by Enid Titan
Poppy believed Antigone. She opened her mind the way the Fengari taught her, searching for a sign of Lyric out there in the darkness. By then, Ajax had awakened the others who stood together armed with short blades, listening to the darkness.
«I heard nothing,» Janus said.
Without being told, they’d all switched to telepathic communication. Poppy steadied her breathing, forcing her lungs to inhale and exhale quietly.
«Lyric! Lyric!»
They called her name and then went out from the fire in groups of two at a time with two behind them in a short search radius. They gave up, finding no signs of prints past a few hundred feet.
«Someone’s out there,» Antigone said, «And they’re following us, picking us off one by one.»
As Penelope feared, there was something out there in the snow, something worse than a Vorthan beast.
22
Help Me Forget The Cold
Lyric disappeared and everything changed. The snow weighed heavier on their boots as they trudged through it. Their pace slowed and everyone’s mood darkened. Antigone swore that Lyric hadn’t been eaten by some beast. She’d vanished off the face of the earth right into the darkness. What took her must have taken the others, Penelope thought. Her lips were frozen sausages pursed together as they faced a bitterly cold wind towards their next campsite. Without Lyric, they all had more to carry and Poppy’s load threatened to leave her lagging behind the others.
When he could, Castor would relieve some of what she carried from her shoulders, but it hardly helped given that she had to tread through high snow. If their estimates were correct, they had a little over a week before they reached the wall surrounding Vortha. During the day time, animals that had tracked them from their first campsite grew bolder. Vamphares would follow them for most of the day, waiting for one of them to freeze and fall over in the snow. Poppy never thought the sight of white bunnies could terrify her until she saw one bent over a dead beast, sucking its blood out as its white little ears flicked with delight.
“They make good pets once you shave their teeth,” Ajax said in an attempt to comfort Penelope.
Nobody agreed with him. Penelope didn’t go far from Ajax’s side after that. They’d made it to their next campsite. Without Lyric’s constant optimism, the sullen mood deepened and Penelope appeared to be the only person in the mood for speculation. The Fengari warned her about Oz and they’d warned her about what would come. Penelope sensed what everyone around her was thinking. Janus was far more petrified than he let on. His fear might become a danger to them. Castor was calm but concerned. Jason was angry and his frustration deepened with each passing second. Ajax sat staring into the fire he’d built ready for a fight.
Janus and Antigone insisted on the first watch again.
“If whoever or whatever got Lyric comes again, they’ll have me to contend with,” Antigone insisted.
Janus only wanted to get his watch out of the way. Penelope slid into the tent with her three boys, but none of them could sleep.
«You should sleep, Penelope,» Castor suggested.
«I can’t and neither can you.»
Jason pulled her over onto her back and kissed her cheek, a dusting of his white hair falling over her face.
“I have other ideas about what we can do with you, jazad.”
Castor smirked, his eyes glowing yellow for a moment and settling into their bioluminescent state.
“You too?” Poppy whispered to Castor who leaned over and kissed her.
Ajax rose to a seated position with a look of mock distress on his face.
“You won’t leave me out, will you?”
“Antigone and Janus might hear us,” Poppy protested.
Ajax shrugged.
“It’s no secret that we’re mates.”
Poppy’s cheeks reddened.
“Great. So everyone here knows I’m being… shared.”
Castor kissed her forehead.
“Leave your human taboos behind, Penelope. We have great love for you, and you for us. Don’t forget that.”
They always knew what to say to make her melt. All those days in the snow had hurt her deeply. Every muscle in her body ached. She could keep up with Devorans on skates but only for a while and trudging through the deep snow was a far more difficult activity. Castor pried her lips open, pressing his warm blue lips to hers and melting them as he thrust his two-pronged tongue between her lips.
“You’re freezing,” he murmured.
“I don’t want to take my clothes off.”
«She doesn’t trust us to keep her warm.»
Jason’s breath on the back of her neck spread throughout her body, filling her with a warmth that finally melted her toes and thighs which had nearly frozen solid. Ajax crawled over Jason and positioned himself beneath the sheets and between Penelope’s legs.
«I’ll warm our little pet up quickly,» Ajax said.
Poppy sucked in her tummy as he hooked his thick fingers between the waistband of her pants and pulled the three layers over her hips. By the time he’d wriggled her out of them, not only was she warm beneath the blankets, the apex of her thighs soaked through with her arousal. Ajax pried her legs apart with his forceful grasp and drove his tongue between them without hesitation.
Poppy cried out as one prong of his rigid five-inch tongue slid nicely between her tightened hole. Her tightness clamped around his tongue and Ajax stimulated her with one of the many Devoran sexual gifts: his vibrations. His tongue vibrated inside her, sticking to the damp pads of flesh inside her tightened tunnel and forcing her pussy to contract and drive her close to a deep climax.
Poppy ran her hands beneath the blankets finding Ajax’s curly hair which had grown since the beginning of their voyage. She grabbed some of it and held on as his head moved up and down between her legs. With one prong of his tongue inside her, the second sat between her puffy pink pussy lips, resting right around her engorged clit. Ajax rubbed her thighs with his palms and squeezed her flash as both prongs of his tongue vibrated powerfully between her legs.
Poppy cried out, unable to stifle her moans of pleasure. At the last moment, Castor clamped his hand over her mouth so that no one would hear her cry out. Poppy came harder as all three Devoran men held her down and Ajax plunged both his tongues between her legs.
Ajax removed his tongues after three climaxes. Poppy’s legs trembled. She no longer thought about the cold, just the three of them and how badly she needed them to forget the cold, the wild, and the looming terrors they might face as they trekked back to the Academy.
23
Spreading Warmth
Ajax slithered on top of Penelope, pressing his weight into her. Her hands instinctively reached for his back and she cradled his brawny back muscles in the grip of her palm, so tiny against the broad strapping back that held her. Ajax reached down to free his growing members from the fabric which held them back. Once he had the two of them free, Ajax seemed to change his mind. He grinned, his ears wriggling as his lips curled into that impish smile.
He lifted his weight off of Penelope just enough so he could flip her over onto her belly where she landed with a squeak.
“Ajax!”
“Shh,” he murmured, “It will be better this way, little pet.”
Penelope moaned as he pressed the tip of his large member against her backdoor. Right here, right now, she was going to take his big blue alien cock straight up her ass. Penelope moaned as Ajax thrust inside her ass slowly, penetrating her tight hole inch by inch. Penelope relaxed and gave in to the pleasure as Ajax stroked her back, sending soothing sensations throughout her body.
For the first time in what felt like forever, she was genuinely warm throughout. Ajax pressed his weight into her as the head of his second cock touched her wetness. Her ass was already half-full of his big dick and Penelope squealed as he began to penetrate her doubly with his enormous alien members. As Ajax’s massive cock slid deeper into her wetness and he stretched her tight hu
man ass out further, Cas spread her lips apart with a warm, deep kiss as Jason stroked her head.
“Take him deeper, jazad,” Jason whispered.
Penelope whimpered and became overwhelmed with the desire to please all of them. Ajax pressed on her lower back and slid deeper into her tiny holes. Poppy cried out and as Ajax buried himself inside her to the hilt. Poppy’s climax surged through her tightness and her thighs shuddered and Ajax groaned as he thrust into her deeper.
Jason grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled back as Ajax pumped inside her tightness until Poppy came again. She trembled and collapsed deeper into the blankets. Ajax sank inside her, moving between her legs in uncharacteristically slow and gentle strokes. Poppy moaned and bit down on the pillow Castor pressed between her teeth as Ajax’s animalistic thrusting slowed down to pleasure every inch of her tight holes. Ajax groaned and thrust into her one last time, erupting between Poppy’s legs and allowing his seed to spill onto her thighs.
His short tail wriggled behind him as he pulled out of her and rolled onto his back. Poppy didn’t have time to recover before Jason pressed himself on top of her from behind. She hadn’t had all of them take her from behind like this for a while. Ajax was hardly spent and kissed her on the lips while Castor pleasured her neck with his tongues sliding up and down her flesh.
Jason stuck both his dicks into her slit at once, pressing down so she was full once more of giant blue, ribbed, Devoran cock. Poppy saw pinpricks of fuzzy light flash before her eyes as the intensity of pain and pleasure from being filled surged through her. She moaned and arched her back upward, urging Jason to plunge into her deeper.
He drove himself into her until her juices splattered over his cocks. Castor and Ajax kissed her lips at the same time as Jason plunged inside her. Jason pushed her to the edge of a climax and then withdrew his cocks from Poppy’s tightness.
“Jason…” she whimpered, “Don’t stop…”
“I want to hear how much you love us, jazad…”
“I… I love you,” Poppy whimpered.
Her heart nearly fluttered out from her chest. Jason thrust his dicks inside her again and Penelope moaned as he gave her what she wanted again — a pussy and ass full of his big dicks. Jason grunted and moaned as he thrust into her from the back, her perky butt cheeks slamming into his blue torso. Jason groaned and erupted inside her, his seed coating her legs and mixing with Ajax’s. Jason lifted his dicks from her soaked entrance.
Castor kissed the length of her back before pressing his head between her thighs, ready to taste her before he entered. Poppy wriggled beneath the sheets, cum dripping over her legs. Jason kissed her shoulder and her neck as Ajax fingered her hair with his large hands.
Cas spread her cheeks opened and licked the length of her pussy as she shuddered and whimpered in his grasp. Penelope wriggled her butt so his tongue drove deeper between her lips, lapping up every drop of her juices as his tongue roved closer to her puckered backdoor.
Poppy squealed as Castor’s tongue tickled her most forbidden hole. He squeezed her cheeks and held them apart.
“Come, Penelope, hold still…”
He pulled her back and ate her until she couldn’t stand it any longer. Penelope came hard over Castor’s tongue. He pulled his face away from her and lined his cocks up with her ass and pussy.
“You’re red, Penelope,” he murmured, “Can you handle it?”
She couldn’t handle not having him. Every inch of her came alive as her boys touched her, caressing every raw inch of her flesh and spreading delicious heat throughout her breasts and limbs and her the sopping slit at the apex of her thighs.
“Yes,” Poppy whimpered, “Oh God, yes…”
Castor worked his cocks into her slowly, savoring every moment he had her in his grasp. Poppy squirmed as Castor thrust the last few inches inside her and she came the moment he buried himself inside her. He was everything she needed — both gentle and ardent as he plunged himself between her legs.
Castor grabbed a handful of her hair and craned her thin, delicate neck back as black hair fell in waves down her back and he pumped between her pale thighs.
24
A Rescue Mission
After a few more rounds, the four lay spent on the floor of their tent surrounded by blankets and engulfed in each other’s warmth. Penelope whimpered and nuzzled closer to Castor as a sound pierced through her sleep. No… it wasn’t time to wake up and face the cold, not when it was so nice and warm here. The voice pierced Penelope’s first peaceful sleep in days again. Her eyes snapped open and then she consciously heard Antigone’s words for the first time.
“Someone is coming! Someone overhead! A rescue!”
The four scrambled from their cozy tent. The engines of the craft hummed so quietly that they mightn’t have heard the craft if it weren’t for the lights scanning and swooping across the snow. It couldn’t be too hard for them to spot the fire, Poppy thought. Their bonfire burned robustly. Antigone and Janus were awash with relief that Poppy sensed rubbing against her telepathic field.
Her expanded Fengari awareness suggested to her that this wasn’t the time for excessive optimism.
“How can we be sure they’ve heard us?” Poppy yelled.
A vortex of wind and snow swept up by the hovering craft proved louder than the vehicle itself.
“Make loads of noise and movement. The crafts detect movement below,” Antigone called back.
“Won’t they assume we’re tundra beasts?”
“Maybe, but they’ll notice we’re moving erratically and they’ll help. Come on!”
Cas, Jason, and Ajax went along with what appeared to be a reasonable plan so Poppy followed along shouting and screaming at the vessel.
«You’re still worried,» Poppy directed her thoughts at Castor who appeared less exuberant than everyone else.
«It’s a military craft. Not a rescue.»
«Perhaps they’ve noticed us anyway.»
Castor didn’t respond and Poppy’s worry deepened. He was usually the rational one, pulling everyone else from the edge of unnecessary gloom. A loud electric crackle surged across the sky and a bolt of directed light slammed into the side of the craft.
“What was that?”
“They’re under attack!” Jason yelled.
“No!” Antigone shrieked, continuing her jumping and waving as if that would make any difference. Another crack of light cut the sky in colorful pieces and slammed into the side of the military craft. A black charred mark on the side of the white craft left a sickening twisting in Penelope’s stomach. She could hear Castor and Jason reaching out telepathically to whoever was in there.
«Devoran officers, can you hear us? Devoran officers, we’re students at the Vortha Gifted Telepath’s Academy and we need your help.»
“It’s no use!” Ajax cried as another bolt slammed into the craft and it began a whirling descent toward the snow.
“How close is it!” Antigone yelled.
“Probably a couple miles!”
It was dark and making it a couple of miles even as a group would prove risky and sap energy needed for tomorrow. No matter what they found, it would be nearly impossible to set up camp again with the swirling frigid tundra winds whipping around and already threatening to rip the tents off of the snow and carry them off into the darkness.
The craft crashed and a deafening roar echoed across the tundra. Penelope’s worst fears materialized.
«I didn’t hear anyone,» Castor said, «If there was anyone alive, they weren’t able to communicate telepathically.»
«We have to leave and find that craft. Someone attacked them,» Antigone insisted.
Janus disagreed vehemently, citing all manner of horrid creatures that could be encountered in the darkness without the benefit of fire to see them or scare them with. Penelope didn’t usually see the sense in giving into Janus’ fearful whims, but the beasts on the tundra weren’t figments of his overactive anxiety.
“Whoever at
tacked them could be whoever took Lyric and the others,” Jason pointed out.
That served as both a reason to find them and avoid them, Penelope thought.
«We should connect telepathically and come to a unanimous decision.»
The Devorans all agreed to that. Penelope wasn’t used to decisions being made like this without the struggle of perpetual argument. Once they all connected there was no need for hostile tempers. In a situation like this, they couldn’t afford to thwart diplomacy. Janus gripped Castor and Antigone’s palm. Penelope stood between Ajax and Eros. They closed their eyes and the tingling of telepathic communication started in Poppy’s fingers.
When she first landed on Devor, she found the sensations titillating and overwhelming. The mix of images and emotions would have overwhelmed her and made her headache. Now she could “see” almost better than she could with her eyes. All their thoughts and emotions swirled around until a decision crystallized in the same way it does when you focus on a point in the horizon and then see a ship surging into view.
Once they’d finished holding hands and sharing thoughts, a clear answer materialized. They had to find that craft and see if there were any survivors. Even Janus didn’t protest. They bundled up to accommodate the lower evening temperatures and attacked by swirling winds, they dismantled their tents. Poppy’s legs burned with each step, but their combined determination pushed her forward.
Where was Sibyl now? Penelope thought bitterly. Sibyl appeared to give her stupid prophecies and speak in riddles whenever it suited her but now that a ship had been shot clean out of the sky and they needed answers more than ever, she’d vanished from Poppy’s awareness. The Fengari were useless when they didn’t want something from her.
Poppy kept one hand wrapped around her Fengari blade’s handle as they walked through the snow with only small lights to guide them. The sense that they were being followed only heightened with each step because they were being followed, by all manner of creatures stalking the group and considering in their beastly way whether to pounce.
