“I’ll tell you the complete story while we eat,” I said. “I’m starving!”
We all sat down to supper, and I told the women my story. When I finished the tale, Emer laughed and clapped with glee.
“Oh, how I wish I could have seen the face of Sola, Anax of Nisa, when they told her that not only you but all those sentenced to the mines had escaped.”
“Not me,” I said. “If I never see the face of the woman again, it will be too soon.”
Emer told me she had tried to come up with a plan to free me, but had soon accepted that she was powerless to help me alone. She said she had walked from the city to the farm every day for a week, hoping Haela had returned. Finally, Haela had turned up.
“I thought that perhaps Haela could get word to your mother in Thiva in hopes she might intervene on your behalf,” Emer said. “Haela was planning to start for Thiva tomorrow. Given what happened with us in Thiva, I feared if I went to there myself, they might arrest me before I even had the chance to see your mother.”
“Yes,” I agreed. “It would have been unwise for you to go to Thiva. Now, no one must make the trip. I’m pleased I arrived in time to save Haela the inconvenience.”
Haela shared with me her adventures while in Thiva since we had last seen each other. She told me how grateful she was for all the help my mother had given her. Haela said she had enjoyed her time in Thiva, but missed her farm and returned once she learned the army had retaken Nisa.
“Soon, I should be able to get laborers again to work the farm,” she said.
“Remember one thing,” I said. “Most of the slaves I met at the mines had been with Cooke. When we separated, they had been discussing the possibility of relaunching the rebellion.”
“For the sake of the Goddess Queens!” Haela said. “Not again.”
“It didn’t seem a sure thing,” I said. “But if those men free more slaves and rebuild a sizeable force, they most surely will attempt to recapture Nisa. Things may not be safe for females hereabout if they carry out the plan.”
“Well, other than freeing my workers, they didn’t molest me last time,” Haela said. “I only fled to Thiva after helping you and the captured warriors out of fear the rebels might learn of it and retaliate.”
“Just be on your guard,” I said. “I’m sure my mother will help you should you find it necessary to return to Thiva.”
“Tell us, commander,” Emer said. “Are you still set on following your demented plan?”
“What plan?” Haela said.
“Tobias Hart here is determined to journey to Mount Volz to exact his vengeance on the Goddess Queens,” Emer smirked.
“What!” Haela said. “Tobias, what on Vulvar are you thinking!”
“It’s something I must do, Haela,” I said. “I only stopped here this evening to retrieve some weapons I cached in your barn. I should go soon while it’s dark. With the patrols in the area, I can’t risk the Thivans capturing me.”
“At least pass the night here,” Haela said. “I’m sure no warriors will call here in the middle of the night. You can get an early start in the morning.”
“I have no desire to put you and Emer at risk,” I said. “Having already caused Emer too much grief, I’d not wish them to catch me here. It would cause trouble for you both.”
“I have a root cellar beneath the house,” Haela said. “If warriors should arrive, you could hide there until they left.”
“And I’m happy to stand watch while you sleep, if you wish it,” Emer said.
“Well, it has been a while since I’ve slept on a bed,” I said. “I’ll have plenty of opportunities to sleep on the ground during my long journey north.”
“Then it’s settled,” Haela said. “I’ll prepare the guest room for you.” She left the table.
“What will you do now since you’ve left the warriors?” I asked Emer. “Help your sisters run the smithy?”
Emer shook her head. “I told you back at the cell I was not remaining in Nisa, no matter how things turned out,” she said. “If you insist on going on your mission of doom, then I’m going with you.”
“No, Emer,” I said firmly. “You cannot. You’ve risked your life for me too many times. I’ve already brought you too much trouble.”
“I’m a grown woman, Tobias Hart,” Emer said. “I’m perfectly capable of making my own decisions. I’m going with you, and that is that.”
“You’re such a stubborn woman,” I said.
“Then I’m a perfect companion for you, commander,” Emer smirked, “because you are a stubborn man.”
“We will speak about it more in the morning,” I said. “I’m too exhausted to argue further this evening.” I had in mind to slip out of the house alone a few hours before dawn.
“Fine,” Emer said. “Get your sleep. I’ll keep watch. That way, I’ll be awake when you wake up. I wouldn’t want you sneaking away in the night without me.”
“You need not stay awake all night to keep watch,” I said. “I’m sure Haela was right. There is little danger that the warriors are patrolling the area at night.”
“Very well,” Emer said. “If you’re sure, commander.”
“I’m sure,” I said. While I wouldn’t have minded Emer keeping watch to err on the side of caution. I wouldn’t be able to slip away in the morning without her if she stayed awake all night.
“Good,” Emer said. “In that case, I’m happy to share a room with you so that Haela doesn’t have to make another bed for me.”
“Emer!” I cried in frustration. Emer only smiled.
27
The Journey Begins
Haela insisted on heating water and pouring me a bath before I went to bed. She also provided me with a clean tunic. As she had threatened, Emer insisted on sharing the guestroom with me, which I discovered included the bed. We both got into bed beneath the blankets wearing our tunics. But Emer permitted me to sleep only two hours before waking me by fondling me between my legs. When I woke up and noticed her activities, I discovered she had removed my tunic in my sleep and was naked herself.
Emer pressed me to demonstrate the skills that I claimed had delighted my former mistress. At first, I groaned and resisted the idea. But Emer refused to relent. Once she discovered I possessed the skills to delight her, she demanded that we copulate. Again, I tried to dissuade her. I knew if Emer fell pregnant and the authorities anywhere on Vulvar laid hands on me, I’d surely suffer impalement. Emer stated that she was more than willing to risk the authorities impaling me to satisfy her curiosity about how it felt for me to impale her, after a fashion.
Unable to reason with her, I relented. We copulated. Then we copulated again. Afterward, we copulated a third time. It seemed Emer had discovered that copulation was more than delightful. Admittedly, I found it excellent too. Emer was a passionate and energetic lover. Finally, Emer and I slept for a few more hours.
When we woke three hours before dawn, I had to put my foot down and refused Emer’s pleas that we copulate once more. By then, I’d given in and agreed she could go with me and told her we would have ample opportunities to copulate on our long journey north. That seemed to appease her for the moment.
After feeding us breakfast, Haela insisted that we take two burlap grain bags she had packed with food and other provisions for us. I felt guilty taking what I presumed was all the food she had in the house. But Emer and I had not had the opportunity to get provisions in Nisa, thanks to the Anax’s interference. In payment, I gave Haela one of the two bags of coins I’d taken off dead rebels and had cached in her barn with my weapons. I’d offered her both purses, but she insisted that I keep one for the journey.
After saying goodbye to Haela, we left the house about two hours before dawn. I wore my sword belt with the katana and carried the spear. I had given Emer the rakir and sword belt I’d taken from the mines along with my bow. We veered several legas east at the start in order to distance ourselves from the paved road before heading north.
/> We faced a long journey. I much regretted the loss of the baacaases when the warriors had arrested us at the gates of Nisa. The animals would have speeded our journey. Nevertheless, we marched north on foot toward the foreboding home of the mysterious Goddess Queens atop Mount Volz. Had I possessed a Vulvarian compass, its needle would have pointed precisely to that mountain.
I know from my studies from my first visit to Vulvar that the mountains, of which Volz is the highest, are a magnificent range of rugged black peaks. It is no mystery why the Goddess Queens chose that almost impenetrable mountain vastness for their home. A superb natural wilderness surrounds Mount Volz, which my old teacher told me is a peak that taunts the sky by day and defies the stars on clear frosty nights. One thought plagues me as Emer and I cover the first few of the thousands of legas we have to travel. What if Mount Volz is actually empty—what if the Goddess Queens are merely a fable? Yes, I’ve met their priestesses, even a high priestess. My old teacher and my mother related to me much information about them. Yet it is true I’ve never seen a speck of proof that those absentee divinities truly exist.
On Earth, there are many religions with so-called gods, both past and present, that I know do not exist. Twice I have ridden upon space ships that my mother insists the Goddess Queens built and operate. Yet some force rendered me unconscious the moment I entered those crafts. I’ve never seen the pilots of those silver ships. Perhaps the Vulvarian space program is a closely guarded secret. Maybe my mother has deceived me about who operates the crafts.
Perhaps we will find only wind and snow on that gloomy peak. Maybe Vulvarians unknowingly worship nothing, and all their prayers, sacrifices, and observances are in vain. I push the doubts aside as best I can since I will only know the truth of the existence of the Goddess Queens if I travel to Mount Volz and seek them myself. What concerns me most is this. What will I do with this unyielding desire for vengeance that burns inside me if I discover the beings I long to visit it upon do not exist?
With any luck, in perhaps some thirty Vulvarian days, I will find the answers I seek. We will arrive at Mount Volz. Only then will I be able to determine if there is evidence of the Goddess Queens. Should I survive this quest, as is my habit, I intend to write an account of this journey. I will publish the story for the benefit of those who take some minor interest in following my exploits on this harsh, barbaric world called Vulvar, where females rule.
About the Author
J. K. Spenser is the nom de plume of a published multi-genre author. Spenser writes science fiction and fantasy novels and stories with a romantic chastity twist as well as non-fiction chastity books.
You can connect with me on:
https://jkspenserbooks.com
Also by J. K. Spenser
Vulvarian Saga Book 3 Coming January 5, 2021. Order now.
Outlaw of Vulvar
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0868Z8FH7
Blood will be spilled as a former slave, now a self-made warrior resolves to uncover once and for all the truth about the Goddess Queens, the existent but remote divinities of the harsh, inhospitable planet called Vulvar.
Tobias Hart is the adventurous former archaeologist of Earth now living on an alien planet. Vulvar is a barbaric world with a rigid system of social stratification that includes ritual status in a gynecocratic hierarchy where females rule and enslave all males to serve them.
In this volume of the dark fantasy science fiction saga, after completing a second mission for the Goddess-Queens, the fabled mysterious and all powerful deities of Vulvar, Tobias must survive as an outcast when the city council forces him out of his adopted city Thiva. Now regarded by all on the harsh planet as an outlaw worthy only of death, Hart embarks on a search for truth intent on exposing and holding to account the self-serving Goddess-Queens whose insensitive and cruel disregard for their mortal servants resulted in Hart’s eternal loss of the woman he loved. Tobias vows to survive long enough to confront the hateful divine beings, journeying to their foreboding stronghold atop Mount Volz, knowing full well that no one who has dared to approach the Goddess-Queens has ever returned alive.
Read the entire saga of this realistically imagined fantasy world where females are masters and males live to serve their every desire.
Outlaw of Vulvar is the third book in the Vulvarian Saga, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
Rebels of Vulvar (Vulvarian Saga Book 2) Page 16