Lani gasped and leaped backwards out of the way of the snapping jaws of the giant bird before her. Not moments ago the roc had Steiner in his claws and attempted to drag him away to his lair in the cliffs. But thankfully her reflexes were still with her and with a swift hack to the thigh from her ax and Steiner was back on Gaia firma. Only now it was mad and had her squarely in its sights. As the bird came back down for another snap, she swung her ax, deflecting the blow and taking a decent sized chunk out of the creature's beak.
The roc whined slightly then opened its maw and loosed a blood curdling caw that reverberated off every surface in the valley. The scream assailed Lani's senses so much she dropped her weapon and brought up her hands to cover her ears. Just as she was about to collapse, a strong arm slung around her waist, dragging her back away from the noise and the next thing she knew, she was being thrown back against the valley wall. Her eyes snapped open to see Steiner's angry face in hers. "Not only are we facing down this giant beast, you have jettisoned your weapon!" He yelled, finally drawing his broad sword from his back.
She glanced over his shoulder to see the bird quickly recovering from its injury. "We need a plan." Was all she managed to say.
He turned to the monster. "Hopefully it will be better than your plan to walk through the valley instead of staying on the cliffs."
"We'll argue about that later." Her eyes spotted her ax just as the roc spotted them. She didn't even have a second to stare down her opponent before he was coming after them. I need fifteen seconds to line up my shot." She said, her eyes snapping to Steiner's. "Go!"
Despite his ignorance to his course of action, he dashed strait toward his opponent Of course it saw him coming a prepared to snap its massive beak around him. But with a feat of agility he was surprised he possessed, he dodged out of the way with a tumble and found himself under the bird's barrel chest. Just as he was about to bury his blade it its heart, it kicked him with its taloned foot and all his sweep did was tear a few feathers out of its wing. As he rolled to a stop, he realized blood was now oozing from his side. Pain was something he could deal with, now he just hoped he had given Lani enough time to execute her plan.
Lani pushed off the wall as Steiner was dodging the bird's head and lost sight of him as he she approached her discarded weapon. Quickly she scooped it up and silently apologized to it for being so hasty in dropping it. She calmly turned to the melee before her and took a deep breath. Steiner was thankfully being very effective as a distraction and was keeping himself scarce. This wouldn't be too hard.
She lifted her ax over her head, holding the short handle between her hands. With a short steadying breath, she threw her over sized projectile toward the monster's neck.
The weapon tumbled end over end twice and embedded itself into the side of its neck. It faltered slightly and tried to let out another screech. But it came out more as a gurgled cough. Damn! Lani cursed to herself. Her throw was good and as much as gore was now pouring from the wound, it had clearly not hit any major arteries so it wasn't going down yet.
Without missing a beat, her knight in formerly rusty armor took his cue. On the bird's back swing, Steiner leaped up, grabbing onto Lani's ax and, using the motion of the animal, dragged it across its jugular. As the roc gave a dying buck, Steiner's grace seemed to come to an end. With all the gore, he lost his grip on the ax and went plummeting to the ground.
Lani dashed to his side, kneeling down next to him. "Adelbert," She said, "That was awesome! Didn't know you had it in you. Are you alright?"
He kept his eyes strait ahead, his breathing uneven. "I wish I had brought more than one Hi-potion."
Lani looked sheepish. "OK, so I admit we are slightly unprepared in the healing items department but never fear! I have a secret stash." She reached back and pulled a bottle out a pouch behind her skirt cape. With a grin she offered him the multi-colored potion.
Laboriously, he made himself sit up and take the bottle. He glared at her. "All this time you had a Megalixir?"
She shrugged innocently. "I was hoping to save it but better use it now than let you bleed out."
A curse rose up in his throat but her stopped it. "Wise choice." Was all he said before taking a drought. Immediately his wounds began knitting themselves back together and he sighed in relief.
She quickly snagged the bottle from his hand as he threw himself onto his back again. "You know, those were some pretty slick moves I saw out there. I'm impressed."
He didn't respond, only let the potion work its magic on his aching body.
"If I didn't know any better I would say it's because you can move easier in your armor. Perhaps less encumbered as it were."
He looked up at her as she smugly took a sip off the bottle. "Too bad it is damaged now." He slipped his hand through the gash in the side. "Perhaps if it were made of metal it would have held up better."
"Oh, see that's the beauty of Mamy Esa's armor." She suddenly stood up, cracking the neck off the potion bottle. With a couple flicks, she emptied the remainder of the Megalixir all over the damaged armor. Right before his eyes, the gashes and dents accumulated during their fight seemed to heal themselves over with the same precision as if it were healing flesh.
"Wow, that is amazing." He said in shock. "How does it do that?"
"In Mamy Esa we trust." She said, casting the now empty bottle aside and turning to their deceased opponent. "Think there's anything we can salvage on there?"
He stood up, walking up to the bird and retrieving her ax "Not unless we intend on taking some for rations."
She shook her head. "Naw, we'll be at North Gate by nightfall. They have an inn there. And good thing too! I want to get all this blood washed off."
He slowly looked her up and down. So far as he could tell, she didn't have more than a minor splatter on her leg, not so much as a speck on her clothes, and had he not witnessed it he could not have guessed she'd even been in a battle today. But he ignored her comment and dutifully brought her her ax "This certainly has some heft to it." He commented with a grunt of effort. "I am rather impressed you can handle it with such ease."
"You want to know my secret?" She asked. She looked around suspiciously for a second before leaning in close. "I can actually barely lift it on my own."
"What do you mean?"
"My special little helper." She motioned to the clip around her waist that held on her skirt cape. "Mamy Esa made it for me. She called it an Amulet of Bulls Strength. It's her secret too actually, she always wears two of them, one around each wrist."
Steiner just hummed thoughtfully, so that was the mystery to her strength.
"Want to see?" She didn't wait for a response before reaching down and clicking the amulet right out of the buckle. The amulet was only about the size of half his palm and was shaped like and hourglass cut in half lengthwise and layed on its side. It was such an unassuming little charm from the front but the back was covered in runes which danced with an inner light. His belt was not designed with a recess to hold the charm like hers was but she didn't hesitate to tuck it behind the metal buckle.
Immediately the magic took hold of him and it seemed the weight of the ax lifted from his hands. He hefted Lani's weapon a couple times. "Now I understand its appeal." He said, trying a few times to mirror her attacks.
"Yeah, but don't tell Mamy Esa or she'll fillet me!" Lani said, reached out a dexterous hand and snatched the amulet from his belt.
With the magic gone, the weight returned to the ax causing him to stumble midswipe and fall unceremoniously to the ground. "You beastly woman!" He cursed as he crashed to his hands and knees.
She let out a light laugh as she stepped forward, gently picking up her ax as if it would break with her touch. With a slow, smooth motion, she returned it to its harness on her back. As she turned to walk away, she stopped and faced him again. "By the way, thanks for the save." She said, bowing deeply.
He stood up. "T'was nothing." She stood up, a genuine smile spread across her face. He hadn't noticed before how lovely she was when she didn't look like she was planning something.
"Well, don't let it go to your head, don't forget who the bodyguard is here."
The inn at North Gate was far tinier than Steiner expected. Thankfully Lani had been able to acquire separate rooms for them but in total this inn had perhaps six beds. It seemed in general as if the term inn was used rather loosely. But as promised they had in fact arrived before nightfall but not before dinner time and the owner had to recommission his wife to make them a modest meal. Which Lani disrespectfully walked out on. Steiner almost died of embarrassment when she asked their gracious hosts to put her food on ice while she was in the bath. But she insisted, saying the last thing she wanted was to have to argue with Steiner after eating. Besides, she continued, she enjoyed taking her time and predicted him being upset with her if he had to wait.
But it seemed despite her best efforts to the contrary, the latter would happen anyway. Steiner had waited a good half an hour after finishing his meal for her to come down and she never did. Who takes an hour to bathe? So he finally decided to go up and light a fire under her.
By the way the building had been designed, each three bedroom with shared one bathroom. There were two wings plus the private privy for the owner. His room, if one could call it that, was little more than a box with a single bed and a small window. He had had no time to gather an personal belongings before leaving Alexandria so all he had to his name was his weapon, the clothes on his back and an emergency Hi-potion he always carried. Thankfully he had procured a bar of soap and a washrag from the innkeeper so at very least he could get clean tonight.
As he slipped out of his armor, he kept his ears open for Lani possibly leaving the bathroom. He methodically removed the various pieces, folding them and stacking them on the end of the bed. Many of the pieces had gotten covered in blood from the battle earlier in the day. His old plate mail could have easily been wiped down with a rag but this would take a bit more effort. One more point for his old armor. But he did have to concede that this armor made him look better so it was worth cleaning.
Once he stripped his final article of clothing and wrapped a towel around his waist, he had officially lost his patience with his traveling companion. So he removed the ribbon from his hair and gathered his meager toiletries and headed for the bathroom.
The door stood slightly ajar and steam heat emanated from inside. Not only heat, he realized as he stood outside for a moment, some sort of noise as well. Before stepping it with averted eyes, he took a moment to listen. It seemed she was singing to herself. Such disrespect! Wasting time singing knowing he was waiting. Forget modesty, this had to be stopped!
He cracked the door open and, through half lidded eyes, peeked at her to make sure she was decent. Once he confirmed she was indeed wrapped in a towel, his indignation returned. But only momentarily as he began watching her dance obliviously in front of him. The mirror was fogged over and she seemed to be dancing with her eyes closed, pretending her comb was a microphone. "You see that guy walking by? He gave me the bedroom eye." She sang seemingly to herself as she spun crazily, "Later on I'll take him home – and slap those bedroom-!" She finally took notice of him, a look of terror crossing her soft features. But she quickly recovered, replacing her look of fear with a panicked smile. "Hands!" She completed her song.
He glared for a moment. "What is the actual line?"
"Slap those bedroom thighs." She answered, recovering her composure.
"In that case, good save."
"What? You don't want me to slap your bedroom thighs?"
He looked slightly offended. "I will accept no ill-words about my physique."
"You're right, I'm sorry. Those aren't bedroom thighs... These are bedroom thighs!" She hiked up the bottom of her towel to show every inch of her thighs. It seemed if she had gone a hair higher and she would have flashed him.
"Put that away!" He bellowed, averting his eyes. "Have you no decency!"
She burst out laughing, setting her comb on the counter. "Want me to run you a cold shower, Rusty?"
"Get out!" He demanded, ushering her to the door with enough ferocity a bystander might have thought it more like a shove. But she laughed uproariously all the way down the hall, even after he slammed the door.
That good-for-nothing charlatan! He cursed to himself as he threw his items down on the counter. He picked up the small wash basin and threw its contents into the bathtub. Originally he had been concerned that she had used all the hot water but there was a series of runes running from the bath spigot to the shower head He had seen this before, it heated the water on its way up the pipe. Good thing too, he was looking forward to a nice hot shower. Or at least he was until that inconsiderate heifer decided to expose herself. Damn her! She was just trying to get under his skin.
With the basin emptied he returned it to the counter. Along the edge was a line of bath products. He picked up the first one – lavender scented shampoo. They were all lavender scented. Shampoo, conditioner, body wash, bar soap, face and body moisturizer, hand and foot moisturizer, hair moisturizing oil – Good Lord! Did she have anything that did not need to be moisturized? Well, it nothing else, she certainly was organized.
He looked up to the mirror only to be greeted by a big face full of fog. With a roll of his eyes, he grabbed his wash cloth and wiped it clean. As he took in his appearance, he sighed. Looked like he would need a shave. His facial hair grew much darker than his head hair so he always needed to shave at the first sign of whiskers. What are the odds the innkeeper would have a razor I could borrow? He wondered. Odds were better Lani would have one. But the thought of going to see her right now was the last thing he wanted to even entertain.
With that stomach turning thought, he focused his attention on the shower.
He leaned over to the spigot and ran lukewarm water. But as he let the water run over his hand, he realized that by taking a cold shower, he'd just be letting Lani win. Besides, she was the farthest thing from his mind. So he cranked the hot water until steam began rising from the tub. Discarding his towel, he stepped under the gushing water.
The hot water felt so good on his aching muscles. He hadn't seen this much action in one day in a long time. Not since he was still with Beatrix. When they first married, they really pushed each other to stay active, to stay in shape. It was when she announced her pregnancy that things began to change. Perhaps it was her removal from the service that sealed things. Not being able to be on the field doing what she loved and being cooped up in the barracks with nothing but her thoughts made her really reflect on her life and where it was going. Had the life he was providing really been so horrible? Her Majesty did not hesitate to tell hi that he had never been the problem. But he was a large part of hr life, by saying she was unhappy with her life was also saying she was in large part unhappy with him.
Damn! He had never been such a pessimistic man before.
He ran his fingers through his long tresses as he let the water cascade over his head. It felt dry to his touch. All this sweating was no good for his hygiene. He found himself wondering if Lani would mind him using her shampoo. When she left it out she must have intended for him to use it. Well, the bottle was nowhere empty and he would go easy so he figured there was no harm. With that thought, he reached past the shower curtain and captured the bottle. Too bad it was such a womanly scent. But then again, who would be smelling his hair?
He slowly worked the viscous fluid into his hair, trying his hardest to make a little bit stretch as far as possible. It certainly did smell good for what it was and he found himself wondering if this is what Lani smelled like. She was someone who was always full of surprises.
He rinsed the suds out of his hair and put the shampoo bottle back in the line where it belonged. Perhaps he should use the conditioner too? No, he felt he was already overstepping his limits by using her shampoo, the last thing he wanted was to appear greedy. So he leaned his head against the wall under the shower head, letting the steamy water relax every muscle in his body.
As much as this adventure was about Beatrix, everything he did was for her, the face that was flashing in his mind's eye did not belong to her. The ghost of his thoughts was a vision in mahogany; deep chocolate eyes, chestnut hair and deeply tanned skin she was not too shy to show off. There was nothing shy about her. Everything she did screamed 'Behold me! Look at me! Love me!'. But when she smiled, that genuine happy smile, she could bring any man to his knees. And that moment during the battle with the great valley bird, that tiny moment his arms were wrapped around her as he pulled her out of the melee, he realized that even though she appeared so well toned, she was in fact very soft. That tiny moment stuck in his mind and he found himself wondering if those magnificent thighs she so generously showed him felt the same.
Before he could stop himself, he felt his hand grasping at his erection and beginning to stroke. Damn that woman playing at his weaknesses, damn her to hell! Within moments his breath caught in his chest and a vision of Lani in his bed, her face contorting in pleasure as he moved above her passed through his mind. But the vision was fleeting, disappearing faster than his ejaculate was running down the wall of the shower.
It took him less than a moment to regret letting his thoughts get away from him and he felt so dirty inside. "Damn, you Lani!" He cursed out loud, grabbing his wash cloth and violently scrubbing himself about the neck. "And damn me too..."