Fighter

by Isaac Hooke

  And then he couldn’t hold back any longer, and erupted inside her.

  She pulled away, gagging.

  “Damn,” she said. “I told you I wasn’t very good.”

  “No, my fault,” he said. “I should have warned you.”

  She swallowed lasciviously. “Actually, I don’t mind. You taste so good.” She rubbed some of his spilled seed suggestively across her chin. She pouted. “Though I did expect you to last a little longer.”

  “It’s because of the pleasure link I have with everyone else,” he said. “It amplified what you did. You couldn’t know how close and how quickly you brought me to the brink.”

  She stared at his crotch in disappointment. “I guess I’m not going to feel you inside of me tonight, huh? I was so looking forward to it, too.”

  He ripped stamina away from the others and promptly rose to attention.

  She looked away, but then did a double take. “Oh!”

  “Yes,” he said, smiling. “Come here.”

  She approached demurely, but then Malem wrapped his arms around her, and pushed her back, so that her butt was on the nightstand. All the items on it toppled over, and the nightstand nearly tipped as well, when he slid inside of her.

  “It hurts!” she said. “You’re too big!”

  He paused. “Want me to pull out?”

  “Fuck no!” she said, squeezing her fingers around his buttocks. She wrapped her legs around the back of his thighs, to further prevent him from escaping.

  He began thrusting against her as she leaned against that nightstand, and she reached up with her mouth, seeking his lips.

  He gave her a kiss and then pulled away. She was left kissing at the empty air, wanting more, and she opened her eyes, begging.

  He smiled, and pressed his lips against hers once more, and pounded into her. Hard. He felt the pleasure echoing back and forth among the energy bundles once more, quickly becoming unbearable.

  She kept her mouth firmly planted on his, frantically opening and closing it, not even in time to his touch, and she stared into his eyes as she did so, the lust, the sheer bliss, so obvious in her pupils.

  “I want you to explode inside of me,” she said between ferocious kisses. “Give me your seed!”

  And that took him over the edge.

  He kept pounding as his release came, forcing himself to work through the pleasure. He felt her own core squeezing repeatedly around him, and knew she was climaxing at the same time. She shuddered, arching, and then collapsed in his arms.

  He lifted her onto the bed, but then she said: “No, not the bed, it’s dirty.”

  “But you put your robe there,” he said.

  “Open up my robe, and we can lie on it,” she said.

  He did as she asked, spreading the robe across the coverlet with one hand, and then lay her upon it. Then he slid down beside her.

  She leaned against him, snuggling. She wasn’t so different from the others, then, who all enjoyed a good post-coital snuggle.

  “What is it like?” she asked. “The shared pleasure you experience with the others?”

  “Incredible.” He paused. “Maybe I should transfer Aurora’s collar to you sometime.”

  She touched her smooth neck with one finger. “I’m not sure I want to be bound to anyone. Let alone a man.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” he said, looking at her.

  “Nothing.” She sighed. “I guess, I’ve always thought of myself as independent. And not reliant on anyone, especially men, who I was taught would always be my provider.” She smiled sadly. “I sure showed the world how independent I could be, didn’t I? Becoming a hermit for fifty years.”

  “Is that how long it’s been?” he asked her.

  “Honestly, I don’t know,” she replied. “I lost track of time long ago. I used to follow the years with the changing of the seasons, but even those blurred together.” She paused. “Is the pleasure that good?”

  “Yes,” he said.

  “Ah, it’s too bad the binding is permanent,” she said. “Otherwise, I might be tempted to say yes. But losing my freedom forever to someone else isn’t an option.”

  “You wouldn’t lose your freedom,” he said. “You could leave whenever you wanted. Just like all the other women. Aurora is the only one I won’t let go. Not yet. And I’m not sure if the bond is permanent, either. Maybe when I remove the collar, she’ll be released from it.”

  Grendel nodded. “We should find that out, because then it’s an easier prospect to swallow.”

  “Speaking of swallowing, you certainly like to do that,” he said.

  She grinned. “I do.” Her eyes became distant. “Though I suppose, even if the collar did not remove the bond, someday, when you died, it would sever.”

  He looked away, and gazed at the ceiling. “Do you still want to go back to Dark Wood when this is done?”

  She shifted in alarm. He could feel her eyes upon him.

  “We agreed this was just sex, didn’t we?” she asked. “No emotions?”

  “Yes,” he said quickly, meeting her eye. “Just sex, of course.”

  She lay back. “Good. You had me worried there.” She paused. “And to answer your question: Yes. I intend to go back.”

  He was relieved that she wasn’t bound to him in that moment, because he didn’t want her to sense the disappointment he felt.

  He returned his gaze to the ceiling, and closed his eyes, intending to sleep.

  But then she spoke.

  “I can still see his eyes,” she said. “Blue like the sea. Full of intelligence, tenderness. He was a prince, you know. Destined to be a great king. The adventures we shared. The love. And to lose him, the way I did… so suddenly, without any warning at all. Slain by a troll whose den we decided to explore on a whim. Such a monster should have never been able to defeat him, not with me at his side. And yet we were unlucky.

  “I can still see his eyes, looking at me as he died. A mixture of shock, pain, and something worse: accusation. As if it was my fault. Maybe it was. I’ve relived the event in my mind so many times… there were so many things I could have tried, so many alternate courses of action that might have saved his life. Many of them would have resulted in my own death, and I sometimes wonder if that would not have been better.”

  She shook her head before continuing. “Afterwards, in my grief, I could not reach my powers, and the troll took me and tortured me. It fed me a liquid that suppressed my powers, and I stayed there, a prisoner. A part of me wanted to be punished for what happened. For letting him die. I finally escaped when a party of bandits invaded the cave and distracted the troll. But there were many of them, and the bandits took me back to their camp, and… what followed wasn’t pleasant. Needless to say, when my powers returned, not one of them lived. Theirs were slow, painful deaths.”

  “That’s a terrible story,” Malem said.

  She nodded. “I suppose. But it happened so long ago, that what the bandits did, and the troll, have no power over me. Only my prince’s eyes do. Even now, it feels like he’s looking at me accusingly. Like I’m cheating on him in some way. Even though he’s been dead for so very many years.”

  “You’re not cheating on him,” Malem said. “He’d want you to be happy.”

  “Would he?” she said. “How do you know this? Can you read a dead man’s mind? I think he would have wanted me to remain loyal to him to the end. And love no one else. But I failed him already, so you need not worry yourself in that regard. I’ve had four lovers since. Four men that I had to let go when death finally came to stake its claim. I won’t do the same with you. I refuse. Now do you understand?”

  “I understood from the first,” Malem said. “What you’ve described is the same pain Mauritania, Ziatrice, and even the Metals I’m bound to will someday experience. I can only hope that I can give them something to remember me by. Maybe children.”

  She smiled. “Children. But even they must fly from the roost someday.”


  “Yes,” he said. “But they’ll be as long-lived as their mothers.”

  “Will they?” she asked. “Children aren’t guaranteed to inherit their mothers’ longevity. Especially a child of mine, who would be human. If this child had no ability to access the light, then he or she would live an ordinary lifespan, and would die well before me. I could not bear it.”

  “How did you keep from having children?” he asked into the silence that followed.

  “There is a root one may take,” she replied. “It prevents a woman from becoming pregnant.”

  “You’re taking it?” he said.

  She shook her head. “Not now. But I will, if we decide to continue this little dalliance. Before I return home, that is.”

  She snuggled against him, and Malem closed his eyes, letting a restless sleep take him.

  9

  Malem awoke to find himself lying alone on the bed. He had a vague memory of waking in the night as Grendel gently turned him over to slide her robe out from under him, but then he fell asleep again shortly after.

  He reached out and conferred with his birds. They had been searching the city all night, but hadn’t found Goldenthall, and had given up a few hours ago. He wasn’t sure how thorough their search had been, but he decided to release the tired animals anyway. He doubted very much that Goldenthall was still in Tartan, considering that the possessed man probably expected Malem to follow him here. Even so, Malem Broke several more birds, and sent half of them to continue exploring the city, just in case. He launched the remainder in all directions, ordering them to search the outlying farms, villages and plains for signs of Goldenthall.

  Meanwhile, he pulled on his undergarments, and instead of donning his tunic and breeches, opted for his dragonscale armor.

  When he had donned the armor and attached his sword belt, he slid his pack over his shoulders, and then went to the common room.

  Xaxia was there, booted feet up on the table, as she ate a bowlful of some gruel. Timlir and Brita were also present. His beast sense told him the other dragons were afield seeking breakfast, while Wendolin and Aurora were still in their shared room. Gwen was on the rooftop, keeping watch. He didn’t know where Grendel was.

  “Where’d you find that?” he asked Xaxia, nodding at her bowl.

  “One of the cupboards,” Xaxia replied.

  “I’ll fix you some,” Brita said.

  “You’re not having breakfast?” he asked.

  “Ate already,” Brita said. “When Gwen took over from my watch. I spotted a small ghrip earlier, and tracked it down.”

  “Mm-hm!” Xaxia said. “Gotta love ghrip meat!”

  Brita shrugged. “It’s better than gruel.”

  Malem sat down and waited for Brita to prepare the meal. She emptied out a small bag of some kind of cereal crop into a bowl, and then grabbed a bucketful of water—no doubt fetched from the well. She poured the water into the bowl and then she went out back, where a bonfire was burning, probably lit by one of the dragons at dawn. Through the window, he watched as she held the bowl over the fire and stirred its contents.

  “Did your birds find anything in Tartan?” Xaxia asked.

  He shook his head. “Nothing but dead monsters.”

  “Goldenthall went on a killing spree?” she pressed.

  “It would seem that way,” he replied. “Or Banvil.”

  She pursed her lips, and finished her bowl. She set it aside and looked at him expectantly.

  “So,” Xaxia said. “She was good, I hear.”

  “I definitely had an earful last night as well!” Timlir said. He raised his voice so Brita could hear outside. “You dragons kept me awake with all your panting and moaning!”

  Brita shrugged, and called back: “We aren’t quiet love makers.”

  “Except ye weren’t even making love!” Timlir said. “You were living vicariously!”

  Brita came back inside and handed Malem the bowl and spoon.

  “You don’t understand,” she told the dwarf. “It’s not vicarious. It’s like we are him. And feeling the same pleasures he does.”

  “What about the woman?” Timlir said.

  “She’s not bound to him,” Brita said.

  “Oh,” Timlir said. He shook his head. “Maybe one of you would like to try sex the traditional way sometime.” He gave Brita a wink.

  She rolled her eyes. “We can’t go back. No matter what we do, we can never have traditional sex. We’ll always have the Breaker, and those bound to him, to ricochet our feelings of pleasure off of.”

  “But you’ve never personally had sex with him,” Timlir said. “Or have you?” He glanced at Malem for confirmation.

  “She hasn’t.” Malem tried his gruel.

  “How is it?” Brita asked.

  “As good as gruel can be,” he said.

  “I suppose that’s a compliment,” she said.

  “Not really,” he told her with a grin.

  “Wait, why haven’t you had sex with her?” Timlir asked.

  Malem shrugged. “I’ve tried. Believe me. She doesn’t want to.”

  The dwarf glanced at her.

  Brita shrugged. “I’ve always had a rule: I don’t sleep with the guys my sister is bedding. It seems kind of wrong, you know? Besides, I get all the sexual gratification I need when he fucks everyone else.”

  “I thought he could mute you?” Timlir pressed

  “Oh, he can,” she said. “But ever since he forgot to mute my sister and I that one time, I’ve decided I might as well enjoy what he has to offer. Free pleasure, without any work or commitment on my part. Can’t go wrong there. He’s like my personal vibrator.”

  Timlir frowned. “What’s a vibrator?”

  “Never mind,” she said.

  Malem finished the bowl and set it aside. “I can’t believe that’s all I am to you. Just a vibrator.”

  Brita smiled patiently.

  “What’s a vibrator!” Timlir pressed.

  “It’s a magical item, specific to us women,” Xaxia said. “We use it in place of a man.”

  Timlir frowned in confusion. Then dawning seemed to come over his face. “Ah. You fuck this item!”

  “More like, it fucks us,” Xaxia said.

  Again Timlir frowned, but then shrugged. “You women and your sexual toys. When are you going to learn that your hand is good enough?”

  “Sometimes it isn’t,” Xaxia said.

  The dragons returned, dressed, and everyone gathered in the common room. When Grendel arrived, she couldn’t meet Malem’s eye. She seemed to purposely sit as far from him as possible, as if embarrassed by what she had done the night before. Or at least regretting it.

  “Did you see any signs of Goldenthall while were you were hunting?” Malem asked the Metals.

  “No,” Sylfi said. “Though we did spot a few caravans heading north.”

  “So you were hunting to the south?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she answered. “We tried stopping a few of the caravans, to ask them if they passed by anyone suspicious.”

  “Really?” Gwen said. “And they actually answered you and didn’t bolt?”

  “Most ran, yes,” Sylfi said. “But we managed to flag down a braver merchant among them. He didn’t see anything suspicious. Only other caravans.”

  “Other caravans. I wonder…” Malem tapped his chin. “If I were Goldenthall, and wanted to cross these plains without arousing too much suspicion, I’d stow away aboard the wagon of a caravan.”

  “So we look for caravans, then?” Weyanna asked.

  “I think so,” Malem replied. “We spread out, forming a long line from east to west, to scout as much territory as we can. When we spot caravans heading in the direction of our flight, we gather, and force them to submit to a search.”

  “Sounds reasonable to me,” Brita said.

  “Wait, I thought you were going to launch birds in all directions, first?” Sylfi said.

  “Already have,” Malem said. “So far, the on
ly caravans my birds have spotted have been to the south. The north, west, and east are empty. At least so far.”

  “What directions do these caravans head?” Gwen asked.

  “Some north, toward us,” Malem replied. “Some south, and away from us.”

  “Sounds promising,” Gwen said. “The latter, anyway.”

  “Maybe,” Malem agreed.

  “So we travel south?” Timlir asked. “And stop those heading in the same direction?”

  “I believe so,” Malem said. “It’s a start, anyway. If we don’t find anything after a few days, I guess we’ll try north, until we pick up the trail again.”

  “I have a question,” Aurora said. She finished eating the bowl Wendolin had prepared for her.

  “Go ahead,” Malem said.

  “When are you going to fall on your sword?” Aurora asked, wearing a sweet smile.

  Malem returned her smile, and then stood. “All right, let’s go find this Balor.”

  “It was a serious question,” Aurora protested. She glanced at Wendolin. “Why won’t he answer me?”

  Malem ignored her and stepped outside.

  Soon, he was roaming south across the plains on top of Sylfi. Grendel had swapped positions with Gwen, so that the half gobling rode behind him. Weyanna and Brita were specks on the eastern and western horizon, respectively. He could still fully sense and communicate with them, however.

  What’s up with your new lover? Gwen asked.

  She regrets it, I think, he told her. And she doesn’t want to get attached.

  Probably a good idea, Gwen said. Being with you can be dangerous, sometimes. Especially when you go hunting Balors.

  But that’s why you like me so much, Malem said. The sense of danger.

  It probably is, she agreed.

  They encountered a southward traveling merchant caravan escorted by sell swords, and surrounded it, forcing the merchant to submit to a search. They checked inside the wagons, and below the undercarriages, but found no sign of Goldenthall. Malem gave the indignant merchant a small amount of coin for his troubles, and had his dragons take flight.

  If you give money to all the merchants we stop, we’ll be penniless before this is done, Gwen complained.