by Russ Primo
After a moment, I got the sense of them all, as a unit.
In these paintings, invariably, a gorgeous, well-endowed woman wearing a white tunic that sank low between her cleavage, and which rose up so high on her legs that her rear end threatened to pop out, did battle with some enemy who seemed other-than-human.
The difference in beauty, between the two fights, really couldn’t be more stark.
One painting showed a tunic-clad woman with brown hair battling what I thought must have been some kind of demon. It had horns, and teeth filed down to a point, and a tail that looked like a spear.
Another showed a tunic-clad woman with blonde hair battling what looked like a troll. It had skin so tough it looked like rocks, and hands crisscrossed with scars, some bleeding openly, and feet as hairy as my head.
A third had another brown-haired woman fighting against some kind of scaled lizard-man, her sword captured in mid-slice and a look of terror on the lizard-man's face. It had scales for skin, and its forked tongue darted out of its mouth like a snake, and all up and down its chest little arms that appeared vestigial grasped at nothing.
Yeah, stark difference. But, anyone would probably look gorgeous, next to these monsters.
At least the women do actually look peerless. And like they’ve all used magic to expand their breasts to huge sizes.
Must be tough to fight with breasts like that. But, at least it makes for easy looking.
"They're the sired children of Debtors," Mette explained, noticing me examine the paintings with a smirk. "You'll provide The Mother with a number yourself, if you're to rid yourself of your Debt, too, Pryvet."
I nodded silently, noting that all of the 'children' (though each woman was well of-age) were, in fact women, and made a mental note to ask Mette later whether all of my sired would be women as well, or if any men were possible from those copulations.
I should probably find some paper to write all these questions down on, though. The list is getting long, as it is.
And I just keep finding new things to add to it.
I turned to examine the stained glass again, and was a little shocked (although not entirely, having seen the low cut of the warriors, and of Mette's official robes) to see that the images described by the glass were of men and women copulating.
Each frame seemed to hold a different position, some with the man taking the woman from behind, some with the man taking the woman lying atop her breasts, some with the man taking the woman standing, and so on.
The interesting thing, to me, was that in each instance, the man held his Debt aloft, and in each it seemed to glow, where the stick was snapped off, as though readying to repair itself.
Is that to signify a metaphorical Debt repayment? Or will my Debt actually glow like that whenever I impregnate someone?
Looking more closely, I saw that each of the participants's eyes were half-closed.
Visions of utter pleasure were etched onto their faces as they came together.
"It shows the Debt satisfaction," Mira explained, walking up and brushing my bare right arm with her clothed one. "The man is at his climax, see. And there is nothing that feels better, for a woman, than to have a man satisfy his Debt inside you. So, the woman likewise feels The Mother's joy."
She giggled as she looked closer, a girlish fascination with sex written plainly on her face, although she was old enough now to have at least one partner already.
Silently, Kacie walked up on my other side, running her fingers across my wrist and working her fingers into mine, clasping my hand loosely.
When I looked down at her, she seemed entranced by the images, crude though they were, a little pink blush lingering on her face.
I wonder what face she’ll make, when I finish inside of her?
"What about the men’s Debts?" I asked Mira, deciding to let Kacie get her body worked up by the sight. "They seem to be glowing, like they’re satisfied? I thought the Debt was to sire a child, for each snap in the Debtor's stick, but they're just now having sex here?"
"Uh huh," Mira agreed, pointing to an image of a man taking a woman from behind, his hands pressing her hips into himself, and her body leaned forward, on her knees. "But, The Mother isn't so picky about that. She knows that, once the man gets the woman pregnant, it's not really up to him, whether she carries to term. I mean, it kind of is, a little bit. I think it will be, for the women you impregnate, Pryvet. You seem to be that kind of man.
“But, anything can happen, in between getting pregnant, and giving birth… Nine whole months of things can happen! And, since there's usually a pretty strict time limit on fulfilling the Debt, if a man puts a baby in a woman, and thinks his Debt is satisfied, only to have her die, be killed, or worst of all miscarry during that time, it could be too late for him to get another woman with baby. Heck, the problem might occur well outside of his window for satisfaction! So, The Mother counts all Debts satisfied as soon as the man, erm… finishes inside of the woman. So long as she is fertile, of course. It’s only fair to him, and to her, after all."
I nodded at that, feeling a little better about my prospects.
It certainly makes it simpler, not having to figure out how far in advance of the actual deadline I have to get the last woman pregnant, for one thing. I was sort of figuring on three years and three months, to get the last woman pregnant. That way, she’d still give birth within the window.
Yeah, this is much better.
I'd already had the thought of some terrible fate befalling one of the women I'd been with, in between our union and her giving birth.
Such a prospect was especially likely, now, given that we didn't know what the elves wanted, other than to apparently kill people on the Free Isles.
Seeing me sigh with relief, Kacie patted my hand.
"See, Pryvet," she smiled up at me. "We'll make it just fine! Heck, there’s time for way more than one, with how much time you have now!”
Mira's head swiveled around with a snap to latch onto Kacie's face.
She must have thought that I was too invested in the stained glass to notice, because she mouthed a silent, "We'll?" at Kacie.
Kacie giggled, and pressed her nose into my arm, nodding her head and making happy little coos of delight.
Yes we will, Kacie.
I couldn't help but feel my member pulse to life between my legs, and figured it was probably time to extricate myself from the situation.
I still had no idea whose office we were in, and although I wanted desperately to polish my shaft along Kacie's slick, I figured it was wise to not be sporting an iron bar when whomever worked here got in for the day.
Good first impression were always important, after all.
"Of course we will, Kacie," I said, sliding my arm around her, and making an excuse to go study the map that was laid out on the desk, hoping to take my mind off the way that my old traveling cloak made her almost completely exposed breasts stand out, her nipples stiffening.
She pouted when I drew away, but didn't seem too put off by it, or at least I was pretty sure she wasn't.
Mira turned to her, and the two women engaged in conversation, no doubt about the specific mechanics of having a man satisfy his Debt upon you.
I leaned down, examining the map, as Mira and Kacie's gentle conversation soothed into the background.
The map on the large desk in the room's center seemed special in more ways than one.
Those ways, were as follows.
Firstly, for all that the Free Isles are complex, convoluted, and numerous, with enough sets of biomes to trip up even the hardiest tracker, the peoples here seemed to despise maps.
In all my time upon their shores, I'd not seen a single scrap of a map, and I'd asked at nearly every town I passed through.
Secondly, that arrayed upon this map were a thousand little figures approximating human beings, had people been made out of crude sticks lashed together, instead of real flesh.
These small stick-figures moved slowl
y over the many little islands that made up the Free Isles, some leading little stick-wagons, others leading tiny stick-horses, still more leading nothing at all.
"They're marvelous things, aren’t they?” Mette said, leaning low across the table from me, and giving me (I'm not sure intentionally) a gorgeous view of her cleavage, her tits hanging low in her vestments. "These figures upon the map."
I gulped. Kacie had already just intimated that she was seriously interested in helping me settle my Debt, and already I was getting lost in Mette's cleavage.
Come on, Pryvet. You can’t have them all, if you don’t go one at a time. Each woman needs her space and her time to acclimate to you.
"Yeah," I gulped, swallowing hard and tearing my eyes away from Mette’s gorgeous mounds, "Are they to represent human beings?"
Mette placed her elbows on the desk, doing even more wonderful things for her breasts, which lay framed by her arms, then pointed to one in the center of the largest island.
"Not always human," she sighed, "though they are meant to signify conscious creatures on the island.
“These here, I believe, are indicative of the elven party that attacked us last night."
I squinted where she pointed, and saw four little stick figures moving slowly around a dot with a name that I couldn't read printed next to it.
"This is your temple, then?" I asked. “Smoterlich, I think Mira called it.”
Mette nodded.
“That’s a good memory, Pryvet,” she sighed. “Though, I fear it's no longer mine. The elves seemed to have it firmly in hand, and if they are already attacking temples that far inland, I don't think that the outer temples could lend us much aid."
I nodded, noting with some amazement how far inland I'd managed to travel, basically as far inland as you can get. All around the little dot representing Smoterlich were indications of fields and forests, with the ocean being miles and miles away, any way you went.
Abruptly, I straightened, and smacked my forehead. I'd left my shield, my Debt, lying on the ground the whole time we'd been chatting.
Seeing the situation around us, it would be very bad indeed to lose such a precious thing.
Gathering it up and fitting my arm into the holder, I returned to the table, noting how Mette chuckled.
"You men and your Debts," she said, "As tied to them as you are to your own cocks, it sometimes seems. Though, in your case, I think you're probably right to keep it close. We're safe here, for now, I think. This place would be… well, I want to say it would be impossible for the elves to attack. But I am not so foolish."
Mette gave a deep groan and pushed herself up from the table with her elbows.
"I think it would be difficult for any antagonistic parties to find us here, at any rate,” she finished, crossing her arms and sighing down at the table. “Even if yesterday’s events didn’t put me a little on edge.”
You’re telling me, Mette.
"Where is here, Mette?" I asked, walking to the table again and looking down at it. "If you don't mind me asking."
She chuckled again.
"You never have to worry about asking, Pryvet," she explained. "But that doesn't mean I have an easy answer for you, either… We're not really on the map, as it were."
I cocked my head at her.
"What do you mean? Are we on the mainland?"
She pursed her lips, as though deciding whether to reveal a great secret, before she opened her mouth to speak.
"Not exactly, Pryv," she said slowly, as though choosing her words extremely carefully. "We're–"
But, wherever we were, or whatever she was about to say, I wouldn't discover for some time.
For, at that moment, the door at the other end of the room opened, revealing a tall, strong, practically statuesque woman framed in the doorway, holding an iron helmet at her side.
"Sister Mette!" the woman gasped, "We expected your yesterday! You'll have to explain your tardiness!"
Chapter Fifteen
Mette seemed unsure how to respond, and I kept quiet for a moment.
Instinctively, I felt that this was a situation that she should handle.
You’re a stranger in a strange land, remember. If you are on a land at all, after that non-answer Mette gave you about our location.
Plus, my eyes were currently drinking in the gorgeous figure of the woman in the doorway.
From the looks of her, she was very nearly as tall as myself, with features that seemed chiseled out of marble, for all that her complexion was very dark, like she spent most of her waking hours outdoors.
In spite of the helmet that she carried in her hand, which was bronze and seemed nearly golden as the morning light danced upon it, she had no further armor adorning her, nor a weapon that I could see.
She had long, dirty-blonde hair that was done up in a long plaited braid which fell across her shoulder, and for clothes she wore a simple tunic, much like the women in the portraits.
But, where the portraits lacked a certain amount of detail, on her I could see that the tunic itself likely was designed to fit under armor.
It was thin, and looked remarkably sheer, though I was pleased to see that it dipped as low between her breasts as the portrait women's tunics did. Unfortunately for the view, it only rose to about mid-thigh, instead of encroaching upon her rear.
At least her sandals were secured to her legs with many crisscrossing strips of leather that ran up to her thighs invitingly.
Really draws the eye, that little piece of warrior fashion.
All in all, she made quite the pretty sight, even compared to my companions, each beautiful in their own right, and two of them deliciously scantily-clad.
Mette looked up at the woman with happy, but confused eyes.
The woman's face, which had begun as stern, soon cracked into a wide smile.
"Ah, that's all right, Sister Mette," she said, as her eyes surveyed the room, landing on Mira, Kacie, and myself in turn. "Although, we did not expect you to have forsaken your holy vows already. Even if this one is… As well built a man as I've seen."
The woman's eyes waltzed their way up my body as she said this, an errant tongue licking her lips distractedly.
"I think I might have to ask Forgiveness, too, if I were in your heels…" she continued, winking at me and then Mette. “After all, The Mother is kind, where temptation is concerned… And this man does seem quite tempting.”
Ah, so Mira and Mette were being less-than-honest with me, regarding their celibacy.
Maybe I can satisfy my Debts inside them, after all…
I felt my member rise to the compliment, and wondered whether these oaths that the Sisters took might turn out to be more pliable than I'd thought.
Mette, however, seemed to think it all a joke.
"Lyst!" she chastised, folding her arms in front of her breasts. "This really isn't the time, you know! Smoterlich was attacked by elves, and though we escaped into the tunnels, they somehow followed us! I don't know how many other temples have fallen, yet, either! We need to get the word to our Sisters as soon as possible."
The fiendish smile passed from the woman, Lyst's, face.
"Yes, Mette. We are aware. They are crafty, but we can fight them. The other priestesses are safe, as well. We've made sure of that."
I expected Mette to be furious at the treatment, but she just looked down at the map.
"Why weren't we told, Lyst?" she asked plainly.
Now, it was Lyst's turn to act odd.
"You were told, though?" she asked, confusion dripping into her voice. "We sent word through your Book three days ago. Have you not been keeping up communication?”
I wonder what the relationship could be, between those two?
I looked from Mette to Mira, feeling more lost than I'd felt in a while. And that was saying something, as I'd had to figure out the confusing particulars of a divine Debt as an outsider only a few days ago.
To my dismay, Mira seemed as confused as I was.
Mira cocked her head from Lyst to Mette, to me, her face a bright red.
"Only, I didn't read any instructions from Aegid this week. I haven't read any instructions from Aegid in nearly a month, as a matter of fact."
Mette and Lyst looked shocked, their faces turning to Mira, who shrank before their smoldering glares.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice as quiet as a mouse. “I should have said something. I’ll do better next time. I promise.”
Lyst clucked her tongue.
“That’s all right. I believe you, child," she said imperiously. "And that is troubling, indeed. For, we've been sending communiques nearly twice or thrice a week with updates. It is something to be looked into, at a later date."
As the women talked, I stood there, staring between them and the map, a question, a demand, bubbling up in my mind. It was one thing to be left out of strategy meetings because something's gone wrong in the communication lines.
Being a wanderer, I understood that entirely.
But, if the elves had taken Mette's temple, and we left them at the town, then surely they must have at least done some harm there, before getting to Smoterlich.
What if they killed Wex?
I walked over to the map and saw five stick figures wandering around the town where Wex lived.
"What about the town?" I asked Lyst directly. "I left a friend there. Is he safe?"
Lyst's eyes turned to me, darkening.
She folded her arms across her chest, walking to the table and looking where I indicated.
"Ah," she clucked curtly, leaning over the map and squinting down at it. "We do not see that town as a priority at this time. It does appear to be overrun, however."
"What?" I growled across the table to her. "What do you mean it isn't a priority at this time?"
Lyst shrugged her shoulders.
