The Blood Groove (Purgatory Wars Book 4)

by Dragon Cobolt

  “I don’t like any of these options,” he said. “Ares turning against Sysminor is good but an Ares with impossible powers?” He shook his head. “Trusting oracles? Fizit, tell me about this Oracle.”

  “The Oracle of Athens,” Fizit said. “It operated from the years five hundred AB to six hundred AB, but then ceased giving any answers. It was discovered in some mountains north of the city, and has never been easy to reach. However, unlike the Oracle of Delphi, it was said that it required neither medium nor interpreters. Rather, it stated its answers clearly to those who asked of it.” She sighed. “That’s the extent of what we know – most of the books from that time were destroyed in various wars and sacks.”

  Brax grunted.

  Liv shrugged. “So, what do we do?”

  Brax looked deeply thoughtful. “As much as I...” His voice became ragged. “As much as I want you here, I cannot have you stay. Sysminor is arriving in two days with the first supply convoy, now that we’ve secured the area. If he sees you...” He shook his head.

  Liv reached out. Her hand ruffled the frills along the tip of Brax’s head. He leaned into her palm and there was a moment where the mask fell away, and there was no General Brax - there was just a man who needed that touch. The memory of him, driving into her, filling her, kindled Liv faster than anything she had thought possible. She drew her hand back before she simply shoved Brax backwards and mounted him then and there.

  Fizit could watch for all she fucking cared.

  Brax shook his head. “Go. The siege is going to last some time. Fizit, I want you to go with her.”

  Fizit hissed.

  “No,” Brax said, cutting her off. “You’re getting further and further along with child. Soon, even an idiot like Sysminor is going to notice and, again, ask questions. The last thing we need is Sysminor to get his hands on Liam Vanderbilt’s child-”

  “Wait, what?” Liv asked, her eyes bugging almost out of her head.

  Fizit’s entire muzzle turned bright red with a blush.

  Brax chuckled. “She told me, after you left. She, ahem, encountered Vanderbilt during an orgy. As he was the only one who, ah, finished inside of her.” Now his muzzle was covered with a blush, shining through the gold plating. “She is fairly certain the child is his.”

  Fizit nodded. “I think when Sysminor used the Codec, he made us all fertile too by accident. Cross-fertile even.”

  Brax sighed and drew the conversation back on track: “We need you both out of this camp. The excuse is going to be that you, Fizit, are going to be setting up the conversion networks. And, well, you were never supposed to be here in the first place, Liv.”

  Liv smiled at that. Her heart squeezed. The urge to push Brax onto his back and ride him became nearly overwhelming.

  Fizit’s tail lashed from side to side. “Do you want me to actually try and set up a conversion network?”

  Brax laughed. “What? Try and convince the Hellenes living in villages and towns and hamlets to stop worshiping the Dodekatheon and instead pray to a walking pile of psychotic boulders? It’s the stupidest damn idea I’ve ever heard.” He grinned. “I want you to pour money into trying.”

  Fizit grinned wickedly.

  “So, we’re definitely onto the final stage of your plan,” Liv said, quietly.

  Brax nodded. “Fizit, get ready.”

  Fizit bowed, then turned and walked off.

  As she left, Liv looked back at Brax. He had turned to the scroll – a map of New Athens, she saw - but she could see his eyes weren’t moving. Liv took a step closer.

  “You should go with her,” he rumbled.

  “It’ll take her time.” Liv’s fingers were on the collar.

  Brax grunted.

  Liv’s fingers slipped down. Several soft thumps filled the tent – the only noise. Even Brax’s breathing had stopped. Brax didn’t turn around. Liv’s finger slipped along her collar again. The only piece of clothing she wore. Over Brax’s shoulder, she could see his hardness.

  “My father called me a whore,” Liv said. “And said that I should be ashamed. I think he sent me with you to spy on you. I don’t know how fucking magic works...” Her hands went to Brax’s shoulders. She could trace every muscle through his scales. Her fingers rubbed along the place where his neck met his back. “But Tethis said that things that were similar worked together, or something. If I needed a spy, and had weird magic powers, what better way to look around than through a daughter?”

  Brax breathed in for the first time since her loincloth hit the floor. His eyes still remained locked on the map. Not moving.

  “Likely,” he rasped.

  “Well,” Liv said. “Do you know what I want to do, my General?”

  Brax shook his head mutely.

  “I want to piss my fucking bastard of a father off.”

  Liv dragged backwards. Her strength sent Brax onto his back, his head thumping into the carpeted floor of the tent. He opened his mouth, but before he could, Liv sat down on his face. Her thighs clamped around his muzzle and she leaned forward. Her nose flared as she breathed in his musk. His cock curved slightly as it thrust into the air, wobbling with the slight movement of his thighs. She fixed that by closing her mouth around the tip of his shaft, tasting his salty pre-cum.

  Liv hadn’t realized how much she had missed the taste of gold until she tasted him again.

  She pushed forward and smoothly took his massive cock into her throat, forcing herself past the gag reflex. Her lips touched his scaled belly and she felt her nose resting against the firm curve of his golden balls. Meanwhile, Brax felt like he was finally starting to realize the position he was in. The long lick that he delivered to her aching cunt was tentative.

  Hesitant.

  Then his clawed hands gripped her thighs. His fingers dug into her, as if she was a chunk of driftwood and he a shipwrecked mariner. Thanks to her blessing, his claws felt glorious rather than painful. She started to rock her hips in time with his licks, which went from the base of her sex to the very top, then teased her taint. Liv’s eyes rolled almost back into her skull as she bobbed her head up and down the massive golden cock that filled her mouth. Her tongue swirled around his member and she planted her elbows to either side of his thighs. She gripped the base of his cock and started to stroke him.

  The wet sound of her slurping and sucking filled the tent, along with the smell of him and her and their eagerness. Liv’s nose flared again and again – breathing in every time she bobbed her head backwards. She was so focused on his pleasure, on bringing Brax everything she wanted, that her own orgasm struck her unexpectedly like a godkilling bomb. Her spine arched and she felt her juices gush over Brax’s muzzle and coat his long, slithering tongue.

  Brax moaned, then pushed her rump up enough to gasp out.

  “On me, soldier. Now.”

  That tone of voice, combined with the fact that his cock filled her throat, just set off more fireworks in Liv’s brain. She drew her mouth back with one last slurp.

  Once she was free, she stood, then slid her thighs forward. Her knees rasped against the rug, giving her a burning sense of friction. But she didn’t want to waddle forward, because that’d mean she wasn’t able to grind her sex along Brax’s washboard abs and flat belly and feel every tiny, smooth bump of his belly scales. Once she was at his thighs, she let out a soft gasp and brought herself up, poising over his cock. She had to half stand.

  That was how long he was.

  “T-Turn around,” Brax whispered.

  Liv looked over her shoulder, grinning. “And deprive you of a view of this ass?” she asked, her hips moving of their own accord. She dipped just enough to let the ridged head of his shaft spread her sex. Her instincts roared at her to drive down but she held herself back.

  Brax grinned slowly. “I spent months admiring that ass,” he murmured. “I want to see your face... because I’ve only seen your face when you climax once.”

  Liv blushed. She looked forward, her hands planted on th
e ground before herself. Then she stood fully, turned around, and knelt down. The absence of Brax’s cock made her keen softly – she couldn’t stop herself. Its return brought with it a gasp. She wasn’t able to make a louder noise as she dropped her thighs down. Their bodies met and Liv’s eyes narrowed to slits but didn’t close.

  She didn’t want to stop looking into Brax’s eyes.

  He slid his hands along her back – wonderingly. He hissed. “I... never thought I’d feel this again,” he whispered.

  “My cunt?” she asked, managing to sound coy despite the fact she was fuller than she had been since... well, since the last time Brax fucked her.

  “Love,” Brax rumbled.

  Liv blushed. Her whole body turned red, really. She opened her mouth, then closed it. She knew that there were things you said when someone said they loved you. Things that would make them know that you knew what they felt. That you felt something better. Once, long ago, she had been taught all the kinds of love, and she had even remembered one long enough to talk a handsome tavern boy into fucking her in the hay-loft of her stable.

  Now?

  She stammered. “T-Thanks?”

  Brax laughed, reached up, grabbed her hair, and tugged her down for a kiss. His tongue plunged into her throat and his hips started to rise and fall, with enough motion and strength to bring his balls slapping into her ass, as firm as a spank. Liv closed her eyes and kissed him back with increasing desperation as they made love. They were both so worked up that Liv knew it wouldn’t last long. She broke the kiss, her hands planted to either side of his head. She drew her mouth back just enough to look into his golden eyes as his hands clasped to her back.

  Brax’s eyes closed and he opened his mouth in a nearly silent roar, his balls clenching. Seed rushed into Liv and she quivered atop him, panting heavily as she leaned her forehead forward, letting her whole body rock with his last few thrusts. Each one pushed more cum into her, even as some dripped out around his shaft, splattering onto his belly, dripping along his balls. It started to soak the fur rug and made Liv feel like she was glowing from the inside out.

  Liv breathed in. Breathed out. Breathed in.

  “Eh,” she managed to say. “It was all right.”

  Brax chuckled. His arms closed around her tightly, and held her until Fizit walked into the tent.

  “Gods,” the lizardwoman muttered.

  “Want to join?” Liv asked, as she Brax’s neck. His cock had hardened inside of her and he was still lazily thrusting. It wasn’t quite sex – rather, it was a better way to lay together. An advantage of inhuman stamina and supernaturally toughened bodies.

  Fizit scoffed. “I, well...” She paused as Brax’s cock slipped from Liv’s sex. “Damn...”

  “Yeah, he's almost as big as Liam,” Liv smirked.

  “Almost?” Brax asked.

  “It's not a competition,” Liv said with an eyeroll. “You're still fucking hung”

  Only Liv’s closeness let her see the blush along his muzzle. His hands pushed Liv back and away from him. Liv stood, her knees only shaking slightly. “Go,” he said, quietly. “If... if you don’t go now, while I can’t, ah, stand...” He paused. “I’d be going with you.”

  Liv gulped. She nodded, then stepped to the tent door.

  Fizit grabbed her before she walked out. The lizardwoman picked up her breast band with her tail, then slapped it against Liv’s chest.

  Liv chuckled. “Right.”

  Nine

  Brax knelt before the map of all the Hellenic cities and villages that his forces had visited over the past week and tried to not think about how close the raiding parties were getting to the supposed position of the Oracle.

  Oracles…

  He shook his head slightly.

  “Why is there a de-de-delayyyy?” Sysminor groaned, his voice filling the tent.

  Brax smiled and turned. “You mistake immobility for inaction, my lord,” Brax said. He tapped his fingers against the map. “We’ve attacked fifteen villages, getting supplies, spreading fear. The other Hellenic cities are locked down – a mere sight of our forces keeps them at their walls. My banner goes with every raiding party, and... well, I’ve painted a few of my more striking officers gold.” He nodded. “I’ve made a reputation. May as well use it.”

  Sysminor remained silent.

  Then laughed.

  When Brax emerged from the tent, one of Fizit’s spies approached him. The young man looked as bushy tailed as a squirrel – not entirely figuratively, too, as his tail frills were very long. He saluted. “General Brax! We’ve gotten another report! Um, about the cloud.”

  Brax nodded. “Any change?”

  “The cloud, um, continues to float over Babylon.” The young lizardman looked up at the sky, his nictitating membranes flicking down to protect himself from the sun’s light. “We cannot see it from here. They’ve placed the sun between us and it. It’s miles up in the sky, visible from Wotan, though!”

  Brax frowned. “Has it moved?”

  “No. None of our spies in Babylon can get close enough to where the magic they cast to create it to take notes.”

  Brax shook his head. “They’re working on some kind of weather spell. Let me find some sorcerers.”

  The spy saluted again. “Sir!”

  Brax smiled and filed the young man’s face away in his memory. He was definitely going on the flank attack.

  When Brax started towards the edge of the camp, he saw that several of his soldiers were coming back in. They had new wounds that were already scabbing over. Siege battles, he had found, produced minor wounds that would have rapidly overloaded his sorcerers and his healing capacity, even with the priests from Olimurias. Intestines were split by arrows, wounds were slashed by dirty blades, and because the contact continued on and on, day after day, more and more wounds cropped up.

  And that was with his forces away from the walls, with only periodic harassment duties.

  Here, Sysminor’s blessing to his people became all the more valuable than gold. Wounds closed within days. Fatigue faded in hours. And the soldiers went back to fire arrows and taunt the enemy.

  Brax stepped up to the wall of his camp.

  The flags of Zeus and Apollo and Ares still flew over New Athens.

  It looked like it was going to be a long siege.

  Brax grinned.

  ***

  Liv grabbed onto the lip of the next ridge, dragged herself up, then plopped her ass down on the side of the mountain. She looked down as Fizit leaped from her standing position to the part of the cliff right next to Liv. The curvy lizardwoman looked rather smug as she put her hand on the stone cliff-face, looking down at Liv.

  “Getting tired?” she asked.

  “Can’t you just use fucking magic to get there?” Liv grumbled.

  “No,” Fizit said, quietly. “I don’t want to ping Sysminor. He’s aware every time we cast magic – I’ve been monitoring his reactions, and that’s the conclusion.” She shook her head. “So, up the next bit.”

  Liv grumbled. “I fucking hate this piece of fucking shit adventure.” She gauged the wall, looking for handholds. She grabbed one, then put her foot against the wall and hauled herself up, making sure she was settled. She scowled. “So, by the way, I’m knocked up too.”

  Fizit paused, then snapped her head up.

  “You bring that up now!?” she asked, sounding shocked.

  “Well, I was thinking,” Liv said, gritting her teeth. She hauled herself up another handhold. “I need you to tell Brax. I can’t head back. So, figured I should-” she grunted. “Tell you eventually.”

  “You shouldn’t be here!” Fizit hissed. “You’re carrying the General’s child!”

  “Eh,” Liv said, shrugging, then hauled herself up onto the next cleft. She panted and set her rump against the rock, turning and looking back down at Fizit. She grinned. “Try and jump that, you scaled bitch.”

  Fizit smirked. She tensed, then leaped. Her claws dug into rock
and she flung herself upwards. This time, she overshot and had to skid along the wall, her claws digging in divots along the rock face. When she landed, Liv scowled.

  “You’re just jealous,” Fizit said sweetly.

  “You know,” Liv said, standing. “Since you’re behind the death of one of my friends, I could push you over the cliff and no one would know any the wiser.” She shook her head. “But that’d piss Brax off.”

  “I’m honored,” Fizit said, her voice still sweet. Then, frowning. “And wouldn’t it anger your friend Liam?” Her hand went to her belly. There was only a hint that anything was growing there.

  Liv shrugged. “His god hates bastards, I think. He only had one over two thousand years, that’s a lot of fucking restraint. I figure Liam’d thank me.”

  Then she turned and looked up at the mountain. There still seemed to be a fuck of a lot left to climb. Liv scowled.

  “Why couldn’t the Oracle by somewhere easy to get to?” she asked, punching the wall lightly. Her knuckle contacted something that gave way. The stone that had seemed so natural before her smoothly melted down into the ground and revealed a perfectly rectangular corridor. It was lit only by the sun shining in from behind the two women – and that sunlight showed that the floor was an eerie silver color that reminded Liv of Liam’s longsword.

  Fizit hissed. “I don’t like the looks of this.”

  “You and me both, scalie,” Liv whispered.

  Fizit reached into her belt pouch and drew a small chunk of crystal. She shook it and the mage light that had been cast on the crystal glowed to pale blue light. It shone into the corridor, revealing that it went straight into a circular room – spherical, actually. A tongue of metal thrust out over the center of the sphere, giving a place to stand. If one didn’t mind trusting their footing to a chunk of metal that could have been thousands of years old.

  “Well, it fits the description of the Oracle,” Fizit said. She stepped forward, brave enough. Liv followed her, drawing her sword with a rasp. The blade shone in the light – and then Fizit grabbed her wrist, hissing. “No! The legends say any who attempted to bear a blade before the Oracle died-”