“Allow me outside and I’ll show you.”
“Do it.” The Bandit Lord ordered while standing and grabbing his great battleaxe. One of his men wrapped a black hood over the thug’s head and was led out through the labyrinth of tunnels, passing excited men readying for the last of the year’s mission. Men parted before the giant man of muscle, seeing his dark eyes full of life for promised treasure.
Outside the henchman was unbound and led to his horse while the three bandits followed him to the secret location. Stashed in an old fox burrow was the loot and before the Bandit Lord went to rend the thug in half with his hungry blade, the thug was already riding hard for his life, knowing the kinds of men he dealt with. The bandit leader put his axe away while laughing. He knew that whoever sent the man would be worth meeting. He had met few who had the balls to hire him and still be able to remain elusive or had men smart enough to have some loyalty. “Come on boys, let’s go show the others what we got and get ready to sail.”
“Good thing the river’s moving fast to the west this time of year. In three days Kote isn’t going to know what will hit them.”
“Pillaging, murder, rape… I can hardly wait.” The Bandit Lord grinned with excitement and mounted, ready to have his fun. The two old comrades mirrored their leader’s sentiment and followed eagerly.
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on yet?” Cage asked Daku as the Familiar wrapped himself around his warlock’s neck.
Daku’s bald eagle-like head lifted and smiled, making his partner sigh and shake his head. “Just wait for him to come. All my explanations on a certain topic will be shown. You will finally understand soon enough.”
While waiting on a predetermined bench outside Cillian’s mayoral office for the past hour with his Familiar, Cage mentally went over the rest of his morning after giving Cillian his new bow.
The first stop by the local blacksmith of Kote was by far the most uncertain aspect of the morning. Hammering sounds of metal on metal came long before the house came into view. It was like other homes in the area, but with more smoke rising out of chimneys. Inside Cillian spoke with the physically large family of smiths. An older husband called Vok and his wife were hard at work either making or repairing tools for the townspeople. The couple had a heavily muscled son in his late twenties to early thirties and a spirited teenage daughter along with two younger twin boys. Cage couldn’t take his mind off how odd Daku acted towards the master blacksmith’s eldest son while he came to an agreement to buy nearly all the metal the family would part with or wasn’t theirs to sell. The end price was a pretty penny, but well worth it. About the time Cage finished the deal Daku returned from speaking with the younger man of the house. Cage didn’t say a word at the time, but he was busy gathering all the iron, bronze and mixed scrap into a large pile. Because most pieces were far too large to pocket, the only expedient alternative was to teleport all the acquisitions to Cillian’s barn. The magic truly dumbfounded the entire family.
Afterwards Cillian led Cage to different farms who were willing to sell some of their livestock. Over the course of a few hours, and ten farms later, Cage got all the livestock he estimated, without buying so many that the families wouldn’t be able to survive without their own animal resources.
Since noon passed and the festival started its second day, Cage was told by Daku to wait in this very spot, even after his people arrived. Brooke, Meeka and the kids stopped over and explained how Tiffa ranted for nearly an hour before finally cooling her temper. Meeka had never seen her mother so angry, but most of the tribe saw it as humorous. If in any other situation though, his actions would’ve been frowned upon by the tribe for the assault. Since Cillian had been wanting a little excitement, it was allowed. Before his family left to go enjoy another full day of the celebration Cage spotted Tiffa, but she made it clear through body language that his actions weren’t close to being forgiven. Also Brooke was proud so much metal was gathered and already the tribe was well pleased for so much.
“So you finally made it.” Daku said.
Cage looked up as a familiar face approached. “You’re the man I saw earlier helping your parents at the forge.”
“Name’s Eoin, son of Vok.” He said and stopped as Cage stood and looked over the man layered in large knotted muscles. He had recently bathed since the morning and shaved off the once thick beard. Eoin wore a shirt that emphasized his thick chest without sleeves that displayed massive arms only a man who’s worked all his life at a forge could earn. His hands were large, scarred and parts of his arm exhibited burn marks from the forging process. But a horrendous scar marred nearly half his face. It looked like some animal got in a good swipe.
“And I’m Cage.” They shook hands in polite greeting. “So are you the one Daku had me wait on?”
Eoin looked at the smaller figure wrapped around the mage’s neck. “Guess so… he asked me to meet you here today though he didn’t say why.”
“Zatal!” Daku’s voice carried to the nearby passing warrior with his five mates and nine children. The Utala man and his lovers came over. Before they could ask anything he asked “Please go find Lanna for me and have her come here. If she asks why just tell her I need to see her for a few moments.”
Zatal nodded and to his mates he asked “Where was she seen last?”
One said “By the horseshoe challenge. She has been trying to win against her sister-mates since last night.”
They and their children went through the crowd in search of her.
Something in Daku’s words clicked in Cages mind as he looked at Eoin. “So that’s what you’re up to, Daku.” Playing matchmaker. He thought while glancing at his Familiar. “Eoin, tell me about yourself.”
“Why?” The blacksmith asked suspiciously. “What is it you want of me?”
Cage sat back down. “Just wondering why Daku is so interested in you so suddenly. It has piqued my interest a bit. Besides, I doubt you’d be here if he didn’t ask. Why is that? Nearly every resident is here, but not you without being asked.”
Eoin deflated somewhat and sat down too. “You would be right. I’m not comfortable around groups of people to tell the truth. Besides, if Mother knew I was coming she and my sister would try and find some poor girl to marry me to. I’d rather be back home helping Father with the forge, but since you bought all our spare metal this morning there won’t be much to do till we can buy some ore from Zalt’s mines… but they won’t be this way for another two weeks to sell the ore they mine.”
“So you’re a smith? How long have you been doing that?” Cage wondered.
“Nearly all my life. Father said I came out of Mother swinging a hammer.” The muscled man admitted. “Even for the five years serving the Vlaran army as an armor maker.”
“Any children?”
“None. Can’t have children if a woman cannot see past my scars to share my bed.” Eoin touched his cheek and jaw.
“What caused the scars?” Daku asked directly.
Eoin looked at the calm and handsome man, showing enough emotion that he was envious of the cruel masculine beauty. Even the odd bird/lion animal was easy to look at. But Eoin saw the two not showing pity, just curiosity. “Shoeing a horse when it got spooked by a snake. The hot iron along with the hoof nearly ripped my face off when I was sixteen. Good thing the mayor’s wife was nearby checking on a newborn when it happened. Probably would have…” Suddenly Eoin’s whole demeanor changed in an instant.
Cage was momentarily unnerved, but he watched the smith’s body suddenly go rigid as if he was shocked by something. The man’s eyes widened as his lips parted slightly. Eoin’s pallor first went somewhat pale then flushed all in a second. At his shoulder, Daku chuckled mischievously and it allowed Cage to look away from the man’s completely rigid form.
Not thirty feet away stood Lanna, but she too seemed entirely frozen, mirroring Eoin’s expression. Beside her were her sister-mates and her man who became unnerved when she didn’t respond to their quest
ions.
Then Eoin began to move as if he were no longer in control of his body. Cage watched as the man turned his head and stood. And the moment Eoin’s eyes met Lanna’s they began to almost be drawn together like magnets, but neither could move. They stood, staring at each other in a way that went beyond the heated gaze of lust. It was a fated union destined for one another. Lanna mates were quiet and unsettled by how she and the large man by their chief were looking at each other.
After a long moment of silence that began to draw attention from those nearby Lanna was the first to ask “Wh…o… Who are you?”
If Cage didn’t know any better he would have thought Eoin had heard the voice of the most beautiful creature alive for the very first time. “I’m Eoin.”
Completely out of nowhere Lanna suddenly asked in the most sultry voice no one had ever heard. “Do… Do you want to… challenge me?”
“What?” Eoin asked, still spellbound before her.
“Lanna Love, what is wrong with you? Have you been possessed by bad spirits?” Her man asked and the moment he touched her there came an almost growl from Eoin at the same time Lanna slapped his hand away as if it burned.
Daku jumped down and grew to the size of a tiger. “For your own safety, back away for a moment. Lanna has just met her one true spirit mate.” Lanna’s sister-mates gasped as her man stared in unbridled shock. “They just met and are bound for this moment on, but until they return to themselves he will see you as a rival and won’t stop till you are dead for touching his mate. Lanna just saved your life by making you remove your hand.” Daku turned his head to them and her current mate realized she had never looked at him as she was looking at this scarred outsider. He could not understand what was happening, but it was not his place to interfere anymore. Lanna asked for a challenge.
Not registering anything around them, Lanna said “Fight me… you… must.”
“I…” Eoin cleared his throat, trying to understand these sudden powerful feelings he had for this ethereal woman before him. “I cannot fight you.”
“Best me… Shame me not.” Lanna struggled to keep hold of herself.
Cage stepped forward and between the two, but they looked around him so they could keep eye contact. “Eoin, she is Utala. I cannot let the two of you become lovers without a challenge. Otherwise I’ll have to exile Lanna. Do not disgrace her. If you beat her you will become a brother of the tribe. The two of you were meant for each other, but this is our way.”
“But I cannot bring myself to hurt her.” Eoin responded, unable to take his eyes off the beauty known as Lanna and she him. “I’ve never hurt a woman before, but to think of hurting her…” He shook like he was suddenly chilled.
“You don’t have to hurt her. Just take away her knife and pin her to the ground.” Cage explained the most harmless way to win a mating challenge.
The blacksmith controlled enough of himself to say “Fine.”
Cage jumped back, seeing Brooke and Meeka running over, hearing about what’s happening. He raised his hand saying “Then as chieftain I will allow this honorable mating challenge to commence.” Brooke and Meeka stopped, seeing the odd look of pure love and lust in the pair, understanding everything in an instant. The priestess gave the nod to her love. Cage then dropped his hand “Begin!”
It ended in seconds, but it was clear neither held back. Lanna drew her knife and lunged at her unarmed spirit mate. She didn’t aim for a vital spot, but she would have damaged his stomach with such a thrust. Eoin showed he was more than muscle as he powerfully griped her wrist with an unbreakable hold in a flash, spun around to take her off balance and used his hip to flip her body as if she weighed no more than ten pounds and sat on her stomach. Lanna’s blade dropped from the raw power of the smith and went still. “I lose.” She crooned happily.
“Eoin has won mating rights from this day forth unless Lanna is challenged or he loses her and any mates he claims from this day forth as a Utala brother…” Cage nearly choked as Lanna’s wrist was released and she grabbed Eoin’s face and gave him a deep kiss without any hesitation and he couldn’t hold back any longer.
“Cage, better move them to the forest. They will begin mating each other shortly.” Daku warned when Lanna began roughly trying to yank Eoin’s shirt off as he easily pulled her strap off without any hesitation. Bare-chested, he went for her lower garment, intending to rip it off too as she removed his shirt, dropping it.
Immediately Cage sent a spell beneath them which lifted them together and worked a spell to speed them through an alley and out to the forest before any more scandalous viewing could be seen.
Still, everyone nearby stood in shocked silence at what had transpired.
Then Daku rumbled a deep, resonating laugh. “Now both she and the rest of you can fully appreciate what it means to be unbreakable spirit mates.”
“I thought I understood, but I was clearly underestimating the power because of my personal experiences.” Cage admitted. “So that’s why…”
“Yes.” Daku nodded and fluffed his wings. “When I saw him this morning I knew he was meant for Lanna. It is why I spoke with him and asked he come today. I needed you to see what it was like from a different, unexpected perspective when unbreakables find each other.” Then his head turned to her former mates. “No, she was not possessed.” Her former man and sisters looked down at him and quit speaking. “The group of you might have loved her, but deep down none of you could get that kind of reaction out of her now could you?”
One of the former sister-mates shook her head. “She always seemed more aloof, wanting to rather spending more time with our son than being with us. Lanna has never done anything like that before. Who was that man?”
“A blacksmith here. Daku and I met him just this morning.” Cage said.
“A metalworker?” Lanna’s former man asked, suddenly less hurt. “Then I have no objection for the honorable challenge. I will not challenge either of them since he will make a good brother. Lanna will bring him to the tribe won’t she?”
Brooke stepped forth with Meeka to say “They will not likely separate for a long time. The man clearly has great strength to be able to toss someone of Lanna’s stature so easily. And I watched closely, she didn’t hold back at all, except maybe not going for the kill. She honored herself well except not waiting long enough to leave before having sex before everyone.” She got a group laugh.
“Not many unbreakables have the great will to resist the urge to mate like you and your mates do.” Daku stated. “In fact, those two surprised me by not immediately becoming one. Quite often, first time spirit mates lose all control of themselves in the moment. I’m quite impressed with them.”
“Yes, and it seems we have a metalworker in the tribe for the first time in our history.” Brooke said.
“Good. Now I don’t have to teach someone… if he chooses to come that is. We have quite a bit of metal that needs to be worked and I really don’t want to do it.” Cage then stretched.
“Ho, Cage the mage!” came a booming voice in the distance. Cage spun around to find Otis riding into town with a large woman and three teenage children. Two girls and a wiry boy. Cage grinned, ready to have another adequate challenge. Before they could meet up, he had to quickly speak with the approaching elders about what happened.
That evening word got to Eoin’s family and his parents and sister stopped by Cillian’s, wanting to meet the woman who took him, but the three were excited about the situation until Cage explained that the new pair were nowhere to be found. What he didn’t say was that he magically checked on them an hour earlier and Lanna was riding her lover like there wasn’t a tomorrow. He didn’t want to intrude on their privacy, but he had to make sure they were well, not knowing that they were in the process of making almost frantic love. But when Cage told Eoin’s family he was very busy at the moment the mother seemed to beam with pride that her son found someone.
When they left Cage had a few more hours to practice with Mee
ka and the singers since Cillian and Tiffa were still in town. Cage listened to the songs Meeka chose to teach her sisters and he had to work hard to get his ideas just right in timing for the music. Sean took out his smaller ocarina that his dad made and sat with others who had brought small drums and instruments to accompany and get the music to be harmonious to the singers.
Lanna’s ten year old son though stayed with his father and siblings while she was away, but the boy seemed happy that his mother was.
The next two days were much the same. Lanna and Eoin hadn’t shown up and stayed out alone in the woods together. But the rest of the tribe continued learning of their neighbors ways, but rarely spoke of their own. Tiffa finally forgave Cage for his actions, but warned both he and her husband it wouldn’t be tolerated.
New friends were made and all seemed to be going very well.
Chapter 11
A thrilling sensation woke Cage as he looked down to find himself all alone in the tent with two naked beauties who he loved. He saw both were flushed with making recent love without him and looked down to find Brooke teasing his foggy awareness by licking his firming lance while Meeka started sloppily kissing his chest. “Good morning to you two too.” He chuckled and the husky timbre in his voice made the women smile seductively.
“It’s about to be.” Brooke said a second before opening her mouth and consuming his lance as best she could. She got a deep, satisfying groan from him and began stroking what she could not engulf without choking.
Meeka grinned and forced him back down when he tried to sit up. Then she threw a leg over his rock hard abs and let her loose hair tickle his face as she held him down. “We wanted this day to be perfect.” She said in almost a whisper and leaned down to take control of his lips.
Laugh of Destruction (Book 3 of the Death Incarnate Saga) Page 38