I expected Becca to spend more time with us, or at least with me, since we both were from Earth. I thought she'd latch on to me, but she only talked with me briefly. She excused herself from our company by explaining she was indeed partnered with the Fektal I'd first seen her with, and she wanted it to stay that way. Who was I to argue with her, I thought. She's made her way in Galderia. If she changes her tune sometime down the road, I thought, I could talk to her again about her desire to go home.
I wanted to talk to the elder, to ask him why he'd had a change of heart about us. I got the fact that a young boy rushing forward to the danger of the gourd impressed him, but I suspected there was something more to it than that. I wondered if the elder knew what Ray had done to the creature. I had no plans to ask the elder if that was the case, but I was curious what he might say when we had a chance to talk.
That chance was a few hours away. 'Rest for the night feast' one of the Fektals had told us, explaining that there was a feast planned for a few hours later, in celebration of our passing the test and becoming welcome guest of their tribe. We had much more travel ahead of us, but taking it easy for a while and having a big meal sounded great. And that's just what we did. The rest and food made the five of us feel much better. I never got the chance to talk to the elder, but he'd invited us all to spend the night in their encampment. The journey ahead of us would be long, so we took them up on their extended hospitality. I decided I'd try again in the morning to speak with the elder. We were shown an area on one side of the Fektals' encampment, and left to retire.
We'd been assigned a couple of tents to use as our own for the night, and to my surprise Nithia suggested Ray could share one tent with Alara and Tara, and she'd stay with me in the other. Maybe she wants to make sure the boy keeps his distance, I thought, given how obvious his affection for her had been.
Or she just needs some proper attention from yours truly. The private nighttime kind of attention.
It's possible Alara guessed as much too. She quickly agreed with Nithia's suggestion and took Ray by the hand, leading him into the first tent and gesturing with her head for Tara to come with them. Ray looked back at us over his shoulder as he was led away.
After they'd gone into their tent, I looked at Nithia. "You and me, then." I smiled and winked at her.
She moved in front of me, touching her chest against mine, then raised up a little on her toes and kissed me, then withdrew and looked me in the eyes. "That's exactly what I wanted tonight."
There was no need to guess what she was thinking, but she reached down and touched my manhood through my hanging leather loincloth shorts.
"So," I said, reaching around to take hold of her ass, "we're going to skip the after-dinner chit chat and go right to it."
She answered by gently pushing her body against mine and steering me back to the parted flap which served as the door to our tent.
I kept my hands on her and walked backward with her until we were inside, then I reached up with one hand and shut the tent's opening.
Chapter 16
As expected, there wasn't a traditional bed inside the tent, but a pile of pillows on top of a pad of blankets broke my fall as Nithia pushed me backward onto them. I carried her down with me, and after I'd regained my breath I told her I had no idea she could be so aggressive. I was teasing her and she clearly took it that way.
"Oh, you underestimate me, Den," she said, sitting on top of my chest and pulling her top off in one smooth motion.
I watched her breasts burst free as they came out from under the garment, swaying around like jello before settling. "Oh, no. I could never underestimate you."
I reached to put my hands on her glorious boobs, but she slapped one of my arms, though not too hard.
"What was that for?" I asked, wanting to reach for her breasts again, but hesitating playfully, as if intimidated by her rebuke.
"Wait a minute," she said. "I've got some words for you."
"Oh?"
"Yes." She furrowed her brow a little and sat back, but remained straddled across me. "First off, how could you stick your hand in that damn thing? You could've been killed. I was so worried. What would we do if that creature had stung you? I don't want to lose you."
I watched as her expression shifted quickly from slight anger to distress.
"I don't want to lose you either," I said. "But, I didn't have much of a choice. You know that."
She took a breath and exhaled. "Yes, I know. But I don't have to like it." She made a pouting face, and I could tell she had just needed to let out some frustration and tension that had built up from the experience.
I chuckled. "Trust me. I didn't like it either."
"Okay." She smiled, but then looked serious again. "And another thing."
"I'm afraid to ask, but go ahead."
"Tara."
"What about her?"
"You need to spend some time with her."
"Huh? I do spend time with her. What do you mean?"
"Not just when we're all together. I mean alone time."
"Yeah, okay. But right now I'm with you." I quickly added, "Exactly where I want to be."
She nodded. "Me too, but later you need to give some special attention to Tara. She feels guilty."
"For what?"
Nithia shook her head. "It's wrong, but she feels guilty for leaving you at the other side of the crevice we escaped through, between the hills. To get away from the Dark Riders. It's not her fault, but-"
"Of course it's not her fault. I had no idea she blamed herself. She tried to help me through. I just couldn't fit. Oh, wow. Seriously? She blames herself?"
Nithia nodded. "She told me. Not in so many words, but I could tell. She watched the Dark Riders chasing you. Saw them through the passageway between the hills as they rode past."
"Wow." The revelation was a complete surprise to me, but Tara was the youngest, and she'd already lost Cormac. It sort of made sense that she would have a hard time dealing with almost losing someone else, especially because of our relationship. "Okay. I get it. Thank you for telling me. I'll be sure to spend some time with her soon, let her know how much she means to me, and make sure she knows it wasn't her fault. She had to leave me or the Dark Riders would've..."
"I know. Just be with her. That's really all she needs, some reassurance."
I was thankful she'd told me what Tara was going through. I felt bad for not seeing it, but even though I'd unlocked many of the mysteries of women, some remained elusive. Satisfied the issue had been adequately discussed, I decided to make the conversation playful again. "I could go get her now, to join us." I raised my eyebrows and grinned at Nithia."
"Uh! No." Nithia looked offended, but it was also clear she knew I was giving her a hard time. "That's not what I meant." She squeezed the sides of me with her thighs.
"No? You sure? You two could trade. I'm sure Ray would like that?" I chuckled, but she stopped me by squeezing her thighs tighter, making it hard for me to breathe. I held up my hands as if to surrender. "Okay," I said, barely getting the word out.
She eased up on me, moving her thighs out a little. Then she leaned closer to me, touching her breasts to my chest. "Just you and me tonight."
I looked at her beautiful blue eyes then overtly shifted my gaze down to her breasts, slightly turning from side to side to stare at them. "I find myself very inclined to agree with you right now."
"Good." Still leaning close to me, she moved to bring her breasts forward until they pressed against my chin and the sides of my face. "You'll find you've made the right decision."
With my face still squeezed between her breasts, I could only manage to murmur, "Uh hm. I think so." My words came out muffled and malformed between her cleavage, but I figured she understood them. I could have pushed her off of me, but I didn't want to cut short the enjoyable and amusing way she'd imposed herself on me.
After a few more seconds, she lifted her chest from my face. "Now that we have all that settled, why
don't you show me why you're the chosen one."
"Hero's got to do what a hero's got to do." I flexed my abs to pull myself up, planting my mouth on one of her nipples. I worked it between my lips and teased it with the tip of my tongue.
She dipped her head back and moaned softly, letting me know she was enjoying it.
I felt her hips rocking. She pushed her crotch against my manhood firmly.
"Yes, Den. I need you. Show me how strong you are."
I reached around and slid my hand down beneath her clothes, feeling the split between her ass cheeks and sliding my hand over to one side to get a nice grip.
She turned her body slightly to offer her other breast to my mouth and I obliged, even as she continued dry humping me.
My muscle was flexed, ready to show her the strength she desired. Guiding her with one hand on her back, I rolled us around until her back was to the pad of blankets and I was on top of her. Her legs were up, her feet pointed toward the top of the tent. I let her remove the rest of my clothes, then I did the same for her, returning to a position between her raised legs afterward.
I wasted little time getting inside her, and as I did she moved her hand downward as if she was going to help me, but it seemed as if the feeling I'd given her caused her to lose control of her arm slightly and it deviated a little from its course. Going in more without her help, I took her dangled arm by the wrist and brought it up over her head, gently pinning it with my hand. Then I grabbed her other hand with my free one and lifted that arm to meet her other. Holding them both above her with one hand, I ran my other hand over her breasts, pausing on each to squeeze it, pinching the nipple each time.
She closed her eyes and slowly undulated her body as I pushed into her rhythmically, shallow at first, deeper when I could tell she was ready for it.
With her eyes still closed and her head back and moving a little from side to side, apparently from the pleasure I was giving her, she said, "Den, I don't ever want this to end."
Though I knew the moment wouldn't last forever, I felt the same as her. We continued and I lost track of time. For longer than any time before with her, or anyone I'd been with, waves of pleasure built up and coursed through my entire body.
I could see from her movement and the beautiful contortions of her face, and from her moans, that the waves were building in her too.
Time passed, but we kept going, and I was amazed at how long we both stood at the precipice. Ecstasy flowed around us and through us. I knew she felt it too, as the steady squeezing of the inside of her golden chamber against me gave way to a erratic and rapid quivering. I watched her face as, with her eyes still closed, she began to shake slightly. Choppy sounds of pleasure issued from her mouth as she breathed fast and uncontrollably.
We both leapt from the precipice of pleasure simultaneously. My body froze with committed tension, buried in her deeper than I thought possible, and she clung tightly against me as we fell together into the pool of bliss.
Neither of us wanted to let go of that frozen moment, but eventually we both collapsed from exhaustion. I slid to one side of her and she came over to rest on top of me, giving me a long kiss on my lips, then on my cheek before resting the side of her face on my shoulder.
We remained silent for nearly a minute, aside from our labored breathing. When it had steadied, we looked at each other and smiled.
"I meant what I said, Den."
"I can see that."
"I mean about never wanting to lose you."
"You won't," I said. "I don't want to lose you either. We're together for good, and that's exactly right."
"Then you should protect that."
"Protect it?"
She glanced at my chest, then looked into my eyes again. "Give up your pursuit of Kurg. It's not fair. You shouldn't have to be the one to face him."
"I...I can't." I said it, but I wasn't sure if I believed it. "I'm the Guardian. It's the prophecy, right?"
Nithia shook her head a little, still resting it on my shoulder. "I don't care about that. Alara's wrong. Or she should be. I don't want anything to happen to you."
"Neither do I, but..." I didn't know what to say, and that was partly because I didn't know if she was wrong or right.
"We could just settle down together. Live a normal life."
Normal life in Galderia? What does that even mean?
I couldn't lie to myself. The idea appealed to me. I'd had the same thought more than once. "I don't know. This thing, going after Kurg, it's the reason Alara brought me here. She's convinced it's my destiny."
"But what about you? What about what you want?" She put her arm across my chest. "What about what I want? Doesn't that matter too?"
I put my hand on hers. "Of course it does. And...I'd much rather not be the Guardian of Carnera. I didn't ask for it. But..."
"But what?"
"But at least it brought me to you," I said. "You, Alara, and Tara are what's most important to me."
"More important than some stupid prophecy?"
I sighed. She had a point, I thought.
Why do I have to be the one?
I hadn't figured out what the right answer was, but I wanted to hear her out more. I felt she deserved that much. And a big part of me wanted her to be right. "Where would we go? With what happened to Tara, we can't go back to Yedia, at least not until Mettin finds out who really did that."
"I don't know. But the Fektals don't seem to mind us staying here, at least for a while."
"Now that they decided not to kill us."
Nithia chuckled. "Yes. But they didn't. We could stay here a while, then maybe cross the sea again. We could go back to Darguna." She snuggled up against me more. "Or just make a place of our own somewhere where no one would bother us."
"That does sound nice. In any case, we'll eventually need to find a safe place for the boy. We can't take him along if we continue toward Kurg's stronghold. We should've waited for another ship to take him back to Yedia. Surely Mettin would have sent one when he saw Gurney didn't return."
She nodded briefly. "Maybe. I don't know what the best thing to do then was, but now..."
I thought about what Alara and Tara would say to Nithia's idea. Tara might go along with it, I guessed, but Alara carried the obligation of the Order of Carnera, the responsibility passed down to her by her mother. I doubted she would agree. In fact, I thought, she'd probably be furious at the idea. I knew she cared about me, but her sense of duty to the Order probably made it impossible for her to consider Nithia's idea.
"So, you'll think about it?" Nithia asked. "Please."
Looking into her big blue eyes, I felt I couldn't deny her, not that I wanted to do so. "I'll think about it." Between our lovemaking and the stress that came with thinking about my destiny to face the Dark Lord, I felt tired suddenly. "Let's get some rest. I'll talk to Tara and Alara in the morning."
"Thank you, Den. You know I love you."
"I do. And I love you."
"You sure you're tired enough to sleep?" She smiled mischievously. "If you're not, I could help relax you a little more." She glanced down past my waist.
"I'm alright," I said. I really was feeling tired.
But she ignored me and slid her head down from my shoulder, across my stomach, settling with her lips touching my manhood. "Are you sure?"
I felt her lips move against me as she spoke, then she licked me with the tip of her tongue. I hesitated to answer her and she did it a few more times.
"Okay," I said. "I think you've changed my mind."
Chapter 17
I walked out of our tent after Nithia and found Ray standing in front of the tent flap which served as the door. He glared at me, and this time I couldn't help but chuckle.
"Good morning, Ray," I said, messing his hair a little with my hand. "Glad to see you're up already." I probably should have let it go at that, but his repeated glaring annoyed me. "I trust you slept as well as I did?"
He didn't answer me, but I underst
ood why.
Nithia had told him good morning just before I had, and she'd walked ahead to join Alara and Tara where they stood, looking into the rest of the Fektal encampment. I winked at Ray went over to be with my women. "Come on, Ray," I said to him after I'd passed him.
Maybe there's a Fektal girl we can find you who's more your age.
We were greeted kindly as we walked through the camp, making our way back to the center, where we'd all sat around fires the night before. I figured that was the best place to find the elder without intruding on his private quarters, not that I knew which tent was his anyway.
The fires were going again, though they were smaller than the night before. Food had been spread out on a long split log, and I gathered at seeing the way the Fektals came by and grabbed a little of the offerings before going back to what they were doing elsewhere that breakfast was a self-serve buffet. The five of us helped ourselves to some after a woman nearby gestured for us to do so.
Biting off pieces of my whatever-animal-it-was-on-a-stick, I scanned the camp for the elder. I still wanted to talk to him, both to thank him for not subjecting Alara, Nithia, and Tara to the creature in the gourd and for his subsequent hospitality. As I tore the last piece of meat from my skewer, I spotted him. I was about to tell Nithia and the others that I was going to go over and talk to him, but in the time it took for me to wave to Becca, who was across the crowd, seated with her man, the elder came to us.
"You are rested?" he asked, as he stepped up to us.
"Yes. Thank you." I glanced back toward the tents we'd used, then looked at him again. "It felt good to bed down comfortably."
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Ray glaring at me again.
"You were brave to take the test," the elder said to Ray.
Ray shrugged, and I could see that he was frustrated at having to split his attention between his anger with me and the answering the elder.
Deep Into Destiny Page 14
