by Russ Primo
In Pittance, I attended my third, and last, in a hollow cave next to poor farmland.
None of the temples had been particularly large, and by the time I attended the service in Pittance it had been made clear to me that no amount of services would allow me to accrue my Debt any faster (and so none would allow me to dispense it, bargaining for some magic from The Mother, with which to seek my revenge).
So, I did not expect that this temple would be particularly large… And I was desperately wrong.
"It's more like a castle, wouldn't you say?" I inquired as we took our fourth corner, still walking along the wide, stone hallways that let off from Lyst's office.
All around us, doors and doorways let into other offices, rooms for scribes at which I was happy to see well-endowed women going about their letters, sleeping quarters with long rows of bunk beds (disappointingly empty), and still more with ornate doors shut tight against other entry.
"If you prefer the term 'castle,' Pryvet, then it is fine,” Lyst said as we came to a wide section at the end of one of the hallways. "It is certainly not what I would call Aegid. But, then, I am forbidden to go against The Mother's wishes. As I understand it, you are a wanderer?"
"I am, and I'll be happy to get back to it, when we have the chance."
I hadn't gotten a moment to talk to Mette, Mira, or Kacie about all the bars on our windows, but I was starting to think that we might be stuck here for a much longer time than I'd originally envisioned.
"Well, let's see if we can pique your interest while you're still here," Lyst chuckled as we walked out into what seemed like a mezzanine of sorts, overlooking a wide, green courtyard. "I think we can manage.”
At first, I thought she was talking about how good Mira and Kacie looked, not even to speak of Mette.
It was clear that the Valkyries had taken some time in selecting clothes for the two younger women, and if it wasn't to pique my interest, then I'd be damned.
Mira had either been allotted, or simply opted, for a tight green traveling dress, that came down to about mid-thigh and wrapped itself around her back like a pair of lover's hands. Though it was a little high-necked for my taste, the way her pert breasts pushed the material apart between them made it difficult not to stare.
Kacie had on a deep blue blouse and traveling pants that clung so tightly to her rear I thought they would surely rip if she bent too low. Thigh-high walking boots drew my eyes to her rear as though magnetically, and she'd left her blouse buttons undone low, whatever bra the Valkyries had left for her pressing her medium-sized breasts together tight enough for me to want to try parting them with my fingers.
And Mette, oh how her cream-colored robes sat well on her mature hips, hanging loose across her strong back, and falling in little clutches of cloth at her breasts.
"I think you've done a wonderful job of piquing it, thus far," I admitted. "Very nice, indeed."
Kacie glanced back at me, shot a knowing glance at Mira's swaying rear, and gave me a big conspiratorial wink as she stepped up to the mezzanine's railing.
"Wow!" Kacie exclaimed as she laid her arms along the stone support, leaning forward so that he torso swayed out into the open air above the courtyard. "They're so beautiful!"
"Hmmm," Lyst smiled. "They are the best that we have, ready to fight at a moment's notice, and sure enough they are beautiful, indeed."
Leaning over the railing, myself, I couldn't help but agree with Kacie.
Arranged in neat rows and columns down on the courtyard grass were what looked to be perhaps two hundred of the most gorgeous women I'd laid eyes on.
And I’d already laid eyes on four gorgeous women only in the past day already.
The women in the courtyard appeared to be training for battle, and each wielded a sword in one hand, with a shield in the other.
Tight, clinging white tunics adorned their bodies, their small skirt-ends flouncing delightfully whenever they pirouetted to drive their sword in a different direction.
Even from up on the mezzanine, I could see that they were well-endowed enough to need their metal breastplates to keep their breasts from jiggling about too much as they spun.
An instructor stood at the head of the lines of gorgeous ladies, clapping in time to their changes of action, or more likely their actions changed in time to their instructor's clapping. Though some of their movements spanned full lunges in one direction or another, not once did I see any of the women come close to striking her neighbor.
In spite of myself, I felt my jaw hang slack in appreciation of their skill.
"Do you like our fighting force, Pryvet?" Lyst chuckled, clearly entertained by my enrapture. “Do you think they can take on these elves that you four had such trouble with?"
Even I had to admit that her jabs probably held some truth in them. These women practically glided through their training, like ghosts or magical deities.
Though I might have my shield, I didn't think I'd make it to their level with swordplay for some time yet.
Though I was never a man to say that something couldn't be done, eventually.
First, though, I would need a sword, to train with.
Maybe figure that one out, once your shield starts to lose its potency. I wonder how many women it’ll take, before that happens?
Glancing over at Mira once more, I noticed she'd left her bow elsewhere, most likely in her room.
I shifted my shield uncomfortably, aware of our exposure to attack, even though Mette still seemed to trust these women.
"Shall we continue?" Lyst drawled, letting her gaze fall linger upon me, as though she thought that she would harm me by making us leave the beauties down in the courtyard.
I smiled at her.
"Please, Lyst, lead the way,” I said.
And she did.
The next areas we passed through, we did so quickly.
First, was a large hall, lined with desks. Each desk was topped with an inkwell like the one Lyst had withdrawn from her desk, a quill, and parchment.
The students inside, all women again, wore crisp white blouses, untucked with their hems lying alluringly across pleated skirts. Long hair of every color framed pretty faces whose eyes sparkled with the acquisition of knowledge.
As soon as we walked into the doorway, Lyst gesturing broadly to the women and saying, "You will not find any more intelligent women in all the world, Pryvet," their heads to a one swiveled towards us, and I felt a hundred pretty, deadly eyes lock onto me and hold me in their stares.
"Don't you agree, Mette?" Lyst asked, loudly enough for all the women in the hall to hear. “Don’t you agree that our Valkyries represent the best of what any woman could aspire to?”
Mette looked out of place.
I had no idea what this place had been like, when Mette was last here.
But as of right now, it seemed that Lyst was going out of her way to make Mira, Mette, and Kacie out to be less useful, in comparison.
Why she did this, I could not tell.
"I think Mette might give these girls a run for their money," I offered when Mette herself didn't respond. "She not only bargained for my exact wishes with The Mother, but also managed to get us out of her temple in excellent time, not to mention getting us into here."
Beside me, Mette's face lit up a bright crimson, but still she didn't say anything.
Lyst, though, looked very put out by my response.
"Well, that may be," she admitted, grumbling, "But Mette has many years on each of these women. Wisdom, I am told, comes with age. And Mette certainly has years on each of these beauties.”
For the life of me, I just could not get an accurate read on Lyst. That sounded, to me, and I think that I was right, to have been a jab at Mette over her age.
The blush crept further up Mette neck, to her cheeks.
"Personally," I growled, stepping back from the door and signaling that we could move on, "I think that the experience age brings is more useful than books, in many cases. None of those
women saved us from the temple. That was Mette. None of those women were even able to get word to us that the elves were going to attack."
I felt the eyes of the beauties by their desks shoot darts at me.
I did not care.
Lyst simply nodded.
Kacie glanced back at me and gave me a silent thumbs-up.
When we started off to the next attraction, Mette caught my eye and practically beamed.
And, if I'm honest, attraction really was the term to use for the last room that Lyst showed us to.
That is, if it could even be called a room.
Larger than the courtyard by half, with a vaulted ceiling painted in glorious, bright paints showing images of men and women copulating, of women with full bellies praying beneath large, arching branches, of Debts being settled.
Tall, thin windows at least two stories in height stood shoulder to shoulder along each wall, letting in a good light, to illuminate a scene so lovely I thought I perhaps had been killed by the elves, after all, and had in fact died.
Heaven wouldn’t have half so many women as this room does, though.
In the room's center, with about fifteen feet of space on every side, a huge swimming pool lounged, with long, loping trees luxuriating on the edges and dangling their drooping branches into the clear water, dangling their drooping branches across no less than three hundred women of impeccable proportions, each of whom was dressed as scantily as I could imagine.
Simple, triangular bits of cloth were affixed to each of their breasts and held in place with strings that were tied around their backs. It seemed, further, that each woman had on a pair of the most revealing panties imaginable, letting one's eyes take in nearly their entire body all at once.
If this is what they swim in, they must sleep in bedclothes even skimpier than Mira and Kacie’s.
Seeing the Valkyries in training had made me think I'd perhaps seen the loveliest things imaginable.
But now, standing in this wide, open room, I was made forcibly aware that these women were of a completely different variety.
Everywhere around us, long legs crossed languidly over long legs, slender arms arched back as painted nails pleated against painted nails, forcing breasts forward and making them seem, if it were possible, even more full.
It was a good thing that I had been so mistreated when it came to my sleep and comfort, else I'd absolutely have hardened at the very sight, and then wouldn't be able to even feign disagreement when Lyst said, "And these are the most beautiful women in all the world. Wouldn't you agree, Pryvet?"
Turning her eye to me, I saw her gaze start at my feet and travel to my waist, clearly knowing enough about men to think that she could put me in a bind if she saw my hardness.
As I was still so tired, however, and as the only thing that would make me truly stiff at that moment was to have a tub of warm water offered to me with the instructions that I not leave it for a full day and a half, I found it easy to, as the peasants say, get Lyst's goat.
So, instead of letting my slack-jawed stare give me away, I instead turned to Kacie and looked her up and down appreciatively.
The traveling pants traced her strong legs wonderfully, and whether for my benefit or not, her posture was of such perfection that her tits seemed eager to leap out of her already low-buttoned blouse.
“They are pretty,” I admitted, letting my eyes soak in Kacie’s perfect body. “But I like the women I’m with a good deal more.”
Kacie glanced into my eyes and blushed a furious scarlet, much brighter than Mette had. Silently, she shifted her way over to me and worked her hand into my own, her eyes cast down all the while.
Taking her hand gently, I squeezed it to let her know I was serious.
There. That should put you out a little, Lyst.
“And what about,” Lyst continued, in a slow drawl, “These women here?”
I cocked my head at her and noticed four of the most beautiful women in the room stand up and walk over to Lyst.
Folding their arms together beneath their ample breasts, these women arranged themselves in a flank formation, behind Lyst.
“I always choose the best,” Lyst drawled, that slow note in her voice making me want to punch her, “And the prettiest for my own personal guard. It’s one of the perks of the job.”
Well, she does have a point.
These are definitely the prettiest in the room.
Probably the prettiest anywhere.
The four women each wore a pleasant smile on her face, red lips turned upwards, and wonderfully full, as though they were perpetually flushed.
Each of their eyelashes was long, and fluttered gorgeously as they batted their eyes at us.
That is to say nothing of the rest of their bodies.
Their breasts were high and round, probably only a little smaller than Mette’s, and seemed determined to break out of the dainty triangular fabric stretched across their nipples.
Probably adjusted by use of magic, or something similar. They are far too large and far too perky to be natural.
And their rears swelled mouth-wateringly out beneath their skimpy panties.
In all, they looked the very picture of an angelic host any man would probably kill himself over, just to get to the afterlife more quickly.
Still, can’t let her have the satisfaction.
“They’re very pretty,” I said appreciatively to Lyst. “And yet, I still prefer mine.”
Placing my hand on the small of Kacie’s back, I felt her body thrill at the touch. Then, turning to smile at Mira and Mette, my gorgeous temple women, I let my eyes visibly soak in their bodies.
Beside me, Kacie had straightened her head once more, and looked around the room like a tiger looks at antelope, totally unconcerned with their presence,
It’s good to make my women know that I’d take them over any others, magically-enhanced or not.
Certainly doesn’t hurt that I would take them over any others. Makes the convincing easier.
"Tell me though, Lyst," I said, turning back to the woman, "Why allow your warriors to lounge about like this? Why have them relax, while yes looking very fine indeed, when your country, when you home is being attacked?
“All over that map, I saw elves invading towns, swarming the countryside, setting up ballistas around your cities. Surely, it would be more worth your while to have these able-bodied Valkyries out there defending your people?"
Lyst's face soured in an instant. Not only had her attempts to impress me, to detract from my companions, gone discarded, now she was put on the defensive herself.
Behind her, her personal guard’s smiles turned sour.
Lyst’s mouth drew into a wide, thin line.
"The Mother wishes," she practically hissed, "that we catch the elves by surprise. She has said that they must be allowed to take some territory, so that we can strike them where they will hurt most, when they are thinned out."
Feeling rage boil up in my chest, I turned to her, dragging Kacie's body roughly around with me accidentally in the process and making her squeal with being manhandled.
"And what of all the dead, then, Lyst?" I demanded. "The elves that attacked us before Mira found us had the look of killers! They could easily have burned down Kacie's whole village!"
With a sinking feeling, I realized that they'd probably killed Wex already, if they'd made it to us.
Lyst sneered.
"And you think you know better than The Mother, young Pryvet? You think you know better than a goddess?" she almost whispered to me.
Hardly able to contain myself, I threw my hands in the air, disappointing Kacie, whose pout at having my hands leave her body made my stomach turn.
"I don't care if I know better than your God! I don't care what your God thinks to begin with, Lyst! I only came here to strike a bargain with her, and I've done that now, but I'll not stop knowing what's right and what's wrong. And letting a perfectly capable… No, a more-than-capable if your words are to be
believed, fighting force sit here uselessly, while enemy combatants pillage and raid your cities, kill your friends, burn your crops, is absolutely, capital W wrong.”
Now it was my turn to cross my arms and glare at Lyst.
I expected Lyst to scoff. I expected her to at least raise her voice, to call any of the hundreds of gorgeous, fit women in the room to her side to contain us.
But, she only smiled a thin, wicked smile.
"Your washroom should have been cleaned by now, Pryvet," she said with a voice as cheerful as a grave. "Which is good for you, because The Mother has no use for people wandering in her Isles who would speak thus of her."
That long, wicked smile not once leaving her face, she walked over to me and stared long up at me.
"You will be spending a good deal of time, locked up in there, Pryvet," she breathed, glancing meaningfully down at my crotch. "I daresay it will be so long that your little Debt might just start accruing and accruing. We are all infertile, so it matters little how much any of these women fancy a tumble with you, your Debt will not be satisfied while you remain in these walls."
With a small, evil chuckle, she spun on her heel and walked to the door.
Behind us, some twenty or so women climbed out of the pool and started towards us.
"Now," Lyst said cheerfully, "Follow me to your rooms, please! And no dawdling, if you know what's good for you."
Chapter Sixteen
Apparently unconcerned about our possible escape through the hallway (one tour of The Mother's Temple had been enough to convince me that such a thing was impossible anyway), Lyst left us at our doorways.
"It's late in the day, now," she said slowly, her tongue rolling over each word as though it were a treat that she longed to savor. "And you will not have eaten since arriving. Food has been left in your rooms.
"I hope that you find it… satisfactory."
My stomach churned with hunger at the mention of a meal, and then turned somersaults at the thought of what these women would think appropriate for a man.
