment filled her face and she looked away. “I found them!” she yelled over her shoulder, turning away and giving them her back.
What the hell?
He had been so wrapped up in the moment that he hadn’t thought of what they looked like to anyone that found them and he felt sudden embarrassment rush through him as well. “Sorry,” he apologized, knowing that Willow’s sister had just seen more than she had ever wanted too.
“Don’t be sorry, just get some clothes on before the others get here. Unless you want to try and explain why you two are having sex while the rest of us spend the entire day looking for your sorry—well, your ass isn’t that bad,” Kylee finished after a brief pause. The ranger had spared a glance at him while he was struggling to find his pants and his face reddened, his heart quickening in his chest.
“Kylee!” Willow whispered in mock surprise, quickly working her pants back on.
“Hey, it’s just an observation. You wouldn’t mind if I—,” the ranger continued, looking back his way just as he was sliding his underwear on.
“Eyes front!” Willow snapped and her sister broke into fresh giggles.
Kylee continued to stare a moment longer and the blood filling his cheeks felt like it was going to explode. “If I were you, I’d hurry, or else Reyna will cut that off for wasting her time looking for you.” Then the ranger whipped her head around and stared in the direction of answering hollers in the distance.
He quickly started trying to fasten his armor back on and saw that Willow had almost completed her own. “You know, your niece was just giving her daddy a little push.”
Kylee turned around once more. “The baby moved? And you’re putting your armor back on? I want to feel!” The seriousness of which the ranger usually composed herself was completely gone as she slid quickly to Willow’s side and pressed her hand to her sister’s stomach. It was a good thing that the chest piece hadn’t been fastened yet. “I feel her! Aww!”
It was amazing how quickly a woman could go from one extreme emotion to another, as he sat and marveled over the two sisters grinning widely and hugging each other.
Willow broke into laughter and Tristan couldn’t join in. The blood was still pounding against his cheeks as he began sliding his breastplate over his head. “I thought she had to hurry to get her armor on?” he ventured.
“Hush!” both women snapped at once and he turned his head away to hide a smile.
A cat jumped into the flattened area they had created and landed with a soft thud. Bleak was howling about slowing down, his eyes sweeping across them. “Uh, Trek, Oi tink dis isn’t a gran' moment for us ter be 'ere,” the brownie offered with widened eyes.
Trek’s green eyes found him, bore into him deeply, then twitched towards the cooing sisters. With a slight shake of his head, he turned and sauntered a short distance away. Even though Bleak urged him to go further out, the cat plopped down and refused to listen to the howling brownie on his back.
He was just sliding his last gauntlet on and getting to his feet when Merlin stepped into view, Melissa, Kore, and Reyna following close behind. The mage’s eyes fell on Kylee and Willow, then flickered up to him and Tristan forced a smile and shrugged.
Reyna sneered and turned away. Melissa gave him a knowing smile and he flushed in embarrassment once more. He could tell by the look in her eye what was crossing her mind and he turned to look at Merlin, who only stared at him impassively, waiting for an explanation of what had happened to them since they’d been snatched from the forest.
“Kore think elf need clothes,” the tall warrior announced, then turned and stalked away.
Well, for better or worse, they were all back together again.
Chapter 16
Temple
I
“Earth gnomes, huh?” Willow asked, as she and Kylee finally joined them. “There has to be something more vicious to call those creepy little cannibals.”
A shiver of disgust snaked up his back at the memory of what he had seen and Tristan worked on focusing on what came after rather than before. It was a sweet memory—until they had been caught butt naked by his new sister-in-law.
“Are you sure it was Token’s hat?” Merlin asked, as they began making their way forward
through the devastated earth. The mage seemed heart-broken at the news, even more so than when Jared had died.
He felt it himself now that he allowed himself to think on it. Sadly, he shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. “I wasn’t going to try and get it to make sure. It could have been. What would he be doing this far south?”
Merlin was quiet for a moment but Melissa stepped forward to answer him. “If he was heading to Grendweir, he’d be passing this way, skirting the forest to the north on his way home.”
The mage shook his head and pursed his lips. “Damn fool never should have gone off by himself.”
“And another one of us bites the dust for this insane quest of yours, that right?” Reyna added in, her anger getting the best of her. She was a kettle pot, steaming, ready to let loose it’s wrath with only one degree of control holding her back.
Merlin rounded on her. “He was a friend of mine long before you were ever born. He was a kind soul that never did anything to hurt anyone and to think of what might have happened to him—no one deserves that. Show some respect.”
“Oh, now you want respect?” Reyna asked, pushing her way past the silent orc standing near their rear. “Why not start by keeping us alive for one. These two were kidnapped right under our noses and only dumb luck saved their sorry asses. And they had all four of these swords you need for your crusade. Tell me magician, what would have happened had they died down there? Where would your quest be then? For what purpose did my brother and that drunken dwarf have to die to achieve then?”
“You seem to think that I have the power to stop all of these terrible things from happening, but I don’t. I have my limitations, just as you do. I can’t save everyone all the time, no matter how hard I try. So please, back the fuck off,” Merlin sneered, losing his cool and clenching his fist.
Reyna stepped closer, throwing her chest out. “You want to make me?”
Fire begin flickering around Merlin’s fingers, his brow drawing together, lips ready to begin muttering his words of magic.
Pure of Heart (the New Age Saga Book 2) Page 24