Dan the Adventurer, page 10
part #2 of Gold Girls and Glory Series
“Oh Hades,” Dan said. “Tell her to relax. She doesn’t need to fight anybody. I know she’s tough. What a pain in the ass.”
“These woods are dangerous,” Lily said. “If the hobgoblin pledges her ax to you, she will be valuable.”
Dan didn’t know much about hobgoblins. He’d fought them as a first-level character in T&T and knew that they were tougher and smarter than goblins or orcs. Ula would certainly be helpful in a fight.
“She will challenge you, however,” Holly said
“Challenge me how?”
“Hobgoblins know war and strength, nothing else. If you are strong, she will defend you with her life. If you’re weak, she will either abandon us or try to take over the group.”
“And if I refuse her offer?”
“She will attack one of us to prove her strength or hunt us as we travel.”
“That’s crazy,” Dan said.
“If you don’t want her,” Lily interjected, keeping her voice calm and conversational, “kill her right now.”
Whoa, Dan thought, reconsidering Holly’s kid sister. That was pretty dark advice.
Ula looked Dan up and down, studying every inch of him, and snorted with seeming disdain.
“What was that all about?” Dan asked.
“She’s starting to doubt your strength,” Holly said. “You keep asking for our opinions. A strong leader is autonomous and decisive.”
The simplest thing would be to kill the hobgoblin right now, with no warning. Just punch her in the face, rip out his sword, and let her have it.
But that would be murder, and he would regret it forever.
He didn’t want her attacking one of his girls, though, and he didn’t want her following them as they traveled, sniping stragglers or slipping into camp to slit his throat while he slept.
“All right,” he said grudgingly. “Tell her I accept her offer to help.”
Holly grunted at Ula, who grinned fiercely. The hobgoblin turned back to the wagon, wiped her hand along the floor boards, and held up a crimson palm for Dan to see. She grunted at him, thumped her chest, and licked blood from her palm.
“What the Hades is she doing?” Dan said, disgusted.
“Taking her blood oath,” Holly said, clearly suppressing a grin. “She swears to protect you and fight your fights until her debt is paid.”
“Great,” Dan said, turning away from the disgusting spectacle. “Whoa—what are you doing?”
The red elves were pulling off their clothes, exposing the most perfect bodies Dan had ever seen.
“We are preparing to thank you, Master,” the red elf with gold-flecked irises said. She was the most beautiful of the bunch, he realized, a fact punctuated by her impossibly perfect bare breasts. “We are not talented warriors, but we are experts at the pleasure arts.”
For a second, Dan just stared in disbelief. Sure, they were inhumanly hot and more or less naked, their firm red bodies raised in gooseflesh and streaming with rain. But he had two beautiful wives, was in a hurry, and this wasn’t exactly a pleasure palace. They were standing in the cold rain at the middle of a muddy road, surrounded by the dead.
He waved them off impatiently. “Put your clothes back on. We leave now. The faster I get you to Fire Ridge, the faster I can get on with my life.”
16
On the Road Again
They left the wagon in the mud and unhitched the ox, which followed Holly like a lost puppy.
Between its slow plodding over the muddy road and the short strides of the gnomes and red elves, the going was slow.
Very, very slow.
Dan grumbled with frustration as they trudged through the rain, struggling over steep, heavily wooded hillsides.
The red elves sang as they marched. Their voices were lovely, like musical instruments, but within the context of a maddeningly slow march through dangerous wilderness, the cheery throbbing of their songs soon set Dan’s teeth on edge. Finally, he barked at them to stop their singing.
Walking beside him with her axe at the ready, Ula laughed and laughed.
They stopped early, needing extra time to set up camp and find food, as the slavers had been living off the land, foraging rather than living off rations.
Lily led them a short way off the road to a steep hillside, where ledges of exposed rock created a series of relatively dry alcoves that would fit all of them save for the ox, which Holly instructed to bed down beneath some roadside hemlocks.
The rain stopped, but the forest floor pattered loudly with the sound of dripping trees. Downhill, a swollen stream thundered.
Holly and Lily went off to forage. Nadia, who had shifted back to human form, walked off in a different direction. Ula disappeared into the forest along her own angle.
Using a shovel taken from the slavers’ wagon, the gnomes dug a fire pit and encircled it with mossy stones.
Humming cheerily, the red elves rolled logs up to the fire pit for seating.
The green elves lurked, watching the others work, until Dan told them to gather firewood and kindling from beneath the leaf litter.
Dan built a fire tepee at the center of the pit around a nest of twigs and bark shavings and tried to start a fire with his knife and a rock. Again and again, he struck the rock with grating blows, spraying the kindling nest with sparks, but managed only smoke.
“Allow me, Master,” the red elf with gold-flecked eyes said. She reached out, almost touching the kindling, and began singing softly. A spray of small sparks rushed from her fingertips, and the kindling nest ignited.
Dan grinned. “Thanks, um… what’s your name?”
“My name is Thelia, Master,” the tiny beauty said with a flutter of her long lashes. “I am happy to serve you.”
Shortly after the fire caught, Holly and Lily returned, having gathered roots, nuts, and clumps of pale moss that could be rendered into a bland yet nutritious tea.
“Thanks,” Dan said, wanting a steak and some of that elvish whiskey instead.
When Nadia showed up a short time later with a rabbit, Dan grinned and said, “Now that’s more like it!”
They prepped and spitted the thing and started cooking it over the fire, which was growing stronger now.
Ula returned then, carrying two rabbits, which she had already dressed and cleaned at the swollen stream downhill. She chopped a sapling, sharpened two branches, skewered both rabbits, and grinned at Nadia’s contribution with contempt.
“Show off,” Nadia grumbled.
Ula snorted and squatted beside the fire, holding the spitted rabbits over the crackling flames, firelight gleaming on her eyes and tusks.
The good smell of roasting meat made Dan’s stomach grumble. He was starving.
When the gnomes sidled close to the fire, sniffing the air and casting hopeful glances toward Ula, the hobgoblin jerked in their direction, snapping her teeth, and laughed as the gnomes retreated into one of the alcoves, where they joined the ranks of the trembling red elves.
The green elves grumbled in their own alcove, eating roots and looking miserable.
“Let them grumble,” Holly said. “They know how to forage.”
The red elves, on the other hand, were pretty much helpless, she and Lily agreed.
The red elves had once been a proud race, Holly explained. Long ago, they had built impressive fortresses and had been famous for their amazing and formidable fire mages. But having conquered their domain, they went to seed, focusing on singing and sex instead of the things that had made them great.
The last of the fire mages disappeared centuries ago. Since then, their numbers had dwindled, their keeps had crumbled, and their magical powers had dissipated. All that remained were far flung tribes of stunted elves with nice bodies.
Dan told them about Thelia lighting the fire.
“That little spark show was about as good as it gets with modern red elves,” Lily said. “They’re doomed.”
“The green elves are much tougher,” Holly said. “They probably would’ve made it home on their own, but why bother if they can just travel with us? They’re uncivilized but not entirely stupid.”
Dan nodded but could read the bias in the tone of his grey elf wife. He would listen to everything that she and Lily told him, but ultimately, he would have to form his own opinions of the other elves.
It had been a long, grueling day. They were cold and wet and hungry. But most of all, they were tired. Bone tired.
Holly was most exhausted of all, and no wonder there. Over the course of a single day, she’d watched her husband get beaten to the brink of death, gotten kicked out of her grove, killed a couple of people, and trudged up and down muddy hills through the rain.
By the time they bedded down, the forest was dark.
We could’ve been in the catacombs by now, Dan thought. Hades, we might’ve already made it to the Pool of Dreams and climbed back out.
Holly and her sister retreated to the corner of the alcove, whispering in Elvish. Lily rubbed Holly’s back, cooing to her in comforting tones until they curled up, spooning, and fell fast asleep.
A few feet away, Dan sat with Nadia. Beyond the alcove, the forest was dimly and strangely lit by the combination of the moonlight falling from clearing skies and the flickering flames of the campfire downhill.
“What have we gotten ourselves into?” he said.
Nadia shook her head. “A pain in the ass. But we couldn’t just leave them to die. You can’t be a hero if you only help people when it’s convenient.”
Dan grinned. “Is that what we are, heroes?”
Nadia made a face. “Not me. I’m a thief. You, on the other hand? You have hero written all over you.”
Dan stifled his laughter, not wanting to wake the elves. “I’m a barbarian, not a hero.”
“Try telling that to your red elves,” Nadia said, and mocked, “Oh glorious master.”
“At least they’re good judges of character,” he laughed. Then, pointing downhill to where Ula sat, sharpening her massive battle ax beside the campfire, he said, “What do you think about her?”
“It’ll be good to have her on our side,” Nadia said, “as long as she doesn’t turn on us.”
“Holly said the hobgoblin blood oath is strong.”
“Strong but not unbreakable,” Nadia corrected him. “If she thinks you’re weak, the oath falls to pieces.”
“Remind me to scowl a lot,” Dan said.
“Trouble is, hobgoblins are really fucking alien,” Nadia said. “We have no clue how they even define weakness. Ula strikes me as the type of woman, if you’re nice to her, she assumes you’re afraid.”
Dan nodded. Growing up, he’d known guys like that, 24/7 hard-asses. You smiled or even nodded, they thought you feared them.
“They’re already asleep,” he said, nodding toward the spooning sisters. “Guess I’ll turn in, too.”
He stretched out on his back with his hands folded beneath his head. The ground was rocky, but he was so tired that he didn’t care.
Nadia cuddled up next to him on her side, her face dimly lit by the magical dagger she’d propped against the back wall.
“Hoping to dream?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he said. “I hate putting off the catacombs. What if Zeke needs us?”
Nadia reached out and touched his face. “Either way, I’m glad you agreed to help those pitiful-ass red elves.”
“Why? I thought they annoyed you.”
“They do annoy me. They’re hopeless. But we can’t just let them get eaten by predators.”
“Hmm,” he said, “for a non-hero, you sure are noble.”
“Blow me,” she said, and gave his shoulder a playful punch. “If the clouds clear out, I doubt I’ll be able to sleep tonight. The moon’s almost full.”
“Well,” he said, closing his eyes and feeling the heaviness of sleep settling down over him, “do me a favor and don’t bother waking me to announce that you can’t sleep, all right?”
Nadia said something, but his consciousness crumbled into slumber.
A short time later, he was awakened by the chill of cold air on his now exposed pelvis. “What are you doing?” he mumbled.
“The moon makes me crazy,” Nadia whispered huskily. She had sheathed her glowing dagger, so the alcove was completely dark. Beyond the outcropping, the clouds had broken apart, silhouetting Nadia’s upper body against the blue-white illumination of the near full moon.
Nadia’s mouth enveloped his soft member. She didn’t use her hands or pump her head up and down. All she did was suckle his softness in the darkness of the cave, warming him and brushing him with her tongue as he swelled, filling her soft, warm mouth.
Soon, he was fully erect.
Nadia crouched over him on all fours, licking the tip. He liked the shadowy curves of her body, especially her perfect breasts as they swayed in the cold night air.
“You make sleeping difficult,” he joked.
“Shh,” Nadia said. “You don’t want to wake your sister-in-law, do you?”
Dan growled as Nadia sucked him in earnest then. Her question lingered in his mind. It was risky, fooling around like this only a few feet from Lily. She had night vision, after all. If she woke, she would see their heat signatures, see the shape of Nadia’s head sliding up and down his pole of heat, taking his length in her mouth and down her throat.
Dan tried to stay silent. Part of him wanted to drag Nadia out in the woods to avoid waking his sister-in-law, but Lily’s nearness served as a twisted turn-on. It would be so simple to reach out and touch Lily in the darkness.
Of course, if he actually did wake her, Lily would probably be startled and disgusted. She would leave the alcove, and Holly would go with her, pissed at Dan and Nadia for going at it beside her sister—especially considering everything that Holly had gone through over the course of the last couple of days.
Dan felt a wave of guilt, but that washed away when Nadia tugged off his pants. She helped him to slip quietly from his shirt, and he felt her naked body crawl on top of him. She kissed him in the darkness, biting playfully at his lip and neck, and then lowered her hips, impaling herself on his rock-hard erection.
Nadia gyrated, grinding her sex against his pelvic bone. She was always an enthusiastic lover, but tonight, excitement thrummed off of her like electrical current.
She ground hard against him, her whole body shaking, her breath ragged against his earlobe. Normally, she was a talker, urging him to go faster and harder, but tonight, whether because she was trying to be quiet or because she was too swept into the pleasure, she let her body and breath do the talking.
And he could definitely feel what Nadia wanted in this moment. She wanted him to hold still as she ground against him; wanted him to worship her breasts as she leaned forward, dangling them over his face; and wanted him to nip and mark and claim her. As his own excitement built, he sucked harder, and Nadia gasped when he took her hard nipple in his teeth and gave a gentle squeeze.
After a while he pushed Nadia off him and forced her down flat on her stomach. Normally, he would have pulled her onto all fours and pounded her from behind, but doggy style got loud fast, and he didn’t trust her or himself to stick to a gentler, kinder doggy style.
They might start that way, but after a few thrusts, one or both of them would lose their mind, stop giving a shit about waking the elves, and start going at it in earnest. Thirty seconds later, the hard slapping of their naked bodies would wake every last member of their motley crew of traveling companions.
So he pushed her flat on the ground and entered her from behind. He slid his hips forward, sinking his entire length deep inside her tight channel.
Nadia whimpered softly.
He pulled back a few inches, then shoved forward again, pinning her in prone position for several seconds. Then he pulled back a few inches and buried himself again. He moved slowly, not jamming himself into her but pressing firmly and holding himself at full depth before withdrawing partway.
Sticking to this slow, steady rhythm, he lowered his chest to her naked back, cupping her head in his hands. Her face turned sideways, and although he couldn’t see her in the darkness, her shallow, rapid breathing and trembling body told him to stick to his machine-like rhythm.
Sex isn’t all gymnastics. Sometimes, when you find a groove, no matter how simple, the best thing to do is stick to it and let the pressure build.
And that’s exactly what he could sense happening in Nadia as he pumped away with short thrusts that paused slightly on the down stroke to press against whatever button he was hitting deep inside her.
He grunted with surprise when he realized that they were being watched.
And not by Holly or Lily.
Feeling something tickling at his barbarian nature, he turned to see Ula squatting at the mouth of the cave. Her yellow eyes glowed feverishly against her red face, which looked almost purple in the moonlit night. Her sensuous lips parted in a gleaming grin.
Startled, Dan froze for a second.
“Don’t stop,” Nadia whispered desperately. “I’m so close.”
For a fraction of a second, Dan stared at Ula, who stared back at him expectedly.
Is this a test? he wondered. Was this twisted hobgoblin warrior woman judging his strength even now?
He decided that he didn’t care.
He thrust into Nadia again, pumping away with the same, short strokes only a little faster and a little harder.
Nadia responded, trembling and whimpering in the darkness. She reached back, found his hand, and pushed his fingers into her mouth, sucking them and stifling the sounds of her pleasure as she built and built and finally tensed and bucked beneath him, moaning into his hand.
Panting, she reached back with her hands and pushed at his hips, dislodging him from between her legs.
His own build had been interrupted by the surprise of realizing that he had an audience, but Nadia’s orgasm had hurried him to the edge, so his body wanted to keep thrusting away. But he crouched there on all fours as she rolled onto her back beneath him and shimmed down so that her face was beneath his hips.
