by Luke, Monica
“Ovfren,” Ogorec said, as he gathered wood, “First tasks first.”
“True, first tasks first,” Ovfren teased; then splashed water out onto the ground towards him, “Now get into the water with me.”
Ogorec looked over at Ovfren as he stood waist high in the water, and dropped the wood.
“How can I refuse?” He yielded and began to undress.
With haste, his clothes dropped to the ground; then as he stood, Ovfren looked at him and teasing aside, seriousness overcame him at the sight of Ogorec’s muscled chest and the dark hair that graced it.
“Hurry Ogorec,” were his lustful words, “Come to me.”
The water cold, Ogorec eased into it, as Ovfren meet him halfway.
“Make it stand for me,” he whispered.
“It has begun to, but I confess,” Ogorec said, and shivered, “The cold water is not helping it.”
“Your words to me before,” Ovfren said, “I felt my stomach drop when you said you would end us. Would you have?”
“Ovfren,” Ogorec said, and moved closer to him, “We have gone beyond it.”
“Yet, a fear is within me,” Ovfren confessed, “That you could end what we have so easily. I have set myself to love you until I am dust.”
Ogorec smiled from Ovfren’s words. “I have set myself to love you always,” his simply words, “And to know another would feel such pleasure from you as I do is to great for me.”
“Speak of your love for me,” Ovfren responded, as he put fingers into Ogorec’s thick hair and pulled him close, “Whisper it to me, as we listen to the rush of the water.”
“As I see my life, I see it with you beside me,” Ogorec revealed, “And inside me burns a love for you that even the sea cannot douse.”
“Any more words such as that and I will melt from within,” Ovfren confessed.
“You spoke bold words before,” Ogorec reminded him, “I want to purr.”
“A tamed animal I will make you.”
“Dare I confess you are who can do it?” Ogorec breathed heavily, “Make this animal purr.”
Ogorec grabbed Ovfren’s throbbing shaft and led him out of the water holding him by it. Both shivering from the cool air as water dripped off their bodies, neither cared as wildly their kisses became long and hard, before both fell to the ground making the earth their bed as soft deep moans echoed from them in the darkness.
**
When night came, as Baric and the others sat circled enjoying a meal, Gemon spoke to Baric.
“I have ordered a dance for your men,” he said; then clapped his hands, “I am sure they will enjoy it.”
After he clapped, right away music began and four women came inside the tent with cymbals on their fingers that chimed, and as their bodies rhythmically gyrated to the lyrical instruments the men played, they danced around.
“Such pleasant dancing and good food,” Baric said, as he drank and watched, “If ever you make your way to Worrlgen it shall be returned in kind.”
While the women danced around them, Baric smiled and looked at them. Their breasts full, stomachs flat and hips curved, his mind ran with thoughts of having one frenzied under him.
“Such lovely women,” he said, as his eyes set on one to his liking.
His gaze held, she smiled back; then when Gemon looked at Baric noticing he was admiring her, he spoke.
“Nights can be lonely for men who travel. If you wish I can send one of your choosing to you.”
“Send the one in the middle,” Baric said without dwell, “The tall one wearing the red and gold veil.”
Gemon nodded and began eating again and ordered more wine; then when a server brought it to him, as she passed Baric who sat next to him, she looked at him for only a moment and quickly turned her head.
“Wine for me too,” Baric said. His eyes still on the woman he choose to pleasure him for the night, but when she poured it, spilling it because she tried to look away from him, Gemon became angry.
“Watch what you are doing,” he said, as Baric moved quickly out of the way, “Or I will have you beaten.”
“Forgive me,” she said at once, and began to back away, but when she spoke, her voice made Baric look closer at her.
Her head covered, as well as part of her face covered, he squinted to look at her, but the light from the candles inside the tent soft, made it difficult to see her clearly.
“Your voice is not like the others.” He noticed, “Remove the wrap from around your head.”
“I cannot,” she said, as she lowered her head, “I am forbidden.”
“Why?”
“She is not chaste, and a slave bound to serve for a time,” Gemon answered his question for her; then sent her away, “Be gone!”
Baric raised himself determined to look at her face, but as he did, because ordered to leave, she immediately vanished.
“That woman,” he said looking around at everyone wondering where she could have gone so quickly, “I must speak with her again.”
“Go find her,” Gemon ordered the man closest to him, but when he came back, he was shaking his head because she had vanished.
“Her name?”
The man looked to Gemon, who nodded and gave his approval before answering. “Her name is Ara.”
Baric’s cheerful mood left him. Her name not the name he had hoped, he now only wanted solitude.
“I tire,” his dejected words, “In the morning line the women for me to see - the one who spilled the wine as well.”
“The woman you wanted sent to you,” Gemon said, “Do you still want her?”
“No,” he answered, although the need to feel his shaft inside the heated moist walls of a woman was fervent as his loins ached. His frustration was greater, “We shall go to the tents given us.”
“Very well.”
As Baric made his way to the tent Gemon graciously gave him, he and the guilds who rode into camp retired for the night, and as two guilds took their post outside his tent; Baric spoke to them.
“Wake me early.”
“Yes, my lord.”
After he went inside, he stood and looked around. Huge furs over pillows upon the rugs for slumber, he looked to the dimly lit candles in the center of the tent; then as he exhaled and looked at the shadow of his body on hided walls, he began to undress.
Leaving on his pants, he removed his belt, tunic and his boots; then as he waved his arm around, he pressed his finger against the deep scar in his upper chest, before he splashed water on his face and fell backwards onto the cushioned huge pillows.
A deep sigh from him, he put his hands behind his head, but unable to close his eyes to sleep right away, as always he thought of Ecia.
Although fleeting, he thought himself foolish to search for a woman, who could be anywhere, but she saved his life so he would do his best; then closed his eyes.
Later, now deep into the night, while he slept a rustle woke him, but when he raised and reached for his sword, he saw nothing and fell back onto the pillows.
“My lord,” one of his men said, as he entered his tent, “A woman for you is outside.”
“I no longer want one,” he said, “My mood has changed.”
“She has a gift for you,” he said, “I hold it.”
“A gift,” Baric looked puzzled, as he raised and put his elbows on his knees, “What is this gift?”
The guild brought Baric something wrapped in a blue sash, and when he opened, a feeling rushed through him, making him at a loss for words.
“Who gave you this, reveal it at once?” he excitedly asked, as he held a braided lock of his own hair in his hand.
“Outside, my lord,” he answered, “She waits.”
Baric sprang to his feet, then began to walk to the entrance to go to her, but stopped because he didn’t want to seem anxious.
“Send her in,” he now calmly spoke; then turned his back to the opening of the tent.
His anxiety such that he wanted to face her right away
, he controlled himself, as he listened to her enter; then when a soft voice spoke to him, he closed his eyes fighting the feel of how her voice roused him.
“My lord,” she said softly. Her head humbly lowered.
“For a long time you have haunted my dreams. I knew I had to try to find you, and end my torment of them.”
No words from her about his statement, slowly he turned and noticed her head covered.
“Remove it,” he said, his voice soft, yet commanding.
Obeying, she removed the wrap upon her head, and as her hair gracefully fell upon her shoulders, he became awed as the face he remembered after so long, again stood before him.
“Dare my fate be before me?” he asked, now moving closer to her, “Look at me.”
Her head humbly lowered, slowly she looked up at him, and her blue eyes teary; one fell from her eye to her cheek.
Now in front of her, he looked into that one teary eye.
“My dreams of you have both haunted and filled me with desire. Such each night I dreamed, I began to feel what I dreamed was no dream.”
Now tears in both eyes she said nothing, as shame and guilt filled her.
“You took something from me that I did not give you.” He knew, “As I lay wounded, I felt you upon me.”
“Forgive me,” she whispered.
His lock still in his hand, he gave it back to her.
“It belongs to you,” he said, but when he put it in her hand, he did not release his grip on it.
“Ecia,” Baric whispered, “Why?”
“You know my true name,” she said, as she looked into his eyes.
“Yes,” he said, “And, I ask again why?”
“I could not resist you,” she confessed, “A from my deeds I have suffered much.”
“For helping me,” Baric spoke softly, “Worry not. I know of your banishment and if you wish it, I will provide for you so you will never have to serve anyone again.”
“My lord,” Ecia said, “What I took from you gave me more in turn.”
“Speak more,” he urged, “You are hiding something.”
“You became rigid as I washed you and your handsome face and fit body weakened me to wicked desires,” she confessed, “You woke again when I gently kissed you, and such a kiss it was, my lord, a strange feeling overcame me. I gave myself to you and you pierced me.”
“More, reveal all.”
“Your brother came for you and took you from me.”
“Dare you tell me, I released my seed into you?” he asked, as his mind raced to remember, but that part of his dream was usually when he woke.
“I dare say,” Ecia confessed, then stammered, “And from it you ... you …”
“Speak,” he now urged impatiently, as his mind wondered what her words could be.
“…have a son.”
Chapter 14
Her words like a fierce northern wind surging through him with wildly, Baric stood still, as his eyes widened and overwhelmed for a moment, he was at a loss for words.
“Are your words I sired a bastard son?” finally, his bewildered question, “You are speaking to a lord and future king.”
“You are a man too,” she replied humbly, “And filled with strong seed. So strong that from our once, it was enough to make me with child.”
“A son,” Baric said, as he felt his hands tremble from thoughts of fatherhood.
“Yes.”
Unsure is if he should believe her, he crossed his arms, as she stood before him.
“Dare I trust you?” he questioned, “Such a lie to get away from this place.”
“Dare you look into his face,” Ecia assured and without dwell, “You will indeed see your own face.”
“Then bring me my face.”
Ecia bowed, then turned to leave, but stopped when Baric spoke again. “Do so with haste,” he said.
“Yes, my lord.”
As soon as she left, Baric exhaled deeply and slumped humbled; then paced back and forth as with every second she was gone, he began to feel himself becoming more anxious.
He told to hurry back, and in truth, she had not been gone very long, yet it seemed like an eternity had passed to him, so he went to the entrance of the tent.
“The woman just here,” Baric said. His voice stern as if commanding a battle, but fearing she had lied to him, “Find her at once.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Before Baric could give another command, the guild, perplexed why she was bringing a child back informed him.“She comes, and in her arms is a child.”
“When she gets here,” he ordered, “Have her wait before you allow her inside.”
“Yes, Lord Baric.”
At once, he went back inside and took deep breaths to control himself; then when he heard the sound of his tent open, slowly turned.
In her arms, a small boy about two years of age and three years ago when he lay wounded in her hut from his battle in the lowland. He gathered that at least his age was right.
“Bring him closer,” Baric said, as he felt his heart beat wildly, yet he controlled any sign of joy.
As ordered, she brought him closer and held him high for Baric to look at him.
“Such a strong look,” he said, as he looked at the child.
“Your face.”
Gently, he used only two of his fingers to turn his head this way and that way, and as he looked at him, he saw first his own forehead, brow, and nose.“Give him to me.”
Now in his arms, Baric looked at his lips; then stopped when he looked long into his eyes.
“Deep green,” he said, as he gulped, “Deep green they are.”
“A truth speaks for itself.” Ecia knew, “I do not have to lie.”
“His name?”
“Oen.”
“I know what that means. It means a child of chance…” Baric said, and looked at her
“Yes, my lord,” Ecia said, surprised he knew.
A sense of contentment now filling him, Baric looked at Ecia.
“Send him back so he can sleep again,” he thoughtfully said, “It is late.”
“I shall leave you too, my lord,” she said humbly, “If you have no need for me.”
“Stay,” his words, but as he said it, Ecia could not tell if it was a command or a request.”
“Do you command it, my lord?”
“I beg it,” he answered; then called for a guild to take the child.
“Where does he belong?” the guild, as he held him out at arm’s length, asked.
“The servant’s tents,” Ecia answered, “Mine is the last in the row of black tents.”
When both were alone in tent again, Baric looked at her for a long time trying to remember how it felt to be inside her, but could only remember that she was on top of him and she moaned.
“For so long I have only dreamed,” he whispered, while moving closer to her. “A time for dreaming is past, and a time for deeds is now.”
“Lord Baric,” her whisper. Already knowing from his words and from the tone in his voice what was about to happen, “Dare I deny you?”
Baric moaned his answer. “You took from me what I did not give you? Shall I return in kind?”
Now right up on her, he gently removed her apron, before his hand lowered and touched her thighs to raise her dress.
“Dare I remove this dress from you and have you naked before me?” he whispered, “Yet, never has it been my want or will be to take what was not offered to me.”
Ecia said nothing, and with her own hands slowly began to lift her dress over her head before letting let it fall to the covered floor.
“To be with you again to hear you moan has been my want,” she confessed, “I have not released you from my head, and from it could bear hearing no other moans.”
“Again, with riddled words.”
“Only has it been you,” she whispered, “To journey the path inside me.”
“No other before or after ...”
“No,
my lord,” Ecia said truthfully, “No other, and I confess since your brother took you I have prayed we find each other and forbid myself another.”
“Never have I heard anything that has reached me so deeply into me.”
“I am filled with great joy and fear.”
“Why.”
“I do not know what will become of me?” Ecia revealed, in heavy breathes.
“What do you want to become of you?”
“That I remember this night always,” she whispered, “That I remember the pleasure of being made weak. I beg forgiveness if I show no shame. I bore you a son. It has no place.”
“And, in the morning -”
“I live from day to day.”
Tenderly, he kissed her pink lips, then lifted her into his arms and placed her on the soft full pillows; then, as he stood at her feet, he removed his pants.
“Such a longing I have had,” were his only words.
As Ecia looked at Baric, she started at his feet then raised her eyes, and as his want for her showed truthful, she gasped quietly when she looked at the bulging manhood that would fill her again, but this time of his own will.
While Baric removed his pants, he looked down at Ecia, admiring her lovely face, skin smooth, and awaiting body pleased, then he took both hands and put them on her knees, parting them.
“You humble me, my lord.” She moaned when he did, her breathes becoming even heavier, “To openly look upon me in such a way.”
“I want to see all of you,” he said. His voice deep, sending goose bumps all over her, “And I shall.”
Baric got onto his knees, then moved between her legs and caressed her smooth thighs before he moved his hand towards her dark forest. After he played with her soft hairs titillating her, he took his thumb, moved aside a fold, and twirled it around her bud to moisten her.
“Oh, my lord.” Her back arched, followed by a pleased hiss.
“My tongue longs to taste you,” he whispered, “But something else longs to feel you and has won.”
After he spoke, he pulled her to him by her knees; then placed his body on hers.
“I beg to hold you, my lord.”
“Hold me and do what you will. Desire is desire.” Baric moaned.
