by Albion, Rex
“Don’t misunderstand me. Sylvia will be made an example of, whether or not she passes the next test with flying colours. I must have discipline among the apprentices, journeymen and even the guilds women, even if no power in this world can control Capsaicin,” Marjoram said. “When she qualifies and is sent out into the world as a journeyman, she'll be representing this guild and be expected to make us look professional. She can’t be running little tricks like that in other towns when she’s supposed to be learning from their guild masters.”
“I expect she’ll make a good impression on the right guild mistress,” said, Roxy, giggling.
“Yes, that’s a good point. I must be careful to choose the right place to send her. She’s a good herbalist with every chance of leading a guild house herself one day, so she needs to learn to behave properly. But she’s a lusty young woman, with needs that weren’t being met so she acted up. If I send her to the right place, we can turn that into an advantage for her. I shall certainly think about it.”
“While also determining how to discipline her in the meantime, I assume?” said, Roxy.
“Of course. It’s important and I won’t deny that I will enjoy turning her cute cheeks rosy red. If she’s a good girl, I’ll let her make it up to me. But if she steps out of line again, I’ll bring her to the edge with every trick I know. Then leave her panting with need, unsatisfied.” Marjoram had a slightly faraway look in her eyes as she plotted Sylvia’s punishment, and her green tongue flicked out to moisten her lips.
“That sounds exquisite,” Roxy sighed. Vandal wondered if she was picturing herself punishing Sylvia or being in her place. Neither image helped him maintain any semblance of decorum he might have opted for.
“I’ll have to find her a girlfriend though, I simply don't have the time for every student who wants to play with the Mistress of the Guild to get their way,” Marjoram said. Then she looked up, from Sylvia’s notes which she’d just written a large red response to, “F - See me!” if Vandal was reading it upside down correctly, a frown marred her beautiful face.
“I’m so terribly sorry. Where are my manners?” Marjoram sighed and came out from behind her desk.
Slowly, and with great poise, she dropped to her knees before them, and put her hands behind her back, crossed at the wrists. Marjoram pushed her chest up, and Vandal could once again see the outline of her stiff nipples through the taught silk.
“High Priestess Lickspring, High Priest Lionheart. It is an honour for a humble follower of the goddess Amoria to receive a visit from her exalted servants. I apologise for my own behaviour, and I hope that Sylvia’s assessment met with your approval and that of the goddess,” she said. “May I be of service to you, during your visit to Tinshire?” It seemed to Vandal that it must be a formal way to treat priests of Amora, or perhaps make amends to them. It was certainly satisfying to watch.
Roxy stood up and stepped forward, slowly, until her thighs brushed against Marjoram’s chest, and then she reached out with her left hand, taking a firm grip of Marjoram's tightly wound hair, and tilting her head to the woman's left shoulder, toward Vandal.
“What do you think, High Priest Lionheart? Can Mistress Marjoram of The Herbalist’s Guild be of service to Amoria’s clerics?”
“I have no doubt that she could be of very great service, but surely, our duty is to Amoria, is it not?” Vandal pointed out. “Any needs we have must not interfere with our responsibilities to the goddess.”
“True, true,” Roxy mused, her fingers shifting in Marjoram’s hair and drawing a lusty moan from the woman. She loved having hair pulled as much as Roxy. “I can see why Flora wanted us to meet Marjoram here, Vandal. She must know her well as a follower of Amoria in a small town.”
“Of course, she does,” Marjoram supplied, as if that were a foregone conclusion. It didn’t sound like it was simply that they were both Amorian followers.
“I sense a missing element to the story,” Vandal said, curious to discover what wasn’t quite fitting together.
“Flora is my wife,” Marjoram said. “She would know I would be excited to meet Clerics of Amoria for the first time, as I assume she was also thrilled.”
“She was thrilled,” Roxy agreed. “But I thought she was married to Ricky?”
“She is, we both are. She didn’t tell you?”
“No, we told her Fred and Bert were telling tall tales about you both being their wives, yet sweet on each other’s husbands,” Roxy said. “Flora told us how she met her husband Ricky and found her pendant of Amoria, and they went on to become worshippers. She certainly didn’t mention you were married to her as well as Ricky. How naughty of her.” Roxy chuckled.
“My apologies, High Priestess,” Marjoram said. “I fear she was having a little fun with you by letting our meeting play out, though she wouldn’t have known Sylvia was here.”
“No? Are you sure?” Roxy mused. “Where does Sylvia get her wormwood from? Guild supplies?”
“No, High Priestess,” Marjoram began.
“You may call me Roxy, I don’t need you to be so formal, especially when you are on your knees like this, do I?”
“No. Roxy,” Marjoram licked her lips. “Sylvia would get wormwood from the Gardeners, so it was fresh.” Her brain caught up with her explanation and she frowned, then her eyes went wide.
“Yes? Did something fall into place?”
“You think my wife gave her the wormwood, knowing what she was using it for? No, not just that. You think she asked what would happen if more was used, and tempted Sylvia to torment me with it. It’s one of her bloody pranks!” Marjoram was sort of furious, Vandal could tell, but also seemed impressed that she’d been tricked.
“I did wonder, but if she plays pranks on you, I think this was a big one,” Roxy agreed.
“That minx!”
“Flora mentioned canes to us. Will you be pranking her back?”
“Oh yes, it’s a constant back and forth. Ricky and Bert have their tall tales, and us wives play pranks on each other. One has to find ways to keep a marriage lively, especially with four spouses. But I’ll certainly enjoy striping her bottom too,” Marjoram chuckled. She leaned her head a little into Roxy’s grip and looked up at her licking her lips. “We like to keep things spicy, Roxy.”
Vandal had to ask, “Bert really is your husband?”
Marjoram nodded, “Yes, Bert and Ricky, Flora and I, we married a long time ago, after Ricky became a miner and we all got introduced. Ricky and Flora introduced us to worshipping Amoria and we soon found ourselves spending so much time worshipping together, that it was only natural for us to share our whole lives. Of course, we have never had a priest of Amoria, but we found a Cleric who could marry us.”
“Is Ricky also known as Fred?”
“Yes, but only Bert and the others call him that. His name is Frederick you see, and Flora and I call him Ricky.”
“It seems the whole family likes to play jokes and tease, doesn’t it, Roxy?” Vandal laughed.
“It’s important to have a good sense of humour,” Roxy said. “Now, Marjoram, as fun as all this has been, I do need to learn about herbalism as well. I’m planning for it to be a good accompaniment to my gardening as we build up the Temple so we can open it to the congregation. Do you think you can help with that?”
“Of course! I would love to teach you everything I know,” Marjoram said.
“I bet you would,” Vandal smirked.
Marjoram giggled. “You may be Clerics of Amoria, but Flora, Bert, Ricky and I have done our best to devote ourselves to her worship for a long time. I’m sure we could all teach you both many interesting things. But I can see you are starting a harem together, so although I would be honoured to provide any instruction I can, I presume for now my skills in herbalism are what you require?”
“For now, yes please,” Roxy said, letting go of her hair. “You may rise.”
Marjoram looked vaguely disappointed when her hair was free but smiled anyway and s
tood up. “Please, would you tell me about the Temple though? Do you come far away? I’ve often wondered if we should move and find a proper Temple, instead of struggling as we do, but we’re always so busy, and now we run our Guilds, and Ricky and Bert are retired so it just never happened.”
“We’ll tell you what we told Flora,” Vandal said. “We only received Amoria’s blessing and answered her call to service a few short days ago. We came to her attention, and she spoke to us and we felt compelled to become Clerics. But we’re not ready to open the Temple for her yet, and we want to keep it quiet until we have had time to make it safe from any dangers.”
“Dangers?”
Vandal could have kicked himself; Roxy had done a better job hedging around the issues with Flora. “Bandits, wild animals, that sort of thing. We need to gather resources and make the Temple worthy of a congregation. We don’t know exactly how long it will take but we hope days or weeks at the most. It’s within walking distance as well.”
“You’re building it near Tinshire?” Marjoram said, and her eyes filled with tears. She dabbed them away with a handkerchief. “I can’t tell you how happy that makes me. To finally have somewhere to gather our small flock and Clerics to lead our worship. Even a simple shrine would be wonderful. We’ll do everything we can to help you. Just, one small worry, you didn’t tell Ricky and Bert, did you? Those two are incorrigible gossips and everyone in Tinshire knows they can’t be trusted to tell a story straight, but if they started telling people about a Temple to Amoria your secret would be out, I’m afraid.”
Roxy laughed. “Flora had the same concern.”
“Good girl. I mean, obviously she’s not, she’s a wicked baggage who is going to get such a punishment for her naughtiness, not that it ever does any good. Once she’s been caned, she’ll just end up the filling between Bert and Ricky,” Marjoram sighed. “She’ll enjoy every minute of it and be just as wicked as soon as she hatches a new plan.” Marjoram through her hands up in the air, as if to ask what she could do.
Roxy grinned and Vandal could see she had an idea to cause some more trouble herself. The goblin shaman went to Marjoram’s desk, reached across it and picked up Sylvia's pot of ointment. “Perhaps this might be of some use in Flora’s discipline.”
Marjoram’s eyes lit up. “Wouldn’t that be terribly cruel though? Flora would be hard pressed to have her little deaths, if she was numb while Ricky and Bert take turns roasting her on the spit,” the herbalist said.
“It would be just punishment, would it not?”
“Does Amoria permit such methods among her flock, Priestess?” Marjoram asked. “We strive but don’t have the benefit of the full scriptures. I wouldn’t want to continue with my little games if the Goddess would be wrathful.”
Roxy stepped up to her and whispered in her ear, and Vandal was disappointed that he couldn’t hear her side of the conversation, just that Marjoram nodded, gasped, and said, things like, “Oh, my!” When they were done, Roxy looked very pleased with herself.
“I wish I’d known about that service before,” Marjoram said, wistfully. “With your blessing, I shall try your suggestion, Roxy.”
“I’m still reading all the services myself, the full scripture book Amoria gave us is quite enormous and contains many mysteries but when you visit the Temple, I’ll make sure you and Flora see it before anyone else, and Ricky and Bert of course,” Roxy said.
Marjoram giggled. “Oh, they’re not big readers really, Roxy. They’d much rather be read to in bed, if you know what I mean.”
“I do! Vandal is just like that. I swear, when we get back if I want him to study the book, I’m going to have to ride his cock while he holds it up for me, so I can read it to him, or he’ll never pay attention!”
Marjoram put the back of her hand to her forehead and mimed a swoon. “How simply awful, Priestess Lickspring. The worship of Amoria can require such difficult things from us.”
“I feel utterly left out of this conversation,” Vandal grumbled. “Not to mention that I’m pretty sure I’m being slandered.”
“Oh, are you going to study hard?” Roxy teased.
“I was planning to study, actually,” Vandal lied.
“What technique did you plan to employ, Vandal?” Marjoram asked.
“The Table Wench.”
“I’m not familiar with that method,” Marjoram chuckled. “Is it a deep learning technique I should try?”
“Yes, how does that work, Vandal,” Roxy asked, sticking her tongue out at him quite rudely. Marjoram giggled at that.
“You take one goblin, and paddle her bottom until she says she’s learned her lesson, then put her on all fours, like a Table, you see? Then you put the book on her back and tell her that she’s not allowed to come until you’re done with a chapter,” Vandal improvised. “Of course, you have to fuck goblins to make them concentrate properly, Marjoram, in case you were wondering.”
“Of course. It’s only natural,” Marjoram agreed solemnly, playing along.
“It’s best to read the text out to them because it helps you memorise it, and they get to learn it too,” Vandal claimed.
“Tell me, High Priest, does it work on human students too?”
“I have heard it might do, but they need to do more double-blind studies to prove it,” Vandal said, confidently.
Marjoram nodded. “I wonder if it would work on someone less mundane than a human?” she mused, then smiled apologetically. “No offence intended, of course.”
“None taken. But perhaps you have something specific in mind?” Vandal asked.
“Perhaps a dryad, or an elemental?” Marjoram suggested.
“I can’t say that I’ve tried either,” Vandal said.
“Well, if it’s effective for teaching goblins,” Roxy said, “perhaps we can arrange further tests for other students?” Vandal chuckled at her complicity.
“Does the holy seed of an Amorian priest help sway it?” Marjoram asked, apparently seriously.
“If taken orally after the lesson, it can improve retention of the knowledge,” Vandal said. “With goblins, at least. Who knows?”
“My, my. That does sound like my type of education. I look forward to testing that then,” Marjoram said.
“Me too, it can’t hurt, can it?”
“Apart from the paddling?” Marjoram teased.
“That’s just harmless fun really, he’s not got the killer instinct to make it memorable, just the muscles,” Roxy said. Sticking her tongue out at Vandal again.
“Well, I’m sure I can give him some pointers, High Priestess,” Marjoram offered. “Outside herbalism that’s definitely one of the specialist subjects I’m qualified to provide education on.”
“Hey, whose side are you on anyway, Marjoram?” Roxy asked.
Marjoram grinned wickedly. “Why, The Goddess Amoria’s, obviously.”
“I shall remember this betrayal, Marjoram,” Roxy said, haughtily, “when I choose which congregants play which roles in the services.”
Marjoram curtseyed, “I look forward to serving as Amoria commands. I’m sure that will be educational too.”
Roxy grinned. “I have a funny feeling that I’ll never find anything I can teach you, Marjoram. Anyway, I think that’s enough fun for now, don’t you both agree? If we go on like this, we’ll never get anything done today. How about we talk about plants?”
“That’s fun too!” Marjoram said.
Vandal groaned and said, “In that case, I think I’m going to find a toilet and then wait in the sunshine in Flora’s garden.”
“Second door on the right,” Marjoram said, as she pulled books from a shelf and sat down with Roxy.
“We’ll start with the basics, shall we?”
“Yes, please.”
New Acquaintance: You have made a new friend, contact, or ally, Sylvia, Journeyman Herbalist, Tinshire Herbalists Guild. 50 XP
New Acquaintance: You have made a new friend, contact, or ally, Marjoram, Guild Leader, Tin
shire Herbalists Guild. 50 XP
New Worshipper: Marjoram has become a worshipper at your Temple of Amoria.
New Sex Act: Voyeurism. You watched and listened while others indulged their desires, you dirty thing you! 50 XP
New Skill: Herbalism. Roxy has been given a new skill because she joined a guild.
“I’ll just make myself scarce while you get some sage advice, Roxy.”
Marjoram coughed and pointed to a sign above her desk. It was about two feet across and done in needlepoint, surrounded by flowers and herbs. The legend made him smile and he bowed apologetically before leaving.
It read, “No herb puns.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Vandal had a hard time not letting on to Flora that Sylvia, the proxy for her prank, had been exposed by Roxy’s meddling at first, but as they chatted while she worked, he found himself thinking of other things.
Flora had changed outfits since they’d gone into the herbalist’s guild. Instead of the tough linen blouse, and hard-wearing leather kneed trousers she’d been wearing, she now wore a summery dress.
The black, hobnailed boots were still present, but the backless figure-hugging floral print was a complete departure. It wasn’t suited to gardening as the material was white and would easily get dirty. It also exposed her back and if anything, even more cleavage than the low-cut blouse had.
The skirt was only just long enough to drop below the curve of her broad bottom, when she stood bolt upright.
When Vandal greeted her, Flora was working at a table potting small seedlings, facing the Herbalists guild, like she was waiting for them to emerge. It wasn’t all that subtle. There were tempting looking cookies on a plate, and a different flavour of lemonade style drink, that was pink and sparkled as if gold flakes were diffused within it, which perhaps they were.
Once he had a drink and a seat, she excused herself saying she needed to plant the seedling in a flower bed while they talked. Of course, Vandal politely said, that was fine and that was when she turned her back on him and dropped to her hands and knees. He almost choked on his pink fruit drink.