Ch 4. Inheritance and Companion.

A cold wind had started kicking up the dust on the eastern road later that day. I had passed a caravan traveling from Pol'Anthis carrying textiles and metal work as well as spices and any number of other things. The caravan master asked about the road ahead, and I told him it was clear of deadfalls and dangers, which he seemed to be pleased by. Had any bandits or monsters been present, I would have been easy prey, I am sure.

We parted ways, and I had given the caravan guards respectful nods in passing, then thumped my mount into a trot that ate up the miles until sunset when I decided to make a light camp beside the road, and get some rest. I didn't light a fire, because that would have just been a beacon to any wandering creatures. Instead, I tied the horse's reins to a branch, covered myself with a heavy blanket and leaned back against a tree with my naginata laying next to me.

As expected, the dreams of hunger, and need, and desperation made rest a fleeting thing, and I groaned awake before the sun had even given the false light of dawn.

I pressed the mare to give me a bit more that day, I kept feeling an urgency, a constant itch of fear just under my skin. In my head I wondered what kind of creature had been let loose into the wilds.

In the dreams, I had seen the road through an increasingly red haze and felt the sharp pangs, and aches that left me curled in on myself. My dream self was torn between wanting to simply curl up and give in, and a pleading, begging side that refused to surrender.

As I passed the miles, I dwelt on the dreams and questioned the link. Why was I having these dreams? What was the cause, and why was I feeling this intense anxiety? I rolled those questions over and over in my head, even while looking over my shoulder at the darkening clouds behind me. I was losing the race, and the storm was catching up and overtaking me with every minute that passed. I let out a frustrated hiss as the first drops fell on the road around me and tugged at the reins, guiding the mare off of the road and into the forest on the south side. I was going to have to find shelter. I glimpsed a rocky outcrop through the branches and dismounted to lead my horse through the trees.

By some stroke of luck, I discovered a gully that led up between two hills and ended in a rise with three large slabs of stone that formed an overhang. Some time in the past, a large creature had chosen it as its burrow, but had long since either traveled on, or died. What I found was large enough to shelter the horse from the worst of the incoming storm, and myself further in.

I quickly gathered as much firewood as I could, and swept the ground clear of the worst of rocks and bones left behind by the previous inhabitant, then I went back out as the rain began falling harder and pulled fallen branches around the opening. If I was attacked by anything, I wanted some kind of obstruction to slow them down before they could get to my horse, and hopefully give me enough time to intercept and fight them off.

With the rain now pouring down, I pulled the saddle off of my horse and gave her a rub down and a bag of oats from the bags she carried. Thank the gods for Bentis, he had thought ahead and kept me from being stepped on in my sleep for neglecting the very accommodating beast. I did my amateur best to show my appreciation for her efforts getting me this far.

When that was done, and the light was fading to a sullen gray outside, I cleared a spot for a small campfire on one side of the cave, and chopped the driest branches I had gathered into smaller bits with a hand axe, shaving tender from one of the branches then started the fire to give myself some light and get the cave a little warmer.

Tonight, I didn't want to repeat the mistake I made the previous night. When I woke up that morning, my entire body had ached from cold muscles and from sleeping against a tree. I laid out the sleeping roll between the fire and the extra firewood, then settled in to make my dinner. I pulled out the camp pot I had purchased, and propped it up over the fire with a few branches, then filled it with water. Some chopped meat and dried vegetables tossed into the pot, dashed with a few select spices, and dinner was in process.

This was my first time back in the wilderness since the day I had entered Hawksbarrow, and I had to admit to myself that it felt a bit strange. It wasn't as though this was my first time camping alone. I had done enough of that in my previous life. It was this constant underlying tension and the dread of the dreams that I had been experiencing. I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out what was going on. Did it have anything to do with the fact that I was reincarnated? Was it the unnamed god telling me something, warning me about something? Was this why I had been given this life? To be some otherworldly beings' errand boy? If so, it would have been nice to be told that this would be my purpose. But, no. He just said, 'Go, live life. Good luck and see ya.' and then gave me the boot.

I shook my head and stirred the pot, then added the last chopped vegetables while I grumbled about gods being rude and uninformative.

Looking back, I could kick myself. Just kick myself. Three weeks of being around people, sleeping in a safe place with warmth, comfort and other people around me and I had completely lost my survival instincts. I had gotten complacent, and given too much trust toward a tired animal to warn me that something wasn't as it should be.

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The dreams came again. I expected them, knew that they would climb over me like a parasite and steal my rest. The thunder and the rain and the crackling of my small campfire drowned out the sounds from beyond the mouth of the cave that I had taken shelter in. All I knew was warmth and the exhaustion of hard, nerve wracking travel. But there was also a feeling of excitement, elation and hope. That alone should have woken me. It didn't. The sensation of feeling a chill breeze didn't wake me, nor did the weight of another body slipping under the blanket and settling in with me.

Everything felt muted, deadened. It was as if I had been smoking some of the best sativa that could be grown, and my body was as numb as my thoughts. I felt tugs at my pants, and the sensation of something warm and wet around my cock, pulling at me, coaxing me to hardness and my body obliged. I thought, maybe, I was remembering my tryst with Tio and how pleasant she felt. I thought that maybe the nightmares had run their course, and I had panicked for no reason at all, that there was nothing to be afraid of. I groaned in my sleep as the feeling of lips and tongue slid up and down along my shaft, nursing and tugging at me in increasing desperation.

As my breathing quickened, so did the movement and sensation of my dream lover's mouth on my cock, urging me desperately toward release. My hands moved, reaching toward my hips and finding hair and a feverishly warm head, I gripped her head and began pulling and pushing, using my dream lover's mouth as I groaned in pleasure. I felt the head of my cock pressing against the back of my dream lovers mouth, and slip into their throat and moaned louder in my sleep when they swallowed around the head, their tongue slipping back and forth along the underside and twitched a little as they pulled back, their breath rolling over my damp skin and sending a delightful chill through me just as they dove back down, taking me back into that wonderful warmth.

A wave of need and hunger rolled over me as I neared my climax and spiked as I released my cum into that waiting mouth. My hands clenched into the hair in my fists, holding my dream lover still so I could empty myself into their mouth as I shivered with every pulse, and felt a growing exhaustion flow over me.

Each pulse was answered by elation, gratitude, relief and a wave of renewed vigor.. And then a rolling rush of satiated, near intoxicated bliss. I relaxed my grip in their hair as well, and collapsed back into a dreamless sleep.

I could kick myself as well for not being awake for that first encounter. Though in all honesty, it was probably for the best.

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I am not sure if it was the clomp thump of the mare letting me know that she was awake and hungry that woke me first. The rain was still coming down out beyond the opening of the cave, probably harder than the night before, I wasn't sure. Somewhere along the line, the sensations started filtering into my consciousness. I was warm and comfortable, with the exception of my right leg. It felt, to me, like the blanket was disproportionately heavy on that side. And then there was the caress of something warm and slick on my cock that sent a jolt of panic into me.

"Oh, Fuck! Something crawled in under the blanket and is slowly eating me!" I thought in a panic, but I forced myself to stay still. Any sudden move could provoke an attack and I was completely unprepared. I braced myself and moved my hands as slowly as I could, moving my right hand up to my chest and my left a little lower and lifted the blanket with as much nervous caution as I could.

Twigs, and a couple of leaves tangled into white hair were the first things that caught my eye. And then a discontented voice came from around my groin along with the sensation of continued sucking and the feel of whatever it was slipping around the side of my cock eliciting an automatic stiffening of my flesh, which seemed to prompt more sucking and a shift in the weight over my leg and a happy sigh that pushed warm air over my exposed hip.

"Slimes don't have hair. That's a good sign, right?" I convinced myself as I reached down and pulled one twig loose from the dirty hair around the weight resting on my belly and tossed it to one side. Doing so caused whatever it was to shift more, and it turned, slowly revealing a light mocha skinned, heart-shaped face, and bright blue-green eyes that blinked blearily up at me.

I barely started to ask.. "Hey, Who are.."

And then I was hit by vertigo, like the world had suddenly dropped out from under me by a foot at the moment our eyes met. I saw a disorienting flash of amber and multicolored light, sigil filled designs encircled by runic formulae and pulses of electricity arcing around me, and me. I watched the young life of a girl through her eyes; her physical and mental training, her endless lessons in body magic and the tempering of her mind magic.

I watched as she was shown her failed brothers and sisters as they devolved into madness driven by starvation, and the few that struggled to retain their sanity as they were presented with a horrible choice of devouring helpless victims or following the others into becoming uncontrollable killers. I felt her terror, her dread and I also felt her shock as she was enveloped in amber, left alone to fall into an endless sleep.

During this flood of images and emotions, I sensed an echoing reciprocation of being observed, my life and experiences, my tumble into the dark catacombs and struggle to survive and find my way to the surface and civilization. It was like our lives had been exchanged and described in a flash. It left behind a feeling of being watched or listened to, and I traced that sensation through my awareness and followed it to the young woman who lay under my blanket with me, but it left behind questions as well.

I must have blinked, because I was looking into those green eyes again and they were looking into mine for a long minute before she slid her mouth slowly off of my cock and licked her lips.

"Mamjhali.." she started, then shook her head. "Master. I found you." she said softly, switching languages. Then she lowered her head back to my belly and I felt her arms wrap around my legs and hold onto me tightly.

"I almost gave up, master." she continued, and started shaking, while I remained stunned and unable to fully process what was happening.

"I almost gave in and.." she sniffed and started sobbing against me. I don't know what compelled me, probably compassion or instinct, but I moved my right hand down, pushing the blanket down along with it and caressed her hair to comfort this young woman.

"A young woman who had slipped into my camp unheard, and burrowed under my blankets, and then proceeded to undress me and.." The moment of realization dropped on me then, the dream last night was not a dream. She had done that, and I hadn't even been awake for it at all.

I stroked her hair, pulling the twigs and leaves from the tangled mess, and pitched them to one side.

"Hey." I said calmly. "Who are you?"

Her response was muffled, so I had her repeat herself.

"I'm yours, master."

"Heehhhhh...." I sighed out. Part frustration and a good deal of trepidation. "Give me a moment, please." I said as I extracted myself from her and slipped out from under the blanket and off of the bedroll entirely. I stood up and fixed my pants, putting myself back together both physically and internally as I crossed the small open area toward the cave mouth.

Clump-thump.

"Yeah, I hear you horse, I hear you." I grumbled as I leaned down and pulled two collapsible leather buckets from the saddle bags. I poured water from the large skin on the back of the saddle, and filled the other bucket with oats from a sack and left them for the mare, who dipped her muzzle into the oats first, munching and crunching contentedly. Every now and then I would look back toward the girl wrapped in my blanket with only those green eyes visible behind messy white hair. The rest of her, which wasn't much, was shrouded in the heavy, double thick blanket.

I grabbed a branch and used my dagger to shave kindling into the stone lined firepit, then laid small branches over that and started the fire again from the few remaining coals that still glowed in the ashes.

I didn't say anything for a long while. She didn't either. We just watched each other as I fed the fire until I thought it was hot enough, then placed a peg legged skillet on the stones above the fire and started cooking. I sliced and fried some salt-cured bacon, and then toasted some bread in the grease. The next thing I knew she was lurking over my shoulder staring intently at the food I was making, and I was being pushed almost sideways as I looked at her.

"Uh.. hungry?" I said feeling more than a bit crowded.

"What is it?" she asked, in a near whisper.

"Food." I answered simply and tried to push her back a bit to give myself some room to work. She looked at me, then back to the sizzling bacon and bread and then backed off with her eyes on the ground.

"I'm sorry, master." she said softly.

"Yeah.. about that." I said, trying to bring my head around to address some important issues. "Look, I'm not your master." I said, and caught a flash of her expression before she ducked her head.

"Was that.. Pain? Fear?.. What happened there?" I wondered.

"Master.. please.." she said, so softly that I almost didn't hear her.

I shook my head, sighing and concentrated on not burning the food. I brought out a wooden plate and made a sandwich with the meat and fried bread then cut it in half and offered one half to her. She looked at me in confusion and then hesitantly took the food and brought it to her dirty face and took a bite. I did as well, but my reaction was far less enthusiastic than hers. The moan she let out would have caused a nun to have a heart attack, it was so erotic. I almost choked on my bite as a result, but managed to swallow what I had been chewing. Then a filled a cup from the water skin and took a gulp before offering the cup to her.

She was eating like she had been starving, and by the dirt, twigs and leaves in her hair, it wasn't hard to imagine that she was.

My mind was boiling with questions, but the one that came out first was not the most obvious one.

"Earlier.. When you looked at me." I said, trying to frame the question correctly and struggling with it. "What was that?"

She chewed the last bite of her portion of food and swallowed, her whole body expressing relief and satisfaction even though it had hardly been what I would call a full breakfast.

"I.. I am not certain, but from what I was told, it must be The Bond, master." she said, and then lifted her head and looked into my eyes. "Everything that I have learned and been shown, I can now give to you." she said and her expression was a mixture of fear and eagerness, as though she were a first time driver being given their own car.

I shook my head and held up a hand to calm her down. "Why don't you explain that a bit better."

Her excitement turned to confusion and then she nodded.

"I was bred to be yours, master. I was educated, trained and instructed to be my masters guard, healer and.." she shrugged blushing. "Anything else that he needs or desires."

I listened as I chewed, watching her. She didn't seem to feel bad or resentful about any of what she was saying. It was just a matter of course, like speaking of the rain outside. It just was what it was. I, on the other hand, had some issues with it. It wasn't her, or what she had said or even how she said it. It was in a certain knowledge that this breeding and training of her was entirely in character for what the lich king would do. He cared nothing for anyone, or anything so long as it was a means to increasing his power. The question, and the doubt that I had slipped past my tongue before I could actually think on it.

"Is that what you want?" I asked. I wasn't about to spend half of my time beating someone into behaving any certain way, while I was fighting monsters and people to make a living.

She looked into my eyes and her expression was open and honest.

"I do not know any other way to be, master..." she then let her eyes drop. "If I do not.. I would be like.."

"The others." I finished for her remembering the vision of her siblings, and she nodded. I watched her as I thought things through, putting the pieces together. I didn't want to assume anything, so I asked her.

"The others, you.. what are you?"

She brought her eyes up, meeting mine again.

"The one who gave birth to me was a creature of lust, a demon, my teacher said. My progenitor, who you would call a father, was a Svarthani slave, the elves of the deep deserts and caverns. I am a cambion, a half breed."

I sat with her in relative silence while the storm outside growled and blew, and dumped rain down onto the forest in sheets.

"When you found me," I said, gesturing around them at the cave. "You got into my bed." she nodded as she listened.

"But then you.." I waved my hand toward my crotch.

"Fed from you, master." She confirmed, and her cheeks darkened a bit under the dirt and grime. I got distracted by that, because I thought that if I could get her bathed, she would actually be very cute. She had a small, straight nose that turned up at the end, full lips and a narrow chin. Her jaw line angled up to her lobeless, back swept pointed ears that peeked out from under the tangled mess of white hair. I had to admit, even dirty and grimy she was very cute.

What she said sparked something in my mind, memories that weren't my own and I remained silent as I reached for them, putting them together and began understanding what she was, and why I had been having those dreams. The lich king had made a bargain after one of his phylactery had been destroyed. He had been seeking a truly loyal guard and companion. She had been crafted, selectively bred and trained to be the escort and concubine to the lich in his next incarnation. She had been, crudely, genetically made to be dependent on him, to feed from him and him alone. Her life, I realized, was irrevocably mine in a way that no other slave could be in this world. It was, honestly, a bit unsettling.

I was now responsible for her, and if I failed in my responsibility, she would become a danger to anyone around her. I would need to feed her, not just food and drink as any other slave, but regularly give her life essence to sustain her.

For a while, as I fed more wood into the fire, keeping up the light and warming the cave, my mind acted like a decaying transmission in an old car, shifting gears was difficult, but eventually I settled into where I needed to be and nodded to myself. I had to admit, there was a juvenile part of me that was grinning in glee, but there was also the more wise and responsible part of me that knew that this could be a challenge and I needed to know that I was equal to that challenge.

"Tell me your name." I said, determined not to be stuck calling her 'slave' for the rest of my life. Because it was very much for the rest of my life if I understood the situation correctly.

"The one who instructed me called me Laerika." she said, and there was something in the way she said it that brought my focus back to her.

"Is that your name? Or is it just what this person called you." I questioned.

She shook her head. "It is simply what I was called. It is what I was meant to be." I continued to look at her, expecting clarification.

"Laerika is a Svarthic word. It means a thing of pleasure. A toy." she explained.

"So, your name is Toy." I chuckled. "So be it, Laerika. My name is Nazaqi Hayle."

Laerika smiled and bowed her head.

I sighed and shook my head. "I'm sorry, but I can't talk to you while you are covered in so much dirt." I said, which erased her smile and she looked down in shame and a bit of fear.

"I have questions for you.. But let's get you clean first." I said as I stood up and picked up my overcoat. "Stay here." I instructed, slipping my coat on and walking past the horse who was watching the storm outside, her ears flicking this way and that. I picked up both buckets and stepped to the edge of the rainfall, looking down the slope into the gully. There was a fast moving stream now, where the day before there had been a dry cleft that ran down the hill into the forest.

I briefly contemplated avoiding getting wet by using magic to call water into the buckets, but I did not want to become reliant on it. Besides, I had no idea what creatures might be in the area that could be sensitive to the use of magic. So, a quick dash to the channel and I filled both buckets, then I dashed back into the cave carrying them by their straps.

I set them both by the fire, and spent a few minutes rigging the longest branches I had left to suspend the buckets over the fire, then fed the flames more wood to get the heat up. I pulled a few things from my bag, and a rough cloth from the saddle bag and laid everything out while Laerika watched me curiously.

While we waited for the water to heat, I thought about what it meant to have a slave. I reflected on the conversations I had had with Bentis and Arani. Now, looking at Laerika, I acknowledged that this could be a good situation for me, and for Laerika. But certain things had to be understood.

The water began steaming and I gestured for Laerika to come closer. "Leave the blanket. I need to wash you."

Laerika stood up, and let the blanket fall to lay on the sleep roll at her feet. Underneath, she was very much naked, the dirt and grime of mixed sweat and dust did nothing to hide her figure.

She stood all of about five feet tall, well formed and very much an adult in the way her hips were formed. She looked healthy, toned and.. I had to admit, she was gorgeous. She had pleasantly rounded hips, a slender waist, a flat, toned belly and full, perky c-cup breasts. I thought they would fit very nicely in my hands. My eyes drifted down over her belly to her hips and then down the gap between her thighs, it was a gap that I could slide three of my fingers into without hindrance, and I was delighted at the sight of her bare sex with just a patch of fine white hairs in a stripe above the petite glistening slit of her pussy. As she moved closer to me, she didn't quite walk as much as she glided across the cave floor, and every step seemed steeped in sexual allure. I glanced up to her eyes, searching, and it seemed that what she was doing was completely natural, an unconscious easy sensuality that simply dripped from her.

I turned my attention to the steaming water, and dropped the rough cloth into it, then picked up the bar of soap and pulled the cloth out to get a good foam going. "Turn. Face away from me." I commanded, and she turned as I stood up behind her and began washing her body from her shoulders down.

"You say that you are mine." I said.

"Yes, master." she answered simply, turning her head slightly to listen to me over her shoulder.

While I washed her, I admit that I cheated a bit and used mind magic to slip into her mind and monitor her thoughts and feelings. I listened to her breathing and watched her reactions to every touch. It was an effort at first, like an under-used muscle that was suddenly demanded to lift more than it was familiar with, but eventually I could feel her thoughts moving within her mind. I slipped my arms around her, fondling her breasts and heard the catch in her breath and felt the spark of her arousal. As I soaped over her belly and hips she moaned softly, and more so when I handled her with more firmness and confidence. I started talking as I moved the soapy cloth from her shoulders down her arms to her hands, gently scrubbing away the accumulated filth that she had gathered since her awakening within the catacombs.

"I am an adventurer, what they call a Freesword." I said as I dropped down to kneel behind her, soaking the cloth and soaping it again, then cleaned her lower back, hips and the firm globes of her ass, indulging in my curiosity as well as my desire to test her reactions, I pushed my hand between her thighs, causing her to gasp and jerk her hips back toward me in some involuntary reaction. I turned my hand, palm up and caressed her mound with my fingers, cleaning her and teasing her slit. She breathed out a soft whimper, almost below my ability to hear as I smiled in satisfaction, feeling her lips as they began to puff up with her arousal. I ran my thumb back and forth over the pucker of her rear, which elicited a moan from her and another involuntary twitch of her hips as she tilted them back, trying to get more pressure from the digit that teased her.

"I take contracts to hunt monsters or bandits, or defend merchants from being robbed while they travel." I slipped my hand from between her thighs and continued cleaning down along her legs as I talked about what I was going to be doing. She shivered now and then when the wind blew cold air into the cave.

I had her turn around and guided her hands to clasp her fingers behind her head while I washed her face, throat, breasts and belly with the warm soapy water. I kept my eyes on hers, seeing her eyes widen and dilate in arousal as I used the warm soapy water to rid her of the dirt she had accumulated.

"When I take those contracts," I continued. "You will be there with me. I will need you to guard my back, warn me of dangers and protect those who hire me."

"Yes, master." she said with a bit of heat in her voice, and I smiled as I rinsed the cloth and used it to wipe away the soap remaining on her skin. Laerika's hair was still a tangled, dirty mess, but I decided that would have to wait for our return to Hawksbarrow, a hot bath and a warm room. Then I took up the towel and began drying her from top to bottom.

"When we are among others, you will do nothing to harm anyone who is not seeking to harm us. Am I clear?" I said firmly. She nodded and I could see she understood, though she was a bit short of breath as I used the towel to wipe away any moisture from her breasts, the relatively soft cloth caressing her nipples and leaving them stiff in their wake.

I decided to reward her commitment and leaned forward to take her left nipple into my mouth, sucking on it and flicking it with my tongue. She whimpered, and I thought that she almost moved her hands, but tightened them at the last second, just as I looked up into her face and caught her looking down at me. I pressed my teeth to eraser sized nub of flesh and smiled as I growled, "good girl."

Laerika blushed and let out another whimper.

I let her nipple go and leaned back, toweling dry her belly and back, gripping her firm ass cheeks in my hands and then pushing the towel between her thighs to pad her sex dry. I was amused to find that she had gotten moist from the bathing and the teasing, and brought my left hand up to give her puffy folds a light caress.

"I will use you, Laerika." I said, as my mind settled, finding more resolve and commitment to being in this world. "And I will do so as often as I please, or at the least as often as I am able." I said, finishing the task of drying her and then standing in front of her. I towered over her by a foot and a half, making her tilt her head back to look into my eyes.

"Please, master. Use me." she begged in a breathy whisper and when she said it, it was with a yearning ache that consumed her. I tossed the towel onto the saddle to dry as much as possible, and as the rain came down, bringing life giving water and rolling thunder I gripped her shoulders and took her back to the bedroll, laying her down and kneeling over her with my hands on either side of her shoulders. Laerika's skin goose-pimpled from the chill breeze ghosting into the cave's mouth and over her, and I paused as I second guessed my intentions. She must have seen something in my eyes because she brought her hands up, one moving to my hip, fingers slipping toward the belt holding up my pants and gently tugging on it as her other hand curved over my cheek and then slid her cool fingers into my hair and curling, pulling me down toward her face. Her desire won me over and I leaned down to kiss her, my lips pressing against hers, her soft lips gave way to mine, parting and allowing my tongue to taste her breath as I felt the fingers of her left hand become insistent and a soft grunt of frustration at her inability to get at what she was craving.

I smiled and sat up, breaking the kiss and brought my hands to my tunic, lifting it over my head and laying it to one side, then unwrapped my belt from my waist, sat on the edge of my sleeping pad and kicked off my boots while Laerika stroked my back. I quickly stripped out of my pants and grabbed up the blanket, pulling it over the both of us as she rolled onto her side and pressed herself against me, my arm draping over her and hugging her to me. I honestly should have been more considerate of the fact that it was wet and cold outside, because the coolness of her skin against my told me what she had neglected to; she was freezing, shivering from the cold and very eager to share that fact with me and to leach off of my warmth.

"Oooohhh" She cooed as she snuggled into me, tucking her head under my chin. "You're so warm, master."

I chuckled, stroking her back with my hand and felt her leg slip between mine as she gave a last shiver and settled into me. We lay there like that for a few minutes while I gave our situation some serious thought. I found it more than simply cruel that this young woman had been bred, born and raised as little more than chattel by the lich, all for the sake of company and who knew what else. I also struggled with conflicting thoughts and feelings on the matter, but in the end I looked back on The Bond, as she had called it, and knew that this wasn't something I could simply set aside considering what she was. Ultimately, I felt that I had to take care of Laerika, but how that took shape was entirely up to me.

Laerika had grown warm enough to forget the chill air outside of the bedroll, and her hands had begun to wander from my chest to my sides and belly down to my hip. I knew where this would end up going, but I wanted to take control of how we got there, so I rolled us, placing my hands on either side of her shoulders again and kissed her. First her lips, then her cheek and the line of her jaw. Her legs moved, slipping out from between mine, her knees slipping up to my hips and starting to lift until I moved a hand down, stopping one from circling me. I shifted down, leaning my weight on my right elbow and pinning Laerika in place with my hand while I kissed and licked my way to her breasts.

I tugged the thick, soft blanket up over my head as Laerika's hands slid up my sides to my shoulders, her eyes following me as I began kissing and licking her freshly bathed skin, moving from one breast to the other. They were things of magic, in my opinion, full, firm and capped with small hardened nubs. I spent some time licking and kissing the flesh of her under-breast, my tongue caressing and tasting her flesh, lightly smelling of the soap I had used earlier.

I slid my right hand slowly up and down Laerika's left thigh, enjoying the feel of smooth warm skin from knee to hip as I kissed my way to her right breast, pausing to suck at her skin a little and finally taking in the stiffened nub of her nipple, causing her to gasp and then moan as I tongued it, flicking it back and forth and lightly pressing my teeth to it. Laerika's hands instantly moved to the back of my head, grasping at my hair and pulling my face firmly against her, mashing me into the firm mound of flesh in a very pleasant way. I shifted my knees back and lay my weight down over her, not relaxing fully, but resting enough of my weight on her that she was pinned in place. Her hips curled and bucked up against me, pressing her dampening mound against my belly and twisting from side to side as she felt her clit grind against my skin.

I smiled and let her continue, I would be tending to that bit of needy flesh shortly. I wrapped my lips around her nipple, then opened my mouth and sucked harder, pulling more of her sensitive skin into my mouth, my tongue lashing back and forth over the stiff nub for a moment, then I let it go and kissed my way across her chest, down one slope and up the next as my left hand caressed her arm, then slid to her side to brush my fingers along her ribs. I wasn't attempting to tickle her, but I heard a gasp and a giggle regardless. I smiled and filed that information away for later. I moved my hand slowly up to cup her breast, giving the firm, full flesh a squeeze and she moaned in response as she pressed her mound against my belly, grinding against me until my right hand slid down to her hip and pressed her down to the bedroll. Laerika let out a whimper of disappointment and a slight grunt of frustration that made me chuckle.

"Fine, let's give the girl a little satisfaction."I thought to myself and edged down under the blanket further, brushing my lips over the skin of her belly in a snaking pattern. I breathed in through my nose and caught the scent of her arousal and it sparked a hunger in me, the combination of soap, clean skin and her natural musky sweet sex hurried me on my way, and even the gust of cool air on my legs and balls couldn't keep me from my intended feast.

I settled between her thighs, leaning my weight on my elbows while I kissed all around her mound, licked the soft flesh of her inner thighs and then finally pressed my mouth to her glistening sex. Laerika yelped, and her thighs clamped shut on my head, her hands gripping my hair and pressing me into her mound until I moved my hands up and firmly pushed her legs open. I lifted my head away from her needy sex and looked up.

"Put your hands behind your knees, Laerika. Hold them open for me until I say otherwise." I commanded.

I could hear the mix of frustration and need in her voice, but she finally replied, "Yes, Master."

Her hands left my hair to grip her legs and pull them apart as I had instructed. Then I bent back to my task. Laerika's hips had been pulled upward and in the dim light being let through the blanket, I could see her sex spread open a bit. Her lips were puffy and glistening with the juices of her arousal. They were petite, demure little folds that barely protruded from her outer labia, and I couldn't resist opening my mouth and laying my tongue flat over them and licking her slowly from her opening to her clit in one slow taste of her causing her to let loose a whining squeal of pleasure.

Laerika's juices were absolutely amazing. Musky and sweet, the flavor of her filled my senses as I listened to Laerika whimper, her hips shivering and bucking slightly as I dove back down to taste her again, letting my tongue roam over her outer lips and back again to slide up along her slit and begin dancing it over her folds without any pattern at all. My hands joined in the action, spreading out over her ass cheeks and spreading them a little. I pressed my thumbs to her puffy outer lips and spread them as well, opening Laerika up to my explorations and I heard her give a grunt of surprise and a whimper as she called out to me, begging and encouraging.

I allowed myself to get lost in her moans and the taste and feel of her sex on my tongue for a while as I simply held her hips in place and sated my hunger. When I brought my attention up toward her clit, I could feel her tense and eager little whimpers came to my ear. I used my right thumb to slowly stroke her slick folds, moving it back and forth over her opening, eliciting little uncontrollable jerks of her hips in reaction. Laerika was very tightly wound up at this point, and I knew that I could have simply moved up and impaled her on my cock, but I wanted to know everything I could about her, how she moved, how she liked being touched, where her body was most aroused.. And most of all I was simply enjoying the taste of her lust as though it were the most exquisite wine. Turning my hand, I started brushing my fingers back and forth over her slick folds, moistening them as my tongue slipped up and down, back and forth over the nub of Laerika's clit.

The tremble in her thighs, along with the whimpers and moans, said that Laerika was ready to step things up, and I slid my middle finger inside of her. She let loose a long moan of pleasure as my finger penetrated her. She was tight, and I could feel the tension in her as I delved further, She was obviously unused to the sensation. A second later, I encountered the reason for that, and I lifted my head, pulling my lips from her sex and licking them as I gently probed inside of her. The tensing of her hips when I encountered the barrier brought a soft curse from my lips.

"Laerika.. Have you never been with a man?" I asked, doing my best to keep the surprise and the caution from my voice.

Laerika paused, as though having to struggle to process the question, then she spoke softly.

"Of course not, Master."

I lifted my head further, pulling my hand away from her dripping sex, and using it to pull the blanket back enough that I could see her face. Her cheeks were flushed, and her expression was a mixture of hunger and concern.

"Tell me why." I asked, and she let out a frustrated whimper as she relaxed a little.

"I was never allowed, Master." She said, looking into my eyes and then away as she blushed. "I was permitted to feed a little now and then, as long as I behaved and dedicated myself to my training, but.." she shook her head a little.

"I was only ever meant for my Master." She brought her intense green eyed gaze back to mine, and I could see that she was trying to convey something that she couldn't put into words. Here we were, hiding in a cave, laying on nothing more than a thick sleeping pad in the middle of a downpour, with the smell of wet horse and camp fire smoke, and she was offering me her virginity. For a moment, I hesitated.

"Maybe we should wait for this.." I said, voicing my hesitancy.

"No!" she objected in a whine. "Master, please."

I frowned, watching her as she squirmed, and her blush blossomed even deeper.

"I'm.. Master, I'm still hungry." she admitted softly. I took a breath to ask what she meant, and then I felt something I had never felt before. A touch on my awareness, an eagerness, a yearning and something more. A hunger that was deep and nearly desperate.

For an instant, I had thought about getting Laerika back to the Crow and Shield, a soft dry bed, a warm safe room. But then that pulse of hunger and desire flared again as her hips moved a little, tilting up toward me, seeking, and her eyes locked onto mine silently pleading with me to devour her, take her and make her completely mine. I relented then, and nodded, dipping my head down and kissing her sticky folds, watching her eyes slip half closed as she moaned, still clinging to the backs of her knees obediently as I opened my mouth and tasted her again, licking and sucking at her thick labia, sliding my tongue up and down along her slit and pulling gently as she lost her struggle to keep her head up and watch me devour her.

I felt her feet land lightly on the backs of my shoulders, and the quiver in her thighs as she gave herself over to me, surrendering her senses to what I was doing to her, and as though she had been holding back I felt and tasted even more of her juices on my tongue and lips and dripping down my chin. My right hand returned to caressing her, stroking back and forth over her folds and occasionally pressing my index and middle fingers to her opening. my left still gripping her ass cheek, spreading her while I consumed her juices and listened to her moans become increasingly loud. Her breathing had become fast and short as she climbed higher up the mountain of her climax, little wordless vocalizations encouraging me to push her further with little pleas and begging whimpers.

I moved my fingers back and forth rapidly as I wrapped my mouth around the nub of her clit, licking and gently sucking, flicking it rapidly with the tip of my tongue and then pressing down on it with the flat as she began bucking her hips uncontrollably. I slid my fingers down a bit, having coated them with her juices, and made circles around the pucker of her ass, her body jolted, hips bucking hard against my mouth as she yelped and shook. This was what I had been waiting for, and I closed my mouth around her clit, pressing my lips against it and bit gently as I pushed my middle finger inside of her rear.

Laerika gave a short scream of startled pleasure which blended into a long, drawn out quavering squeal of release as she came. Her pussy convulsed and her ass clenched down on my finger as her juices poured out of her to the accompanying theme of her stuttering whimpers and moans of release. I was honestly surprised that Laerika had managed to hold onto the backs of her knees for as long as she did, but once her whimpers turned to a steady stream of moans, it seemed too much for her to maintain and I felt her heels slip from my shoulders to land with muted thuds on either side of me.

I gently kissed and caressed her mound, staying away from the most sensitive parts and finally lifted my head and began crawling up over her, bringing the blanket with me to keep us both warm. When I was face to face with her, I wiped my chin with my hand and looked down at her face. If nothing else in the last half hour had been enough to make my cock hard enough to break down a brick wall, the sight of her expression would have. The half-lidded, relaxed and blissful expression made me want to kiss her, so I did. Our lips met, and parted, tongues reaching out and touching as her hands came up to run her fingers shakily into my hair, clinging to me with an exhausted effort.

I lay over her then, the heat of her skin and the softness of her breasts and thighs against my skin pulling a groan of hunger from me. My cock was trapped between us, the head of my cock pressed against her clit as she rocked her hips up into me and then brought her legs up along my thighs to wrap them around my hips, locking her ankles together behind me.

Laerika broke the kiss, pulling her head back and looking into my eyes as we lay nose-to-nose staring into each other's eyes, her right hand releasing her grip in my hair and reaching between us to wrap her fingers around the girth of my cock, guiding the glans down between her slick folds to her opening.

"Please, Master." she moaned, and the sound of her voice was smoke and silk in my ears. I obliged, tilting my hips and pressing the head of my cock to her opening and moaning as I felt her folds part around me as I pushed into her slowly. Laerika's pussy was slick, hot and oh gods so wonderfully tight. If it wasn't for her demanding hunger, I would have worried about the fit, but she pulled my lips to hers, kissing me hard and I felt her inner muscles slowly give way as I penetrated her. Her pussy clung to me, gripping me as I forced my way inside of her and she whimpered, her right hand moving to my back and pulling me firmly as I felt the barrier of her hymen.

I felt her tense for just a moment as my glans encountered that barrier, but then she took a breath and pulled at my hips with her feet, encouraging me to take her. I slid back just a little and then pushed forward, breaking through her hymen as she grunted in pain, but refused to release her hold on me. Then I was past it, her inner muscles tense and her legs shaking as she kissed me furiously, moaning and gasping as I paused, waiting for her to relax a little and become used to my invasion of her depths. She was having none of it though, her heels digging into my hips and dragging me fully inside of her as I groaned, feeling her tight slick walls clinging to my shaft and glans. Inch by inch I filled her, stretching her open and forcing her cunt to shape itself to fit me. Finally I had myself buried entirely inside of her and she broke the kiss, laying her head back and gasping. Her arms and legs trembled, the muscles in her belly fluttered and her cunt gripped and spasmed around my girth, so tight and so wet that I was amazed that I managed to last this long inside of her.

I paused then, watching her as she moaned and gasped, waiting for her to fully explore the sensation of having me fully inside of her.

"How are you, Laerika?" I asked, keeping myself still and resisting the desire to start fucking this tiny ball of pure sexuality in my arms.

"So.. full, Master. Sooo goood," she moaned, and I felt her inner muscles relax a little, my cock shifting to take up even more space within her before she clenched again, gripping at my shaft and moaning in bliss. I myself felt like I was on the verge of exploding inside of her, her hot, slick insides were gripping and practically pulling me into her even though I was holding as still as I could, breathing and kissing her neck and shoulder. Then I rocked my hips back a little, sliding out only a couple of inches and then slowly back into her.

I slid my knees up, hiking her legs higher up on my sides and pressed my hips down, burying my shaft into her again as the flood of sensations flowed into and through me. The feel of every ridge and clenching muscle gripping at me, the feel of her arms and legs holding tightly to me as I took her was all building up and piling on, but I took a deep breath and pushed back on all of it, delaying the coming storm for as long as I could.

Laerika moaned into my ear, kissing and taking it between her lips, breathing out in whimpers and gasps as my hips rocked back and drove into her again a little faster each time.

"Oh. Gods, Master!" she moaned, her breath felt like the warmest silk sliding down my neck to my shoulder and I had to hold myself back again against the urge to simply fuck her and wreck her thoroughly.

"Ahh.. fuck." I breathed out into her shoulder. "You're so tight, Laerika. So good!"

"Yes..yes Master, take me. Use me. Fill me and make me yours." She chanted into my ear with every thrust of my hips. The speed had grown to the point that I could hear the clap of our skin on impact, and it started sounding wetter and wetter as my speed and force increased.

Laerika started whimpering at the force, if it was in pain she refused to say, but between those whimpers she kept chanting sweet erotic words of encouragement, egging me on to greater efforts. I tucked my left arm under her, curling it up and taking hold of her hair at the nape of her neck and pulling her into my thrusts. She gasped in response and I felt her inner muscles shiver around my shaft as I began pounding into her.

"Yes!" she breathed out, "Yes, master.. Harder.." I pulled harder and started truly fucking Laerika as she bent her knees up until her calves were merely stroking my sides and I felt like I was going even deeper inside of her. I lifted my head, looking at this wonderful, beautiful creation and I watched her eyes roll back as she started to tremble, her belly fluttering and the muscles inside her pussy spasming around me as she took a deep breath and hissed out a silent scream of bliss. She clenched her hands, one having strayed to my back and clawing at my skin a little painfully. It was all that was needed to push me over the edge and fight as I did, my release rolled over me, tumbling me along like a stone in a river as I felt my balls clench up and then release the flood of my seed into Laerika.

Laerika gasped, taking another stuttering breath as her legs shot up and around me, pulling me hard into her as my hips bucked and ground against her. Somewhere in the back of my awareness I could feel the head of my cock pressing hard against her cervix and a primal howl filled the cave as I pumped more and more of my essence into her. Laerika moaned as her back arched and shook, trembled and then clenched around me, pinning me to her and her inner muscles clenched around my shaft, milking me in pulses of her own, sucking my cum into her as though her pussy was another mouth, hungry for what I was spilling into her. And again I felt the gentle tug on my energy as though a weariness was slipping over me, only to fade again in the next moment as Laerika moaned and clung to me.

For a few minutes after our shared climax, there was no sound other than our panting and some light moans from one or the other of us. Then the clomp, clomp of the mare's hoof on the stoney soil of the cave mouth brought me back to our surroundings and the sound of the rain falling outside. Slowly more sensations returned, the feel of Laerika's warm, smooth skin against mine, the roughness of the blanket barely hanging onto me as we shifted a little, bringing a short gust of cool air under the blanket and over our skin. The smell of sex was heavy in the enclosed space, and the smell of her skin as I breathed in next to her neck. Slowly I lifted myself off of her, her arms clinging to me weakly but eventually allowing me to lift above her and look down at her and the serene expression on her face.

"So much.." she moaned, contentedly. "So full." She opened her eyes and looked up at me, her eyes were half-lidded and unfocussed, drifting and her moans were slurred as though she were intoxicated.

"Thank you, Master...mm never been sooo.. full." She said, as she brought her hand up and caressed my face, looking at me with absolute adoration through her hazy expression, near enough to worship that it was almost unnerving to me.

"So.." I said, lamely. "You're alright?" Internally I punched myself for saying something so dumb, but I just couldn't manage to get my brain to feed me anything better. Still, the smile that she gave me let me know that I hadn't failed too badly.

"Yes, my Master. I am very..alright." she paused, thoughtfully, seeming to slowly gather her wits, though reluctant to give up her pleasant buzz. "When I say that I have never been so full, I am not exaggerating. I mean that no time that I remember have I not felt hungry after feeding. What you've given me.. It feels like I could go a week without feeding again." She explained, which took me by surprise. But as I thought about it, something in my mind suggested she was right. There was something very unique about my body, and the relationship between her and I was one that had taken an undead mage decades to design, if not longer, and enormous effort in resources and lives to execute.

The caress of Laerika's hand broke me from those thoughts, and I decided that this moment was not the time to ponder them. I was here, far from other people and I had the company of a beautiful girl who desired and needed me. With the slowing of our heartbeats and breathing, our bodies relaxed enough that her inner muscles began to loosen their hold on my shaft, which was still rather hard inside of her. I smiled in amusement as I felt her struggle to keep hold of me as I slid out of her, and she groaned and pouted up at me as I leaned down and kissed her lips.

"We should get cleaned up, Laerika." I glanced past the mare taking up the bulk of the cave mouth and sighed. "These are still the wilds. And almost anything could be out there hunting down whatever was making noise." I said, reminding her of our situation.

"I'm.. sorry master.. A little anyway." she said, and the smile on her lips said that she wasn't even a little sorry. I laughed and rolled out from under the blanket, letting in a gust of cold air and causing her to stifle a shriek. I moved quickly over to the fire, tossing in a few small branches to give the flames something to bite into and help it grow again to heat the water. I was running out of dry wood, and as I looked out beyond the cave mouth I calculated the daylight left and the amount of wood we had and it didn't look good. We would have to get moving whether we wanted to or not, and it would be a long wet ride back to Hawksbarrow either way.

Glancing back at Laerika, I wondered what Dana and the guards would think of her. Slaves had to be registered, and it was obvious, with Laerika's white hair and long pointed ears, that she was not human, thus she could only ever be a slave.

While I fed the fire, I started testing ideas on how to get her past the guards and into the guild house. At least there I could register her as a companion slave to a Freesword. I would need to file the documents at the town hall to make it official, but it was doable. Glancing back at the beautiful mocha skinned girl who huddled under the blanket and, very likely, left a damp spot on the sleeping pad, I thought that I would have to get her clothed and protected before we could even start the journey. But bathing came first. It wasn't like I objected to the smell of sex. Not hardly, but out in the wilds, anything with a good enough nose would track the scent right to us, and then I would have to be concerned about protecting Laerika, the horse and myself.

The water steamed finally, and I brought the collapsible bucket down from the branch and set it on the floor, dipping a rag into it and getting myself clean. Then I cleaned Laerika up, in spite of her reluctance to let go of the blanket. I could hardly fault her. She had spent the last several nights at least with no clothing or warmth, and it was amazing that she hadn't fallen sick before now. After making sure that I had cleaned her and myself well with the hot steaming cloth, I dressed myself in my hakama and small robes, then I dug through the bag of holding, looking for clothing that would fit Laerika well enough for the purpose. As I opened the bag and slipped my hand inside, a mental picture of everything that I had randomly shoved inside of it came to me.

Among the weapons, gold, silver, copper and gems, I had six sets of armor in different styles, obviously not what she needed. I did have robes though, two or three which were designed for the free movement that some mages needed, and three more which were simply robes with enhanced armor qualities. I removed those and set them on the ground beside me, then delved back into the bag to see if any better options presented themselves. I did find what I was looking for; A pair of loose fitting stone grey pants with tie wraps at the waist like my own hakama, but of lighter woven material, and a sand tan colored tunic which I figured could be belted down into place on her petite frame. Footwear was not to be had though. We would just have to take any walking slow for the meantime, and keep her feet warm whenever possible otherwise.

I shoved the extra robes back in, hesitating on the last one and considering it. It was a tan and grey over-robe, halfway between a trench coat, with long sleeves and a mantle, mixed with a cloak with a deep cowl. I glanced at Laerika, and shrugged, keeping it out. It wouldn't hurt to keep the girl warm while we traveled. The best part of the robe was the sleeves. They had a cord sewn into a channel along the top of the sleeve, and could be used to shorten the sleeve when working or eating. The problem was the length. It had been designed for someone a foot taller than Laerika's five foot nothing. So, back into the bag I dove, looking for belts and sashes. I found one of each, simple and functional. The sash was a bright green that was almost iridescent in the firelight, and it matched close enough to Laerika's eyes that it almost had to be worn by her. The belt was just a long leather strap attached to a brass ring. Luckily I knew how to fasten these, from...

I paused, considering where I had ever remembered using one of these kinds of belts. There were solid echoes of memory from the blade master's ghost, of course. Years and years of using this simple design for casual clothing and over armor to hold swords and other equipment. Then again, the Master mage had worn this design as well, often embellished with patterns worked into the leather and using more elaborate rings. But among those memories, another surfaced.

A bright, happy smile, red hair and grey eyes. A warm summer day with music and people all around us, and an odd mixture of technology and anachronisms. I realized then that I was remembering a lover from my previous life, and my heart clenched.

Funny, how the simplest things can bring back memories.

I breathed out, letting the ache flow out with it just as Laerika piped up with concern in her voice.

"Master?"

"I'm alright, Laerika. I was just remembering someone." I looked up and smiled at her to give her some reassurance, and set the bag to one side, picking up the articles of clothing I had assembled, then I brought them over to her and helped her dress. The tunic first, then the pants, using the green sash to belt it all together around her slender waist. Then I helped her put on the robe, and adjust it for her height, I stepped back and considered her, holding the robe over my arm. Even under the tunic, and despite the bagginess of the pants, I could tell she had a lovely figure. Her hips were nicely curved in proportion to her slender frame, and her perky C-cup breasts pushed the tunic out in a very appealing way. I stepped close to her and helped her into the robe, then adjusted the sleeves, shortening them until they were at her elbows. Looking down I knew that I would have to do some quick adjustments, both to the robe and to the pants.

I had Laerika stand still while I brought out a simple sewing kit, and did a rough hem stitch on both. While I was doing that, Laerika must have been bursting to ask about my momentary pause.

"Master." She started, pausing in doubt, but then continuing. "Who was it that you were remembering?"

I glanced up, looking at her face between stitches and could see no jealousy in her eyes, only concern, so I smiled and shook my head.

"I suppose I should be honest with you, as I would have you be honest with me. But what I say must never be spoken to anyone to whom we are not absolutely certain of. Do you understand?"

"Of course, Master." she replied, and looking up into her eyes I felt something from across the short distance. A certainty that I could indeed trust Laerika, absolutely and without question. So I started telling her everything that I could remember. My life in America as a young man, and my experiences up until my barely remembered death. I told her about my journey from awakening in the lich kings halls and how I found my way to Hawksbarrow and the people I had met there. All the while I kept my hands moving, splitting my focus between my memories and the adjustments I needed to do for her clothing. I think that in itself helped to keep me from feeling the loss of what was and the weight of the life I was dumped into.

I finished my stitching work concluding with the answer that she had been seeking.

"Her name was Claudia, and she was both a friend and a lover of mine for many years. We met at a festival and even though we had never met before, I felt something with her that I had never experienced in my life before her. It was like.. She had been that piece of my soul that I hadn't even known I had been missing."

Laerika's eyes held a mixture of sympathy and endearment as our eyes met. She brought her hand to my cheek, cupping it with her small slender fingers.

"And now, master, You are the missing piece of my soul that I have rediscovered."

As she finished, I could not take my eyes from hers. There was an undeniable truth in what she had said, because I could feel something inside of me that resonated with her. It wasn't magic in any way that I understood, and I knew that she was not attempting to influence me. It just, simply was.

I smiled up at her, and parted my lips to echo what she had said, but a gurgling whine from just in front of me snapped my mouth shut as I stared at her belly in surprise, then glanced up at her blushing face as she avoided looking at me in embarrassment.

"Well, I should have guessed that would happen." I said, and looked down to check the last few stitches and deemed the work satisfactory enough to get us to Hawksbarrow and a tailor.

"Want to help me make some more food?" I asked, and received an eager nod from her.

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A warm welcome.

In spite of my concerns, the rain gave out before my supply of dry firewood. It may have been the storm choosing to have mercy on traveling souls, or it may have had to do with two warm bodies sharing the bedding that kept Laerika and I warm and comfortable through the rest of the day and all through the night. When the sky lightened enough for us to travel, I was ready. The mare was saddled, and Laerika was perched, somewhat precariously, in the saddle while I led the mare down the hill side toward more level ground where I could mount up behind her.

While we traveled, I asked her about what she had seen, and where she had been before she reached the surface, but for the most part, her recollection of those dark halls and desperate flight was disjointed and too jumbled to make any kind of sense. I hoped that this meant that anything that managed to follow her out onto the surface would be through blind luck and chance, or weak enough not to pose a real threat to passers by.

The gentle mare seemed as eager to return home as I was, and we made good time that day, passing the fork in the road that led north to Pol'Avika, the capital of the Vahlish kingdom. I remembered Losca pointing it out to me and relating his experiences in trading there. Balay, for his part, had only listened and kept his eyes open and moving while we had passed this very place. I wondered, briefly, how the two of them were doing, and thought about visiting them if, or when, I was able.

In the growing dark of evening, the storm's mercy expired, and the rain seemed to come down with all of the fury of being withheld for those hours. Our camp was simple, and the tent that Arani and Bentis had loaned me was set up quickly enough that Laerika and I were mostly dry when we fell into it, exhausted and clinging to one another to preserve our warmth.

The mare seemed less than enthusiastic about carrying the two of us those last miles during the morning hours, and even Laerika was subdued and disinterested in anything but hiding under my cloak, hoarding the warmth, and keeping as dry as was possible. I still had to keep her awake, and inform her of the story that I had come up with the previous evening.

"The guards, and many others as well, will want to know where you came from." I informed her. She was still hiding under my cloak, her arms and legs wrapped around me. It would have been cute, but the way that she occasionally ground her hips against my belly held more eroticism than simple need of warmth.

"Can we not tell them that I was made for you, master?" She asked innocently, but I shook my head then realized that with only her ear exposed by the gap in my cloak, she couldn't see the gesture.

"No. I think that knowledge would only cause more questions to be asked than I want to answer. Someone might learn of the catacombs, and I do not want to risk the lives of fools who believe there might be treasures hidden in that hell hole." If I was honest, I knew that there were, but the chance that those seeking wealth and glory would be unprepared for what lurked in those places that even I had not explored.. The cost would be far too high, and I did not feel comfortable bearing it.

"I think that it would be best if you told people that you and your previous master were traveling west, and were ambushed by mountain orcs." I said, going with the story that I had vaguely thought of before sleep took me. "The two of you were separated, and you discovered his body the next morning. I will say that I found you hiding in some bushes during the storm, and took you as my own."

Laerika seemed content with this, and I hoped that it would be believable enough to get us into Hawksbarrow and to the Freeswords guild at the least.

"Will someone try to take me away from you, master?" Laerika asked. The question was muffled by both the thickness of my cloak, and the drumming of the rain coming down around us, but even then, I could hear a tone of worry in her voice.

I sighed, and nodded. "Perhaps. But there are laws regarding slaves in this kingdom, although as you do not have any slave marks or a collar yet, I believe I will have the right of claim over you, and so long as I document it and pay the taxes, no one else will be able to contest that." My only concern was making my case before both the guild and the magistrate in such a way that they could not make some excuse to confiscate her. Demihumans in Vahl were considered property, either claimed or yet to be claimed, and there was very little ground in between. I found the idea detestable in many ways, but this was not my world, and I simply had to find a way to make sure that Laerika was cared for and protected no matter what it took.

The day passed with only the sound of the mare's hooves clomping in the mud, and the rain thundering down on us in waves. At times it lightened enough that I could see farther down the road, and at others all I could see were the ears of the horse and the road beneath our feet. Then the mare snorted and seemed to pick up the pace of her own accord, and I smiled just a little.

"You are as eager to be home and out of this mess as we are, aren't you?"

Rain, sleet, snow storm or high summer sun, some unfortunate bastard always had to be posted at the gates to let in travelers, take toll, or warn the rest of the town of dangers. The thundering rain and lightning streaking through the evening sky did not keep the guards from halting us at the gate.

"Ho there! Who are ya, and what business brings you to Hawksbarrow?" Called a voice from the marginal safety of the gate house. Though the large, thick iron bound doors were open, it did not mean free passage, so I pulled gently on the mare's reins and we came to a stop at a spears length from the cover of the intimidating pile of stone.

"Nazaqi Hayle, Freesword. I am returning to Hawksbarrow guildhouse after a hunt." I called out.

"Aye, and who is that with you?" called the same guard as another joined him from the small enclosure that must have housed their wood burning stove.

"A slave that I am claiming." I said simply. There was no need to answer all of the questions without being asked.

"Come forward, show your guild medallion."

I tapped Laerika on her shoulder, signaling her that it was time for her to release me. The hesitation in her release showed her displeasure at the idea, but in a moment I had dismounted, and Laerika joined me on the ground as I moved forward, pulling the medallion from under my robe so the guard could see it. The inspection of my proof of membership was brief, but the lingering look he gave Laerika was less so.

"Claiming, eh?" Said the older guard. He had the look of one who had been a guard for a long time, but was never considered for promotion. Grey and grizzled, and even in the rain and hard conditions he looked slightly unkempt.

"Yes." I said simply, once again keeping my answer short.

"No collar, or markings, no documents?" He persisted.

"I found her hiding in a bush during the storm two days past. I hardly think she would be carrying a notice around under those circumstances." I said, and instantly regretted it, as his hard eyes locked onto me.

"I don't like your tone.. Freesword." He growled out, using the word as an epithet. But just as he opened his mouth to press the issue, someone else echoed the word from several paces behind him.

"Freesword, what are you doing out in the storm?" said the woman who just stepped through the door to the upper levels of the gate.

I gave her a nod of respect.

"Corporal Dana, I was just reassuring your guardsman that I am neither a thief, nor a smuggler, and that I am making claim to this slave by right of recovery." I said, both negating the guards accusation and vaguely supporting his supposed diligence, while also affirming my story.

Dana paused two paces away from me and turned her eyes to Laerika, looking the girl over slowly.

"Would you mind if I asked the girl some questions, Freesword Nazaqi?" she asked, and I could hear a hint of suspicion in her voice.

I nodded and placed my hand on Laerika's back.

"Go with her, Laerika. Answer her questions."

Laerika grabbed a fistful of my robe, hesitating in the face of these strangers, but slowly released it and stepped forward to stand in front of Dana. The corporal nodded and took the girl with her into the moderate warmth of the gatehouse proper, while I was left standing in the rain with a disgruntled mare who clumped and stomped, irritated at being held back from her warm dry stable and desired food.

For many minutes, I was kept waiting, and the grizzled old guard eyed me with a mixture of distaste and resentment. At times I could hear nothing but the rain and the dismayed grumblings of the mare, punctuated by a thump of her hoof on the cobble stones. But now and then I heard a female voice, raised in objection or denial. Then the door burst open and Laerika tumbled out clutching a dagger as she stumbled across the stones and leaned her back against the wall across from the door.

The old guard gripped the hilt of his sword as he turned and saw the girl with a dagger in her hand and slowly drew the blade. "Drop the knife, elf bitch." he growled, looking a little too eager to spill blood.

"Laerika!" I yelped, startled and moved toward her, but the guardsman blade was suddenly pointed at me, and he stood between me and Laerika.

"Drop the blade, abomination, or I will hack you down where you stand." he roared.

"No!" I yelled in frustrated denial. I had no doubt that I could take the guard down, but the risk that Laerika could get hurt in the process was only one of my concerns. The resulting problems with Hawksbarrow guards and everything that followed was another, so all I could do was to try to regain his attention on me.

"Put that damn sword away Culbert!" Dana shouted from the door while cupping her cheek in one hand.

"But she has a blade, Corporal." he objected.

"Aye, she took it from me." Dana agreed, eyeing Laerika.

The tension was thick, and I turned my eyes to Laerika with a small tremble of worry and disappointment. She seemed to hear it in my voice too.

"Laerika. You made a promise to me."

Laerika shook her head in denial, her eyes wide as she shivered. She held the dagger close to her breast, but the point wasn't aimed at anyone but herself.

"Master, I did no harm, but I will not be anyone's slave but yours." She brought the glittering, sharp blade to her own neck for emphasis.

"Now, girl.. Put that thing down, or.." Culbert said, failing to imitate a calming tone as he took a step toward Laerika.

"Culbert." Dana growled low. "Did you not hear me? Put it away."

Culbert stopped, the tip of his blade dipping a little as he hesitated. Turning his head slightly toward his commanding officer, Culbert tried for a new tack. "Corporal, you know the law about unclaimed abominations with weapons. You can't.."

Thunder rumbled in the distance as Dana turned on him and gave him a hard look, speaking softly with barely contained fury.

"If you do not put that gods be damned sword back in your sheath, I will see you shoveling cess pits for a month, even if it costs me my commission."

Culbert jerked back in surprise as he looked at Dana fully, then gave a short nod and stepped back, sheathing his sword. I took the opportunity to step closer to Laerika, holding my hand out palm up.

"Give me the dagger, Laerika." I said, meeting her eyes.

"Master.." she pleaded. "Don't let them take me.. I just found you. Please."

I nodded to her and held my hand out a little further. After a tense breath of time, Laerika seemed to wilt, her hand lowered taking the point away from her throat and I stepped in to slip the dagger from her grasp with one hand as I pulled her into me with the other, my arm holding her close to me as she leaned into me trembling.

I flipped the blade over in my hand, holding it pommel first toward Dana as she stepped closer, giving me a cold look as she retrieved her dagger and sheathed it at her hip.

"I am assuming you have a fairly fanciful tale to tell me about all this, silvertongue." She said, and I realized that her tone hurt me a bit. Somehow I had lost a measure of her trust, and I felt my shoulders slump a bit.

Culbert's voice distracted both of us as he persisted in objecting.

"Corporal, surely you don't mean to let that thing into Hawksbarrow without a collar on it. He ain't even paid the.."

Dana cut him off with a sharp glare. Then took a breath and nodded.

"Fine, Culbert. Take the unregistered slave tax from master Nazaqi, then.. Get. Back. To. Your. Post."

Culbert took in her command and the tone it was given and scowled as he moved toward me and held out his hand.

"Five silver, Freesword." Staring into my eyes and once again making the word sound like a curse.

I disentangled my right arm from Laerika enough to retrieve the coins from my hip pouch, placing them into the gloved hand of the guard, and watching him walk over to the brick hut next to the gate, tossing resentful glances over his shoulder at all three of us.

"Now, Nazaqi. I want an explanation that doesn't sound like a beer-sodden bard's incoherent blatherings." Dana said slowly as she struggled to regain her calm.

I sighed and nodded.

"Do you mind listening to it at the guild house?" I asked, hopefully.

Dana growled and shook her head.

"Fine."

Dana accompanied Laerika and I on foot. I put Laerika in the saddle and walked the mare back to the guild house stable, then let the corporal take the girl inside while I tended to the mare, apologizing profusely for making her wait for the comfort of her home.

To her credit, she only tried to step on my foot once.

Inside the guild house, a very uncomfortable scene greeted me. Harum and Dana sat across from Arani and Bentis, both of whom looked like they were sitting on pin cushions instead of tavern chairs. Kartha stood in the doorway of the kitchen looking like she didn't know what to do. And Laerika knelt next to the last empty chair at the table that sat between Dana and Harum, looking in my direction and clasping her hands in front of her.

Six sets of eyes settled on me as I shook off my cloak and hung it from a brass hook near the fireplace to dry, each of them with different levels of discomfort and expectation. Looking back into all six sets of eyes, I settled on Kartha's last.

"Kartha, is that your stew that I smell?" I asked into the silence.

"Wh.. oh, yes, Master Nazaqi. Would you.. like some?" She responded, glancing around at the others. I nodded and indicated Laerika with a wave of my hand.

"Yes, please. And some for Laerika. She has had to endure my cooking for the last couple of days. Some tea would also be in order, if you wouldn't mind." I added, thinking a hot beverage would be appreciated by pretty much everyone present. Kartha dipped a curtsey and quickly stepped into the kitchen to fetch the requested food and drink as I settled myself into the chair next to Harum.

"So.." Bentis opened up awkwardly.

"It's nice to see you here, Dana." Arani burst in, only adding to the awkwardness. Dana sighed, but nodded to Arani.

"I hadn't thought to set foot in this place again any time soon, but evidently young master Nazaqi wants to tell me how it is that he found himself with an abandoned slave without any marks or collar. In the wilds. In a storm." Each added condition only seemed to emphasize her incredulity as she turned her green eyes on me.

"Well, you have the basics of it right there." I said with a shrug, to which she harumphed. "I found her hiding among the bushes north of the eastern road.." I started to explain, but Dana cut me off with a sharp head shake.

"So she said. Something about mountain orcs killing her previous master and her hiding from them until you found her." Nothing in her tone of voice conveyed any belief in the story, not one bit.

I looked at Dana for a long moment, then I took a deep breath and shrugged. "Harum." I said, keeping eye contact with Dana.

"Aye, boy."

"You and Bentis here remember what I said, about where I came from." I could see Bentis nod, as well as Arani. Harum just grunted.

"Aye, Some place called Elay, yes?"

"Yes. You also remember the mountain pass I described following before I found the eastern road."

Harum hesitated, then nodded slowly as he caught onto the deception. "That'd be the one with the orcs, and goblins runnin' about, eh?"

"Yes." I agreed. "Near there is where I found Laerika."

Harum and Bentis both grunted. "Nothing safe in that strip of road." Harum mumbled and Bentis agreed.

Dana sighed, giving up the point. "Fine. So you found her wandering alone in the brush. It doesn't explain why she isn't collared or marked. The Eastern slavers are known for being particular in that regard."

"Unless the buyer has a particular reason for doing otherwise." Arani chimed in. "It's a rare thing, but not unknown." She turned her attention to Laerika, who was watching Kartha set down a bowl of stew and a small loaf of dark bread in front of her.

"Is that what happened, girl?" Arani asked.

It took Laerika a moment to realize that she was the one being spoken to and she paused with her hand reaching for the spoon, a bit of eager drool glistening her lips.

"Master.." she almost glanced at me but shook her head. "Didn't say why, but he refused the collar and mark."

Dana seemed as unconvinced as she was dismayed. I thought that I knew at least some of her views on slavery if she were anything like her sister anyway, but perhaps I had misjudged her.

"I.. " she started to say something and then simply shook her head. "If some wealthy eastern idiot wants to take an unmarked and uncollared slave traveling, and then makes the poor choice of the eastern road.." she glanced at Laerika and shook her head again. "I am just surprised you managed to live at all. But what bothers me is the devotion she has for you, Nazaqi."

"He saved my life." Laerika stated flatly, drawing everyone's attention to her. "I was lost, alone, cold, starving and.. terrified. Master Nazaqi found me, washed me, clothed me, fed me and kept me warm." she said, the words tumbling out hard and firm, then she looked at Dana in an almost accusatory way. "Would you have done that?" she shook her head. "You were ready to take me away from him and hand me off to someone who would sell me.."

"That's enough, Laerika." I interrupted her, but by the struggle that I could see in Dana's eyes, it was also a bit too late. "Corporal Dana has a duty to do as the law directs." I said, trying to sooth the sting of Laerika's forthrightness.

"Sometimes, even the free cannot enjoy freedom." Harum murmured into his tea mug.

Kartha set bowls and bread on the table before each of us, and soon the sounds of wooden spoons clacking against bowls, and the contented grunts of people enjoying good tasting food were the only form of conversation.

Dana, though, was slow to join in, only taking a bite now and then.

"Laerika." Dana said, catching the girls attention.

"That's your name, right?" Dana asked, and Laerika nodded.

"What was your previous master's name?"

Laerika thought for a minute, chewing slowly and then swallowing.

"I only knew him as Master. I was never told any name."

Dana seemed to think that over, and then she turned her green eyed gaze on me, looking at me intently as though trying to silently pull some kind of confirmation from me. Tilting her head, she glared at me and held a torn piece of her bread loaf like it was a knife, pointed at my heart.

"You had better not prove me wrong, silvertongue."

Then, as though resolved, she turned her attention to the food and she too dug into the meal.

"I will need statements of testament." She said between bites.

"I have those forms." Arani replied, and started to stand up before Bentis laid a hand on her thigh, keeping her in place.

"Food first." He said, as though reminding her of something. She blushed slightly and nodded, then tore a piece from her loaf and used it to scoop out a bite of the stew.

Bentis, Arani and Dana each argued points of law after the meal, scribbling out information onto parchment sheets as they came to agreements. While that was happening, Laerika and I sat with Harum near the fire. Laerika and I sat on a thick bear skin that covered the smooth hardwood floor. Laerika, laying mostly in my lap while I sat leaning back against a flat topped chest with cushions piled around it.

"I suppose we could let you leave the girl here when you have to leave for your assignments" Harum stated thoughtfully, pulling both my attention and Laerika's.

"Why would I need to stay here?" Laerika asked, confused. I remained silent, wondering the same.

"Well.." Harum hesitated, as he gathered his thoughts. "Some assignments can be dangerous.." he said, hedging a bit. But Laerika just shook her head.

"All the more reason that I should be at my master's side." she replied. "I can't be my master's healer and bodyguard if I am here and not where I need to be." She leaned back into me, pulling my arm around her and tucking her head under my chin as though she had only said the obvious.

Harum on the other hand stared at the girl in my arms like an owl that had been awakened mid day.

"Healer and.." then he looked at me. Then he got up from his seat and approached us, grunting in discomfort as he knelt down to be on a level with me.

"Is she saying that she knows magic?" he whispered.

I just nodded, replying. "According to her, yes." which seemed to not be the best answer, because he sighed, closing his eyes and shaking his head. "Speak to no one of this, and see me tomorrow."

Then he pushed himself up, using my shoulder to brace himself and announced to those at the table.

"I am off to bed. This storm has made my joints achy, and I feel like we haven't seen the last of it yet."

Arani, Bentis and Dana all wished him a good rest, and he shuffled off toward his rooms with Kartha moving along with him saying that she had already gotten the stove in his rooms good and hot. The conversation between the two of them faded as they passed down the hallway to his rooms, and the discussion at the table was wrapping up when Laerika tilted her head back, speaking softly.

"You won't leave me behind, will you, master?" she asked, and I felt real concern in her tone. I shook my head.

"If I have a choice in it, no. But some missions may be dangerous, and I.."

"I can fight, Master. I was trained for it." She said, and she sounded like she was trying to convince me. I paused, thoughtfully, but Bentis' voice interrupted my thoughts. I realized then that there had been a lull in the conversation at the table.

"Slaves aren't typically allowed to carry weapons, boy. Particularly her kind." I looked over to where Bentis and the others sat at the table, all eyes on the two of us.

"He's right." Dana chimed in. "Vahlish law has harsh restrictions on what demihuman slaves are allowed to do, even with their masters' permission."

I frowned at that, and opened my mouth to object, but Arani interjected.

"Slaves owned by Freeswords are mostly exempt from that. But in many Vahlic cities, the laws against slaves carrying weapons are enforced far more than they are in towns like Hawksbarrow."

"In any case." Bentis said, as he pushed his seat back and stretched. "We can go over more of that in the morning. It is late, and I am sure that Corporal Dana needs to return to her post for the rest of her shift."

Arani and Dana both nodded, and I took the hint and urged Laerika to stand as well, then I too got to my feet.

"I need to get us back to the Crow and Shield." I said.

"I will walk you there." Dana said as she wrapped her sword belt around her hips, and Arani organized the sheets of parchment. "You will need to register Laerika tomorrow. The day after at the latest. But our part is done." she said, nodding toward the sheaf of parchment in Arani's hands.

"I will hold these until you are ready to take her to the registrar." Arani said. "In the meantime, you had best consider taking her to a smith for a collar."

I scowled at the idea, but I knew better than to argue about it. Vahl was an unkind place for demihumans at the best of times.

The walk to the Crow and Shield took us back into the storm, and though it had slackened a little, it was still enough to soak into our clothing that had only just begun to dry. My robes drank in the rain more than before because I had wrapped my oiled cloak over Laerika to keep her dry. At first, Dana had given me a puzzled glance, but just gave an approving grunt and walked beside me.

"Do you think your sister is going to object to me having Laerika with me?" I asked as we rounded the corner at the end of the street where the Crow and Shield sat with windows glowing with lamplight and promised warmth.

Dana looked at me for a moment, then shook her head.

"No. Not if what I heard about you holds any truth." She said mysteriously.

"What you heard?" I asked.

Dana frowned for a moment and shook her head, water drops from the cowl of her cloak dripping onto her face.

"I've been into the Crow in the last couple days. I heard about what you did with the merchant."

I had to think back for a minute and then I just let out an "oh." of understanding.

"It wasn't anything I wouldn't do for anyone else." I said, trying to make it sound like it was less than it was. Dana just looked at me for a moment then shook her head again.

"I've got to get back to the gate before Culbert decides he finally got his promotion and is in charge. I will talk to you again soon, Freesword."

And with that, she lengthened her strides, making her way toward the gate and whatever troubles that may have arisen during her absence.

Stepping into the Crow and Shield was almost like stepping into another world. The warmth hit both Laerika and I like a wall, and we scrambled to get ourselves inside and close the door quickly. I helped her out of the cloak and hung it near the door on a hook to let it dry and then turned back to the room just as Loira was walking up to us.

"Ah, so you're back to claim your room. And who is this?" She said as she looked Laerika over.

"This is Laerika, I found her hiding in some bushes when I was on the east road. She and her.. previous owner were ambushed by mountain orcs. She got away, her owner did not. So I am taking care of her and keeping her as my own." I said, relating my story quickly so that Loira didn't have to ask.

Loira looked into my eyes for a moment, then gave one of the first smiles I had seen from the gruff woman.

"Fine, fine. Did you just get back? You'll want some hot food, I suppose." She said and started to turn toward the kitchens.

"Ah, no. We got back an hour or so ago, but I had to stop at the guild hall with your sister. Evidently there is a process for claiming an unowned demihuman."

Loira turned back, her eyebrows raised a bit and then she nodded.

"Fine then. We don't have slave beds, if that is what you were thinking." She said, and I could hear a slightly accusatory tone in her voice.

I shook my head. "Laerika will be staying with me in my room. The bed is small, but we can make it work."

I watched Loira work through the implications for a moment, then she looked at Laerika who was leaning against me, head resting on my arm and her hands gripping my sleeve possessively. Then she turned her eyes back to me with a small frown.

"If you are willing to pay the coin, I've another room that may be better suited."

I nodded, and reached into my coin pouch to pull out some coins.

Under the curious gaze of Milaya, Halit and Tio, Laerika and I followed Loira up the stairs and down the hall away from the direction my old room was. This room was over the back kitchen, and it was a bit warmer which was nice on nights like this one. Loira unlocked the door with a key, then handed it to me and opened the door, waving me inside.

Within was a large bed placed to the left of the door as we entered. It was one which I could almost lay across, but certainly had enough room lengthwise for my tall frame. There was a standing closet against the right hand wall, and an iron pot bellied stove against the far wall in the corner between two windows, one of which had a desk placed under it with a slat-backed chair tucked in. Both windows were covered with heavy curtains that could be drawn back when the weather was clear, and it looked like it would provide a cross breeze to keep the room cool during the warmer months.

The flooring was done in smooth polished wood, and had a few small rugs to reduce the effect of cold mornings. Laerika rehung the sodden cloak over a carved wooden pan on a decorative hook to the right of the door, while I took it all in.

"The door to your right leads into the privy." Loira said, pointing to the wall beyond the closet. Sure enough, there was a small door there and I opened it to find a toilet and a low chest with a carved and polished granite basin set into the top of the chest. There was a bronze pump on the wall and a pitcher below it, presumably for pouring water into the basin and for flushing the privy. All in all, I felt far less anxiety over the cost of the room, and I turned to nod my satisfaction to Loira.

"Thank you, Loira." I said as I turned around. "This looks very comfortable."

She nodded and I thought I saw a slight smile before she turned and left the room, closing the door behind her. When I looked back at Laerika, she was already peeling her way out of her sodden clothes. She looked as exhausted as I felt and I knew that sleep was foremost on both of our minds.

We hung our clothes near the stove, and I fed it more wood to keep it going while we slept, then we both slipped under the thick covers naked and cuddled up shivering together, sighing in relief at being dry, warm and safe for the first time in days. There would be things to do, but that was for tomorrow, and I drifted off to the sound of rain coming down on the shingles of the tavern roof, and the soft warm feel of Laerika wrapped around me as she slept.

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The dreams I had that night were unusual only in that they were like dreams that anyone would have; disjointed, blurry and without any contextual meaning or significant emotional events.

Which meant that I slept well, only to be awakened by the feel of something warm and wet suckling at my cock with a gentle persistence.

I opened my eyes and glanced to my left where Laerika had been laying, only to find her spot empty, then my eyes panned down to the lump in the covers over my groin. I felt her tongue gently caressing the side of my cock and the slight pressure as she swallowed around it and groaned in pleasure. I moved my left hand and found her wild thatch of uncombed hair spread out over my belly where she had her head. The rest of her body was curled up around my left leg, the side of my calf tucked between her thighs and against the warm softness of her mound.

She did not pull away from what she was doing as I pet her hair, merely giving a suckling bob of her head as she felt me stiffen in her mouth.

"I thought you said I fed you enough for a week, 'rika." I said by way of greeting."

"Mmm." was the only response she gave as she ran her tongue back and forth along my cock. It wasn't hurried, or needy, the way that she was suckling at me, more like this was something that comforted her. But when I moved, she tightened her hold on my leg, and brought her hand up to wrap her slender fingers around my cock, moving her head down and taking more of me into her mouth.

"Haa.. fine.. I will let you enjoy your breakfast." I said, and lay my head back down on the pillow as she too relaxed and went back to sucking on my cock in a contented state.

My thoughts wandered to wondering where I would find a smith to make a collar for Laerika, and what type I could request. Tio's collar was much like the others worn by the enslaved at the Crow and Shield; both unobtrusive and comfortable, they seemed almost more jewelry than functional collars meant for restraint or discipline. I resolved to ask Loira where she had had them made at the same moment that Laerika's contented suckling turned more purposeful.

I sighed in pleasure as she pulled her head back, pulling most of my cock free from her mouth and her tongue rolled the head of my shaft around in her mouth, then she dove back down, taking most of my cock into her mouth, and then further until I felt the glans press the back of her mouth and slowly into her throat where she swallowed and grunted around it eagerly. I groaned and fisted my fingers into Laerika's hair as she pulled back and gasped a breath through her nose, then dove back down again taking me to the root, her tongue moving around my shaft as much as she could manage while her left hand caressed and gently gripped my balls. It didn't take mind magic to know what she wanted, so I simply relaxed as much as I could while she sucked, swallowed and stroked my length with her mouth and tongue.

My cock was aching as the tension built in my sack, and my stomach muscles clenched more and more. Then I noticed that I had begun instinctively pushing and pulling on Laerika's head, using her hair as a grip. She hardly objected, grunting eagerly when she could between bouts of trying to swallow every bit of me that she could stuff into her mouth.

Laerika must have felt the moment that my balls tightened and my cock swelled as she curled up tighter around me, pushing me into her throat and swallowing around the glans until I burst, flooding her throat with my seed and sending it straight to her stomach for the first few pulses. Then she pulled back, catching the final few spurts in her mouth and swallowing again before she began sucking, her left hand moving up to wrap her fingers around the base of my shaft and squeezing upward, milking me of every bit of my cum that she could get from me.

Panting, I collapsed back onto the bed, feeling pleasantly drained and relaxed. Though Laerika remained where she was, tenderly mouthing my cock as it slowly shrank back to its usual size. She still gave it gentle licks, as though thanking my cock for feeding her, then she slowly stretched out under the covers and wiggled her way up until her head poked out from beneath the covers.

"Good morning, master. Thank you for the treat." she said with a brilliant smile. Her hair was a mess, sticking up at every angle and covering her right eye. She was absolutely adorable and I couldn't help but grin back at her.

"You are welcome, but I have to ask, were you really that hungry?"

She blushed a little, and shook her head, still grinning.

"No, master. But I love the taste of you and..I.. I like it. Did you mind?"

"No." I replied, honestly. "I honestly don't mind."

She smiled, if possible, even more brightly. "Good. Then maybe you will let me have that every morning?"

"Every morning?!" I asked, shocked.

Her smile dimmed, tinted with worry.

"Is.. that not alright?"

I brought my hand up, combing the wild mess of her hair away from her face to see both of her eyes.

"If that is something that you want and enjoy, then I will hardly object." I replied. It seemed like something that she truly liked, and really, what man wouldn't want to be woken up in such a pleasurable way. The immediate brightening of her eyes and smile was confirmation enough that Laerika did indeed want to start her day just that way. I had a momentary thought about how things would go if we were traveling, but that thought was blown to dust when my stomach decided to announce its own needs.

'Gguuuuuuurrrglee'

"Time to feed master." Laerika said with a giggle and slipped out into the cool dawn air of the room.

I had a bit of a time pulling out clothing for both of us, racing against the coldness of the room and our frequent glances back toward the bed We had to take a little more time to brush our hair and stop in the priv to brush our teeth with the 'sweet cane' that the locals used to keep their teeth clean, but in less than ten minutes, we were both making our way down the stairs into the common room, lured by the smells of food.

Tio met us at the bottom of the stairs, and I caught a moment of disappointment in her eyes as she caught sight of Laerika, but she blinked it away and gave us both a warm smile.

"Good morning, master Nazaqi, would you like breakfast?"

"Yes, Tio.. that would be great." I said, then put my left hand on Laerika's shoulder. "I'm sorry that I didn't have time to introduce you last night. We were rather worn out from the road and the rain. This is Laerika, I found her hiding from orcs in a bush while I was away." I looked at Laerika. "Laerika, this is Tio, she belongs to Loira, and has taken care of me while I have been staying here."

I was a bit concerned, I admit, about the reaction that might have happened between Laerika and Tio, but I should not have been worried. Laerika stepped over to Tio and bent just a little to wrap her arms around the smaller woman.

"Thank you, Tio, for taking care of my master." She said, then straightened and smiled at the stunned Halvalin.

"Uhm.. sure." She responded, evidently at a loss for a response.

"He.. Master Nazaqi is a good man." She finally managed. For a moment, it seemed she was almost on the verge of saying something else, but instead she turned and walked purposefully toward the kitchen.

"Have a seat where you wish, Master Nazaqi. I will bring out enough for both of you."

"Uh.. Thank you, Tio." I called after her, then guided Laerika over to a table near the fireplace, but far enough away from the other patrons to give them their space.

"Master?" Laerika said when we were both seated, and she had pulled her chair next to mine, close enough that our thighs touched.

"Hmm?"

"Did you feed her too?" she asked innocently. I coughed into my hand as I felt my face flush, then dropped the volume of my voice so that those nearest couldn't hear.

"She isn't like you, 'rika. But yes, we enjoyed some time together." I said, correcting her assumption, then watched her mentally work out what I was saying as she stared into my eyes. For a moment, I felt like something was brushing lightly over my thoughts, and looked around the room. But everyone else's attention was either on their own conversations or their food. Then I looked back at Laerika who was still watching me until the sensation stopped.

"Oh.." she said, as though just then understanding what I meant.

"Laerika.." I said, eyeing her curiously.

She tilted her head, attentively.

"Did you just use.. Mind magic on me?" I asked doubtfully.

She nodded and I looked around us, making sure no one was listening.

"Laerika, be very careful with that." I said softly, keeping my voice even and low. "It's not something you can allow others to know about you, do you understand?"

She watched me for a few moments and I could almost see her mind working through why it might be a concern, then she nodded, eyes lowering to look at the table in front of us.

"Yes, master. I'm sorry."

I brought my hand up and caressed her hair, then tapped her shoulder to bring her eyes up, making sure that she saw my smile.

"It's alright, 'rika. I don't mind if you know what I am thinking. But others might not be so comfortable with it. Use it carefully, if ever." I said.

She nodded, looking relieved and leaned into me just as Tio emerged from the kitchen carrying two platters, with Milaya trailing behind holding two mugs of tea.

Mila and Tio were all warm smiles, but were called away too quickly to start a conversation.

Laerika waited until they were gone to speak again.

"She is worried that you won't want to enjoy her again now that you have me."

Of course, she had also waited until I had taken a bite of the egg, cheese and bacon covered toast to say it, so I coughed in surprise at the words, but managed not to choke on any of it. I chewed quickly while looking at her and she had a mischievous smile on her face while she too chewed her breakfast, having emulated my preference in stacking the ingredients.

She had done that on purpose, the little scamp.

We worked through breakfast, and enjoyed our tea for a few minutes after the plates had been cleared, but with the sun making the sky only mostly grey, we had things that needed to be done. I sent her up to the room to bring down my cloak, and resolved to do a bit of cloth trading for more clothing that fit her as well as an oiled cloak in her size.

Most of the Vahlish demihumans I had seen who were allowed outside of their owners residences or businesses had been more or less clothed, but I was of a mind to make sure that she was properly clothed and comfortable for the climate and weather. As well, I wanted to make sure that she had good traveling clothes. Leaving Laerika vulnerable to the weather and wearing shabby rags was not in my interest.

While she gathered my pack, and cloak, I went to speak with Loira. I asked about the collars the girls wore, and whom she trusted to make clothing for them. Loira gave me two names, and the directions to both shops, which ended up being near the main market, but not among the more frequented by most travelers. When I arrived at the Smith's shop, I started to figure out why.

Dordan Sturp's Metalworks was a well built and well cared for building with a kiln and foundry in the rear of the shop. The two story building was made mostly of cut stone blocks, which made sense considering the regular use of fire. The second story that was built over the display and sales room, was entirely of dark, aged wooden beams and timers. It reminded me a bit of Tudor style English houses with raw exposed beam framing and the rough wood planks fitted in grooves that were carved into the beams, but without the plaster to coat them. Instead, it looked like they had left the outer planks open to the elements, but they were so well fitted that I couldn't see any warping or curling from the sun exposure.

The shop itself had shelves and racks lining the walls, and left the center floor open for people to walk around freely. Along the right wall, a few armor racks held sets of simple chainmail and plate armor, and one set of studded leather armor that looked like it had seen some use, but was still serviceable. The rest of that wall had a couple of weapon racks, some swords of simple design along with maces, hammers and war picks, none of them had been allowed to gather dust, and all looked well maintained.

Over the weapons and armor, set on pegs that had been drilled and hammered into the wood plank interior wall were several spears with gleaming steel heads, or glossy bronze. Most were simple, but the one at the very top had two smaller blades extending laterally from the shank and reminded me of a ranseur, or a boar spear. The rest of the shop was lined with shelves containing pots, pans and some decorative metalwork in copper, brass, iron and steel. Some shelves held practical everyday use items consisting of lamps and mirror frames, or just filigree that could be applied to almost anything to enhance the appearance of carriages or houses.

The man behind the counter stood nearly as tall as myself, and was leaning over the low counter in deep discussion with a dwarven woman. They were a study in contrasts. Where he was tall, with greying black hair and a receding hairline, he was well built from obvious years working a forge, thick framed and broad shouldered, though hardly the stereotype of a blacksmith, he looked more like someone who was simply used to working with metal of all kinds.

She was much shorter, had thick sandy brown hair tied into two braids that hung over broad shoulders. She was obviously dwarven, but nothing like how most popular mythology depicted dwarven folk to appear. She was also obviously strong, though without losing any of her femininity. The forearms that emerged from her rolled up sleeves were well defined. proportionately, had she been human sized, she would have made many female body builders a little envious.

The jingling of the door chimed interrupted their conversation and brought their attention to me as I stepped through the door, followed by Laerika as she hurried inside out of the rain.

"Welcome to Sturp's Metalworks. I'm Dordan Sturp, what brings you in today?" The man asked as he turned his full attention to us, leaning both hands on the counter, while the dwarven woman stepped back and waited.

"My name is Nazaqi, I was told by Loira that you do good work." I said, introducing myself and informing him of the referral. Dordan smiled and nodded at that.

"Good, good. Loira's certainly good people and her business is always welcome here. So how can I help you?"

I placed my left hand on Laerika's shoulder, bringing her to my side and nodding toward her.

"Laerika needs something to let folk know that someone is responsible for her. A collar." I said, ending with the item in question. Dordan must have seen the bitter twist to my lips when I said it, because he smiled sympathetically.

"Aye.. And that's why Loira sent you here, rather than to Magglio's smithy." He said and glanced to his right to where the woman waited. She seemed to have relaxed a little as she heard the conversation and stepped forward to the counter. Her arms settled onto the counter, as it was at breast height for her.

"I appreciate the lightness of the collars that you made for Loira, I would like something comfortable, durable and rust resistant.. But also, maybe pretty enough to be mistaken for something not a slave collar.. if you know what I mean?"

Both Dordan and the dwarven woman smiled a little at that and nodded.

"Medge, why don't you take the girl in back and see about her measurements, and what not. Oh.. and since the making of it might take a bit, see if we have something that will suffice until it's done, ye?"

Medge smiled and waved for Laerika to follow her, moving along the back wall and leading Laerika through the gap and through an open doorway into the back of the shop.

"Not so many's got the light touch concerning demi-folk." Dordan said as I stepped up to the counter.

"I'm still getting used to the fact that Vahl has legal slavery. It doesn't exist where I come from." I admitted.

"Oh?" Dordan asked, raising his eyebrows. "And where is that?"

I smiled. "Elay. But I won't be surprised if you haven't heard of it. It seems to be so far away that no one has."

Dordan grunted and gave a nod.

"Well, you've listed off some pretty attainable requirements for the piece, let's talk particulars." he said, getting down to business and he dug out some charcoal sticks and parchment and began sketching out a rough shape as we talked. Though as we went, he seemed less and less convinced, looking at me frequently in growing doubt until I asked him what his concern was.

"Ohhh, it's not the bronze, nor the fine work that has me concerned. We can do those easily enough. The question is about the coin." He said, looking at me pointedly. I just smiled and nodded.

"Name your price, Master Dordan, I won't dicker or try to haggle you down to a pauper's purse for it." I said with a grin.

Dordan looked at me for a moment longer, then down at the charcoal drawing of a collar around a slender woman's neck. The ring around the back of the neck was shown open with a horizontal loop that fit into the opposite cylinder and was locked closed with a pin from the top. The sides were hinged to allow it to be removed and repaired, but the front was the part that appealed to me most. It swept down in a moderately low curve allowing freedom of movement while still only a finger's breadth away from the front of the throat. The bottom of the curve came to a rounded point, and was nearly a gorget that covered the woman's collar bones and had fine scrollwork etched in whorls and floral leaves.

Along the lower edge, the name Laerika vonHayle in the Vahlish script. After considering the drawing for a while, he looked up at me with a firm look in his eye that challenged me when he spoke.

"Five gold crowns, not a copper less."

His expression said that he had caught my surprise. It was certainly not what I was expecting, but one never argues cost with an artisan. So, I reached into my coin pouch and pulled out the five coins, and laid them on the counter, this time it was I who caught his surprised expression. He must not have thought I would have it, nor the silence in which I paid up front.

"No dickering, no haggling. But I do expect the result to meet that promise." I said, pointing at the drawing.

"Huh.. Aye. It'll meet the promise, of that I am sure." Dordan said and swept the coins from the counter and into his pouch. And just in time, Medge and Laerika emerged from the back of the store, both smiling and chatting amicably. It gave me the thought that Medge and Dordan had worked together long enough to know how long it would take to close a sale, which gave me a bit of a wry smile.

Laerika was wearing a simple iron band, thin and lined with soft leather, but sturdy enough not to be mistaken as anything other than a slave mark.

"You can borrow that one until your piece is finished." Medge said as Laerika stepped to my side, presenting the collar. I nodded my thanks.

"I'll make sure it is still in good condition when I return it, then." I agreed.

"Give us.. Oh, a ten day or there abouts, then come and check in. We've some other work already, but I think we can get this done by then." Dordan said with a bit of hedging to his voice.

"I won't be bothered if it takes a bit longer. I am in no rush." I assured him, and gathered Laerika up as I headed for the door. I glanced over my shoulder as Laerika stepped past me and caught the raised eyebrows of Medge as she looked at the drawing, then she smiled and nodded in approval.

Five shops down, and across the street from Sturp's Metalworks, Etasha's Clothiers was a much smaller shop. It too had a stone first floor, and a wooden second story, but it was much narrower and the majority of the front room was taken up by mannequins dressed in long skirts, full dresses, chemise and cloaks of various cuts and fabrics. Men's tunics and trousers were also represented, from rough, sturdy traveling clothes to a single suit of plain, though decent quality silk-like material that shone around the curves with reflected light.

A woman's voice called out as the door chimes jingled merrily, and a slender woman brushed past a curtain dividing the shop from the work area with her hair in a loose bun that was coming apart and sliding out of place entered the room carrying a bundle.

"Oh! I thought you were another client here to pick up.. Oh, forgive me, I'll be just a moment." She said, sounding a bit harried, and looking like she had just gotten up from a nap because her dress was hiked up in the back as she started to walk one way, then turned and moved behind the counter, placing the tied bundle under the counter then hurrying into the back.

Laerika and I just looked at one another and shrugged, then started perusing the clothes on display. I was just considering the selection and what I thought would look right on Laerika's slender frame when the woman stepped back out from the back. She had obviously spent a minute getting herself together because her hair was neatly bound and her clothes were straightened and in place.

"Please forgive me for that. Mistress Etasha will be out in a few moments, if you would be so kind as to wait." She said, with a bit of a flush to her pale skinned face. It was then that I noticed the gentle slope of her ears that came to a rounded point, and the slight tilt of her eyes that spoke of elven heritage, much like Laerika's. Then there was the twisted gold and silver collar that sat around the woman's neck with a steel pendant in the shape of a leaf. It looked like there was some writing on it, but I couldn't read it from where I was.

I just smiled and nodded.

"We can wait. If you would inform your mistress that we were sent by Loira from the Crow and Shield,.." The rest of what I was about to say was unnecessary as another woman stepped into the room from behind the curtain.

"Sent by Loira, you say?" She asked. She had short blond hair that hung just above her shoulders, and seemed like she was in her mid forties. She was dressed well enough, in loose trousers and ankle boots, a tunic and vest with pockets stuffed with trimming scissors, chalks and a measuring tape that dangled from the breast pocket. She was of moderate build, and had a modest chest under her workman's clothes, but I could tell that she was also fit and healthy.

"Yes," I said, breaking my thoughts away from my assessment of her. "She said that you don't stint on quality, and that you have a good measure of what people want and need regarding clothing."

Etasha grunted in a pleased manner, and waved toward a couple of chairs.

"Well enough. Loira's not one to be generous with her praise, so I will take it when I can get it. So, what kinds of clothing do you need, young.." She paused, waiting for me to fill in the blank.

"Nazaqi, Freesword Nazaqi Hayle, and this is Laerika." I said introducing myself and Laerika.

"Hmm, a Freesword." She echoed, sounding a little less enthusiastic, as she looked over the clothing that I was wearing. I had my better set of robes and hakama on, but they were drooping from the rain that had soaked into them through the outer robe. Laerika didn't look much better off, though she at least had the protection of the cloak, and was far less wet.

I smirked a little and nodded. "I seem to be getting that response fairly often here. But I do have the coin, and I want to make sure that Laerika has the clothing she wants and needs as soon as possible."

Etasha's eyes lifted at that and met my own.

"Not for you?" she asked, turning her eyes on Laerika who stood straight as the woman's eyes traveled over her.

"I would like some clothing as well, but as you can see, she is in greater need at the moment. I can't have her running around Hawksbarrow in my spare clothes. They just don't fit her and I would rather she was comfortable."

Now both Etasha's and the elven woman's eyes set on me as though I were a new kind of animal than they had thought.

"And what kind of clothing are you looking for?" Etasha asked.

I turned to Laerika and nodded to her. "That will be up to her. Some for around town, some for traveling and some for comfort." I said, then looked back at the seamstress. "Two sets of traveling clothes, I think."

Etasha straightened at the list, then folded her arms under her modest breasts as she raised an eyebrow.

"And how is a freesword to afford that?" she asked skeptically.

I sighed. I was about to do the exact thing that I had wanted to avoid doing.. But I could afford leaving Laerika with bad clothes far less than gaining a sudden reputation for having money and the attention that might possibly bring.

"I have the coin, and I will pay up front." Then I held up my hand and met eyes with Etasha. "On the condition that how much I spend not be spoken of outside of this room."

She tilted her head a bit at that, likely wondering what I was hiding, but then glanced over her shoulder at her elven assistant and nodded.

"You have my word, Freesword. I will not speak of your business." She said, looking back at me, and I nodded.

"Wrenna," Etasha said, and the elf stepped forward. "Please take the girl in back and get her measurements and preferences while young master Nazaqi and I work out the details."

"Yes, mistress." Wrenna replied and I nodded to Laerika. Laerika did not immediately follow, instead pausing in front of me and pushing up on her toes to kiss me, her hand on my chest as I blinked in surprise. Then she smiled and followed Wrenna from the room as my eyes followed her.

"Hm." Etasha grunted, and I looked back at her as she looked me over again through a narrowed gaze.

"So, what kind of clothing do you need, Freesword?" She asked, turning around and moving toward the counter, pulling out parchment, ink and quill.

After an hour in the clothier, Laerika headed to the guild house to have a talk with Harum and see what else needed to be done about the process of making sure no one could make false claims on her. Kartha was sweeping the floor of the lobby, and Arani sat behind the reception counter, quill in hand and head down scribbling on some documents. She looked up and smiled as I walked in.

"Harum asked me to send you both back to him when you came in, and Bentis said to remind you that you owe him sparring time." I nodded my acknowledgement of the request and led Laerika down the hallway to Harum's cluttered study.

The old mage looked up when I knocked on his open door, his wild grey hair waving in greeting for a second after his head had stopped moving.

"Ah, good. I had wondered if you were going to hide in your room at the Crow until I had to come and fetch you." He said. He must have already had his tea, because although he wasn't precisely pleasant, he wasn't grumpy either. "Close the door and sit down."

We stepped inside and Laerika closed the door behind us as he glanced down at the assembly of wires and crystals that he was working on, then set it aside as he brought his attention to me.

"I thought today was Bentis' day, Harum. Or is there some magic lesson or other that you think is more important?"

The old man's brows furrowed in frustration for a moment, then he sighed and shook his head.

"Aye, boy. It is your day to get chased around and beaten with sticks," he said, but his eyes slid from me to land on Laerika as he continued to speak. "But the lesson on magic is for the both of you."

I sat in the one wobbly chair that Harum had left free from bric-a-brack and tomes, and Laerika knelt next to me on the floor, her eyes attentively on Harum.

"How familiar are you with Vahlish slave law, Nazaqi?" Harum asked.

I blinked, and then frowned as I thought about the question. In all honesty, I hadn't gotten too deeply into the laws regarding slavery, since what Arani had been covering had leaned far more heavily toward what a Freesword had to know to work as a guild member than anything of overall Vahlish common law.

"I can't say that I know much at all, honestly." I admitted.

Harum grunted in dissatisfaction and shook his head. Then he turned his eyes toward the door, and back to Laerika.

"Last night you said that you were Nazaqi's healer and body guard. Is that correct?" the old man asked, as he stared at her intently.

Laerika nodded. "Yes, Master Harum." She confirmed.

Harum seemed tense as he kept staring at her, opening his mouth, then seeming to reconsider before blowing out a breath and asking.

"What magic do you know, girl?" He asked bluntly.

Laerika glanced at me for direction, and I looked back at her, hoping that she remembered what I had instructed her earlier.

"I.." she hesitated then looked at Harum and spoke softly. "I was trained to use body magic, Master Harum. To heal my master if he were ever injured and required healing while he was distracted or disabled."

Harum sat back in his chair, looking between the two of us as he considered, then glanced over to a tome that sat on the table between us.

"By law, I should be reporting to the church what you just said." He admitted, but when I sat up and placed my hands on the arms of the chair, he held up a hand, looking me in the eyes.

"But you and I both know that I don't hold much love for the church. So listen closely, for it will be the last I ever speak of it."

I relaxed, and sat back, waiting. Though I was still tense and prepared to leave the second I heard anything that might promise a threat.

Harum watched me with a knowing gaze and nodded.

"Vahl has fought three wars with the demihumans south of the mountains, and in each of those wars the Vahlish soldiers lost most heavily when fighting against the Sylvanic and Svarthanic mages. So bad were those losses that the church convinced the crown to make it law that any demihuman slave displaying magical ability should be turned over to the church."

I had a bad feeling about where this was going, but I had to ask anyway.

"What happens to the ones who are turned over?"

The old mage looked at me and simply shook his head.

"They aren't ever seen, or spoken of again."

As the ramifications of what Harum said settled into me, I looked over at Laerika to see if she understood. I saw, in her eyes a mixture of fear and anger as she began to grasp the implications, then she turned her eyes to mine and nodded once.

"We tell no one, and you do not use it when there are other people around." I said, making it plain.

"Yes, Master." She said, agreeing instantly.

Then I turned back to Harum with a question on my mind.

"You said that you have no love for the church. But what other reason would you have for defying them?"

Harum looked at me in puzzlement for a second and then chuckled.

"If you are asking if I have any personal reasons besides my distaste for their egotistical rantings.. No. But I also know that they are far less benevolent than they pretend to be, and it is only a matter of time before they show their true colors, no matter what the nobility may believe." He huffed a laugh and looked around at the room that housed his volumes of magic knowledge and random bits of research.

"Getting away from that mess of vipers and grifters was the best choice I ever made as a youth. Why else would I choose to live on the edge of the kingdom?" Then he shrugged and continued. "Though.. Had I known that these borderlands would be one of the best places to find rare and illicit magical knowledge traveling from east to west and so forth, I would have come much sooner than I did."

I studied the old man for a moment, then smirked. It made sense, in a way. Any patrols that the nobility sent would be looking for raiding forces or bandits. Contraband books would be very low on their list of smuggled goods to find, and how many of the patrolling troopers would even know which books contained forbidden or restricted knowledge versus common magical practices.

Thinking of illicit knowledge, I had an impulse to reach into my bag and pull out some of the scrolls that I had recovered from the lich's caches of magical texts, but the heavy thumping steps coming down the hallway reminded me that I had other obligations.

Harum heard the steps as well and scowled.

"Be here tomorrow, the both of you. You have magical practice and study to do."

I stood, and felt Laerika standing beside me.

"Yes, Advisor Harum, I will meet you here after breakfast." I promised, and turned toward the door just as three heavy thumps sounded through the heavy wood.

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The rest of the day was spent with Bentis, and it was a mixture of teaching and learning. With Laerika insisting that she was trained to be a protector, Bentis reluctantly agreed to test her ability with a staff, one of the few weapons that Demihumans were allowed to carry within most border towns when guarding their owners. Laerika proved, in the end, that she was no novice to fighting with a staff, but she fared better when she took up two short staves, about two feet long each. Her movements and strikes looked similar to how one would use two short swords, combining defense and quick cuts and thrusts that went well with her agile footwork and her ability to dodge Bentis' attacks.

In comparison, when I matched up with Bentis, I felt clumsy and slow even though I gave as well as I got from the older, larger veteran fighter. After the physical part of our practice was done, it was nearly time for the evening meal, so Laerika and I departed the guildhouse and returned to the Crow and Shield for the night.

Dinner that night was a little uncomfortable in a way. Tio brought our food, and kept our mugs full of water, but where before she would spend a moment with idle banter and some flirting, now she just kept her distance and made herself busy elsewhere.

When I finally admitted to myself that Tio was purposefully avoiding me and Laerika, I felt a weight settle on my shoulders. I felt a sense of loss in that moment, not for the physical closeness that she and I had shared, although maybe that was part of it. I missed the teasing and lightness that she had brought with her when we interacted.

Laerika must have been watching me, as I felt her hand on my right arm and I noticed I had been pushing my food around with the spoon for a couple of minutes. She had an expression of concern in her eyes, and she looked like she was waiting for me to say something, but I just shook my head and dug back into the food, resolving to think of how or if it would be possible to rediscover that connection, but not right then.

After dinner, Laerika and I returned to our room where I automatically started stripping out of my clothing, hanging them and began digging around in my bag for any warm dry clothing that I thought would fit. I was so lost in my thoughts that it took Laerika two times to catch my attention.

".. ster."

...

"Master?" she called, as she knelt down in front of me.

I blinked and looked up seeing the look on her creamed coffee toned face. Her expression was concerned, and possibly a little frustrated.

"Master, I asked if you would like for me to start the fire and get the room warm."

That is when I noticed that I was uncomfortably cold. The rain outside had been gradually reducing to a steady drizzle, but it had brought what the locals were considering an unseasonable chill with it, and with the dining area mostly full down stairs, I knew that Loira's girls had their hands full enough that they had not gotten around to starting the fires for the guests when we chose to call it an early night.

"Sorry, Laerika. Yes, please get the wood in, I will start the fire." I responded.

"Yes master." she said, and still wearing the damp clothes that she had been wearing all day, she went about selecting the right pieces to get the fire going. I returned my attention to bringing out all of the clothing from the bag, whether it would fit or not, and laying out what I thought Laerika could wear while our clothes dried. When she had the stove filled and ready, we switched places. She changed out of her damp clothes, while I knelt in front of the stove and placed my hand on the small pile of wood and closed my eyes, remembering one of my first lessons with Maridu.

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"This world you come from. It amazes me that you have no magic whatsoever, and yet your mages have discovered so much about the workings of the elements." Maridu said after discussing the concept of an internal combustion engine.

He was talking of course, about basic molecular interactions, chemistry, and physics. I had worked out that the same basic rules applied to the formation of a spell concerning how things like ice or fire or electricity happened, and though it felt like a long time since my college years, I could easily envision the process needed for each. Here, though, some of those elements almost had a mind of their own, a directive and life which could not be controlled, only guided or encouraged.

That was particularly true concerning fire, but it was also one of the easiest to invoke. All one had to do was excite the molecules, provide a bit of air and something to feed the fire and keep it going. But the key was in using mana to begin the whole process. The trick was in feeling and directing the mana that flowed within the wood and the air to move against one another to cause friction, and from that friction came the first sparks of heat. Calling on fire from there was easy. I had learned the runes from Maridu, drawing them in the clay tablets, first with my eyes open and then blindfolded until I could call up any one of the fifty two basic runes, or the thousand variations that included complex sigils in my minds eye and hold them there while also writing out the formulae, one ring at a time and connecting them to the source rune.

And with that, I brought my fingers to the wood and it sparked and fire leapt to the fuel, consuming the air and began to blaze.

"Ah!" Maridu finally exclaimed in satisfaction. "Good, good. Now hurry up and prepare the fish, dunce. I am getting hungry."

I sighed in resignation. No celebration, no congratulations.. Just more demands.

Such was the life of an apprentice, I supposed.

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The fire leapt from my fingertips to the wood in the stove and slowly spread from one small log to the next as I drew my hand back, returning to the room that I shared with Laerika. She knelt next to me, enveloped in an oversized robe of soft, thick wool, or some equivalent.

I glanced to my right, seeing her watching me, once again with that concerned but attentive expression on her face. I realized that I had once again gotten lost in my thoughts and completely missed what she was saying.

"Master.." she started, then glanced down. "Perhaps it is not my place to say such things, but I can tell something is bothering you."

She was right, of course. There were a hundred things on my mind and I had simply been pushing them back for a time that I thought I would be able to consider them more deliberately. For one thing, who was this girl? I knew some of what she had been through, how she had been treated just from that intense moment of visions that we had exchanged when our eyes first met. But there was so much more to know about her, and I knew that I should have been speaking with her about all of it, but with the need for surviving the wilds, traveling, and just getting our needs met, I had missed each opportunity. Then, when we had come to a place of safety, I had been weighed down by the possible threat of being caught by the church, then the weight of disappointing Tio. Then, to add more to it all, I found myself stuck on how I should be handling Laerika herself. She was not just my slave, she was a girl who had desires and wants, and had been created to be my symbiont with no choice given to her in the matter. She was very pretty, actually she was quite sexy if I were being honest with myself. It was as though someone had taken all of the little things that I most appreciated in a woman and fit it all together in one, and then added the elusive puzzle of her inner being that always enchanted men, and kept them intrigued and attentive.

It was all a bit much to deal with all at once, but what to deal with first was eluding me. I felt like I had fallen silent overly long again, and knew it for sure when I felt the air-light silken touch of her mind caressing my own, perusing my thoughts as they leapt from one worry to the next.

"I'm... a bit lost here, Laerika." I admitted, voicing my doubts.

She didn't say anything, she simply leaned into me, her arm wrapping around me as she moulded herself to me, gently pressing her body against my side. I returned the gesture, subconsciously forming the Mind-rune and gently probing Laerika's thoughts. I found a combination of affection in reaction to my regard for her, her needs, her wants, her comfort and protection. I found a subtle sense of lusty humor in her when she discovered my hesitancy to treat her as a slave, whatever that meant in this world. That, despite my obvious enthusiasm in ravishing her the day of our first encounter. There was also a little exasperation for something else that eluded me for the moment, but I would have to either delve deeper, or simply talk to her about it, and I thought that was the best way.

"How can I help you, master?" She finally asked after another moment of silence. With that, I felt the tension in me loosening in my shoulders. Combined with the growing warmth of the fire I began to relax, so I settled down to a sitting position to face her, while she knee-walked over my lap and straddled my thighs, pulling up the oversized robe that she wore and settling down with her naked bottom in my lap and her hands coming up to begin digging into my shoulders through the light robe I was wearing. I sighed in contentment as I contemplated where to begin.

"Honestly, I think that I don't really understand how to treat you, Laerika. I.. know, or maybe I think I know something about your life, but I'm not really sure that I know you."

Laerika leaned back slightly, looking at me with a slightly puzzled expression on her face. Her hands still caressed and massaged my shoulders, and my own hands had gravitated to her hips and thighs, returning the familiarity and desire to share comfort.

"What do you wish to know, master? You know that my mind is completely open to you. You know that you can take anything from me.." she trailed off into silence as she caught the look of consternation and resistance in my eyes.

"Do you not want to know my thoughts, or what I feel?"

I shook my head. "It's not that. I do want to know those things, and more. I want to know.. Eh." I stopped, blowing out a breath of frustration. "I want to understand this." I said, gesturing to her and I, and how she was straddling my lap, and touching me so intimately. "I want to know why you are so comfortable being affectionate with someone who owns you and who has control of your very life."

I thought about it for a second while she listened, and felt like I still wasn't getting my meaning across, or maybe it was simply that I wasn't fully cognizant of what I meant in the first place.

"But.. maybe it's just that I want you to be honest with me about your feelings and thoughts and wants, and tell me what you want me to know.. Without feeling like I am invading your privacy." I said, trying to frame things in a way that she could understand.

I watched her face move through several emotions, from confusion, to understanding and then reverting to that smile of exasperated affection as her green eyes roamed over my face, and her right hand slid up my neck to run her fingers into my hair, gripping and pulling gently, like a cat, kneading her nails into my scalp in contented affection.

"You are right, master. Maybe telling you more of how I was raised will let you understand me better." She said as she wriggled closer, pressing her pelvis against my belly and tightening her grip on my sides with her thighs.

"I know next to nothing of my... parents." she said, and I felt a flicker of sadness and envy from her through our connection. "Not in the way that you do, your past self did." She finished.

"I know only what I was told by the ones who raised me. My trainer and governess. But then, whenever I asked about those things, I was only ever told that such things did not concern me and that my purpose, the reason for my existence, was to serve my master, to satisfy his cravings, to see to his comforts and to protect him." She said, settling into my lap and leaning into me, her arms slipped under mine and she brought her hands back up to my shoulders, occasionally letting her fingers climb up into my hair from time to time as she spoke. My hands naturally fell to her back, one resting over her shoulder blades, and the other slipping down to rest on the curve of her lower back. It felt so comfortable, and warm that I felt a comfortable relaxation drift over me as she continued to massage my shoulders and back, and tell me of her memories.

"From the time I was little, I was encouraged to be active. I think they wanted to encourage me to train my body from the start. Some of it was play, chasing the other children, playing at hunting and evading. When I showed that I could sense and guide magic, I was given more tasks, tests and lesson.. and when.." she paused for a moment, and I could feel a sadness in her.

"When I was old enough to begin craving essence, I was given lessons and instruction on how pleasure was given, and how to.. take the essence from.. From the males and females that had displeased or failed The Master."

From the way she said those two last words, I knew who she had meant.

"Through all of it, master, none of them ever concerned themselves with my needs or wants, there were no questions of my desires or how I felt about anything. They remained firm that my only concern was to attend to my training." I felt her tremble a little as she gripped at the cloth of the robe on my back and her arms held me tighter.

"But, then when I found you, I fed from you, and i could almost hear your dreams. So I listened and found someone who cares for others. And now? Now I have bonded with the one for whom I was raised and trained, and instead of the dismissal and lack of care that I had been brought up to expect, I can feel your concern for me. I see and feel your drive to make sure that I am comfortable, warm and fed. And I know also your desire to be certain I am safe and at your side. I know it, because I can feel it here." She said, pressing her fingertips against my back, and I knew that she meant what she sensed through our shared mental link.

It was something that I had known was present, but it had slowly faded from my perception from the time we were in the cave until now. It was the reminder of that link that brought my awareness back to it. It felt like a limb that I had neglected, a bit loose and unwieldy when I attempted to sense her through it, but when I did, the most present thing that I felt was affection and contentment. Underneath that was a nearly constant thrum of lust and desire that was being held in check, contained and controlled for the moment.

"I feel all of that from you, and I want to give everything that I am to you for it. For making me.. For letting me feel that I am wanted, and not just.. A thing."

I hugged her tight and kissed her pale hair over her ear.

"No, Laerika. You are not just a thing, not to me."

I heard her hum in pleasure as she squirmed into me, pressing her breasts and groin against me alternately. Then a new question surfaced and I leaned back a little.

"I do wonder, though, why you used mind magic on Tio. What was that about?"

Laerika blushed a little and turned her face, trying to hide a little smile.

"I.. I couldn't help sensing her attraction for you. I felt it last night when we got here, but I was tired, and unsure of where it was coming from. But this morning, it was very clear that she desires you just as much as I do." she admitted, and I felt a little surge of her hunger through the link.

"But she also feels like she can't be with you now." At this, her expression changed, becoming more confused and concerned.

"Because of you?" I asked, and she nodded.

"But.. That's silly, master. I.. I think she.. I think that you should enjoy her." she said as she turned her head and looked at me. "If that is what you want, master."

I considered her for a long moment, looking into her eyes and trying to decipher what it was I was sensing through the connection that we shared. It was not always clear, and the more confused or cluttered it was, the harder it was to feel. So, I asked her.

"How do you feel about that? How would you feel knowing that I was.. Uhm." I couldn't help blushing a little. "Enjoying her."

Laerika's blush matched my own, and doubled as she smiled, turning her face to the fire so I could actually see the smile this time.

"I.. I am yours, master. So I know that.." she fell silent for a moment, then shook her head and sighed. "It excites me, master. The thought of you and her together. I don't understand why, but.. It does. I don't think you know how much she desires you. The time that you shared with her, it made her feel.. Something wonderful, and she wants that again."

I looked at Laerika, seeking any indication of how she really felt about the idea, but all I could see was a kind of restrained excitement and a gleam in her eye. I felt a kind of satisfaction hearing that, but a feeling of uncertainty followed it.

"Well. It's not as if I can just drag her up here and..do whatever I want with her. If she feels like she can't because you are with me, then the only way for that to happen is if I can talk to her. But she also didn't look like she was interested in talking earlier."

Laerika nodded, a little sadness in her expression.

"I am sure that she will, if she wants you enough, master." she said, leaning into me again. "And I am sure that she does." She hummed and rubbed her pelvic mound against my stomach. She must have felt the hardening of my cock under her rump that resulted from her occasional rubbing and grinding against me. I found that I was pleasantly surprised, and partially amused at this. But I had more to ask her, so I brought both of my hands down to her ass and gripped them to make her be still, even lifting her up a little to relieve the pressure on my confined flesh and letting it fall against my thigh so that it wasn't bent at a bad angle while it hardened.

This denial of pressure against me brought a dissatisfied grunt from her and I was amused to see her pouting at me.

"I still need to know how to treat you, Laerika." I said, watching her pout turn into a return of her confusion.

"If I treat you poorly, or do things that you do not like or that make you sad or angry, then this life of ours will not be a comfortable one, and I don't want that. I need to know that.." I sighed, still resisting the idea and resenting this world for allowing it. "Even if you are my slave, even if you are bound to me, I need to know that how we interact won't make you feel bitter or ang.." I couldn't get anything more out because she had crushed her lips against mine, kissing me into silence. I kissed her in return, but the kiss couldn't stifle the sense of confusion that welled up in me.

From Laerika, I felt a flood of affection, adoration and exasperation, heavily spiced with a growing desire and lust as she fought against my grip and rubbed her warm mound against my belly. When she finally broke the kiss and drew back from me, her green eyes were gleaming and her face was flushed to a darker brown than her usual creamed coffee tone. Her pale white hair hung around her face in uneven waves, that still made her face adorably cute.

"Master, I do not know how else to say this, but I want you to use me however you wish. Whatever brings you pleasure, whatever you want or need. I know that you will never intentionally harm me, so please use me however it brings you pleasure and satisfaction." I tried to turn my head, but she brought her hand up and cupped my cheek, forcing me to look at her.

"I will fight and kill your enemies, shed my blood and carry your burdens. I will learn to cook your meals, wash your garments, and tend to you when you are ill. All that I ask is that you use me for your pleasure, feed me and share your satisfaction with me, even if that means my own is denied.." she paused as a shiver ran through her, and her eyes widened a little. "Particularly if it means denying me my pleasure." then she hesitated and amended, "maybe.. a little..sometimes?"

All of this was delivered with the near zealotry of a religious adherent, and it almost frightened me. I think she felt that, because she suddenly leaned back from me, and sobered a little.

"Sorry, master. But you did ask me to be honest in how I feel about things."

I managed to laugh a little, acknowledging that I had indeed wanted her to be honest, but I hadn't expected this kind of..devotion? As I paid attention to that unease bordering on fear, I realized that it was simply a reaction to never having experienced that, or knowing anything like it before.

"It..it's alright, Laerika. I just..didn't expect that. No one has ever said they felt that way for me before and I..don't really know what to do with it." I leaned forward and kissed her forehead, trying to convey an apology and reassurance in the gesture. When I leaned back and caught sight of her eyes again, she was smiling brightly. Then she tilted her head a bit, looking at me with mischief in her eyes.

"I'm alright with being the first then." She said, grinning.

"The little scamp!" I thought, and I burst out laughing as I pulled her close to me and swatted her bottom through the robe she was wearing.

The robe was thick enough that it took most of the impact out of the swat, but she yelped in surprise anyway and ground her mound against my belly as she giggled again. I felt her warmth and a bit of her moisture seep through the robe I was wearing, and my body responded in kind, hardening beneath her, trapped between her thigh and my own.

I brought my hand up, fisting my fingers into her hair and pulled her head back so I could look into her eyes for a moment, then I kissed her. Gently at first, then with a slow building passion. When we finally separated, our eyes met, and there was a silent agreement between us of our intent. She untangled herself from me, and stood up, moving toward the bed with a sultry look over her shoulder that made something inside me roar with approval. I looked at the fire, and quickly pushed in as much wood as the stove could handle, then closed the iron grate over the opening, and stood as well, shedding my robe and braies before following her to the bed and under the covers.

We both gasped and laughed at the cool touch of the linen blankets, then settled into each other, kissing and cuddling as our hands roamed, caressing and warming each other with our thighs interwoven and stroking each other's legs. We began to toss and vie for position until she pushed me onto my back and rolled on top of me, staring down at me in the dark, lit from behind only by the firelight peeking through the iron grating. I placed my hands on her thighs as I looked up at Laerika, the light shining warmly through her white hair. Backlit as she was, I could still see the sparkle in her eyes as she gazed down at me and ran her hands over my chest, and up my neck to touch my face, and run her fingers into my hair as she moved her hips, spreading her moisture on the skin of my belly.

With the other hand she reached back and took hold of my stiffening erection, caressing it and gently tugging it encouraging it to its full growth as it lengthened in her grasp, leaving a trail of my precum upward along her tailbone to her lower spine, then she leaned forward to kiss me, pressing my thick shaft between her ass cheeks and continued to rock and sway her hips, spreading her heat and slick over the skin of my belly and pelvis to the base of my shaft.

I moved my right hand up along her side, touching her almost too lightly until I encountered the firm fullness of her breast and wrapped my fingers over it, gripping it and rubbing her stiff nipple between my knuckles. She moaned into my mouth, whimpering a little at the treatment of her sensitive nub, but I felt a shiver roll through her and her hips jerked in eagerness, starting to grind herself against me with increasing desire. Suddenly she shifted her weight, her knees pressing down as she lifted and she guided my cock between us with her right hand. It fell to my belly with a wet slap as it landed in the growing pool of her wetness, then she lowered herself over it and began grinding along the underside of my cock, coating it with her slick warm wetness. Her left hand slid under my head, fisting her fingers into my hair as she kissed me, her brilliant green eyes open and staring at me with intense need spilling from them as she began humping her hips, grinding her clit along the thick vein of my cock. Our breathing came in gasps and moans as we caressed and struggled, our hips grinding against each other, spreading her moisture over more of my skin until she shivered and lifted up, breaking the kiss and panting as her hips twitched and swayed.

"Master... please, I.. I want.." she whispered incoherently. But I knew what she wanted, and my hands slipped down to her hips, gripping her ass and lifting her up.

"Put me inside." I instructed, and she nodded, still staring into my eyes as she slipped her right hand between us to guide me, her fingers wrapped around my girth, spreading her moisture over my skin with quick strokes as she moved the head of my cock to her entrance and then tilted her hips until I felt it spear her open around the glans, her folds spread and stretched, taking me into her slowly as she gasped, her eyelids fluttering for a moment as she felt me pushing slowly inside of her and then she groaned long and loud as her inner muscles clenched, relaxed and allowed more of me inside of her a bit at a time.

It was the most erotic thing that I could remember; the expression on the face of this beautiful young woman as she took me inside of her, and the lust filled, smokey sound of her voice, the little whimpering gasps she made as she struggled to relax and take more of what she wanted, the feel of her hot, slick, tight cunt taking me inside of her in fits and starts, clenching and releasing a little at a time as she slowly relaxed enough to let me fully into her and the warm smooth softness of her skin against mine. All of it became a heady combination that left the best whiskey or meal I had ever experienced far behind.

She smiled as she finally took the last few inches of me into herself with a triumphant squeak and a shiver. Her inner muscles stretched and clenched around my shaft, and I could feel the pressure of her cervix against the glans of my cock. Laerika panted and moaned as her eyes fluttered open again, and her brilliant green gaze locked with mine as she started to move her hips.

For a time, that was all that she could do, her inner muscles clenching and holding me inside of her while she tried to relax, forcing herself to move just a little until she finally gave herself over to the fullness and tilted her spine, pressing her firm full breast into the palm of my hand and began rocking her hips, stirring her insides with my cock and groaning as she explored her body using mine to find the places that brought her the most joy.

I certainly had no intention of stopping her, I was too busy enjoying everything about her and what she was doing. The feel of her warm soft skin against my thighs and hips, the smokey-sweet scent of her arousal, the huskyness of her moans and groans, and the little high pitched squeaks when she discovered how to stroke her most sensitive places. Instead, I simply reveled in the fact that I was present for this journey of discoveries that she was on.

Eventually though, she relaxed enough to begin moving in new ways, rocking her hips and dragging the head of my cock along other places that sent shivers through her and made her voice quaver. Her eyes had become halflidded as the flood of sensations and passion had grown, and now she stared down at me with a mixture of lust and devotion. It was like a whiskey that warmed and revealed a new set of flavors, just for my tongue as I bucked my hips in response. That elicited a grunt of pleasure from her and I watched as she rolled and rocked her hips again, trying to rediscover that sensation, so I rocked my hips back and thrust up into her again and she gasped as her eyes flared in delighted surprise.

"Master.." she gasped. "More,.. Please!"

I smiled and moved my hands down to her hips again, wrapping them over the flesh of her ass and lifting as I rolled my hips back and then thrust up into her as I pushed her down, driving my length into her fully as she yelped, then again and again as she cried out her delight and encouragement. Her words began losing coherence, turning into garbled yelps and moans as she joined into the efforts, her hips matching my rhythm as she started lifting and dropping herself down onto my rising thrusts.

With Laerika taking over the effort to pound herself down onto my cock, I brought my right hand back to her breast, gripping and tugging on her nipple causing her to whimper and clench around my invading shaft, then I released it and gave her breast a sharp smack and she clenched fully around my cock as she shrieked.

"Yes!.. Yes master, again!" she yelped, and slammed herself down onto me more energetically than before, the wet slapping sounds rebounding from every wall and I took hold of both breasts, digging my heels into the mattress and thrust up into her while pinching her nipples, then slapping one breast and then the other as she clenched her teeth around the scream of release, her inner muscles grasping and pulling on my cock from base to head as she trembled and shook. That was all it took to pull me right to the edge, and throw me howling over to join her in her orgasm. I felt my shaft pulse as I flooded her womb with my seed and a subtle feeling of lassitude pulled at me as my cum filled her and I heard her moan into my ear as she collapsed forward, gripping my shoulders with her arms, and fisting her fingers into my hair as her pussy gripped the base of my cock, milking my essence into her as she gasped and moaned again into my ear.

"So...gooooood!"

I wrapped my arms around her sweat slicked back and held her close as we both shook and rode out the storm of our release, like a row boat tossed around in a storm wracked sea.

Slowly, ever so slowly, those seas calmed. The air was thick with the scent of our sex, and the smell of our sweat. I was content to simply lay there, holding onto Laerika and feel the tremble in her thighs as they gripped my sides. I felt a chill as a draft rolled over my calves and arms, and started to reach for the blanket that had been tossed aside during our passionate wrestling, but along with Laerika's discontented murmur, I also realized that it would be best to clean us both up before settling in for the night. Placing my hands on her shoulders, I tried to shift her off of me, but she simply tightened her grip with thighs, arms and fingers, and let out a soft sound of denial that brought a laugh from me.

"Come on, Laerika.. I have to clean us both up so that we can sleep without a wet spot chilling the bed."

That just got a drawn out "noooooo" from her until I moved my right hand down and smacked her ass.

"Off, my beautiful lil barnacle." I said, and she clenched around the base of my cock, refusing to release me at first. Then she slowly relented and shifted, pushing herself up with her hands on either side of my head to look down at me.

"You think I am beautiful?" she asked, and I couldn't help but smile.

"Of course you are, Laerika." I said and brought my hand up to caress her cheek gently, meeting her gaze steadily. Then I tapped her right hip with my hand.

"Come on. Let me up so I can heat the water and we can wash down before coming back here." I said, though I couldn't help the laugh I let loose when she scowl-pouted in response.

"But, master.. I like having you in me." She complained. "And the mess feels good too." At that point, I stopped listening to her list of reasons why I should simply sleep in the mess with her, and rolled us both over until I could wriggle free from her gripping arms and legs, slowly dragging my cock out of her clinging slit as well, which brought a gasp from me and further disgruntled complaints from my slave.

I left the warmth of the bed, and strode in the cold air of the room to the privy, then poured water from the small pump into the pitcher, and from there into the basin and closed my eyes while concentrating. The water heated, quickly turning out steam until I was satisfied with the temperature, then I damped two soft cloths, and squeezed most of the water out of them before returning to the bed.

I found Laerika hiding under the covers, and gave the green eyes peeking out from them an expectant look. She turned her eyes elsewhere, avoiding my gaze for a moment, then relented and opened up the covers and moved to the edge of the bed.

I handed her one steaming cloth, and started to clean myself with the other when she yelped.

"Wait.. master, please let me.." she said, and dropped her cloth on the side of the bed as she brought her face closer to my deflated, though very satisfied organ and breathed in the musky scent of our mixed sex.

"Mmmmm.." she moaned as she opened her mouth and began licking all around my shaft, sucking on the skin of my testis and then handling my cock with her fingers as she licked and slurped up the length, swallowing our juices like it was some kind of dessert.

I cocked my head to one side as I watched her lavish such devoted attention to my cock. Her expression was almost worshipful and deeply satisfied at the same time.

"You really like the taste of us, don't you?" I asked her.

"Mmm, yes, master." she said between licks, then seemed to decide that she wouldn't be getting any more, so she gently released me to hang before my thighs and looked up at my face.

"I don't know how to explain it. It just..fills me, makes me feel full." she said, seeming to struggle with how to express what she meant to say.

"When..when you give me your seed, inside me, I feel this energy roll up through me.. It feels like summer sunshine, and a warm meal, and I can feel the mana within it." She watched me as I cleaned myself off, and then knelt up when I took her hand and pulled gently so I could use the other cloth to clean around her sex, and wipe up our juices from her thighs.

"I don't know why, but smelling you..smelling us..It's like I am being rewarded for learning a difficult spell, or beating my sword trainer.." she let the words trail off, but I was grasping her meaning regardless.

"You feel accomplished, and rewarded, satisfied." I suggested and got a confirming nod from her.

I understood her clearly enough, and gave her a nod in return. Then dropped the cloths on the floor beside the bed.

"Back under the covers with you. I need to make sure there is enough wood for the night." I said, turning for the stove.

"Yes, master." she chirped and dove back under the covers with enthusiasm, tugging them up around her and curling up in the remaining warmth.

Briefly, I thought about the things that I needed to do the next day.. But as I played a short game of tug-of-war with Laerika for the covers, and then settled in with her wrapped over me, hoarding my warmth to herself, I decided to let tomorrow happen in its own time and wrapped my arms around her letting sleep sneak slowly in and settle around us.

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Next chapter: Chapter 5; Copper and Iron.

Thank you for reading, please leave a comment below and let me know what you think. If you have any suggestions or maybe some edits that stand out, please contact me.