by Nhys Glover
“Now this is what I saw sylphs do,” he said unsteadily.
He began to pull that long length out of me, and I whimpered in dismay. But just when I thought he’d finished up our discoveries, he pushed back inside again, a little faster this time. I moaned with pleasure and arched into him.
My need to touch and to kiss became paramount. I leaned up and pulled on his long skeins of hair until his mouth was on mine, while my hands roamed his back, seemingly of their own accord.
He pulled out of me again. This time I did not grieve. I rejoiced. Because I knew he would push back in again, the slide becoming easier and more pleasurable each time he did it. Gods, could this go on for much longer? I was burning up. On fire. Every cell in my body was alive with something I could only label as desire.
Sky lifted my hips up so he could more thoroughly plunder me. He was building his tempo, pushing harder and deeper than he had managed to go at first. He seemed shocked by that discovery, shocked by how far he had gone inside me. I was not shocked. I was beyond shock. Beyond anything but need.
“More,” I got out, my voice strangled, panting.
He gave me more, bringing the same wildness to what he’d done to himself earlier. The tension released so suddenly that, for a moment, I felt nothing. Then I was uncoiling like a spring, lightning strikes of pure delight exploding over every spot in my body, though most occurred at the very heart of me. The very core. I screamed. A hand came over my mouth, stifling the sound. I bit into the hand, but it did not remove itself.
The bliss went on as Sky drove into me one, two, three more times before he cried out and pushed even deeper for the last time. That was when I felt him pressing against my womb. He’d finally reached the bottom of the gaping hole inside me. And I was filled. Complete.
For a moment his weight pressed down heavily on me, threatening to squash me. Realising it, he flipped over onto his back, taking me with him, keeping us joined intimately as one.
For a long time we lay like that, joined, replete.
“I suppose I do not have to ask Flame about male size now,” I said when I could speak again.
“I suppose not. Are you all right? I did not hurt you, did I? At the end there I was rough and I pushed in too deeply.”
I giggled. “Not too deeply. Just deeply enough. It was remarkable. I could never have dreamed of something like that. I still do not understand the hows and whys of it.”
“Your scream was pleasure, yes? I am sorry I covered your mouth, but I worried the men further down the beach might come after me with cudgels, thinking I was raping you.”
“Yes, definitely yes. Pleasure. Though that seems too tame a word for what happened to me. I bit you though. I am sorry for that.”
He laughed. “Did you? I was not even aware of it. I think I made a very fair bargain with the Goddess. Knowing that kind of bliss was worth what it has cost me. What it will cost me. Worth that and much more.”
Chapter Six
FLAME
We walked down the beach, back to where the sailors were camped and the food was stored. I was ravenous and so energised by our discoveries that my skin didn’t seem large enough to accommodate me.
Landor came to walk at my side, matching his long strides to mine so we fell behind the others. “You’re sure you aren’t in need of healing?”
I shook my head and grinned. “Let’s just say I see my bruises as a badge of honour. Marks of claiming, if you will. I belong to all of you now, and I have the bruises to show for it.”
Landor chuckled, knowing it was a joke, but feeling a little uncomfortable about it. “Zem was not the only one who was concerned about how wild we became last night with you. It is a quandary for men like us—men who feel themselves above the bestial side of nature—to see we are not. That we glory in it.
“It seems wrong to my civilized mind that I gain pleasure from seeing you so used. That point when you can’t move, can’t think from overloaded senses, fills me with primitive satisfaction. I love the certain knowledge that you couldn’t fight me if I tried to take you one more time. Conquered, ploughed deep... It was never like that with my mistress.”
I looked at him curiously. He never spoke of her, and I was glad. It made me uncomfortable to think of what he had been forced to do with his aunt for all those years. No, not so much forced as coaxed. Not rape. But it was still... wrong.
“Can I tell you? Will you erupt in righteous fury or turn away from me in pity and disgust?”
I braced myself. If he needed to talk about it, then I needed to listen. We were as close as two people could be, and that meant nothing could be out of bounds if the other needed it.
“At first she just touched me and it was pleasurable. When I came she would tut and clean me up as if I was a naughty lad who had made a mess with my food. I felt guilty. She would tell me I was a disgusting male. That I was driven by the cock between my legs. Even a child like me was driven by my cock. But she did not stop doing it. Every time she came to me she would do it. And I would do it to myself when she was not there. It filled the empty, dark hours. But it was not as good as when she touched me.” He paused, giving me a moment to reflect on the fact he’d returned to his more formal speech patterns to get through this sharing.
“Then she discovered my healing abilities that came with manhood. She decided my seed could heal her as much as my healing hands could. That my seed could slow the aging process down. She had been told this by a magical son she had consulted on the matter. I do not know if that is true, but I believed her.
“So she lifted her skirts and I saw her legs and... higher... were bare. While I lay on the bed she lowered herself down onto my cock. It was the most blissful sensation I had ever known. That first time I came so fast she had barely seated herself on me. But she seemed satisfied. She had my seed.
“After that it followed a pattern. We would discuss what I had learned, she would teach me about the world as she saw it and then, just before she left, she would lift her gown and impale herself on me. She never kissed me, never touched me in affection or in arousal. It did not seem as if she enjoyed the act. I had something she needed and so she took it as her husband had taken it from her, so she informed me one time.
“He was a cruel, licentious man who took his pleasure with all the pretty serving lasses in the household as often as he took her. But with her it was simply to give him offspring. He wanted offspring. But she could not give them to him, and in the end he gave up forcing himself on her. He threatened to cast her off and marry another. He died before he could do so.”
“She killed him?” I asked quietly.
“She did not say as much. I did not think so at the time. But I was very innocent. Now I know the extent of her... madness, I think she may well have killed him.
“And I was the child she could never have. The monster who’s seed kept her young. I did not keep her young. And I could not save her when her heart gave out. I who had brought a featherling back from the dead could not do the same for her.”
He sounded unspeakably sad. I leaned in to his arm and he let go of my hand to wrap that arm around my waist so he could draw me in close.
“You showed me that the sex act was not something to feel guilt over. You showed me that it was natural and loving. The kisses and affectionate caresses we share during love-making are more precious to me than the act itself. You make me feel like that part of me, the animal part of me, is acceptable... even valued. You love it as much as we men love it.”
I pressed his side tightly. “I can’t imagine sharing pleasure with someone and not feeling affection for them, and showing it. It seems the ultimate act of affection. The inevitable goal caring leads to. It hurts me to know that act was so twisted for you, but I’m glad you’re able to move past it. That how she was with you has not left you unable to be affectionate with others. I see how openly you express affection with Zem.”
He gave a little laugh. “I feel for Zem what I feel for you, althoug
h with you it is more powerful because it is reciprocated. You two are everything to me. Are you asking if those feelings are the same... would I want to take them further with Zem? I would. But he has no such sexual attraction to me, though he loves me. I know he loves me. And so it is enough. I have you to meet my sexual needs, and Zem to meet my need for manly friendship and comradeship.”
“The others?” I pressed.
“Last night I was so aroused I might have gone further with the other two had they been interested in anyone but you. But they weren’t, and so my lust remained safely contained. Do you see it as infidelity that I am attracted to the others? Does it threaten you or make you feel uncomfortable?”
I thought about that. If Zem had been interested in Landor that way, I wouldn’t have been concerned because I felt safe in their love. Loving Zem didn’t take away from Landor’s love for me. I understood that.
But with Zem it was different. I thought it likely that Landor’s masculinity wasn’t the issue for Zem as much as the fact that he wasn’t me. Zem was totally consumed by me. He had been that way for suns. I accepted it as my due and my burden.
How would I feel if that focus were to shift to include Landor? I wasn’t sure. I knew I’d be jealous if it was another woman, but maybe not if it was one of my men. It was a lot of pressure to be everything to someone as single-minded as Zem. To be the single focus for all of them.
“Flame?” Landor coaxed, worried because I hadn’t answered him.
“Hmm?”
“I asked if you are threatened by my feelings for Zem? You need not be. Nothing and no one comes before you for me. I doubt it ever will.”
I smiled. “Not threatened or discomforted by it, no. But unless one of them makes the first move...”
Landor laughed. “Believe me, I will not be encouraging any of them, not even Zem. I’m not even sure how it would work... I know men do share pleasure together. One of the girls the night of the ball said her brother wondered what being with someone like me would be like, and asked if he could join us. I was not interested. But then, I was barely interested in those girls. I was simply following your orders.”
I groaned. “I’m sorry about that. I thought it would be good for you to have more experience before settling down with me. Us. Though settling down seems a very strange turn of phrase to describe what we are.”
He laughed again. “I love you, my Flame. You are endlessly entertaining. Endlessly fascinating. Endlessly arousing.” He leaned in and kissed me deeply as we continued to walk.
While we all broke our fast, we let everyone in on our discoveries that morning. And for the rest of the morning we practised firing from the backs of our airlings. All but Zem took part. He hadn’t been able to access either fire or lightning.
Was this because the Goddess had other plans for him or was Zem somehow blocking his new abilities? He was stubborn enough to unconsciously hold out against magic he didn’t feel was his.
It proved easy enough to shoot down at the targets. Even Landor seemed happy enough to practise shooting lightning from an airling’s back, although he wasn’t sure if he wanted to fire at our enemies.
“I could hit the row-boat,” he’d declared. “I wouldn’t kill anyone by doing that.”
We had decided that taking them out while they were rowing in from their ship would not necessarily kill all of them. Once the boats were destroyed, the Devourers would be in shallow water. Depending on where the boats went down, this water might not be over their heads. So they wouldn’t drown. And those who could swim could reach the beach anyway, no matter the depth.
I marvelled at the irony of a Devourer not being able to swim—of being drowned by the very element he served. But then, wasn’t that exactly what had happened to the hag and the high priest?
So they might reach the beach, but they would be at a disadvantage in a fight. Easy pickings for inexperienced sailors and us, once we’d dismounted and joined the fray. With any luck, and with plenty of forewarning of their arrival, we could kill them all with little difficulty. Then we’d be free to start the next stage in our campaign.
Sky also joined the practise, dropping stones on targets Shardra set up along the water’s edge. The easy way he hefted stones the size of airlings was eye-opening. I thought it likely he could take out the whole ship if we needed him to. One of those stones could go right through the decks and punch a hole through the bottom of the hull with ease.
He and Shardra had joined us on our walk back down the beach for breakfast. They’d seemed very content and happy. Shardra’s cheeks had a blush to them that told me she’d been well pleasured the night before.
So a halfling wasn’t too big for a human. Although it would have been a cruel twist of fate if it had been so. Sky being promised love if he did as the Goddess asked, only to find out that that love couldn’t be consummated? No, the Goddess would never be that cruel. It was always going to be possible for Shardra and Sky to share their love completely.
While the sailors went in search of fresh meat and water, which were in plentiful supply Sky assured us, we finished up our practise and began our experiments. For this we drew on Shardra, Sky and Redin’s assistance.
At the moment, I couldn’t read Sky’s thoughts, only his feelings. We were going to try amplifying our energy to see if we could read his mind that way, and Shardra’s from a distance and then, finally, Redin’s when he was on the Nether Plane.
We sat in a circle in the sand facing each other and imagined ourselves combining into one. It was a time-consuming and frustrating process. At first nothing happened. Then we tried focusing on reading each other’s thoughts. Of course, as we were all too busy trying to read each other’s thoughts to have any real ones of our own it also proved fruitless.
Finally, we tried it with them focusing on reading me, as we already knew they were all good at that.
“Think ordinary thoughts,” Zem instructed, his frustration at our earlier failure making him impatient with me.
As always happened when he grew frustrated with me, I sought to intensify that feeling. I have no idea why that was, except that there was an imp inside me that loved to tease my best friend at every opportunity.
So I made my ordinary thoughts lecherous. I felt as much as heard the moan of arousal as it spiked around the circle. But when Prior panicked and plunged his hands deep into the sand I realised my mistake and changed my thoughts to the coming battle.
I found myself wondering what the sailor on deck-duty was thinking about the coming battle, and immediately I had my answer. He was excited by it, excited by how far they’d come and what they had seen—namely a huge half-daemon and a smoking volcano—on this voyage. So much more interesting than their normal voyages.
With a shocked gasp I pulled back and gave myself a mental shake. Gods balls! That was way further than I’d ever been able to read before. The ship at anchor was at least two hundred strides away. My maximum limit had always been six.
I looked around the circle at the others, who were all staring wide-eyed at me.
“That was successful. Maybe we’ve found our way of doing this,” Zem said aloud for the other three who were sitting outside our circle, watching and waiting their turn. “Flame just read one of the sailors on the ship, and so did we, through her.”
Shardra looked excited and almost clapped her hands. Then she thought better of it and just grinned. She sat between Sky and Redin, and the thin man seemed to spend an awful lot of time glancing Shardra’s way. He was still on guard. Still worried the big daemon might hurt Shardra. The idea of her going off up the beach with the daemon last night had driven him mad with jealousy and fear. He’d had nightmares of her being torn up by the rutting monster. But he’d been able to keep his concerns well hidden because he had no idea what he could do if Shardra did need his help. He was just a puny human, after all.
I felt sorry for him. I knew his feelings for Shardra ran far deeper than just friendship. I also knew that Shardra a
nd Sky had an exclusive bond. Such a bond as the one I shared with my men was not for most people. It wouldn’t have been for me, either, had we not had such a pressing need to create it. Now we had, I doubted I’d ever want to live any other way. But that didn’t mean it was ideal, even for us.
I drew my mind back on track. I couldn’t afford to be so undisciplined in my thoughts anymore. Not with others sharing them so freely.
“I suppose that means we don’t have to send Shardra off down the beach,” I said.
“We can see how far the reach extends, though,” Zem insisted. “Sky could fly her back to his cave. That’s leagues away.”
We all looked at Shardra and Sky, who shrugged their willingness to try anything we wanted.
“Might it not be better to see what you can do with me first?” Sky offered politely.
It made sense. If I could read his thoughts then we could try both of them from a distance. Who knew how far apart we might need to be during the coming moon.
We refocused our minds, my men on me and me on Sky. At first it didn’t work, probably because I was trying too hard. I relaxed my focus, letting it become an idle contemplation of a topic, as it had been with the sailor. Me being me, meant we were all suddenly inundated with images of Sky and Shardra making love the night before, him with his hand over her mouth to stop her screams.
I jerked back, my cheeks flaming. Prior scrambled to his feet and ran into the sea no more than a few steps away. I could see the steam rising off the water, showing he was not quite in time.
“What happened?” Shardra asked in concern.
I couldn’t tell her, of course. She’d be mortified. So I quickly came up with an explanation.
“I... I got off-track and started remembering last night. It was a bit too much for Prior and his fire magic. We are having to find our way in many areas of our relationship,” I lied blithely.
The others breathed a sigh of relief that the uncomfortable situation was avoided.