Swing and Thrust: A Harem Fantasy (Sword and Sorority Book 2)

by Scot C Morgan

  As I ran, sword drawn, toward the eight-legged nightmare the desire for an equally oversized shoe or rolled up newspaper popped into my head. I knew my sword could take it out—if I could avoid being bitten—but I really wanted the extra mass an equally matched shoe would have given, so I had more between my attacking hand and the hell-spawn's death needles.

  "Den, wait!"

  I wasn't sure why Alara was yelling for me to stop. I wasn't about to do nothing when Tara could be suffocating in the spider's webbing, for all I knew.

  Then I tripped. I held my sword as I went down, but when I slammed against the ground I lost my grip on it. All I had to kill the giant spider and save Tara flew from my hand, landing six feet in front of me—directly beside her. I scrambled to retrieve it, but with my hand only a foot away from grabbing the sword I realized my ankle was caught. I looked back and saw the thick strand of webbing stuck like hot wet gum around my foot and lower leg. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something large off to my left side moving toward me.

  "Oh, no." I tried as hard as I could to pull my leg away from the webbing, but I couldn't get free. The second oversized creepy crawly drew closer, lifting and lowering each hairy black leg in that way spiders do—just to make that chill go up your spine. It worked.

  I heard something whip past me. The spider dragging Tara let out a high-pitched scratching scraping sort of shriek. It was worse than fingernails on a chalkboard, but I knew it had been hurt. I didn't bother to take a look to see what had happened. I was too focused on the one stepping ever closer to making a catatonic burrito out of me.

  "Good shot!" The voice sounded like Victoria.

  A flash of light blinded me, and I felt a thick splattering of warm rancid-smelling goo land on me, covering the left side of me, including much of my face. I sputtered and quickly wiped my cheek and around my eyes to get it off.

  Still blinded, I was suddenly being dragged by the webbing around my ankle. I clawed at the ground to grab hold of anything which might serve to keep the giant spider from carrying me away—no doubt to my death. The forest floor was loose with leaves and debris, but I felt a thick tree root and clung to it as hard as I could. The pulling on my leg continued and soon my arm was fully stretch and I felt the root unsettling from the dirt. Then it snapped and I was dragged faster. Still blind, I shifted my hands around wildly hoping to land on something else to keep me from becoming spider dinner. A moment later my body settled on the ground and I felt the webbing stuck to my ankle ease.

  My vision came back, though a blurriness lingered. I wiped my face more and looked around. The spider which had been dragging me was gone. Alara was standing nearby, her staff in hand. She looked drained. She leaned onto her staff, holding it with both hands. Monica stood just past her, while Nithia and Victoria were still mounted and farther back. I watched Monica pull an arrow from her quiver and fire it into the spider in front of me. The creature shrieked again as the arrow went into it, then it began scampering away, still towing Tara in the cocoon.

  With renewed strength I lunged forward, yanking my leg free from most of the webbing. Without even completely standing, I shuffled ahead as fast as I could and dropped to one knee, sliding with my other leg out straight behind me, landing my hand on the grip of my sword. I took it and pushed myself up and forward after the giant spider.

  As I passed Tara, I glanced to the dragging cocoon to see if there was any sign of her condition. It was impossible to tell in the flashing instant I allowed myself to look. I almost chose to swing my sword at the tether connecting her cocoon to the fleeing spider, but I wasn't sure I could sever it with one blow. I didn't want to risk the spider picking up speed and carrying her away faster than I could run after them. I passed her and swung my sword in front of me as I leaped at the spider. With two hands holding my blade firmly between me and the monster's back, I landed on top of the hairy black body, thrusting my sword before me and driving it into the creature. I felt the hilt end of my sword slam against my sternum as the full weight of my body dropped across the spider's back, popping its tight flesh open, disgusting spider guts spewing out in every direction.

  I rolled off the pile and hurried back to Tara. She still wasn't moving. I dropped my sword and tore with both hands at the webbing covering her mouth. My fingers shook, but I got it drawn back away from her face. Her eyes were shut and she looked pale. I leaned down and put my ear just above her nose. I couldn't hear her breath. I waited a few more seconds, then I felt the faintest brush of warm air coming out of her nostrils.

  "Is she…" Alara didn't finish her question, but I knew what she was asking.

  Chapter 7

  "She's alive," I said. "Barely."

  From my belt, I pulled the knife Jan had given me and started cutting the webbing straight down the front, lifting up with the blade edge to keep it away from Tara's chest and stomach.

  "Help me get this off her," I said, then I looked back and saw Alara standing close to me, leaning on her staff again. Nithia and Victoria were beside her.

  "She's going to be alright. Isn't she?" Victoria asked.

  Nithia knelt beside me and dug through a pouch she had tied to her belt. "I think I may have something to help."

  I peeled back the webbing and lifted Tara's right arm from the splayed cocoon. "Somebody help me!"

  I heard Alara's staff hit the ground. She got on her hands and knees and moved to Tara's other side where she pulled free Tara's other arm.

  I placed my palm over Tara's chest and felt for her heartbeat. It was faint, but there.

  "I think the other one is long gone now," Monica said. I could tell she was still several feet back. I imagined she still had her bow out and was scanning the trees.

  Nithia grabbed a flat rock with a shallow depression from the ground and put pinches of herbs onto it. She leaned over it and spit onto the small pile of crushed brown and green bits, then used her thumb to work it all together. She did it all quickly and seemed to know exactly what she was doing. I said nothing, not wanting to slow her down.

  "Open her mouth," Nithia said as she gathered the slurry from the rock and brought it to Tara's lips.

  I gently took hold of Tara's chin and jaw and eased her mouth open just enough for Nithia to push the herb mixture in with her thumb and forefinger.

  "Lift her head up a little, so she doesn't choke on it," Nithia said, wiping her hand against her pant leg to clean the rest of the medicine off.

  I did as she said, shifting myself around so I could cradle Tara's head against my forearm. Only after I did so, did I realize I was covered with spider gut juice, and I'd gotten it all over Tara's beautiful red hair.

  Victoria walked over and looked down at the giant spider carcass. "Unbelievable."

  Alara, still appearing fatigued, turned to Nithia, who had closed up her herbal pouch and was sitting next to Tara on the opposite side from me. "Have you ever heard of such creatures?"

  Nithia looked up from Tara. She stared at Alara for a moment and then shook her head.

  "Neither have I," Alara said.

  I was surprised to hear this. I was the stranger to Galderia, well, along with Monica and Victoria. I remembered Alara had told me Nithia spent a good amount of time living in the woods before deciding to bunk with her. "You're saying you've never seen these things? Or you didn't even know they existed?"

  Alara braced herself with her hand on her thigh as she exhaled. "I've never heard of such a monster in Galderia." She turned her head slightly, looking down toward the leaves. "Though I can't say they're unheard of across the sea. That land is full of all sort of unnatural things. That much I know."

  Nithia looked troubled. "But not here."

  Alara simply shook her head in agreement with Nithia.

  The mystery of the giant spiders bothered me, though not as much as the fact two of them nearly made dinner of Tara and me, and her condition didn't seem to be improving. That worried me more than how the spiders came to be where they weren't supp
osed to live.

  "How long until the herbs do something?" I asked Nithia.

  She shrugged. "Hard to say. I recognized them when Jan gave them to me, but I've never used them as a remedy to something so…"

  "Yeah." I nodded. "I get it."

  I realized I hadn't looked for any fang marks, where the spider must have injected its venom. I turned Tara's head, careful not to strain her neck, but checking it for any puncture wounds. There were none. I looked over her body. Her clothes were intact. Then I saw the two wounds on the inside of her right wrist. They looked like nail holes.

  I lifted her limp arm to inspect the spider bite more closely. I realized it might be too late to do any good, but I tore the bottom of my shirt, pulling a piece off which was long enough to wrap around her arm with some to spare. I tucked it around her upper arm and made a tourniquet, securing it snug against her sleeve so that I could feel the flesh of her upper arm squeezed a little by the cloth.

  "Good idea," Nithia said. "We just need to keep an eye on her hand to make sure it doesn't turn too purple or cold."

  "Probably too late to cut it off completely," I said. "The venom, I mean, but maybe it'll keep whatever's still in her arm from getting past."

  "Until the herbs start to work," Nithia said, nodding.

  I repositioned again and lifted Tara up more, so her back was propped against one side of my chest. Then I wrapped my arm around her waist to steady her.

  "I think we should back ourselves out of the forest and take another route," Monica said.

  I looked at her. She was still standing guard, holding her bow at the ready, an arrow notched. I noticed her scanning the trees.

  "You're right," I said. We had no way of knowing how many giant spiders the woods hid. One was still around, maybe not too far.

  "Hold her up for a second," I said to Alara. "I'll get my sword then I can carry her."

  "Sure." She came around to brace Tara. Then she collapsed slightly as she reached for her. Her head drooped and she leaned over.

  Nithia reached in. "I can hold her."

  Alara sighed. "Thanks."

  "Are you okay?" I hadn't registered just how worn out Alara looked before.

  She took in a deep breath before answering. "I'm…tired. That's all."

  In my head, I replayed the encounter with the spiders. She didn't get close enough for one to bite her. But her fatigue was troubling. We'd been on horseback, and the terrain hadn't been that challenging. We had plenty of supplies, and I had seen her take a sip from her water flask on more than one occasion.

  "You don't feel sick, do you?" I asked, reaching down and feeling her forehead with the back of my hand. She didn't feel unusually warm, though it was hard to tell, since we'd all been in the sun for a while before coming under the tree canopy.

  "I'll manage." She got herself to her feet with the help of her staff. "We can talk about it later. We should get out of here and…" Her brow furrowed as she looked down at Tara.

  Nithia had been taking Tara's pulse at the neck. "She'll pull through. Give the herbs time." Nithia looked at me. "We should go."

  I nodded and, after retrieving my sword, lifted Tara and held her cradled in my arms. Moving beside my horse, I realized I couldn't mount it holding Tara the way I had her. I hoisted her over my shoulder, keeping an arm around the backs of her legs. With her slung over, I climbed onto my horse. I waited until everyone else was mounted and ready to ride. I took one last look around to make sure one of the big uglies wasn't lurking to pounce on us, then I signaled for everyone to ride out the way we came.

  I considered riding back to Pertlass, to see if Jan could do anything more for Tara. But then we all were elated when Tara awoke ten minutes after we left the forest. She was groggy, but seemed to be gaining her strength back fairly quickly.

  Alara, on the other hand, still looked weakened. She could ride her horse, but I could see she was fighting the urge to rest herself onto the mane. I suggested we stop and camp, but she insisted we push on a little more. She again told me we could talk about it later. I got the impression she knew why she was feeling so fatigued, but it seemed she didn't want to discuss it in front of the others.

  We took Victoria's earlier idea and headed for the coastline. It seemed reasonable to assume the spiders wouldn't leave the forest for the sun and wind of the seaside. In the two hours it took to reach the sea, Tara fully recovered and took her place on her own horse, which Victoria had been riding.

  Chapter 8

  Ms. Thompson shook the scrying ball in her hands as she screamed, bouncing her chest in the outfit she'd been given—violet suede pants which slightly rode between the cheeks of her ass, polished supple black leather thigh-high boots, and a purple silk top billowing around her shoulders and draping out from her wrists, but squeezing her bosom from underneath. She stopped shaking the lavender crystal sphere. Her breasts settled. She brushed aside her long dark hair and peered into the object once more, waiting for the mystical smoke within the magic orb to drift aside so she could see Den and his companions again.

  Den's face came into view as the swirling vapors curved out to the inner surface of the crystal. "How?" Her voice echoed off the stone walls and around the heavy beams bracing the vaulted ceiling, some of it blackened from years of burning candles. Forty or so such flames now painted the walls like the inside of a kaleidoscope. With no windows in the room, only a slit in the wall high up, the candles put out enough warmth to overcome the cold winds outside, which could still be heard through the building's thick stone.

  The mystical smoke rolled back over Den's face, then grew more dense until the whole orb grayed.

  "Ahh!" She threw the crystal sphere across the room. It shattered against the stone.

  "Everything alright in there?" a man's voice said from outside the room.

  She turned to the heavy wooden door she hadn't bothered to close fully. "No!"

  "I told you they're hard to control," the man said, still outside the room. "Should've tried to get one of his companions again. Make him follow."

  She glared at the doorway for a moment. "Those men were useless!"

  "Do you want me to make another one for you?" the man said.

  Glancing to the floor where most of the shattered pieces fell, she shook her head. "I think I can do it." She took a deep breath and exhaled, then turned back to the doorway. "But thank you, my sweet man." She rolled her eyes.

  "What about the men? Should I send them? Ruja's, I mean."

  "Sure."

  "Okay. I drank my potion, by the way. So…whenever you're finished, we can-"

  "Yes!" She said, cutting him off before she had to hear him say it aloud. She had a hard enough time stomaching the sight of him every time he climbed onto her. She reminded herself each time, she'd get what she needed from Den soon enough. Keeping the old man in the other room happy, she thought, was worth it to get his help, and to learn how the magic worked. And for his money to pay the network of spies he helped her hire.

  "Maybe that didn't work because they were too big and easy to see coming," she said to herself. She looked around the room, trying to find inspiration. Shelved books filled half the room. She'd read some of them, but none which gave her what she needed. Except one, she thought as she spotted one of the books she'd picked up on the first night the old man had welcomed her into his home. "Yes."

  "What's that?" the man said from the other room.

  "Nothing. Be there in a minute." She walked over to the book and, recalling the old man's lessons in the ancient writings, read the book's title, "Distant Love."

  Chapter 9

  The air was warm with the sun's rays, but a breeze rolling off the gentle waves carried with it a cool mist. We rode on a ridge of grass which blanketed the sand beneath. It ran the length of the beach as far ahead as we could see, creating an elevated border to the pure sand below, which extended about forty feet from the grassy ridge to the water. The sea was vast—no land visible beyond it. Gulls flew ove
rhead. Despite no shade, it felt good riding beside the beach. The trees were several hundred feet to our left, and even then they were sparse for another few hundred feet. I had little doubt the dangers of the forest would stay within their domain.

  When we first reached the water, we all took a short break and waded in, cleaning and refreshing ourselves. I particularly needed it, since I'd been coated in spider guts for the last two hours. I think I wasn't the only one thankful to be rid of the odor.

  There was the added bonus that all the women stripped down to the bare minimum of clothing before they got into the water. I watched each of them walk my direction, as the waves rolled against my back and crested just in front of me. Evidently, Tara was fully recovered. She picked a spot in my direct line of sight before taking off her pants and shirt. She had panties and a midriff blouse on beneath. Waiting until our eyes locked—and once the other women were already stepping into the water before her—she slipped out of both remaining pieces of clothing and did a catwalk straight for me. Just as the water submerged her up to the top of her chest, the largest wave yet crested over me, spraying white foam as the water splashed down.

  She made her way up to me as I glanced around to see how close the others were. With only fifteen or twenty feet separating the two of us from the others, Tara pushed her arms through the water until she was against me.

  I felt her breasts cushion the impact. She wrapped her arms around me, lifting her eyebrows for a split second and smiling as they dropped.

  "I never thanked you for what you did back there," she said. I felt the inside of her right calf rub against the outside of my left leg.

  I had my feet firmly planted in the sand below the water, but every time another wave rolled in against my back I couldn't help but be nudged forward against her. The second time it happened she widened her eyes. "Ooh." She pretended to be surprised and at a loss of how to deal with the fact that my loins bumped against her pelvis.