The Heart of the Falcon: The Guardian Maidens Book 3

by Marilyn Foxworthy

  She grinned and said, “I did it. I had great sex, I had one of my mates lick me after it so that I would be nice for my lover the next time he wanted me. I got my ass pounded and I loved it. I sucked his cock and it tasted great, and I did my duty so that my girls can get fucked again as soon as he wants it from us. I did it all. Wait, Harmony, did I do it all? Did I do it right?”

  Harmony sat leaning on her elbows and said, “You did great. You didn’t do it all, because I don’t even know what all of it is, but you did enough, and I’m pleased with it. Did you like it?”

  Shaheen said, “I loved it. I never did any of that before. And Ronin is so wonderfully huge! And how many times did he please us? Over and over? I never did that before. I feel like I have so much to tell all of you. And it isn’t all nice and happy. Some is horrible, but I’m so happy that I can’t feel bad about it anymore. Oh, I’m so in love.”

  Harmony said, “But Shaheen, are you OK with all of it? And what I made you do? Tell me about it. If you want to.”

  Shaheen said, “Harmony, it was scary. But it was thrilling. Will you explain it to me a little bit? You know?”

  Harmony said, “About me licking you, and you licking me, you mean? Because we could just use towels? You wanted to be one with us. That means no shame or embarrassment, unless we truly do something wrong. And it means being really intimate. It means that we often make love together, or near each other, like you and I did with Ronin just now. It means that we never know when we might find another of us with Ronin, enjoying lovemaking. So, you need to be absolutely comfortable with that. And with your body and ours. And the taste and feel of our juices is really nice, and you needed to know that. You were alone for a long time, and you were moving toward freedom, but you were on a long road. I wanted to shorten the road for you. I needed to. We are moving quickly, and you need to be able to keep up. You were out of shape and we were running way ahead of you. So, I showed you that you can and will be touched very intimately, and that it is always meant for love, not humiliation, even though I did humiliate you a little bit. But I knew, and you knew, that you wanted to step into true love in a truly loved position in our new family. The Fifth Element can’t stand apart from the others. And I had to show you something. It’s important to understand. Here’s what you had to experience for yourself: licking and sucking Ronin’s wonderful penis is different than licking my pussy. I don’t mind cleaning him off of you, or you off of him, but it’s different, isn’t it?”

  Harmony waited for Shaheen to answer. She said, “It is. Harmony, as I made love to him with my mouth, I was excited in so many ways. And it thrilled me, and I can’t explain it, except to say that it was arousing to the point where I had an orgasm from it. You had already licked me several times, and it wasn’t even weird anymore, but it doesn’t thrill or arouse me. And when I licked you, I did get a little thrill, but it was the taste of him, and knowing that he had been touching you and inside you just a minute earlier, and I felt like I was close to him again.”

  Harmony said, “That’s what I wanted you to feel for yourself. We can be naked, and intimate, and make love with him all together, and if we touch, kiss, or fondle, or lick while we are, it’s part of our love with him. I have no desire to do any of that if I sleep with you in the same bed. But some nice hugging against those marvelous breasts of yours would be great.”

  Shaheen smiled and said, “Harmony, I have never slept with anyone. Not even a man. But I look forward to it.”

  I said, “Shaheen, you and your man never slept together? And what about a few night ago? Didn’t you sleep with one of the girls?”

  She said, “Not with my partner. Not really. If we were underground or in the wilderness, we had our own bedrolls. If we were at an inn, we had separate beds. I have told you that we did have intercourse at times, but we didn’t share a bed. And two nights ago, I slept in the room, but on a sofa.”

  I said, “Well, let’s go find the other girls and we’ll see if you still want to tell us the story.”

  Chapter 20 - The Raven's Tale

  A short time later, we were all together at the pools again, and Shaheen was telling her story.

  She said, “I was raised in a mountain village several hundred miles south east of here. About 80 percent of the people were from Elven ancestry. My clan were swordsmen for the most part. Not everyone was an Adventurer Monk, but all of us were trained in the arts, even if we never intended to take up the life. I felt that it was for me from the beginning. But I stayed home until I was 30. My mother hoped that I would find a boy and stay near the village, as an armor maker perhaps, but I never felt that call. A few of the young men expressed interest in me, but we never found the connection. Either we are drawn to each other, or we are not. I don’t know how people without some sense of that get by at all. To meet and not know very quickly if you are meant for each other seems a terrible way to go about choosing a mate. Not all of the men were as clear about our lack of connection as I was, and a few became very frustrated that I felt nothing for them.

  When I was 35, there was a very persistent suitor, a relative of my mother, but he turned my stomach. It was time for me to leave anyway, and one night, after saying goodbye to my family, I went to the inn and found a party of adventurers leaving in the morning. At daybreak, I went with them. There were seven of us. Three women and four men. They knew the reputation of my father and grandfather and agreed to let me come based on that, even though I had no real experience. I learned quickly that no one had an expectation of me living very long, given my lack of skills.

  But I surprised them. In fact, I outlived all of them. Many times. Compared to Ronin, we were reckless in the extreme. We took weapons, food, and risks. We went as far as we could, and when it seemed that we had been weakened to the point where we might not be able to return, we headed back. But because we killed on the way down, we needed fewer of us to get back. Seven might go down, but it was easy enough for two to make it out. The main concern was often how much loot we could carry. If we had been successful, and had all we could take, we headed back. If we hadn’t found anything to make it worth our while, we kept going. And more than once, if one was injured or weak, if their share of the loot could be divided and carried, the rest would leave them where they sat.

  The first expedition, we started with seven, and five returned. And we went to an inn to sell what we had found and to find more fools to join us if we could. We had no loyalty, and friendships lasted as long as they were convenient. We helped others when we needed to. If we couldn’t make it back alone, we saved our companions so that they could live long enough to get us out. And that continued for about 60 years. From when I was 35 or so, until I gave it up at 95 or more.

  After I had been doing this for many years, I think that I was about 40 by then, on one Adventure, we were underground for several weeks, having started with a party of 14. But things went badly from the beginning. The first to die fell in a pit the second day. Two were killed by a large group of Kobolds before we won the battle with them. After ten days, there were just nine of us. But nine was plenty. We had gone farther with fewer many times. And we hadn’t found much treasure, and only two even suggested turning back. The next time we woke up from our camp, those two were gone. Day after day, we battled Kobold bands. Often outnumbered four to one, but often finding just two or three alone, killing them, and moving on. About three or four weeks in, when there were seven of us remaining, we climbed down a cliff face, and still 30 feet from safety, the rocks gave way, and we slid, bruised and broken to the floor. The cavern we had fallen into was the lair of a giant lizard. And it was awake and aware of us. We fought the best we could, but we were doomed by our wounds from the fall. After five more of the party had been devoured, the reptile was full, but still mean, and my last companion and I barely made it into a small crevice where the thing couldn’t reach us. Thankfully, it didn’t try too hard.

  We had no way out, little food, and almost no hope. The lizard had
destroyed our provisions and there was no path available to us for escape. My last companion was a man, a healer, and he needed me if he was to have any chance of survival. He bandaged my wounds and a broken elbow and cared for me until I could move about again. I know that if he had been able to, he would have left me for dead. But he needed me. After some time, as our food was nearly gone, we made our way carefully from one hiding place to another, avoiding the lizard as best we could. We found a way up and climbed bit by bit, whenever the creature slept.

  One day, when it was still doubtful that we would ever see daylight again, we mated. He was part Elf, and the ordeal had bonded us emotionally, and we agreed to be mates. Now I know that neither of us felt truly good about it, but it was the best decision under the circumstances. Party members, in our experience, had no loyalty unless it served themselves, but mates at least made a declaration of mutual care and protection. It took us another two weeks of hellish scrabbling, but we did make it out alive. And from that point on, we stayed together. More than once, we were the only two to make it out over the years. When faced with a choice, as long as it didn’t sacrifice our own life, we did rescue each other or provide for each other. It wasn’t a great life, but it was better than some. The thing was that I didn’t know what life was anymore.

  I had left my village to escape an unwelcome suitor and to find adventure. And after all those years, I had forgotten what it was like to have friends, a comfortable bed, and food every day from a good market. I counted it a good day when we found a bit of gold, and when neither my partner nor I were injured. A bad day was when only he and I were alive at the end and had nothing to show for it. Another 50 years of that made us both highly skilled Adventurers, and each year, our abilities increased.

  He and I were together for 54 years, and when I was 95, we were underground with three others. One day, as we made our way through twisting tunnels, we became lost. I was in the lead, and a stupid misstep twisted my ankle to the point where I couldn’t walk on my own. Instead of being slowed down by me, the others took the torches and told me that they would scout ahead and then return to help me up when they had found the way. My partner knelt with me and said that it wouldn’t be long and that he would take my share of the loot and carry it to a safer place for me and return for me as soon as possible. I knew at the time that he was lying. I made sure that I kept my weapons, a few torches, and some food, and told him that I would wait where I was. The four of them headed off down a tunnel in the direction that we had been going.

  I put out my torch, since I couldn’t walk anyway, and cursed myself and cried. Starving to death in the darkness didn’t appeal to me at all, and after a little while, after the light and sound of the others was long gone, I re-lit my torch and crawled back the way that we had come. Mapping and tracking were part of my expertise, and by being more careful than I had ever been, I picked out the trail that we had followed. At points where the tracks crossed, I determined which were on top of the others and unwound our path until, possibly three days later, I came back to a more familiar spot and was able to return to the surface. Along the way, I kept watch for signs that my former companions had made it this far, but I didn’t find any. And none at the surface either. From the look of it, I was either the first, or the only one to make it out this time.

  I made my way to a stream where I found berries and a rabbit to eat. I made a small camp and after a night of sleep, and a bath in the cold water, I sat on a rock and considered my next move. I had a few options, but the most attractive was that I would change my life, become a hermit, wander from place to place with no friends, and die when I was more tired of living than I was that day. I had my elven cloak, and invisibility was the easiest thing for me going forward. I stripped and bathed again. Then I took my knife and cut a cloth belt from my clothing and tied it around my waist. I took the few coins that I had in a small pouch, and my weapons, my book, and nothing else. No clothing at all. I was invisible from that moment forward. I would live in my cloak and no man or woman would see my body or my face ever again. And for 216 years, until a few days ago, no one did.

  I wandered from place to place. For a while, I lived as an assassin. No, more as a vigilante. I would see a thief or other criminal, and I would beat or kill them and take what coins they had an move on. I felt no remorse. People like me, not good people like farmers and craftsmen, deserved no mercy. The ones I stole from had stolen from others, and we were all alike. At times I lived in the woods, or in the mountains. At times, like Ronin did when he rescued Dawn, I would come upon a band of kidnappers, or others taking advantage of someone and I made sure that only the ones who seemed innocent woke up in the morning, with their bonds cut, and sometimes a little food. But I never revealed myself or helped them further.

  After 100 years or so, as I passed through Sturgil’s mark, I felt a strange pull that kept me from going on to the next village as I had intended. The thing was, I had nowhere to go, so it didn’t matter to me if I stayed. I didn’t care at all. After a few hours in the village, I ducked into an alley and quickly turned my cloak inside out, so that it appeared gray, and I walked into the market. I stopped for a piece of fruit, but the woman who sold it refused to take my money. She said that widows and grandmothers were to be treated with more respect than they sometimes were, and that her fruit would be free for me whenever I came to her. It was Gerald’s great aunt. The family has always been more kind than anyone else.

  So, I stayed. I slept by the river, or even here in the orchards. Often, I picked some of the fruit at night and left it for the woman before dawn. One day, I moved into a vacant house. No one noticed at first, and later, when they did, they were surprised that the house was occupied, but treated it as a mistake in the records and let me stay. Over time, it became known that I lived there and that I was old and a mysterious resident of the village that had always been here and was treated with respect because of my age.

  I knew Lucille and Jean, and then Val and Harmony as children, and after that Jack, Tanya, and April, and because I knew you to be elves, I watched over you, as I could.”

  Shaheen went silent at that point, her story concluded. There were a few discrepancies in her story, mostly about how many years this or that had taken, but I knew that she was telling the truth as best she remembered it. She had seemed bright and mostly happy throughout the sad tale. We all noticed the incongruity, but Val was the first to mention it.

  Shaheen said, “I’m just happy now. Those things were a very long time ago. And now when you or Ronin promises something, I know that it’s the truth. I know that we mean it when we pledge to love each other and protect each other and to care for each other. And I know now how we will stay alive, because Ronin has taught you, and is teaching me, to work as one. If we are one, then none are expendable. And none are only here for themselves. And none can be left behind. Because we are all one. In a way, we are like the mold that attacked us. We are a colony, but one being. We move as one. We fight as one. And now, with Harmony’s help, I have learned that we love and make love as one. We sleep in one bed. We eat one meal. We train as one warrior. Five Elements, but one whole. I’m happy.”

  I put my arm around her and said, “Shaheen, I love you. I will never lose you.”

  She snuggled into my side and said, “I know. And I will never lose any of you. It’s wonderful. Ronin, you say that you like the name Shaheen. But now that you know me, do you want to change it?”

  I said, “Do you want me to?”

  She said, “Well, it’s not about if I want it or not. I’m not opposed to it. But what do you think? Is there a reason to? Is it something that you want? For any reason? I feel like I have to be in your hands now. I feel like you have to give me a name.”

  I said, “How do you feel about me giving you the name Shaheen? I like that name.” A thought suddenly hit me, and I said, “Oh, no, I do want to give you a new name, if you want it.”

  She smiled and said, “Master, I am who you say I am
. You have rescued me from death, and like Dawn, I am who you say I am.”

  Harmony said, “But you are Shaheen. The Falcon. Ronin, don’t change it.”

  Dawn said, “Wow. I feel mixed about this. My name is Dawn because he called me that and I can’t be anything else. But Shaheen is so beautiful. Ronin, isn’t she Shaheen?”

  Shaheen said, “Girls, I’m naked.”

  Harmony said, “I know. And you are even more beautiful now, but Falcon…”

  Val said, “Speaking of being beautiful, Shaheen, did something happen to your breasts? They look even more stunning than before.”

  Shaheen looked down at her chest and said, “Do they? Oh, they do seem different. Wow, I like them. Ronin, did you do something to me? Like you did to Brenda?”

  I said, “Well, you said that you wanted your breasts to be special, and you said that you always felt that they weren’t really pretty, but I thought that they were, but when we were making love, and you wanted me to touch you and pay attention to your breasts, and I love them by the way, and you said that you wanted them to be…I don’t know what exactly, but well, there was a dormancy there, and so I touched it and let it out, and so far, doing that has only done good things, so I just did it.”

  Shaheen stared down at her breasts and said, “They do look a little different, don’t they? I can’t quite put my finger on it.”