We made it back to the field where we’d been ambushed in an hour, and after nearly three days, there was very little sign that we’d almost lost our lives. None of the dead men’s gear or loot was still around. After twenty-four hours, it was deleted from the world, which was a shame, but nothing I could do about it now. Damn, a few high-tier weapons and armor would have fetched decent coin in once of Central’s markets. Oh, well.
There wasn’t a scrap of blood or anything left in the field; only the trampled and torn grass told we’d been there at all.
“All right, Eris, do your thing.”
Eris nodded and spread her arms out, calling upon the magic within her. It came quickly, pooling in the palms of her hands and spilling over to fall to the ground. It took her a few minutes, but I assumed she’d found something when her eyes snapped opened and she canceled her spell.
“I might have found it.”
“Figured it wouldn’t take long, where is it?”
She pointed to the east, toward the forest. “Not far from here.”
“Is that not far in Eris speak? Because last time I asked you for directions, we spent twenty minutes walking in the sun,” I said with a cheeky grin.
She laughed, then playfully poked me in the chest. “It’s like five minutes from here, love. Don’t worry.”
Following Eris’s lead, I guided Lacuna through the forest to search for the safe house.
Eris was right this time, as it only took us a few minutes to find it, but if I wasn’t searching for it and without her help, I’d have gone past it and never known it was there.
The safe house was a long, wooden cabin with a porch. It was meant to look worn down and abandoned, but the wood was of good quality, and the single-story cabin was too well built if you looked at it closely. Rotten wood and vegetation had been piled up around the house and roof to further disguise it from anyone who came near, but they couldn’t hide it from Eris.
We climbed off Lacuna, and I drew my sword, Poison Blade activated and salivated to taste Darren’s flesh. He might still be here, or if he were smart, he’d be on the other side of the continent by now.
The wooden steps leading to the porch didn’t so much as creak as I ascended the three steps. Further proof this wasn’t some forgotten cabin in the woods. Creeping to the door, I listened for any sounds inside but could hear nothing through the sounds of the forest.
“One person is inside, Sam. They’re breathing slow. I can’t hear anything else though, so be careful,” Eris said, her ears twitching as she crouched beside me.
“You’re amazing, you know that?”
She tried to hide her smile, but it broke wide on her face. “No, so keep telling me.”
Getting back to business, I gripped my sword tight and tried the knob. It was locked.
“Damn, locked. But I don’t see a keyhole?”
“What do we do?” she asked as we stood up.
“We do things my way,” I said, planting my feet and kicking the door.
My foot connected just to the left of the doorknob, the weakest point on the door, and the lock broke under my strength. I went in first, surveying the area while Eris stood at my back, her hands already forming jagged claws as the chitin oozed out of her pores.
The space was clean, but there was disorganization everywhere. Papers, supplies, and clothing were strewn about at random, as if someone had rushed through in a hurry before leaving. I ignored the mess and checked the place over to make sure we wouldn’t be ambushed again.
The kitchen told me nothing, neither did the bathroom, which left only the bedroom to deal with. I crept through the hallway and jiggled the knob, unlocked. Twisting it as quietly as I could, I readied myself and flung the door open.
Inside the room was a sparse room with a single queen bed on a hand-carved wooden frame, a nightstand next to it, and a full body mirror in the corner. A chair was at the foot of the bed, and sitting there, tied up, was our target.
Oscar’s wife had probably been striking once when she was younger, but like her husband, the years of hard farm work had whittled her refined features and left precious little beauty in its wake. Her hair was long and thin; gray strands stuck to her sweat-stained face while her thin, pinched face held deep laugh lines and crow’s feet.
Her yellow shirt and gray pants were ripped in a few places, and her breathing was labored. I rushed across the room and cut the ties that bound her. She toppled over immediately, but I caught her and carried her to the bed and pulled a skin of water from my inventory. Pressing it to her lips, I got her to drink a few mouthfuls.
I kept plying her with water until the skin was empty, and she opened her eyes. Her milky brown eyes stared into mine.
“Who…are you?” she asked.
“Your husband sent me to rescue you.”
“Oscar? Is he all right?”
“He’s fine. Can you stand?”
She nodded and rose weakly to sit up on the bed. Several days without food or water had taken their toll, but after a few days rest and some good food, I thought she’d be fine.
When I was sure she could stand on her own without falling over, I introduced her to Eris. She was taken aback by her appearance at first, but no one could fight against Eris’s personality, and by the time she was ready to leave, they were laughing together.
“Eris, can you take her back to Oscar? I want to have a look around here.”
She nodded. “Of course.”
“Thank you,” I said, kissing her quickly. “Keep your hood up and come back quickly.”
Eris helped Oscar’s wife to Lacuna and set off back to the farms. All right, someone left in a hurry, so let’s see if they left anything I can use to find out where Darren went.
I had no proof, but Darren had bragged about his boss, someone who was incredibly wealthy and was buying up things of value. I had a hunch that they were connected to the attack on Gloom-Harbor. The Order of the Dawn weren’t cheap, and there can’t be that many faceless people throwing around that kind of money. My gut is telling me they’re connected.
But despite my hunch, I couldn’t find any evidence to support my theory. All of the papers I went through were nothing of import, just bills of sale for several slaves. Though the prices were a little high.
“Damn.” Nothing here. But it’s a lead of sorts. Maybe throwing Darren’s name around will scare up some info.
I finished going through everything and sighed in defeat. Laying back on the bed, I waited for Eris to return. A blinking notification told me when she’d returned the kidnapped wife.
Quest: Find Oscar’s Wife
Completed!
Reward: 3500 Exp!
Wait, what?
I could have sworn that it was only three hundred and fifty experience for the quest. Just to double-check I hadn’t misread the quest, I pulled up my interface logs and went to the original quest. Yep, it says three-fifty all right. What the actual fuck?
I thought back to whatever presence took hold of Eris. It said I wouldn’t survive as I was. Is this its way of helping me?
Exp: 4800/4800
Level Up!
10 Stat points available.
Level: 49
Exp: 1000/4900
I wasn’t in the mood to deal with my stats, and I quickly assigned them to both Strength and Constitution, bringing them both to one hundred. My head was reeling from the implications of what I should have realized much sooner. The only thing that can affect the world like this is the governing AI. The serpent which devours itself? Ouroboros.
Why Ouroboros wanted to bend the rules of the game world to help me, I couldn’t fathom, but I didn’t like it one bit. I don’t have a clue, but guess I shouldn’t complain. I’m leveling faster than anyone else ever has before, so why does it leave a pit in my stomach?
Eris returned while I was grappling with myself, trying to make sense of everything and failing. I was missing too much information, and what little clues I did have weren’t enou
gh to make any headway. Whatever, figure it out later when I have more info. There are other things I have to deal with right now.
Eris walked in with a big smile, carrying two rabbits. “Hello, love. I brought dinner,” she said, glowing with pride.
“Excellent, I’m starving.”
I prepared the rabbits in the unused kitchen. This was a safe house of sorts, but the utensils in the kitchen were spotless, and the rather impressive spice rack was completely untouched. I grabbed some fresh logs from the woodpile just outside the house and got a fire going in the woodstove. Next came cleaning the rabbits.
Eris watched me as I carefully peeled the skin from the meat and removed the organs. The pair of rabbits were plump, and even if rabbit wasn’t my favorite, they’d both make good meals.
“I’m impressed. I didn’t know you could hunt.”
“Well, it’s not that impressive, unfortunately. I took control of a few of my little ones, and it was easy to find the rabbit den. After that, I used a few of my wandering spiders to sneak in and bite the rabbits.”
I was still impressed. Her magic really is incredible. Her only downfall is how weak she is right now. As soon as she gets stronger, she’ll be amazing.
Once the rabbits were cleaned. I discarded the offal and rubbed a blend of herbs into the meat before I threw them on the skillet to fry.
“Eris, could you peel the potatoes, please?”
“Of course,” she said, beaming.
She got to work on the potatoes and veggies while I coated the cast iron skillet in a mixture of butter and animal fat. The grease popped as the pan heated up. Eris hummed while she worked, and even though there was plenty of room in the kitchen, she kept close enough that her arm rubbed against my own several times.
I cooked the meat and boiled the potatoes while I threw in the carrots, onions, and a half clove of garlic to the pan along with more butter and a dash of flour to make the roux. When it was done, I mashed the potatoes and poured the thick roux over them with a fried rabbit for each of us.
While I got the table ready, Eris went outside and brought back a wineskin half her size. She set it by the kitchen counter and went and retrieved two tankards in one of the cabinets.
“Oscar gave it to us after I brought Mira back to him.”
“Well, all things considered, it was the least he could do.”
She smacked my arm. “Don’t be rude.”
“The man helped set us up, yet I’m the rude one?”
Eris laughed and sat down next to me. “Of course, you are, love. Now let’s eat. I’m famished.”
Without waiting on me, Eris tucked in with vigor and devoured the food. Even if Oscar betrayed us, his beer was almost worth it, and I drank half my weight in it before my stomach begged me to slow down.
Halfway through dinner, I began to feel a little off. I chalked it up to the copious amount of alcohol I drank and slowed down, but the feeling persisted. By the time dinner was over, I was certain something was off; my breathing increased, and my face was hot.
“Um, Eris, I think something’s wrong.”
She looked over at me, noticed my flushed face, and stood up. “What’s wrong?”
“I dunno, I kinda feel like I’ve been drugged.”
My thoughts were sluggish, and I couldn’t concentrate. How did I get drugged, was it the food? No, I cooked everything myself. Wait a second. Eris brought the rabbits!
“Eris, would the venom in the spiders be harmful?”
She shook her head. “Absolutely not. Entomancers are immune to—“
“I’m not an entomancer, Eris!”
“Uh-oh.”
I stood up in a panic. I had a health potion in my hand when Eris started giggling. What?
“Why are you laughing?”
“Because you’re not poisoned…well, you are, but it’s not going to harm you.”
“Explain!”
Eris walked over to me and put a hand on my shoulder, trying to calm me. “Entomancers are immune to all toxins, but the other races of the Hive weren’t as adept at filtering them from their systems. Though venom and poison didn’t harm them, it was discovered that it had a few unforeseen side effects.”
“What side effects?”
She pointed at my waist and I looked down to see my manhood standing at full attention, straining against my pants. Oh…that kind of side effect.
“So, you’re telling me that spider venom is an aphrodisiac?”
“If that word means that it increases a person’s longing and desire, then yes.”
Great, she accidentally roofied me. Fantastic.
“Well, what do we do about it?”
“I guess you could drink the potion and flush it from your system, or...” she said, leaving me hanging.
“Or?”
Eris slipped her hand down my pants to grip my erection while giving me a look of pure need.
Oh…option two it is, then.
Chapter 20 - Mnemosyne
Her hand, along my length, sent waves of lust through me, and all I wanted was her. The venom amplified my need for her, but it was still my desire. I wanted her because I wanted her, and that was enough for me.
I lifted her into my arms and carried her to the bedroom. The hallway seemed miles long, but before I could blink, I was poised over the bed. Eris slipped free from my arms and slithered to rest on the plain gray comforter. She gripped my pants and pulled them down, exposing me to her fully. It was an inch from her face, and her eyes glinted as she blushed before trailing a finger down my shaft.
“You know, in the seven people that picked up my crystal, as I peered into their souls, quite a few had very similar experiences, and I’ve always wanted to try one of them.”
With only the briefest of hesitation, she took me into her mouth.
Though inexperienced, she had good instincts as she worked, back and forth in a hypnotic rhythm. Eris’s tongue explored my manhood with abandon. I shuddered as her powerful muscles slipped around me. She kept her momentum as she worked, bobbing her head back and forth as her mouth slipped around me. It only took a few minutes to work me to my peak.
I wasn’t ready for that, and just before I couldn’t contain myself, I pulled back, my shaft slipping from her lips with a subtle pop.
“By the nine kings of Hell, that was fantastic,” I said, my breathing labored and tense.
Eris smiled at me, a dopey look on her face. “I can see now why people enjoy that; it was…interesting.”
“Shall I return the favor?”
She cocked her head to the side. “Return the…oh, yes. I think I’d like that.”
I bent low, settling on my knees as Eris leaned back and opened her legs, baring her opening. Moving my hands to the outside of her hips, I pulled her closer to me, and she scooted toward me with a soft squeak of surprise before blushing.
Instead of just diving in, I teased her. I wanted her to fully experience the moment, so I started slow. I moved my hands slowly around her thighs as I caressed her perfect skin. My fingertips slid close enough to her opening that the heat radiating from her licked at the tips of my fingers as Eris moaned under my touch.
I brought my mouth to her leg as I caressed down her smooth calf, pressing my lips to her skin just once before flicking my tongue out. Eris squirmed, running her hands through my hair as I reached the meat of her inner thigh and bit down gently.
She spasmed, clamping down around my head as she stifled her cries of pleasure. I slid kisses up her thigh as I inched toward her sex. I moved my mouth to her wetness and gave it a tentative lick.
Eris had a surprising flavor to her; it was unlike anything I’d ever tasted before. She tasted of the earth, of the deep forest. Pine and ash, along with wood rot and of something darker, of the creatures that dwelled long forgotten. It was sweet, earthy, and bitter at the same time, but it wasn’t unpleasant.
My tongue brushed strokes of ardor in careful arcs as I licked her, probing deeper with each pass.
I gripped her hips tight, and my fingernails dug into her flesh, but she only moaned and ran her hands through my hair. Quicker than I’d have liked, I worked her up to her own climax, but instead of stopping, I increased my rhythm, bringing her to the edge and tempting her over. Eris screamed out in ecstasy as she came, digging her fingers into my scalp and shaking with effort.
As she rode her crescendo, something changed within me. The venom still coursed through my system, but something stirred deep within my heart and flooded through my veins. It filled my head with ice and burned my loins. All I could think about was Eris, taking her as my own, and so I did.
Eris was still coming down, but I didn’t give her any more time to recover. Picking her up in my arms, I wrapped her in my embrace and kissed her before pressing myself against her sex. Before I could move, she clenched around me, forcing me into her.
“Sam!”
She groaned in rapture as I thrust in and out, letting gravity press her entirely on my length each time. Her legs clung around my waist while her ankles came to rest at the back of my knees; each time she clenched around me, she locked her legs, sending my hips forward and my shaft deeper inside.
All that mattered was the need that demanded to be slaked, and I took her with the primal instincts of an animal.
When my arms began to tire, I used the burning to fuel my desire even further. I shifted, turning toward the nightstand, the burning candlelight sent shadows dancing over Eris’s skin, lighting the beads of sweat that slipped down her neck to rest along her prominent collarbone.
I extinguished the flame between my fingers and knocked the candle to the floor, ripping the curtain from the window in the process. Soft moonlight bathed the room in an ethereal glow as I rested Eris on the nightstand and continued.
With each thrust, Eris elicited a different moan, and I was determined to hear them all by the time I was done. Everything else ceased to matter but her, but the connection we had with our flesh. There was no tenderness, only desire.
I pushed into her again and again, as furiously and intensely as my body would allow. I lost count of how many times Eris climaxed, but there was an ever-present need to reach one more. Eris never said a word in complaint, only moaned my name over and over as she lost herself in the sex.
Hive Knight: A Dark Fantasy LitRPG (Trinity of the Hive Book 1) Page 29
