The Duelist 3, page 14
“A-Alex, oh, my love,” she moaned, clutched the back of my head with one hand, and gyrated against me as the aftershocks of our tsunami-like pleasure continued to ripple through us.
“Shit, shit, fuuuck,” I huffed, and I couldn’t help but continue to kick my hips through the last few strong spurts. I couldn’t remember the last time I ever came so long or so hard, and it was almost a relief when I was finally spent.
Somehow, I had gathered us both up after the storm swept through us, and I kept us both connected as I held a quaking Shay in the shelter of my arms.
“Baby, baby…” I cooed against the shell of her ear. “God, you’re so amazing. You’re beautiful.”
She still didn’t quite have full control of her voice yet, so instead she just squeezed my arms around herself even tighter until her shaking subsided.
“I love you,” she breathed in a shuddery voice, and we both tried not to wince when my softened member slipped out of her.
“I love you, too, sweetheart,” I murmured into the nape of her neck. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m alright,” she said in a shy tone and tangled our legs together. “K-Keep holding me, okay?”
“For as long as you need,” I said and drew one of the quilts over us so she wouldn’t catch a chill.
We spent a few long moments just bathing in the afterglow of such intense lovemaking until Shay dozed off with light snores whuffing through her elfin nose.
My brain was still trying to piece itself back together, but for some reason, I wasn’t tired. The muscles of my thighs and back twinged a little, but in a primal and satisfying way, and I felt loose and limber as if a pressure valve had just been released.
Leave it to my two wives to arrange this and know exactly what I needed.
“Oh…” Shay sighed as she sensually stretched herself awake from her short nap.
“Hello, Sleeping Beauty,” I said and nuzzled the side of her face.
“I didn’t mean to fall asleep,” she mumbled and turned around in my arms, and her low-lidded eyes roamed over my face as if she was committing every line to memory. “Or, maybe I’m still dreaming.”
I brushed her tangled hair out of her eyes and kissed her softly for a few moments on her flushed lips.
“Let me take care of you?” I cupped and held her dear face and kissed her in between her thin eyebrows.
She nodded hazily, and I got us both sitting while I dragged the discarded picnic basket closer to see what else was in there.
Shay had managed to have the forethought to include a few woot fruits, some nuts, and a little bread, which would make a perfect “After-Romp” snack. Along with the food, she also packed some cloth napkins and her double-ended comb, and I smiled as a little plan for Tender Lovin’ Aftercare took shape.
The first thing I did was make sure Shay was taking care to drink the water out of the center of the ruby peach-like fruit before I noshed on my own snack, and then I began tidying up the Love Nest.
I chuckled inwardly at the evidence of our… enthusiasm, and I went about arranging the various pillows and throw blankets back into some semblance of order.
Shay watched me with a serene expression as she nibbled on a piece of bread, and I grabbed the softest blanket out of the pile so I could wrap it around her narrow shoulders.
“I’ll be right back,” I said and pecked her nose.
Then I grabbed the cloth napkins from the amazingly useful Mary Poppins Picnic Basket and walked back to the natural hot spring so I could clean up a bit and wipe off any excess evidence of our lovemaking. When I was clean enough, I took the remaining clean cloth, got it damp, and hurried back to Shay before it could cool too much.
I locked eyes with her, and an achingly intimate moment passed between us as I wiped her perfect skin free of anything soiling it.
Then I got to the space between her legs, and I watched with a faint throb of lingering arousal as her pupils blew wide while I cleaned her most intimate place with the heated cloth.
Shay sighed like a dove and luxuriously stretched and flexed her muscles, and the sight of her was so indulgent I felt like I was feasting on the richest of desserts like crème brulee, or Belgian chocolate ganache.
It was satisfying to see my woman so sated, and I couldn’t help but crawl up her soft body when I was done so I could taste the fluttering pulse against her throat.
“I th-thought this was su-supposed to be about you?” she asked in that halting breathless way that always made my heart flutter with how endearing it was.
“You are wonderful for doing all this for me,” I told her as we cuddled again under the blanket. “And it gives me pleasure to show my appreciation by taking care of you.”
“No one’s ever--” she faltered, and I tried to soothe the sudden chill out of her skin by rubbing my broad palm up her arm.
“I’m here now,” I stated simply, and we continued to embrace under the canopy and watch the stars.
It would have been perfect if it weren’t for the familiar black streak of the disagreeable crane-mantis as it flew overhead with an obnoxious: “Bucaw!”
Igoric.
The monger, Horus’ messenger bird, was back.
Chapter 10
“Was that--?” Shay sat up from where she was almost completely relaxed against my side, and she scrambled out of the Love Nest to try to get a glance at the monger that just flew over us.
“Babe, wait,” I said and rushed after her so I could at least wrap the blanket around her still-naked form.
“Alex, I think my brother has sent some correspondence,” she breathed as she clutched the fabric around herself and eagerly watched the feathered monstrosity glide toward the manor.
“Where are we, by the way?” I asked as I finally looked around and established my bearings.
“We are just west of the manor,” she said and hurried back to the lounge area in search of her clothes. “Where is my top?”
I followed her and shimmied on my pants while Shay kept trying to find her missing garment clad only in her silvery skirt.
“Here,” I said with a chuckle as I slipped my tunic over her head and untucked her long hair from the collar so it could splay comfortably around her. “Okay, let’s go.”
We skipped arm-in-arm through the little glen where the secluded hot springs was located just on the edge of Ithaca estate, and I couldn’t believe I hadn’t known about the little treasure until now.
But leave it to Shay to uncover this little gem and make it truly shine.
We agreed as we jaunted back to the manor that we would both have to bring Zoie back to the Love Nest as soon as the occasion called for it.
“Although, I don’t think she likes being submerged in water for too long, and I’m not even sure if she can swim,” I said and swung our clasped hands as we walked past the barn.
“I’m sure our Zoie would much prefer a long nap in the sun,” Shay giggled.
“You noticed she does that, too?” I laughed.
Before the phoenix-woman could respond, a high-pitched scream startled us both and had us crashing back to earth from Cloud Nine.
“Heeeeeelp!” The scream tore through the air again, and the barn doors banged open as the raccoon brothers nearly ran into us.
“What’s happening?” Bodin asked, and he scooped up his iconic painter’s cap that had fallen off his head.
“I don’t know, we just got here,” I said as the four of us started off toward the manor at a run.
“We were just tidying up for the night when we heard it, too,” Mel graveled out in his rough voice.
“Heeeeeeelp! Get it away!” the victim shrieked again as if they were being tortured.
I almost thought the worst, but when we all piled into the entrance hall, I huffed out an exasperated sigh.
“Demon!” Vel-Rala wailed from where she was crouched under the sideboard by the door.
“It’s not a demon, you swat,” Zoie grumbled as she watched the monger fly around with her arms crossed over her chest.
“It’s evil!” the cockatoo-woman screamed again.
“Not evil, madam, just incorrigible,” Jenner growled as he waved a butterfly-net type thing that was proving completely ineffective.
“What does that mean, Mr. Jenner?” Rylan asked as he tried to sneak up on the pest with a wooden crate.
“It means fiercely, obnoxiously, annoying!” The koala-man tried to lunge at the black crane-mantis creature, but Igoric flapped his wings and perched on one of the arched rafters.
“Bucaw!” the disagreeable beast said and cocked its head a near one-eighty.
“Let me get my throwing knives,” Zoie said with a dark scowl.
“Now, now, there’s no need for that,” Shay sang and marched to the center of the room with the picnic basket still in the crook of her arm. Then she rummaged around in the basket for what looked like a strip of roasted meat from the sandwiches she’d prepared for our ‘date.’
“Hello, husband,” Zoie purred as I maneuvered my way to her side while my phoenix-wife strode determinedly to the center of the hall and pushed up the sleeves of my tunic. “Are you chilled?”
“Wha--?” I asked as I struggled to tear my eyes away from the sexy image of Shay in my oversized clothes. Then I remembered that because my tunic was on Shay, I was, in fact, shirtless. “Oh, heh. No, I’m good.”
“Mm, it seems as if you both are.” She grinned like the cat that got the canary, even though I was the one who just got their world rocked by our nightingale’s fiery passion.
“Impossible monger!” Shay exasperated and shook her finger at the stubborn bird-thing. “Get down here right now!”
“Bu-bucaw!” Igoric squawked, puffed up his greasy feathers, and landed with a solid thunk on top of Vela-Rala’s hiding place.
“Aaaaaaahhhhh!” she screamed, and a few of her white feathers from her crest floated to the ground in her agitation.
“Back, you cur!” Bodin said and brandished a broom he got from somewhere.
“Raaaawk!” Igoric said as he hopped off the sideboard and right into Shay’s arms.
“Hush, you!” she chastised and tried to retrieve the scroll fastened to the struggling creature’s leg. The moment she took the scroll, the feathered nightmare reached down and nipped at her finger. “Ow!”
Before I could do something like throw the fucking thing through the window, for example, Rylan beat me to it.
“Hey!” he yelled with a fierce scowl on his young face. “Not the lady, you bastard!”
Then he snatched the monger by its scrawny neck, threw it in the crate, and sat on top of it so it couldn’t escape.
“Hooray!” Shay cheered as I went over to her so I could check her now bleeding finger. “My hero!”
“Good job, Ry,” I said as I examined the wound that ran the length of her finger. “Can you get some bloody liver from Arvid in the kitchen? Maybe that’ll make it calm down.”
“I’ll take it from here,” Jenner said as he came over and stood on the crate so Rylan could run off to get the irritating thing something to eat that wasn’t my wife’s fingers.
“Are you alright?” Bodin asked as he peered at Vel-Rala still cowering under the table. “He’s put away, now, there’s nothing to fear.”
Then the taller of the raccoon brothers extended his hand like a proper gentleman and helped the agitated cockatoo-woman to her feet so she could smooth the wrinkles out of her plain yellow dress and apron.
“Thank you,” she said curtly and then eyed both of the brothers. “Who are you?”
“I’m Mel, madam,” the shorter brother said with a tip of his head.
“And I am Bodin, milady,” Bodin said and bowed so deeply at the waist his hat actually fell off, and he scrambled to put it back on. “I heard there was a new maidservant who came to live with us, but I did not know she would be so beautiful.”
“Hm,” the cockatoo-woman sniffed and turned her nose up at first, but then she glanced askance at the masked-man as if she was intrigued. “You have manners on you, farmhand, that don’t go unacknowledged.”
Bodin looked like that little bit of tepid praise could send him to the moon, and I exchanged amused glances with both of my wives.
Then the koala-butler cleared his throat and pulled a clean handkerchief out of his blue velvet jacket. “Yes, anyway. For your finger, Shay.”
“Oh, thank you,” Shay said as she took the cloth from Jenner, but she was much too distracted with Horus’ letter to really tend to her finger, so I took it upon myself to try and stanch the bleeding while she read the letter.
“Don’t squirm,” I chuckled as Zoie helped the one-handed Shay with the rolled-up message.
“Horus sends his regards!” my phoenix-wife informed us and then began to relay the important parts of his letter for all of us to hear. “He is still safe, but still refuses to tell me who he is with-- the frustrating thing-- also says he will meet us at the Battle Hall after the Tithing Ceremony the day after tomorrow.”
“Oh, shit,” I said as I had an existential moment of dread. “The Ceremony is tomorrow. Why does time go so much faster in Aventoll?”
“Do not fret, husband,” Zoie’s cool water voice said, and like it always did, her soothing timbre set me back on solid ground. “You have been preparing for the trials of tomorrow night, and you will do wonderfully.”
“Well said!” Jenner patted the cat-woman on the arm and then made a shooing motion to the three of us. “And in light of tomorrow’s events, I propose we all get a good night’s rest so we can journey to Gatetown. We must leave early so we can get to the Magistrate’s before mid-epoch.”
“Who all is going with us?” I asked.
“All of us, naturally,” Jenner said with a grin. “The Tithing Ceremony is Nata Isle’s proudest event. Ambassadors from all of the other Isles come to shed their blood for their people.”
“It doesn’t seem like it would be enough to provide every island with tithes for the whole year-- er, I mean season,” I mused.
“No, you are correct,” the koala-man said and looked like a proper professor as he stood on the crate adjusting his monocle. “The top Ashers of each island must replenish tithes at the pools on their own islands at least three times a season. But the first of these is the great Tithing Ceremony, which is held at Aventoll’s first and oldest Tithe Pool. The one you saved from poisoning, my boy.”
“Oh, wow,” I said as my knowledge of Aventoll culture increased with this little tidbit. “So, this ceremony is kind of like a New Year’s celebration.”
“What is this ‘new ear’ you speak of?” Jenner asked.
“People all over the world I come from celebrate the start of the new season,” I explained. “We call ‘seasons’ years.”
“Splendid!” the koala-man said and rocked up on the balls of his feet. “I do so enjoy learning about your Traveler culture, Mr. Alex. One of these days you must permit me to document some things.”
“Any time, Mr. Jenner.” I grinned but then slowly frowned when a logistical concern suddenly occurred to me. “How are we all going to get to Gatetown, by the way? Did we ever retrieve our busted carriage from the trail where it broke?”
“Not to worry, Mr. Alex,” Mel said and shifted on his feet. “Bodin and I went back to where Miss Shay instructed us and retrieved the carriage. We just finished repairs on ‘er this evening.”
“Um, yeah, I guess I really have been distracted,” I said and sheepishly rubbed the back of my neck. “Thank you all for taking care of all of the details.”
“We even made a little buggy for Arvid so he won’t fall behind!” Rylan butted into the conversation as he came back from the kitchen with a bloody hunk of meat between his fingers for the hangry monger.
“You are in good hands, sir,” Bodin said as he tugged the brim of his cap.
“Quite,” Jenner added and then clapped his hands a few times to hurry us along. “Now, trust us to finish up, Mr. Alex. Off to bed with you, pip pip!”
“Whatever you say.” I shook my head and held up both hands as I let my wives escort me up and away to bed.
The next morning arrived with as much chaos as one could imagine when packing up the entire family for a camping trip.
I didn’t even attempt to meditate like usual because all of us had our separate duties to attend to, and it ended up being easier to just rendezvous at the carriage house for our last-minute powwow.
“I think we need to set up a patrol this time,” Zoie said as she studied a map of our route to Gatetown in the pre-dawn dimness. “There will be a lot of foot-traffic on our way, and the potential for bandits or Mercenaries is high.”
“Good thinking,” I said as I loaded the heavy-ass shield into the back of the carriage and took one of the straps from Mel so we could fasten it to the back. “Mel, would you and your brother mind being a part of the patrols?”
“Patrols?” Bodin asked as he popped up from checking something under the carriage. “Count us in!”
I scrutinized the eager raccoon-carpenter with an arched eyebrow.
He was fooling no one with the way he kept glancing over at Vel-Rala as if looking for her approval, but the cockatoo-woman was currently ignoring him as she inspected her nails with a bored expression.
“That’s great, Bodin,” I said and tried not to wince in sympathy. For his part, Bodin seemed wholly unfazed by the snub and tugged the brim of his cap like usual, so I turned back to Zoie. “What did you have in mind, kitten?”
“We should start by having two at the front and two at the rear until it’s light enough outside,” my cat-wife said, and seeing her get all tactical was hella sexy. “Then, after the darkness is no longer a hindrance, we go from two pairs to just one on a rotating basis so there’s at least one armed person at the front and back at all times. Bodin, Mel, what types of weaponry do you feel confident enough to wield?”
