by Russ Primo
Chapter Five
The gorgeous young woman turned her face from me, letting her thick hood cover it and conceal her once more.
"It is an accord!" she croaked in a voice that I now suspected was something of a show for the rest of us.
Lifting her staff, she struck it down hard on the flagstone with a sound like a huge lock turning into place and opening.
At once, it felt as though I weighed a million pounds, and it was all I could do to keep from falling over.
The rest of the inn didn't fare so well.
Wex collapsed heavily onto the elf whose body lay beneath him. His huge arm slammed down so hard onto the wide table that it groaned and creaked, the legs nearest his arm squealing in pain and then splitting in two, sending poor Wex down to the floor as it collapsed, and trapping the elf he'd just punched under his great bulk.
Poor elf.
The other elves, too, who were paused in the action of rising from their seats, collapsed onto the broken table, groaning at being to easily thwarted.
The golden arrow which the blonde elf had fired at the aged mage likewise tumbled easily to the floor, clattering heavily as it settled among the stones. And the blue-armored, beautiful elf too, collapsed in a heap.
Behind me, I heard Kacie fall nearly out of her stool.
As I turned to go help her up, the beautiful young woman beneath the hag's cloak laid her hand on my forearm, stopping me mid-stride.
"We have an accord, young man," the strawberry-haired woman cackled. "There's no time for dawdling!"
I shot her a furious glare.
"We'll make it in time, hag," I growled, wondering why on earth a woman as beautiful as she was, would go about disguised as a hag. "Or I'll stay awake all night, to keep you safe."
Certainly, disguising herself so would make travel safer…
Though, she’s shown herself to be as capable a mage as ever I'd heard of.
It made no sense, but I had more important things on my mind.
Kacie lay, stunned, on the floor next to her stool, and I stooped down to her immediately.
"Are you hurt, Kacie?" I asked, glancing over her gorgeous body for sings of damage… and because I could hardly turn down an opportunity to see those gorgeous breasts up close, with the soft white fabric of her thin shirt making them nearly visible even in this gloom. “Anything broken?”
"I don't think so," she mumbled, eyes turned up to me in awe. "Pryvet, what is happening to you? First, you find a Debt bigger than anyone in the last hundred years, and now strange, powerful mages are seeking you out?”
Smiling at her, I tucked my Debt beneath my arm, and offered her my hand. She took it and I lifted her gently from the floor, placing one hand on the small of her back, and leading her back to the stool.
Shaking my head, I said, "I'm not entirely sure, Kacie. But, I'll be back soon enough. Don't you worry!"
Kacie glanced from my face to the Tally Branch under my arm, and nodded.
I wondered what she was thinking, this gorgeous woman. Could it be that she was coming around to helping me settle this huge Debt, after all?
But, I said nothing about it, and neither did she.
Kacie merely nodded, and whispered, "Don't take too long, Pryvet. I’ll worry about you, on the road. It seems you don’t shy away from trouble…”
Her hands lay clasped tight in her lap, as though it were taking all her energy not to wrap them around me in a goodbye.
I didn't give her the opportunity, and instead turned to the beautiful young woman, parading around as a hag. Whatever her reasons for wanting to keep her identity a secret, it would probably do me no favors to alter her wishes, and I decided against revealing her identity to the inn.
"All right, hag," I grunted, hefting my bag over one shoulder, and my Debt over the other. "I'm ready to go."
"Excellent!" the strawberry-haired woman cackled. "Follow me, and we shall ride there together!"
Without another word, she turned spritely on her heel, and walked easily out of the bar.
I wondered, watching her quick, confident strides betray the hag appearance she'd worked so hard to cultivate, why she would give up the ghost at the last moment.
Well, I had only the vaguest idea of where The Mother's Temple was.
But, f we were to make it there before dark, I was left with some hours yet, where I might get some information out of her.
So, thanking the elder mage for jumping to our side, and glaring at the elves who still lay immobile, either upon or under the table, save for the blonde who was beginning to stand, I followed the hag to the door.
As I passed Wex's prone body, I assured him, "I'll be back as soon as I can, Wex. You'll want help cleaning the place up, no doubt."
Wex groaned, clearly having taken the worst of the fall. But I had no time to stay and help him. For, the beautiful woman who could answer so many of my questions was already mounting the horse she'd hitched across the road from the inn.
Running out to her, I said, "Which way, hag?"
She looked down at me from her seat in the saddle, her beautiful face shining as clear as sunlight on a peerless day from beneath the dark hood.
"East, of course, Pryvet," she sang, in a voice that sounded like a brook in springtime.
We were an hour on the ride, having already passed beyond Clanesse's few houses, the shops, the distant marketplace between the most fertile fields, before the gorgeous young woman seated with her rear pressed against my crotch made to remove her hood.
I'd wagered it was better to let her reveal her secrets on her own time, and felt my heart rise to think that I'd be able to see her glorious face plainly, when I heard a woman's voice calling to us from the way we'd come.
"Pryvet!" the faraway voice from behind us seemed to call. "Pryvet!"
Turning in my spot behind the strawberry-haired, hag-disguised woman, I could just barely make out a rider on the road behind us, the dust rising behind the rider sailed like clouds into the tall, high sky.
"Hold on a moment," I said to the disguised beauty before me as she readjusted her hood before her face. "Let's see who this is."
The redhead beneath the cloak shimmied her rear into my crotch, grinding her soft cheeks against me, before she responded, "Am I not enough woman for you Pryvet? Do you really need to wait for another?”
I thought that, now she’d dropped the hag’s croak, she sounded significantly more appealing.
I mean, I was game to go, even just glimpsing her face. But, it was difficult to sound much worse than she had.
"I know little about you yet, even less than I know about this great Debt that I'll be expected to repay," I said reasonably. "Besides, how am I to begin repaying it, if you won't even pause fifteen minutes, when a beautiful voice like that calls out my name."
The strawberry-haired beauty shimmied her rear against me once more, turned in her seat, and gave me a quick wink. Her emerald-green eyes flashed closed amidst what I thought might have been a flush of red. Though, it was difficult to say for certain, with her vibrant hair so close-by.
"All right, then, handsome," she smiled, her voice taking on the timbre of songbirds. "You're right. But, don't think you've time to wait around for any girl who isn't interested. Judging by that Tally Branch of yours, you'll have to get busy right soon!"
With that said, she turned to face forward again, and tugged on the horse's reigns, turning her stallion around to ride towards the on-comer.
Her hood, she tucked further down around her face until not the slightest flash of her red hair appeared below the hem.
I'll have to get out of her, why she's so set on disguising her beauty, I thought to myself. Surely, there's a reason. Though, she's so youthful still that it may be all a joke!
As we drew closer, I saw that Kacie Gladwyn was seated on the horse, her wheat-sheaf hair flying behind her, as she galloped hard to come meet us, getting lost amidst the long rows of ripe wheat that stood along both sides of the road.
"Pryvet!" Kacie exclaimed, eyes sparkling as the strawberry-haired woman pulled the reigns up alongside her, keeping her hood tucked firmly over her face. "I thought I wouldn't make it back to you!"
Kacie was breathing heavily, the air drawing in harsh and ragged over her flushed lips.
She must have ridden hard, to make it out to us, I thought. We left in such a hurry, and have been doing good time ourselves.
"You've made it, child," the emerald-eyed woman croaked, miming her hag disguise. "But we have little time to wait on you. It's only down to Pryvet's powers of persuasion, that I turned for you at all!"
"Oh!" Kacie yelped, clearly startled by this hostile greeting. "Here, Pryvet. Wex has sent something for you! He said that you'd need it, if these elves are going to be more of a nuisance. They were only just getting themselves put together again when I left. Though, the elves seemed pretty nasty, still.”
So saying, she reached down into a saddlebag alongside her mare, fumbling within it for some moments and giving me a glorious view of her pert breasts, beneath the thin fabric of her blouse.
I felt myself stiffen as she bit her lip cutely in concentration.
I'd like to see her bite her lip underneath me, before this is all done.
After a little, she groaned and rose up with something clutched in her hand.
In a moment, I saw that it was the little bottle of eternally-replenishing spirits that Wex had toasted us with.
Sunlight shimmered into its crystal clarity, sparkling upon Kacie's smooth skin, roving across the flank of her mare, giving me excuse to take in her strong, lithe thighs that gripped the horse as they wandered over them like fingertips.
Smiling, Kacie looked about to hand it over to me, and I reached out to take it.
But, at the last moment, she instead popped the cork and downed a large gulp of the pure, crystalline stuff, wiping her lips with the back of a soft hand, re-corking it and only after passing it to me.
"I needed that," she giggled, “to let you know that I'll be coming with you, Pryvet. I’ve been stuck with in that little town my whole life, penned in like some sort of livestock. I won't let those old ladies keep me back any more."
I nodded to her and smiled.
“I’ll be happy to have you,” I grinned.
Turning to the woman in the saddle, I said, “The Mother will allow her to accompany us, correct?”
She rolled her read beneath her cloak, as though in consideration of the question.
Then, her lips sneered out from beneath her hood, and Kacie let out a small gasp.
“I can wait,” Kacie begged of the woman. “I mean, I can wait outside the temple, if I’m not allowed in. I know that a man’s Debt is a very important thing, and I don’t want to hinder Pryvet at all.”
I could feel a small smile lite itself upon the hooded woman’s face, through tiny adjustments in her posture. Her full rear straightened against me as her back straightened.
“No, Kacie,” I said calmly. “You’ll come inside, as my guest if nothing else. This woman here is just the playful sort, I think. She is not so bad, once she lets her hood down.”
A bright, glowing smile lit up the gorgeous Kacie's face, turning it from a thing of beauty to a visage that an angel would grow jealous of.
"Of course, Pryvet!" she squealed. "I wouldn't have it any other way. Though, I don’t know how helpful I’d be, in negotiations. I don’t speak The Mother’s tongue, and I’ve little experience with barter.”
The strawberry-haired woman seated before me shivered imperceptibly beneath her robe, and cackled, “You needn’t worry over that, dearie! My priestess and I will do the dealing! You should just stay by Pryvet’s side and look beautiful like you already do! Our Pryvet here will need all the women that he can get, if he's to get out of this one! But, if you hold us up anymore, then I will personally leave you!”
Immediately, Kacie gasped and spurred her mare on, riding away ahead of us, not wanting to be given any reason to be sent packing.
She rode so fast, I thought she might arrive a full day ahed of us.
Is is just me, or is she standing up in the stirrups a little, to give me a better view of her butt in leaving?
"Well now," the woman before me whispered, her voice dropping the frail hag's tone, and adopting the much sweeter tune of a mountain brook. "That's a generous gift, indeed. You must be well-regarded, Pryvet! To have a man give you the fruits of Debt repayment!"
She shook the reigns of our horse as well, and we cantered off in pursuit.
I felt as thought the woman was pushing our stallion a bit harder than she might otherwise have, to catch the gorgeous Kacie.
They do seem to like me quite a bit. I'll have to make sure I get a good bargain for the Debt. That way I can bring them bounties in thanks.
Before me, the rider said, to Kacie’s diminishing back, her bouncing butt held high above the saddle to deal with the shock of each of her horse’s footfalls, ”You’ve an eager one there, Pryvet. She’s no fun to play with, though. I think it’s time for me to drop my act.”
I shook my head, placing my hands firmly on her hips, to hold myself steady, and to figure out if the rest of her body was as pleasing as her hair and face, under that ghastly hood.
“I don’t see where the fun was in it, to begin with,” I reasoned. “ Your face is so pretty that I'd be a fool to want you hidden away."
A thrill ran through the woman's body at the compliment, and I firmed up my grip on her hips, which were wide enough to bear children, certainly, and which sat below what felt like a trim waist and powerful legs.
Kacie was far ahead of us, now. Though I hoped that she’d pause if she came to a crossing. It wouldn’t do to have her take one road, and us another.
It was good to get some privacy to play with each new woman. That way, no single one of them felt left out of the fun.
"You do have a strong grip, to match your handsome face, at least," the red-haired woman cooed, lifting a hand up to draw the hood up and away from her face. "Let's not put such firm hands to waste, now."
Beneath the hood, her shock of red hair fell cleanly around her head, sparkling a little in the sun, clearly well taken care of.
She turned in her seat, so that I could get a good look at her, and I felt my member thrill at what I saw.
Her skin was tanned, and sprayed with freckles along each cheek that banded out from her cute, button nose like a faraway galaxy at night.
Her eyes's green shimmered, laced through with flecks of gold like the sunrise among distant, rolling hills.
Her face was soft and round, a little like a heart, with the way that her hair fell around it, the ends curling up to brush against each other under her pretty chin.
What's more, a blush of pleasure stole across her face as I drank her in, spreading up from her neck, past her chin, and settling into her freckles, making them bright as hot coals on her face.
"You shouldn't stare so long, Pryvet," she whimpered after a moment, tucking her bottom lip between her teeth in agonizing pleasure. "It's not nice to drink in a girl like this. You make it hard to concentrate."
"I make it hard to concentrate?" I whispered, sliding my hands up over her thick robe's fabric, so that I could hold her tight around the waist. "You can't really blame me, after all. No one as pretty as you are should ever go about dressed and acting like a hag. What on the Free Isles are you playing at? And how can I get the rest of this robe off of you?"
The blush on her face brightened precipitously.
Ahead of us, Kacie took a turning on the road, losing us against the tall, swaying wheat.
Well, I’d like to have her around, to play with as well. But, no doubt this woman’s show startled Kacie, and now she’s afraid she’ll be given the boot.
Though, I wonder why Kacie doesn’t believe I could override her. It’s my Debt that we’re bargaining for, after all.
Shaking my head, to clear it of Kacie’s brimming face and let me focus on the b
eauty that sat before me in the saddle, I reoriented myself.
"Oh?" I growled at her pleased expression. "You do have clothes on under that, don't you?"
"Pryvet!" she exclaimed, sounding beyond pleased with how the conversation was going. "You shouldn't talk this way to a girl you've barely met!"
"Well," I reasoned, pulling her back by her waist so that her rear swelled into my crotch. "I wouldn't be forced to take this sort of initiative if you were at all forthcoming about who you were, and what you wanted… aside from what's dangling between my legs, of course."
I noticed that her eyes went soft and unfocused as I pushed her cheeks against my crotch, feeling my member suggest its presence to the valley between them.
"So," I continued, letting my little friend keep bouncing against her rear with each jolting step that the horse took, "Why don't you tell me why it that you're dressed as a hag? Why it is that you're trying so hard to convince everyone around you that you're anything other that this gorgeous, fit (if my hands and little friend aren't lying to me) woman? One would assume that a girl such as yourself would be keen to show off her womanly assets."
The rider shook her head, turning to look forward again, but doing nothing about my hands, which remained firmly adhered to her trim waist.
"I'm a temple maiden," she said, her words losing some of their prescience on the wind, as she spoke away from me. "Which means I'm sworn to chastity, Pryvet. I can't have sex with a man, or even kiss him.
"That's you, too–" she added, wiggling her apparently off-limits butt into my disappointed member. "Lest I lost my post before graduating to become one of The Mother's priestesses… a priestess would, I think, be the best analogue for a foreigner like yourself. Once I become one, I will have magic to make whatever magic you're able to bargain from Her look like Wex's simple brewery spells."
Damn. I was really hoping for something more mysterious, and significantly less prudish.
Well, if she's off limits, maybe I can play along with her, myself. At least, until we catch up with Kacie again…
