Khoraja, Bel, and Emma all introduced themselves, and then they had another round of introductions when Gerta came down. The farmer's wife was a thick woman with a friendly smile, brown hair, and one missing tooth right in the front of her mouth. She bustled down and met them. The home was rustic, but clean and well kept. "Are you all hungry?" asked the woman.
"No, we ate on the road," Nigel said. Khoraja had wanted an hour to practice, and an hour had turned into two. Nigel had stood in front of Khoraja while she cast Cone of Cold, with Bel healing him right after, not because he thought that would raise their skill levels but because he wanted to know what it could do. The cold made him shiver and get a little frostbite, but it barely dented his health bar. He expected that even goblins would keep on coming, much less demons. Emma healed him back up easily.
"We'll have our daughters clear out, and give you their two rooms," said the farmer. "Gerta, get Frida and Alys, and have them go to Banneker's tonight."
"Good idea, Vorm," Gerta said.
"We could sleep on the floor right here," Nigel said. "No reason to put anyone out."
"Oh, no, it's no trouble," said Vorm.
"None at all," Gerta blurted, and hurried upstairs.
Emma leaned up and whispered in his ear. "Maybe they are less worried about their daughters being put out than they are about them 'putting out' for my big strong, sexy husband."
"Hmf," said Nigel. "Dance card is full."
Although, Frida was the sort that would change men's minds. Both girls were blonde. Alys was a teenager, slightly awkward, pimpled, and flat-chested. Possibly she met the local idea of the age of consent, but she sure as hell didn't meet Nigel's. But Frida was Alysa few years later, and it looked like she hadn't gotten a new dress while her figure bloomed, because her full breasts stretched the white cotton almost into translucence. Her cheeks were rosy, and her skin tanned from working in the fields. If he was Vorm, he'd send her away when an adventurer came to stay, too. Hell, he'd probably have smuggled her out the back.
They introduced the girls quickly, but didn't let them linger. In minutes Vorm had bustled the young ladies out. "I'll walk with them to Banneker's, and I'll be right back. Make yourself at home."
If Vorm didn't trust them with his daughters, apparently leaving him alone with his wife was just fine. Nigel shrugged. He wasn't attracted to Gerta, but some men would be, and it struck Nigel as an odd line to draw. Gerta showed them to the bedroom. There were two beds. There was little sign it was a girl's room. Nigel wasn't sure what he was expecting. There wouldn't be posters on the wall, a closet full of dresses, or pink sheets. These were simple folk.
Gerta lit a small oil lamp. "I hope you can manage with just two beds. It'll be tight for all three of you girls on one."
"We'll be okay," Emma assured her.
"I'm sure you will be," Gerta said. Her gaze took in Emma's outfit and figure, looking from head to toe and back up again as thoroughly as any lecher, but with disapproval rather than a leer. It was hard for Emma to pose as a lady of virtue wearing almost nothing on top. "Just don't let me know about it."
"I'm a priestess of Inanna," Emma said.
"Oh, well... that's all right then," said Gerta. "Blessed be the goddess. Your holy calling is welcome in my home. Do you need anything else?"
"No," Nigel said, surprised at the woman's turnaround. "I think we're good. Thank you so much for your hospitality."
"Thank you for coming," Gerta said. "I told Vorm I didn't think you would. Not much in it for you. But good luck. We'll have breakfast for you at dawn." The woman backed away.
"See," Emma said, once Gerta had closed the door and they had privacy. "What we do is not just sex. It's holy sex. Even prudes approve."
Bel headed toward the pink bed. "I am sleeping here. And I'm fine with female company. Holy sex or not, I'd thank you to keep it quiet."
"It's your turn, Emma," said Khoraja.
"That's true," said Emma. "But I think you're better at keeping quiet. I'll take a double turn some other time."
Nigel was about to open his mouth and ask if he got a say, but then realized it was much better if he wasn't in the position of picking one girl over another. He hoped that in the future he'd share his bed with both women, and turn taking wouldn't be necessary. But the farmer's daughter's beds weren't sized for two, much less three.
"That makes sense, sister," Khoraja said. "If you get horny during the night, switch."
Bel rolled her eyes. "Could you--" she started, and then stopped, not knowing where to go with her sentence. "This is very awkward. Could you make it less so?"
Emma put out the lamp. "I'll be sleeping with you, Bel. And don't worry, we won't be up in the middle of the night swapping beds."
"Thank you," said Bel as the room went dark.
Nigel took off his clothes, aware of the rustle of fabric that indicated the others were getting undressed. He realized that Emma putting out the lamp spared Bel from undressing in front of him, and vice versa. Not that he minded. Bel's reticence seemed perfectly reasonable to him, but it was unlike the attitude Emma and Khoraja had. People on Aldrya seemed less prudish, especially adventurers. Bel was an exception. He wondered if the demon attack that had shaped her life was the reason He didn't expect her to jump into bed with him, but she was clearly uncomfortable.
He felt his way to the bed. Khoraja was already there, naked. Her clothes were simpler than his, and quicker to remove. She reached for his cock and stroked it. He cupped a firm breast.
"I'm not going to just tease you tonight," whispered Khoraja. "Don't worry about that."
Nigel grinned, even though Khoraja couldn't hear it. "I'm looking forward to some very unholy sex with you."
"Sounds good to me."
Dawn came, too early as usual. Bel was dressed by the time he opened his eyes, and she made sure everyone got up. "Let's go. I'm hungry."
She left before Nigel threw the covers off.
"Mmm," said Emma. "Now that's a nice sight to wake up to."
"Me, or him?" asked Khoraja.
"Both. But I meant him. Have a good night with my husband?"
"Yes, thank you," said Khoraja.
Emma grinned. "I had a good night, too. Bel's a good kisser."
Nigel stopped. "Did you say what I thought you said?"
Emma giggled. "Maybe I wasn't supposed to tell. But... it should help when I have to heal her, and she's all about making sure we're good to kill demons. If you two hadn't been so busy, you probably would have heard us."
Nigel didn't know whether to believe Emma, but he got a profoundly erotic visual of the two girls writhing in the sheets, their tongues twining together before Emma slowly slid down the other woman's body.
Khoraja smiled and gave his cock a squeeze. "Someone likes that idea. I'd say you should tease him more, Emma darling, but I think your lover is hungry."
Emma bit her lip. "I -- I should have asked you if it was okay, Nightwolf. I'm sorry. Kissing is all we did, really. And just to make my heals more effective, I think."
"It's fine if you had done more," Nigel said, standing and turning away to grab his kilt. If Bel had been male, he would have felt angry and possessive. Instead, he thought it was hot. He didn't like making the distinction, as if lesbian sex wasn't real sex. But that wasn't what he believed, and he couldn't help being turned on instead of jealous.
"Are you sure?" Emma asked.
"I think," said Khoraja drily, "that as long as your lovers are hot things that Nightwolf wants to fuck himself, he's gonna be just fine."
Yeah, that was pretty much it.
"Oh. I'd never do that with another man," Emma said. "Not unless Nightwolf told me to."
"Good," Nigel said. More words seemed to be likely to mean more trouble in this situation, especially as Emma understood exactly what he wanted. In his ideal version of himself, if he could have multiple lovers, then Emma could too, of any gender. The real version of himself didn't want another man touching her. Maybe h
e should work on that, but becoming kick-ass with a sword, and protecting his women better than he'd been able to against the three Garrogs seemed more urgent.
Everyone finished getting dressed and went downstairs to enjoy a scrumptious meal. Vorm had half finished when they got there. Two boys they hadn't met in the evening sat at the long wooden table. One looked about Frida's age, and the other was probably a little older than Alys. They, too, had dove in.
"Got a long day in the fields ahead," Vorm said. "Harvest time for the sting berries. Hate those thorns, but by Tammuz those berries are good, and sell for a pretty penny too."
"I'll wrap you in bandages at lunchtime," said Gerta.
"And maybe I can heal you in the evening, if we are back by then," Emma offered.
"Bel can help, too," said Nigel, wanting to give the ranger practice. "Assuming we're back. But we aren't likely to hunt in the dark, so we should be."
"Well, that's all something to look forward to," said Vorm. "Hear that? Work hard, boys, and these lovely ladies will help patch us up."
Greta glared at him.
Vorm ignored it. "The wyrmkin mostly stay to the valley, just over those hills. Sometimes one comes wandering out. At night, more than one. Me and the boys can handle one. More than that, well, I was a warrior long ago, but--"
"Actually, he was a quartermaster," said Greta. "Never actually fought anything."
Now it was Vorm's chance to glare, before he continued. "Anyway, the more wyrmkin there are, the more they come looking for food. They aren't real bright. Dumber than orcs. But smarter than a bear."
Nigel nodded.
They set out after breakfast, Nigel in the lead because he was the meat shield. Out in the open, it was awfully easy for mobs to run around him. He hated to rely on his ability to taunt them, because in Earth terms it made little sense. Here, it seemed to work. He hadn't thought to use it with the demons, and he wondered if their fear effect left him unwilling to take them all on. Khoraja had paid for that. He couldn't afford another slip-up.
Khoraja was right behind him, and Emma behind her. Bel took up the rear. She was the best equipped to handle a surprise attack. If everything went according to plan, she was the healer. The trip to the valley wasn't a bad walk. The hills weren't particularly high, the slopes were gradual, and trees and bushes were sparse. It wasn't hard to find a path walking on grass no more than a foot high. They soon had a good look at the valley from cover.
Nigel hadn't known what to expect, but it wasn't what he saw. The wyrmkin walked upright on two legs, like men with lizard heads and bluish-green scales all over. Most of them were armed with spears. Other creatures in wandered amongst them, far enough away Nigel was slow to figure out what they were. Cows, pigs, and chickens. The cows ranged free; the wyrmkin kept the others in fenced-in areas. The wyrmkin were ranchers. Vorm might have been right about wyrmkin being dumber than orcs, but they were as organized as the Broadnoses.
He didn't see any sign of vegetables or grains being grown. The animals fed off the grass, presumably. And the wyrmkin fed off the animals. They were carnivores, which he supposed wasn't too surprising. If they ran out of food, they'd come looking for more, and humans might be as tasty as livestock.
"So what's the plan?" asked Bel. "Kill as many as we can and then run away?" There were probably a good fifty of them wandering around, although they weren't all in one group.
Nigel shook his head. "Let's try to sneak up on them. There's a little ridge there, and we can get close to a few." And maybe increase our stealth skill. "Then we can try to have Khoraja and Emma pick them off with spells. Bel, use your arrows if one notices who we don't want, or if the spells don't kill one right away. If a bunch get close, Khoraja will cover my left side with the Cone of Cold, and Emma will cover the right with her Divine Blast. Once we're engaged, we're relying on you to heal."
They made it to the ridge. Nigel checked. Sure enough, he and Emma had an increase in stealth from 1 to 2, although Khoraja was still stuck at 1. Guess that's the trade-off for living hundreds of years. Conveniently, a single wyrmkin wandered by. Closer, they could see that the wyrmkin wore a loincloth, and that a stone head tipped his eight-foot spear. Primitive, but that didn't mean stupid. Its focus was on the cattle, and it appeared to be wandering around the edge of what they wyrmkin probably perceived as their land, counting cows and watching to make sure nothing was going wrong.
Something was about to go wrong. "Do it," Nigel whispered.
Khoraja and Emma stood up and cast. The wyrmkin noticed the noise and turned, but it barely had time to raise its spear before a blast of freezing water hit it. A half-second later it was enveloped in white light. It wasn't enough to kill it, but it moved in a dazed fashion, apparently undecided between charging the enemy and running for help.
Bel had stood too, an arrow notched. But rather than firing, she looked around. Khoraja was casting again, joined by Emma. One more frost bolt and more holy smiting and the wyrmkin went down. The third bolt Khoraja cast was unnecessary, but she'd already been in mid-cast.
Khoraja's bolt of freezing water was faster than Emma's spell, Nigel noted. The girls hunkered down again.
"That went smoothly," Nigel said. "We'll wait for the next guy to wander by."
"This is a rather dull way to fight," Bel said.
"Maybe so. Why didn't you shoot?"
"I didn't need to. The more practice Emma and Khoraja get the better."
"And you with your heals."
"Well, someone will have to get injured, aren't they?"
He couldn't disagree with her logic, but he wasn't going to create the opportunity either. "Okay, next time, Khoraja, start casting a split second after Emma, so that the spells land at the same time."
"If we have to run, I'll cover the rest of you. I can move fast when I need to, so I should do the rearguard fighting," Bel said.
"Running isn't our first resort." Nigel wanted to be clear, but regretted it the moment he saw Bel's face.
"I know that," Bel turned and stared stonily out over the ridge.
A few minutes later, she turned to Nigel. "Why don't you take my bow, and learn how to use it, since we're all learning things."
He wasn't sure what to make of Bel's delivery, but it was a good idea, as long as things didn't go south and they needed Bel to have her weapon.
It took a good half hour, but eventually another wyrmkin came wandering by. This one was less intent on watching the cattle. Perhaps he wondered why the other one hadn't shown up somewhere on time. He saw the body and ran over to it, making him a sitting duck. Or at least a sitting lizard. Cold and divine magic slammed into it. Nigel's arrow, unsurprisingly, missed high. He nocked another, and shot again as Khoraja and Emma cast their spells. The wyrmkin fell, no thanks to Nigel.
"The second shot was better," Bel said. "But you're holding it wrong. Make an L with your fingers and then hold the bow in the notch between your thumb and the rest of your hand. You shouldn't have to squeeze it. The tension when you draw should hold it there."
Nigel practiced. "Like this?"
"Yeah. Like that."
He was glad that Bel had the opportunity to demonstrate her skill. He knew she was sensitive about running. He'd made mistakes in that fight because of the fear too, and he knew it wasn't her fault. The better her self-confidence, the less likely she was to run again.
"Here comes another one," said Bel. Sure enough, one was approaching. The wyrmkin spotted the two bodies, and looked up while at the edge of Khoraja and Emma's range. The magic of Nigel's lovers hit him, but then he ran and yelled. Nigel drew the bow and fired, just missing. Khoraja and Emma didn't even try.
"Uh-oh," said Nigel.
"Give me that," Bel said, taking the bow from him. She notched an arrow, but then paused.
The one who fled was getting others, and there were a bunch not far away. A dozen wyrmkin, all armed with spears, were charging their position.
"Thin them down with a fireball," Nigel yell
ed. "But then go back to the plan."
Khoraja stood at his right side and chanted. Bel, at his left, fired an arrow into the midst, catching one in the face. Emma spoke a spell from behind him. It wasn't quite what they'd planned, but it would do. The fireball, somewhat to Nigel's surprise, didn't kill any. Maybe they were resistant to fire, which made sense if dragons breathed the stuff on this world. There was much he needed to learn.
But not right now. A horde of lizard men were coming at him. Bel got off another quick shot and stepped back. A cone of white frost extended from Khoraja and caught several. Nigel yelled an incoherent battle shout, and all the creatures came at him, jostling into each other in their eagerness to kill what they perceived as the main threat despite all evidence.
He held his shield high and stepped forward, swinging his sword. One wyrmkin went crunch. A spear poked into his shin, and another slammed into his shield. Shields were great for stopping sharp things, but they didn't make the impact disappear, and his left arm shook with the force. The wyrmkin were strong.
Gathered together like that, the wyrmkin were in a perfect formation for Khoraja's Cone of Cold, which swept through them. Nigel could feel the temperature drop suddenly even though he was only on the edge of the spell. Emma cast a Divine Blast, and one went down. He felt a heal from Bel, which was enough to hold his leg together, although it still hurt. All was going according to plan.
What wasn't according to plan was that the creatures realized that Nigel wasn't the biggest threat, and more than half of them turned to Khoraja. Nigel charged forward, yelling and swinging, but his taunt didn't work this time. His charge was better. With his enemies weakened by fire and frost, Nigel cut down two in rapid succession.
Khoraja got hit by two spears, one in her shoulder, and one in her stomach. She fell.
Fuck. Not again.
Khoraja glowed white. Emma must have already been casting her spell as Khoraja was hit, and had abandoned plan A to do what she did best. The wyrmkin spread out and charged the adventurers still standing. He turned, trying to stop them from getting to Bel and Emma.
Ascendant of Aldrya Page 19
