by Mark Albany
I was beyond ready to be on our way, even if it meant a prolonged time at sea.
The elves didn’t tease me too much about my queasy stomach, not as much as the islanders had on the journey out. It seemed they still didn’t feel comfortable around me. Whether it was because I was a human or not, I didn’t really want to know. They had vowed to fight with us, and that would have to do for the moment.
Besides, one of the side effects of having the Darkness growing stronger as it was close to my skin was that the seasickness wasn’t so bad. It was still there, but it felt like there was something fighting it, keeping it down and manageable.
The first day at sea came and went without any incidents. The elves seemed comfortable with ignoring me, and I was more than happy being ignored. I spent most of the day with Eira, who talked to me about what she had done during her trip to the Peak.
Using the ice beast had taken less time than a ship, she told me, though it had been an uncomfortable ride. At some points, the water had gotten deep enough that even something that large needed to float through the water instead of walking.
“Did you find something on the Peak?” I asked.
“Nothing that might help you to control your armies if summoned.” She laid down on the bench next to me and leaned her head on my lap. It seemed like she had missed me quite a bit, even though leaving had been her idea.
I was glad to have her back. Kalna seemed preoccupied by the violence the Darkness caused in me, while it repulsed Leena. Eira was the only one who thought my power was normal, and I needed someone like that around to help me cope.
“What would happen if I summoned them?” I asked.
“They would come,” she said simply. “And they would fight. They would be feral, though. While there would probably be some modicum of control, the farther away we get, the less control you would have. All you could really expect from them is that they would not attack you. Everyone else would be a target.”
“So, only in the direst of circumstances then,” I said grimly. Eira nodded.
I watched the sun starting to set over the water. The islands had been left behind many hours ago. There was nothing but open ocean as far as the eye could see.
“What if someone killed me?” I asked suddenly. “If the prince or the Vizier had killed me back there, for instance, would you be bound to them? I killed Gelid, and it seemed that you were just following the Darkness in its possession from him to me. Would the same happen if someone else killed me?”
She lifted her head from my chest, locking her silver eyes with mine. “Why do you ask?”
“While Vasara was torturing me, I thought I was going to die.” I kept my voice quiet, even though our little corner of the deck was abandoned for the moment. “I remembered that you told me you would be reaching us at midday, and all I could do was think about you. I didn’t want you tied to these monsters the way that you were obligated to me. And then I wondered how you’d come to be bound to this Darkness in the first place.”
She laid her head back down on my lap, grasping my hand and bringing it up to play with her hair. “I’m not sure. I’ve been bound to the Darkness for as long as I can remember. There’s always been a connection between me and it. Never the host. With you, for the first time, I feel myself more duty-bound to you than the Darkness. To you—Leena and Kalna too—and it’s making me wonder if my connection is less mandatory than I thought. If I can change that about myself, maybe I don’t have to be tied to you because of the Darkness, but because I want to be bound to you.”
I smiled and then changed the subject. “We came to the isles woefully unprepared for the weather we faced. And by weather, I mean heat. Did the elves’ visions happen to tell us what kind of weather we’ll be facing at our destination?”
She grinned up at me. “They did. I took the liberty of bringing some warmer, thicker clothes for Kalna and Leena.”
“Not for me or you?” I asked.
“My dress is all I need for whatever weather,” she laughed. “And I was unaware that you needed any clothes to prepare you for the cold.”
I nodded. It was true, but my mind was already lost on another topic.
My fingers trailed down Eira’s back. Her dress was still in place, but her crown was gone. I couldn’t recall when she’d taken it off. I tugged her dress up, revealing her shapely thighs. I was feeling bold, especially as we were alone. I pulled it up farther, showing off her thick, round ass that I had most definitely missed. My hand gripped one of her heavy cheeks and kneaded it firmly.
She moaned softly, squirmed under my hand, and pressed her face into my lap, lazily pressing her lips to where she could see my cock already starting to push against the fabric of my trousers. She smiled up at me as my fingers slipped down between her thighs, stroking gently at her lower lips, spreading them with my fingers and rubbing at her clit while my thumb pressed lightly at her already-drenched pussy.
“Already?” I asked.
She shrugged as she nuzzled against my still-growing length. “What can I say? I missed you.”
I smiled, stroking her clit in slow, circular motions. She kept her lips pressed to me, letting me feel her vibrating moans pressed against my bulging shaft. I couldn’t stop the shiver running up my spine, dragging a gasp from my lips. My free hand tangled in her hair, almost gripping the back of her head and pushing her down on me as my hips instinctively rose against her mouth.
“I’ve missed the taste of you,” she breathed, her hands trying to pull my trousers down.
I helped by lifting my hips up off the bench. My thumb slipped inside her wet hole, and my fingers intensified their strokes on her clit. She gasped, and I could feel her anticipation when her body tightened around my thumb. She was close already, but she was in the kind of mood that would not settle for just one climax.
That was fine. I wasn’t settling for just one, either.
She pulled my pants down enough to release my cock. Her fingers wrapped around the base, and her lips quickly pressed against the head. She was gasping for breath as she sucked the head into her mouth, and her body tensed up as I felt her juices starting to soak my hand. I gripped her closer, feeling her sucking me down deeper and grunting as I didn’t let her recover from her first climax.
She pressed her breasts into my lap as she started to bob her head on me. It gave me a much better angle to press my middle and forefingers inside her, pushing in deeper and finding that sensitive little nub. She grunted and her hips bucked against my hand. My other hand quickly gripped the back of her head, pushing her down to take me in deeper and deeper. Another climax tore through her, and her throat tightened around me as she tried to cry out.
“Oh, fuck,” I groaned, my head leaning back, eyes closing as my grip loosened on the back of her head.
She didn’t take it as an invitation to slow down, however. She picked up the pace, stroking me from base to tip. The sound of me filling her mouth over and over again got loud enough that I worried someone might hear us and come interrupt.
Thankfully, no one did.
Eira’s dress dropped to the floor with a shrug of her shoulders. She quickly straddled my hips. Her fingers gripped my cock and dragged it down between her thighs. My head, wet from her mouth, was pressing against her dripping pussy.
She quickly sank onto it, letting out a small gasp with a high-pitched whine at the end as she felt me filling her. Her fingers curled around the back of my head, pulling me down to press my lips to her breasts as she started riding me.
At first, her hips worked over me in a gentle grind, allowing her body to adjust, but after a few seconds, she started to rise off my lap and drop down on it, fucking me roughly. Her nails dug into the back of my neck, as well as slipping underneath my shirt and raking slowly up my back.
I sucked at her right breast, and a low growl rumbled from deep inside my chest. My hands, which had settled on her hips when she’d come on top of me, moved down until they were on her ass. She moved fa
st enough that soft slaps could be heard each time she dropped down on me again.
I gave her ass a squeeze before pulling my hands away and bringing them down hard enough to leave red palm prints on her cheeks. I could feel her shock across our connection as she gasped, eyes opening wide as she looked down at me.
“Fuck, Braks!” she cried out, a bit louder than I was comfortable with. Her hips started bucking into mine. Her nails dug in deeper, and her pussy tightened around me. My spanking had broken her concentration, I realized, as she had been on the edge, wanting me to come inside her just as she came too. I could feel her thighs shaking around me as her hips slowed, her body trying to cope with the rapid assault on her senses.
Too bad.
I smoothly picked her up off my lap and bent her over the bench that we’d been sitting on. Her ass, still sporting a pair of handprints on the pale white cheeks, was left up in the air. She shook as her muscles became difficult to control, and her hands reached out to touch me. I wasn’t sure if it was because she couldn’t bear to be parted from me or if she had just had enough.
I gripped her firmly by the hips, ramming into her from behind and driving her forward with enough power to smack her ass again. I reached down greedily to grab her heavy breasts. Her body jumped each time I pushed myself home mercilessly, filling her over and over again. No more words came out of her mouth. Her vocabulary was reduced to simple, pleasure-drenched gasps and moans as I took her firmly.
I felt her starting to peak again, and my cock jumped inside her, warm liquid filling her over and over as I pulled her closer to me, my chest heaving with the exertion.
“Oh, gods…” was all I could whisper as I could feel her tightening convulsively around me, like she was trying to keep me inside her as I pressed in deep, slower and gentler, my body leaning down to press into her back.
She smiled, letting me slip out of her so that she could turn around, take my face in her hands, and press her lips to mine.
“That’s one delicious way to keep a connection, Braks,” she whispered with a grin on her lips. She pressed a kiss to the tip of my nose, my forehead, and then my lips again.
Kalna slipped in close from behind me. She was fully dressed, but it didn’t matter to me as I reached around to pull her closer. She placed a light kiss on my neck before turning to nuzzle Eira’s shoulder.
“I’ve missed you too, love,” Eira whispered, even though her eyes were drifting shut. She ran her fingers through Kalna’s hair, loosening it from the customary bun.
I pulled away, putting myself back into my trousers. As I did, I saw Leena standing there not three paces away, leaning against the railing with a smile on her face. I motioned for her to come closer as Eira and Kalna seemed interested in reacquainting themselves with each other.
Leena pushed herself from the mast, sighing softly as I pulled her in close and gently pressed my lips to hers. She moaned, wrapping her arms around me and sucking my tongue into her mouth for a moment before pulling away.
“How do you feel?” she asked in a soft whisper.
“Much better, thank you.” I leaned in to gently nuzzle her neck and kiss her cheek.
“I’m happy.” Leena smiled, running her hands down my back and giving my ass a playful squeeze. And in that moment, I didn’t care what the Elves thought of me. I didn’t care if they’d heard Eira and me fucking either. The only people whose opinions I cared about were these three, and while there was still a lot of work to do, I was happy enough to savor the moment.
Chapter 20
“Land ahead!”
I jumped out of the bed I’d been sharing with Kalna. My sudden movement woke her too, and she rolled over, dragging a knife out from under her pillow and looking around for what kind of threat could possibly cause me to wake up so suddenly.
Well, it wasn’t too early. The sky was already turning from deep blue to light grey, and off in the east, there was a hint of red and orange starting to show, announcing that dawn was not that far off.
Seven days. It had been seven days since we’d sailed away from the Isles. We had found a map in the late prince’s quarters that told us more or less what Grandmother had known already. It was no wonder they hadn’t sent their entire army across the water before. There were no good currents that could carry ships across the sea before they ran out of resources, which meant that any trip from the Trelans to us would have to make a stop at the Behran Isles first. The Trelan warships were fairly quick across the water, I recalled, but they didn’t have enough space to feed and water a full crew for five days, much less seven.
Seven was all we needed though, and thank the gods for that. We had been cutting rations for the past three days to try and make our supplies last.
I climbed up from the lower deck, feeling the cool morning breeze slapping the need to sleep away and looked out into the horizon.
I saw just a sliver of land at first, barely noticeable unless I craned my neck and narrowed my eyes. As we kept moving, however, the land mass started taking shape and form, filling up the view as we approached. In ten minutes, the sun was starting to peek a crescent out from over the horizon, and land was almost all we could see in front of us.
“Now that’s one fucking beautiful sight,” one of the elves said to me, seeming to forget the kind of silent treatment they’d been giving me so far.
I nodded, not wanting to push my luck by answering aloud. I turned around. Kalna was pulling herself up from the bottom deck, with Leena and Eira close behind. They were all dressed for battle. Well, except Eira, who always wore that long, flowing dress and crown that kept her purple hair up.
Not always, I mused with a small smile. She sensed my thought and grinned back.
“Is there anywhere we can land?” Kalna asked, scanning the coastline.
“Not that I can see,” the man in the crow’s nest called back, shaking his head. After a moment, he turned back and narrowed his eyes. “Wait, there’s a small inlet on our port side.”
The elf who captained the ship, who still refused to tell me his name, strapped a plate of armor to his chest. “We set course for there, then.”
“Is it the best idea to sail into a defensive zone?” I asked.
“We need supplies, leaving us without much choice.”
I nodded. They were good points, and I was in no mood to start an argument. That could wait until we reached land.
I climbed back down belowdecks. I had been fitted and given a suit of the elves’ plate armor. It had looked heavy and unwieldy at first, but as I tested it out for the first time, I found that it was neither of those things. Like the sword I’d bought from them back in Kalna’s village, the plates were light, well-balanced, and easy to use.
I emerged again after a little while, testing the movement of my shoulder under the armor. It wasn’t uncomfortable. It was just that I wasn’t used to wearing armor like this. Back home, the guardsmen wore padded leather. Even after I rose through the ranks to become a captain, I found that the padded leather was easier for traveling, and I just had to adapt to that for fighting as well.
I knew that traveling on foot wearing these plates would become tiresome, no matter how light they were, but for battle. Whether the Darkness inside me would no longer be triggered into action due to an arrow jutting from my chest, I needed to armor up and rely on myself.
My fingers rose to lightly stroke the spot. I could remember the sensation vividly. Of having the breath knocked out of me, my body doubling over on itself in shock as blood started to flood my lungs.
And then the soft whisper in my mind.
I shook my head, feeling it rising to the surface again as I strapped my sword to my belt. I saw Kalna tilting her head as she looked at me, an odd smile playing across her lips as she tied her hair up in a bun.
“What?” I asked. She snapped out of whatever thoughts distracted her and peered up at me.
“Nothing,” she said quickly. “I just… you look quite dashing in that armor is a
ll.”
Neither Leena nor Eira said anything, but from their looks at me, I could tell they thought the same thing. I couldn’t stop a smile from touching my lips as I looked out toward the mainland that was already occupying most of what we could see ahead of us. Massive cliffs covered the coast, impossible to traverse, but as we started to come closer, I could see the inlet that led into a decent-sized harbor.
The captain shouted orders, his voice harsh and to the point, getting all the crew members in motion with a few quick commands in the elfish tongue. I didn’t need to understand them. I could see the sails being unfurled and the anchor being dropped.
“Why are we stopping all the way out here?” I asked.
He looked over at me, annoyed that he had to explain himself. “We have no idea how deep the water is. We can’t bring the ships in closer until we’ve established that we won’t run aground on sand or rocks. Besides, best not to bring ships into a harbor that might not want us. Best we travel the rest of the way in the parley boats.”
Another good point. As much as I didn’t care for the elf, I realized that he was very practical, and traveling with him was proving to be more of a boon than I’d anticipated.
Another couple sharp orders were given. A flag was raised, giving the same message that the captain had just spelled out to me to the other two craft that were part of our little fleet. They slowly came to a halt as well.
Kalna, Leena, Eira, and I joined the captain and ten other elves on the parley boat as it was lowered to the water.
“I hope you know how to row,” the captain said to me, handing me one of the oars. I looked at the long piece of wood, a bit confused, but I quickly took my place on the side of the boat and slipped the oar into the water. I had never taken the long fishing trips out into the sea back home, but I had gone out on a rowboat once or twice when I was younger. I knew the gist of it, at least.
