Drowning at Dusk Ch. 03

"Very well. Continue."

Gods, I was as wet as she was. I longed to yank my belt off and slip my fingers between my own legs, to make myself moan along with her, but I didn't dare ignore her orders yet again. And besides, the taste of her was so damned distracting.

Alluring. Addicting, even.

My fingers maintained that swift pace while my tongue continued with the firm suckles. Footsteps echoed from behind me.

The tent flap rippled open.

My arm tensed, my lips and tongue fell still.

Xelari's fingers curled deep into my scalp.

"Did I order you to stop?" she hissed. "Continue."

I stared up at her, eyes wide, shocked at the sudden trespass, and completely unaware of who had just barged in on us. She tapped the runestone in a silent threat, and I immediately returned to my work, my mouth suckling more firmly to make up for lost time. My tongue lashed her clit, and my forearm burned with the renewed effort of my thrusts inside her.

"Terakh," she said, looking over my shoulder. "So good to see you. Make your report."

"I can come back," he rumbled, his words slow and hesitant.

I wriggled my ass a bit, showing off, and proud of what I was doing to hear. Gloating that I had the chance to taste her and he didn't.

"No. Make your report." The last syllable turned to a soft moan.

"We found something. A ruin, mostly made of green stone. Guarded by barrow-walkers and cryptwolves. We cleared the threats out on the surface, but did not delve deep just yet. We wanted to wait for you."

"Well done. And any signs that it is in fact a temple of Amisra?"

I grew a bit irritated that she was capable of holding a conversation while I feasted upon her sex. Halfway through that sentence, I intensified my licks and crooked my fingers a little to adjust the sensation. All I earned for the trouble was the slightest sigh between the words.

"Nothing definitive, at least on the surface. But a structure of green stone in the Wildwood, in a region once populated by elves, seems to fit what we're after."

"Come morning, I will take another group of volunteers and return with you to that site. Together we'll explore it, and hopefully claim what we're after." She smiled at Terakh, then glanced down at me. "I think all that hard work is worth a reward, don't you think?"

"Yes," he rumbled, the need thick in his voice.

"And you, Esharyn? Are you inclined to agree? Don't you think Terakh has earned a little relief after all of that fighting and marching today?"

The ache deep in my core certainly made me long for Terakh's thick cock. With Xelari's beautiful taste upon my tongue, I'd probably be able to actually climax that time. And I longed to see the hunger in Xelari's eyes as he claimed me, and to hear her laugh with delight as his seed spilled deep into me.

That, however, would be the obvious choice. Knowing Xelari's own penchant for cruel teasing, I had to go another route.

My fingers continued their thrusts, the wet sounds filling the tent as I raised my dripping lips.

"No," I hissed. "Maybe if he'd actually returned with the circlet you're after, he'd have earned the chance to sheathe himself within me yet again."

Terakh growled out a curse, and Xelari gripped my hair and shoved my face back down onto her cunt.

"Well, there you have it, Terakh. Seems she has a cruel streak. Go on, then. Get your rest, we'll set out in the morning."

The orc let out a heavy, tormented breath before storming out into the night, and Xelari chuckled.

"He'll want payback for that slight."

Good. Let him hunger. Let him seethe. That would make the fuck all the more brutal and gratifying when I finally allowed him to take me again...but only while Xelari was there to watch, of course.

Both of her hands settled within my curls, and she rocked my head back and forth, as if using my mouth like a toy. I whimpered at the thrill of it, at the trembling moans leaving those soft lips, at the gleam in her bright green eyes.

My fingers did not let up, and I dared to add a third. She clenched her teeth and grunted, then fell utterly silent. That mouth of hers fell open in a silent cry, and her hips thrust fiercely off the furs against my face. Soft thighs clenched against the side of my head.

Finally she unleashed a soft, contended sigh, before her hands fell away, and her legs parted, releasing me from that blissful cage.

"Adequate," she said.

I gritted my teeth at that 'assessment.'

'Adequate.'

I'd given her damned near everything I had, and had fought through the shock of Terakh's intrusion to bring her to climax.

'Adequate.'

"Did my assessment offend you?"

"It'll take a lot more than a bit of teasing for me to take offense."

I wiped my mouth, met her eyes, and licked my fingers clean. Her eyes drifted to my lips, then she picked up a spare bedroll from beneath her cot and tossed it at me.

"Perhaps best if you sleep in here this evening. Vlanda, Rodnir, and Klevek tolerated you well enough, but the other brigands may not. Some might even seek to defy my command seek vengeance against you. But not here. Rest, malrixi. Tomorrow, we have a great ordeal ahead of us."

I stared down at the wrapped bedroll for a few moments. I'd allowed myself to foolishly hope that she'd reciprocate, or perhaps even to command me to play with myself while she watched. Instead she plucked a book from the shelf within her tent, and curled up on her cot to read.

"And before you get any ideas," Xelari said. "The chain-rune is affixed to my own heart. If my heart stops, the pain unleashed by the rune will be far, far nastier than even the pain of binding it in the first place."

In truth, I was too curious about this circlet and the potential rewards for finding it to have thought about killing her.

"I wasn't going to try anything anyway." I managed a grin. "I like the taste of you too much."

She met my eyes and let out a long, musical laugh before returning to her book.

I curled up within the bedroll. The toll from the fight and the long march soon dragged me off to sleep.

Unsurprisingly, I dreamed of Xelari.

I dreamed of the taste of her, of her silvery hair splayed out on the furs. I dreamed of her mouth around Terakh's cock, of her lips affixed to my sex, of her soft legs wrapped around my waist. I dreamt of her in chains, of her on her knees, begging for a taste of me.

I dreamed of blood dripping from a wound to her heart...and a matching wound in my own chest.

As much as I'd hoped for Xelari's soft touch to awake me, it was instead a sharp laugh from outside that tore me from my slumber. My eyes snapped open; the dusk elf was gone, and the faint warmth of dawn sliced through the gap I'd cut in the tent during my infiltration a few evenings before.

I quickly gathered up my armor and weapons, including the curved elven blade I'd claimed from the barrow-walkers. Weapons in hand, I stepped out into the sun.

Dozens of other bandits emerged from their tents and yurts, with nearly all of them casting icy glares in my direction.

"Morning," I said with a warm smile despite their chilly attitude. I tapped the hilt of the looted sword, to remind them both of the weapon and the undead creatures I'd defeated in order to claim it.

My smile invited only more glares, a wad of spit at my feet, and a few pointed taps of their own weapons. Fully prepared to unleash that pretty elven blade if they tried anything, I wandered through the camp in search of Vlanda, Rodnir, and Klevek.

Though the three could hardly be considered my friends, the fact that we'd fought at one another's side the day before made them far better marching companions than the others in the camp.

I found them near a cookfire, roasting a pheasant that Vlanda had no doubt felled with that skilled aim of hers. Rather than risk their ire by asking for a piece, I nodded in greeting and warmed my hands by the fire.

"You move quick," Vlanda said, grinning. "First Terakh. Now Xelari."

I beamed with wicked pride.

"Word spreads fast."

"One of my tent-mates was one of those who came back with Terakh," said Vlanda. "Said she heard Xelari letting out the 'most delicious little sighs.'"

Oh, most delicious indeed.

Before I could gloat any further, a shout rose from one of the other bandits.

"Up and at 'em! We're on the march!"

Rodnir offered me the last of the roasted pheasant, which I devoured on the walk over to join the others. Xelari and Terakh were already mounted, and they had gathered a total of fifty fighters. Given the numbers that Terakh had left behind to safeguard the ruins, and the number of other patrols out in the woods, that would leave a more dozen or so back at camp.

"Lead on," Xelari said to the orc.

His fierce red eyes settled on me for a heartbeat, and he bared his teeth in an expression halfway between a grim and a grimace, then he turned his horse to the southeast.

We assembled in a long column behind Xelari and Terakh. A handful of pack horses accompanied us, conveying the heaviest of the gear, but I was left to march alongside the other bandits. Vlanda broke into a merry marching song, and a few of the other bandits joined in. The lyrics were silly and simple enough that even I sang along towards the end.

When the last words echoed out into the trees, a raspy chuckle from behind caught my attention.

"My mate Nevkith loved that song," snarled a large, barrel-chested brute with a row of yellowed and cracked teeth. "Sang it on almost every march. Won't be hearing that pretty voice of his any longer. Not since you shoved that knife of yours into his throat."

"Oh, come off it, Gent," Vlanda said. "Nevkith wasn't that good of a singer. Also, he was a bigger cunt than the rest of us. Didn't he knife you over a dice game?"

"We had our differences," Gent said, still glowering at me. "But he was a good man."

"A good man who murdered and robbed for a living, yes?" I asked sweetly.

"Little different than you."

"Not disputing that." I smiled and spread my hands, trying to reassure him I wasn't a threat. "I did what I had to do to try to survive. And that's what you should focus on, too. Surviving. Getting rich. I'm here to help with that."

"Don't see why we need one more blade," Gent grumbled, and a few others murmured their agreement.

"More than just a blade, Gent," said Rodnir. "Should have seen her yesterday against those barrow-walkers. She's sure to make quick work of whatever's waiting for us at those ruins, too."

"Think killing a few shambling corpses means I'll forget what you did?" Gent said, taking a step closer.

"Vlanda," I said coolly, not looking away from Gent. "How good of a fighter was Nevkith?"

"Solid. He was a bastard, aye, but damned good with a sword."

"Better than Gent here?"

One bandit laughed. Others hissed out curses, and Gent coiled a thick, scarred hand around the hilt of his shortsword.

"Aye," said Vlanda. "By a decent margin, too."

"Now I took down Nevkith while on the run, swarmed by a dozen or so of your mates," I said, still staring, my eyes burning with the promise of violence, my muscles tensing. "And if he was a better fighter than you-"

"Let's fucking find out, then," he growled, tearing his sword free.

By the time he could even raise that blade, my fist lashed out, cracking into his nose. Shouts and jeers rose from the other bandits, and I swung the curved elven blade towards his throat.

And stopped it a mere inch before it hit his flesh.

"Remember," I hissed, as he released his own blade. "Remember I could have taken your fucking head here and now. But I didn't. Because we need each other."

It was an absolute lie, of course; I had little use for a bandit who'd gone down that easily. The bandits around me, though, needed to learn that I didn't have to be their enemy.

"Together, we can find this relic and all get rich. Or we can tear each other apart here and now."

"Oy!" Terakh bellowed from the front of the column. "What's the holdup back there? Keep the column tight!"

Gent glared at me, then at the blade.

"Fine. As long as there's a fortune to be had, there's no need for blood."

I stepped away, and didn't turn my back on him until he'd sheathed his sword and returned to his spot in line.

My tense hunt for Xelari through the Wildwood hadn't allowed for much sightseeing, and the slow pace of the bandit column gave me plenty of time to admire the idyllic, unspoiled forest around me. Squirrels the size of dogs scampered across the canopies above us. Glowing worms writhed between exposed roots. Two-headed dragonflies buzzed down to pick off those worms. Wolves howled in the distance, and high-pitched chitters of unseen beasts rained down from above.

Our route took us across a bubbling stream, where Terakh called for a brief rest. The bandits scattered out along the water's edge, washing their boots and refilling their flasks. I caught Xelari's eye; she was still mounted upon her horse, gazing out into the untamed wilderness.

After a deep breath, I wandered over towards her.

"Making new friends?" she asked, not taking her eyes off of the forest.

"You could say that."

"If you walked over here in the hopes of me dragging you behind a tree for a bit of fun, you misjudged the moment."

I chuckled.

"Was just bored, that's all. Wanted to pass the time. That...that could have been fun, though."

"Bored," she repeated, turning her gaze from the Wildwood to affix me with a cold stare. "Is that what I am, Esharyn? A distraction to ease your boredom? A shame. After last night, I was starting to think you looked upon me...differently."

I clenched my teeth. Of course she'd found a way to take an idle comment and deploy it as part of a cruel barb.

"That's not what I meant."

"Say what you mean, then. Why did you come over here?"

"I wanted to remind the bandits of my place. That you chose to spare me and utilize my skills. Already had to punch one, and I'd rather save my energy for fighting undead."

"Better to be honest, see?"

I nodded, sighed, and regretted coming over there at all.

"And now I am going to be honest," she continued, her gaze returning to the dense forest. "If we find the circlet within those ruins, you will be rewarded. One hundred silver. Which you can use as you see fit while you are in my service. Spend it as you will, or save it for when your service has ended."

Not a bad payout for a simple treasure hunt, though the circlet itself was surely worth a great deal more. It was less than what I'd been promised for Xelari's head, though I hardly had the means to go through with that contract.

"Hell of a deal," I said with a smile.

"Further rewards may follow. Other treasures. Other...delights. Assuming we find the circlet." She cleared her throat. "Terakh! Let's move!"

The orc glanced up, nodded, then looked down from Xelari to meet my gaze. Hunger and rage danced in those crimson eyes. After rolling his shoulders, he bellowed for the mercenaries to prepare to resume the march.

Within minutes we were on the move, and for that segment of the march I walked just behind Terakh and Xelari. If we ran into any trouble now that we were closer to the ruin, I would prefer to be closest to the two most dangerous members of the column.

As the shadows lengthened, new varieties of woodland creatures emerged. Toads covered in spikes bounded from tree to tree, their massive barbed tongues skewering fireflies and mosquitoes. Owls small enough to fit within the palm of my hand moved in large flocks beneath the canopies, occasionally pausing to peck at bugs, or descending in swarms to devour the spiky frogs. Some of the bandits even began to place bets on which frogs would die or escape.

"We're close," Terakh said, pointing in the distance to where the trees cleared somewhat. "Large meadow just past those trees. Ruins were there."

A minute later, and the orc hissed out a curse.

"They should have been sentries here, watching the treeline."

He glared over his shoulder, and in a harsh whisper told the column to quiet down. Word passed down the line. Weapons left their sheaths, bolts slipped into crossbows, and we ducked down and prepared for the worst.

"Esharyn," he said, wrinkling his nose as if annoyed at having to say my name. "Slip ahead. Scout it out."

I nodded, readied my blade, and crept forward.

Ahead rested a verdant meadow that gleamed in the light of the moons. Great swarms of blue fireflies wandered above vast fronds of grass, providing more than enough light to see a pyramid of green stone jutting up from the center of the clearing. I wagered it had once been a much taller structure, only to be buried by erosion and the ravages of the forest. Only about twenty feet of stone was visible above ground. Before it were a few fallen pillars, and a collapsed rectangular structure. I could just make out spiraling elven symbols on the pyramid, and what looked to be some sort of mural adorning the apex of the structure.

Six tents occupied the eastern side of the meadow: there was a completely cool cookfire, and no sign at all of any of the mercenaries Terakh had left behind. I crouched low and crept along the edges of the treeline, and darted towards the tents.

I heard the buzzing of flies before the stench of death assailed my nostrils. Grimacing and readying my blade, I opened the flap of one tent to find a single dead bandit within. I recognized him as one of the ones I'd wounded during my escape attempt: he still had a bandage around his knee from where I'd slashed him with an axe.

He'd since received a far nastier wound since then: a deep, jagged cut across his throat. The sword-sheath on his belt was empty, and his empty coinpurse laid within the dried pool of blood. Either his comrades had killed him and looted him, or another greedy crew of violent criminals had stumbled onto their camp.

After checking the other tents and finding no bandits, living or dead, I crept my way across the meadow searching for tracks: there were at least a dozen heading for the temple, but I didn't dare stray closer without support from the others.

I scampered back to the treeline to give my report to Xelari and Terakh. Xelari simply stared out at the ruin, and Terakh let out enough orcish curses to make a seasoned warrior blush.

"That dumb bastard Brandiir," he grumbled. "I told him to stay outside, maintain the perimeter, and wait for us."

"You think that dead man in the tent tried to remind them of their orders?"

"Aye. By that description of him, that was Davin. Good man. Always paid attention, never cut a throat he wasn't told to, never bitched even when on latrine duty. Dumb as an ox, but a good enough killer."

"They must have gone in to claim the loot for themselves," Xelari said coldly.

"Didn't see any tracks leading out of there, and their gear's still outside, so if Brandiir led them in, they're still likely in there."

"And soon shall we join them. Klevek," Xelari said, calling out behind her. "Select fifteen. Maintain a perimeter around the ruin. The rest of you: we descend."

She dismounted and left her horse with Klevek, and the rest of us moved across the meadow, weapons drawn and eyes wary.

About halfway up the pyramid was a gap in the massive green stone. Judging by the gilded carvings along the edges that seemed to invite us inside, the hole had clearly been part of the original structure, and not something carved by Terakh and his scouts.

Xelari approached first. Knowing what would happen to me via that chain-rune if she fell, I stayed close at her side, with Terakh only a foot behind me. I heard the familiar sound of him readying that greatsword, and winced at the memory of how badly it had thudded into my shins a few evenings before.