The Far Realm Chronicles Anthology

by Annette Archer

  Damn it, this was fun.

  “Let me go, now!” Temani repeated.

  “I don’t think I will. Perhaps we could come to an agreement, you and I. I’ve heard that besides fighting, your order excels at, shall we say, releasing physical tension. Well, I’m not sure if you can feel this,” he said, pushing the bulge of his cock into the V of her spread legs. “But I have a lot of tension right now.”

  “I feel you,” she said, her eyes lidding over and a little smile curling the corner of her lip. “Now let me give you something to feel.”

  He was never sure how she accomplished it. One moment he was on top and in control of both their bodies and the next moment she had twisted his arms crossways and violently rocked him over onto his ass. She held him there, in a sitting position, her lap spread around his, his arms pinned between them. Her hood had fallen backward and he could see how the firelight played off her light hazel eyes.

  She was as into this as he was.

  “My, my,” he commented. “Let the games begin.”

  They took turns rolling each other, taking the dominant position, losing the advantage, taking it again. At one point her deft hands had his shirt up and wrapped around his head, effectively pinning his arms in place.

  When he felt her lips kissing the bare skin of his chest, he knew this was more pleasure than exercise for her. For him as well.

  He had to wrestle out of his shirt, leaving his upper torso naked, and her eyes raked him over before lunging at him again. This time he caught her legs and then the hem of her robe and had it up around her hips before she could do anything more than roll away. Her legs were bare. Her small clothes were, well, small. The sight of her round little ass made him growl deep in his throat.

  She spun her legs in the air, twisting herself up and around to flip over on her hands and land gracefully on her feet again.

  “Hmm. So you can do a cartwheel,” he teased.

  Her wicked grin promised many things. “Oh, you have no idea.”

  Bouncing on her heels she bent down with her arms extended and wheeled over onto her hands and then pushed herself up and at him, her legs wrapping around his neck, the impact stumbling him backward onto his ass, the jarring impact up his spine stunning him for a moment, giving her time to sink her hold in.

  Her robe settled around his head, her legs squeezed and he realized his face was being forced up into the crease of her crotch. Her pussy was warm against his lips, the tangy scent of her intoxicating. Liquid heat had seeped through the cotton of her small clothes and he tasted it like a spark against his tongue.

  He smiled. Had she meant for this to happen? Was she trying to force herself against him? Either way, he was no fool. He wasn’t about to let this opportunity pass.

  His tongue slipped out and pressed into the tip of her slit, right where he could feel her swollen clit. She made a sound that was part yelp, part moan, and he lapped at her like a dog after its water.

  Temani started to push back from him. That wouldn’t do.

  Balancing her on his shoulders, he grabbed her ass with both hands and roughly squeezed her, holding her against him, careful to leave enough space so he could breathe through his nose even as he buried himself into her. Her hands clutched at his neck and back and hair and he knew she wasn’t going anywhere.

  A flutter passed through her abdomen and her feminine slit. Not an orgasm. Not yet. But so close.

  Estogan rolled his hands, kneading her ass, roughly working her muscles there. She screamed now and resettled herself on him, spreading wider, giving him more access to her, but her small clothes were still in the way, still keeping him from fully tasting her…

  With his teeth he greedily caught the edge of her underwear and pulled hard, ripping the seam, tearing them across from one side to the other. She was exposed to him now, and he took only a brief moment to admire her sex—it had been so long—before his tongue plunged in deep.

  Her cry was almost pleading and she trembled again and held him tightly and then her body exploded against his mouth, ecstasy and fulfillment mixing into a taste of sex and domination.

  This was going to be fun.

  He almost reconsidered that thought when she levered him forward, throwing her own body backward, until she was lying under him and once again his face was buried in her crotch. With her on the ground this time, his angle was different, and when he licked her crease from bottom to top with his tongue rolling into her she screamed and screamed and came again. He held the little excited flap of her clit in his teeth as she did, tugging at her gently.

  When her spasms had passed she slid her legs up under him and pushed at him with her feet, sending him back to the ground again, looking up at the dark sky with its twinkling stars.

  Her face was the next thing he saw, and the knife in her hand. She’d pulled it from his own belt. Her eyes held his, and she eased the knife down, down…

  And then she was cutting off the ties that held his pants in place. He stifled a moan of his own, wanting his cock out, wanting to have her play with it. The knife was tossed away into the sparse grass, and then her hands were forcefully pushing down his pants. He made half-hearted attempts to stop her, not wanting to keep her out of his pants, but not wanting to make it easy for her, either. She blocked him at every turn and still managed to work his pants down low until his cock flipped out, stiff and tall and throbbing.

  She sucked in a breath when she saw it, and that gave him the opening he needed.

  Rolling into her he forced her off of him and over onto her back, laid out flat under him, ready to take him in—

  She used his own momentum against him and had him under her again, this time with a hand around his throat and her thumb in a spot that could crush his windpipe if he moved.

  “Stay. Still.” She enunciated each word, the implied threat obvious. She wanted to control him.

  Who was he to argue?

  Hiking her robe back up she settled her legs beside his, keeping her grip on his neck, laughter in her eyes. Then she lowered herself down on him, very slowly, until her soaking wet cleft eased over his tip. His eyes nearly rolled back in his head.

  Then she pulled off.

  He couldn’t help the cry of disappointment and she giggled at his discomfort. “Aw, poor man. Do you need something? Do you?”

  Estogan threw his hips up and shoved himself into her unexpectedly, making her gasp, her back arching, her eyes wide. He grabbed her by her hips and forced her down onto him, a sensation that stole every thought from his head. She was rocking on him before he realized, and then their rhythm was set, each trying to outdo the other, outpace the other, until it became obvious that she was not going to last and her speed increased into a forceful outpouring of herself. He could feel every inch of her trembling, and what he felt around his cock could only be described in the most raw of emotions.

  He had never been done this thoroughly. By any woman.

  He wasn’t finished yet, however, and he pushed up into her again even as she began to whimper and beg him to take her again. His fingers bit into the bare flesh of the backs of her legs. Ignoring the hand at his throat, he leaned up and caught the roundness of her right breast in his teeth, twisting, making her cry out and beg him not to stop.

  But this time it was he who had been brought to his edge and there was no stopping it, no matter how he tried to hold off. Every move, every twitch, every breath brought him closer to his orgasm and then he was thrusting up into her with a throaty roar as his body pulsed in time to his heartbeat and his cum filled her.

  She slid herself rapidly up and down him still, not finished herself, and it became almost painful just as she orgasmed one last time, smiling down at him like she’d won the contest, taken him and bested him and still managed to outlast him.

  Whatever, he thought to himself. If that was what she considered winning, then he prayed that they would have many more such contests in the future.

  She fell against him, her strengt
h spent, as the fire burned low.

  He found that he was tired out from what she had put him through. When he went to move her to collect his clothes he was surprised to find that she had actually fallen asleep already. She was gently snoring against his chest, her fiery hair spread over her face.

  Perhaps a short nap would do him good, too. Thronimere or Silin were bound to be back soon. He couldn’t wait to see the expressions on their faces.

  The Dragon Prince

  Chapter 3

  When he opened his eyes, he was alone.

  Looking around the campsite, he saw dawn brightening the far horizon. He’d slept a lot longer than he’d thought. Where was the girl?

  Where was the girl…

  More importantly, where was the map.

  Naked, his cut pants having fallen off during the night, he jumped up and started for his pack. Thronimere was sitting on the ground next to it, whittling at a stick. Silin stood behind him with a condescending sneer on his face.

  “Good morrow to you,” Thronimere said without looking up from his knife scraping at the piece of wood. “Sleep well?”

  “Where is she?” Estogan asked frantically. “She was right here, with me, and we…I mean, we…”

  “We could see what you did just fine,” Silin smirked. “You got screwed. In more ways than one.”

  “She’s over by the horses,” Thronimere told him, gesturing. “Tied up this time. Mayhaps, my Lord, if you wish to take your pleasures from our captive again, you could tie her in place first. It would save us having to track her down later.”

  Estogan ran his hands through his dark hair. The morning breeze was warm against his skin and reminded him of what he had done last night. Falling asleep had been stupid. But everything about it had felt so right.

  The cleric sat on her knees now, her robes in place, the hood lowered back, her hands bound with heavy ropes, her face proud as her eyes stared defiantly at him.

  “The reason we clerics are so good at sex,” she said in a voice that held no apology. “Is that we use it to get what we need.”

  He nodded. “The map.”

  “It belongs to us. I did ask for it back.”

  “Yes. You did. In several, very interesting ways.” He turned to Thronimere. “I take it we have the map back.”

  “That we do, my Lord.”

  “Good. Now then. What to do with you, my little cleric?”

  “Perhaps,” she said, her eyes lowering as her lips pulled into a leering grin. “You should put some clothes on first. We can see your shortcomings.”

  “You didn’t say that last night.”

  “You had something I wanted last night.”

  Her words stung a little. He’d just had the Princess of the Crystal Elves break off their wedding in a very public way. Now this cleric had used him to her own purposes. Would he ever find a woman that wouldn’t stab him in the back?

  Not that he wouldn’t have done the same thing. It just didn’t feel right when it was done to him.

  “Let’s just get going,” he said, turning away from the cold eyes of the cleric.

  His spare clothes in the saddlebags were wrinkled and still dirty from when he had packed them. But, clothed once again, he felt more in control. More the master of his own destiny that he had always thought himself to be.

  “Tell me something, little princeling,” Temani said to him as Silin forced her to stand up. “Exactly what do you need with the dragons anyway?”

  Estogan smiled. Dragons. His father’s plans were nothing if not ambitious.

  “I don’t want the dragons.” He swung himself up onto his horse as he answered her. “I want the eggs.”

  “Full grown dragon too much for you to handle?” she said, almost like she were teasing him.

  “Cleric Temani, you and I both know there is no one alive who can handle a live dragon.”

  She smiled at him, a prisoner who still managed to look like she was the one in charge. “You’re wrong. My sisters and I know exactly how to handle the dragons.”

  All three of the men stopped and stared at her. Thronimere looked on her with something akin to respect, but Silin smirked and shook his head.

  “Ain’t possible,” Silin challenged.

  “Guard your tongue, simpleton,” she said to him sweetly. “I may have to remove it for you otherwise.”

  Estogan couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Careful, Silin, I think she just might do it.”

  “Bah, woman can’t even keep herself from getting captured twice. I ain’t worried about what she thinks she can do to me nor a dragon, either.”

  The speed with which Temani had her arms around Silin’s neck, her own bonds cutting into the man’s throat as she levered her knee into his back, surprised Estogan. Before either he or Thronimere could act to save him, Silin was dead.

  She let the body fall out of her arms and to the ground, breathing heavily. When she looked up at Estogan, again he saw the same heat in her eyes that had been there last night as they had played with each other. Her chest heaved with each breath and her face was simply beautiful.

  He wanted her all over again.

  “Well,” he said. “It appears we now have a horse free. We could invite you to ride with us.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “In exchange for?”

  “Well, not killing us, for a start.”

  “And after that?”

  “For getting us three viable dragon eggs.”

  “You don’t ask for much.”

  “Not when I know I can get it.”

  She considered him for a few moments, finally nodding. “I don’t appear to have much choice, do I?”

  “I could have Thronimere run a sword through your belly, if you’d prefer.”

  “No, thank you.” She held her hands out to Thronimere. “Untie me, then, and I’ll get you what you need.”

  Thronimere waited for Estogan’s nod of approval before pulling his dagger and cutting loose the ropes he had tied her with. Then he wisely took a step back from the cleric.

  Temani rubbed at her wrists and then reached back to raise her hood. “Fine,” she said. “Let’s begin. The caves we want are a day’s ride from here.”

  “Your map shows two days to the east.”

  “I know what it says. There’s a series of caves there, and you might have found what you wanted, and you might not. You want dragons’ eggs. I want you off our sacred ground. It seems a fair compromise. So I’m going to show you where the closer, richer caves are so you can be…not here.”

  “Now there’s a woman after my own heart. Please, by all means, Cleric Temani. Lead on.”

  She nodded, satisfied, and Thronimere waved a hand to what had been Silin’s large brown gelding. Temani mounted it like someone born to it and turned the animal down the path. She led them at a fast trot that forced Estogan and Thronimere to keep up.

  Silin’s body was left where it was. No one had the time or inclination to give it a proper burial.

  For a while there wasn’t time to speak. They rode into the jagged pathways in the deep shadows of cliff faces that began to rise menacingly around them. The stone was a whitish brown color and in some places, stones as large around as he was tall jutted out from the ground, leaning at odd angles.

  This whole region of the continent had been abandoned by people years ago. Hard to believe this had, once upon a time, been a fertile land where crops grew and settlements thrived. Now it was all barren soil and impassive rock.

  The only creatures who made a home here were the dragons.

  Estogan followed the cleric in silence and hoped that he wouldn’t regret this decision. He could always just kill her now and leave her like they had Silin. They still had the map. Steal a few eggs, ride on, leave this whole mess behind.

  Temani turned to him with a hard stare like she knew what he was thinking.

  They continued on like that in silence until it was late afternoon and time to stop for a meal. They dismounted and share
d dried meat and hard cheeses without a word passing between them. But a question had been nagging at the back of Estogan’s mind. He figured now was as good a time as any to ask it.

  “What interest do you and your sisters have in the dragons?”

  He was sure there was more to this than an old map. Temani was keeping secrets.

  He wasn’t sure what he had expected for an answer. Her casual shrug and her wink were definitely less than satisfying, though.

  By nightfall, their trail had led them to a canyon where the rock walls rose far above them. The walls of the canyon were steep and layered with multiple-colored striations that almost gave the impression that the area had been painted by some giant hand. Estogan remembered the stories of the fabled River Giants and knew they could have accomplished such a feat, but they were long gone, extinct in the same way that dragons soon would be.

  He turned suddenly in his saddle to stare at Temani. Again, the woman turned to meet his gaze as though he had spoken her name out loud.

  “You,” he said, ordering his thoughts into words. “You protect the dragons.”

  She nodded slowly. “I wondered how long it would take you to figure it out. Our order was tasked generations ago with aiding these great creatures. Once, they were so numerous that they could blacken the sky with their herds. Now their numbers are so few that we’re actually able to keep a tally. The self-styled dragon slayers and the creature’s own selfish natures have set events in motion to a point where one day, I suppose, there won’t be any of them left at all.”

  Thronimere looked up and around him at the rock walls slowly being cast into the shadows of night as the sun set. His eyes were wary, as if he expected the last few hundred of the dragons to all pounce on them at once.

  Estogan was still working through his thoughts to their natural conclusion. “But if you are trying to save the dragons…why would you agree to give us three of their eggs? Unless…”

  She smiled that same emotionless smile at him. “Unless I never planned to give you anything at all.”