Bone lord 2, p.9
Bone Lord 2, page 9
“Ahh,” she said with a wicked grin, “wine is one thing I missed about being mortal.”
“Leave some for the rest of us,” I said with a laugh.
She cackled and tossed the wine bottle back to me. “Thank you. I believe I shall allow the wine to penetrate me while I stroll around the woods.”
“By yourself?” Elyse asked. “Out there?”
“I’m the Goddess of Death—”
“Ahem, former Goddess of Death,” I said.
Isu spun around, her eyes filled with rage before she brushed down her dress and composed herself. “I have nothing to fear. I may be mortal, but I am still a Fated necromancer.”
“Don’t wander off too far,” I said. “We wouldn’t want you to get lost.”
“I simply need a few moments of peace to myself.”
She turned on her heels and marched out of the campsite before melting into the shadows beyond.
“Aren’t you a little worried about her?” Elyse asked.
“She can take care of herself out there,” I answered.
“That’s not what I meant. Are you really sure you can trust her?”
“Not entirely, but she’s useful to have around. More wine?”
“I shouldn’t have too much,” Elyse said, “but why not. I’ll have a little more.”
I handed her the bottle and couldn’t help sucking in a quick breath as I noticed just how exquisitely beautiful she looked in the firelight. The flames added a glimmer of reddish gold to her long blond hair, and they danced invitingly in her glistening eyes.
“Vance,” Rami said, “you didn’t finish telling us your story earlier. What happened after you met your old servant, and he told you what your uncle had done?”
“Ah, yes,” I said with a sigh, leaning deeper into the tree and stretching my hands behind my head. “At that point, there was no way I could go back to Brakith, not until I had a plan to clear my name and defeat my uncle. I was also now considered a wanted criminal in Brakith, and I suspected that my uncle, in his thoroughness, had hired assassins to hunt me down.”
“So, what did you end up doing?” Elyse asked, as interested in my story as the other woman.
“The best way to defend myself from assassins was to learn to fight like one, to think like one. I already knew how to fight like a knight, but what does a knight know about assassins?”
“Nothing,” Elyse said. “Knights obey the rules of combat. While assassins—”
“Do whatever it takes.” Rami smiled and tapped the blades attached to her ai’tendar.
“Damn right,” I said. “So, I turned around and went back the way I’d come. When the road forked, I headed south and kept going south for weeks. I crossed the Sunblast Desert, slogging through its barren, waterless wastes until I arrived at the city of Targon.”
“Ah, the city of spice, the city of heat, the city of eternal summer,” Elyse said wistfully. “I’ve always wanted to visit Targon, but the journey always put me off.”
“It’s a long, difficult one, and most travelers don’t make it across the Sunblast Desert alive. There’s the relentless sun, the endless orange dunes, the desert bandits, lack of water.”
“I thought there were oases?” Elyse asked.
“They’re few and far between. Did I mention the sand devils, or the djinns?”
Rami shuddered. “I have heard tales.”
“Well, I bet they’re all true. Those fuckers are worse than any vampire or werewolf in the north. I made it, though, after a few hellish weeks on the scorching sands. And in Targon, I found the Assassin’s Guild.”
“How?” Elyse asked. “I’ve heard that they only allow themselves to be found by those whom they want to find them.”
“That’s true. I suppose word spread about my fighting skills prior to my arrival in Targon. Two nights before I reached the city, I single-handedly fought off an ambush by a gang of seven bandits. I killed every last one of the bastards with my longsword. Those were the days I still fought with a knight’s weapons.”
Elyse looked at my dagger and shuddered. “Perhaps you should never have traded your longsword for a dagger.”
“And where would that leave us? You’d still be without a bishopric, and I’d be a mere mortal.”
“I want to hear more of the guild,” Rami said. “Did they seek you out?”
I shook my head. “I did some digging when I got to Targon, dropped some hints in the right places, and the guild allowed me to find them. I told them about my uncle, swore an oath to serve them faithfully as an apprentice for five years, as they require, and that was that. Five years later, I left the guild as a fully fledged assassin.”
“But how did you end up becoming a necromancer?” Rami asked.
“Ah, well that was when chance—no, destiny, I’m sure—led me to the merchant who had Grave Oath. I found Grave Oath, or, rather, Grave Oath found me, and that’s when I discovered the power that exists in these old religious artifacts. I learned that there were others who were seeking out these items of power too. In particular, a sergeant who’d deserted the Lord of Light’s army. He took his troops with him on a quest to collect as many of these items as he could in a bid to grow his own power.”
“Sergeant Rollar,” Elyse said, after taking another sip of wine.
“Yeah, that asshole. After tracking a bunch of troops into a crypt and killing them, I gave Isu enough strength to partially return to this plane. She made me a necromancer. Then, I met Elyse here, and you know the story from there.”
“Thank you for enlightening me, Vance,” Rami said. “You have had quite a fascinating life.”
The unmistakable gleam of desire shone in her dark eyes, and she ran her fingers through her silky black hair as she stared at me. Her lips parted suggestively, and the heat of excitement stirred between my thighs. Rami, however, broke off her stare and got up.
“Like Isu,” she said, “I need some time alone. Meditation is an important part of being an enjarta. Don’t worry, I won’t stray far from the camp.”
Elyse and I watched her go in silence. She moved with such deadliness that her walk alone was hypnotic, and I had a difficult time tearing my eyes off the sight of her firm ass shifting sensually beneath her skin-tight black catsuit. She disappeared into the shadows beyond the firelight, leaving me and Elyse in the camp.
“More wine?” I offered Elyse the bottle after I had taken another sip.
“Thank you,” she said as she took it.
We drank without speaking for a time, simply staring into the crackling flames and listening to the nocturnal sounds of the forest. After a while, Elyse spoke.
“Can I… can I be completely honest with you, Vance?”
“Sure.”
Even in the subtle glow of the firelight, I saw a blush reddening Elyse’s cheeks. The alcohol had emboldened her though, and she pushed through whatever feelings of embarrassment were bothering her.
“I’m not just here on this journey with you because I owe you a favor, or because I’m hoping to track down other Blood God devotees and stop them spreading evil.” She paused, swallowed a large gulp of wine, and continued. “I enjoy your company, Vance. I’ve never been in love, but maybe this is the small beginnings of something that, perhaps, might one day be the germination of such a feeling.”
I thrust out my hand for the bottle. “Wine.” I gulped down a half dozen mouthfuls, emptying the bottle. I reached for my pack and grabbed a second bottle, popped off the cork with my thumb, and swallowed back more wine. “Ah,” I exhaled. “Thank you for letting me know.”
“Is that all? I confess my love for you, and you simply thank me?”
I shrugged. “I’m not sure what else to say. I’ve never been in love before, and I’m not sure I want to be. Sure, I wouldn’t mind making a bit of love with you, but I can’t say I’d ever be tied down to one woman. Nor do I think I’d ever be capable of love. And I don’t want to give you the wrong idea by leading you on.”
“Those are the most arrogant and cruelest words anyone has ever spoken to me,” Elyse said as she snatched the new bottle from me. She swallowed back the strong wine. “Yet, they were also the noblest and kindest words. Thank you for allowing me to speak. But I don’t believe you.”
“You don’t?”
“I don’t believe you’re incapable of love.”
“So, you’re going to stick around, trying to make me feel this emotion called love?”
“Perhaps. Perhaps I’ll also get the chance to make love with you.” Her eyes widened, and she clasped a hand over her mouth. “The wine is far stronger than I imagined. I shouldn’t have said—”
I laughed. “You said what was on your mind.”
“In that case, there is something else. You’re a god now. You wouldn’t need to be limited to only one wife. If that’s what preventing you from considering love, then you needn’t worry. I heard some of the old gods had hundreds of wives.”
“Why have wives? I can have a hundred women in my bed without ever marrying a single one. Hells, we could have a little fun right now. There’s nothing stopping us. Isu is off on a midnight stroll, and Rami is meditating.”
Elyse laughed softly and shook her head. “I’m a bishop, Vance. I take my vows seriously. I can’t just sleep with a man.”
I quirked an eyebrow. “Have you ever done it?”
“No,” she murmured, staring into the fire. “I’m a virgin.”
She had a quick swig of wine and followed it up with a much longer slug.
“We don’t have to keep talking about this if it makes you uncomfortable,” I said.
“No, it’s not that,” she answered. “It’s just that… well, since I’m being completely honest with you, maintaining my vow of chastity is turning out to be pretty difficult when I’m around you.”
There was only a sip or two of wine left in the second bottle, and Elyse was beyond tipsy now. She was starting to slur her words a little and was looking a bit unsteady. I was an asshole, but I wasn’t the kind of asshole who’d slip into the bed of a drunken woman.
“You know what I think, Elyse?”
“What?”
“I think you should get some sleep now. Any more of this wine, and you’ll be waking up with a hangover tomorrow, and we have a long way to go. A hangover won’t make the journey any easier, I can tell you that.”
“You’re right,” she said with a sigh. “I probably have had a little too much. Yes, I’ll try to get some sleep now. Thank you for listening to me. I’m glad that I could talk with you.”
“You get yourself some rest now,” I said with a smile. “I’m going for a stroll in the woods.”
Elyse nodded, rolled her cloak around her, curled up by the fire, and was snoring gently within minutes. I finished off the last of the wine, stretched, and headed into the woods.
I placed my mind into Talon. Immediately, the taste of blood and meat filled my mouth. I shuddered at the thought of what creature my new undead monster had ensnared and returned my soul to my body.
“Sarge.” I nodded at my skeleton, the first I’d ever raised. “You’re doing an excellent job.”
The skeleton tilted its head and produced a sound of rattling bones when it lifted its greatsword up.
I walked out past my other undead sentries, the mounted undead, zombie Crusaders, and regular skeletons. They watched me pass by in silence, their yellow-green eyes glowing gently in the dark.
I heard the bubbling of water, and I followed it to a pool at the bottom of a cascading stream. When I reached the edge of the pool, I found Rami seated there, cross-legged and eyes closed. A broad beam of moonlight illuminated her face, set in an expression of deep meditation. If she registered my presence, she did not show it. I kept a respectful distance from her and waited for her to finish meditating. It didn’t take too long. Perhaps five minutes after I arrived, she opened her eyes and stood.
“I hope I didn’t disturb you,” I said.
“No,” she answered, “you didn’t. Besides, I knew you would come here.”
“How?”
“While I was meditating, I found my qi yearning for yours. It was a fiery, irresistible yearning that not even my most focused concentration could overcome. Eventually, I gave up trying to resist it. I knew that it would draw you to me.”
“What’s ‘qi’?”
“It is the name we Yengians give to one’s life force. The unique energy core of every living thing.”
“Like a soul, then?”
“Not quite. One’s soul is part of one’s qi, but so is the energy of one’s physical body, and the energy of one’s mind. Together, all three combine to form one’s unique energy core. This is what qi is. And yours, Vance, is immensely strong. I knew that from the moment I first laid eyes on you. Your qi drew me to you like a loadstone pulling in an iron filing.”
“I kind of feel the same.” I considered telling her I didn’t understand a word of her ‘qi’ explanation, but I knew attraction, and I was feeling utterly attracted. While Elyse had been drunk, Rami was as sober as the Lord of Light himself. My somewhat malleable morals would at least allow me to entertain any advances she made.
“I have been doing my best to resist,” Rami said, “for we enjarta are discouraged from giving in to temptations. But after much meditation on the subject, I have come to the conclusion that it is pointless to resist any longer. Destiny has brought me to you, and why would the Auras have done this if my qi was not meant to merge with yours?”
I stared at her beautiful face, with its delicate feminine features and those dark, beguiling eyes. Her lips were slightly parted and glistened invitingly in the silvery moonlight. I was keenly aware of every one of her body’s enticing curves, displayed so tantalizingly through her skin-tight ai’tendar.
“When you say ‘merge your qi with mine,’ that means in a mental-spiritual sense, right?”
Her full lips curled up into a seductive smile. “It is also physical.” Rami stood and took a step toward me so that she could run her fingertips softly over my chest. “If you are willing to honor me in this way, of course.”
She looked up at me from beneath her finely arched brows, eyes full of ravenous hunger and desperate pleading. She wanted me badly. There was no mistaking it.
“Let’s do it, then.” I slid my hands down around her slim waist and pulled her closer. “Let’s merge our qis.”
In an instant, her mouth was pressed against mine. Her lips parted eagerly, and my tongue reached into her mouth. We kissed with a furious passion, immeasurable pent-up energy finally being released. As our tongues danced this tango of desire, Rami gasped and moaned into my mouth, sliding her hands down to my belt, which she began unbuckling with frantic fingers. After her earlier argument with Elyse, I figured she really couldn’t wait to see how big my cock was.
We continued kissing with a mad fervor as she scrambled to get my pants off. I began to undo the clasps on the chest of her ai-tendar. They popped open with a satisfying click, and once a few of the clasps had been undone, the skintight garment slid off her torso as if it was liquid.
Rami stepped back, peeling the suit off her legs so that she was completely naked. For a few moments, all I could do was stare at the glorious sight of her nude form. Her breasts weren’t as big as Elyse’s or Isu’s, but they were magnificently pert, with small nipples pointing slightly upward. Her silky belly was flat, and the smoothness of it continued all the way down to her crotch, which was smoothly shaven. Her subtly curved hips flowed down to long, slim legs, as smooth and silky as the rest of her body.
She’d succeeded in getting my belt unbuckled and my pants half off, and now, she dropped to her knees to finish the job, eagerly tugging them down around my ankles. I was already hard, and she gasped, grinning with surprise as she took in the sight before her.
“It’s even bigger than I thought it would be.” She wrapped her hands around my shaft before she slipped her lips over it, moaning softly as she sucked.
I bit my lower lip as waves of pleasure tore through me. As she consumed me, I slipped my fingers through her cascading black hair, gripping it in two fistfuls as she bobbed her head back and forth. She continued for a couple of minutes, working up the intensity and seeming to enjoy it even more than I was.
Eventually, panting, she stopped and looked up at me, her eyes gleaming.
“Please,” she murmured, “it’s time our qis merged.”
I didn’t need to be asked twice.
I lifted her up by her armpits, and she instinctively wrapped her legs around my waist as I lowered her onto me, still standing upright. She moaned slowly, and a shudder ran through her body as I entered her.
I leaned back as she began to ride me. Soon, her moans and cries were loud enough that I thought it would wake the whole forest. It didn’t take long for her to climax, letting out a protracted cry as intense shudders jolted through her body. She collapsed onto me, her head on my shoulder as she gasped for breath.
After giving her a moment to breathe, I turned her around and helped her lower her arms onto the ground, with her legs still wrapped around me. Supporting her upper body on her elbows on the ground, with me holding her firm thighs like the arms of a wheelbarrow, I slid myself into her again. Her back arched with pleasure as I entered her, and she began moaning as I started to thrust. I was treated to the sight of her firm ass-cheeks glistening with sweat in the moonlight as I fucked her, and her cries of pleasure echoed through the forest.
She came again, screaming out and driving her fingers into the dirt as the orgasm tore through her like a summer storm. Then, after another couple minutes of powerful thrusting, she came yet again.
By that time, I too was on the edge, and it didn’t take too many more thrusts into her wetness to bring my own release. I gripped her ass, and waves of pure ecstasy ripped through me.
When it was over, I slid out of her and staggered back. She curled up like a cat on the ground, glowing with bliss, her sweaty skin glistening in the moonlight.
“Your qi is even more powerful than I imagined it would be,” she purred. “Thank you, Vance. That was—”
