Fighter lay beneath Ranger, stroking her bare back, her head lay on one side covering the place over his heart with her ear. She could hear the irregular beat that it always took on when something was amiss. "Something's bothering you, isn't it?" Ranger stroked him calmly, her hand sliding easily over the sweat slicked skin, his heart, irregular though it was, still throbbed with life from their recent exertions.
"You know me so well…" He said quietly, his teasing smile visible to her sharp senses, she drew her tiny hand, at least relative to his own, up the length of his body and tapped his cheek.
"I should. I was there every day of your life that you can remember, wasn't I? Can you think of even one where I wasn't?" Ranger asked him with a smile on her face that was shrouded in the dark, it didn't mean anything to either of them that it couldn't be seen, it was felt.
He turned his face away for a moment, looking at a few distant candles, and the torches of soldiers walking the low walls of the outpost. "No, none that I can remember, and if there were, I wouldn't want to remember them. You were always there, and because you were, I always wondered how I got so damn lucky." He faced her again, knowing she at least, could see his face, and he raised his head up a little to kiss her forehead. He found his mark despite the cover of night, and though it was the taste of sweat that met him, he didn't care.
It was hers, and that made his heart pound hard enough by itself.
She snorted a little, "Lucky? Not many orphans call themselves that." The invisible smile became winsome and she lowered herself to kiss the side of his neck, breathing in his masculine scent while she did it.
"Not many men of my stripe, or any stripe, get to grow up with their lovers." He said wryly and swatted her ass with a slight snap of his wrist.
She pouted a bit, moving her hand to touch the swatted place. "Yes, but enough games, I know something is bothering you, Fighter, spill it."
"Our newest member. Yes, he's strong, but he's naive, and even though it's dark I know you're giving me that look, Ranger. I'm not jealous because he handed me my ass. There's always someone stronger, I know that. Strength and innocence though, they're a dangerous combination, very dangerous. To those around them, I mean."
Fighter wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her hard, pressing her breasts tight enough to make her briefly gasp before he relaxed his grip. "It'll be fine, unlike my ribs just now." She teased him and flicked his nose with her forefinger, before giving a loving giggle. "We were all naive once, he just needs to learn, gain some experience, and he'll be fine. At least he listens, even if he is a bit 'close lipped' about his family. Don't worry, we'll do enough jobs like this one, make enough money to buy a place of our own. We'll buy a nice inn, and then spend our lives telling stories about our adventures to our kids. Maybe Thief can run the front of the house, and Bard can be the entertainment…" Ranger stopped speaking and covered her lovers lips with a kiss at the same moment that he did so to hers. Who went first for the other, no spy could have said, as the couple made love to one another, and to thoughts of dreams shared in common.
Beyond the rare creatures of ice, all living beings sought and feared the fire. In the wild, wolves feared those flames, but were drawn to the camps of men where bright flames brought light into the darkness and kept the cold at bay. So it was with those who lay together, sharing common warmth, pressed so tightly together that two pounding hearts almost became one. Nalineth Pendar bit down on the hard muscled shoulder of her lover, concealing her cries from wayward ears like the shadow of night concealed them from wayward eyes. She tasted copper on her tongue. 'I blooded him.' She thought with faint embarrassment that brought a brief bit of faint rose to her olive cheeks.
If he cared about the blood she'd drawn, she could detect no sign. There was only the driving heat, the prickles of straw broken under their shared weight, and the tastes of desire that crossed the world sea to be discovered.
She felt her pleasure rise and crest to a shuddering release that brought tears of passion to her eyes. "Yes! More! Harder!" All the eloquence of the educated Ongeku noblewoman, the fruit of her education, was reduced to a few words, each of which alone said more than all the sonnets and poetry of passion that had ever been written before.
Her legs hooked behind his powerful thighs as he lifted her up, he was a tower of strength, like a great tree, and she became the vine that climbed him. He held her slight weight with ease and slammed her hard against a wooden beam, she felt the back of her head strike it, and she didn't care. The force rebounded her head toward him. She captured that momentum by capturing his lips for herself again, probing his mouth and tasting his exploring, dueling tongue.
When the kiss broke, she felt his hard, powerful hands tighten their grip on her ass and his thrusting begin to intensify, she locked eyes with him and clawed at his dark flesh, she arched her back like the bending of a bow, her mouth opened to give voice to words she could not make herself say.
And then she felt it, the thick pulsing of his desire for her, he was reaching his own climax, and she offered her own with it, bathing his nethers with her wanton proof of lust.
It was only when the ardent, relentless pounding began to ease, that he slowly lowered her back down to the ground. Straw cracked under her feet and she gave him an arched, clever little smile. "You really were the top of your class, weren't you Marcus?" She asked and wiped the slick sweat from her brow.
He beamed at her proudly, "Yes, I was. And that was… different." He said breathlessly while he looked the olive skinned Ongeku woman up and down.
Nalineth's eyes narrowed, "Different?" She asked. "That is disturbingly ambiguous." Her lips pursed and she crossed her arms in front of her breasts.
"As in amazing." He said with a faint graying of his cheeks where a little blush would be on the fairer skinned.
She covered her mouth and laughed. "You're a cute one." She said to him with a sharp and decisive nod.
He scratched his head, running fingers through sweat slicked dark hair. "Funny, nobody has ever called me 'cute' before. But I'll take that as a compliment I suppose." He shrugged the word off with passive amusement.
"Well it's true, and since half of anything is teamwork…" She winked at him, "yes, I know it was fun, I was there." She reached for the clothing she'd cast aside and pulled her shirt on over her head. As she affixed her armor she watched him pull up his pants. His thighs were large and powerful, and a strong masculine musk still lingered to accentuate his body, the memory of how she'd felt it, touched it, seen it, still close at hand as he slowly dressed.
"You run a lot, don't you?" She asked curiously while binding the knot at the last loop near the top of her shirt, just below the neck.
"Yes, it was part of my training." Marcus replied and tugged on a thick black boot.
"What's that like for you?" She asked, trustingly putting her back to him while she rooted through the straw searching for her own belt… and pants.
"For me? That's an odd question, isn't it?" Marcus asked and gave a little half smile while her quest for her missing pants continued unabated and the straw stubbornly resisted her efforts at their discovery.
That her pert, upturned ass still had his hand prints on it, was not lost on Marcus's sharp eyes.
"Is it? I've seen a bit of your people, even some sparring. But you're the first noble I've come into contact with, I was just wondering how it compares to my own. Is that alright?" Nalineth asked, then looked behind her and spied him checking the way she bent over. "Also, no complaining about questions when you're looking at the bare ass of the woman you just slept with!" She said snarkily and let out a loud 'hmpf'. "Men! Drag you from one corner of the world to another, and you're still the same.
He gave a broad, somewhat sheepish and boyish grin, and reached smoothly into the straw, where he pulled out her missing pants. "Maybe so, but there is no harm in asking I guess." He tossed them to her with a look of reluctance twinkling in his eyes and answered her, "For my house, we were taught the sword and bow from childhood. I would stand in place with a drawn bow for hours a day. I began with a sword by holding a longer one handed blade out in front of me, one in each clenched fist, and small cups of water were balanced at the tips. I had to hold them there until my arms screamed and the water spilled. On running days I would have to evade hunting dogs. My… ah, I guess I would call him my 'Great Uncle C', well he was a master of multi wielding. He would put me up against summoned monsters, me and my siblings and my cousins. The ones with great talent for magic were steered towards reserved academy slots. But me? I was born a combatant, so I was steered to a command path. One of my… well I guess you could call him an adoptive elder cousin, he went the adventurer route. But I'm earmarked for command. I just want to prove myself on my own first." Marcus mentally swore at his overtalking. "Sorry, I'm rambling." He rubbed the back of his head and looked away from her while she buckled her belt in front of herself.
"No, go on, I'm curious." Nalineth said with a firm nod.
"Well long story short, we fight, a lot. I had my first command at fifteen, a squad set out to hunt the Hungry Ones. That's part of the job of us who come of age. We have to make a choice, this is just my… wandering time. My chance to do something for myself before I give my life to the calling of our house."
The place he stood was in front of a few small cracks in the wood of the stall, and through it stray moonlight rushed in. He stretched out, arms widely open when he finished speaking and the white light framed him completely, reflecting off the cream colored horns that were the proof of his demonic heritage.
"Nobility everywhere. Duty and family… strange as you death worshippers are… I guess we have some things in common" Nalineth gave a sardonic little smile and stretched her hand out to him. "Come on, mr Noble Marcus Jabara, sleep in the straw with me tonight. I've got a job taking me east, you've got one taking you west… we probably won't meet again, but we can at least share tonight."
"Alright, I can do that." Marcus replied without taking his eyes from hers until she led him to an undisturbed pile of straw and gently at the shoulder, got him to lie down first. He in turn, lightly pulled her, and she complied.
A thrill went through her body as the powerful muscles he applied with gentle eagerness, drew her close to him. She allowed that drawing in, letting his body nestle into his, and drew his thick arm over top of her where it came to rest on her breast. The warmth of skin to skin contact a comfort in the night. Her lips parted to let words out, she felt them form, and then die. She killed them in the moment when she felt his breathing becoming rhythmic at the back of her neck. 'He is asleep… I should be also.' She thought and then ignored her own advice, staring with eyes wide open at the wooden wall and the strands of straw so close that they loomed in her eyes as large as grown birches. She laid awake like that until the morning sun began to cast its warmth on their still enfolded bodies.
She couldn't see that she wasn't alone in her staring. Behind her, bright blue eyes looked at her with a wonder that Marcus struggled and failed to find the words to express. He failed that way all the way until dawn, when he finally made himself begin to stir.
When he moved, so did Nalineth, each pretended to the other to wake up and stretch after a good rest. She added to her act, letting a lightly pitched groan come out as they each got onto their feet. Each hid the weary eyes by looking away from the other, and each felt awkwardness from the other that was less real than they believed it to be.
They seemed to each find a different part of the stable incredibly fascinating, 'So you got what you wanted, and now you don't know how to leave me.' Nalineth pondered as she saw his lips open and close with unspoken words.
Before their awkwardness could grow, they were saved by a shout from the other side of Harou's large sleeping body.
"Marcus! Hurry up rich boy!" Fighter shouted as he walked to the last place his comrade had been known to be.
Harou raised his massive head and looked in his direction through icy blue eyes. "Hey Harou…" Fighter slowly raised his hand and let the greater dire wolf sniff him. The heavy, hot breath of the wolf blew back his dark hair. "Sorry to bother you… but have you seen Marcus? Rich boy has somewhere to be."
Harou turned his head toward the stalls, then back to Fighter. "Thanks boy…" Fighter said and held up a strip of meat. Harou's long pink tongue lapped up the hand sized strip, exposing dripping, sharp fangs in a maw large enough to swallow a human in a bite or two.
"Traitor." Nalineth murmured toward the wagging tail of her mount and stepped a few feet away from Marcus. "I'd better go, my own employer will be leaving soon. Have a good life, Marcus Jabara." Nalineth said with a phoney smile plastered on her face and cast briefly his way, she patted Harou's side and took a clump of his fur in hand. She tightened her fist and tugged herself up. The thick hide beneath registered no pain from the pull, and the rigid grip of her boot caught the body easily. A moment later she was seated behind Harou's head.
"Good luck out there, Fighter. You all stay safe." Nalineth said politely, inclining her head before her mount padded away to a lone merchant with a single cart and two mules.
Marcus watched her go, his eyes staring into her back long after Fighter fell in next to him and waited. "You two had quite a time, didn't you?" He asked in a hushed voice, watching Marcus's face out of the corner of his eye.
"I… yeah, I think we did. Or thought we did. It was just uncomfortable this morning for some reason." Marcus let out a faint sigh and shook his head.
"Can I offer you a word of advice, rich boy?" Fighter asked, putting a meaty hand on the powerful shoulder of his companion.
"Go ahead, if I say no, you'll say it anyway, won't you?" Marcus said without breaking his view of the retreating back of Nalineth.
"You know me shockingly well already, my friend." Fighter said dryly. "Listen, the Ongeku live by stories, cut them and they bleed poetry, I swear it. She probably grew up on stories of the passionate hero falling in love overnight and throwing away his life for the one he found. Or carrying off someone who stirred up such passion that they can't bear to let them go. Tragedies, villains, heroes, they're all bound up in passion and all passions are told through stories. You spent the night with her, and let her walk away without a word. Of course she's pissed off and a little cold. What do you expect?"
Marcus groaned. "Damnit, I'm an idiot."
"Agreed, but don't worry, she struck me as a smart one, I doubt she'll hold it against you forever." Fighter slapped Marcus's back enough to slightly stagger the halfbreed, "Now come on, we've got to go."
"Right, right. I guess it can't be helped." Marcus let his gaze linger only a moment more and then fell in line a half step behind Fighter, to where their own column was forming up to leave.
The wheels slowly started to roll out, and when they'd gone a stone's throw beyond the gate, Marcus stepped out of line with a sudden, impulsive resolution crystalizing on his heart.
"Marcus?" Thief inquired with a cockeyed look.
"I'll be right there!" He said hastily and stood still, waiting until he saw the bobbing ears of the large wolf mount. Nalineth saw him, but didn't stop or speak. But she did watch him standing there waiting.
"Hey, Nalineth…" Marcus gave a clever little half smile and reached into his pocket and pulled out a copper coin. He held it up between his thumb and forefinger. "Check your pockets."
She stared open mouthed at the coin and darted her hands into her pockets as he said to do. "When did you…?" She started to ask.
"Who got you your pants?" He winked, and she blushed. "Don't worry, I'll give you the chance to take this back from me again, the next time we meet! And I hope there is a next time."
She inclined her head to him while a broad toothy grin formed one her face. "So do I, Marcus Jabara, so do I."
He bowed his head, wheeled about, and jogged back to his place in the line, leaving a warmth in both their breasts that would last the entire day.
Mu'Crassi frowned deeply. "So are things really that bad out there?"
"Sir… it is. The damn olives are a lot of things, but passive isn't one of them." Moaleh said in answer. She frowned deeply, he hadn't even waited until she'd made it to his desk before he asked the question. 'He already knew.' She realized with a swelling of pride in him in spite of herself. 'Thank goodness he listens, he's still too kind though.' Moaleh thought, and her pride became frustration, she longed to grab her horns and pull them out of her head. His expression was mysterious to most, but she read him with ease.
The faint pull at the corners of his small inward facing minotaur mouth, the way he looked at the map on the wall, it was part of his nature that she loved and revered, he stood slowly from his desk and folded his dark, fur coated minotaur hands behind his back. His ample belly shook when he walked over to the map he'd been eyeing.
Moaleh crossed to where he stood and craned her neck up at him. The demon-elf advisor held her hand up and touched his broad, thick bicep. "Mu'Crassi… Governor…" She whispered.
He swallowed and swept his hand out in front of him, bringing it across the map. "Do you know why I look at this map when I'm troubled, Moaleh?"
Moaleh looked at the map closely, it was nice enough. Wheat golden silk, it faintly shimmered when the light hit it, the map spanned the empire from their far flung colony over the sea, to beyond the Slaughterlands and the eastern edge of the Aiwenorian Province. Rugged mountains, massive deserts, thick forests and vast open plains, and on the great empty places, artistic renderings of beastman corpses colored like the dead empires they represented, were a mark of happiness for her. She searched the map for an answer to his question, and found none.
"No, no I don't." Moaleh replied, keeping her hand on his bicep, she looked away from the map and back up to her companion.
"Because… I'm acutely aware of everyone. There…" He pointed to the Elf Kingdom. "Queen Zesshi has ruled there for generations. I visited there on a pilgrimage, they have a statue in the capital to the Dark Savior and her wife. My grandfather knew her, you know? I grew up hearing stories about the days when the Slaughterlands were freely able to raid my homeland. Have you ever been to my province?" He looked away from the map and down the long snout of his face, to her own.
Moaleh's head shook in denial. "No sir." She murmured. A picture already forming in her head of where he was going. "A lot like mine, I'd guess. You had the Devor, didn't you? I had to fear the Tlalmok."
He didn't answer, not directly. "Memorials to the sacrifices, everywhere." He said in a hushed voice and pointed to the Minotaur Kingdom. "The Ulm dynasty still rules today, they had the prison that held the Dark Savior closed and turned into sacred ground. My status as a merchant came from my father, still following in my grandfather's footsteps. It set me on the path to this." He pointed to the swamp lands. "The great grandson of Zaryusu the Wise still rules there. His ancestor brought unity with the toadmen at long last. Do you see?" Mu'Crassi asked in a quiet voice, his thick lips shaking as he spoke.
"I don't…" Moaleh replied, but kept her voice gentle. "Sir, help me to understand."
"Zesshi brought understanding with the humans, Zaryusu with the toadmen," his voice picked up in pitch and speed as he began pointing to various provinces, "The Grand Matriarch brought peace in the Faithlands, Calca with the Demihumans, Nua between cities, the Dark Savior between so many races… now here I am." He brought his hand over to his province. "Now it's my turn. The Ongeku are the only ones to venture among us, but there are many… many other peoples. If I treat them fairly, balancing out our laws with their customs… I believe we can keep the peace. Peace creates wealth, wealth well managed creates security, happiness, and no more memorials. Discipline is important, you know that better than anybody else I've ever met. And you are devout, loyal, I trust you in that…" He turned his whole body to face her and put both massive hands on her slender shoulders.
"But?" She asked through dark lips that closed tight at the question.
"But your contempt for the natives is palpable, 'Olives' is spat out of your mouth as if you'd just bit into an apple and found 'half' of a worm. They are not of the Black, but one day they will be. Showing your contempt for them won't help things." Mu'Crassi explained, then stopped speaking when she stepped sharply back, the sharp crack of her shoe on the wooden floor ringing over the office.
"Our priests who go out, they don't come back. Explorer class priests, something has been happening to them. Doesn't that matter?!" Moaleh exclaimed and Mu'Crassi lowered his head.
"Yes, but they go knowing the risks. As long as no violence is done on our own ground, colonial and imperial policy is that the ones responsible are acting on their own. I know how you feel, your region was essentially remade by the Great Explorer, but this is how it is." Mu'Crassi said and taking her shoulders again, he squeezed them roughly. Her soft flesh gave easily and she winced under the calloused fingers of the middle aged merchant, and he removed them immediately.
"It makes the Ongeku bold, sir. They'll act on our own ground like these local workers turned rogue elements. We need to crush them now. Terror works, it worked for the Dark Savior, it worked for the Great Explorer, the White Hand, it worked for the Grand Matriarch even. We can't just do nothing. Please… let me crush this before it grows…" She kept her head craned up to catch his eyes and asked again desperately, "Please… for peace."
Mu'Crassi shook his head slowly, sadly, and leaned against the wall, laying his hand over the part of the map that indicated the Slaughterlands. "I'm sorry, I really am, Moaleh, but I just can't agree with you this time. We will walk the middle path until they force our hands."
"I pray to the god of death that your way is right, but I fear, I fear greatly, that it is not, my friend." She gave a very small, fragile smile with her dark purple lips, "But whether you are or not, I'm with you to the end."
"I know, I know. Now what else do you have for me today? Any progress finding the rogue elements?" He asked, deliberately choosing a topic he knew she would favor, it settled her down by the time she took a seat in front of his desk. She folded her hands in front of her on the thick dark wood of his office desk, and began to fill him in on everything she knew before he'd even claimed his seat for himself. To Mu'Crassi's relief, it seemed that for the present at least, Moaleh was herself again, if the animated smile was any indication.