by Bruce Sentar
He slid out and back in once, enjoying feeling her body adjust to him. He was so caught up in how amazing she felt that he almost missed her twitch and shudder beneath him.
“Already? Do you need a minute?” He smiled at just how worked up she must have been.
“No, that was just a small one. It’s been so long. Please. More,” she moaned.
Sinking his fingers into her hips again, Dar stroked himself in and out of her slowly, trying to even think up math problems to distract him and give her longer to build.
Sasha came first, an undulation of her inner walls milking him into his own glorious release.
Dar leaned over her as he felt himself ride his own ecstasy. “You are amazing.”
Smiling blissfully, Sasha lay under him. “You too.”
Just looking at her and taking her in once more, he felt himself twitch, still hard inside of her. He looked down at where they were joined in confusion.
Sasha giggled. “You don’t tire after pulling a cart all day. What made you think that your stamina wouldn’t be enhanced here too?”
Dar’s shocked face was quickly replaced by a devilish grin as he thrust back into her once more, eliciting a new groan. “Well then. We’ll just have to see how far it goes.”
Chapter 14
“Morning.” Sasha traced her fingers down Dar’s chest.
Blinking away the morning grit, he looked down at the raven-haired beauty’s smile. “Morning. We were up late.”
She giggled and rested her head on his chest. “Yes, your stamina is certainly enhanced.”
Her finger traced the spot between his erection and his balls; they had discovered a dao character there drawing mana after each session, reinvigorating him for more.
What it was, they weren’t quite certain. He tried not to think about why Lilith had given it to him and instead just be grateful. The night had been amazing.
Outside their hut, the morning light was just waking. The birds began chirping with increasing volume, sure to wake up the rest of the camp soon.
He pushed off the ground, the dew beading and rolling off his naked body. The clothes from last night were a tattered mess on the floor of their little hut. He realized it put them in a bit of a predicament, but he couldn’t help but still smile.
“Don’t imagine you can just fix those clothes up for me?”
“Not a chance. The dao companion of…” She trailed off, her eyes widening as she realized what she said. “I mean…”
Lifting her chin, he planted a hungry kiss to her lips. “I like the sound of that.”
Sasha smiled around a rapidly forming blush. “Anyways, with my dao, I’d be insulted if you walked around in such rough clothes.”
Dar was barely listening, feeling himself start to stir again. Sasha just looked too cute as the blush spread across her cheeks, and he wanted to hear her come undone under him again.
Seeing the hunger in his eyes, she gave him a playful scolding look as she smacked his chest. “No, we don’t have time for that.”
He pulled her close and nibbled at her neck in response, enjoying the squeals of pleasure and fake protest that followed.
“The camp will start moving soon,” she said weakly, still letting herself get pulled into his lap again. It only took a moment before her hips started to gyrate in his lap, hungry for more.
“Excuse me, milord,” Amber’s voice came from outside. She sounded tired.
“Yes?” Dar asked, not wanting to stop with Sasha.
“Count Tint is asking to speak with you before we start for the day.”
An exasperated groan escaped him, but he quickly corrected it, worried Amber might take it as displeasure towards her. “We’ll be there in a few minutes. Thanks, Amber,” he called out as he pulled Sasha close for one last soft squeeze.
“We should really get you some clothes then,” Sasha reminded him.
He gave a grunt in agreement, his brain still more focused on her body. But it looked like it would have to wait until another time.
“Clothes, yep. So how does this work?” He wondered if it would be something like in the fairytale movies, clothes just appearing out of nowhere.
Moving through her spatial bag, Sasha pulled out a variety of clothes, then re-tied the bag to her thigh.
The silk dress and corset she’d pulled out came alive to her touch and practically wrapped themselves around her. Their fibers zipped themselves together as Sasha got dressed in just a few magical seconds.
She smirked as his eyes roamed her curves, trying to remember them. “No. You won’t get me out of this till later tonight. I think you might have worn me out, Dar.”
That appeased him more than anything. He didn’t want to exhaust his beauty.
“Now stand up. Arms out.” Sasha’s authoritative tone made him smile. While she was insecure about her fighting skills, this was her specialty.
Sasha pulled out several bolts of thick cloth next from her spatial bag. They were dark, thick, matte materials.
“Is that silk?” he asked, seeing something heavier than he expected.
“Of a kind. There are many monsters that can produce cloth. This comes from a monster with the durability dao in their ancestry. It’s a very strong material. It’s not quite as fancy as my dresses, but it suits you better.”
It did indeed, and he had to breathe a sigh of relief. He was worried he was going to be walking around in some shiny clothing that would attract far too much attention. Instead, the dark blue and gray were ideal.
Sasha snapped her fingers and the bolts of cloth spun, flinging the fabric into the air as it wrapped around him. As it did so, he could feel her dao working in a way he hadn’t experienced before; it felt almost tangible to him now.
Taking a breath, Dar felt a momentary fear of being smothered and suffocated. But as quickly as it wrapped around him, it also shifted rapidly, avoiding his face and forming itself into a simple shirt with a heavy padded doublet. It was simply adorned, but perfectly tailored.
“Not bad.”
Sasha scoffed and fitted pants next, wrapping around his hips and unfurling the cloth down his legs. As the cloth moved, he felt a soft caress of his thigh.
“Having fun?”
“Yes. Move your arms around and maybe do a few squats.” She circled her finger fully, in business mode once again.
Dar did as she asked and felt the material shift under him, expanding to account for his full range of motion. It made the shirt a bit looser, almost puffy in places, but he’d rather be able to move than worry about fashion.
“Sasha, I could feel your dao. It was different than when you used it before.”
The witch looked at him, surprised. “Of course, after how close we were last night, I can feel your dao too. Dao companion is more than a word Dar; our dao paths were entangled with our bodies last night. You can’t use my dao, but many become dao companions to study and potentially learn new dao. That’s also a reason why the powerful often end up with so many lovers looking to both add to their dao and share it with their companions.”
“How long will it last?” He smirked thinking of her dao of combustion, that would fit nicely with his dao of heat towards something like fire.
“A few days, but the more we entangle ourselves, the clearer you’ll be able to see my dao. If we stopped for a week, it would fade. Stop smirking, you rogue. We’ll have plenty of time together later for you to pursue those thoughts.”
He had to admit, the idea of sex empowering them both to grow faster was an idea that suited him just fine.
“Could I get that book of yours to study later?”
She smirked. “It isn’t that fast, and we should entangle our paths more if that’s your goal. I feel I’ll have to make a second book now, won’t I?”
“Maybe. Do most make a book?”
“No. Twirl for me?” She made a spinning motion with her hand and leaned away to watch him.
Sasha examined him carefully as she finished,
finally nodding her approval. “Good. Now I want to know what the damned count needs to interrupt our morning,” Sasha groused as she stuffed all the remaining material back into her bag.
Dar agreed. Stepping out of their little hut, he saw the rest of the camp was awakening. Groggy townspeople wandered around, starting to get breakfast cooking and the animals fed. They found Amber just outside, leaning up against the shed with tired eyes.
“You okay, Amber?”
“I’m fine. Just didn’t get much sleep last night.” She nodded, already looking like she was going to pass out.
“Lay down in the cart today. It’s not much work for me to pull another,” he said.
Sasha hung back a moment to talk to the girl. By Dar’s guess, she had stayed up all night, poor girl.
“Is she going to be okay?” Dar asked as Sasha caught back up.
“She’ll be fine. Slept, or tried to sleep, outside our hut. But it appears there were some noises that kept her up.” Her smile quirked up.
He put it together then. They’d kept up the poor girl with their night. He played some of it back, trying to recall just how loud they had been. Looking around at the mix of glowering and respectful looks on the faces of those who had come out of their shelters, they had not been quiet enough.
Next to him, Sasha didn’t seem to mind one bit.
He figured that it was probably considered more normal here, where housing was often limited in its sound barriers and proximity to neighbors was common for safety. It still felt a little odd to have everybody know their business.
Dar did his best not to let the looks get to him as they found Count Tint, who was tightening straps on his carriage.
“Good morning,” Count Tint greeted him happily.
Stupefied by the count’s sudden change in attitude, Dar didn’t know what to say. The count had pointedly avoided addressing him directly in the past.
“Morning, count,” Sasha broke the silence. “What can we do for you?”
“Well, I was hoping to speak to the strapping wizard alone.” He gave her a warm smile.
Sasha gave Dar a questioning look. He just shrugged. It wasn’t likely the count would try anything besides a conversation at this point in the trip.
“Then I’ll leave you boys to it.” Sasha put her hand on Dar’s arm for a moment before walking away.
The count watched her walk away before speaking. “I should have known you were hiding your strength, wizard.” He knocked himself up the side of the head before continuing.
“You come in as her ‘bodyguard’, then you fight off a number of trolls. The way you handled that dryad so swiftly into working for you, and then you took out a mantis! Finally showing yourself, eh?”
The count was growing more animated as he spoke. “I’ve never seen a particular wizard focus on enchantments that enhance their body, but you certainly work with what you have.”
Dar blinked as the count gestured to his size.
The man thought he had been a wizard the whole time, which apparently meant that he deserved respect in the count’s mind. It seemed odd that nothing had actually changed and yet the entire relationship with the count was different now.
Deciding it wasn’t worth a confrontation, Dar just nodded and waited to see if the discussion was going anywhere.
“I’m sure you are working that witch for another enchantment you must want, but I wanted to let you know that when you were done with that, my family would love to employ you.”
Ah. Now the count’s change in mood made sense. He was recruiting.
Dar figured he couldn’t just nod to that one. “We’ll see. I still have two months on my contract with Sasha. I don’t know how far that will take me from Bellhaven.”
It was obviously a lie, but Dar wasn’t about to commit to anything and it made a nice excuse.
“Yes, yes of course. It is good that you uphold your deals. Once we get to Bellhaven, I’m sure she’ll end up sticking around at least that long.” Tint said the last bit with a slight quirk of his smile that put Dar on edge.
Nodding anyways, Dar knew that he was walking a fine line with the count. The man was only remaining friendly on the chance for his family to employ a wizard.
“I hope that I can remain near Bellhaven for the near future then.” Dar gave a non-committal response and a smile.
“Good. A wizard that can take on a mantis is a welcome addition to any city.” The count gave him a wink. Dar had to control himself to not roll his eyes.
This man’s arrogance would no doubt lead to more drama in the future. The count clearly believed Dar would end up wanting to work for him, when it was one of the last things he’d ever do. And it wasn’t like he had any intention of leaving Sasha behind, contract or not. The woman had captivated him.
“Good day then, Count Tint. I need to get ready for our march today.” Dar bowed out of the conversation, the count more than satisfied with his answers.
Sasha greeted him with a look of curiosity but asked no questions.
“Count Tint wanted to recruit me after our contract was over. He’s come to the conclusion I’ve been a wizard, or at least an aspiring one, this whole time.”
Her brows rose and fell with surprise and understanding. “Makes sense. Wizards are very highly sought after. If he believes you to be a wizard, then you would be very combat-oriented, which is something his family would reward heavily.”
Dar nodded along. “I played interested, but non-committal.”
“That interested in staying in his good graces?” Sasha asked, a tone of disapproval.
“You know as well as I do that he could cause us trouble. I said that I wouldn’t leave you until our contract was up. But we both know that I’m not staying with you at this point because of the potion I owe you.” His hand snatched her soft, gloved hand. “You know that right?”
She blushed and smacked his chest. “Stop that. Yes, I know.”
Catching her hand before she could pull it back, he brought it to his lips and kissed her fingertips. “I mean it.”
The gesture made her blush spread down to her chest. Sasha went silent after that, descending into her own thoughts.
Watching her a moment longer, Dar managed to drag his eyes away to start preparing their items for travel. They had collected a few things that were riding along with Cherry’s tree in the wagon—some bowls, a few newly made waterskins and such.
The rest of the camp had come alive as people started to move forward, slowly returning to the route they’d been taking. Dar pulled the cart with Cherry and her tree, as well as a now sleeping Amber. Poor girl didn’t even wake as the cart started moving.
Morning sunlight hit the river they were using to guide them, and it was a beautiful display of nature. The clear water reflected the orange light, seeming to come alive.
As he watched it, Dar realized it was more than just seeing the display; he could feel it in his bones. The warmth of the morning sun was a palpable sensation.
“Sasha, I can feel the sun’s warmth differently. Is that my dao?”
“Hmm?” she asked distractedly, blinking away whatever daydream she’d been lost in. “Yes, you should be able to feel heat in a new way.”
“Does that mean I should be able to sense body heat? Like infrared?”
Sasha’s face twisted in confusion. “Infrared?”
Apparently that word didn’t translate with whatever cosmic translation skills Lilith had put on this body.
“It’s something from my world, where you use heat to see. People use it at night when it is too dark to see, allowing them to make out things like lifeforms,” he explained.
That only seemed to make it worse. “Were you snake people in your past life? That sounds like a snake.”
He thought he remembered reading that snakes had something like it. “No, not snake people. We made goggles that we put over our eyes that allow us to see like the snakes do.” He mimed a pair of goggles over his face just in case that w
ord was also foreign.
“Yes, I know what goggles are,” she said, her tone teasing. “You should be able to sense it, but to make your own goggles would require a number of enchantments…” She trailed off, thinking. “I don’t think I’ve heard of a ‘vision’ or ‘sight’ dao that you would need. But we could always hope.”
“Making goggles seems difficult, but me being able to sense creatures, like a pack of trolls approaching, would be nice,” Dar explained, but then the idea of making an enchantment stuck with him. “Do you think you could show me how to make an enchantment?”
“Of course. Have you tried to write the dao character for heat?” she asked.
Dar could imagine the character like it was burned into the back of his eyelid, but he hadn’t tried writing it yet.
“Here,” Sasha pulled out her wand and picked up a stone from the ground.
Dar took the wand from her, careful of the end. He’d seen the wand carve straight through stone.
“It has an enchantment for cutting on it. Cover the rune to turn it off,” she instructed, as he noticed her thumb had been covering it while he took hold.
He took the stone next, with the wand focused on writing the dao character into the stone. Again, he could imagine the character with vivid clarity, but writing it seemed to take much more focus.
Sasha took up pulling the cart while he worked on the stone.
It took a few minutes before he finished, feeling a bead of sweat on his brow at the effort. But, as he finished, the stone was already growing warm in his hand.
“The size of the character determines how much mana it draws from the atmosphere,” Sasha pointed out, and Dar felt the stone continue to heat up in his hand.
He wasn’t going to get burnt, but he could feel that, if he gave this to Sasha, she’d drop it like a hot potato. The heat leveled out, and he figured it was a little hotter than metal under the summer sun. Enough to make you flinch away, but not enough to do any lasting damage.
The dao character continued to draw mana and convert it to heat.
“Now, draw another line through it,” Sasha encouraged.
Dar made a quick diagonal cut through the dao character, and the mana flowing in abruptly stopped. The stone was now just a normal stone, although it was still dissipating the heat that it had stored.
