by Noah Layton
‘Oh wow…’ She moaned. ‘You came so much…’
‘Don’t take it all for yourself,’ Lara smiled. ‘Let me have some…’
Lara practically pulled me from Santana’s satisfied pussy and lifted my dick to her mouth. She wrapped her lips around the head of my cock and licked my seed from me, cleaning me off completely with pleasured, quiet moans.
‘It feels so good inside of me,’ Santana said from the bed. ‘I think I will lie here a while and enjoy it…’
Santana stretched out on the bed while Lara crawled over to the soft rug by its side. I crossed to the bath and dropped into the water. It might have been from the previous night, but it was cool and I was dripping with sweat.
It was a little cool after having been sat here for a few hours, but considering that I was covered in sweat after our session of fucking I was more than grateful for it.
I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, relaxing for a moment. A few minutes of silence were golden, until the leaves in the branches overhead rustled slightly.
‘What was that?’ I said, tilting my head and looking up into the reaches of the tree.
‘Probably just a bird,’ Santana said with an exhausted sigh. ‘Maybe we should put up some deterrents to keep them away. There are plenty of herbs in the forest that animals cannot stand the smell of.’
‘Gods bless that canopy,’ Lara commented from the rug. ‘Can you imagine what this place would look like without protection from bird shi-’
There was another sharp, short rustling. All three of us sat up and scanned the mass of greenery that crowded the many branches of the huge tree.
‘What the hell is that?’ Santana asked, grabbing the bedsheet and wrapping it over her. ‘I just saw something move.’
I climbed out of the bath and crossed to the bed, snatching up my sword and raising it to my side.
‘You sure you saw something?’
‘Definitely. And it was bigger than a bird. Right up there, on that side.’
I scanned the spot in question, but could see nothing.
‘Be careful with that thing,’ Lara said. ‘Not ideal to go swinging a blade while your other weapon is hanging exposed between your legs.’
‘You don’t need to tell me twice,’ I replied, remembering my nakedness. ‘You really think there’s something up there?’
‘I’m telling you, husband, I saw it.’
‘Fuck it, I’m going to check this out. Keep your weapons at the ready, just make sure whatever you shoot at is this thing, whatever it is, and not me.’
Lara and Santana weren’t just experts at pleasuring my every desire; they were my ranged fighters, and they were both pretty damn good at what they did.
Lara’s accuracy with her trusty bow and obsidian arrows was second to none after years of hunting animals and bounties in the wilds of Agraria, and the power of Santana’s crossbow was a force to be reckoned with at medium ranges.
A month ago, a single bolt had caved in the head of a wolf and nailed it to the floorboards of their home a few miles away, saving my life in the process.
I got dressed in my boots, pants and an undershirt, and headed out to the front steps with my sword in hand.
Realising that the shrubbery overhead was too thick to swing my sword, I swapped it out for my dagger and propped the unsharpened side of the blade between my teeth.
I took a run up and mounted one foot against the trunk, then leaped into the air and grabbed hold of the lowest hanging branch.
I wrenched myself up and clambered into the greenery, finding myself in a maze of leaves that were so thick I struggled just to move through them, never mind finding a spot to climb through.
I moved as silently as I could, reaching a decent vantage point where I could view several slim channels of space.
In the treehouse below a floorboard creaked. Santana and Lara were at the ready. Below I could see the thick canopy that protected our home from the elements.
A shuffling sounded just a few yards ahead and down perhaps a foot. I paused, waiting.
After counting down in my head, I darted forwards. The skin on my arms and face caught against jutting twigs as I clambered ahead.
The shape of the intruder came into view. Alorion was the most adept climber amongst our tribe, and this thing was too big to be him. It was adult in size and waiting for an opportune moment.
But I already had mine.
I threw myself forwards, dagger in hand, and slammed straight into the figure.
My free hand clasped around tough garments that wrapped the figure up, while my right hand drew back, at the ready to stab into the assailant.
The intruder yelped out, striking out at me with what felt like a cluster of pins that sliced through my overshirt.
‘Motherfucker!’
I didn’t care about the identity of the figure; I swung around and slice the dagger into flesh.
A high shriek sounded out, so loud that I almost clasped my hands over my ears.
The figure and I grappled, and suddenly the two of us fell down through the reaches of the tree.
‘Jack?!’
Santana called out to me as I smashed hard into a branch. An explosion of pain burst through my shoulder, and the intruder and I rolled down sharply to a second branch.
Suddenly the leaves thinned sharply, and I finally caught sight of the features of the intruder.
It was only one feature, but it was enough to confirm the identity of her.
Furred ears perched atop her head.
They didn’t belong to Ariadne.
Crunch.
We smashed straight through the canopy and dragged it down with us into the main area of the treehouse.
With a hard boom, we hit the floorboards. I rolled away despite the rapidly forming bruises on my shoulders, and laid eyes on Talia.
She was ready to jump at me.
‘Don’t even think about it, stowaway.’
I looked over to see Lara stood in her underwear, her bow in her hand and an arrow drawn against the string, ready to be fired at a second’s notice.
Santana was stood on the bed with the bedsheet wrapped around her body like a towel. Her eyes were focused on Talia’s body, her crossbow suspended in her firm grip and a bolt at the ready within it.
Talia glanced between them, then shrunk back against the wall in defeat.
‘What the fuck are you doing here?’ I asked angrily, clutching my dagger at the ready. ‘No forget that, how the hell did you even get onto the land, never mind into my home?’
‘I am assuming that this is the woman you met at the cove?’ Santana said without drawing her gaze away.
‘Fuck this,’ Lara said, her eyes focused on her line of fire. ‘Let’s finish her off. This whole story about running from mercenaries is nothing but an elaborate cover. She could be here to slaughter us on behalf of another tribe. A paid assassin.’
‘No…’ Talia groaned. ‘I just… I didn’t know where else to go, so I came back to the ship and hid aboard that boat on the back.’
‘How the hell did you do that without us seeing you?’
‘I am light on my feet, if making my way into your home right above where you sleep didn’t make that obvious.’
Talia suddenly coughed violently. She drew her hand to her mouth, and a little blood spilled from it.
She looked at it then glanced up to me, looking as confused as I did. Then she raised her arm to see the cut that I had made with the dagger.
It hadn’t just pierced the skin on her arm; it had slice two inches into her torso, between her ribs.
‘Oh, shit…’
‘What are we doing with her, husband?’ Santana asked. ‘We need to think quickly.’
Lara may have been wary, but she looked to me for guidance too.
‘Go grab a potion of healing,’ I replied promptly, ‘and some bandages. Santana, go and get Cass and her brothers.’
‘Why?’
‘Because Jeremiah is
the only person who can stitch her up right now and I need them with me if we’re heading that way.’
The girls pulled on some clothes and rushed to complete their jobs while I readied the horses and a cart. Within a few minutes we were good to go.
Ariadne and Elera were still bathing at the cave, so I tasked Lara with keeping an eye on the land while myself, Cass and her brothers, Santana, and Alorion, all took off for the homestead.
We had a passenger, though. Once we were readied and supplied, I carried Talia from the treehouse and laid her down in the back of the cart.
I explained her identity on the way to the homestead, and the plan for our day.
I was intending to head to the new land today anyway with Cass and the twins, but with Talia’s injury getting worse by the minute it now meant we would have to move all the more faster.
Here I was trying to save her life, even if she had still crossed the borders into my home without permission.
If she had had a weapon in her hand after landing in my treehouse, I would have had no hesitations about cutting her throat – besides her sharpened nails, that is.
Still, there was no sense in heading to the homestead without going about my intended business for the day.
The completed perimeter fence came into view after a few hour’s journey. Talia remained quiet for the duration of our journey. Her injuries were not life threatening, but with an uncleaned blade and in a world like this it could become infected fast.
I sent Alorion ahead to hop the fence and bring Jeremiah to help, and by the time we reached the main gate it was creaking open.
Jeremiah appeared with a confused expression, but his face lit up the moment he laid eyes on Santana.
‘My dear, what a pleasant surprise,’ he grinned as they embraced. ‘What is the occasion?’
‘Your medical skills are needed,’ I cut in, nodding to the cart.
Jeremiah hurried over and looked down at Talia, who eyed him suspiciously. The moment he moved his hands close to her to check her wound, her eyes narrowed and she shrank away aggressively.
I swiftly drew my knife and pointed the blade at her.
‘Options, cat-ears,’ I said sharply. ‘You can either let this man check out your wound and fix it up for you, or I can throw you into the bush and let you bleed to death. Your call.’
She glared at me angrily before allowing Jeremiah to take a look.
‘Not as bad as it looks,’ he commented. ‘Bring her in and I’ll get it fixed up.’
Our group convened at the homestead building, passing the various livestock that grazed in the field, and met up with Lola in the yard out front of their house amidst the sounds of piglets snorting and chickens clucking in the back yard.
I carried Talia into the house and set her down on the bed in the spare room upstairs. I headed outside to meet with Jeremiah, Lola and Santana.
‘What’s the plan?’ Lola asked.
‘I need to head out to our new land north of here with Cass and her brothers to complete some work. Do you think you can keep Talia here for the night in case I don’t make it back?’
‘Of course. I will give her some milk and slip something in to put her to sleep while I stitch her up. You can return in the morning.’
‘I think I shall stay here for the night,’ Santana said to me. ‘I’ve been away from the homestead for far too long.’
‘I was going to suggest the same thing,’ I replied. ‘We’ll be spending the day in the mine at the new land, so your efforts will be better put to use here. Oh, and do me a favour,’ I said, looking between Jeremiah and Lola. ‘Do either of you have any spare weapons available?’
‘We have our blades,’ Lola said. ‘Old, but they do the job. A few farm tools, too, if you’re desperate.’
‘They’re not for me,’ I replied. ‘They’re for you. If she tries anything, and I mean anything, that suggests she poses a threat, drive whatever sharp thing is closest to you through her skull. She might be pretty, but her attitude isn’t. She’s hiding something.’
‘What’s that?’ Santana asked.
‘I have no idea. She’s desperate to escape mercenaries and slavers, sure, but I refuse to believe that she’s so rare that one jerk-off tribe master in the north is willing to task a crew of twenty mercs to hunt her down. It doesn’t add up.’
‘So what are you going to do?’
‘Find out who she really is… Somehow. But in the meantime keep her locked up, literally. Bind her hands to the bed and do it tightly. She’s quiet and she’s nimble.’
I bid the three of them goodbye and returned outside to meet Alorion, Cass, Aden and Oden.
‘So,’ Cass asked, brushing a hand through her pixie haircut and patting Arabelle. ‘What’s now, Jack?’
‘We’re going to track a faster route through to the new land north of here. If we can find a decent route through we could halve the time it takes to get there.’
‘And once we’re there?’
‘We investigate the mine while Alorion revitalises his love life.’
‘Oh please,’ Alorion scoffed, ‘are we still-… No, no, I am not rising to the challenge. Let’s just get moving.’
Chapter Six
The new land had been left exactly as we had found it, except for one big change – the same that had occurred at my primary land.
We established our temporary base of operations around the central tree, leaving Arabelle to feast on some hay while we crowded around the Ironmonger Totem.
Furnace building – 750GP
I clicked purchase and unlocked the building. The Furnace Building exploded up from the rumbling ground right before the totem.
‘I’m keeping the layout the same back at our land,’ I said to my group, ‘but out here there’s less to defend, and we can afford to make things a little bit more practical.’
I opened the options on the Furnace Totem and selected the Furnace Building, then tapped move.
The building lit up with a familiar luminescent blue glow. I took a step forward, and the entire building moved with me.
‘This is where the advantage of tribal lands truly comes into their own,’ Alorion remarked.
I nodded in agreement and crossed to the entrance of the mine while the others grabbed their mining equipment. By the entrance I set the Furnace Building down into its new place, and a huge cloud of powdered earth burst into the air.
‘We establish the mine here, and the barracks in the main section over there. We can use our main land for crops and this for the more industrial aspects of our operation.’
‘You are content with harming the land?’
‘We’re not moving beyond the borders in this area aside from cutting down trees, but I’m not going to risk my people’s lives just to revitalise this place. And speaking of revitalising, why don’t you go hang out with Nyah?’
‘I intend to. I will do my best to perform my routine. I have been practicing, if you didn’t know. Would you like to see?’
‘Save your energy for the real thing.’
‘I shall… I can do this.’
Alorion stood up straight, squared his shoulders and set his face firm.
‘Go get ‘em, tiger.’
Alorion set off across to the tree, passing Cass and her brothers on the way over, who had their pickaxes slung over their shoulders alongside lengths of rope.
‘You guys sure do look like professionals,’ I said.
‘We are professionals,’ Cass replied confidently. ‘I’m guessing that’s why you brought us here.’
‘Yeah, but this time you get to see the spoils of your work go to good use in making our tribe richer and living a better life.’
‘That’s all I ask,’ Cass smiled. ‘My brothers tell me this place has potential.’
‘I hope so.’
Cass and her brothers got to work creating a pulley system that we could use to make our way out in the event that the ladder collapsed. The wooden beams had been the method that
I, Aden and Oden had utilised to originally get down there, but they were becoming more and more precarious, and we couldn’t afford to get trapped.
With the escape system set in place, Aden threw the rope down into the mineshaft, and we descended the ladder set into the wall together, collectively hoping that it would hold together.
In the oppressive darkness at the bottom we all lit up a torch each to push back the mystery of our surroundings.
We made our way ahead until the mine opened up to the zone that I had previously become familiar with.
‘This is where we mined the bluestone,’ I said, holding up the torch as my voice echoed along the rocky walls. ‘But we were working to such a tight deadline that we neglected to go after anything else.’
‘That’s good for us,’ Cass said, her brothers standing either side of her much shorter figure, making them look even more gigantic by comparison. ‘So let’s get started.’
The main section of the mine was a huge chamber with escalating ridges jutting out randomly from the walls. Some were easier to climb while others risked the climber breaking their neck and everything else, but where was the fun in things being easy?
The larger chamber gave onto a variety of smaller sub-chambers that became narrower the further you progressed along them, until they gave out completely. A claustrophobe’s nightmare, basically.
It was a good thing we were all content with confined spaces.
We lit more torches and positioned them around the huge chamber to give a sense of space and to make the place seem a little less like a gigantic coffin.
The air was hot and every sound made seemed to bounce around endlessly, but the more torches we lit the more glittering spots ignited within the walls.
We all shared a smile, even the usually stoic twins, at the possibilities that laid before us.
From there, we set upon the treasures lying in wait.
I took the furthest wall on the northern side of the cavern. With my sword swapped out for my pickaxe, I turned to the first pocket of copper ore and began striking.
The percentages racked up quickly, and so did the filled space in my inventory. Ores could be stacked, but their varieties were diverse; copper, iron, bronze even, the occasional patch of silver and gold.
